Category: B

The energy vesicle that is supposedly the basic unit of life. It is smaller than a cell, a liquid-filled membrane that pulsates continuously with orgone energy. The bion and orgone energy are both discoveries or inventions of Dr. Wilhelm reich, a 20th-century Austrian physician and psychiatrist. He believed that bions propagate like bacteria, and he…

An instrument developed by 19th-century French psychical researcher Hyppolite Baraduc to measure paranormal psychokinetic forces coming from the human body. Baraduc’s biometer consisted of a needle suspended by a thread. When a subject’s hand was brought near the apparatus, the needle’s movement supposedly indicated a variety of personal conditions physical, mental, and even moral. The…

A medical compound that was first patented by Samuel Lee, Jr., of Windham, Connecticut. Lee received his patent for “Bilious Pills” in 1796. A mixture of gamboge, aloes, soap, and potassium nitrate, the pills were touted for their curative value for bilious (liver) complaints and yellow fevers, jaundice, dysentery, dropsy (edema), worms, and “female complaints,”…

Huge, hairy hominid reportedly sighted throughout the North American continent. Some believe it to be a relative of the yeti, the almas, and other wild, fur- coated, humanlike creatures found in folklore and sightings around the world. Others think it is a creature of “monster envy,” either consciously or unconsciously created by those who want…

Theory of the creation of the universe. The big bang theory, as proposed by the late Belgian astrophysicist Georges Lemaitre (1894-1966), states that the universe came into being in a huge explosion sometime between 10 and 20 billion years ago. In the beginning, all the matter that currently exists or has ever existed was contained…

The two chambers of the brain. The actual relationship between the brain and the mind has been for many centuries one of the most difficult problems of both philosophy and science, but recent research into how the two sides of the brain work in unison, or after injury separately, is beginning to throw some light…

One of the most conservative organizations promoting creationism. The Bible Science Association (BSA) was founded in 1963 by Walter Lang, a pastor in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. The organization still draws much of its support from that denomination. Basing its arguments on a literal interpretation of Genesis, the organization supports the idea of a young…

Name coined by writer Vincent H. GADDIS in 1964 for an area of the Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean where hundreds of unexplained disappearances of ships and planes allegedly have occurred. The area extends roughly between the three points of Florida, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico. Different accounts extend the mysterious area as far east as…

Activities and processes based on chemistry and hucksterism that form the basis of one of the most profitable businesses in the Western industrialized world. The ideal market, briefly defined, is one that is never saturated and that will bear inflated prices. (One is tempted to add that the product must also be unnecessary in any…

A large circular tub used in the early days of mesmerism. It was developed around 1780 by a friend of Franz Anton mesmer. Inside the baquet were some bottles partially submerged in water. The tub was covered with a lid through which holes had been punched. Iron rods ran from the interior of the tub…