and now the screaming starts

  • Subscribe to our RSS feed.
  • Twitter
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • Facebook
  • Digg

Wednesday, 4 March 2009

Books: They want to believe.

Posted on 07:01 by riya
When I first saw Poltergeist, I don't remember thinking it odd that the family in the haunted home would have no problem finding a parapsychology department ready to launch an investigation into the events at their home. Colleges and universities were big places full of smart people who spent all there time proving things and the like, so it made sense that you could just go to your nearest institution of higher learning and say, "Hey, anybody wanna see a ghost?"

Seeing The Haunting and Hell House and others did nothing to disabuse me of the notion that ghost hunting was a relatively typical scholarly pursuit for the academic set. In fact, because I rarely saw representatives from the considerably more common but less cinema-friendly specializations, it's probably fair to say that you would have had a harder time convincing me that somebody was a film studies scholar ("You watch movies? But everybody watches movies. You're pulling my leg.") than you would have had convincing me that somebody studied demonic possessions.

The most important illusion shattered by Stacy Horn's Unbelievable, a new fusion of J. B. Rhine bio and discursive history of American parapsychology from the early Twentieth Century to now, is the belief that a small army of dedicated paranormal researchers waits ready to set up shop in your crib at the slightest sign of supernatural shenanigans. The problem isn't that there are no paranormal researchers out there, but rather that they can afford to be picky. In a chapter dedicated to reproducing letters written to Rhine's Department of Parapsychology at Duke University, Horn drives home the fact that there is never any shortage of Americans who believe that the are the witnesses or victims of some force from beyond the purview of traditional science. Hauntings, people with ESP, aliens, prophetic dreamers, near death experiences, infants that make noises like barnyard animals – the oddest thing about people with unusual stories is how incredibly common such people seem to be. A virtual army of haunted and troubled souls kept Rhine, as well as his confederates and rivals in the field of parapsychology, busy for nearly 80 years.

There are two main threads to Horn's book. The first focuses on the life and times of Joseph Banks Rhine, the essential man of American parapsychology. A doctorate in botany, Rhine was put on the path to becoming the America's foremost expert on weirdness when he enrolled for a one-year psychology course in Harvard. Thrilled by the possibility of extra sensory perception, Rhine became famous for his work with Zener cards – those "cirle, square, bunch of wavy lines" cards you see in movies like Ghostbusters. Rhine became the George Washington of psychic research with the 1934 publication of Extra Sensory Perception, a stats heavy presentation of the results of several thousand ESP tests. Rhine and his team would become the face of psychic research well into the 1970s. The odd stories of Rhine's life, including efforts by the United States government and companies like IBM to harness Rhine's research, makes for interesting, if occasionally disheartening reading; but Rhine himself, as presented by Horn, is a draw in his own right. Pugnacious and stubborn, Rhine was determined to prove the existence of psychic phenomenon, a drive that could blind him to his own assumptions and biases. At the same time, however, he was capable of extreme skepticism and innately cautious about the possibility of such phenomenon. In fact, Rhine's increasing isolation from a loony fringe that he was largely responsible for creating plays out like an odd cautionary tale with Frankenstein-esque undertones.

The second thread, woven through Rhine's story, is a meandering overview of parapsychology as a whole, including stops at some of America's most famous, or infamous, "paranormal" events. We get séances with William James (this book would make an excellent bookend to Deborah Blum's The Ghost Hunters), spiritualist-busting crusade of Houdini, the story of the demonic possession the inspired The Exorcist, the Amity haunting, and a dozen other cases. Some of the stories are perplexing, others are hilarious, but they are all entertaining. Horn introduces readers to true believers and cranks, diligent researchers and frauds, and while she's a true believer herself, she doesn't hesitate to point out when a mystery has a readily available, non-supernatural explanation at hand. Still, Horn's arguments for the existence ESP and other features of the supernatural world might be so objectionable to some that the pleasures of this tour will be lost on them. This need not be the case. I didn't come away from the book believing in ESP, past lives, ghosts, or what have you, and I still thoroughly enjoyed Horn's wonderfully writing.

