Craig Weiler



I regard skepticism as a form of bigotry that most people can cure themselves of. But some people are hard core bigots and they cannot be cured. Craig Weiler is an American conspiracy theorist and parapsychology activist, known for posting anti-skeptic rants on the internet. He describes himself as a "psychic healer".

Background
Weiler has no education or qualifications in science. His current occupation is working as a handyman.

I, myself am an older white guy who is psychic, but don't do it professionally. I am currently in transition from being in construction to a career in speaking and writing and I am working on my first book. If you are psychic too, I want you to know: you are not alone.

Weiler admits he hasn't read many books on parapsychology, but that hasn't stopped him from giving lectures on the subject.

Beliefs
Weiler claims that psi and all kinds of woo have been scientifically proven but ignores most of the skeptical literature on it. He also claims Dean Radin's The Conscious Universe (1997) contains evidence that psi exists, but if he'd done any research he might have found Radin did not manage the file-drawer effect correctly, made fundamental errors in his calculations, and ignored possible non-paranormal explanations for his data. Weiler is supportive of the bogus mediumship experiments of Gary Schwartz, and has even defended the fraudulent medium Sylvia Browne.

Weiler has worked with Dean Radin, Abd ul-Rahman Lomax and Ben Steigmann in promoting paranormal studies on Wikiversity. These studies were later deleted.

9/11 conspiracy theories
Weiler is a proponent of 9/11 conspiracy theories:

In 2014, Weiler commented:

… Because 9/11 was comparable to a controlled demolition.

Conspiracies of skeptics‎
Weiler is notorious for posting anti-skeptic rants to the Skeptiko forum, the SCEPCOP website, and his own blog, The Weiler Psi accusing skeptics of being atheists, materialists and "pseudoskeptics", especially if they disagree with him.

In March, 2013, Weiler accused the TED Talks of being run by "atheists" and engaging in "censorship" after they moved videos of controversial talks by Rupert Sheldrake and Graham Hancock from the TEDx YouTube channel to the TED blog. The TED staff issued a statement explaining, "The reason people are upset is because they think there has been censorship. But it's simply not true. Both talks are up on our website."

Guerrilla Skepticism on Wikipedia
In October 2013 Weiler published a blog post titled "The Wikipedia Battle for Rupert Sheldrake’s Biography", claiming that Sheldrake's Wikipedia bio was being targeted by a group called Guerrilla Skepticism on Wikipedia.

It wasn't.

Psi Wars: TED, Wikipedia and the Battle for the Internet
In November 2013, Weiler self-published  Psi Wars: TED, Wikipedia and the Battle for the Internet. The book promotes his conspiracy theory that atheist skeptics have taken over mainstream media, universities, scientific organizations and are working together to promote their skeptical views on Wikipedia. The book was negatively reviewed by the paranormal investigator Hayley Stevens who concluded "The only recommendation I can make for this book is to leave it on the shelf unless you want a headache. No amount of reasoning will make a difference here."

In 2014, the parapsychologist Tom Ruffles reviewed Weiler's book for the Society for Psychical Research and supported his conspiracy theories. Ruffles complained that RationalWiki had tried to denigrate Weiler by claiming he works only as a handyman. While a lack of a background in science doesn't discount Weiler's work, it does show a lack of scientific training, which could potentially lead to incorrect testing procedures and results.