The Unusual Life and Dying (?) of Al Seckel (Half 1)

This text veers only a bit from our normal dose of UFOlogy to speak
a few man who was each a skeptical activist and a con-man, whose
exploits sound just like the script of an implausible film – besides it
all actually occurred. Al Seckel was (or maybe nonetheless is?) a really unusual
and attention-grabbing character. He based the Southern California
Skeptics in 1985, as an area affiliate of CSICOP (Committee for the
Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, now simply
“CSI”). He claimed to be a “physicist,” generally a
“cognitive neuroscientist,” however by no means accomplished even a yr of
school. He claimed to be a graduate pupil engaged on a PhD in
physics (and Historical past of Science) at Cal Tech in Pasadena, however had really simply been ‘hanging round’ there (throughout which period he
grew to become pals with the well-known physicist Richard Feynman, and
organized lectures for the Southern California Skeptics at Cal Tech).
Quickly accusations of monetary improprieties had been swirling round
Seckel, though CSICOP didn’t pay a lot consideration, and reflexively
defended ‘their man’ from assaults. The assaults principally got here from
critics of CSICOP – Erik Beckjord, James Moseley, George Hansen – however on this case the critics had been appropriate. When
Seckel’s deceptions lastly led to the collapse of the Southern
California Skeptics, he disappeared from sight (supposedly as a result of he
was dying of leukemia, or else most cancers). Seckel did even have leukemia, though
his sickness didn’t happen till after SCS had already collapsed. He later
made a whole restoration.

Seckel surfaced once more just a few years later as a TED talker and a well-known
scholar of optical illusions, writing (and
generally plagiarizing) books and articles, once more claiming bogus
levels and affiliations. He rubbed shoulders with many well-known
individuals, and after two divorces Seckel (by some means!) married supermodel
Denice D. Lewis, who beforehand had dated George Hamilton, Dodi Fayed,
and Pierce Brosnan, amongst others. (The wedding solely lasted just a few
months.) Later Seckel married Isabel Maxwell, the daughter of the billionaire media mogul (and disgraced fraudster) Robert Maxwell, who has a extra well-known
sister named Ghislaine. Seckel grew to become an affiliate of the infamous intercourse offender Jeffrey
Epstein, in 2011 organizing a science-related convention on Epstein’s
(in)well-known non-public island (though no sexual improprieties have been
alleged regarding this convention). About 2011 Seckel and Isabel moved from
California to France, apparently to
higher escape
collectors and keep away from testifying for his or her pending chapter. Then in September, 2015,
Isabel publicly publicizes that her husband Al Seckel was lifeless, having
fallen off a cliff in France two months earlier. (Why she would wait
two months to announce his loss of life has by no means been defined.) Nevertheless,
no documentary proof of Seckel’s reported
loss of life was then produced – though we could have one thing like that now.

And that, in a nutshell, is the loopy story of Al Seckel. Skeptic Tom McIver,
who had been sued and harassed by Seckel’s legal professionals for exposing
Seckel’s
frauds, maintains a whole chronology of Seckel-related occasions at
https://undeceive.weebly.com/,
from
which a lot of this data is taken.

I first met Al Seckel on the 1984 CSICOP Convention, held at Stanford
College. He was then an enthusiastic younger man of twenty-six,
claiming to be a graduate pupil in “physics” and “historical past of
science” at Cal Tech. He sought me out as a result of I had
been a co-founder of the Bay Space Skeptics
(together with magician Bob Steiner) simply two years earlier. Seckel
defined that he was within the strategy of founding an analogous group in
Southern California, and needed to debate our experiences, and
get my recommendation. Quickly afterward, he invited me to
come right down to Pasadena (I used to be then dwelling in San Jose) to ship the
very first lecture for Southern California Skeptics, held at Baxter
Auditorium on the Cal Tech campus in Pasadena. To inspire me, Seckel
informed
me that his good friend Richard Feynman was very
enthusiastic about listening to what I needed to say about UFOs! I definitely might
not flip down such a chance. My
discuss was well-received, however there was no signal of Feynman. Oh,
one thing got here up, Feynman couldn’t make it, Seckel stated.

The flyer Seckel made to advertise my inaugural discuss for the Southern California Skeptics

On a
later journey that I made to Los Angeles, I visited Seckel in his dwelling,
in Pasadena or thereabouts. It seemed abnormal from the skin.
Nevertheless, the within was full of a stunning assortment of useful
antiques. Not Nineteen Twenties furnishings, or something like that. As an alternative,
furnishings items that had been apparently a whole lot of years outdated, trying
like they had been imported from castles and estates
in Europe. I had not seen something like that earlier than (or since!).
Seckel defined that he was an antiques dealer, shopping for and promoting
such items for purchasers. After all I used to be impressed.  Later it turned out that Seckel was embroiled in lots of lawsuits regarding possession of those useful antiques.