Which brings us to the second, and more important, illusion shattered in Unbelievable. This illusion involves the limits of scientific knowledge. Not the old chestnut that there are "more things on heaven and earth," but rather about the glamour of legitimacy the trappings of science can cast over even the most doomed intellectual endeavors. Unintentionally, Horn's written a strange sort of intellectual tragedy about bright people who are convinced that science is on their side, even when they again and again run into unrepeatable results, lack of evidence, strong counter evidence, and other factors that are science's way of telling the researcher that they are wrong. Again and again, researchers evoke metaphorical arguments (because Thing X reminds one of so-called "spooky action from a distance," which is proven, then Thing X must be true too), arguments based on authority (much is made of the fact that Einstein was open to the possibility of psychic phenomena, though he never studied the issue and the topic fell well outside his area of expertise), or demand special consideration for their evidence. The worst example of this last form of pseudo-scientific thinking is when, confronted with data they cannot reproduce, theorists of ESP or whatever other phenomena advance theories about why reproducibility doesn't apply to the phenomena being examined Such is the case with ESP researchers who theorized that emotional states – too mercurial and finely grained to ever be perfectly reproducible – have a profound effect on psychic ability. As innocuous as that claim may be, it is an attempt bow out of the obligations of reproducibility and places the studied phenomenon on the same level as miracles. "It happened, but you'll have to take my word for it." The quixotic efforts of these researchers haven't brought anybody any closer to understanding these alleged psychic phenomena. They've only demonstrated how smart, even brilliant, people can prove unequal to the task of subjecting desires, prejudices, ambitions, and emotional needs to the rigors of scientific investigation. And it's that tragic lack of self-knowledge that, perhaps even more than the self-limiting nature of scientific inquiry, marks the bound of scientific knowledge.
Email ThisBlogThis!Share to XShare to Facebook
Posted in books, Horn, Unbelievable | No comments
Newer Post Older Post Home

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Popular Posts

  • Art: It's a gasser!
    Not so long ago, the fine gentleman behind When Is Evil Cool? posted an image of a small crowd of English bobbies in gas masks. I commented...
  • Meta: Awards season.
    Seems like everybody is giving everybody awards these days. And, as living proof that surplus drives down value, even I've received one!...
  • Movies: Fangbanging in the BK.
    Brooklyn's own BAMcinématek has come up with a pretty good alternative to roasting outdoors and sweating your way through the dregs of t...
  • Movies: There's two sides to every global nuclear holocaust.
    This week marks the anniversary of the first record death by robot. On January 25, 1979, Flat Rock, Michigan, autoworker Robert Williams was...
  • Meta: Watch us pull an upset!
    Screamer, Screamettes, and the curious passersby, lend me your ears! Long time readers have probably figured out that I'm not a big ...
  • (no title)
    Neo-folkie Madeline - who was not, I think, named after one of the cats I grew up with, but I like to pretend that she was - has a video tha...
  • Stuff: The Jess List
    In my review of I Sell the Dead , I mentioned that my wife generally hates horror films. When she doesn't find them boring, she finds th...
  • Movies: I want to play a game, Part 3 - Don't everybody all volunteer at once.
    In this last post on what game theory can teach us about the Saw franchise, we're going to cover traps that involve three or more playe...
  • Movies: The second worst thing Bin Laden has ever done to us?
    What hath Kickstarter wrought? It's possible that you were tiring of the zombie craze. Perhaps you've got no more energy for a fast ...
  • Link Proliferation: "To join a cuib, an initiate had to suck the blood from self-imposed slashes in the arm of every other member of the nest."
    I totally flaked on this last Friday, but I meant to hip you to a great post by Zoe, the amazing blogger of the high strangeness that is Zo...

