James Randi, Debunker Extraordinaire

Self-Proclaimed “The Amazing Randi,” Is Also a Stage Magician

Aug 26, 2009

Randi has an international reputation for his prestidigitation and as an escape artist, but he's best known as a debunker of paranormal and pseudoscientific claims.

Randi has pursued psychic charlatans and exposed the dirty tricks of disreputable faith healers. He’s been the clichéd burr under the saddle to those who try to scam naive people by claiming they have psychic abilities and charging outrageous fees.

Randi the Stage Magician

In 1946, Randi began his career in prestidigitation and as an escape artist. He appeared on many television and stage shows. During one performance, Randi was accused of using psychokinesis, PK, the ability of the mind to affect matter, to perform acts, including spoon bending. A State University of New York at Buffalo professor loudly proclaimed Randi was a fraud. He replied that he was a trickster, charlatan and a cheat. It’s what he did for a living. All he did was done by trickery. The professor retorted that that wasn’t what he meant. Randi was a fraud because he was pretending to do these things through deception, but he was using psychic ability and misleading people by not admitting it. Arthur Conan Doyle had, decades earlier, made a similar accusation against stage magician Harry Hodini.

Randi the Debunker

Randi was a founding member of CSICOP, the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, now shortened to CSI. He reached international attention in 1972 when he publicly challenged the claims of Uri Geller who was famous for bending spoons using PK. Randi accused Geller of being a fraud who used magic tricks to perform his paranormal accomplishments.

Geller filed civil suits against Randi. CSICOP's leaders, wanting to avoid becoming a target of litigation, requested that Randi abstain from commenting about Geller. Randi refused and resigned, but he still maintains a relationship with the group and writes articles for its magazine, The Skeptical Inquirer.

Randi’s “Involvement” with the Columbus Poltergeist

Distinguished poltergeist expert, William Roll PhD, investigated the case in which Tina Resch was proved to be a human poltergeist agent. She fit the psychological profile of one. These people experience uncomfortable emotions and test above average for PK ability.

Randi also wanted to investigate. He was offering an award of $10,000 to anyone who could prove s/he had psychic ability. Mrs. Resch refused his request. Randi claimed that Roll couldn’t have seen what he claimed to witness, despite the fact that he, Randi, hadn’t investigated the case.

James Randi Education Foundation and the Challenge

The organization was established in 1996 to further Randi’s work and continues with the challenge to psychics to prove their abilities are real. The prize increased to $1,000,000.

On Larry King Live, King, in March 2001, asked TV “psychic” Sylvia Browne if she would take the challenge. She agreed. Randi appeared with Browne on the show in September 2001 and, again, she again accepted the challenge, but later changed her mind.

Beginning on April 1, 2007, only those alleged psychics with existing media exposure and the backing of a reputable academic would be allowed to apply for the challenge. This eliminated testing unknown and possible claimants with psychiatric disorders. Only high-profile psychics with media recognition such as Browne, Geller, James Van Praagh and John Edwards, were allowed to take the challenge. In January 2008, it was announced that the offer of the million dollar prize will end on March 6, 2010. To date, no one has won the prize.

Articles Related to James Randi

The copyright of the article James Randi, Debunker Extraordinaire in Paranormal is owned by Jill Stefko . Permission to republish James Randi, Debunker Extraordinaire in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.