The world has great amount awards that millions of people dream of. Every year they are awarded to the most outstanding inhabitants of the planet for achievements worth noting with a special award. However, there are such awards that no one has ever received.

No, this is not the invention of a cure for all diseases or the discovery of new animal species. It's about about the prizes that are awarded in the field of the paranormal.

On this moment there are only two of them, and they offer quite impressive rewards. However, in history there is not a single owner of these awards, because it is quite difficult for applicants to prove their exceptional abilities.

In this article, we will talk about the awards that no one managed to get!

James Randi Award

Admit it, who doesn't want a million dollars? It is not surprising that dozens of people apply for this award every year. Under the conditions of a special experiment, the subject must prove in practice that he really has unusual abilities. For this, the fund would pay the winner one million dollars, but here's the problem - no one passes the test.

Surprisingly, this award was initiated not by a psychic or a hereditary clairvoyant, but by a scientific skeptic, James Randi. In his youth, he worked as an illusionist and was quite popular. James took part in the filming of American television programs and worked under a pseudonym from 1946. But in the 1970s, he devoted himself entirely to publicly exposing famous psychics and illusionists.

He became an employee of the Committee, which investigates all statements about any paranormal cases and phenomena, and also actively participated in high-profile revelations.

Randy founded a special foundation in 1996 that supports educational programs among young people, publishes scientific literature and creates training programs. In addition, the work of the foundation is to investigate any reports of supernatural phenomena.

James Randi is interviewed on TV.

The former illusionist promised a million dollars to a man who will prove his abilities in an experiment in the laboratory. This story began on live radio, it was then that Randy announced that he would pay any person who proved his paranormal abilities a thousand dollars. His interlocutor, a parapsychologist, prompted the skeptic to move from promises to deeds and, finally, to reward the one who proves his strength. This is how the idea of ​​the James Randi Foundation was born.

Every year, more than 50 people experience luck, all of them are tested in accordance with their gift. For example, those who have the gift of foresight should name the winning numbers of the next lottery.

It is worth noting that no evidence from the outside was accepted, you can not bring videos, photographs and testimonies of other people. All conclusions were made only on the basis of examinations made by the Foundation in its laboratory. Because of this, doubts arose about the competence of the inspectors and the reality of the prize.

Repeatedly, the results of the audit of the fund were criticized, because since 1996 not a single person has been able to prove his abilities. Experts joke that either there are no people with psychic abilities at all, or the tests are set up in such a way that no one can pass them on purpose.

The version was also expressed that there is no prize fund in the amount of a million dollars, therefore there are no winners. Of course, the foundation's main goal is to prove that the supernatural doesn't exist, so it's no surprise that no one has ever won.

To this day, no one has received the James Randi Award, as no one has been able to pass the foundation's lab tests. However, even in case of victory, this does not mean that paranormal phenomena really exist. The Fund only acknowledges that the winner passed the test and received a cash prize.

Harry Houdini Award

The equivalent of the American James Randi Award is the Harry Houdini Award.

In 2015, it was founded in Russia by the SciOne TV channel to search for people with truly unusual and unique abilities. It is assumed that for a successfully completed task, a person will receive a bonus of one million rubles.


Illusionist Harry Houdini performing a magic trick.

Anyone who claims to be a psychic, clairvoyant, or medium can become a participant in the test. A prerequisite Russian Prize is a mention in the media, a video and recommendations from scientists that confirm the presence of superpowers.

Applicants for the award should discuss the test being conducted and clarify all conditions. The course of the verification must be agreed with all experts of the award and participants.

It is worth noting that among the contenders for the Harry Houdini Prize, no one has yet managed to win. No wonder its name is given in honor of the great illusionist and debunker of the 20th century, Harry Houdini! Just like the Americans, Russian clairvoyants and psychics fail to prove their extraordinary abilities.

Perhaps someday someone will be able to prove their supernatural abilities. But so far this has not happened, and the fund of both awards is waiting for its winner!