Categories

  • 10 Rillington Place
  • 16 horsepower
  • 2001 Maniacs
  • 2012
  • 2UN
  • a dark matter
  • a reliable wife
  • A-bones
  • abby
  • abrams
  • abu tubar
  • ackerman
  • ackroyd
  • aesop rock
  • africa
  • after dark films
  • Aja
  • aliens
  • all american werewolves
  • Alligator
  • alvin sputnik under sea explorer
  • american psycho
  • american werewolf in london
  • amish
  • anatomy of fear
  • anderson
  • animation
  • antosca
  • apocalypse
  • area 51
  • Argento
  • art
  • arthur
  • as in free you cheap bastards
  • Attenborough
  • Attery Squash
  • Audition
  • audrey's door
  • austen
  • Avatar
  • award
  • Aykroyd
  • babysitter wanted
  • Bacall
  • bacon
  • bad dog
  • baget
  • Balaguero
  • ball peen hammer
  • bara
  • Barker
  • barnes
  • bateman
  • bathory
  • bats
  • Battle Royale
  • Battle Royale 2
  • bauhaus
  • Bava
  • bear in heaven
  • Beatles
  • bed bugs
  • bedbugs
  • bergen street comics
  • Big Alligator River
  • bigfoot
  • bilal
  • biology
  • bitch slap
  • black death
  • black heart procession
  • black history month
  • black moth super rainbow
  • black swan
  • Blackhawk
  • blacula
  • Blitzen Trapper
  • blood creek
  • blood monkey
  • bonnie and clyde versus dracula
  • books
  • Bowie
  • boy detective
  • bradbury
  • breathers
  • Brooklyn
  • Brooklyn Industries
  • brooks
  • Browning
  • Burroughs
  • Burton
  • cabin fever 2 spring fever
  • cabinet of dr. caligari
  • cabrini-green
  • cadence weapon
  • cameron
  • Canada
  • candyman
  • Cannibal Holocaust
  • cannibals
  • captain chaos
  • captivity
  • Carpenter
  • Carroll
  • carter
  • casebook of victor frankenstein
  • castle
  • Castle in Transyvania
  • Castle of the Devil
  • cave
  • Chaney
  • children of the corn
  • chilton
  • chinsang
  • CIA
  • civil war
  • clair
  • clark
  • class of 1984
  • class of 1999
  • clothes
  • Cloverfield
  • cody
  • Cohen
  • combat garters
  • comics
  • Coney Island
  • contest
  • cooper
  • Corman
  • cornered
  • cornish
  • Count Chocula
  • courtesans
  • crap
  • Craven
  • crawford
  • crazy ray
  • creature feature
  • Creature from the Black Lagoon
  • creepy old people
  • crocodile
  • crosley
  • crothers
  • crowley
  • cryptids
  • Cthulhu
  • Cunningham
  • curtis
  • cuthbert
  • D and D
  • d-war
  • Dante
  • danzig
  • Darabont
  • darbont
  • Dark Horse
  • darnielle
  • david
  • dawn of the dead
  • de VĂ©drines
  • Dead Alive
  • deadgirl
  • death ship
  • debbie gibson
  • deed
  • del Toro
  • deluise
  • demon
  • Department of Crazy Crap You Didn't Even Know You Had to Fear
  • depp
  • descent
  • descent 2
  • devil
  • Devo
  • dexter
  • dexter by design
  • dexter is delicious
  • diablo swing orchestra
  • Diary of the Dead
  • dinosaurs
  • documentary
  • doghouse
  • dolphin people
  • dougherty
  • douglas
  • dowdle
  • Dracula
  • Dracula 3000
  • dracula pages from a virgins diary
  • drag me to hell
  • dragons
  • drive-by truckers
  • dungeons and dragons
  • Ebert
  • economics
  • eel
  • el-hai
  • el-p
  • elliott
  • ellis
  • Elvira
  • emerson
  • endo is the bomb
  • evenson
  • evil children
  • evil corporations
  • evil mind museum
  • Exorcist
  • famous monsters of filmland
  • fanaka
  • fashion
  • fear response
  • feminine hygiene
  • ferguson
  • fessenden
  • fever ray
  • fillbach brothers
  • Fleischer
  • flimes
  • food
  • fox
  • francis
  • Franco
  • Frankenberry
  • Frankenstein
  • freaks
  • free stuff
  • Freud
  • freund
  • Friday the 13th
  • fright night
  • from here to eternity
  • Frontier(s)
  • fugue state
  • Fukasaku
  • funerals
  • furlong
  • future of the left
  • Gaiman
  • ganja and hess
  • gas masks
  • gay for johnny depp
  • gay marriage
  • gein
  • genie
  • george washington
