A-12 (plane), 160

abominable snowman, 110

acupuncture, 97, 98

Africa, 29, 98, 114, 141, 169, 189, 195

agnostic, 187

Aldrin, Buzz (Apollo 11), 144, 148

alien abductions, 33, 59, 75, 81, 90, 94, 108–110, 123

Allen Telescope Array, 195

al Qaeda, 127

alternative medicine, 38, 43–44, 51, 94, 97–104

Alzheimer’s disease, 179

Amazon rainforest, 114

anchoring, 79

ancient alien astronauts, 134–136

apocalypse, 41

Apollo (space program), 140–146, 198–199

archaeology/archaeologists, 134, 156, 157, 158, 164, 202

Area 51, 48, 75, 123, 124, 147, 159–161

Area 51: An Uncensored History of America’s Top Military Base, 124

Argosy, 152

argument from authority, 79

argument from ignorance, 79

Armstrong, Neil, 146, 148

Arnold, Ken, 120

Asia, 29, 112, 114, 141, 196

asteroid, 136, 137

astral projection, 38

astrobiology/astrobiologists, 95, 97, 113, 114

astrology, 38, 67, 81, 90, 91, 127–130, 162, 185, 186

astronauts, 141–146, 198

atheist, 187

Atlantis, 34, 44, 84, 152, 153, 155–158

Atlantis: The Eighth Continent, 153

atoms, 31, 32, 193, 200–210

Auschwitz, 124

Australopithecines, 169, 202

Australopithecus afarensis, 111

availability cascade, 79

availability heuristic, 80

Avenger torpedo planes, 153

B-2 Spirit bomber, 160

Babylon, 128

Babylonians, 157

backfire effect, 80

bacteria, 114, 139, 195, 196, 197, 198, 199

Ballard, Bob, 158

bandwagon effect, 81, 147

Bangkok, 76

Barnum effect, 81

base-rate fallacy, 80

BBC, 157

Bean, Alan (Apollo 12), 144

Berlitz, Charles, 153

Bermuda Triangle, 30, 47, 152–155

Bermuda Triangle, The, 153

Bermuda Triangle Mystery—Solved, The, 153

bias blind spot, 80

Bigfoot, 30, 64, 110–115

Big Pharma, 127

Blackbird (SR-71, plane), 160

blue whales, 196

Borman, Frank (Apollo 8 commander), 144

Borneo, 135

brain nutrition, 170–173

Brain Rules, 176

Brazel, Mack, 120, 121, 122, 123

Browne, Sylvia, 116

Burbank, California, 107

California, 58, 95, 100, 107, 136, 195

Caribbean, 99, 193

Carpenter, Scott (Mercury Seven astronaut), 144

Carthaginians, 157

Caveman Logic: The Persistence of Primitive Thinking in a Modern World, 29

Centers for Disease Control (CDC), 175

Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), 159, 160, 161

Cernan, Gene (Apollo 17 commander), 144, 145

Chabris, Christopher, 65

Chariots of the Gods? 134

Chavez, Hugo, 141

Cheops, 135

Cherne, Jack (lunar module engineer), 144

child witches, 29, 189

CIA (Central Intelligence Agency), 159, 160, 161

Close Encounters of the Third Kind, 75

cold reading, 115–117

Cold War, 122, 137, 141, 142, 145, 161

complementary medicine. See alternative medicine

Computer Science Museum, 136

confabulation, 80

confirmation bias, 66–67, 76, 80–81, 117, 127, 130

conformity, 81

conspiracy theories, 82, 125–127, 141

Conspiracy Theory: Did We Land on the Moon? 142

Contact, 95

continental drift, 31, 92

Critias, 157

cryptozoologists/cryptozoology, 31, 110–115

crystals, 38, 88, 165, 155–156

Däniken, Erich von, 134, 135

Danube River, 148

Dark Ages, 39, 205

Dartmouth University, 100

Davis, Hank, 29

Demodex (mites), 198

Desulforudis audaxviator, 195–196

doomsday. See end of the world

Doomsday Live! (radio program), 136

Drake, Frank, 95

Drake equation, 95

dreams, 17, 33, 51, 142, 150, 168

drones (UAVs), 161

Duke, Charlie (Apollo 16), 143, 144, 145

Egypt, 136

Egyptians, 157

emotional bias, 81

end of the world, 84, 136–140, 192

entomology, 113

Epcot, 181

ESP, 30, 93

Europe, 99

Everest, 175

exercise/activity and brain health, 173–176

extinction (of humankind), 138–140

“extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence,” 45–46

extraterrestrial life, 30, 33, 84, 193

F-117 Nighthawk, 160

faith, 48–49

faith healer/faith healing, 38, 61, 162, 188

false-consensus effect, 81

false memory, 81

Feder, Ken, 157

First 20 Minutes: Surprising Science Reveals How We Can Exercise Better, The, 176

