A.k.a. SeaLane Gray
Crockett Grabbe is a physicist (PhD, Applied Physics from Caltech in 1978) formerly affiliated with the University of Iowa and founder of the business SeaLane Research and Consulting in Austin, Texas. Now, Grabbe has, in fact, been engaged in real scientific research. To the general public, however, he is presumably best known for being a central figure in the 9/11 truther movement, for which he has authored a number of books such as National Swindle of the World Trade Center (2011), Anatomy of Mass Murder (2013) and How the WTC Was REALLY Demolished On 9/11 (2015, which seems to be more of a leaflet). Now, we can’t be bothered to actually read any of Grabbe’s books, and they seem to have made little headway beyond insane conspiracy fringe circles, so we have little information on precisely how they try to present things, but his own comments on 9/11 elsewhere don’t exactly inspire confidence that they’re worth engaging with.
Specifically, Grabbe, who is also a member of the conspiracy theory organization Scientists for 9/11 Truth, is a proponent of the controlled demolition variant of 9/11 conspiracy theories. According to Grabbe, the behavior of the debris and the fires, as well as the tower collapses, “clearly indicate extraordinary force beyond the capability of fires (or gravity) to bring the towers down”. That, of course, contradicts the official conclusions, so Grabbe needs to invoke a conspiracy to ensure that the 9/11 Commission disregarded what Grabbe takes to be damning evidence, such as the much-used conspiracy idea of molten steel at Ground Zero. That the commission overlooked this piece of evidence because it doesn’t exist – there is no evidence of actually-melted steel at Ground Zero – is presumbably further evidence of a conspiracy, and so on.
Diagnosis: We don’t know precisely what he is up to these days, and interest in 9/11 conspiracy theories among the public have waned a bit. Still.
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