  • Ghastly Ones
  • ghost
  • Ghostbusters
  • Ghoul a-Go-Go
  • GI Joe
  • giant monster
  • giant robots
  • gibson
  • Gierasch
  • girly
  • gladfelter
  • glass
  • glover
  • Godzilla
  • Godzilla Raids Again
  • goolrick
  • gorsuch
  • goth
  • gothic
  • grace
  • Grahame-Smith
  • grant
  • Greutert
  • grier
  • grover
  • guest blogger
  • guitar wolf
  • gunn
  • guru
  • guttenberg
  • ha ha tonka
  • Hall
  • halloween
  • hallucinations
  • handsome furs
  • Harel
  • Haring
  • harmon
  • harold and the purple crayon
  • harpes
  • harpoon
  • harrington
  • harryhausen
  • hauer
  • haunt of fear
  • haunted house ride
  • haunted spooks
  • haunted vagina
  • hayward
  • Hellraiser
  • Henseigh
  • hickenlooper
  • high plains invaders
  • high tension
  • Hill
  • Hills Have Eyes 2
  • history
  • hitcher
  • hoax
  • hodag
  • Homecoming
  • Hooper
  • Horn
  • horns
  • Hostel
  • Hostel 2
  • houdini
  • hough
  • house of silent scream
  • house of the devil
  • howard
  • howell
  • hunchback of notre dame
  • Hurt
  • hypnosis
  • I Am Legend
  • I Love Horror
  • i sell the dead
  • i walked with a zombie
  • imp of the perverse
  • improv everywhere
  • Inglourious Basterds
  • insects
  • inside
  • iraq
  • J-horror
  • jack the ripper
  • Jackson
  • Jacobson
  • Jaws
  • jennifers body
  • jigsaw
  • jim carroll
  • joffe
  • johnson
  • Jonah Hex
  • Jones
  • joy division
  • Jung
  • kafka
  • keach
  • kemp
  • kidman
  • Killenger
  • kim
  • King
  • King Kong
  • Kitamura
  • kraken
  • krol
  • kubba
  • kubrick
  • kusama
  • laid to rest
  • lake mungo
  • lampshade
  • land
  • landis
  • Lang
  • Langan
  • Lansdale
  • Last House on the Left
  • Last Winter
  • laugier
  • laymon
  • League of Tana Tea Drinkers
  • lecter
  • led zepplin
  • lee
  • legend of hell house
  • lennon
  • lester
  • let the right one in
  • Lewis
  • lindsay
  • link
  • link proliferation
  • liquid television
  • lliadis
  • lloyd
  • local natives
  • loch ness
  • London
  • London After Midnight
  • Lovecraft
  • lucha
  • mabuse the gambler
  • mad science
  • mad science; hunger; hentges; cannibals
  • maddin
  • magazine
  • magic
  • manasseri
  • manson
  • marebito
  • Mareva
  • Martino
  • martyrs
  • Marvel
  • masque of the red death
  • Mastandrea
  • Masters of Horror
  • mata hari
  • math
  • Matheson
  • maze
  • mcdowell
  • McEwen
  • mcgee
  • mclaren
  • mcquiad
  • medak
  • medean events
  • mega shark versus giant octopus
  • melville
  • mermaid heather
  • meta
  • meteor
  • metropolis
  • Meyer
  • Meyers
  • michael jackson
  • midnight meat train
  • midnight picnic
  • MiĂ©ville
  • miike
  • Miss Bugs
  • miss derringer
  • mixel pixel
  • monae
  • money
  • mongolian death worm
  • monkeys
  • monster mash
  • monster squad
  • monte
  • Moore
  • moreland
  • morrison
  • Morrow
  • movie
  • movie news
  • movie posters
  • movies
  • Mulholland
  • Mum and Dad
  • Mummies
  • mummy
  • murakami
  • murderabilia
  • Murnau
  • murphy
  • museum of death
  • music
  • My Barbarian
  • My Bloody Valentine
  • myrick
  • mystery team
  • nanotech
  • Nazi
  • Neanderthal
  • Neanderthals
  • neville
  • news
  • nick cave and the bad seeds
  • night of the demons
  • night of the living dead
  • Nightmare on Elm Street
  • nightmares
  • Nightwatch
  • nine inch nails
  • ninjas
  • Noe
  • nosferatu
  • nova
  • noxon
  • numan
  • NYC Comic Con
  • o'connor
  • obama
  • obamacare
  • Offspring
  • Opera
  • Ott
  • outbreak horror
  • outpost
  • over there
  • paranormal activity
  • park
  • parker
  • peli
  • pengin homosexuality
  • perlman
  • petty
  • Peyo
  • phifer
  • pigeons from hell
  • pink noise
  • piranha
  • pirates
  • pissing blood
  • plague
  • plan 9 from outer space
  • planet of the vampires
