The following program originally appeared on tour.com and is being re-syndicated here by I.O9. Oh, Welcome to the Geeks Guide to the Galaxy, hosted by John Joseph Adams and David Barr

currently.

Hi, this is Dave.

And this is John.

And welcome to episode 5 of Geek's Guide to the Galaxy.

So here at Geek's Guide to the Galaxy, there's nothing we like better than reading stories about things like aliens lurking among us, magic spells, ghosts, demons, and telepathic abilities so powerful that they can cause our

enemy's heads to literally explode in a fountain of gore.

But is it all just good fun?

Or does any of it really happen?

No, now it's all just made up. So claims today's guest, Brian Dunning, of the Skeptoid Podcast.

Skeptoid is a weekly podcast that applies a bit of critical thinking to many of the stories in the mass media,

stuff like aliens and magic, but also just things like alternative medicine, urban legends,

and just basically anything that people believe that maybe deserves a second look.

Skeptoid is among the top five most popular science podcasts at iTunes

and has over 60,000 listeners, which is actually even more than Geek's Guide to the Galaxy.

Just to give you a sense of perspective on how beloved it is.

Skeptoid was actually one of the first podcasts I really got into.

I think I discovered it somewhere around episode 80.

And seriously by the next day I think I had listened to every single episode that was available.

You know, there are only about 10 minutes long so you can listen to a ton of them.

You know, I don't always agree with the show's conclusions, but it's always thought-provoking and well researched and

the host Brian Dunning just manages to dig up just some of the craziest stories I've ever heard

...