Consolidated links to my articles on "psychic detective" Noreen Renier and to Noreen Renier's website

 
Chapter on the legendary Cash-Landrum "UFO-Radiation" case in The Reliability of UFO Witness Testimony, a cross-disciplinary compendium of mostly skeptical papers by 60 authors from 14 countries (UPIAR, Turin, Italy, 2023)

 
Columns in Freethought News (monthly newsletter of the Tampa Bay Coalition of Reason), 2018-19

 
"'Psychic Detective' Noreen Renier: The Grinch Who Stole Christmas from a Grieving Family," Skeptical Inquirer, July/Aug 2017

 
"Vindication of My Notorious 'Insulting' Letter to UFOlogist J. Allen Hynek," Skeptical Inquirer, July/Aug 2013 (and the John Franch article cited in mine can be found here.)

 
"One Skeptic's View of the 'Global Warming' Controversy," Skeptical Briefs (CSICOP's companion newsletter to Skeptical Inquirer), Summer 2013

 
"iPhony Cures May Have Cost Apple's Steve Jobs His Life," Skeptical Inquirer, Jan/Feb 2012

 
"'Psychic Detective' Noreen Renier Lambasted in Judge's Ruling," Skeptical Inquirer, July/Aug 2011

 
"Close Encounter of the Secondhand Kind with 'Psychic Medium' George Anderson," Skeptical Briefs (CSICOP's companion newsletter to Skeptical Inquirer), June 2010 (also posted here with the entire audio!)

 
"Assessing the Credibility of CFI's Credibility Project," Skeptical Inquirer, Jan/Feb 2010 (also posted here). CSI's response is posted here.

 
"The Phil Klass Almost Nobody Knew," Sunlite online newsletter, May/June 2009 (Vol. 1 No. 1)

 

"A Mind for Murdergate: 'Psychic clues' audaciously altered in new edition of Renier memoir" Skeptical Inquirer, Nov/Dec 2008

 
"'Court TV' Psychic Loses to Skeptic in Real Court," Skeptical Inquirer, July/Aug 2007

 
"Parade's Dr. Rosenfeld Reprises Dubious Acupuncture Claim," Skeptical Inquirer, Sept/Oct 2006

 
"Philip J. Klass: A UFO (Ufologist Friend's Obituary)," Skeptic magazine, 2006 (Vol. 12, No. 2)

 
"Police chief misleads viewers about John Monti on Psychic Detectives," Skeptical Inquirer, Nov/Dec 2005

 

"These files may be 'real-life' -- but is she really 'psychic'?" (a review of Noreen Renier's memoir, A Mind for Murder: The Real-Life Files of a Psychic Investigator) Skeptical Inquirer, Sept/Oct 2005

 
"Noreen Renier and the Williston case on Court TV's Psychic Detectives," Skeptic magazine, 2005 (Vol. 11, No. 3)

 
"Yellowstone and the Absence of ET Visitations," Skeptical Briefs (CSICOP's companion newsletter to Skeptical Inquirer), December 2004

 
"Study Yields No Evidence for Medical Efficacy of Distant Intercessory Prayer: A Follow-up Commentary" (a critique of this study by Dr. Dale Matthews),  The Scientific Review of Alternative Medicine, Winter 2002  [My preliminary article, "An Examination of the Media Coverage of a Prayer Study-in-Progress," was published in The Scientific Review of Alternative Medicine, Fall/Winter 1998.]

 

Entry on "Police Psychics: Noreen Renier as a Case Study" in The Skeptic Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience, edited by Michael Shermer (AMC-Clio, 2002). First appeared as an article entitled "A Not-So-Psychic Detective?" in Skeptic magazine, 1997 (Vol. 5, No. 4).

 

"Hardly a Prayer on ABC's 20/20 Downtown" (brief commentary about my appearance during the 8/13/01 20/20 Downtown report on "The Power of Prayer"), Skeptical Inquirer, Nov/Dec 2001

 
"Metamorphosis: A Life's Journey from 'Believer' to 'Skeptic'" (chapter contributed to Skeptical Odysseys: Personal Accounts by the World's Leading Paranormal Inquirers, Prometheus Books, 2001)

 

"The Face Behind the 'Face' on Mars: A Skeptical Look at Richard C. Hoagland" Skeptical Inquirer, Nov/Dec 2000 "Putting a Better Face on the 'Face' on Mars" (a follow-up to the original article) Skeptical Inquirer, May/June 2001 (entire issue posted here) "Facing Facts and Saving Face" (further follow-up; and for more detail, including audio of the Hoagland/Bell lies, see here) Skeptical Inquirer, Sept/Oct 2001

 
Writeups on the "Face" on Mars and Philip J. Klass, The Encyclopedia of Extraterrestrial Encounters, 2001

 
"Another controversial effort to establish the medical efficacy of intercessory prayer" (a critique of the Harris group's Archives of Internal Medicine study), The Scientific Review of Alternative Medicine, Spring/Summer 2000 (also posted here)
(Listen to my 35-minute presentation on prayer and healing at a national conference in 2001, in which this study was one of my principal topics)

 
"$1,000 Challenge to 'Crazy Rod' Dowser Yields Chance Results," Skeptical Inquirer, Jan/Feb 2000 (entire issue posted here)

