A dowser, from an 17th century French book about superstitions

Otto Edler von Graeve in 1913

Dowsing is a type of divination employed in attempts to locate ground water, buried metals or ores, gemstones, oil, gravesites,^[1] and many other objects and materials, as well as so-called currents of earth radiation (Ley lines), without the use of scientific apparatus. Dowsing is also known as divining (especially in reference to interpretation of results),^[2] doodlebugging^[3] (particularly in the United States, in searching for petroleum^[4]) or (when searching specifically for water) water finding, water witching or water dowsing.^[5] There is no accepted scientific rationale behind dowsing, and there is no scientific evidence that it is effective.

A Y- or L-shaped twig or rod, called a dowsing rod, divining rod (Latin: virgula divina or baculus divinatorius) or witching rod is sometimes used during dowsing, although some dowsers use other equipment or no equipment at all.

Dowsing appears to have arisen in the context of Renaissance magic in Germany, and it remains popular among believers in Forteana or radiesthesia.^[6]

History[link]

Dowsing as practiced today may have originated in Germany during the 15th century, when it was used to find metals. As early as 1518 Martin Luther listed dowsing for metals as an act that broke the first commandment (i.e., as occultism).^[7] The 1550 edition of Sebastian Münster's Cosmographia contains a woodcut of a dowser with forked rod in hand walking over a cutaway image of a mining operation. The rod is labelled "Virgula Divina – Glück rüt" (Latin: divine rod; German "Wünschelrute": fortune rod or stick), but there is no text accompanying the woodcut. By 1556 Georgius Agricola's treatment of mining and smelting of ore, De Re Metallica, included a detailed description of dowsing for metal ore.^[8]

In 1662 dowsing was declared to be "superstitious, or rather satanic" by a Jesuit, Gaspar Schott, though he later noted that he wasn't sure that the devil was always responsible for the movement of the rod.^[9] In the South of France in the 17th Century it was used in tracking criminals and heretics.^[10] Its abuse led to a decree of the inquisition in 1701, forbidding its employment for purposes of justice.^[11]

An epigram by Samuel Sheppard, from Epigrams theological, philosophical, and romantick (1651) runs thus:

Virgula divina.

"Some Sorcerers do boast they have a Rod,

Gather'd with Vowes and Sacrifice,

And (borne about) will strangely nod

To hidden Treasure where it lies;

Mankind is (sure) that Rod divine,

For to the Wealthiest (ever) they incline."

In the late 1960s during the Vietnam War, some United States Marines used dowsing to attempt to locate weapons and tunnels.^[12] As late as in 1986, when 31 soldiers were taken by an avalanche during an operation in the NATO drill Anchor Express in Vassdalen, Norway, the Norwegian army attempted to locate soldiers buried in the avalanche using dowsing as search method.^[13] 16 soldiers died.

Dowsing rods[link]

Traditionally, the most common dowsing rod is a forked (Y-shaped) branch from a tree or bush. Some dowsers prefer branches from particular trees, and some prefer the branches to be freshly cut. Hazel twigs in Europe and witch-hazel in the United States are traditionally commonly chosen, as are branches from willow or peach trees. The two ends on the forked side are held one in each hand with the third (the stem of the "Y") pointing straight ahead. Often the branches are grasped palms down. The dowser then walks slowly over the places where he suspects the target (for example, minerals or water) may be, and the dowsing rod supposedly dips, inclines or twitches when a discovery is made. This method is sometimes known as "Willow Witching."

The archaeologist Ivor Noël Hume introduced the practice of using "angle rods" and bent coat hangers to locate buried remains in the study of historical archaeology as a sub-surface surveying technique.^[14]

Two L-shaped metal wire rods

Many dowsers today use a pair of simple L-shaped metal rods. One rod is held in each hand, with the short arm of the L held upright, and the long arm pointing forward. When something is found, the rods cross over one another making an "X" over the found object. If the object is long and straight, such as a water pipe, the rods will point in opposite directions, showing its orientation. The rods are sometimes fashioned from wire coat hangers, and glass or plastic rods have also been accepted. Straight rods are also sometimes used for the same purposes, and were not uncommon in early 19th century New England.

In all cases, the device is in a state of unstable equilibrium from which slight movements may be amplified.^[15]

Other equipment used for dowsing[link]

A pendulum of crystal, metal or other materials suspended on a chain is sometimes used in divination and dowsing. In one approach the user first determines which direction (left-right, up-down) will indicate "yes" and which "no" before proceeding to ask the pendulum specific questions, or else another person may pose questions to the person holding the pendulum. The pendulum may also be used over a pad or cloth with "yes" and "no" written on it and perhaps other words written in a circle. The person holding the pendulum aims to hold it as steadily as possible over the center and its movements are held to indicate answers to the questions. In the practice of radiesthesia, a pendulum is used for medical diagnosis.

