History is replete with examples of media-created scares and panics. This book presents more than three dozen studies of media scares from the 17th century to the 21st century, including hoaxes perpetrated via newspapers, radio, television and cyberspace. From the 1835 batmen on the Moon hoax to more recent bird flu scares and Hurricane Katrina myths, this book explores hoaxes that highlight the impact of the media on our lives and its tendency to sensationalize. Most of the hoaxes covered occurred in the United States, though incidents from Europe, Asia, Africa, South America and Australia are featured as well. Several are global in scope, revealing the power global media wields.

The Martians Have Landed!: A History of Media-Driven Panics and Hoaxes

History

Bartholomew, Robert E.

Radford, Benjamin

Americas

McFarland Company

For centuries, eyewitnesses around the world―from America to Africa, Argentina to Scotland―have reported sightings of dark, mysterious creatures in area lakes that surface briefly, only to quickly disappear. While the most famous lake monsters of Loch Ness and Lake Champlain have gained international notoriety, hundreds of lakes around the world are said to shelter these shadowy creatures. Lake Monster Mysteries is the first book to examine these widespread mysteries from a scientific perspective. By using exhaustive research and results from firsthand investigations to help separate truth from myth, the authors foster our understanding of what really lurks in the cold, murky depths. Benjamin Radford and Joe Nickell are considered to be among the top lake monster authorities in the world. Here they share unique insights into many of the world's best-known lake monsters. They interview witnesses and local experts and discuss the different types of lake monster sightings, delve into possible explanations for those sightings, and examine hoaxes, evidence claims, and legends surrounding the monsters. The authors have also conducted groundbreaking fieldwork and experiments at the lakes and have examined recent photographic and sonar evidence. Incorporating newly-revealed information and up-to-date developments in the cases they present, professional monster hunters Radford and Nickell plunge into both the cultural histories of these creatures and the scientific inquiries that may hold the key to these mysteries.

Lake Monster Mysteries: Investigating the World's Most Elusive Creatures

Nickell, Joe

Reference

University Press of Kentucky

Among the monsters said to roam the world's jungles and desolate deserts, none is more feared than the chupacabra---the blood-sucking beast blamed for the mysterious deaths of thousands of animals since the 1990s. To some it is a joke; to many it is a very real threat and even a harbinger of the apocalypse. Originating in Latin America yet known worldwide, the chupacabra is a contradictory and bizarre blend of vampire and shapeshifter, changing its appearance and characteristics depending on when and where it is seen. Rooted in conspiracy theory and anti-American sentiment, the beast is said to be the result of Frankenstein-like secret U.S. government experiments in the Puerto Rican jungles.
Combining five years of careful investigation (including information from eyewitness accounts, field research, and forensic analysis) with a close study of the creature's cultural and folkloric significance, Radford's book is the first to fully explore and try to solve the decades-old mystery of the chupacabra.

Tracking the Chupacabra: The Vampire Beast in Fact, Fiction, and Folklore

Politics & Social Sciences

Social Sciences

University of New Mexico Press

New Mexico's twin traditions of the scientific and the supernatural meet for the first time in this long-overdue book by a journalist known for investigating the unexplained. Strange tales of ghosts, monsters, miracles, lost treasure, UFOs, and much more can be found not far from the birthplace of the atomic bomb. Huge radio astronomy dishes search desert skies for alien life, and the world's first spaceport can be found in this enchanted land; in many ways New Mexico truly is a portal to other worlds.
Mysterious New Mexico is the first book to apply scientific investigation methods to explain some of New Mexico's most bizarre lore and legends. Using folklore, sociology, history, psychology, and forensic science--as well as good old-fashioned detective work--Radford reveals the truths and myths behind New Mexico's greatest mysteries.

Mysterious New Mexico: Miracles, Magic, and Monsters in the Land of Enchantment

Bad clowns--those malicious misfits of the midway who terrorize, haunt, and threaten us--have long been a cultural icon. This book describes the history of bad clowns, why clowns go bad, and why many people fear them. Going beyond familiar clowns such as the Joker, Krusty, John Wayne Gacy, and Stephen King's Pennywise, it also features bizarre, lesser-known stories of weird clown antics including Bozo obscenity, Ronald McDonald haters, killer clowns, phantom-clown abductors, evil-clown panics, sex clowns, carnival clowns, troll clowns, and much more. Bad Clowns blends humor, investigation, and scholarship to reveal what is behind the clown's dark smile.