Somehow it suddenly turned out that there was nothing about this organization on this forum. While this fund is extremely popular on the Internet. Including as an integral part of the eternal debate on the topic of whether magic exists.
The following article serves to correct this misunderstanding. I will try to make a minimum of conclusions in it, focusing on the specifics of the activities of this fund.
So, let's begin.

Short description.

The foundation was founded back in 1996. The full name of the foundation sounds like "James Randi Educational Foundation" (which roughly translates as "James Randi Educational Foundation"), however, according to what is written on their website, their mission is "promoting critical thinking through reporting to the public and media with reliable information about the paranormal and supernatural ideas so prevalent in our society today." (). In principle, on the same page there is still a certain amount of text explaining that the foundation's goals really do not go beyond the fight against pseudoscience, the development of skepticism, etc.
Education here can only be attributed to the mention of scientific conferences, grants for educators and scholarships for students pursuing the same development of scientific skepticism and critical thinking. Whether they actually paid anyone for any of the above is unknown. However, on the site itself there is a dedicated to some research staff, "recognized by the foundation for their contribution to the development of skepticism and carry out original skeptical research with the support of the foundation." There are as many as 7 employees there (from the 96th year) ... you can read the details about their activities.
Scientific skepticism as such, I think, will not be analyzed at all. For this philosophical concept is an extremely ambiguous thing. This ambiguity is especially clearly illustrated by the fact that in the ranks of adherents of scientific skepticism, no, no, and believing people slip through (Martin Gardner, for example ... which you can read about in English in the article "" on page 32). In short, you can’t figure it out with half a liter
Well, back to the fund.
He gained main fame for the promise of a prize for demonstrating paranormal abilities, which was established by James Randy even before the founding of the foundation during some kind of radio show, already in 1964 (at the time of creation - in the amount of a thousand dollars, then ten thousand, and since 2002 years - million). And the fact that despite the relative abundance of applications (650 before the foundation was established, and 360 between the foundation of the foundation in 1996 and 2005), it was never awarded to anyone. Well, without exception, all consideration of applications one way or another turn into a show by the author. The primary source of information set forth in this paragraph is none other than.
Actually, as you might guess, it is this show that is the reason why no one received the award. However, let's still analyze the features of receiving the award in more detail.

Randy Award for the Paranormal. Features of the conduct.

As mentioned earlier, Randy successfully turns each test of this award into a show. Thanks to this, the comrade regularly appears on American television ... and, of course, he also has one (though mostly filled with all sorts of lectures and other things).
You can see an example of a show with validation here:
It allows you to arrange a show from each check of the applicant and avoid the actual presentation of the award to James by well-written conditions of checks (you can read them in English, again,). Briefly, the description of these tricks is as follows:

  • The test results are evaluated exclusively by representatives of the fund without the obligatory involvement of any independent experts(The 4th paragraph of the rules ... in the previous version of the rules was quite unambiguous, but now they are very vague).
  • Before the main check, representatives of the fund can appoint any number of preliminary checks (also 4th point). At the same time, the fund itself disposes of all the materials received during the inspections (3rd paragraph).
  • Representatives of the fund have the right to adjust the methods of conducting inspections (still the same 4th paragraph).
Well, as you understand, in this situation, the fund can guarantee that the candidate will fall asleep during the checks. For, under such conditions, it is not so difficult to make a test in such a way that the candidate would not pass it by any means. And, of course, this achieves maximum entertainment during checks.
Plus, the rules are updated from time to time. So, for example, the paragraph was removed from there, which spoke about the unambiguous involvement of third-party experts, being replaced by a paragraph on the protocols of inspections at the discretion of the Fund participants and a paragraph that third-party experts are involved by the Fund participants.
And, of course, in the conditions it means that the applicant, and not the foundation, bears all the costs of the checks.

Last news regarding the award.