Suggested explanations[link]

Early attempts at a scientific explanation of dowsing were based on the notion that the divining rod was physically affected by emanations from substances of interest. The following explanation is from William Pryce's 1778 Mineralogia Cornubiensis:

The corpuscles ... that rise from the Minerals, entering the rod, determine it to bow down, in order to render it parallel to the vertical lines which the effluvia describe in their rise. In effect the Mineral particles seem to be emitted from the earth; now the Virgula [rod], being of a light porous wood, gives an easy passage to these particles, which are also very fine and subtle; the effluvia then driven forwards by those that follow them, and pressed at the same time by the atmosphere incumbent on them, are forced to enter the little interstices between the fibres of the wood, and by that effort they oblige it to incline, or dip down perpendicularly, to become parallel with the little columns which those vapours form in their rise.

Such explanations have no modern scientific basis.

A 1986 article in Nature included dowsing in a list of "effects which until recently were claimed to be paranormal but which can now be explained from within orthodox science."^[16] Specifically, dowsing could be explained in terms of sensory cues, expectancy effects and probability.^[16]

Skeptics and some supporters believe that dowsing apparatus has no power of its own but merely amplifies slight movements of the hands caused by a phenomenon known as the ideomotor effect: people's subconscious minds may influence their bodies without their consciously deciding to take action. This would make the dowsing rods a conduit for the diviner's subconscious knowledge or perception; but also susceptible to confirmation bias.^[17][18]

Soviet geologists have made claims for the abilities of dowsers,^[19] which are difficult to account for in terms of the reception of normal sensory cues. Some authors suggest that these abilities may be explained by postulating human sensitivity to small magnetic field gradient changes.^[20][21][22]

Evidence[link]

Skeptic James Randi at a lecture at Rockefeller University, on October 10, 2008, holding an $800 device advertised as a dowsing instrument

A 1948 study tested 58 dowsers' ability to detect water. None of them were more reliable than chance.^[23] A 1979 review examined many controlled studies of dowsing for water, and found that none of them showed better than chance results.^[5]

In a study in Munich 1987–1988 by Hans-Dieter Betz and other scientists, 500 dowsers were initially tested for their "skill" and the experimenters selected the best 43 among them for further tests. Water was pumped through a pipe on the ground floor of a two-storey barn. Before each test the pipe was moved in a direction perpendicular to the water flow. On the upper floor each dowser was asked to determine the position of the pipe. Over two years the dowsers performed 843 such tests. Of the 43 pre-selected and extensively tested candidates at least 37 showed no dowsing ability. The results from the remaining 6 were said to be better than chance, resulting in the experimenters' conclusion that some dowsers "in particular tasks, showed an extraordinarily high rate of success, which can scarcely if at all be explained as due to chance ... a real core of dowser-phenomena can be regarded as empirically proven."^[24]

Five years after the Munich study was published, Jim T. Enright, a professor of physiology and a leading skeptic who emphasised correct data analysis procedure, contended that the study's results are merely consistent with statistical fluctuations and not significant. He believed the experiments provided "the most convincing disproof imaginable that dowsers can do what they claim,"^[25] stating that the data analysis was "special, unconventional and customized." Replacing it with "more ordinary analyses,"^[26] he noted that the best dowser was on average 4 millimeters out of 10 meters closer to a mid-line guess, an advantage of 0.0004%, and that the five other good dowsers were on average further than a mid-line guess.^[27] The study's authors responded, saying "on what grounds could Enright come to entirely different conclusions? Apparently his data analysis was too crude, even illegitimate."^[28] The findings of the Munich study were also confirmed in a paper by Dr. S. Ertel,^[29] a German psychologist who had previously intervened in the statistical controversy surrounding the "Mars effect", but Enright remained unconvinced.^[30]

More recently a study^[31] was undertaken in Kassel, Germany, under the direction of the Gesellschaft zur Wissenschaftlichen Untersuchung von Parawissenschaften (GWUP) [Society for the Scientific Investigation of the Parasciences]. The three-day test of some 30 dowsers involved plastic pipes through which water flow could be controlled and directed. The pipes were buried 50 centimeters under a level field, the position of each marked on the surface with a colored strip. The dowsers had to tell whether water was running through each pipe. All the dowsers signed a statement agreeing this was a fair test of their abilities and that they expected a 100 percent success rate, however the results were no better than chance.

