Looking for a Miracle: Weeping Icons, Relics, Stigmata, Visions & Healing Cures

Nickell, a thoroughgoing skeptic, debunks Christian and non-Christian miracles alike, as well as alleged paranormal phenomena in this colorful probe. He attributes reports of weeping icons, bleeding effigies and the image of Jesus on the Shroud of Turin to faulty perception or recall, bias, hoaxing and the will to believe. He explains stigmata (the spontaneous duplication of Christ's crucifixion wounds upon the body of a Christian) as due to hoaxes, self-punishment or self-inflicted wounds. Nickell ( Mysterious Realms ) finds no compelling evidence for alleged cures at the French shrine of Lourdes, or for saintly halos, human auras, self-levitation or Pentecostal powers like speaking in tongues and faith healing. He gives flunking grades to Nostradamus, Jeane Dixon and Elizabeth Clare Prophet for their presumed clairvoyant abilities. A useful if one-sided cautionary survey. Author tour. (Sept.)