Jon of God- Arigo

[Bikewer]

Just read Randi's commentary on the "Jon of God" fiasco, and was struck by how much this guy is copying the techniques used by a predecessor, Arigo.
Arigo, "the surgeon of the rusty knife" ran almost exactly the same sort of scam about 30 years ago, and was credulously written up by some guy named Fuller and the well-known-to-skeptics Andrija Puharich.

Of course, this altruist, who "never took any money", also wrote undecipherable "prescriptions" which were filled by a local pharmacist...his brother. Not for free.

[Eos of the Eons]

I sent the link to ratbags and Randi's commentary out to a few people.

For some reason I got a reply back asking me to read some creationist stuff sold in a local Parables book store. He asked me to look at creationism more closely and to question evolution.

Why is looking at bogus "healing" claims seen as atheism??? Why is evolution always viewed as "anti-religion".

Sighs.

[Bikewer]

When Randi exposed Peter Popoff on the Tonight show, he recieved hate mail from people who accused him of "interfering with God's work"....

[Eos of the Eons]

For one thing, thank you for posting this. I didn't know any of this about Arigo nor Peter Popoff.

For another...he recieved hate mail from people who accused him of "interfering with God's work"....

I can't stand it!http://eithne.dk/blog/wp-images/smilies/icon_brick.gif

[Minarvia]

Okay, I'm really sorry to bring up an old thread but I just listened to an episode of "The Paracast" dated May 11th, I believe, that had a mention of Arigo in it. In this portion of the program one of the hosts mentioned coming to "Randi's site" and finding an item about Arigo. He went on to say that Randi is full of nonsense and that Arigo is unquestionable "the real deal" and that had been proven beyond any doubt.

Well, I enjoy "The Paracast" and the hosts are usually pretty level-headed and skeptical but this really annoyed me. Now, perhaps Arigo was "the real deal" but somehow I doubt it. I guess that because the hosts are usually pretty reasonable about things. Does anyone here know anything about the Arigo case that could support the idea that perhaps Randi was mistaken, or is it just likely that the hosts just found something THEY believe in and their usual skeptical thinking just flies out the window about Arigo?

What little I've found about Arigo thru Google and Wiki is sparse and states that altho accused of fraud he was indeed never caught cheating in any way. "The Paracast" hosts say that there are debunkers/skeptics who are just as bad as the uber believers and that in the case of Arigo no skeptic wants to find out that such a a person as Arigo could be real because the skeptic's "comfort zone" would be shattered.

Does anyone here ever listen to "The Paracast" or have any thoughts about this?

[Bikewer]

I'm not familiar with the program, unfortunately. I believe that Arigo was written up in Skeptical Inquirer some years back.
I actually read the book I referred to in the original post. As I recall, it was entirely credulous, with the reporter going on as to how Arigo was "posessed" by the spirits of some nine physicians who would control his responses.
One of his "examination" techniques was to insert a pocketknife blade under the eyelid of the "patient". This would seem to be very painful, but the Skeptical Inquirer article showed that there was very little sensation involved.
The scam was simple; Arigo took no money and thus preserved his "charitable" credentials. However, part of his schtick was that he would write unintelligible "prescriptions" to the sufferers.
His brother was a pharmacist who would fill these prescriptions with vials of unknown pills or bottles of fluid, for which he charged inflated rates.

[RSLancastr]

Okay, I'm really sorry to bring up an old thread but I just listened to an episode of "The Paracast" dated May 11th, I believe, that had a mention of Arigo in it. In this portion of the program one of the hosts mentioned coming to "Randi's site" and finding an item about Arigo. He went on to say that Randi is full of nonsense and that Arigo is unquestionable "the real deal" and that had been proven beyond any doubt.I was interviewed on the Paracast regarding the StopSylviaBrowne site, and it was quite obvious that one of the hosts (I forget which) was not a fan of James Randi.

[Minarvia]

I was interviewed on the Paracast regarding the StopSylviaBrowne site, and it was quite obvious that one of the hosts (I forget which) was not a fan of James Randi.

I remember that now. You are right. He (I think it is David) is definately biased against Randi and on the show periodically takes shots at him.

Bikewer, I think you have it. The brother charging money would indeed profit Arigo's entire family, most likely.
I think the hosts denied that ANY money was made, but that seems very unlikely. They also rely heavily on saying that so much film footage "proves" Arigo's abilities, yet on shows about UFO's say that film these days is so easily hoaxed that it is unreliable. But perhaps Arigo's footage is too old? I don't recall off the top of my head when he was operating.

Yes, "Dr. Fritz" was his main channelled physician. Tho, why any doctor would advocate using a rusty knife for any reason is something I just can't fathom. :boggled: