Michelle Rivers

March 28, 2025

Definition: The pseudoscience watchlist item results can't be reproduced or verified refers to claims with no reproducible or reputable evidence. The sources are not verifiable, and there is no way to verify the accuracy of the results. In most cases, no scientific method is followed.

Connection:

Even the first stories of disappearances in the Bermuda Triangle must be looked at with skepticism. The questions with the mystery surrounding the Bermuda Triangle are not about reproducible results but rather verifiable stories. Most of the 'evidence' presented suggesting that the Bermuda Triangle is a hot spot has very little information and comes from anecdotal sources that cannot be supported. Further, many claims of missing ships and airplanes do not consider ships that are late to return or airplanes that encountered severe weather. Thus, the claims or results cannot be verified as there are too many variables, and there are no reputable sources.

Definition: The psdeudoscience watchlist item, does not progress refers to beliefs that have been held since ancient times with no change in the belief or circumstances.

Connection: In the case of Oak Island and The Money Pit, it has been centuries since people started digging and found the initial husks and gold chain links. However, there hasn't been any progress since. People today have not found any new evidence and still believe the island to be cursed, mostly as a result of the deaths that have occurred. The scientific method has been used to evaluate the findings from The Money Pit, but there have been no further discoveries, and the legend itself has not changed in decades.

Definition: The pseudoscience watchlist item convinces by faith and belief refers to items in which there is a lack of scientific evidence; therefore, faith is required to believe.

Connection: Many religious and spiritual beliefs are centered around the concept of salvation and forgiveness of sins. In Catholicism, it's known as heaven. Heaven is described as a salvation, a place people go upon death. There is no way to prove this place exists, no evidence to back any claims of salvation and yet so many people believe it. This belief is held on pure faith, a complete trust despite a lack of evidence. That being said, without evidence, there is no way to debunk this claim. We can look at it through a scientific lens and define the claim as the existence of a corporeal or metaphysical place for salvation. From there, we have to recognize bias, whether we are religious or not, and evaluate both the evidence and the source. There is no evidence to evaluate aside from scripture, and the sources of this scripture are either long passed or hold the belief purely on faith themselves. Once the scripture and sources have been evaluated, a summary conclusion can be made on the entirely faith-based existence of heaven.

Definition: The pseudoscience red flag confusion of correlation with causation refers to the confusion between events happening in relation to one another (or in coincidence) with action/event A causing action/event B.

Connection: Many people believe that astrology is indicative of personality traits and events in lives. Some even go as far as to use star signs and positions of planets to predict events. They believe that the position of planets and stars predicts and causes certain events; for example, someone might read star signs and predict a breakup. Thinking critically, while there may be a statistical or perceived correlation between a negative event and specific planet position, it is impossible for the planet's positioning to cause the event as planet positioning and stars do not contribute to events on Earth.

Definition: The red flag confirmation bias refers to the tendency to remember or focus on events or ideas that align with already held beliefs. Even if the opposing argument is more compelling, confirmation bias leads one to remember the details that most go along with what they already believe.

Connection: Confirmation bias is huge in the search for Bigfoot as many people who go looking for such a creature have a single goal in mind. It is very easy to spot any figure that might slightly resemble this creature and immediately associate it with the image in mind. The power of suggestion is incredibly effective, and it's important for there to be some critical thinking applied to denote whether a vague figure spotted was Bigfoot or a natural/common animal. Thus, confirmation bias can be dangerous in these hunts, as seeing even a vague figure can be enough to cement one's belief.

Definition: The red flag ideological support refers to the act of claiming it is morally, ethically or politically correct to support claims to distract from a lack of evidence or the evidence that disproves the claim.

Connection: Cults are a really good example of ideological support as they are often one person claiming that it is ethically correct to support their beliefs, despite a huge lack of demonstrable validity. Even more so, many cults claim danger will come to those who don't follow the exact way of life they are suggesting and the beliefs they claim to be truth. For example, Jim Jones created a cult and orchestrated a tragic mass suicide wherein more than 900 members and Jim Jones himself were found dead on the grounds of his camp, known as Jonestown. Jim Jones had claimed to be a messiah of sorts, a prince of society that must be followed. He used ideological support to gain followers and distract from the fact that he had zero evidence to support his claims. It ended tragically for his followers and their families, showcasing the dangers of group thinking. Many members joined to be part of something and were brainwashed by other members and Jones himself.

