Primroos, you are new here. Please read the guidelines for posting.
I think you're talking about this book on the first link below, correct?
If you want some general information on a tribe, the best place would be under Etc.
If you want info on the author, it belongs under Research Needed. Based on what he see so far, he almost certainly belongs under Frauds.
http://www.amazon.com/Running-Bear-Grandson-Red-Snake/dp/1571740376The author, George McMullen, seems to have a big imagination, to be kind.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url?%5Fencoding=UTF8&search-type=ss&index=books&field-author=George%20McMullenA review of one of the books gives a summary of it and McMullen's life and bizarre claims.
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http://www.amazon.com/Born-Many-Times-George-McMullen/dp/1571741313/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1212073566&sr=1-1Born Many Times is both the title of George McMullen's fifth book, and the name of the shaman spirit who provided the information to McMullen. Born Many Times, the being, relates details of his past lives, describes the extra-terrestrial beings walking among us now, and offers a glimpse of our future. McMullen, trained as an archaeologist, is "an intuitive person who has developed the ability to see scenes from the past when I wish to do so, to communicate with persons who are no longer in body and to hear and see their life stories as they unfold." Prior to Born Many Times, three other Native Americans related their stories to McMullen. They're the subjects of his prior books: Red Snake, Running Bear, and Two Faces. (All three books are available from Hampton Roads.) He made his initial contact with Born Many Times while working with Two Faces. Born Many Times enjoyed many earthly lives. Among others, he was a companion of Alexander the Great, Cleopatra's tutor, and contemporary of Jesus. He describes how men first lived in caves, surviving on what they could kill. He tells how they learned to farm and how jealousies developed between those who had plenty of food and those who did not. Mankind has a long history of building great civilizations and then destroying them. He maintains that most civilizations were rebuilt with the help of extra-terrestrial beings, who provided the necessary technological know-how.
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More reviews.
http://www.amazon.com/Red-Snake-George-McMullen/dp/1878901583/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1212073566&sr=1-4Psychic archeologist George McMullen is the channeler for Red Snake, an Native American of the Huron Nation who lived in 17th-century America. In this fascinating book, Red Snake provides a vivid and historically accurate portrait of his culture and environment. Red Snake provides personal details including his relationship with the elder who became his mentor, his maturation into a skilled hunter, his courtship of an captive Mohawk woman who became his wife, the coming of Champlain and the Europeans, even his own death and funeral ceremony. Highly recommended reading for metaphysical studies
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As for McMullen himself, Shirley MacLaine promotes him on her site.
http://www.shirleymaclaine.com/topics/divination-georgemcmullen.phphttp://www.shirleymaclaine.com/topics/divination-psychic.phpEven a fan of his, Brandon Crespi, has some less complimentary things to say.
http://www.coscienza.org/English/BrandoCrespi01.htmWe brought two psychics with us: a Canadian gentleman called George McMullen and a woman called Hella Hammid who is from Los Angeles....George McMullen...is a tenth grade drop-out who's continued to call the ptolomies "potemies" and the Byzantines the "Besonines."
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A skeptics newsletter has an article on him.
http://www.ntskeptics.org/1997/1997may/may1997.htm"Intuitive" Archaeology
Psychic's Presentation Entertaining, But Unconvincing
by Jim Burton
[The following is used with permission from the Montana Rationalists.]
George McMullen recently appeared at the Montana Historical Society in Helena and gave a presentation, "The Secret Vaults of Time," to a packed crowd in the tiny Haynes Auditorium. McMullen, who looks like the kind, elderly gentleman who lives down the road, claims he consults with "spirit guides" to uncover information about archaeological digs, such as where elusive artifacts and structures may be found and the history surrounding the artifact.
Actually, McMullen did little talking. The bulk of the presentation was given by Raymond Worring, a local investigator who claims a geological background (supposedly he owns "Investigative Research Field Station," which I could not find in the phone book).
Don't Call Us Psychics!
It seems psychics are shying away from the term "psychic" these days, probably because of the richly-deserved negative connotations of dial-up charlatans. One of Worring's first statements was that he preferred to call what McMullen does "intuitive archaeology." He then tried to lend scientific legitimacy to this field by quoting material from various paranormal researchers -- he probably assumed that the audience would not know that paranormal studies have gone absolutely nowhere, and no one has ever shown verifiable and reproducible results in ESP or telekinesis. Worring also attempted to identify intuitive archaeology with "remote viewing" as another psychic field gaining scientific acceptance -- alas, it is not true. Remote viewing is the supposed ability to identify remote events and places without actually being there. One of the remote viewing researchers Worring mentioned, Courtney Brown, claims that Buddha is now a high official in the Galactic Federation, there is a huge living alien ship traveling with the comet Hale-Bopp, and Martians moved to earth after their atmosphere was wrenched from their planet. As Brown has no verifiable evidence to prove these extraordinary claims, this is hardly scientific.