Flight 19, 153

flower essence therapy, 101

Forer effect, 81

Fort Worth Army Air Base, 122

Foster, Jodie (Ellie in Contact), 95

framing effect, 81–82

Frauds, Myths, and Mysteries: Science and Pseudoscience in Archaeology, 157

Gaddis, Vincent, 152–153

Galapagos Rift hydrothermal vents, 158

Gallup poll, 88, 90, 94, 106, 115, 141

Gemini (space program), 146

Germany, 148

ghosts, 28, 31, 32, 62, 51, 81, 88, 90, 93, 94, 104–107, 110, 111, 165, 186, 188, 205

Gigantopithecus, 112

Gildenberg, B. D., 123

Gimlin, Bob, 112–113

Giza, 135–136, 170

Göbekli Tepe, 170

Goodall, Jane 111

Google, 132

Great Pyramids of Giza, 135–136, 170

Hahnemann, Samuel, 98

hallucinations, 82

Hannibal, Missouri, 133

Harris Poll, 131

Harry Potter, 157

Harvard, 57, 114

Harvard Medical School, 173

haunted houses, 104–106, 186

Hawaii, 38

heaven, 149–151, 162

Heironimos, Bob, 113

hell, 149–150

hindsight bias, 82

history, 201–202

Hitler, Adolf, 72, 148

HIV

premature deaths blamed on alternative medicine, 98

Hollywood, 123

homeopathic medicine, 25, 98–100, 102

Homo erectus, 111, 135, 137, 169

horoscope, 25, 26, 48, 50, 91, 130, 205, 206

human sacrifice, 39

ignorance, 133, 194, 204

illusion-of-truth effect, 82

illusory correlation, 82

inattentional blindness, 65–66, 82

India, 29, 189

In-group bias, 82–83

Innocents Abroad, The, 133

Ionians, 157

irrational escalation, 83

Issacson, Walter, 98

Jacobi, Walter (NASA engineer, member of Wernher von Braun’s rocket team), 144

Jacobson, Annie, 124

James Randi Educational Foundation, 119

Jesus, 149

Jews, 124

Jobs, Steve, 98

Johansen, Donald, 111

Kelly, David, 98

Khufu, 136

kidney failure (blamed on alternative medicine), 97

King, Stephen, 105

Kittinger, Joe, 123

Kolitwenzew, Helena Rose, 97

Kranz, Gene (Mission Control Center flight director), 144, 145

Kusche, Larry, 153–154

Leakey, Louis, 202

Loch Ness monster, 31, 87, 110, 115, 171

Long, Greg, 113

Lord of the Rings, The, 157

lotteries, 131–132

Lucy fossils, 111

Macedonians, 157

magic, 29, 30, 31, 38–39, 89–94, 132, 133, 186, 188, 199, 206

Making of Bigfoot, The, 113

mammoths, 169

Marcel, Maj. Jesse A., 121

marine viruses, 196–197

Mars, 205

McDivitt, Jim (Apollo 9 astronaut), 144

Medina, John, 176, 177

mediums, 18, 35, 48, 49, 115, 118–119

memory, 57–60, 77, 85, 124

Mengele, Josef, 124

Mercury (space program), 146

“methane burp,” 138

Miami, Florida, 154

microbes, 38, 42, 194–196, 198

microbiology, 113, 193

Milky Way (galaxy), 200

miracles, 51, 90, 94, 131–134

Missouri, 133

mites. See Demodex

Monsterpalooza, 107

monsters, 28, 37, 38, 107, 113–115, 192, 195

Moon-landing-hoax claim, 44, 48, 127, 140–146

Morris, Phillip, 113

Morris Costumes, 113

Mountain View, California, 136

Muay Thai, 76

museums, 181–82

National Aeronautics and Space Administration, (NASA), 48, 75, 97, 141, 142, 145, 146

