Matteo Martini
Banned
- Joined
- Dec 6, 2004
- Messages
- 4,561
Hi,
my name is Matteo Martini and I am an Italian 32-year-old engineer.
I have begun to get interested in the paranormal approximately one year ago, with particular attention the phenomena of the religious paranormal, such as the claimed miracles of Padre Pio, the apparitions of the Holy Lady, the six “ seers “ of Medjugorje, etc.
To get more information about possible inquiries by Italian or foreign skeptics on such topics, I became a member of the JREF and of the CICAP ( the association of the Italian sceptics ) and also got in contact with various Italian and American skeptics; I have had also a mail exchange on the subject with James Randi, who suggested me to make those inquiries on the subject by myself.
You can see my previous posts on this subject with the name matteo72 here: http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=43512 and here http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=8.
I became aware very soon that there was no critical study on many of the above-mentioned topics, the greater part of the sources on the web or in books were and are acritically supporting the paranormal origin of the claimed facts, without however supplying precise information on when such phenomena would be happened and without showing adequate evidence of their opinions, other sources liquidated such phenomena like simple suggestion.
In my opinion, the skeptical part of the scientific world should give more attention and space to the critical analysis of the claims of religious paranormal because:
1) the claims about phenomena of the religious paranormal are among the most widely discussed topics in the mass-media and are perhaps the claims, in the family of all claims on paranormal facts, which raise the greatest interest among the public;
2) among the people who support the evidence of paranormality in the field of religion there are often scientists, doctors, etc. and this increases the credibility of the claims;
3) such claims are often linked to specific events and therefore are easily checkable
I have therefore decided to do some inquiries by myself on some of the major claims, focusing mainly on the paranormal phenomena which, according to many, would have happened and would happen today in Medjugorje ( for more information see here http://www.aboutmedjugorje.com/Brief_history_of_Medjugorje.html )
I have focused on the phenomenon of Medjugorje for two reasons, firstly because the phenomenon of Medjugorje is a phenomenon of international dimensions ( I would say, planetary), with a number of pilgrims that visit the estimated Bosnian city between three and five million each year, secondly because such claims are very specific on precise paranormal events, among which the following ones hit my attention:
1) the claimed miracle of the sun: the sun would dance, pulse, etc. in the sky of Medjugorje, other people have seen it like if it was falling to the Earth, etc.; some claim to have even filmed such claimed paranormal solar phenomena ( I have seen one such a video myself );
2) on the statue of the Christ in the square close to the Church of Medjugorje there would be drops of liquid not better defined, the drops are collected by the pilgrims;
3) the six “ seers “ ( see here for more onfo on the “ seers “ of Medjugorje: http://www.aboutmedjugorje.com/The_seers.html ) would show an altered neurophysiological state during their "ecstasies", with altered cardiac heartbeat, reduced or null elettrodemic activity, partial or total absence of contact with the external world, etc. Such claims have been made by three different medical committees that agree on many points, the last one of these committees was composed by seventeen doctors;
4) some people claim to have recovered from serious diseases during their permanence in Medjugorje (like what happens in Fatima, Lourdes, etc.).
During the last months I have made two trips to Medjugorje, trips to Rome, Milan in order to speak with a member of the third medical committee who has been very kind and available to answer my questions and I have reached some (partial) conclusions:
1) I have been many times in the small square of Medjugorje in the evening to observe the sun, I have not never assisted to any particular phenomenon, however many pilgrims claimed to see strange optical phenomena when I, with a video-camera, have not seen any;
2) about the drops that come down from the statue, it could be that there is some liquid in the inside of the statue that comes out during the day trough the small cracks that you can see on the surface;
3) about the medical analysis and tests executed on the seers, the problem is more complex, I invite anybody interested to look directly at my site ( see http://www.aboutmedjugorje.com/introduzione_en.html ). I think that, while the medical evidence gathered from the tests on the seers may not by itself be proof of anything paranormal, I think that the whole subject is very interesting from a medical point of view: I would be glad if any physiologist or neurophysiologist could look at the pages about the three medical committees and give me a feed-back;
4) I have not looked at the witnesses of the people recovered from serious diseases
After to have emailed James Randi on the conclusions of my work and have been published in its weekly commentary (link: http://www.randi.org/jr/100104court.html), I have built a very simple site ( with the precious help of Billy Joe who corrected my many grammar errors ) where I have put the videos, the photos, the witnesses which I have gathered so far.
My site is: www.aboutmedjugorje.com
I would now share and discuss my work with others, in particular, I would be interested in opinions from physiologists or others on the evidence of the claims about the altered neurophysiology of the seers.
Of course, I am available to give all the information I can about my work.