 
An Interview with Philip J. Klass: The World's Leading UFO Skeptic, Skeptic magazine, 1999 (Vol. 7  No. 4)
(also posted here)

 
"Noreen Renier's Latest 'Psychic Sleuth' Triumph," Skeptic magazine, 1999 (Vol. 7, No. 3)

 

"Chinese Acupuncture for Heart Surgery Anesthesia" (a critique of Dr. Isadore Rosenfeld's China acupuncture story, co-authored with Dr. Wallace Sampson) The Scientific Review of Alternative Medicine, Fall/Winter 1999 "Questioning Dr. Isadore Rosenfeld's China Acupuncture Story" Skeptical Inquirer, July/Aug 1999

 
"Point/Counterpoint: Is Prescribing Placebos Ethical? No" (written at the request of the American Council on Science and Health), Priorities for Health, 1998 (Vol. 10  No. 4)

 
"Millennium: Healthcare: Alternative Medicine" (a mini-essay on the dumbing down of American medicine, written at the request of the American Council on Science and Health), Priorities for Health, 1998 (Vol. 10  No. 2-3) (also posted here)

 
"S.O.P. at CNN" (a skeptic-oriented essay on irresponsible reporting), Skeptical Briefs (CSICOP's companion newsletter to Skeptical Inquirer), September 1998

 
"Has science proven the 'divine' health benefits of religion?" (a critique, written at the request of the Secular Web, of a USA Today article, Aug. 1998)

 

"Talking to the Living Loved Ones of the Dearly Departed" (on "spirit medium" James Van Praagh, author of Talking to Heaven) Skeptic magazine, 1998 (Vol. 6, No. 1)

 

St. Petersburg Times editorial cartoon based on my idea, April 3, 1998

 
"A Not-So-Psychic Detective?" (article on the Noreen Renier / Williston Police case), Skeptic magazine, 1997 (Vol. 5, No. 4)

 

"Tampa Bay's 'Virgin Mary Apparition'" Free Inquiry, Spring 1997

 
"Lexicon of Unnaturalistic Alternatives" (book review of The Dictionary of Metaphysical Healthcare by Jack Raso), Skeptical Briefs, December 1996 (also posted here)

 
"Noreen Renier 'Put to the Test' -- Hollywood TV Style," Skeptical Inquirer, Sept/Oct 1996

 
"Would you like fries with your penicillin?" (an essay on the sorry state of primary care medicine), The Real American Home Journal (a newsletter based in Tarpon Springs, Florida), Mar/Apr 1996

 

"Burden of Proof" (a skeptic-oriented essay on the O.J. Simpson murder trial) Skeptical Briefs, December 1995

 
"Examining an Unsolved Mysteries Report of a 'Miraculous' Cure" (of a Florida woman who claimed to have been diagnosed with "breast cancer"), Skeptical Inquirer, Sept/Oct 1995

 
"Taking a Stab at a Paranormal Claim" (regarding so-called "Deliberately Caused Bodily Damage" [DCBD] phenomena), Skeptical Briefs, September 1995

 
"The Devilish 'Barney' Media Hoax," Skeptical Inquirer, Fall 1994

 

"Medical Practice Enters a New Age" (review of Healing Words: The Power of Prayer and the Practice of Medicine by Dr. Larry Dossey) Skeptical Inquirer, Summer 1994 (entire issue posted here) (Listen to my 35-minute presentation on prayer and healing at a national conference in 2001, in which this book was one of my principal topics)

 
Chapter on Noreen Renier in Psychic Sleuths: ESP and Sensational Cases, edited by Joe Nickell (Prometheus Books, 1994) (also posted here)

 
"NBC's Cynically Skewed Reporting on the Power of Prayer," Free Inquiry, Summer 1994
(Listen to my 35-minute presentation on prayer and healing at a national conference in 2001 -- my discussion of this TV program begins at 00:25 of Part 2)

 
"Nation's Mathematicians Guilty of Innumeracy" (report on the Marilyn vos Savant "three-door paradox" columns in Parade magazine), Skeptical Inquirer, Summer 1991 (entire issue posted here, and article also reproduced in the first chapter of Weird Water & Fuzzy Logic by Martin Gardner, Prometheus Books, 1996)

 
"Skeptically Speaking" columns in Tampa Bay Sounding (publication of  Tampa Bay Mensa), 1991-94

 

"Tampa Bay's Weeping Icon Fiasco," Skeptical Inquirer, Summer 1990 (entire issue posted here) This article is accompanied by three video frames from local TV news coverage of my investigation (Ch. 10).

 
"God in the CCU?" (critique of Dr. Randolph Byrd's 1988 study on intercessory prayer), Free Inquiry, Spring 1990 (also posted here)
(Listen to my 35-minute presentation on prayer and healing at a national conference in 2001, in which this study was one of my principal topics)

 
"A Case of Immaculate Abortion?" (evaluation of a gynecologist's miraculous medical claim), Free Inquiry, Summer 1988 (also posted here)

 
"Nonhealing a Nonexistent Tumor" (investigation of TV faith-healer Peter Popoff's claimed cure of a Tampa girl), Free Inquiry, Winter 1986-87 (also posted here)

 
Medical Consultant for The Faith Healers by James Randi (Prometheus Books, 1987 -- see these pages from the book)