James Randi is a stage magician and scientific skeptic best known as a challenger of paranormal claims and pseudoscience. In this list we see 10 of his best psychic debunking (and have a bonus clip of a lecture of his). These are all extremely damning to the practitioners of these magic arts and Randi makes no apologies for his tough approach; in fact he is offering a reward of $1 million to anyone who can demonstrate evidence of any paranormal, supernatural or occult power or event, under test conditions agreed to by both parties. As of this time, no one has claimed this prize.
According to Randi, a large number of European businesses uses graphology (the ability to determine a person’s traits by their handwriting) to help in their hiring process. In this clip, Randi tests a professional graphologist to determine whether they actually do have the ability to recognize certain traits, or whether their results are determined entirely by chance.
Astrology is the ability to forecast a person’s life based upon the positions of the stars and other heavenly bodies. In this clip we see a very prolific astrologer giving a reading for a selected person in the audience. The best part of this clip is the series of witty comments at the end made by Stephen Fry. Excuse the sound quality at the start – it does improve.
Psychometry is the ability to determine information about a person through their personal possessions. In the clip above, James Randi sets up a test for a woman claiming to have psychometry abilities. Unfortunately for her, the test did not go well.
Crystal power is the idea that certain crystals effect a person in a particular way. For this reason they are used for healing and psychic readings. In the test above, a professional crystal healer was tested. This is definitely one of the best clips. Despite the result, the “psychic” took it all very well.
Aura reading is the ability to see the aura (a field of color that radiates from an object) around people. In this clever test, James Randi has the reader see the auras of 5 people and then has them stand behind a thin wall. The reader then determines where each person is standing behind the wall based on their auras.
Telekenesis is when a person is able to move objects with the mind. In the 1980s, James Hydrick developed a cult like following due to his abilities. In this clip, we see James Randi debunk him on television. Some years later Hydrick was exposed as a criminal and he confessed his psychic fraud. He admitted that he learnt his trick whilst in jail. I am not sure what he spent time in jail for, but it may well have been crimes against fashion.
Clairvoyants claim to have the ability to communicate with the dead. In this clip we see a reading performed by Maureen Flynn which is analyzed and tested by James Randi. He exposes the various tricks used psychics of this variety.
Dowsing is the ability to locate water, oil, minerals, objects, locations, missing persons etc. using such objects as a metal rod, a pair of bent wires, a forked stick, a pendulum or the open hands.
In this clip, a special device is used to determine whether a person is receiving thoughts sent by a second person. The most interesting comment of the clip is when James asks the man responsible for the device whether he would consent to electricians looking inside he exclaims “I most certainly would not!” Pseudo-science at its best.
This clip demonstrates that psychic abilities and supposed gifts from God are often coupled with fraud and financial gain for the psychic. Peter Popoff, the evangelist seen here, should have done prison time for the web of lies and deceit he wove. At the height of his career (just prior to being exposed by James Randi, he was earning over 4 million dollars a year). After declaring bankruptcy, Popoff is back at work defrauding thousands of people. For more information, see the wikipedia article.
I realize that homeopathy is not related to psychic abilities (though it is about as credible) but this last video had to be included. In this clip, James Randi explains how homeopathic medicine works (or rather, how it doesn’t). An excellent lecture that any person considering using homeopathic medicine should hear.
I KNEW you were going to do this list…
stevenh: haha how did you know?
Great list!
The homeopathy lecture blew me away. I can’t believe so many people fall for it!
Miss Cleo told me this list was coming by the way!
I suppose that “Homeopathic” doctors can be found everywhere in the world, we have more than our share in the USA.
hahaha how stupid am I? I only JUST got stevenh’s joke because of what otay said. Now I get it – har har!
Guess im slow this morning too….i didnt get it either, thought i was first to joke about it. My day is shot to hell now! lol
I admit, I’m a bit of an astrology buff. I don’t take it as gospel, but sometimes I can’t deny the accuracy.
I loved this list! Interesting stuff.
BOB BARKER!!!!!!!!!! I love Bob Barker.
…that was fun…
Okay, how psychic is it that yesterday in my comments I mentioned The Amazing Randi, and today here he is as the subject of an entire list?
It must be MAGIC……
I’m glad this is drawing attention to Randi, everyone who has ever believed in these types of things should take a look at this list. Good one JF
warrrreagl: You must have inadvertently used thought transference to get the idea in to my head! Spooky!
Moriati: I agree – Randi is great – not only is he smart, he is funny.
jfrater:
Jamie… psssstt… I think you spelled “Transference” wrong there, buddy, in #2…. sssshhhh… promise I won’t tell anyone.