Apparently, by now, the audience has already stopped eating Randy's show, so the foundation is desperately trying to attract attention again.
Namely, now, to apply, the applicant is required to attach the recommendation of some well-known scientist, an article about himself in a scientific publication and a video demonstrating his abilities. In short, now only famous comrades are suitable for applicants, and mere mortals, alas, by the cash register.
Plus, the foundation staff catches all sorts of well-known occult figures (such as the same Uri Geller) and tries to persuade them to be tested by them. Occult figures, the stump is clear, are aware of the conditions for passing, therefore they don’t beg ... Although I’ll look for details later, maybe they still managed to catch someone.

Foundation criticism.

Oddly enough, I did not come across so many critical materials about the fund. Whether it is of little interest to anyone (which is strange, because it should be unequivocally attractive to trolls who use it as a way of stuffing on the relevant resources; comrades who have curled up with them for verification and are offended by the methods of conducting it; fans of the fund itself and people who - they still want to get money from them, at least for criticism), or I just had no luck, or maybe just few people are interested in criticizing the critic ...
But, nevertheless, this criticism still exists. Below I will present a list of articles that seemed to me the most notable:

  • Translation of an article that is very interesting in that it describes the case when Randy himself, at the last stages of the agreement, decided to refuse to conduct inspections. However, judging by the article, the checks were offered much more global than Randy's usual shows.
  • An article by a certain Mark Komissarov from the USA, written in 2003. Although this article is highly subjective, as it was written by a mentor of one of the award applicants (especially in vain the author focuses on the suffering of his ward), it is still useful in that it provides a description of the passage of checks by people directly involved in these checks, describes the features of the work of the fund's employees , the very procedure for registering for applicants for the award and preparing for checks.
  • Also on the Internet you can stumble upon a compilation of translations of several foreign articles, entitled "". There, Randy, in addition to fraud with the prize fund and regularly changed rules for its delivery, is accused of pedophilia and other troubles. True, to me personally, the presentation seemed frankly slurred and in places very far-fetched (well, in places it was completely fantastic).
    Actually, so far, everything that I came across interesting on the fund. If I come across anything else interesting, I'll add it.

James Randi is a former illusionist and well-known in America debunker of scammers posing as magicians and psychics. For two decades, he has offered to pay a prize of more than $1 million to anyone who passes all of his tests and proves that he really has paranormal abilities. Thousands of people from many countries of the world tried to get this cash prize, but none of them could convince the skeptic Randy of his special gift.

Childhood and youth

The real Randy is Randall James Hamilton Zwinge. He was born in the Canadian city of Toronto in 1928. The boy was the eldest child, besides him, there were two more children in the family. At the age of 13, he had a serious bicycle accident, after which he lay in a cast for more than a year. The doctors were sure that James would remain bedridden for the rest of his life, however, to their surprise, the boy recovered and got to his feet. Lying motionless, Randy began to read magic books. The boy liked the new hobby so much that he decided to connect his future life with him. As a 17-year-old teenager, James Randi left school and began to earn extra money as an illusionist, speaking at roadside entertainment venues. This was followed by work in Japan and the Philippines, where the young man got acquainted with the secrets of performing complex tricks, which the audience perceived as nothing more than miracles.

Work as an illusionist

James began his professional career as an illusionist in 1946. At first, he performed under his real name (Randell Zwinge), but as his popularity grew, he decided to take on the pseudonym Amazing Randy. From the mid-50s, the magician began to be invited as a guest on entertainment programs, and in the 60s he began to host his own radio station on a New York radio station. own program. In 1973-1974 illusionist James Randi went on tour with popular rock singer Alice Cooper. During the singer's performances, he played the roles of an executioner and a dentist on stage, and also took a personal part in the development of some of the scenery for his performances.

The emergence of skepticism

In the 70s, Randy gradually begins to move away from the illusion and focuses his activities on exposing scammers who pretend to be people with supernatural powers. Knowing the secrets of most complex tricks, he understood that any seemingly incredible trick actually has no supernatural basis. A skeptic by nature, Randy did not believe in miracles and considered all psychics, magicians, mediums, contactees with aliens common scammers deceiving viewers for profit.

Feud with Uri Geller

Most loud conflict James Randi began in 1972 with the mega-popular at that time psychic Uri Geller. The latter performed miracles inexplicable by science in front of the audience, claiming that alien creatures endowed him with superpowers. James Randi slammed Uri Geller's number, in which he bent a metal spoon with one glance. He stated that bending the cutlery was a common trick and persuaded the employees of the studio in which the psychic was supposed to perform to expose him to the audience. After this incident, the feud between Randy and Geller dragged on for long years. The skeptical illusionist repeatedly revealed the secrets of the psychic's tricks, thereby putting his career in jeopardy.

Geller tried to fight his offender legally and repeatedly sued him. However, the ministers of Themis never satisfied his claims against James Randi. In 1982, the former illusionist published a book called The Magic of Uri Geller, in which he revealed to readers the secrets of the psychic's signature numbers. He claimed that anyone could perform the metal spoon bending trick and other celebrity tricks. Many years after the start of the conflict, Geller was forced to admit that he did not have supernatural powers, but was an ordinary stage illusionist, striving to make his show unforgettable for the audience.

Establishment of own fund

In 1996, the James Randi Educational Foundation appeared in the USA, which is engaged in exposing fraudsters from magic and extrasensory perception and studying paranormal phenomena. The illusionist announced that he would pay $10,000 from his personal savings to someone who could prove that he really had supernatural powers and was not fooling people with magic tricks and psychological tricks. Gradually, the size of the cash prize increased due to the contributions of enthusiasts and, in the end, exceeded $1.1 million.

Conditions for receiving a prize

The James Randi Award has become a tidbit for many people who call themselves clairvoyants, sorcerers, psychics, fortune tellers, etc. It would seem that getting money is not difficult at all. To do this, you just need to demonstrate your paranormal abilities to the skeptic Randy. The illusionist is ready to pay the cash prize of his fund to anyone who can hypnotize, read minds, move objects with their eyes, communicate with the dead, predict the future, perform various magical actions, etc. The only condition is that the contender for victory must demonstrate their abilities under the conditions of a scientific experiment under the supervision of Randy and his colleagues.

Fund Prize Competition

Thousands of people competed for the $1.1 million cash prize. Clairvoyants of all stripes applied to the Educational Foundation, but none of them could demonstrate their abilities in strict accordance with the conditions of the experiment. Tests of James Randi were too tough even for strong psychics. The former illusionist does not get tired of displaying clean water all nominees for the award. He easily manages to understand that their superpowers are ordinary trickery.

James Randi divides all candidates for the award of his foundation into 2 categories: charlatans and those who mistakenly believe in their paranormal abilities. The first come to the illusionist for the sake of easy money. During the experiment, they are cunning, peeping, hoping to deceive others. Applicants belonging to the second category are confident in their superpowers, but upon closer inspection it turns out that they are simply mistaken about themselves.

Illusionist Skeptic Cash Prize today no one received. Is there really not a single person in the world who really has paranormal abilities? The James Randi Foundation continues to search for such people. Battle of the Psychics and other TV shows regularly show people performing miracles in front of the camera. Are they all charlatans? And why doesn't any of them want to compete for a cash prize in excess of $1 million? Many famous psychics claim that they do not need any checks, so they are not going to prove their abilities to anyone. But Randy does not believe any excuses. He is confident that he will be able to bring to light any person who turns to him.

randy today

Despite his Randy is still actively involved in exposing scammers. In 2009, he was diagnosed with an oncological disease of the intestine, but the former illusionist managed to overcome the disease and in 2010 return to his activities. Today, he is still waiting for a person to whom he can solemnly present the main prize of his foundation. After all, he spent the last 2 decades of his life searching for it.

$1,112,000 for a miracle


James Randi.

The well-known American illusionist, TV presenter and popularizer of science James Randi several years ago offered a prize of ten thousand dollars to anyone who unambiguously and unequivocally demonstrates any of the so-called parapsychological or extrasensory phenomena.

Telepathy, clairvoyance, and levitation (lifting a person into the air without any technical devices), and telekinesis (moving objects with the power of thought), and spiritualistic contacts with the afterlife, and surgical operations with bare hands, and other phenomena that do not fit into the usual ideas of science and common sense a. If only the demonstration, carried out under the controlled conditions of a scientific experiment, was demonstrative and indisputable.
Since the announcement of this award, more than 260 other people and organizations interested in the problem have joined their contributions to the fund created by Randy, and by the spring of last year, the amount of the award had grown to one million one hundred and twelve thousand US dollars. There were applicants for it, but none of them managed to undeniably demonstrate their supernatural abilities.

Our editors received from the Internet the full text of the announcement of the award. We publish his translation. Note that the English text is considered legally valid in the United States, so we ask our psychics not to send Mr. Randy leaflets from Science and Life, but to ask him for signing, as stated in the announcement, the original text. It seems that in our country there are quite a few phenomena who want to pick up the thrown glove.
This statement outlines the main conditions under which I am making an offer to those who claim psychic, supernatural, or paranormal abilities. Since applicants' applications will be very diverse in nature and scope, each applicant must have its own specific verification rules. However, all applicants must agree to the ground rules here proposed before entering into any formal agreement with me. The applicant must declare his consent by signing this text in the indicated place in the presence of a public notary and returning the signed text to me. Before any verification procedures can begin, both parties will need to agree on what the final verification procedure for claimed abilities should be. We cannot pretend to be judges. The verification scheme will be developed only with the participation of the applicant. Before starting negotiations, each applicant must submit information about himself. Since the volume of correspondence can be considerable, please include an envelope with your address and stamp, or - if you do not live in the USA - just an envelope with your address inscribed with your letter.

This offer is now provided and guaranteed by the James Randi Educational Foundation (JFED) in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

The offered amount is constantly growing. You can ask the James Randi Educational Foundation what size it has reached so far.

I, James Randi, undertake to pay the sum of US$1,112,000 through the James Randi Educational Foundation to any person (or group of persons) who demonstrates any psychic, supernatural or paranormal ability of any kind under satisfactory conditions of observation. Such a demonstration must take place according to the following rules and subject to the following restrictions:

1. The applicant must clearly state in advance and agree with Mr. Randy exactly what powers or abilities he is going to demonstrate, as well as the conditions of the proposed demonstration (its time, place and other details), and what will be considered a positive and what a negative result.

3 . The applicant agrees that all data (photographs, audio or video footage, recordings) of any kind collected during the tests may be used by Mr. Randi in any way that J. Randi himself chooses.

4. The test plan will be designed in such a way that no judging procedure is required. The results should be self-evident to any observer and follow the rules that both parties involved will work out together before the formal testing procedure begins. No detail of the test procedure may be changed without the express consent of all parties concerned.

5. The applicant may be asked to first informally demonstrate his declared ability in front of a representative appointed by the OFDR, if distance and time dictate such a need. This pre-screening should help determine whether the applicant is truly capable of delivering what was promised.

6. Expenses such as travel, accommodation or other expenses incurred by the applicant shall be paid by the applicant himself.

7. By accepting this challenge, the applicant waives all of his or her rights to sue Mr. Randy or the OFDR, in so far as the existing provisions permit. This applies to cases of any injury, accidents and to the incurrence of any other damage, physical or moral, financial or professional. This rule does not affect the award of the prize in any way.

8. Prior to the commencement of the formal testing procedure, Mr. Randy will hand over a check for his share of the promised premium (US$10,000) to safekeeping to an independent person chosen by the applicant. In the event that the applicant successfully proves his or her ability under mutually agreed terms, the $10,000 check will be immediately distributed to the applicant by the person holding the check, and the James Randi Educational March 31, 1996 to 1,112,000 US dollars) about the need to pay the additional amounts promised by them to the applicant. In any case, OFDR undertakes to pay the entire promised amount within seven (7) days, and assumes the obligation to collect the promised amounts from the guarantors. This will facilitate the payment of the full amount to the applicant.

9. Copies of this document are sent free of charge to any person who sends a request with an enclosed envelope with a return address and a stamp attached.

