Michael Prescott

[[File:Michael Prescott.jpg|165px|thumb|right|Michael Prescott]]
{{Paranormal}}
'''Michael Prescott''' {{lived|1960|}} is an [[United States|American]] [[Author|writer]], blogger and [[paranormal]] researcher.

Critics point out that Prescott does not look at data objectively and that he is a promoter of [[pseudoscience]]. 

==Background==

Prescott grew up in [[New Jersey]] where he attended Wesleyan University, majoring in Film Studies. He has had some success as an author of a number of horror and suspense novels which have sold over 2.5 million copies in America.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/19991001160708/http://michaelprescott.freeservers.com/ Biography of Michael Prescott]</ref>

Prescott's interests include [[intelligent design]], [[Jesus]], the [[Bible]] and [[parapsychology]].<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20050410162211/http://michaelprescott.typepad.com/about.html About Michael Prescott]</ref>

==Paranormal studies==

Prescott owns a blog where he posts on [[paranormal]], [[spiritualism]] and topics related to [[life after death]] but has not actually done any experiments or investigations into [[parapsychology]] other than read books on the topic. On his blog he claims that everything from [[mediumship]] to [[levitation]] is scientifically valid. He usually rants against "[[materialist]] skeptics", and even opposes those within parapsychology who are [[skeptic]]al about certain phenomena. Prescott rejects the [[psychological]] explanation for the paranormal, he also rejects [[hallucination]]s as an explanation for certain phenomena.

===Mediumship===
[[File:Seance Doll.jpg|thumb|right|165px|A doll dressed in cloth in a séance with the medium {{wpl|Linda Gazzera||}} which Cesare Lombroso believed to be real.]]

Prescott has written that [[ectoplasm]] is genuine. If he had done some real research into experiments carried out by scientists during [[séances]] he would see that ectoplasm is universally discredited even amongst other parapsychologists since all investigations into the substance turned out to mostly cheesecloth, muslin, plastic dolls and the result of fraud. He also claims the mediumship of [[Eusapia Palladino]] is genuine, however Palladino was exposed as using trickery.

As Prescott believes [[ectoplasm]] is real, in defense of this view he cites the work of the spiritualist {{wpl|Cesare Lombroso||}} (1835-1909). If you look in the photo you can easily see the figure in the back is a doll but Lombroso claimed such photos were genuine. Considering that Prescott believes the work of Lombroso is scientific evidence for life after death, this seriously undermines his credibility.

Prescott has also written that many of the Victorian séances and mediums were genuine and ignores most skeptical data on the subject. There are many books published and even papers written in journals written by psychical researchers (e.g., [[Society for Psychical Research]]) in that era who had exposed many of the Victorian mediums as using trickery yet Prescott ignores most of this data. 

In the case of fraudulent mediums, the [[Fox sisters]], Prescott writes "I understand that skeptics will be content with the toe-cracking theory, especially since Maggie herself espoused it (despite her later retraction). But I would like to see someone with such snap-crackle-popping joints reproduce the effects that the Fox sisters obtained." What Prescott does not mention is that Margaret herself demonstrated to a massive public audience at the New York Academy of Music how she and her sister had performed the toe-cracking phenomena.<ref>Michael Prescott's [https://web.archive.org/web/20070220071121/http://michaelprescott.typepad.com/michael_prescotts_blog/2006/11/toes_apoppin.html poorly researched] take on the Fox Sisters. In his book ''Paranormality'', Richard Wiseman wrote that "Margaretta silenced those Spiritualists who had been sceptical about her confession by appearing before a packed auditorium at the New York Academy of Music and demonstrating her remarkable ability to produce raps at will."</ref> 