Some researchers have investigated possible physical or geophysical explanations for alleged dowsing abilities. One study concluded that dowsers "respond" to a 60 Hz electromagnetic field, but this response does not occur if the kidney area or head are shielded.^[32]

Commercial and "high-tech" dowsing devices[link]

A number of devices resembling "high tech" dowsing rods have been marketed for modern police and military use: none has been shown to be effective.^[33] The more notable of this class of device are ADE 651, Sniffex, and the GT200.^[34][35] A US government study advised against buying "bogus explosive detection equipment".^[33]

Devices:

• Sandia National Laboratories tested the MOLE Programmable System manufactured by Global Technical Ltd. of Kent, UK and found it ineffective.^[34]

• The ADE 651 is a device produced by ATSC (UK) and widely used by Iraqi police to detect explosives.^[35] Many^[35][36] have denied its effectiveness and contended that the ADE 651 failed to prevent many bombings in Iraq. On 22 January 2010, the director of ATSC, Jim McCormick was arrested on suspicion of fraud by misrepresentation.^[37] Earlier, the British Government had announced a ban on the export of the ADE-651.^[38]

• SNIFFEX was the subject of a report by the United States Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal that concluded "The handheld SNIFFEX explosives detector does not work."^[39]

• Global Technical GT200 is a dowsing type explosive detector which contains no scientific mechanism.^[40][41]

List of well-known dowsers[link]

Well-known dowsers include:

• Otto Edler von Graeve^[42]
• Uri Geller
• A. Frank Glahn
• Thomas Charles Lethbridge^[43]
• Nils-Axel Mörner
• Karl Spiesberger
• Ludwig Straniak
• Hellmut Wolff

See also[link]

• Geopathic stress
• Long range locator
• Michel Moine
• Pigeon Post
• Professor Calculus
• Rhabdomancy
• TR Araña

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Barrett,William and Theodore Besterman. The Divining Rod: An Experimental and Psychological Investigation. (1926) Kessinger Publishing, 2004
• Barrett, Linda K. and Evon Z. Vogt, "The Urban American Dowser", The Journal of American Folklore 325 (1969), S. 195-213
• Bird, Christopher, The Divining Hand, 1979.
• Randi, James, Flim-Flam!, 1982. Devotes 19 pages to double-blind tests in Italy which yielded results no better than chance.
• Spiesberger, Karl, Reveal the Power of the Pendulum.
• Underwood, Guy, The Pattern of the Past, Museum Press 1969; Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons Ltd 1970; Abacus 1972.
• Vermeir K. 'The physical prophet and the powers of the imagination. Part II: a case-study on dowsing and the naturalisation of the moral, 1685-1710.' Stud Hist Philos Biol Biomed Sci. 2005 Mar; 36(1):1-24.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Dowsing

• Dowsing at the Open Directory Project
• Footage of water dowser at work
• George P. Hansen: Dowsing: A Review of Experimental Research. In: Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, Volume 51, Number 792, October 1982, pp. 343–67
• James Randi on Dowsing
• The Skeptics Dictionary - Includes details of various scientific tests.
• "Beyond Science" video PBS show Scientific American Frontiers on dowsing featuring Ray Hyman, November 19, 1997

James Randi
Born	Randall James Hamilton Zwinge (1928-08-07) August 7, 1928 (age 83) Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Nationality	Canadian American
Occupation	Magician, illusionist, writer, skeptic
Religion	None (atheist)[1]
Website
www.randi.org

James Randi (born Randall James Hamilton Zwinge; August 7, 1928^[2]) is a Canadian-American stage magician and scientific skeptic^[3][4] best known as a challenger of paranormal claims and pseudoscience. Randi is the founder of the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF). Randi began his career as a magician named The Amazing Randi, but after retiring at age 60, he began investigating paranormal, occult, and supernatural claims, which he collectively calls "woo-woo".^[5]

Although often referred to as a "debunker", Randi rejects that title owing to its perceived bias, instead describing himself as an "investigator".^[6] He has written about the paranormal, skepticism, and the history of magic. He was a frequent guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and was occasionally featured on the television program Penn & Teller: Bullshit!. The JREF sponsors The One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge offering a prize of US$1,000,000 to eligible applicants^[7] who can demonstrate evidence of any paranormal, supernatural or occult power or event under test conditions agreed to by both parties.^[8]

Early life[link]

Randi was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and has a younger brother and sister.^[9] He took up magic after seeing Harry Blackstone, Sr^[10] and reading magic books while spending 13 months in a body cast following a bicycle accident. He confounded doctors who expected he would never walk again.^[11] Although a brilliant student, Randi often skipped school, and he dropped out of high school at 17 to perform as a conjurer in a carnival roadshow.^[12] In his twenties, Randi posed as a psychic to establish that they were actually doing simple tricks and briefly wrote an astrological column in the Canadian tabloid Midnight under the name "Zo-ran," by simply shuffling up items from newspaper astrology columns and pasting them randomly into a column.^[13][14] In his thirties, Randi worked in Philippine night clubs and all across Japan.^[15] He witnessed many tricks that were presented as being supernatural. One of his earliest reported experiences is that of seeing an evangelist using a version of the "one-ahead"^[16] routine to convince churchgoers of his divine powers.^[17]