  • play
  • Plaza
  • plimptons
  • plum island
  • Plumtree
  • pod cast
  • Poe
  • poetry
  • porter
  • predator
  • predator 2
  • prehistory
  • pride and prejudice and zombies
  • Primeval
  • psychic
  • pulp fiction
  • punishment park
  • pym
  • quarantine
  • radio horror
  • raimi
  • randian
  • random picture
  • rapp
  • raw meat
  • real estate
  • rec
  • red dawn
  • red sands
  • red. del toro
  • religion
  • renfroe
  • rescued from an eagles nest
  • resident evil
  • reynolds
  • reznor
  • richards
  • rines
  • Ring
  • Ring II
  • RIP
  • ripley's believe or not
  • rival schools
  • Rob Zombie
  • robots
  • Rodriguez
  • romance novels
  • Romero
  • rose
  • Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Undead
  • Roth
  • run for your lives
  • RZA
  • sagoes
  • sala
  • sales
  • sand serpents
  • Sandman
  • santa muerte
  • santigold
  • Santo
  • Santo and the Border of Terror
  • Sariento
  • Sasquatch
  • satanism
  • Saw
  • saw 3D
  • saw 6
  • schorr
  • schrader
  • schumacher
  • sci-fi
  • scream
  • Screamin' Lord Sutch
  • scrotum
  • sea monster
  • sea wolf
  • seabrook
  • sendak
  • serial killers
  • Serrador
  • sex
  • sex pistols
  • shady
  • Shambling Towards Hiroshima
  • shark
  • sharktopus
  • Shimizu
  • shower
  • shutter island
  • Shwarzenegger
  • silence of the lambs
  • silent film
  • silent scream series
  • Simmons
  • sims
  • siouxsie and the banshees
  • Siouxsie Sioux
  • six string samurai
  • skeletons
  • skeptic
  • slang
  • slasher
  • slashers
  • Smith
  • smurfs
  • snuff
  • solet
  • solomon
  • Solomon Kane
  • Sondheim
  • soule
  • Southern Gothic
  • speed
  • Spotnicks
  • springsteen
  • stelarc
  • stewart
  • stick figure theater
  • Stine
  • stink ape
  • stocker
  • stockwell
  • stoker
  • strahm
  • straub
  • Stuff
  • Suicide Girls Must Die
  • sullivan
  • super 8
  • surf rock
  • survival of the dead
  • sweat
  • Sweeney Todd
  • t-shirts
  • Takami
  • Takeuchi
  • Tarantino
  • television
  • terminator
  • terri
  • Texas Chainsaw Massacre
  • the blaft anthology of tamil pulp fiction
  • the burrowers
  • the butcher
  • the cramps
  • the devil's daughter
  • the final
  • the fright biz
  • The Great Slasher Research Project of '10
  • the hills run red
  • the impaler
  • the mist
  • the new kids
  • The Number: 73304-23-4153-6-96-8
  • the objective
  • the roberts
  • The Ruins
  • the sadist
  • the screwfly solution
  • the shining
  • the South will sit tight again
  • the sprites
  • The Thing
  • the ugly
  • the walking dead
  • the washingtonians
  • the woods are dark
  • them
  • these united states
  • Thirst
  • tiger
  • time travel
  • to kill a mockingbird
  • torture
  • torture porn
  • Tourneur
  • Toxic Avenger
  • triangle
  • trick r treat
  • trigger man
  • troggs
  • troop
  • tru blood
  • true blood
  • true crime
  • true horror stories
  • turistas
  • Turner
  • Twilight
  • Unbelievable
  • uncanny
  • Uncle Strangley's Dark Mansion of Big Crap Scares
  • under-utilized nightmares
  • Unity Post
  • vamp
  • vampire
  • verne
  • Ving Rhames for Secretary of Pussy
  • vonnegut
  • voodoo
  • watchmen
  • waters
  • watt
  • we will bury you
  • welcome home brother charles
  • welcome to the jungle
  • weller
  • wereshark
  • werewolf
  • werewolves on the moon versus vampires
  • west
  • what horror movie are we today
  • where the wild things are
  • white
  • white denim
  • who can kill a child
  • wild zero
  • Williams
  • winters
  • witches
  • women in prison
  • won
  • woolite
  • World War Z
  • wrestlemaniac
  • wright
  • wrightson
  • x-mas
  • yeah yeah yeahs
  • yeti
  • you say party we say die
  • young
  • yuck
  • zombie strippers
  • zombie survival guide recorded attacks
  • zombieland
  • zombies