Randall: thanks – and thanks for your discretion – it is much appreciated
I really need to get some speakers. I would love to hear the lecture about homeopathy. Is there anywhere online I can look it up to read it?
I love that I have an advert for a psychic named Jenna at the top of this list. I hope she gets plenty of extra business….
One of the best lists ever! This should be obligatory wieving in schools!
The lady “psychometrist” in clip 8 did not look very happy, though… She got busted, and she knew it!
Good List J.
Video 1,2,3 didn’t work for me.
House, House, I saw House! Hugh Laurie is awesome. It’s kinda weird listening to him in his normal voice. I’ve gotten so used to him playing an American. Great list, by the way. I had seen the one with Mr. James “bowl-cut” Hydrick before and couldn’t stop laughing. It’s amazing what people will believe. Keep up the great work Jamie!
Chris: try a refresh.
funbutfunctional: she must be doing okay to be paying for a full sized advert like that! Wow. Lots of money in lies I guess
Qlovelee: thanks – I really enjoyed putting this one together!
HandyMandy: if you search google you might something on his website – he has a foundation I believe.
Iâran: I totally agree – perhaps it would help to put an end to the foolishness once and for all!
Popoff is a jerk, granted. But anyone who follows him now, after he was exposed, only DESERVES what they get. I hope they get jobbed out of their entire life savings.
Interesting…the comments r funny too
The astrology test wasn’t very conclusive by Randi’s definition. Hugh Lawrie is an actor. Actors are usually extroverts, and I know Lawrie is a bit eccentric. I think Randi cheated a little by using/having two professional actors. Plus its very easy to have an astrologer say “my reading shows you are eccentric. is that true?” and for the subject to say “no”. Oh darn, you debunked me.
The best test of astrology is using twins. If astrology were accurate, twins would have the same personalities, as they were obviously born on the same month,day,year,time and place (the “markers” of astrological readings). Although some twins are very much alike, there are plenty of examples of twins being completely different, and sometimes opposite, in their personalities.
It’s 6.35pm where I am,so its good morning to u all,and good night as well!
The only comment I will make is that dowsing is real, and I’ve watched it first hand. My father was a plumber and an excavator, and we used dowsing all the time to find water lines. It has to be done properly, and, if it is, the two rods that you hold will come together and cross. It’s a simple question of magnetics. I don’t profess to know all of the underlying principles, but it is very easy to do. As for finding non-magnetic things, I have never seen dowsing do that.
Dowsing as you describe it just might work on a magnetic basis? If so, then it would be independent of being done by a person. A toy robot should be able to do it. Further, the forces involved in overcoming the friction of the dousing rods against the hands (or robot hands or pivot points) is well within our ability to measure. In short, if it is ‘real’, then it would be subject to examination and understanding from a scientific or engineering point of view. We should be able to easily measure the friction and forces involved right at the dousing rod. Just attach a few sensors (torque, magnetic, etc.) on the rod and it’s holder and get some real data.
I can’t wait til I get home so I can watch these!! I love watching mystics get their asses handed to them.
Video 1-3 didnt work for me either. Pooh!
Nice list. lol @ anyone who seriously believes in any of this crap.
Wow – James Hydrick got owned!
Toolnut: you will definitely enjoy them – I guarantee it
Eric: yeah – that is one of the best clips
CRE:
No no no. Explain to me how it is a “simple question of magnetics”—when dealing with WATER.
Look…. here’s the last world in debunking dowsing, or “wishing,” from the master Himself (I bow to Him)… CECIL ADAMS:
“Good Lord, dowsing? Next you’re going to tell me you got a great deal on a time-share condo. This is about the oldest dodge in the books.
You don’t describe what your “participation” consisted of, but let me guess: you watched some old geek with a divining rod (typically a forked stick held in a peculiar grip with both hands, but sometimes just an ordinary single stick) wander around the desert for a while with a look of concentration on his face.
By and by the stick began to quiver, and suddenly plunged sharply downward, whereupon he exclaimed something to the effect of, “Dig here, you’ll find water.” Then he said, “You try it, sonny, it’ll work for you, too.” And gosharoonie, he gave you the stick and showed you how to hold it and lo and behold, when you got to the spot where the stick had plunged down for the old coot, it did the same thing for you–just like some mysto force had grabbed onto it.
Naturally, since water in Arizona is typically found 175 to 200 feet below the surface, you didn’t actually dig a well to test the accuracy of the rod, but assumed that since it worked for you, it must be legit.
