By Gary P. Posner
The "$1,000 Challenge"
The paranormal is a multi-billion-dollar industry, eating into
the hard-earned wages of many who cannot afford to waste
precious funds. State lotteries such as Florida's have been
criticized for relieving the poor of what is too often not
disposable income, but even with its 14,000,000 to 1 odds, at
least a few individuals each month receive a huge pot of gold
from the end of the Lotto rainbow. James Randi
and other skeptical investigators have spent the last several decades
scouring the paranormal rainbow for its pot of gold, but have
found no solid evidence to support its existence.
In the spirit of open-minded pursuit of the truth, and with the
hope that a monetary incentive might flush out local prospects,
the Tampa Bay Skeptics
and I issued a "$1,000
Challenge" in 1989.
I carry the check in my wallet at all times, and will turn it
over to anyone who can provide TBS with verifiable scientific
proof of any "paranormal" phenomenon, be it ESP, astrology,
faith-healing, or you name it. The terms must be jointly agreed
upon and signed in advance, but we aim to accommodate.
Janet Sciales,
Tampa Bay's most mediagenic astrologer, was a
charter member of TBS, and had initially professed interest in
being scientifically tested by us. As she told those who
attended our second meeting, "I am looking very much for your
input on acceptable tests -- what we can do." But when push came
to shove, rather than negotiate the conditions of such a test,
she failed to return phone calls, and cancelled appointments
with our chairman. Sciales later commented to the St. Petersburg
Times, "I'm not going to put my reputation on the line if
they're not going to do the same thing. Why should I?" All we
were offering was $1,000 and a place in history should she
successfully demonstrate her alleged ability.
When Pinellas Park "psychic" Joan Morin read of Sciales'
reversal, she called me to offer herself as TBS's first
test
subject. On July 22, 1989, at her Spiritual Center Church, Morin
sat in meditation to establish the crucial link between her mind
and the spirit saint who guides her through her performances of
"psychic" power. Observed by members of her congregation, TBS,
and the press, Morin then pored over the 23 boxes placed one-by-one
before her, to determine which were empty and which
contained the hidden objects that she had provided. Since there
was a 50:50 probability that any given box either contained an
object or did not, chance guesswork would be expected to result
in a +/-50% success rate. Though Morin had anticipated 100%
success (a nearly 10,000,000 to 1 feat), she and her saint,
whose voice dictated each of her selections, were correct only
10 times out of 23, well within chance expectations.
D. Carnegie Langley, of Dearborn Heights, Michigan, claims that
during a stint in Viet Nam, a Buddhist monk taught him an
ancient Chinese technique that allows one to both transmit and
receive "emotions" telepathically. Seeing the "Parapsychology"
SIG listing in the "Mensa Bulletin," and desirous of scientific
validation of his claim, Langley contacted the SIG for help, and
was in turn referred to me this past March. Though the SIG's
newsletter reported that I "twice
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