Career[link]

Magician[link]

Randi worked as a professional stage magician, or "conjurer" as he prefers to be called,^[18] and escapologist beginning in 1946, initially under his birth name, Randall Zwinge, and then as The Amazing Randi. Early in his career, Randi was part of numerous stunts involving his escape from jail cells and safes. On February 7, 1956, he appeared live on The Today Show, remaining in a sealed metal coffin submerged in a hotel swimming pool for 104 minutes, breaking what was said to be Houdini's record of 93 minutes.^[19][20]

Randi was the host of The Amazing Randi Show on New York radio station WOR in the mid 1960s.^[21] This radio show, which filled Long John Nebel's old slot with similar content after Nebel went to WNBC in 1962, had frequent pro-paranormal guests, including Randi's then-friend James Moseley. Randi, in turn, spoke at Moseley's 1967 Fourth Congress of Scientific Ufologists in New York City,^[22] stating, "Let's not fool ourselves. There are some garden variety liars involved in all this. But in among all the trash and nonsense perpetrated in the name of Ufology, I think there is a small grain of truth."^[23]

Randi also hosted numerous television specials and went on several world tours. Then Randi appeared as "The Amazing Randi" on a television show titled Wonderama from 1967 to 1972,^[24] and as host of a failed revival of the 1950s children's show The Magic Clown in 1970.^[25] In the February 2, 1974, issue of Abracadabra (a British conjuring magazine), Randi defined the magic community, saying, "I know of no calling which depends so much upon mutual trust and faith as does ours." In the December 2003 issue of The Linking Ring, the monthly publication of The International Brotherhood of Magicians, Points to Ponder: Another Matter of Ethics, p. 97, it is stated, "Perhaps Randi's ethics are what make him Amazing" and "The Amazing Randi not only talks the talk, he walks the walk."

During Alice Cooper's 1973–1974 tour, Randi performed as the dentist and executioner on stage,^[26] and designed and built several of the stage props, including the guillotine.^[27][28] Shortly after that, in February 1975, Randi escaped from a straitjacket while suspended upside-down over Niagara Falls in the winter on the Canadian TV program World of Wizards.^[29]

Randi was once accused of actually using "psychic powers" to perform acts such as spoon bending. James Alcock relates this incident, which occurred at a meeting where Randi was duplicating the performances of Uri Geller: A professor from the University at Buffalo shouted out that Randi was a fraud. Randi said, "Yes, indeed, I'm a trickster, I'm a cheat, I'm a charlatan, that's what I do for a living. Everything I've done here was by trickery." The professor shouted back: "That's not what I mean. You're a fraud because you're pretending to do these things through trickery, but you're actually using psychic powers and misleading us by not admitting it."^[30] The famous author and believer in spiritualism Arthur Conan Doyle had years earlier made a similar accusation against the magician Harry Houdini.^[31] A similar event involved Senator Claiborne Pell. Pell believed in psychic phenomena. When Randi demonstrated viewing a hidden drawing by using trickery, Pell refused to believe that it was a trick, saying, "I think Randi may be a psychic and doesn't realize it." Randi has consistently denied having any paranormal powers or abilities.^[32]

Author[link]

Randi is author of Conjuring (1992), a biographical history of noted magicians. The book is subtitled: Being a Definitive History of the Venerable Arts of Sorcery, Prestidigitation, Wizardry, Deception, & Chicanery and of the Mountebanks & Scoundrels Who have Perpetrated these Subterfuges on a Bewildered Public, in short, MAGIC!. The book selects the most influential magicians and explains their history in the context of strange deaths and careers on the road. This work expanded on the 1976 book Houdini, His Life and Art, co-authored with Bert Randolph Sugar, which focused on Houdini and his cohorts. Randi also wrote a children's book in 1989 titled The Magic World of the Amazing Randi, which introduced children to magic tricks. In addition to his magic books, he has written several educational works about the paranormal and pseudoscientific. These include biographies of Uri Geller and Nostradamus as well as reference material on other major paranormal figures. He is currently working on A Magician in the Laboratory, which recounts his application of skepticism to science,^[33] though in January 2011, he expressed doubts as to whether it would be finished. James Randi has since confirmed the that the book will be sent to publishers by May 20, 2012.^[34] He is a member of the all-male literary banqueting club the Trap Door Spiders, which served as the basis of Isaac Asimov's fictional group of mystery solvers the Black Widowers.^[35]