Congratulations, sucker. You’ve fallen victim to the classic Skeptical Young Guppy Becomes True Believer syndrome, described in great detail in a study of dowsing (as wishing is sometimes called) published by two University of Chicago researchers in 1959. “Wishing,” incidentally, is a corruption of “witching,” as in “water witching,” the most common American expression for dowsing, AKA rhabdomancy and divination.
Although divining has been around in various forms for millennia, the well-known forked stick method appears to have been devised in the mining districts of Germany (you can supposedly find minerals with a dowsing rod, too) in the late 15th or early 16th century. It was first formally described in an essay in 1556, and since then has been spread around the world by European colonists. In the past 400 years, more than a thousand essays, books, and pamphlets have been published on the subject.
Needless to say, dowsing is entirely a fraud, although often an unconscious one. Innumerable experiments, beginning in 1641–that’s right, 1641–have demonstrated that:
(a) The presence of water has no discernible effect on a rod held above it, whether the rod is made of wood, metal, or anything else.
(b) The success rate for diviners is about the same as that for people who use the hit-and-miss method when looking for water.
(c) Geologists trained to recognize telltale surface clues (certain kinds of rocks and plants, various topographical features) will invariably far outdo dowsers in predicting where water will be found, and at what depth.
Nevertheless, belief in dowsing has persisted, partly because most people secretly want to believe in magic, partly because water is fairly easy to find in most parts of the inhabitable world, and partly because the plunging-stick phenomenon seems so convincing to untutored observers.
It’s worth noting that in many parts of the eastern U.S. it is virtually impossible to dig a hole and not find water. Granted it’s tougher in the west, but I lived in Tucson for a spell and they had gotten well-digging down to such a science that the success rate approached 100 percent. Even over complex hydrological formations, the success rate by the hit-and-miss method is often as high as 75 percent.
The plunging-stick phenomenon is caused by a well-documented psychological effect known as “ideomotor action,” first described in the 1800s and clinically demonstrated in the 1930s. What happens is that conscious thought gives rise to involuntary, usually imperceptible muscle movements.
If I strapped you to a table in a lab and loaded you up with sensors and told you to just think about raising your arm–but not to actually do so–the sensors would probably detect some slight upward motion in that arm, which you’d be completely unconscious of. Ouija boards and several other seance-type tricks make use of this principle.
In forked-stick dowsing, the two ends of the stick are held in a rather uncomfortable grip in such a way that the stick is under considerable tension–coiled up like a spring, as it were. Any of four minor muscle movements will result in the stick taking a sudden lurch downward (you can try this in the backyard sometime).
An experienced dowser, who has often picked up a fair bit of practical geological knowledge, particularly if he has worked in the same geographical area for many years, often develops a good instinct for judging where water might be just by looking at the terrain. When he walks around doing his number with the stick his mind unconsciously transmits this knowledge to his arm muscles, with predictable results.
You, the young sap, don’t know anything about geology, but you do know where the stick pointed the first time, and unconsciously you want to duplicate that feat. If either you or the dowser is blindfolded, though, you won’t even get close to the spot twice.
Besides forked sticks you can use barbed wire, a fork and spoon, coat hangers, welding rods, even a bunch of keys hanging by a chain from a Bible. If you want more information on this ridiculous art, most libraries have lots of books on the subject–right next to the section on tarot cards.”
^-^ I practice Reiki and spiritual healing and such. One thing I Have noticed is that if you do not believe in any of it, it won’t work. It’s kind of like the placebo affect. As with all magic or anything of that nature.
Also, with aura readings I’m very skeptical about people who say they can. A true aura reader should not have to worry about walls or anything. It is energy, and as with all energy walls and such should not be hindrances.
Believe me, I’ve been tested by skeptics quite a few times and I usually refuse to take up their offer. Why? Because if you actively refuse to see something then it won’t be there. Therefore why try to convince someone who has already made up their mind that it will not work.
ANYWAY! Sorry, I went on a bit of a rant…Hopefully I won’t get flamed for any of this. I know I do at home
good stuff on homeopathic medicine. i’m embarrassed. i have the calmes forte somewhere in my medicine cabinet. i didn’t even know i was buying something like this when i did.
If you liked him, make sure to watch some Penn & Teller Bull*****! on Showtime, or rent the DVDs, he shows up on a few episodes helping to show how these people try and trick you.
Randall: the ideomotor action is also probably the cause of ouija boards appearing to work. Unintentional pushing from well-wishing or hopeful participants.
SoCalJeff: I didn’t realize just how fraudulent it was until I saw that clip – I knew it was airy fairy – but not as bad as that.
jfrater:
Precisely. Parker Brothers understood this crap long before we were born, in other words, and made mucho bux out of a huge time-waster, (Ouija) relying on the same silliness that explains dowsing.
