Zetetic Scholar

History

Marcello Truzzi launched Zetetic Scholar in 1978 from the Department of Sociology at Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, Michigan 48197. The journal carried the subtitle "An Independent Scientific Review of Claims of Anomalies and the Paranormal" and positioned itself as a forum where proponents and critics of extraordinary claims could engage in sustained, structured dialogue. Truzzi's editorial in the first issue declared the journal would act as an "amicus curiae" or "friend of the court" in scientific disputes over the paranormal.

The founding grew directly from Truzzi's break with CSICOP, the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, which he had co-founded in 1976 with Paul Kurtz. Truzzi resigned from CSICOP before Zetetic Scholar's first issue, believing the committee had abandoned genuine scientific inquiry in favour of advocacy and debunking. His editorial stated plainly: "I helped to found [CSICOP] but have resigned." The journal was his answer: a place where the burden of proof remained on the claimant, but where "skepticism should not be confused with dogmatic denial."

Pat Truzzi served as Associate Editor throughout the run. The consulting board read like an international directory of anomaly researchers: J. Allen Hynek, Ray Hyman, Persi Diaconis, Martin Gardner, Bernard Heuvelmans, Michel Gauquelin, Charles T. Tart, David M. Jacobs, Ron Westrum, Harry Collins, Richard de Mille, Roy Wallis, and James Webb among others. By Issue 11 (August 1983), the journal had become the official publication of the Center for Scientific Anomalies Research (CSAR), with Hyman and Westrum elevated to Associate Editor status.

Subscription rates began at $10 per year for individuals and $15 for institutions, with three issues guaranteed annually. By 1983, the rate had risen to $12 per two issues, published "irregularly but approximately twice per year." Single back issues cost $8. The shift from planned quarterly to irregular publication reflected both the density of each issue (often exceeding 180 pages) and the logistics of coordinating multi-author dialogues across international contributors.

Subject matter ranged across the full spectrum of anomalous claims. Issue 1 carried Laurent Beauregard on scepticism and science, a conversation with Richard de Mille about Castaneda, and comprehensive bibliographies on pseudoscience debates and Uri Geller research. Issues 3 and 4 (a double issue, April 1979) featured a major Velikovsky dialogue with seven respondents, Thomas Sebeok on animal communication, and a review symposium on scientific astrology with contributions from G.O. Abell, Michel Gauquelin, Dane Rudhyar, and H.J. Eysenck. Issue 11 covered fire-walking, Jerome Clark's "Confessions of a Fortean Skeptic," the Mars Effect controversy (with contributions from Patrick Curry, Piet Hein Hoebens, Eysenck, and Antony Flew), and Ron Westrum on crypto-science.

UFO material appeared throughout, though never as the dominant focus. Beauregard's opening article in Issue 1 devoted substantial space to Hynek's work and the scientific status of UFO research. Michael Martin and Hynek exchanged letters on the definition of "UFO" in Issue 11. David Jacobs sat on the consulting board. The journal treated UFOs as one category of anomalous claim among many, subject to the same evidential standards as parapsychology or cryptozoology.

Truzzi's extensive bibliographic essays were a regular feature: "Crank, Crackpot, or Genius? A Basic Bibliographic Guide to the Debate," "The Powers of Negative Thinking, or Debunking the Paranormal," and running random bibliographies of the occult and paranormal. Each issue also carried "Books Briefly Noted" sections reviewing dozens of titles (53 in Issue 1 alone). These bibliographies remain among the most comprehensive guides to the anomalies literature of the period.