Skeptic[link]

Randi entered the international spotlight in 1972 when he publicly challenged the claims of Uri Geller. Randi accused Geller of being nothing more than a charlatan and a fraud who used standard magic tricks to accomplish his allegedly paranormal feats, and he supported his claims in the book The Truth About Uri Geller.^[17][36] Geller sued Randi for $15 million in 1991 and lost.^[37] Geller's suit against the Committee for Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP) was thrown out in 1995, and he was ordered to pay $120,000 for filing a frivolous lawsuit.^[38]

Randi was a founding fellow and prominent member of CSICOP.^[39] During the period when Geller was filing numerous civil suits against him, CSICOP's leadership, wanting to avoid becoming a target of Geller's litigation, requested that Randi refrain from commenting on Geller. Randi refused and resigned. However, he still maintains a respectful relationship with the group and frequently writes articles for its magazine.

Randi has gone on to write several books criticizing beliefs and claims regarding the paranormal.^[40] He has also demonstrated flaws in studies suggesting the existence of paranormal phenomena; in his Project Alpha hoax, Randi revealed that he had been able to orchestrate a three-year-long compromise of a privately funded psychic research experiment.^[41] The hoax became a scandal and demonstrated the shortcomings of many paranormal research projects at the university level.

Randi has appeared on numerous TV shows, sometimes to directly debunk the claimed abilities of fellow guests. In a 1981 appearance on That's My Line, Randi appeared opposite psychic James Hydrick, who claimed that he could move things with his mind and demonstrated this ability on live television by apparently turning a page in a telephone book without touching it.^[42] Randi, having determined that Hydrick was surreptitiously blowing on the book, arranged packaging peanuts (polystyrene foam shapes) on the table in front of the telephone book for the demonstration, preventing Hydrick from demonstrating his abilities, which would have been exposed when the blowing moved the packaging.^[43] Many years later, Hydrick admitted his fraud.^[44]

Randi was awarded a MacArthur Foundation Genius award in 1986. The money was used for Randi's comprehensive exposé of faith healers, including Peter Popoff, W.V. Grant and Ernest Angley. When Popoff was exposed, he was forced to declare bankruptcy within the year.^[45]

In 1988, Randi tested the gullibility of the media by perpetrating a hoax of his own. By teaming up with Australia's 60 Minutes program and by releasing a fake press package, he built up publicity for a spirit channeler named Carlos who was actually artist Jose Alvarez, a friend of Randi's. Randi would tell him what to say through sophisticated radio equipment. The media and the public were taken in, as no reporter bothered to check Carlos's credentials and history, which were all fabricated. The hoax was exposed on 60 Minutes; Carlos and Randi explained how they pulled it off.^[46][47]

In the book The Faith Healers, Randi explains his anger and relentlessness as arising out of compassion for the helpless victims of frauds. Randi has also been critical of João de Deus (John of God), a self-proclaimed psychic surgeon who has received international attention.^[48] Randi observed, referring to psychic surgery, "To any experienced conjurer, the methods by which these seeming miracles are produced are very obvious."^[49]

In 1982, Randi verified the abilities of Arthur Lintgen, a Philadelphia physician who is able to determine the classical music recorded on a vinyl LP solely by examining the groove on the record. However, Lintgen does not claim to have any paranormal ability, merely knowledge of the way that the groove forms patterns on particular recordings.^[50]

James Randi stated that Daniel Dunglas Home, who allegedly could play an accordion that was locked in a cage, without touching it, was caught cheating on a few occasions, but the episodes were never made public, and that the accordion in question was a one-octave mouth organ that Home concealed under his large moustache. James Randi writes that one-octave mouth organs were found in Home's belongings after his death.^[51] According to Randi 'around 1960' William Lindsay Gresham told Randi he had seen these mouth organs in the Home collection at the Society for Psychical Research.^[52] Eric Dingwall, who catalogued Home's collection on its arrival at the SPR does not record the presence of the mouth organs. According to Peter Lamont, the author of an extensive Home biography, "It is unlikely Dingwall would have missed these or did not make them public."^[53]

James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF)[link]

The offices of the JREF in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

In 1996, Randi established the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF). Randi and his colleagues update JREF's blog, Swift. Topics have included the mathematics of the one-seventh area triangle. Randi also contributes a regular column, titled "'Twas Brillig," to The Skeptics Society's Skeptic Magazine. In his weekly commentary, Randi often gives examples of what he considers the nonsense that he deals with every day.^[54]

He has regularly featured on many podcasts, including The Skeptics Society's official podcast Skepticality^[55][56] and the Center for Inquiry's official podcast Point of Inquiry.^[57] From September 2006 onwards, he has occasionally contributed to The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe podcast with a column titled "Randi Speaks."^[58] In addition, "The Amazing Show" is a podcast in which Randi shares various anecdotes in an interview format.

