Category: News
-
Jeanette Wilson strikes again!
Local “psychic medium” Jeanette Wilson seems to be finding surviving the COVID-19 pandemic a little challenging. No longer can she tour the country running her Psychic Surgery sessions, and with the NZ border closed, she can’t travel to the UK. And they say pandemics don’t have a silver lining! But, in this age of internet…
-
Jeanette Wilson, “psychic surgery” follow up
Last week we ran a campaign to get self-proclaimed “spiritual medium” and “healer” Jeanette Wilson shut down. This woman is touring NZ, doing a show called Psychic Surgery, which purports to be able to heal people (not cure, mind!) of whatever ails them. The “mechanism” is that she communicates with a team of “spirit surgeons”…
-
Psychic Surgery coming to a town near you!
NZ-based, self-described “spiritual medium” Jeanette Wilson has started touring the country with her Psychic Surgery show. We’re running a campaign to try to disrupt this by contacting the venues and making them aware of the sort of thing they’re hosting. “Traditional” psychic surgery has involved literal blood and guts from animals being passed off as…
-
Conference tickets now on sale
Tickets to the NZ Skeptics Conference 2019 are now available for sale, with early-bird prices until the end of September (but of course, we’d love you to buy sooner so we get a good idea of numbers). The conference has a bunch of exciting speakers, including all the hosts of the popular Skeptics’ Guide to…
-
Nationwide school video competition promotes vaccination
The Force Field Film Challenge, aimed at helping kids to learn about the importance of vaccines, is an innovative competition being spearheaded by the New Zealand Skeptics. The Challenge will test the research and creative skills of New Zealand Primary and Intermediate students in a deep dive to promote vaccination and the advantages of herd…
-
NZ Skeptics launch official Facebook page
Facebook has been host to some lively discussion among Kiwis who identify as having a skeptical outlook. These pages are not endorsed by NZ Skeptics Society, and we have no control over their content. Unfortunately, some of the content falls well outside the collective views of the NZ Skeptics committee. We have now set up…
-
“Grief vampire” psychic preys on grieving family
We’ve recently seen another example of psychics acting as the “grief vampires” they are and preying on a grieving family. Northland woman Theres’a Urlich has been missing since February 2018. The family, who have not seen their loved on for over seven months, was recently approached by a psychic with some gory details of what…
-
NZ Skeptics comment on Chiropractor Injury ACC claims
We were recently asked to comment on the alarming increase in ACC claims for injury from Chiropractic treatment. The article appeared in the Sunday Star Times.
-
Palm Reading claims – our response
We were asked today to comment on an article on Stuff about palm reading, and how seeing the letter M on your non-dominant hand is a sign of future success. Luckily, despite it being Christmas Eve, our new Media Spokesperson (and Secretary) Craig Shearer was able to put together a solid response on short notice! Here’s…
-
Herman Petrick’s Ghost-busting Claims
The Taranaki Daily News published an article about Herman Petrick, who claims to be able to help people by removing harmful negative energy. The author of the article, Taryn Utiger, asked the NZ Skeptics to respond to five questions about Herman’s claims. Here are our responses in full: Is there any scientific proof that negative energy…
-
NZ Skeptics announce 2015 Awards
The Pharmacy Council has been awarded the 2015 Bent Spoon Award from the NZ Skeptics for proposing a change to their Code of Ethics that would allow the sale of healthcare products that have not been shown to work. The Pharmacy Council is responsible under the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act for setting standards of…
-
Pharmacy Council Response Submitted
The NZ Skeptics sent a submission to the Pharmacy Council last Friday in response to the Council’s consultation on a suggested change to their Code of Ethics. Thanks to all our members who took the time to visit pharmacies and send us your reports about what they had to say about homeopathy. We know of…