The NZ Skeptical calendar: August 29th to September 4th

Work on the NZ Skeptical calendar (our attempt to find a New Zealand skeptical event for every day of the year) continues apace, with 346 individual events recorded and now only 140 days remaining to be filled. This month has been especially busy, with Brian Tamaki and the rest of the anti-mandate, anti-vax pundits making headlines with one debacle or another.

One way I thought we could celebrate this skeptic-worthy news cycle was to share some of the highlights and lowlights of our skeptical past, and revel in the silly while reflecting on the serious.

August 29th: In 1952, NZ airline pilot Bruce Cathis saw a UFO from Manukau Harbour. After discovering the works of French ufologist Aimé Michel, Cathie began to plot UFO flight paths around New Zealand. On this date in 1964, the Oceanographic Research Vessel USNS Eltanin photographed an object 4,100m underwater off the coast of Cape Horn. The Eltanin arrived in Auckland on December 4th, 1964, on a scheduled stop to analyse the data that had been collected and receive a ship refit. It was then that the object caught the attention of scientists, who shared it with The New Zealand Herald, which described it as being similar to a complex radio aerial. Cathie identified the object as the alien navigation beacon that his theory relied upon.

In 1971, the antenna-shaped object was identified as a carnivorous sea sponge, but this fact escaped the notice of UFO enthusiasts like Cathie for decades.

The Eltanin Antenna, aka a carnivorous sea sponge, Chondrocladia concrescens

August 30th: On this date in 2019, Stuff broke the story of a Korean religious cult, Shincheonji, recruiting in Wellington. Its leader, Man-Hee Lee, claims to have met Christ, and is referred to as ‘God's advocate' by followers. Followers believe that the Book of Revelation contains secret metaphors that only Lee is capable of deciphering, with 144,000 adherents and a greater multitude in white who will enjoy salvation and eternal life after the tribulation. The group has been a source of controversy and negative attention in Korea, most recently with their role in a large COVID outbreak in early 2020. An Auckland woman describes how she was recruited into Shincheonji and experiences within the group here.

Also on this date, in 2012, claims that Hollywood celebrity Robert Duvall died at Kauri Cliffs while filming in New Zealand are proven false. Many celebrities have met their fictional demise at the cliffs, including Tom Hanks, Tom Cruise, Orlando Bloom, Russell Crowe, Robyn Malcolm, and Jeff Goldblum. The website that disseminated the report, Global Associated News, was revealed as a fake news outlet set-up for the purpose of distributing fake news stories.

August 31st: In 2021, Australian citizen, conspiracy theorist, and sovereign citizen promoter Karen Brewer was arrested outside the Far North District Council Chambers. She was charged with breaching a Covid order by organising multiple protests during the level 4 lockdown. Brewer is known for promoting extreme views and conspiracy theories, e.g. that a network of communists, paedophiles, and freemasons are using COVID vaccinations to depopulate the planet. 19 other people were also arrested under similar charges.

September 1st: On this date in 1963, New Zealand mathematician Roy Kerr published his solution to the Einstein field equation of general relativity. Kerr's MacTutor biography goes into more depth as to the significance of this solution.

September 2nd: In 1909, hundreds near Gore reported a dark cigar-shaped object near Tapanui Hills between 4:30pm and 6pm on September 1st and 2nd. This would be the last reported sighting of the Zeppelin, and brings the Great Zeppelin Scare of 1909 to an end. (Issue 123 of the NZ Skeptics Journal)

September 3rd: Admittedly this is a bit of a cheat, but the 1993 Skeptics conference is held in Christchurch. The conference theme was “Science, Pseudoscience, and Junk Science”.

September 4th: Peter Ellis died of cancer at the age of 61, in 2019. He was a child care worker convicted and was found guilty of child sex abuse in 1993. He was one of many cases that sprung from the hysteria around satanic ritual abuse in the 1980s, and was in the process of his final appeal when he passed.

Also on this date Bert O'Neill discovered a crop circle in Ngatea in 1969.

Harvey Cooke (right) inspecting the area inside the Ngatea Crop circle