10:00 PM CST, Wednesday, 8/24/2011: It’s that time of the week… time to ease into your favorite chair, sit back and relax as we explore the sublime world of the strange, the odd, and the unusual. It’s time once again for… The Shadow Hour.
ABC’s Nightline has begun a series called “Beyond Belief” that is examining paranormal claims. Their first segment, which aired 8/16/2011, mostly featured Banachek, a magician who is an outspoken critic of psychics. Since Banachek is a mentalist, a performer who uses stage magicians’ techniques to simulate mind reading and other types phenomena, he is well positioned to discus how such things can be faked. He will appear on Nightline again to demonstrate his “million dollar challenge” where he says he will give $1 million to anyone who can pass his test.
Clearly, Banachek, and people like him, believe passionately that they are fighting an important battle. They feel that people are being cheated and harmed by a belief in psychic phenomena. How does their concern affect other areas of the paranormal? Is the search for ghosts and other curiosities simply a sort of escape? Are we causing more harm than good?
Tonight, we’ll open the lines to your calls to discuss the debunking claims and how it compares to your own experiences. We will try to follow these segments and continue the discussion as the Nightline series continues.
As always, you can listen right here with our blogtalkradio widget! You can listen to past broadcasts at any time, or tune in tonight (Wednesday, August 17th) at 10pm Central for the live broadcast. See you in the shadows…