The Duke of Brunswick and the Witch Trials

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Duke of brunswick invited two learned and famous jesuits, both of whom believed in torture as a means of eliciting a confession. The woman promptly confessed that indeed she had seen both men turn themselves into goats, wolves and other animals. They had fathered many children with heads like goats and legs like spiders. Macki narrates, this was convincing proof to both of them that thousands of persons had suffered unfairly.

The most fundamental lesson that all magicians learn is that seeing is not believing. In episode 195, Michael speaks with internationally acclaimed sleight-of-hand artist and 35-year activist for scientific skepticism, Jamy Ian Swiss, about his lively, personal book, The Conjuror’s Conundrum, that takes readers on a magical mystery tour of the longstanding connection between magic and skepticism. Shermer and Swiss discuss: Swiss’s first encounter with fraud, the paranormal and supernatural, magic and mentalism, hot/cold/universal readings, pychics, talking to the dead, James van Praagh, belief, the afterlife, “the amazing” Kreskin, the Alpha Project, and more…