Sources: https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/jonestown

Definition: The red flag proof by verbosity refers to the use of large amounts of information to overwhelm and confuse the listener. It is often compared to whack-a-mole, as the listener is attempting to discern the main point from the distracting amount of relevant and irrelevant information.

Connection: Crop circles have been popping up for centuries, and with it, lots of discussion around their validity. With just one short online search, it is very easy to get distracted as most articles and blogs that talk about crop circles very quickly jump topics to UFOs and alien invasion, not to mention fairies and other mythical creatures. Some are even so talented as to jump to conspiracy theories about 9/11 and the JFK Assassination without missing a beat. This is all done to distract the reader from the lack of evidence by overwhelming them with theories and stories that have little to no relevance to the topic at hand. It can be nearly impossible to keep up with these jumps and not get sucked into another argument, thus distracting one from the lack of evidence.

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/aliens/comments/14k25vw/were_these_crop_circles_real/

Definition: The red flag red herring refers to the use of irrelevant information to distract from the topic and any logical line of thinking. It is about throwing in irrelevant information and roping you into following an irrelevant line of thinking to distract you from the fact that they don't have evidence or the evidence that argues against their point.

Connection: Many people who argue that the earth is flat rely on red herrings in discussions. Whether or not they realize they are directly contradicted by science, they often mention many other conspiracies in the conversation to throw you off the topic and road of logic, as there is no logic to support this theory. Countless pieces of scientific evidence prove that the earth is spherical. Thus, to argue against this fact, a red herring is necessary to distract from that overwhelming amount of evidence.

Definition: The reason for belief agenticity refers to the tendency to assign meaning or representation to things that otherwise don't have meaning. It is part of a need for answers that people will assign these answers in the form of a potential corporeal being or hypothetical meaning.

Connection: Demons have been perpetuated for centuries as a representation or agent of evil. It is an agent assigned to find meaning for unexplained negative events. For example, unexplained cattle deaths might have historically been attributed to demonic presence, or a person acting in a way that is unexpected or religiously unacceptable might be attributed to demonic possession. This association is not as commonly made in the modern world, but historically, it was a huge tool that people used to understand the world around them, however incorrect it seems to us. It was a distorted view of truth that led people to believe that demons were present in the world or controlling people, but it was born out of a need to understand why bad things were happening.

Definition: The reason for belief emotional connection refers to the desire to believe, generally due to emotional distress and people preying on that distress to push a belief.

Connection: Reiki is often used as a healing technique, targeting energies and spiritual aspects. It is often claimed to help heal physical ailments as those who perpetuate this practice often claim that physical ailments can be due to imbalances in one's spirituality. These perpetuators use personal anecdotes of someone healing from a terrible illness to pull at one's heartstrings and form an emotional connection. They target the ill or disabled, specifically their emotions, as a way to lure people into paying money for a spiritual treatment that may or may not work. There is no solid scientific evidence to prove that reiki works, only heartwrenching anecdotes of survivors who received reiki treatments in conjunction with their medical treatment.

Definition: The reason for belief ideology refers to a set of beliefs that are often the basis for beliefs and decisions. Most commonly, there are political ideologies, such as the conservative and liberal parties, and cultural and social or religious ideologies, things more like racism and feminism.

Connection: Many people use ideology as the basis for banning drag shows. Drag shows are events in which people dress up extravagantly, typically as the opposite sex to their own, and perform songs, dances, and other creative pieces. Political and religious ideologies are abused, arguing for protecting children and the nature of two genders, male and female. Commonly, people use the argument that drag is harming children and warping their way of thinking. This is a belief born from religious ideologies that holds little to no weight as exposing children to different ways of life has been proven to improve their cognitive and emotional functioning.

Definition: The reason for belief unexplained refers to the tendency to believe things due to a lack of logical explanation and a need to understand. Humans have an innate need to understand and explain experiences, and when confronted with the unexplained, we may believe whatever explanation were are presented that makes any semblance of sense.

Connection: Imagine the lights are flickering, and lamps are flying off the table. How do you explain that? You likely can't, and the most readily available answer that comes to mind, thanks to the media, is ghosts. Are you compelled to believe that your house is haunted? Likely yes. The lamps flying and lights flickering is unexplainable, and that is reason enough for you to find something to believe in as a reasoning or a way to understand the events taking place. A lack of practice with critical thinking can perpetuate this belief in spirits, as with critical thinking, we can realize that tension on a cord could be causing a lamp to fall and the lights might be flickering because the bulbs are almost dead.