My Name is DrF and I'm new here, but not new to the paranormal.

Ever since I was a kid I've had an interest in the paranormal, watching tv shows (the first time around) like Twilight Zone, One Step Beyond, Thriller, etc.  I suppose the first "non" paranormal normal experience I had was awakening one night while I was in high school and not being able to move.  Directly in front of my face were two dobermans…snarling.  I blinked several times… and they vanished.  I later came to realize they were the result of hypnogogic paralysis; i.e., body is in a state of moving from waking to sleeping state.

I rediscovered magic and slieight of hand when I was 16 and learned stage hypnosis when I was seventeen.  I made my way through college and seminary doing magic professionally. I eventually went on to be an army chaplain and retired 2 years ago.  While in seminary I read widely in the paranormal and found the "skeptic" (read: James Randi) solutions to be less than intellectually honest.  Phony faith healers aside their explanations left much to be desired.

One of the most common fallacies, fostered by Houdini and kept alive by many skeptics is that if the phenomena can be reproduced using normal (!) means then it must not by definition be paranormal.  This is a logical disconnect.  For example, during the time of Christ throughout the Roman empire, reliigionists (priests) and Greek theater were able to produce amazing theater effects using normal means and by using steam technology.  So being able to produce what appears to be 'fire' on stage does not necessarily mean that fire does not exist.  It simply means one was able to produce the semblance of fire.  About 15 years ago Disney experimented with introducing the smell of burning smoke into some of their rides where fire was simulated.  It didn't last long because it stunk up the buildings.  But this doesn't mean smoke doesn't exist. 

So when debunkers come along and are able to reproduce a phenomena it doesn't carry too much weight unless the evidence is absolutely overwhelming.  But here we must be terribly careful.  There is the framework of wanting to believe (for whatever reasons).  Being a magician (and currently the president of Society of American Magicians Assembly 170, and on the SAM national Comittee for investigation of the paranormal and the occult) I know how easy it is to fool people.  That being said, in my understanding, being a skeptic is to be open minded and to investigate phenomena from all angles.  I look forward to participating here and meeting many new friends,

DrF