Let Don Knotts - and everyone else - rest in peace

Dallas Morning News | Mark Davis:

“This column has been in my head for years. I tripped over a piece of news the other day that uncorked it, so here goes. I have long held a special contempt for the charlatans who purport to be able to talk to the dead. Many people write off such things as entertainment, in the same category as psychics and tarot-card readers. I don't. ”

Ed Cognoski responds:

Maybe Mr Davis' column is meant as satire. With the same mock serious tone used to decry the sale of terminal operations at US ports to a Dubai company (threatening the Mafia franchise at the Port of New York ;-), Mr Davis lets loose with a double barrelled barrage against this latest threat posed by charlatans who claim to speak with the dead.

Apparently, he isn't upset by unscrupulous people preying on the naive so long as they only claim to be able to read tea leaves or tarot cards. Just don't claim to speak with the dead. Believing in omnipotent supernatural beings is apparently also OK with Mr Davis. Mr Davis himself talks about death being a "line drawn by God". He doesn't tell us his position on talking with God, however. Neither does he tell us his position on writing to Santa Claus.

Oh well, if this grave matter (pun intended ;-) has been weighing on Mr Davis for years, I'm happy for him that he finally found occasion to unburden himself and exorcise that demon once and for all. Don Knotts would be pleased. Maybe.