On his website, Prescott claims the medium [[Daniel Dunglas Home]] was never caught in fraud. This is a false statement as Home was caught in fraud a number of times by different séance sitters.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20140518031232/http://michaelprescott.freeservers.com/online-bibliography.html Michael Prescott Bibliography]. See the entry for [[Daniel Dunglas Home]] for a number of Home's exposures.</ref> Prescott has also claimed that it was unlikely the materialization medium Minnie Harrison was fraudulent. Actually, Harrison was a blatant fraud who used to dress up in a cloth and pretend to be a spirit in her séances.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20060209203010/http://michaelprescott.typepad.com/michael_prescotts_blog/2006/01/beyond_belief.html Beyond Belief] A spirit materialization in a Minnie Harrison séance during the 1940s compared with Harrison. You can see that the "spirit" is Harrison dressed up in a cloth.</ref> 

Prescott shows great ignorance of [[Occam's razor]], he usually advocates a far-fetched paranormal explanation instead of a simple naturalistic one. For example, one of [[Leonora Piper]]'s trance controls claimed to be [[Julius Caesar]], but spelt his name incorrectly as "Caezar". Prescott claims that "this fits in pretty well with the idea of mischievous or malicious earthbound spirits carrying out impersonations." It is more likely that the alleged trance control was either a joke or a subconscious creation of Piper.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20130813121048/http://michaelprescott.typepad.com/michael_prescotts_blog/2013/08/more-on-mrs-piper.html More on Mrs Piper].</ref>

In the case of the discredited medium Arthur Ford, Prescott admits he did perform fakery but also claims he had "legitimate psychic abilities".<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20061208183821/http://michaelprescott.typepad.com/michael_prescotts_blog/2006/11/heres_an_intere.html Recalling Ford]</ref> 

Revealing his [[Kool-Aid drinker|will to believe anything]], Prescott has written that thoughts may be generated by the [[Draft:Hive mind|collective minds]] of séance sitters and similar to [[spirits]], take on an objective existence.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20130813121227/http://michaelprescott.typepad.com/michael_prescotts_blog/2013/08/such-stuff-as-dreams-are-made-on.html Such stuff as dreams are made on] Prescott writes "The thought-form idea offers another explanation. Perhaps Philip began as a thought-form generated by the collective minds of the sitters, but at some point acquired a degree of autonomy as the I-thought was attracted to it. In this case, Philip was both a thought-form and a spirit, or perhaps he inhabited a borderland between the two states… Perhaps other spirit controls, such as Chlorine and Feda also began as thought-forms and acquired reality as they developed."</ref>

===Reincarnation===

Prescott has written that the [[reincarnation]] studies of [[Ian Stevenson]] are paranormal in origin.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20060224090455/http://michaelprescott.typepad.com/michael_prescotts_blog/2005/07/life_before_lif.html Life Before Life] Prescott writes "Anyone who has studied Stevenson's work (and plowed through his rather dry prose) would be hard pressed to explain away the stronger cases in his collection as coincidence or fraud. Much of this material does seem to be paranormal in origin. But there are problems with ascribing all the case histories to reincarnation." However, philosopher Paul Edwards studied Stevenson's work and concluded they could be explained by [https://web.archive.org/web/20091004011158/http://www.csicop.org/si/show/a_cogent_consideration_of_the_case_for_karma_and_reincarnation/ fraud, gullibility and wishful thinking].</ref> According to Prescott "perhaps many supposed reincarnation cases are actually instances of [spirit] obsession or possession. This hypothesis may not address all the facts, but possibly it's a good starting point."<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20060516050049/http://michaelprescott.typepad.com/michael_prescotts_blog/2006/04/more_on_reincar.html More on reincarnation]</ref>

==See also==
*[[Robert McLuhan]]
*[[Michael E. Tymn]]

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20050410151129/http://michaelprescott.typepad.com/ The paranormal blog of Michael Prescott]

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prescott, Michael}}
[[Category:Authors]]
[[Category:Paranormal]]
[[Category:Pseudoscience promoters]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Pissed at us]]

Categories: Authors, Paranormal, Pseudoscience promoters, Living people, Pissed at us