Kelly Nelson, a travel writer for the Atlanta Examiner open publishing news site, wrote a short article in the Examiner. She says that the Freedom From Religion Foundation’s billboard campaign (including “In Reason We Trust” on a penny) will hit Atlanta after Labor Day 2010. I didn’t see the Auburn University billboards in Atlanta get vandalized, so maybe these billboards have a chance to survive, too.

Is Kelly otherwise active in the Atlanta Skeptics/critical thinking community?

It’s time! Tickets for our 2nd Annual Charity Star Party are on sale now! Are you coming to Dragon*Con this year? If so, you should seriously consider coming in a day early to attend. This year’s entertainment includes renowned astronomers and hosts of AstronomyCast, Pamela Gay and Fraser Cain with special appearance by musician George Hrab! Plus, Skepchick Rebecca Watson will be hosting the event. The Emory University Physics department is sponsoring the event and will be showing off their observatory and telescopes.

This event is in honor of Jeff Medkeff, the Blue Collar Scientist, astronomer, skeptic and friend to many of us. Jeff succumbed to liver cancer in 2008. All proceeds will go toward the Light the Night Fund: The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in Jeff’s name.

Food, drinks and conversations with astronomers. What more could you ask for? Oh yeah, star gazing!

We have a bit more space than we did last year but tickets will sell out. Get them while you can!

I’m home now and settling back into every day life after leaving TAM8 was quite a jolt.  It’s kind of how I feel after Dragon*Con each year – exhausted, elated and longing for more.  I met so many interesting people, heard so many fascinating talks and generally tried to embrace every waking moment of the conference with as much sponge-like attentiveness as I could muster.

I’ve been remiss in my recapping duties on this, but here’s a brief summary at last of how things went. Once again, any suggestions/comments are welcome

To be continued after the break:

» Continue reading “Skeptics in the Park II: Post Mortem”

Announcing our second ever Skeptics in the Park!

The Atlanta Skeptics will once again emerge from the pub and wander outside on Saturday, June 12th from 11AM-3PM at Jones Bridge Park.

Details after the break:

» Continue reading “Skeptics in the Park – June 12th”

Two internationally known skeptics are appearing in Atlanta in June. Outspoken atheist and political pundit Christopher Hitchens is touring in support of his new book Hitch-22 and the well-known mentalist Banachek is doing a ticketed mentalism show at the Academy Theatre.

Update Friday June 4: Details on Banachek tickets updated! See below.

Full details on times and tickets after the jump…
» Continue reading “Two notable skeptics appearing in Atlanta in June”

The Wem Town Hall Ghost photo - courtesy Fortean Picture Library

In September of 2009 I started an investigation into the Wem Town Hall ghost photo.  This famous photo shows a ghostly girl in the burning wreckage of a fire that took place in the Town Hall of the British town of Wem on November 19, 1995.  The photographer was a man named Tony O’Rahilly and he took several photos of the fire that night.  The last photo on the reel showed a girls face in the doorway of the blazing fire and the photo caught the imagination of many.  Was this girl really in the building?  Fire fighter footage of the same fire showed no such girl.  No body was found, and many speculated that this was a ghost.  Paranormal researchers even came up with a name for the girl, calling her Jane Churm after a little girl who started a fire in Wem back in 1677.

For fifteen years the photo was a mystery which made many top-10 ghost lists.   But now an elderly man in England has identified the source of the ghost girl’s image and brought closure to this case.  Read on past the break to get a history of the case and see the solution.

» Continue reading “Oh, really, Mr. O’Rahilly?”