Hawk one
Emperor of the Internet
And ever so slightly ironically, it appears not in a newspaper, but in a comic book magazine! The comic book magazine itself is called Nemi, which is sort of a monthly collaboration of the Norwegian newspaper strip Nemi, plus other strips as well (such as Sinfest). Anyway, on to the article itself. Author is Herman Berthelsen.
I was ever so slightly worried that it would be a woo-ish article. Mostly because of the reports of certain programs (Primetime, anyone?) I've read about lately. But I was pleasantly surprised.
Basically, it tells the story on how the spiritis movement started with the Fox Sisters. It then keeps on telling about one seemingly famous Norwegian spiritualist called Ludvig Dahl, which I hadn't heard about. So far, a rather neutral description of what they claimed to do, plus a short mention of people like Mrs. Piper and Eca C.
But then it tells about how the frauds have been quite present, starting with telling how the Fox sisters themselves did it. It then goes on to tell how a ouija board might not be a smart thing to do, not because of what spirits might tell, but that our subconcience can guide us to moving the glass and tell us stuff we will worry about for several years. Uri Geller also gets a short and fairly dismissing mention, though not 1/10th as harsh as a typical Randi commentary.
I will now try to translate the final paragraph, which needs no further comment:
The unknown is always exciting, and most of us would prefer that there is an afterlife after death. It might well exist, but spiritism has certainly not managed to prove it
The very last comment is a pun that I'm unable to translate into a proper punchline. But the important thing is that the article is informative, it's easy to read for anyone, it appears in a medium that will reach more believers of spiritism than ordinary debunking articles, and it's simply well done.
I was ever so slightly worried that it would be a woo-ish article. Mostly because of the reports of certain programs (Primetime, anyone?) I've read about lately. But I was pleasantly surprised.
Basically, it tells the story on how the spiritis movement started with the Fox Sisters. It then keeps on telling about one seemingly famous Norwegian spiritualist called Ludvig Dahl, which I hadn't heard about. So far, a rather neutral description of what they claimed to do, plus a short mention of people like Mrs. Piper and Eca C.
But then it tells about how the frauds have been quite present, starting with telling how the Fox sisters themselves did it. It then goes on to tell how a ouija board might not be a smart thing to do, not because of what spirits might tell, but that our subconcience can guide us to moving the glass and tell us stuff we will worry about for several years. Uri Geller also gets a short and fairly dismissing mention, though not 1/10th as harsh as a typical Randi commentary.
I will now try to translate the final paragraph, which needs no further comment:
The unknown is always exciting, and most of us would prefer that there is an afterlife after death. It might well exist, but spiritism has certainly not managed to prove it
The very last comment is a pun that I'm unable to translate into a proper punchline. But the important thing is that the article is informative, it's easy to read for anyone, it appears in a medium that will reach more believers of spiritism than ordinary debunking articles, and it's simply well done.