Views on religion[link]

In his essay "Why I Deny Religion, How Silly and Fantastic It Is, and Why I'm a Dedicated and Vociferous Bright", Randi, who identifies himself as an atheist,^[1] has stated that many accounts in religious texts, including the virgin birth, the miracles of Jesus Christ, and the parting of the Red Sea by Moses, are not believable. For example, Randi refers to the Virgin Mary as being "impregnated by a ghost of some sort, and as a result produced a son who could walk on water, raise the dead, turn water into wine, and multiply loaves of bread and fishes" and questions how Adam and Eve "could have two sons, one of whom killed the other, and yet managed to populate the earth without committing incest." He writes that, compared to the Bible, "The Wizard of Oz is more believable. And more fun."^[59] In An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural, he looks at a variety of spiritual practices skeptically. Of the meditation techniques of Guru Maharaj Ji (Prem Rawat) he writes: "Only the very naive were convinced that they had been let in on some sort of celestial secret."^[60]

The One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge[link]

The James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF) currently offers a prize of one million U.S. dollars to eligible applicants who can demonstrate a supernatural ability under agreed-upon scientific testing criteria. Similar to the paranormal challenges of John Nevil Maskelyne and Houdini, in 1964, Randi put up $1,000 of his own money payable to anyone who could provide objective proof of the paranormal.^[61] Since then, the prize money has grown to the current $1,000,000, and has formal published rules. No one has progressed past the preliminary test, which is set up with parameters agreed to by both Randi and the applicant. He refuses to accept any challengers who might suffer serious injury or death as a result of the testing.

On Larry King Live, March 6, 2001, Larry King asked Sylvia Browne if she would take the challenge and she agreed.^[62] Then Randi appeared with Browne on Larry King Live on September 3, 2001, and she again accepted the challenge.^[63] However, she has refused to be tested and Randi keeps a clock on his website recording the number of weeks that have passed since Browne accepted the challenge without following through.^[64] During Larry King Live on June 5, 2001, Randi challenged Rosemary Altea to undergo testing for the million dollars. However, Altea would not even address the question.^[65] Instead Altea, in part, replied "I agree with what he says, that there are many, many people who claim to be spiritual mediums, they claim to talk to the dead. There are many people, we all know this. There are cheats and charlatans everywhere."^[65] Then on January 26, 2007, Altea and Randi again appeared on Larry King Live. Once again, she refused to answer whether or not she would take the One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge.^[66]

Starting on April 1, 2007, only those with an already existing media profile and the backing of a reputable academic were allowed to apply for the challenge.^[67] The resources freed up by not having to test obscure and possibly mentally ill claimants will then be used to more aggressively challenge notorious high-profile alleged psychics and mediums such as Sylvia Browne, Allison DuBois and John Edward with a campaign in the media.^[67]

JREF maintains a public log of past participants in the Million Dollar Challenge.^[68]

Legal disputes[link]

Randi has been involved in a variety of legal disputes but claims that he has "never paid even one dollar or even one cent to anyone who ever sued me."^[5] However, he says, he has paid out large sums to personally defend himself in these suits.

Eldon Byrd[link]

A Baltimore District Court found Randi liable for defaming Byrd for calling him a "convicted child molester" because, although Byrd had been found guilty of child pornography offences and admitted to molestation, the admission was part of a plea bargain so he was not actually convicted.^[69] No damages were awarded to Byrd.^[70]

Uri Geller[link]

According to Randi, Geller tried to sue Randi a number of times,^[why?] but never won, save for a ruling in a Japanese court that ordered Randi to pay Geller one third of one percent of what Geller had demanded, but this ruling was canceled, and the matter dropped when Geller decided to concentrate on another legal matter.^[71][72]

Wikisource has original text related to this article: Geller v. Randi

In 1991, Randi commented that Uri Geller's public performances were of the same quality as those found on the backs of cereal boxes. Geller sued both Randi and CSICOP. CSICOP argued that the organization was not responsible for Randi's statements. The court agreed that including CSICOP was frivolous and dropped them from the action, leaving Randi to face the action alone. Geller was ordered to pay substantial damages to CSICOP.^[73][74] Randi and Geller subsequently settled their dispute out of court, the details of which have been kept confidential. The settlement also included an agreement that Geller would not pursue Randi for the award in the Japanese case or other outstanding cases.

