Paging Dr. Venkman

August 28, 2006 11:02 PM

The Skeptiseum displays nine exhibits featuring over a hundred specimens. It is supported by the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, the group responsible for Skeptical Inquirer magazine. The John Zaffis Museum of the Paranormal, on the other hand, is a creepy little collection with plenty of provocative pieces. John Zaffis, the curator, also runs the Paranormal Research Society of New England, where he offers his services as a ghostbuster, as well as handy tips for the DIY crowd. So, who's got more cred?
posted by owhydididoit (9 comments total)

Previously. Some other online museum FPPs.
posted by owhydididoit at 11:03 PM on August 28, 2006

Good things don't end with eum. They end with mania. Or teria!
posted by nicwolff at 11:20 PM on August 28, 2006

John Zaffis' collection is creepy and provocative, because it contains an assortment of rubbish that anyone could have gathered from a few mediocre flea markets?

Are the gullible and the congenitally stupid really that easy to impress?
posted by Chasuk at 12:13 AM on August 29, 2006

Yes.
posted by spazzm at 12:20 AM on August 29, 2006

Well, Mr Bojo at John Zaffis' site is, for my money, the one that's most most likely genuinely haunted. And that's the first time I'd ever seen the term "poppet", which I at first assumed to be a typo. So there you go, learn sumpin' new every day...

But I think this Zaffis guy basically just likes to, you know, remove things from people's homes.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 1:10 AM on August 29, 2006

Are the gullible and the congenitally stupid really that easy to impress?

I would think that, by definition, they are.
posted by moonbiter at 1:41 AM on August 29, 2006

I don't know about the gullible and stupid - and I support CSICOPs mission - but there's something mighty souless and depressing about this Skeptisuem.
posted by loquacious at 5:03 AM on August 29, 2006

But c'mon, you KNOW that clown doll is just pure distilled evil. It's looking askance!
posted by bayliss at 7:53 AM on August 29, 2006

The Skeptiseum is not a bad idea, but the content is only so-so. I just did a random click to the creationism section and the "exhibit" doesn't do justice to the subject even though it does have this fun pic. A for effort though.
posted by storybored at 11:57 AM on August 29, 2006