Nexus - 0802 - New Times Magazine-pages

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REVIEWS Yet, one significant but overlooked factor Rickard is the founder/co-editor of Fortean which Viera Scheibner, PhD, and Maureen Times, the UK-based magazine which cov- Hickman have been exposing via NEXUS is ers all sorts of anomalous phenomena, often Reviewed by Ruth Parnell the vaccination link in instances of both cot with a humorous bent. Such humour flows death (SIDS) and SBS (2/05, 5/05, 7/06). through this book as a matter of necessity— THE LYNCH-MOB SYNDROME Another is the SIDS link with bacterial out- for there's "nothing to be gained by worrying by Ken Norman gassings (identified by Dr Jim Sprott in about or wilfully rejecting aspects of our The Portia Campaign, UK, 2000 6/06). These compelling connections might human experience which can never be ISBN 0-932813-86-0 (224pp tpb) be overlooked in this book, but they are explained". Yet we want to know the truth! Price: £6.00 + p&h ignored by "experts" in the medical and judi- Carrying on in the tradition begun by pio- Available: UK—The Portia Campaign, cial systems around the world. It is impera- neering "Fortean" researcher Charles Fort The Croft, West Common, Bowness-on- tive that the "authorities", not only the pub- (1874–1932), the authors analyse strange Solway, Cumbria CA7 5AG, tel/fax lic, become better informed before more phenomena as diverse as teleportation, 016973 51820, e-mail ken_portia@one- needless deaths and convictions occur. falling fish and frogs, stigmata, levitation, tel.net.uk, website www.portia.org crowd madness, fairy folk, alien encounters, Retired journalist Ken Norman founded spontaneous combustion, subterranean UNEXPLAINED PHENOMENA: The Portia Campaign 30-odd years ago realms, crop circles, spectral ships, simu- A "Rough Guide" Special in the UK as a national charity to help lacra, weeping statues, anomalous creatures, women in particular who may be wrongly by Bob Rickard and John Michell psychic animals and more, and they make convicted or in trouble with the law because Rough Guides Ltd, UK, 2000 lively use of illustrations and photos. They of emotional or mental breakdown or ISBN 1-85828-589-5 (394pp tpb) also provide useful Fortean-type Internet through injustice. Many of the women Price: A$30.00; NZ$39.95; £12.99; sources at the back of the book. There's whose cases are summarised in Norman's US$27.99; C$19.95 more than enough here to convince you that book, The Lynch-Mob Syndrome, have been Available: Australia/UK/USA/Canada— this is a very weird world indeed. found guilty of murdering their children— Penguin Books; New Zealand—NEXUS crimes they swear they did not commit. Office, tel (09) 405 1963 It's a shocking indictment on our society If an anomalous event cannot be explained, when judges, scientific and medical witness- this doesn't mean it should be discounted. es, police prosecutors and jurors in effect And while authors John Michell and Bob conspire in a gradual, joint deterioriation of Rickard are all for investigating strange phe- judgement to convict innocent people. To nomena, they warn that explanations are Norman, it's lynching in a new guise. merely "temporary products, coming and Mothers have been wrongfully imprisoned going in response to fashions". because of an unidentified genetic disposi- This Rough Guide special edition, tion or because their children died of toxic Unexplained Phenomena, is a compilation poisoning from a plastic swimming pool. based on new material and updates of two Various tragic deaths were deemed to be due earlier works from these authors: to unusual cot death circumstances, shaken Phenomena: A Book of Wonders (1977) and baby syndrome (SBS) or other trauma, again Living Wonders (1982). Michell is a veteran resulting in a conviction for the mother or researcher/author on subjects such as carer (the Louise Woodward case is a high- archaeology, ancient science, sacred geome- profile example). try, landscape energies and so forth, while FEBRUARY – MARCH 2001 NEXUS • 71