Many people don’t know that cryptozoology expert Loren Coleman also has a graduate degree in psychiatric social work, and has put forth a theory that media coverage of violent crimes inspires further violence. In his 2004 book The Copycat Effect , Loren found startling similarities between numerous violent events, and showed how widespread coverage of this violence spawns more violence of the same type – an issue which he considers a tragic flaw of the information age, and one which the media must address.
In a recent posting on his Copycat Effect blog, Loren is now predicting – based on his previous investigations and analysis – that there is a very high chance of a VA Tech copycat incident between May 16th and 21st of this month:
The copycat cycle I have written about in my book reveals itself during the first 30 days, in three-four days, one week, two weeks, and one month appearances, with then yearly shadow scares and repeats near the annual anniversary…There is no way to ignore that around May 16th to the 21st, it will be a time to keep your guard up. Campus law enforcement groups, local police and sheriff’s departments, and school resource officers need to be on high alert.
It’s not often that I like to see anomaly researchers being proved wrong, but…
