The James Randi Educational Foundation's One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge

Decades ago, magician Harry Houdini disapproved of the swindlers who claimed to contact the dead, and thereby bilked grieving and vulnerable customers out of their life savings. Houdini went to seances. As a stage magician, he was skilled in how magicians misdirect people into paying attention to the wrong things and missing the tricks. At those seances he discovered (and unmasked) sneaky deceptions that had fooled otherwise skeptical people.

There is a stage magician today who continues Houdini's tradition. His foundation challenges anyone who claims they can repeatedly make something supernatural happen to come forward and show that they can do it while experts trained in misdirection watch. If they can show their powers under controlled conditions under their watchful eyes, they get one million dollars.

The James Randi Educational Foundation's One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge

What's interesting is the excuses are made by the folks who want to claim the million dollars. Some make excuses instead of taking the test. Others take the test and (so far) fail, and make different excuses after the test.

David