An introduction.
During the past semester, first-year students in my 3 sections of English 1101 at the Georgia Institute of Technology have researched and written about extraordinary claims. They wrote 3 short papers, produced graphics suitable for the web, recorded podcasts, made short films, and interviewed dozens of people in the Georgia Tech community and beyond. They contacted practicing witches, clairvoyants, sensitives, and vampires. They took pictures of orbs, reproduced ghostly mists, and staged ghost hunts. They interviewed psychologists about motivated cognition and confirmation bias, cultural critics about the depiction of extraterrestrials in the media, and astronomers about the Drake equation. The products of their hard work arrived this week when they showcased the websites that their groups had produced. They span all forms of extraordinary claims: regional folklore, super-abilities, monsters, conspiracy theories, cults, and much more.
Student Websites
- Georgia Ghost Stories (Stories of southern hauntings.) Be sure to hear their analysis of EVPS.
- Extrasensory Perception (Clairvoyance, precognition, psychometry, telepathy, and telekinesis.) See the interview with psychologist Brian Gane.
- Cryptozoology (Got Chupacabra?)
- Do You Want To Know a Secret (Paul McCartney is dead.)
- Psychic Atlanta (How do you make money off of...nothing?)
- Urban Legends (Why do rumors and stories spread so readily on campuses?)
- Post-Mortem Periodical ("A look at the paranormal through skeptical eyes")
- Student Ghost Hunters (Students looking for ghosts, or looking for the ghosts of students? Yes!)
- Witchcraft (Don't judge a book by its cover.)
- America: Melting Pot of the Undead (America: Bring me your huddled masses of vampires and gouhls)
- Life Beyond Earth (The truth is in here.)
- Conspiracy Theories
- Cults
- Borley Rectory (The most haunted place in England?)
- The Moon Landing Hoax
- The Roswell Incident
Robert J. Blaskiewicz, Jr., Ph.D.
Marion L. Brittain Postdoctoral Fellow
Georgia Institute of Technology
robert [point] blaskiewicz [at] gatech [period] edu
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