Regular Episode
055 – SKEPTICS ARE REDOUBTABLE
🔬 Sharon Hill: Skeptic, Science Communicator, and Master of Doubt
Sharon traces her involvement in skeptical topics back to 1993, when she discovered that skeptical literature on the paranormal was, as she puts it, “way more interesting than the credulous stuff.” Her academic background culminated in a master’s degree examining how amateur paranormal investigation groups in the United States use — or misuse — science. Her research surveyed roughly 1,000 groups drawn from the web, the majority of them ghost hunting outfits, with a growing contingent of Bigfoot-focused cryptozoology groups and a declining number of UFO investigation organizations. An adaptation of her thesis was published in Skeptical Inquirer magazine.
🧪 “Sciencey” vs. Scientific: What Paranormal Groups Actually Do
Sharon’s key finding: among the groups that most loudly claimed to be “scientific,” almost none had trained scientists on board, and none recruited for scientific expertise. Equipment — EMF detectors, thermal cameras, audio recorders — served as a proxy for rigor. Her word for what they were actually doing: sciencey. Meticulous, careful, systematic — but not scientific in any methodologically meaningful sense.
The source of these groups’ model of science? Television. Shows like Ghost Hunters supplied a template that investigators mimicked, right down to the nomenclature and the theatrical use of gadgets. Sharon also notes that many participants were drawn in by personal anomalous experiences and found in these groups something skeptic organizations rarely offer: community, fellowship, and a ready-made framework of belief. As Ben Radford observes in the conversation, what looks like paranormal investigation is often, at its core, a social event — friends walking around a cemetery on a Saturday night.
Sharon’s broader recommendation: where possible, skeptics should engage these groups one-on-one rather than from a posture of wholesale criticism. The heart, she argues, is usually in the right place — even if the methodology isn’t.
📰 Doubtful News: Skeptical Curation for the Paranormal News Cycle
Sharon launched Doubtful News in August 2011 as a curated feed of paranormal, pseudoscience, and anomalous news stories — something she’d wanted to read but couldn’t find anywhere. The format: link to a news item, quote the key passage, then pose critical questions or link to more skeptical treatments. By the time of recording the site had surpassed half a million page views in under a year.
The site syndicates to skeptic.com and contributes a weekly summary to the JREF blog. Advertising was dropped early — the contextual ads kept serving up psychics and diet schemes, which was, as Sharon drily notes, “totally antithetical to the purpose of the site.” The site also maintains a public corrections page for cases where a story turned out to be wrong — a transparency norm conspicuously absent from most credulous paranormal outlets.
🦶 The State of Bigfoot: Promises, Teasers, and the Ketchum Question
Sharon surveys the Bigfoot landscape circa 2012, which she characterizes as inflated by the popularity of the TV series Finding Bigfoot and crowded with low-quality videos, merchandise ventures, and paranormal tourism pitches. Two cases draw particular scrutiny:
– The unnamed “Sasquatch research project” that released a grainy black-and-white image of a purportedly sleeping Bigfoot and promised follow-up video — with nothing delivered years later.
– Dr. Melba Ketchum‘s DNA study, which had been generating anticipation for months. Sharon notes the scientific community’s patience was being strained by Ketchum’s concurrent social-media posts describing leisurely, camera-free observations of entire Bigfoot family groups — a peculiar contrast to her stated inability to produce photographic documentation alongside promised genetic data.
Ben draws a parallel to the Raëlian cloning claims, and both hosts note the pattern is familiar: a cycle of breathless teasers, private funding, and perpetual delay that tracks closely with earlier episodes in cryptozoological history. The Oxford University-affiliated Bigfoot DNA project is mentioned more favorably as a case of serious institutional interest in the question.
🧟 Zombie Flap: Media Contagion and the Bath Salts Panic
The trio turns to a then-current media moment: a rash of news stories framing unrelated violent incidents as evidence of a “zombie apocalypse.” Sharon and Ben are skeptical of the framing. Ben notes that the Miami cannibal incident that kicked off coverage involved a man who was naked and unarmed — a “kernel that has nothing to do with zombies.” Sharon adds that an accompanying internet hoax — a fabricated “zombie virus” announcement — spread widely enough to earn a Snopes entry. The broader point: rational people tend to underestimate how readily others absorb and circulate irrational claims, especially when amplified by social media.
🎲 TAM 2012: The Amazing Meeting Comes to Las Vegas
Brian Thompson previews TAM 2012 (The Amazing! Meeting), the JREF’s annual conference scheduled for July 12–15 at the South Point Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Confirmed speakers and performers include Steven Novella and the other Novellas (the Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe team), Eugenie Scott of the National Center for Science Education, Michael Shermer, Penn & Teller, Lawrence Krauss, Brian Dunning of Skeptoid, mentalist Jamy Ian Swiss, comedian Paul Provenza, and James Randi himself. A highlight: Kelly Carlin, daughter of George Carlin, performing her show A Carlin Home Companion. MonsterTalk co-host Karen Stollznow is also on the speaker list. Sharon Hill is presenting a workshop on navigating civil dialogue between skeptics and believers.
📚 Further Reading
– Skeptical Inquirer — Sharon Hill’s thesis adaptation on paranormal investigation groups appeared in the March/April 2012 issue
– Doubtful News by Sharon Hill
– Skeptic Magazine — official home of the MonsterTalk podcast
🔗 Related Links
– Changeling (folklore)
– James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF)
– The Amazing! Meeting (TAM)
– Ghost hunting
– Jersey Devil
– Melba Ketchum Bigfoot DNA study
– Finding Bigfoot (TV series)
Note: ads inserted into the distributed audio alter the timestamps in unpredictable ways, so timing references in these notes are approximate.
The hosts of MonsterTalk interview Sharon Hill. The discussion includes updates on the latest in monster news trends, as well as information about The Amaz!ng Meeting—the James Randi Educational Foundation’s annual meeting of skeptical scientists, researchers, artists, performers, teachers and other rational-minded folk in Las Vegas, Nevada. Also in this episode, Brian Thompson of the JREF stops by to discuss TAM 2012.
Further Reading
Music
- Monstertalk Theme: Monster by Peach Stealing Monkeys
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