Ed Conrad

Ed Conrad is a part-time journalist, dealer in antiques, and critic of the theories of human evolution. His notoriety stems from his vast posting history to Usenet and his belief that, in his words, man is "as old as coal."

Beliefs

Conrad claims to believe that human populations existed at the time that coal was forming., but he has frequently denied that he is a creationist, reserving some criticism of the creationist movement. This belief appears to date from Conrad's discovery of a skull-shaped object which he says was found in the Carboniferous-dated anthracite region of Pennsylvania in June of 1981. Conrad says that scientists at the Smithsonian examined the object and ruled it was a concretion, but that later infrared scans by other investigators showed the presence of material in the "jaw" area compatible with either tooth or bone in origin. Since this discovery Conrad has found many instances of what he believes are human or humanoid bones preserved in Carboniferous-age rock structures.

Criticism by Conrad

Conrad believes that the Smithsonian Institution has been remiss in not accepting his claims of the discovery of anthropoid and hominid bones and teeth in coal beds. Conrad has also accused other scientists of unethical conduct, including but not limited to support of Darwinism, accusing them of "acting like slime".

Criticism of Conrad

One of Conrad's first critics was Andrew MacRae, a geologist who was at the time a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Calgary. MacRae undertook a review of an article written by Conrad called "Human Bones in Carbiniferous-aged Rocks". Conrad's work has also been criticized by P.Z. Myers, then an assistant professor at Temple University, by the Institute for Bible and Scientific Studies, and by writer Edward T. Babinski.

Usenet

Ed Conrad is well-known as a frequent poster to numerous Usenet groups. He posts articles with titles such as "EVOLUTION CRAP No Match for Ed Conrad's Physical Evidence of Man as Old as Coal" "ROSIE O'DONNELL vs. Dr. Strangeglove and His Heil Hitler", and "FLASH! Elvis Presley Still Alive! -- At 71, He Denies He's the Bag of Evolution Fumigation". He claims to have appeared on Larry King Live, although a search of the cnn.com website reveals his name is not listed on that site. Many of his posts refer to his belief that man is as old as coal, but others appear to have been made in support of Velikovskyism and conspiracy theories regarding the September 11, 2001 attacks. Conrad also believes that the lunar landings were a hoax.

Conrad's efforts have resulted in the formation of a Usenet newsgroup, an "honor" generally reserved, in such cases, for established Usenet cranks, crackpots, and trolls. The group alt.fan.ed-conrad is propagated by many Usenet servers and can be read on Google Groups. Conrad posts many articles to this group as well to a wide range of Usenet groups, including talk.origins, sci.archaeology, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.obituaries, alt.music.michael-jackson, soc.veterans, and dc.smithsonian. In most of these cases, Conrad's postings are repetitions of earlier postings or outright carbon copying of earlier postings, spread across many, often unrelated newsgroups, as spam.

Conrad resides in Hazleton, Pennsylvania.

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