Blog Archive

  • ►  2013 (1)
    • ►  January (1)
  • ►  2012 (5)
    • ►  December (1)
    • ►  July (1)
    • ►  April (2)
    • ►  February (1)
  • ►  2011 (53)
    • ►  December (1)
    • ►  November (2)
    • ►  October (4)
    • ►  September (1)
    • ►  August (5)
    • ►  July (7)
    • ►  June (5)
    • ►  April (4)
    • ►  March (11)
    • ►  February (8)
    • ►  January (5)
  • ►  2010 (172)
    • ►  December (4)
    • ►  November (6)
    • ►  October (11)
    • ►  September (7)
    • ►  August (12)
    • ►  July (14)
    • ►  June (16)
    • ►  May (20)
    • ►  April (20)
    • ►  March (14)
    • ►  February (27)
    • ►  January (21)
  • ▼  2009 (269)
    • ►  December (17)
    • ►  November (21)
    • ►  October (28)
    • ►  September (26)
    • ►  August (33)
    • ►  July (23)
    • ►  June (23)
    • ►  May (28)
    • ►  April (31)
    • ▼  March (27)
      • Movies: There is no right one.
      • Music: Monster mash.
      • Movies: Shoot. Bungle. Oversell. Regret.
      • Link Proliferation: Something more nefarious?
      • News: Ooo eee, ooo ah ah, ting tang walla walla, b...
      • Movies: QFD.
      • Art: The healing arts.
      • Meta: "I've liked you for a thousand years."
      • Books: 'Round midnight.
      • Link proliferation: Very absorbent.
      • Movies: Curious George.
      • Mad science: Varieties of fear?
      • Stuff: You're still on your own when it comes to p...
      • Art: Modern art is dead. Or is it the other way ar...
      • Link Proliferation: “Paradise on Earth.”
      • Music: Hey, you got black death vomit in my party ...
      • Comics: "Who needs rape when there's Hostess Fruit...
      • Movies: Who watches about three-fourths of the Wat...
      • Music: It's the most wonderful time of the year.
      • Mad science: The stench of fear.
      • Movies: The kids are all fright.
      • Link Proliferation: John can give you cancer.
      • Music: Rainbow fright.
      • Books: They want to believe.
      • Art: I've done work in oils, some mixed media stuf...
      • Movies: Godzilla fades again?
      • Stuff: Who's wrasslin'?
    • ►  February (12)
Powered by Blogger.

About Me

riya
View my complete profile