All the good ideas are taken, dammit.
I will have to watch these clips when I get home. Lousy internet speed here at work.
I was thinking of putting a suggestion in the suggestion box at work to please get a higher speed connection so I can watch listverse clips but decided that probably wouldn’t be a good idea.
Any way does anybody remember that Uri Geller? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uri_Geller
It say’s in the article\he actually threatened legal action against some of his critics.
Good Luck Uri.
Blogball: Uri Geller has been debunked by Randi many times. Unfortunately Randi made a false statement about him in a Japanese newspaper and Geller sued and won (though got no money).
Randall: ah – not all the best ideas – they haven’t stolen the Listverse Game idea yet! (I do still need to invent it mind you)
I love guys like Randi. The rational universe is amazing enough as it is, you don’t need to gussy it up with bull*****.
BTW has anyone ever seen Randi and Rabdall together in the same room?
Rabdall? Can somebody tell me where to find the letter N on my keyboard?
Ari-chan:
I have one question – if you actively admit that Reiki/Spiritual healing/ and their ilk are “kind of like the placebo affect”, why assign any reason to it other than the Placebo Effect? What do you see as the difference between what you do and the Placebo Effect?
I am very interested in the desire to believe in a mystical ability when you accept the Placebo effect and it’s role in the outcome of what you do. Can you elaborate?
well ***** me in the beard. my mom’s been usuing homeopathy for almost a year and a half now. and its $133 for a little vial of pills that last a week!
Well s*** on my moustache! So has mine!!!! Spooky.
Yogi, it was there when you typed the capital N
I don’t know if its psychic but would having a pain in your leg or something like that before its going to rain or some other weather disturbance be psychic. I don’t have that but have heard it many times
jfrater:
By such modest starts as these, financial empires are built.
“Opera singer Jamie Frater built his multimillion dollar business concerns on the back of a wildly popular board game based on a web site he created, where troubled weirdo loners would write in, arguing about things like Led Zeppelin and whether or not god exists.
‘I saw civilisation grinding to a halt,’ says Frater, ‘and took advantage of the crash. Worked out pretty well…. for me,’ he says, pleased with himself.”
If only, though, he’d published that list Randall wrote for him weeks ago… he MIGHT have made another million or two…. hmmmm….. (ha ha)
Randall: I beg your pardon, but I am not a troubled weirdo loner. I have lots of other troubled weirdos I hang out with.
In the description of faith healing, it says that the man was making 4 million a month, but in the video, I think it says 4 million a year.
Doesn’t Popoff kind of remind you of Eli in There Will be Blood (excellent movie, I recommend it to everyone)? He sounds just as ridculous. “I am a false prophet and God is a superstition!” -Eli
This is probably my favorite list of all time. While I do believe in some of these things, I love seeing fakes and frauds called out and shamed.
“I am not sure what he spent time in jail for, but it may well have been crimes against fashion.”
Best line ever. Haha…
Jmurf – I think pain in the joints before rain has more to do with arthritis than psychic abilities. I heard somewhere (and don’t quote me on this) that arthritic people can feel rain coming because their joints soak up the moisture in the air brought in by the rain.
I’m not a scientist or believe in psychic abilities but I know my joints hurt when rain is coming. It doesn’t happen everytime but it happens often enough that when my wrist or elbow starts hurting, I wonder if rain will follow.
Randall:
I just sent my wife the link to the homeopathy video…
While I have always been a weirdo, I suspect that I may be a bit more in trouble and alone very soon now…so I suppose I qualify.
I am a weirdo with the psychic stuff, I’m fascinated by it. I don’t put too much stock into it, if any at all after this list, but I do enjoy reading books and watching TV programs about it.
Speaking of TV programs, House is one of my very favorite shows, so Hugh Laurie was a nice treat!
I totally cop to being weird, myself. Only mildly troubled… not so much a loner.
stevenh: yikes man…. sounds like something dark brewing on the horizon, eh?
Ha ha ha “There is no spoon”
Seriously Homeopathy and charlatans like Popoff are dangerous. Credulous fools who believe the shtick and forgo conventional medicine. Isn’t fraud illegal?
CK: hehe thanks – I felt that line was inspired – even if I do say so myself!
boo to not being able to view youtube at work!
can’t wait to watch these later, should be really cool
Mom424: The biggest problem with Popov and the like is that the people belive it is working even AFTER fraud is proven. Popov should never have had a willing audience after his sham was discovered. There are several other “evangelists” out there who come on t.v. and scream that God is telling you to send money to further His kingdom. All the while, said evangelist is enjoying life in 3 different vacation homes, with 10 cars and a jet. It makes me sick.