Demon Fairy Fiasco Update
Posted by MikeHeiser | Sep 17, 2016 | Fringe Bible Interpretation, Fringe History & Archaeology,Paleobabble |
Well, the demon fairy is a hoax. Just like I said I expected it would turn out to be. On August 9, 2016 I wrote:
- Quote :
- The point of wanting the “fairy” specimen tested under transparent peer review is to make sure it isn’t an example of this (anything look familiar?) X-rays don’t establish what material something is made of. Lots of material will show up on an X-ray. Sincere researchers have been duped before. I don’t want that to happen to Lynn or anyone else. If insisting on transparency with this sort of thing draws abuse for me, so be it. Let me go on record now as saying that I believe real scientific testing will show the specimen is not an unknown life form.
Here’s Lynn Marzulli on Skywatch with the announcement:
I’m not at all surprised. Not in the least. This was no mystery from the beginning. Here are some obvious points that should have been grasped very early:
- That a specimen like this is organic (has DNA) proves nothing. It is no argument against it being a fake, nor is it an argument that the DNA is of an unknown life form. Why? Keep reading.
- That an X-ray of the specimen shows wing structures and such, including bone, proves nothing. It is no argument against fakery, either. Right after some readers blew up at me for saying something as controversial as the specimen needed independent study and to be submitted to peer review (how brazen of me), I posted a link to this site about how such fairies were manufactured by a special effects artist. I’ve corresponded with that artist and sent him a link to one of the YouTube videos about the specimen. He wasn’t impressed, saying that it looked to him like the specimen had been manufactured using two bats (plenty of bats in Mexico, you know). You can see metal objects at joints in the X-ray, something you’d suspected if limbs of a second bat was added to the first and secured in place. He also suspected there might be other known animal parts in the specimen. Here’s the point: I didn’t need a dissection by a zoologist to figure this out because I asked someone who knows how to do this. It was about an hour’s worth of work.
- The specimen was sent to Marzulli by the known, infamous, repeated fraudster, Jaime Maussan. Maussan has been linked to fakery in the past, most recently the ridiculous Roswell slides debacle. I could care less if Maussan is a celebrity in Mexico. He perpetuates frauds.
- The whole idea that Rev 9 concerns literal locust creatures or demon fairies is flawed exegesis. For one thing, the passage is about the release of the fallen Watchers (spiritual beings in biblical/Jewish texts, imprisoned in the Underworld, which doesn’t have earthly latitude and longitude). Anyone who spends any time doing real exegesis in the New Testament against the backdrop of Second Temple Judaism would know that — because they’d have studied the Second Temple Jewish parallels (like the Enochian material).
All the above should have told people that this wasn’t to be trusted. There are more problems of procedure and competence associated with the whole saga, and the video explanation, but I really don’t care to critique it. I’d rather focus on what I hope has been learned:
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[*]Jaime Maussan should not be trusted. Ever. He is a serial fraud-perpetuator. See here and here for more. If he told Marzulli the truth that he paid $10K for the specimen, Maussan is also gullible.
[*]If you were fooled by this you didn’t do enough work up front. Again, this took me two emails and about an hour’s worth of work.
[*]If one approaches such things skeptically, that’s a good thing. It makes back-pedaling explanations unnecessary.
[*]If Marzulli et al were deceived (which is what I said in earlier posts and comments was my fear), he did the right thing here by the announcement. I’m willing to think he was, and did not intentionally perpetuate this fraud. His methods (or lack thereof) let him down.
[*]This fiasco is precisely why peer-review before going public (and before people pay for information) is essential. I hope the point is now made, but I’m not holding my breath. I’ve seen too much of this stuff over the years.
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Another sad chapter in paranormal research.