Other[link]

Allison DuBois, on whose life the television series Medium was based, threatened Randi with legal action for using a photo of her from her website in his December 17, 2004, commentary without her permission.^[75] Randi removed the photo and now uses a caricature of DuBois when mentioning her on his site, beginning with his December 23, 2005, commentary.^[76]

Late in 1996, Randi launched a libel suit against a Toronto-area psychic named Earl Gordon Curley.^[77] Curley had made multiple objectionable comments about Randi on Usenet. Despite prodding Randi via Usenet to sue (Curley's comments had implied that if Randi did not sue, then his allegations must be true), Curley seemed entirely surprised when Randi actually retained Toronto's largest law firm and initiated legal proceedings. The suit was eventually dropped in 1998 when Earl Curley died at the age of 51.^[78]

Sniffex, producer of a dowsing bomb detection device, sued Randi and the JREF in 2007 and lost.^[79] Sniffex sued Randi for his comments regarding a government test in which the Sniffex device failed. The company was later investigated and charged with fraud.^[79]

Personal life[link]

In 1987, Randi became a naturalized citizen of the United States.^[80] Randi has said that one reason he became an American citizen was an incident while on tour with Alice Cooper where the Royal Canadian Mounted Police searched the band's lockers during a performance. Nothing was found, yet the RCMP destroyed the room.^[81]

In February 2006, Randi underwent coronary artery bypass surgery.^[82] In early February 2006, he was declared to be in stable condition and "receiving excellent care" with his recovery proceeding well. The weekly commentary updates to his website were made by guests while he was hospitalized.^[83] Randi recovered after his surgery and was able to help organize and attend the 2007 Amazing Meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada (an annual convention of scientists, magicians, skeptics, atheists and freethinkers).^[84]

Randi was diagnosed with intestinal cancer in June 2009.^[85] He had a ping pong ball-sized tumor removed from his intestines during laparoscopic surgery. He announced this a week later at the July 2009 The Amazing Meeting as well as the fact that he was scheduled to begin chemotherapy in the following weeks.^[86] He also said at the conference: "One day, I'm gonna die. That's all there is to it. Hey, it's too bad, but I've got to make room. I'm using a lot of oxygen and such—I think it's good use of oxygen myself, but of course, I'm a little prejudiced on the matter."^[86] Randi also said that after he is gone he does not want his fans to bother with a museum of magic named after him or burying him in a fancy tomb. Instead, he said, "I want to be cremated, and I want my ashes blown in Uri Geller's eyes."^[86] Randi underwent his final chemotherapy session on December 31, 2009, as he explained in a January 12, 2010 video in which he related that his chemotherapy experience was not as unpleasant as he had imagined.^[85] In a video posted April 12, 2010, Randi stated that he has been given a clean bill of health.[3]

In a March 21, 2010, blog entry, Randi came out as gay, a move he explained was inspired by seeing the 2008 biographical drama film Milk, in which Sean Penn portrayed Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California.^[87][88]

The Independent Investigations Group IIG tribute to James Randi TAM9

Awards and honors[link]

• In 1981, asteroid 3163 Randi was named after Randi, who has always been an active amateur observer. His friend Carl Sagan encouraged his interest.^[11]
• MacArthur Foundation Fellowship for his investigations of the claims of Uri Geller and TV "faith healers." 1986^[89]
• American Physical Society Joseph A. Burton Forum Award 1989^[90]
• Richard Dawkins Award 2003
• Philip J. Klass Award 2007^[91]
• Independent Investigations Group (IIG) awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award, August 2007. Previous recipients Carl Sagan and Harry Houdini.^[92]
• Committee for Skeptical Inquiry In Praise of Reason Award, 2009
• Elected a Committee for Skeptical Inquiry Fellow, 2010^[93]
• Academy of Magical Arts Lifetime Achievement Fellowship, April 2012^[94]

World records[link]

The following are Guinness records:

• Randi was in a sealed casket underwater for an hour and 44 minutes, which broke Harry Houdini's record of one hour and 33 minutes set on August 5, 1926.^[11]
• Randi was encased in a block of ice for 55 minutes.^[11]

Bibliography[link]