I used to be among the many many individuals plagiarized by Seckel. I wrote an account of a “clever dog” tested by the Bay Area Skeptics, published in their July, 1987 newsletter.  “Intelligent animals” – a horse, or a canine – can supposedly do arithmetic and reply questions far past the psychological means of any animal. However invariably, they will solely carry out when in sight of their coach, as we discovered was the case with the Intelligent Canine Sunny. Seckel known as me, saying he needed to make use of that story within the newspaper column he was than writing for the Los Angeles Occasions. I agreed, however I had no concept that he was going to write me out of the story completely, presenting it as his personal (which was inconceivable, since he was not there). Seckel also appears to have appropriated a story from James “The Amazing” Randi, printed with out attribution. I additionally perceive that Seckel swindled Randi out of a sum of cash, though I by no means inquired in regards to the particulars.

Certainly one of Seckel’s articles in CSICOP’s Skeptical Inquirer. He claimed credit score for organizing this assertion of Nobel Laureates.

For a number of years Southern California Skeptics (SCS) gave the impression to be a
massive success story, and CSICOP gladly trumpeted Seckel’s
obvious successes. Seckel publicly debated creationist Duane Gish,
and claimed to have soundly boxed his ears. He claimed to be the
inventor (later, claimed co-inventor) of the Darwin Fish (just like the
Christian fish image, however sprouting legs). However quickly issues grew to become
evident. In December, 1987 the State of California revoked SCS’s
nonprofit standing as a result of Seckel had didn’t file the required
monetary varieties. Nonetheless, Seckel continued to characterize SCS as a
“nonprofit” group for years. SCS’s checks bounced, and
cash disappeared. Pat Linse (1947-2021) was a volunteer with SCS,
later working as an artist and editor for Skeptic journal.
She warned CSICOP about Seckel’s shenanigans, however was largely
ignored. After SCS had collapsed in 1990, two years later Michael
Shermer based the Skeptics Society, primarily based at the moment in Pasadena,
and bringing in lots of the identical individuals who had been a part of SCS,
even persevering with the month-to-month lectures in Baxter Corridor initially
organized by Seckel. Nevertheless, by this time Seckel had moved on from
skeptics’ organizations, discovering greater fish to fry. Seckel had
nothing to do with Skeptic journal or with Shermer, who has
at all times run the Skeptics Society as a correct group.

Quickly, Seckel had re-branded himself because the “world’s main authority
on visible and different kinds of sensory illusions”, claiming, at
varied instances, tutorial affiliations with Cal Tech, or Harvard. He
based IllusionWorks, and later EyeWonder publishing. Throughout
his profession as an professional on visible illusions,
Seckel wrote (or plagiarized) many articles and books, gave many
lectures, and rubbed shoulders with the wealthy and well-known, together with
Murray Gell-Mann, Marvin Minsky, Nathan Myhrvold, Larry Web page, Arno
Penzias, Steve Wozniak, Stephen Hawking, Matt Groening, Mike Farrell,
Arianna Huffington, Paul MacCready, Burt Rutan, Craig Venter, Richard
Branson, Robin Williams, Sergey Brin, Peter Diamandis, James Cameron,
amongst others.

Well-known friends at a celebration in Seckel’s dwelling

I knew Elie Shneour
(1925-2015) from skeptic conferences in San Diego and elsewhere. He was
clearly a really sensible man. But he defended Seckel’s popularity
till his loss of life. And he was not the one one – a number of different
skeptics have by some means continued to defended Seckel’s popularity.
The Dean of UFO skeptics, Philip J. Klass, defended Seckel nearly reflexively, till lastly
admitting in 1994 that Seckel had lied about his tutorial background. Michael Shermer had written to Klass, “If I by no means hear from him or about him once more it
can be too quickly. I’ve by no means met anybody who can evoke such venom
from so many individuals. Per week doesn’t go by that somebody does not inform
me one other horrible Seckel story.”

Seckel leased a Ferrari (however ended up owing $70,000, which was by no means paid). He rented costly homes in Pasadena, Malibu and elsewhere, and ending up owing $100,000 for the one in Malibu. The checklist of individuals suing Seckel for non-payment was fairly lengthy. Certainly one of Seckel’s largest authorized battles was with Ensign Consulting Ltd., wherein an funding fund claims it was conned by a self-described “grasp illusionist” who persuaded it to put money into uncommon books and artwork—together with a portrait of Sir Isaac Newton—and then absconded with more than $543,000 and a bunch of the loot.

[To be continued in Part 2]