National Council on Science and Technology, 94–95

National Geographic, 47, 152

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 177

National Institute of Statistics and Geography, 94–95

natural (as defense of alternative medicine), 101–102

near-death experiences, 149–151

Nevada, 160

New Age, 155, 191

New Mexico, 84, 119

Newton, Isaac, 41

New York Times, 113

Nixon, Richard, 141, 144

NML Cygni (star), 199

North America, 196

Nostradamus, 75, 146–149, 206

nuclear war, 137–138

observational-selection bias, 83

O’Kane, James (Apollo spacesuit engineer), 144

Old Town, San Diego, 104

Oswald, Lee Harvey, 126, 159

Pacific Northwest, 112

Pakistan, 98

parallel universes, 93

paranormal, 31,47, 60, 89–94, 153, 186, 195, 199

pareidolia, 83

patternicity, 63–64

Patterson, Robert, 112–113

Patterson-Gimlin Bigfoot film, 112

Pentecostals, 191

Perry, Laurence, 97

placebo effect, 103, 104

Planet of the Apes, 111

Plato, 157–158

Pleistocene, 132, 133

Portuguese man o’ war, 191–194, 202

priming, 83

Project Mogul, 122–123

pseudoscience, 36, 110, 163

psychics/psychic readings, 18, 30, 35, 38, 42, 48, 50–51, 66–67, 81, 90, 98, 115–119, 130, 159, 162, 201

Pyramid of Djoser, 136

Pyramids of Giza, 135–136, 170

quarks, 38

Raelians, 75

Rand McNally, 47

Ratey, John, 173

religious claims, 162–164

Reynolds, Gretchen, 176

Robbins, Tony, 136

Romans, 157

Roswell alien-spacecraft-crash claim, 84, 119–124

Roswell Army Airfield, 120

Roswell Daily Record, 120–121

Sagan, Carl, 45, 96, 110

Sam, Manju, 100

Sam, Thomas, 100

sample size, 103

San Diego, 104, 111, 114, 160

San Diego Air and Space Museum, 160

San Diego Zoo, 111

Sandy Hook Elementary School, 125

Saqqara, 136

Saseen, Ted (Apollo spacecraft engineer), 144

Schacter, Daniel, 57

science (described), 39–40

science-fiction, 37, 95, 120, 123, 159

scientific process, 91–92

Scotland, 87

Scott, Dave (Apollo 9, Apollo 15 astronaut), 144

self-respect (and skepticism), 35

SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence), 75, 95, 97, 136

SETI Institute, 95

shark-embryo injections, 97

Shermer, Michael, 63–64

Shostak, Seth, 95

Simons, Daniel, 65

skepticism

and intelligence, 40–41

defined, 26–27

sleep and brain health, 176–178

Smithsonian’s Air and Space magazine 161

sorcerers, 29

South Africa, 97, 195

Soviet Union, 122, 124, 145

Spirit (B-2, bomber), 160

spiritual therapy, 98

SR-71 Blackbird (plane), 160

Stafford, Tom (Apollo 10 commander), 144

status-quo bias, 83

stories, storytelling/story-listening, 32, 37, 48, 56, 169

Subis Mountains, 135

Sumatra, 137

Sumerians, 157

supernatural, 30, 39, 47, 48, 51, 60, 72, 79, 89–94, 131, 150, 152, 153

supervolcanoes, 137

Swahili, 179

Sweickart, Rusty (Apollo 9 astronaut), 144

Taliban, 191

Tarter, Jill, 95

terminator robots, 37

Texas, 122

Thousand and One Nights, The, 135

Timaeus, 157

time machine, 37, 46–47

Titanic, 158

Toba, 137

troposphere, 196

Twain, Mark, 133

U-2 (plane), 160

UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones), 161

UFOs, 30, 33, 42, 44, 62, 64, 69–78, 90, 93, 94–97, 119, 120, 123, 149, 159–162

University of Colorado, 138

unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), 161

US Coast Guard, 152, 154

US Navy, 152, 154

Vance, Barbara, 95

Venter, Craig, 114

viruses, 139, 196–199

vision, 61–63, 85

von Braun, Wernher, 144

Vulcans, 186

Wallace, Michael, 114

Wallace, Ray L., 113

Whaley, Thomas, 104, 106

Whaley House, 104–106

Wikipedia, 132

Wilcox (Roswell sheriff), 121

Wilson, Edward O., 114, 195

witches, 29, 189

World Showcase at Epcot, 181

World War II, 124, 181

World Wide Web, 205

Wright brothers, 160

Wynne, Nick, 180

x-ray vision claim, 41

Yeti, 110

Young, John (Apollo 10, Apollo 16 commander), 144

zombies, 44, 95, 136

zoology, 113