Matteo Martini
[email protected]
my name is Matteo Martini and I am an Italian 32-year-old engineer.
I have begun to get interested in the paranormal approximately one year ago, with particular attention the phenomena of the religious paranormal, such as the claimed miracles of Padre Pio, the apparitions of the Holy Lady, the six “ seers “ of Medjugorje, etc.
To get more information about possible inquiries by Italian or foreign skeptics on such topics, I became a member of the JREF and of the CICAP ( the association of the Italian sceptics ) and also got in contact with various Italian and American skeptics; I have had also a mail exchange on the subject with James Randi, who suggested me to make those inquiries on the subject by myself.
You can see my previous posts on this subject with the name matteo72 here: http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=43512 and here http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=8.
I became aware very soon that there was no critical study on many of the above-mentioned topics, the greater part of the sources on the web or in books were and are acritically supporting the paranormal origin of the claimed facts, without however supplying precise information on when such phenomena would be happened and without showing adequate evidence of their opinions, other sources liquidated such phenomena like simple suggestion.
In my opinion, the skeptical part of the scientific world should give more attention and space to the critical analysis of the claims of religious paranormal because:
1) the claims about phenomena of the religious paranormal are among the most widely discussed topics in the mass-media and are perhaps the claims, in the family of all claims on paranormal facts, which raise the greatest interest among the public;
2) among the people who support the evidence of paranormality in the field of religion there are often scientists, doctors, etc. and this increases the credibility of the claims;
3) such claims are often linked to specific events and therefore are easily checkable
I have therefore decided to do some inquiries by myself on some of the major claims, focusing mainly on the paranormal phenomena which, according to many, would have happened and would happen today in Medjugorje ( for more information see here http://www.aboutmedjugorje.com/Brief_history_of_Medjugorje.html )
I have focused on the phenomenon of Medjugorje for two reasons, firstly because the phenomenon of Medjugorje is a phenomenon of international dimensions ( I would say, planetary), with a number of pilgrims that visit the estimated Bosnian city between three and five million each year, secondly because such claims are very specific on precise paranormal events, among which the following ones hit my attention:
1) the claimed miracle of the sun: the sun would dance, pulse, etc. in the sky of Medjugorje, other people have seen it like if it was falling to the Earth, etc.; some claim to have even filmed such claimed paranormal solar phenomena ( I have seen one such a video myself );
2) on the statue of the Christ in the square close to the Church of Medjugorje there would be drops of liquid not better defined, the drops are collected by the pilgrims;
3) the six “ seers “ ( see here for more onfo on the “ seers “ of Medjugorje: http://www.aboutmedjugorje.com/The_seers.html ) would show an altered neurophysiological state during their "ecstasies", with altered cardiac heartbeat, reduced or null elettrodemic activity, partial or total absence of contact with the external world, etc. Such claims have been made by three different medical committees that agree on many points, the last one of these committees was composed by seventeen doctors;
4) some people claim to have recovered from serious diseases during their permanence in Medjugorje (like what happens in Fatima, Lourdes, etc.).
During the last months I have made two trips to Medjugorje, trips to Rome, Milan in order to speak with a member of the third medical committee who has been very kind and available to answer my questions and I have reached some (partial) conclusions:
1) I have been many times in the small square of Medjugorje in the evening to observe the sun, I have not never assisted to any particular phenomenon, however many pilgrims claimed to see strange optical phenomena when I, with a video-camera, have not seen any;
2) about the drops that come down from the statue, it could be that there is some liquid in the inside of the statue that comes out during the day trough the small cracks that you can see on the surface;
3) about the medical analysis and tests executed on the seers, the problem is more complex, I invite anybody interested to look directly at my site ( see http://www.aboutmedjugorje.com/introduzione_en.html ). I think that, while the medical evidence gathered from the tests on the seers may not by itself be proof of anything paranormal, I think that the whole subject is very interesting from a medical point of view: I would be glad if any physiologist or neurophysiologist could look at the pages about the three medical committees and give me a feed-back;
4) I have not looked at the witnesses of the people recovered from serious diseases
After to have emailed James Randi on the conclusions of my work and have been published in its weekly commentary (link: http://www.randi.org/jr/100104court.html), I have built a very simple site ( with the precious help of Billy Joe who corrected my many grammar errors ) where I have put the videos, the photos, the witnesses which I have gathered so far.
My site is: www.aboutmedjugorje.com
I would now share and discuss my work with others, in particular, I would be interested in opinions from physiologists or others on the evidence of the claims about the altered neurophysiology of the seers.
Of course, I am available to give all the information I can about my work.
Matteo Martini
[email protected]