• An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural, 1995, St. Martin's Press ISBN 0-312-15119-5 OCLC 32167512 (Online Version)
• Conjuring, 1992 St. Martin's Press ISBN 0-312-09771-9
• Flim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns, and Other Delusions, 1982, Prometheus Books, ISBN 0-87975-198-3
• Houdini, His Life and Art. Co-authored. Putnam Pub Group (November 1976) ISBN 0-448-12552-8
• James Randi: Psychic Investigator, 1991, companion book to the UK Granada TV series. ISBN 1-85283-144-8
• Test Your ESP Potential. Dover Publications Inc. (December 31, 1982) ISBN 0-486-24269-2
• The Faith Healers, 1987, Prometheus Books, ISBN 0-87975-369-2. (ISBN 0-87975-535-0 1989 edition) (Foreword by Carl Sagan)
• The Magic of Uri Geller, 1982, ISBN 0-345-24796-5 (later renamed The Truth About Uri Geller ISBN 0-87975-199-1)
• The Magic World of the Amazing Randi. Adams Media Corporation (September 1989) ISBN 1-55850-982-8
• The Mask of Nostradamus: The Prophecies of the World's Most Famous Seer, 1990, Charles Scribner's Sons ISBN 0-684-19056-7 or ISBN 0-87975-830-9.
• Wrong! (Forthcoming^[95])
• A Magician in the Laboratory. (Forthcoming^[95])

TV and film[link]

Actor[link]

• Good to See You Again, Alice Cooper (1974) as the Dentist/Executioner
• Ragtime (1981) (stunt coordinator: Houdini)
• Penn & Teller's Invisible Thread (1987) (TV)
• Penn & Teller Get Killed (1989) as the 3rd Rope Holder
• Beyond Desire (1994) as the Coroner

Himself[link]

• Wonderama (1955) (TV) as The Amazing Randi
• I've Got a Secret (1965) (TV) as The Amazing Randi
• Happy Days – "The Magic Show" (1978) as the Amazing Randi
• Zembla, 'De trucs van Char' (The tricks Char uses). (March 2008) "De trucs van Char, het medium – 23 maart 2008: ZEMBLA:". http://zembla.vara.nl/Voorpagina.1975.0.html?&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=5316&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=1974&cHash=0e36f258ac. 
• ZDF German TV (2007)
• Wild Wild Web (1999)
• West 57th (1980s)
• Welt der Wunder – Kraft der Gedanken (January 2008)
• Today on NBC (1980s)
• The Don Lane Show (1980)
• That's My Line (1980) (Appeared with James Hydrick)
• The View ABC TV (1999)
• The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (32 appearances between 1973 and 1993)
• The Secret Cabaret (produced by Open Media for Channel 4 in the UK)
• The Power of Belief (October 6, 1998) (ABC News Special) (TV)
• People are Talking (1980s)
• The Patterson Show (1970s)
• The Art of Magic (1998) (TV)
• The Ultimate Psychic Challenge (Discovery Channel/Channel 4) (2003)
• Spotlight on James Randi (2002) (TV)
• Secrets of the Super Psychics (Channel 4/The Learning Channel), produced by Open Media, 1997/8
• Scams, Schemes, and Scoundrels (A&E Special) (March 30, 1997)
• Raitre TV Italy (1991)
• Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher
• Penn & Teller: Bullshit!
  • End of the World (2003) TV Episode
  • ESP (2003) TV Episode
  • Signs from Heaven (2005) TV Episode
• Oprah Winfrey
• Lawrence Leung Unbelievable TV Episode
• NOVA: Secrets of the Psychics (1993)
• Mitä ihmettä? (Finland) (2003) TV Series
• Midday Show (Australia) (1990s)
• Magic or Miracle (1983)
• Magic (2004) (mini) TV Series
• Larry King Live of CNN (June 5, 2001, September 3, 2001, and January 26, 2007)
• James Randi: Psychic Investigator (1991) (Open Media series for the ITV network)
• James Randi Budapesten – Hungarian documentary (free download for schools)
• Inside Edition – (1991, 2006, and 2007) TV
• Horizon – Homeopathy: The Test (2002) TV Episode
• Houdini Dead Men Talking (Biography Channel)
• Fornemmelse for snyd (2003) TV Series (also archive footage)
• Extraordinary People – The Million Dollar Mind Reader (September 2008)."home – extraordinary people". five.tv. http://www.five.tv/programmes/extraordinarypeople/. Retrieved June 15, 2009. 
• Exploring Psychic Powers Live (June 7, 1989) (Hosted by Bill Bixby)
• CBS This Morning (1990s)
• Anderson Cooper 360, CNN (January 19, 2007 and January 30, 2007)
• A Question of Miracles (HBO) (1999)
• 20/20 ABC TV (May 11, 2007) Avila, Jim (May 11, 2007). "Selling Salvation?". 20/20. http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=3164858&page=1. Retrieved March 1, 2007. 
• Dilbert (TV series) parodied in "The Infomercial" (1999) TV Episode

Other media[link]

James Randi can be heard speaking an introduction on Tommy Finkes song "Poet der Affen/Poet of the Apes", released on the album of the same name in 2010. The message was recorded by James Randi and sent to Tommy Finke via email.^[96]

See also[link]

• Pigasus Award
• Project Alpha
• Robert Todd Carroll's Skeptic's Dictionary

Notes[link]