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Paul Kingsbury October 7, 2018


October 7, 2018 — Paul Kingsbury : Gene and Randall present Paul Kingsbury, a Professor of Geography at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Canada. In 2015 Paul succeeded in winning a four-year SSHRC (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council) Insight Grant for a project called: “Situating the Growth of Paranormal Investigation Cultures: A Critical Study of the Lived Spaces of Organizations and Conferences.”

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The fact that “Paranormal Investigation Cultures” are deemed by certain universities to be a suitable subject for academic study in this day and age is very interesting. Phrased like that the question of whether the paranormal is worthy of scientific study or not is avoided and also whether such studies should really be looking more carefully at the actual beliefs of the investigators.
I note that Paul Kingsbury is a Professor of Geography and I’m told that some other university geography departments have been where study of such phenomena as crop circles, spooklights, UFOs and the like have been carried out. However, if one looks at crop circle conferences, UFO conferences and other conferences on paranormal subjects in general, one often finds these are put on by those with strongly held beliefs which almost amount to a religion. There is little that is scientific and much that corresponds to New Age belief. In the case of UFO conferences, a belief in alien visitation and even in alien abduction is often a prerequisite to one being asked as a speaker.
Paul Kingsbury says that he has attended crop circle conferences in the UK and he appears to accept the fallacy that so-called “genuine” crop circles cannot possibly be person-made. In particular he cites the case of the Galaxy crop circle formation which appeared on Milk Hill in Wiltshire in August 2001. That was indeed huge, measuring 1500 ft across and comprising about 80 medium sized circles and a further 320 much smaller ones. However it was expertly made by 12 practised circlemakers all of whom were well versed in the art of circlemaking. Not 50 to 60 people as Paul suggests!
A further fallacy is that, if human made, the makers would surely take the credit for it or else that some of them would be sure to blab about it. I know some of the 12 who made this formation and who usually operate in teams of just 2 or 3. It has always been their policy never to admit publicly to having made any particular formation --or the whole point of making their mysterious creations would be lost. On the few occasions that the circlemakers have claimed to have made particular formations devout croppies (as the believers are often called) refuse to believe them.
The Pi crop circle formation of 1st June 2008 (see attached photo) was made by three circlemakers including one I know well and whom I've known for many years. There is no reason to doubt what he has told me about this and several other crop circles he has been involved with. As regards many other recent formations I have no definite knowledge of their origin.

Pi Crop Circle 01-06-2008.jpg
I found this image of the Pi crop circle on the internet and --as you can see from the "Last of Days" tag-- it has been appropriated by some South African prophet who evidently interprets it as a sign that the End of the World is nigh. I rather doubt that --though I expect some folk most probably think that the crop circles are an indication that the Day of Judgement is at hand! This again makes it look as if some supposedly paranormal phenomena, such as the crop circles, should really be studied from the angle of religious belief creation rather than just cultural attitudes.
 
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