MonsterTalk
Hosts
Dr. Karen Stollznow
Karen Stollznow is an author and skeptical investigator with a doctorate in linguistics and a background in history and anthropology. She is an associate researcher at the University of California, Berkeley, and a director of the San Francisco Bay Area Skeptics. A prolific skeptical writer for many sites and publications, she is the “Naked Skeptic” Web columnist for the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, the “Bad Language” columnist for Skeptic magazine, a frequent contributor to Skeptical Inquirer, and managing editor of CSI’s Scientific Review of Mental Health Practice. Dr. Stollznow is a host of the Monster Talk podcast and writer for the Skepbitch and Skepchick blogs, as well as for the James Randi Educational Foundation’s Swift.
Blake Smith
Blake Smith is a writer and researcher of matters cryptozoological and paranormal. He has been interested in the mysterious for decades and has been a “formal” skeptic of such claims since 1997. His conversion from believer to casual doubter to formal doubter was a lengthy process, the first steps of which were reading the works of Jan Harold Brunvand and his highly entertaining works on urban legends. You can find Smith’s articles on MonsterScience.org, DoctorAtlantis.com, and on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.
Benjamin Radford
Benjamin Radford is an investigator and Research Fellow with the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and managing editor of the Skeptical Inquirer science magazine. A columnist for Discovery News and LiveScience.com, he has written hundreds of articles on various scientific and skeptical subjects and is the author of five books including Lake Monster Mysteries: Investigating the World’s Most Elusive Creatures (with Joe Nickell). Cryptozoology is one of his areas of expertise, and he has done dozens of first-hand field investigations on four continents into lake monsters, Bigfoot, chupacabra, the African bat demon Popobawa, and other mysterious creatures. His latest book, Scientific Paranormal Investigation: How to Solve Unexplained Mysteries (with contributions from both of his MonsterTalk co-hosts as well as Daniel Loxton and others), will be published in June. He modestly claims to have solved the chupacabra mystery, the full details of which will be published in Spring 2011 by the University of New Mexico Press.