He's the one that admitted it. Can't you take his word on it?
I hate to burst your bubble, but there is quite a bit of difference between a living being and a steam engine. The only thing we have in common is a need for water. Moving along...
Sure, you can pick a few stories like the one you've posted, but you're comparing apples with oranges with that analogy. Would you see a street doctor for your next illness? They MIGHT know more than a board-certified physician. It's not an impossibility, right?
Here's another quote where he admits that the information so far is inadequate for the scientific community:
The truly odd thing about this subject is that so much of what we know has come from anecdotal evidence. Normally, of course, scientists aren’t allowed to consider first-person accounts. They rely on blinded studies, and nothing else.