Author Q&A, Parte the Fourthe
I was recently interviewed for a site called ParanormalBucket and answered several questions about my work and books. This week and in following weeks I'll be posting some of them here.
Q: You’ve carried out field research on hundreds of paranormal claims. What are your three favorite investigations and what made them memorable?
A: I’d have to say that my top three favorite cases are probably:
1) My chupacabra research, because it was a global mystery and I ended up solving it. It was a very complex case, involving vampire folklore, medical research, rumors, and much more. I traveled to Texas, Puerto Rico, and the jungles of Nicaragua looking for the monster, and in the end I was able to identify the very first sighting of the creature, and definitively link it to a 1995 science fiction film. It took me five years, but I solved the mystery, and I’m the one who did it—not because I’m particularly brilliant, but mostly because I put in the time and effort to do the research.
2) My research into the Pokemon mystery illness in 1997, where thousands of Japanese children went to the hospital with seizures after watching the cartoon Pokemon. It’s not a paranormal claim at all, but instead a modern medical mystery. Through careful analysis I figured out what happened, and my research was published in a prestigious medical journal—can the "Ghost Hunters" guys say that? :-) This is the twentieth anniversary of the incident, and I was recently interviewed by Motherboard about it: see https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/ar....
3) I also really liked my investigation into the Ogopogo lake monster in British Columbia; it was published in two of my books (Lake Monster Mysteries and Scientific Paranormal Investigation). I collaborated with two other researchers, John Kirk and Joe Nickell, and a crew from the National Geographic TV show "Is It Real?" We did some field experiments to investigate a famous Ogopogo video, and found that what was recorded could not have been the size it was originally estimated. It was a fun blend of monster hunting and scientific experiment.
Q: You’ve carried out field research on hundreds of paranormal claims. What are your three favorite investigations and what made them memorable?
A: I’d have to say that my top three favorite cases are probably:
1) My chupacabra research, because it was a global mystery and I ended up solving it. It was a very complex case, involving vampire folklore, medical research, rumors, and much more. I traveled to Texas, Puerto Rico, and the jungles of Nicaragua looking for the monster, and in the end I was able to identify the very first sighting of the creature, and definitively link it to a 1995 science fiction film. It took me five years, but I solved the mystery, and I’m the one who did it—not because I’m particularly brilliant, but mostly because I put in the time and effort to do the research.
2) My research into the Pokemon mystery illness in 1997, where thousands of Japanese children went to the hospital with seizures after watching the cartoon Pokemon. It’s not a paranormal claim at all, but instead a modern medical mystery. Through careful analysis I figured out what happened, and my research was published in a prestigious medical journal—can the "Ghost Hunters" guys say that? :-) This is the twentieth anniversary of the incident, and I was recently interviewed by Motherboard about it: see https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/ar....
3) I also really liked my investigation into the Ogopogo lake monster in British Columbia; it was published in two of my books (Lake Monster Mysteries and Scientific Paranormal Investigation). I collaborated with two other researchers, John Kirk and Joe Nickell, and a crew from the National Geographic TV show "Is It Real?" We did some field experiments to investigate a famous Ogopogo video, and found that what was recorded could not have been the size it was originally estimated. It was a fun blend of monster hunting and scientific experiment.
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Ben Radford's Blog of Booky Things
Hi there, and welcome to my GoodReads Blog of Booky Things. I have other blogs where I pontificate on various topics ranging from critical thinking to urban legends, ghosts to chupacabras, films to bo
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