Psychic, Intuitive, Or Just Lucky?
Worring claims that McMullen uses his ability to locate structures that an archaeologist feels should be there, but can't locate. He gave an example of an archaeologist who was trying to find a fence-like pile of stones around an ancient American Indian village. McMullen claims he felt the "energies" of the site and used this to determine where the structure should be.
Although this example -- or in fact, any of the stories we were told -- wasn't proven in any scientific sense at this presentation, I am willing to concede that McMullen might have some ability. But I don't think that it is anything mystical. I believe some people may have an uncanny capability to scan their surroundings and pick up subtle clues that others miss, perhaps because they are too intent on their search. McMullen could have instinctively read the lay of the land to determine where a logical place to build a structure would be, or he could have noticed some tiny traces that revealed where the structure was. Meanwhile, others don't notice these clues simply because they are concentrating so much, they can't see the forest for the trees.
McMullen's supposed ability might even be a largely subconscious process. In the taped interview given at the presentation, McMullen was asked how he performs this feat. He obviously had a hard time describing what happens in his mind, and he eventually stammered out an answer that spirit guides "flesh out" the energy he feels from the past. Could this "energy" be the very real but subtle visual clues his subconscious sees and processes? Does McMullen seize upon the story of "spirit guides" to explain this ability he does not understand?
Psychics are too quick to promote paranormal explanations for perplexing events. It seems they don't realize how complex and resourceful the human brain is. Remember, our brain is responsible for finding food, shelter and mates while avoiding crafty predators and dangerous situations. Attention to detail can mean the difference between life and death. Given thousands of years of evolution, is it really so remarkable that some people can make remarkably accurate conclusions from seemingly scant evidence? Not at all. Also, studies of autistic patients have confirmed that the brain is capable of amazing, lightening-fast attention to detail -- remember the scene in "Rain Man" where Dustin Hoffman's character was able to count the number of spilled matches in a single glance?
In any case, it is important to remember that humans have been in North America for a long time, and in just about any location you have some chance of finding some kind of artifact.
Dramatic Story As Evidence
Worring played an audio tape of another McMullen "success" to illustrate his ability to pick up the emotional resonances of an event. Apparently, McMullen found a site somewhere in the Montana plains with three piles of rocks. After consulting his spirit guides, McMullen recounted a dramatic story of a man, his wife and daughter being caught in a bison stampede. According to McMullen, the man heard the ominous thunder, saw the approaching sea of bison, and hurried his family to the safety of nearby rocks. McMullen stated that the man could have made it if he had abandoned his family, but the heroic man tried his best to save everyone, and all were pulverized by the rampaging stampede.
A good story, but did it really happen? After the presentation, I asked if it had been confirmed. I wanted to know if the site had been excavated, and if three bodies (and only three bodies!) of a man, woman and child were found. Not surprisingly, Worring said that the story had not been confirmed, and offered the excuse that they did not have permission to dig.
This is hardly scientific procedure. Presenting dramatic stories as evidence is not science. It is a shoddy appeal to the audience's emotions.
Tell Them What They Want To Hear
Worring tried to present "The Secret Vaults of Time" as scientifically valid, but failed miserably, at least in the view of someone familiar with science. However, judging by the questions and comments I heard after the event, I fear he was successful in the primary mission of the psychic: tell them what they want to hear. Many of the questioners seemed not to doubt that McMullen really had this paranormal ability. No one asked him to demonstrate by, for example, correctly identifying an artifact they had brought in. In fact, Worring skillfully discouraged this at the beginning of the presentation by saying that McMullen had demonstrated his ability many, many times, and it was getting tiring.
Despite McMullen's professed dislike of the term psychic, this presentation was full of psychic babble. McMullen talked about feeling "as one" with all of nature. He talked of communing with spirits and how he seems to draw energy from the land. The increased psychic power of areas with higher densities of crystals was mentioned. McMullen told a sappy anecdote about how he hated to go near a Jewish grave yard because of the plaintive cries of the dead; "Why hasn't my son come to see me?"
I can see where McMullen might have an ability to discern the slightest clues, but stories like this simply smack of showmanship.
Worring was careful to state that McMullen is not always correct. He claimed that McMullen's accuracy was eighty percent, but he offered no independent studies, journals or log books to confirm this. This is a convenient cop-out frequently used by psychics — if someone were to approach him with a case that McMullen failed, Worring can always say that was one of the twenty percent that McMullen got wrong, but there are, of course, plenty of cases he got right.
Another familiar psychic ploy is the promise that "everyone is psychic, and you can learn how to do this too." McMullen claims this, and, of course, he has a couple of books you can buy....
In any event, "The Secret Vaults of Time" offered no compelling evidence of McMullen's claims, only mildly entertaining stories and fanciful speculation.