Bad Clowns

Product Description This collection of Skeptical Inquirer magazine columns by investigator and folklorist Benjamin Radford guides readers on a science-based (yet open-minded) examination of 70 fascinating and mysterious topics. Drawing on two decades of first-hand research, Big-If True separates fact from fiction using forensics, science, psychology, folklore, and more. Big-If True examines these and dozens more mysteries including Bigfoot, reincarnation, chupacabras, Icelandic elves, conspiracy theories, UFOs, miracles, the terrifying Goat-Man, crop circles, subliminal advertising, sea serpents, wandering trees, medical mysteries, and hypnotist thieves-plus a 1990 Elvis sighting. For mystery lovers and armchair investigators alike, this book offers a look behind the scenes at investigating oddities and curiosities, both ancient and modern. Chapter One LEGENDS 5A Skeptic's Guide to Ethical and Effective Curse Removal - Egging theEquator - Detour: Elves Ahead - Mysteries of the Coral Castle - Is ElvisPresley in Home Alone? - Searching to Noah Vale - The Bell Witch Mystery- The Myth of the Walking Tree - Bailing in the Mummies - Might FrightCause White? - (and more)Chapter Two MONSTERS 51Cryptozoology and Global Warming - The Mystery of the TexasChupacabra - Texas Goat-Men and the Chupacabra - A Wakey Water'Monster' - Globsters Ahoy! - Investigating Mothman's Red EyeshineChapter Three GHOSTS 83Do Einstein's Laws Endorse Ghosts? - 'M' is for Mysterious Marks -Have I Ever Seen a Ghost? - Soul Scales - The Cockington Church GhostPhoto - Can Electromagnetic Fields Create Ghosts? - Infrared Camerasand Ghost Hunting - A Closer Look at Orbs - The Sweet Spirit Soundsof Rosemary Brown - (and more)Chapter Four MYSTERIOUS POWERS AND PLACES 121A Time to Die? - Crop Circle Origins - The GIGO Problem: Crop CircleResearch Edition - Channeling Ancient African Wisdom-Or Not - Mysteryof the Paulding Light - Dowsing: Dubious and Discredited - FatimaMiracle Claims All Wet - Uri Geller Revisited - Did Psychic VisionsLocate Missing California Boy? - Beware Mesmer Thieves! - Secrets ofSpectacularly Skewered SkinChapter Five UFOs 165The Phantom Menace of UFO Revelation - The Mysterious PhoenixLights - The Mysterious, Invisible 'Rods'Chapter Six HEALTH AND MEDICINE 175Bodytalk: Boon or Bogus? - Exercising the Brain Gym - Kinoki Foot Pads- Diving HeadOn Into Pseudoscience - Subliminal Advertising, Trumpianand Otherwise - Freaky Feldenkrais - Measuring Near-Death Experience- A 100C Grain of Truth to Homeopathy? - Battle Over the BMI - TheMysterious Morgellons Malady - Childbirth-Natural or 'Unnatural'? -Vegetable Oil or Snake Oil?: The Pseudoscience of "Oil Pulling" - ThePseudoscience of Personalysis - Left Brain or Right Brain? - (and more)Chapter Seven CONSPIRACIES 229Sandy Hook School Shooting: The Adam Lanza Death Certificate Conspiracy- Curious Contrails: Death From the Sky? - The Truth About the 9/11Truthers - Is America a Sheeple Factory?Chapter Eight SKEPTICISM 243Legitimizing Woo - Just Asking Questions - Caught Between the Possibleand the Paranormal - Dealing With Believers in Skeptical Investigation -Anomaly Hunting - Mystery Solved-According to Whom? - ParanormalQualifications About the Author Benjamin Radford is deputy editor of Skeptical Inquirer science magazine and a Research Fellow with the non-profit educational organization the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. He has written thousands of articles on a wide variety of topics, including urban legends, the paranormal, critical thinking, and media literacy. He graduated magna cum laude with a bachelors degree in psychology from the University of New Mexico and has a masters degree in education from the University of Buffalo. He is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, the American Folklore Society, the International Society for Contemporary Legend Research, among other organizations. Radford is one of the world's few science-based paranormal investigators, and has done firs

Big-If True: Adventures in Oddity (Paranormal)

Teen & Young Adult

Education & Reference

Rhombus Publishing Company

National panics about crime, immigrants, police, and societal degradation have been pervasive in the United States of the 21st century. Many of these fears begin as mere phantom fears, but are systematically amplified by social media, news media, bad actors and even well-intentioned activists. There are numerous challenges facing the U.S., but Americans must sort through which fears are legitimate threats and which are amplified exaggerations. This book examines the role of fear in national panics and addresses why many Americans believe the country is in horrible shape and will continue to deteriorate (despite contradictory evidence). Political polarization, racism, sexism, economic inequality, and other social issues are examined. Combining media literacy, folklore, investigative journalism, psychology, neuroscience, and critical thinking approaches, this book reveals the powerful role that fear plays in clouding perceptions about the U.S. It not only records the repercussions of this toxic phenomenon, but also offers evidence-based solutions.

America the Fearful: Media and the Marketing of National Panics

McFarland

Thinking is an innate ability that most people take for granted. But like writing well or speaking effectively before the public, thinking well is a skill that can be learned and improved with practice. In this unique introduction to critical thinking, Robert Bartholomew and Benjamin Radford first lay out the principles of critical thinking and then invite readers to put these principles to the test by examining a series of unusual and challenging case studies. Assembling a wide range of bizarre but actual incidents from many cultures and various time periods, they demonstrate how the tools of critical thinking can help to unravel alleged paranormal events and seemingly mysterious behavior.What factors led to the "Martian panic" of 1938? Why did many people conclude that an alien spaceship crashed in Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947? How do we explain the panic expressed by otherwise normal Southeast Asian men who came to believe that a contagious disease was causing their genitals to shrink, or the frenzied dance manias that captivated thousands of Europeans during the Middle Ages? Bartholomew and Radford show that reality is very much a social construction, that cultural assumptions play a large part in our judgments about what is normal and what is deviant, and that the use of critical reasoning is our best means of ensuring an objective perspective.

Hoaxes, Myths, and Manias: Why We Need Critical Thinking

Philosophy

Prometheus

Fake news?Biased media sources?This hard-hitting critique of our media culture examines not only the ways in which the public is often deceived, but the media's role in propagating those deceptions. But Media Mythmakers goes beyond criticism to give concrete examples of the damage that manipulation of the news causes. From missing children to the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, from the efforts to end slavery to AIDS education, myths and deception in the media threaten us all. While the public is being misled, real problems go unaddressed and resources are wasted on misguided ideas.In an increasingly complex world, where accurate and unbiased information is more important than ever, this book provides a timely and much-needed analysis.

Media Mythmakers: How Journalists, Activists, and Advertisers Mislead Us

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Psychology & Counseling

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