This weeks commentary - another Hurkos fiasco ...

[kieran]

The fact that the bodies of the two missing guys (and their car) was found in Lake Waubesa instead of Lake Monona is likely to be enough evidence of Hurkos' psychic powers for many ... however, I assume that Hurkos made his "guess" after the car and bodies had not been found during an extensive search over land and by air - which would suggest that the car was hidden ... and if the area had lots of lakes, particularly near the route they were known to be travelling on, then it wouldn't take a great leap of logic ...

I'd like to note that this isn't the first time that the commentary has chosen a relatively weak example when criticizing claimed psychic/paranormal events - I'm thinking of a graph that did show a dramatic change in oil price trend after prayers in "Nothing Fails Like a Prayer" (June 22 commentary). When these people are talking crap the commentary examples should clearly demonstrate this ... not give ammunition to those who support it.

 

[Rodney]

The fact that the bodies of the two missing guys (and their car) was found in Lake Waubesa instead of Lake Monona is likely to be enough evidence of Hurkos' psychic powers for many.

As I noted in post #2255 on "The Girl with 'X-ray' Vision" thread, Hurkos arguably demonstrated psychic power on a variety show many years ago:
http://www.internationalskeptics.co...?p=1636691&highlight=peter+hurkos#post1636691

 

[bjb]

The two lakes are two of the four major lakes in the Madison, Wisconsin area:

http://maps.yahoo.com/maps_result?addr=&csz=madison+wisconsin&country=us&new=1&name=&qty=

All four lakes are within a few miles of each other, so Hurkos had a 1 in 4 chance of getting it right.

 

[Rodney]

The two lakes are two of the four major lakes in the Madison, Wisconsin area:

http://maps.yahoo.com/maps_result?addr=&csz=madison+wisconsin&country=us&new=1&name=&qty=

All four lakes are within a few miles of each other, so Hurkos had a 1 in 4 chance of getting it right.

But there was no hard evidence that the car had plunged into a lake, and Hurkos did not choose the largest of the four lakes (Mendota). That lake is also further from Lake Waubesa than Lake Monona, which is adjacent to Waubesa.

 

[Shrike]

All in all, he had the wrong lake.
It hardly takes psychic powers to think that missing men in a car drove in a lake.