10. This proposal is independently submitted by the James Randi Educational Foundation and not on behalf of any other person, agency or organization, although other parties may be involved in reviewing applications. Other persons or organizations, subject to certain conditions, may add their own funds to the amount of the award. The implementation and testing is provided by J. Randi and (or) OFDR.

11 . This offer is open to all persons in any part of the world, regardless of gender, race, education, etc., and will remain valid until anyone receives this award or until the death of James Randi. Randi's will states that after his death, the amount designated for the award will be deposited in the name of the James Randi Educational Foundation, which will manage the money. The Foundation is mandated to continue to circulate the offer of the award for 10 years after the death of James Randi, after which the amount may be used by the Foundation for any purpose it chooses.

12. Each applicant must agree in advance on the criteria by which it will be decided whether or not he has demonstrated his claimed ability or phenomenon.

By signing, notarizing and sending this document to the OFDR, the applicant expresses his agreement with all the above rules.

James Randi , on behalf of the James Randi Educational Foundation, c/o James Randi Educational Foundation, 201 S.E.Davie Boulevard, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33316-1815, USA .

Warning

Please bear in mind that several applicants have already put themselves in a very awkward position by failing the tests. I strongly advise you, before being nominated for an award, to independently conduct a double-blind experiment in all the rules of science to test the ability you want to demonstrate. This advice has already saved me and many applicants a lot of time and trouble, since in preliminary experiments it was found that the declared abilities were only imaginary. Please check yourself and don't dismiss the need for this precaution.

STORIES

About the James Randi Foundation
(or exposure of psychic phenomena)

James Randi is a famous American illusionist and TV presenter. And also an active fighter against psychic quackery - this is what he is famous for.

Being a professional magician, he is familiar with the technology of tricks firsthand, so he easily noticed that those people who call themselves magicians, mediums, parapsychologists, psychics, clairvoyants, shamans and other sorcerers actually do the same thing that he does. - they're just being tricky.

In other words, James Randi is convinced that psychics do not have any of the supernatural powers they claim to have, but simply fool people with magic tricks and psychological tricks. And if you properly delve into them, then you can expose any sorcerer.

As an honest man, James Randi opposes fraud and charlatanism, so he decided to devote himself to exposing magical tricks. In 1996, he established a fund under his own name, the James Randi Foundation. At first, the size of the fund was 10 thousand US dollars ( personal contribution Randy himself), then many enthusiasts - people and organizations - added their contributions to the fund, and it grew to 1 million 112 thousand dollars.

The James Randi Foundation is, in fact, an award that they intend to give to anyone who clearly and unequivocally demonstrates any of the so-called parapsychological or psychic phenomena. Suitable: magic, clairvoyance, telepathy (mind reading), telekinesis (moving objects with the effort of thought), astrology, palmistry and all other types of divination, spiritualism (communication with dead people), levitation (flying without help technical means), surgical operations with bare hands and other phenomena that do not fit into the usual ideas of science and common sense. The main thing is that the demonstration carried out under the controlled conditions of a scientific experiment should be clear and undeniable.

Of course, there were many applicants for the award. Dowsers came to the Randy Foundation (who search underground for water with the help of vine), and soothsayers, and people who claimed that they had developed skin vision and that they could with eyes closed using fingers to read words and distinguish colors - there were no clairvoyants there. But none of them passed a strict test according to all the rules of scientific experimentation - they were all brought to clean water.

Moreover, by by and large all the mage applicants for the award, who were tested by Randy, were divided into two categories. The first is frank charlatans who wanted to fraudulently steal a million (they were cunning, cunning, peeping, in general, they were playing a dishonest game). And the second category is people who themselves sincerely believed that they had some kind of superpowers (which, as it turned out during the test, they actually did not have), i.e. these people were delusional about themselves.

As it turned out, there are quite a few such self-deceiving "witch doctors", so James Randi was forced to make an announcement something like this: neither theirs nor ours."

Hundreds of people a year fill out applications for the Randy Award, but things usually don’t go beyond preliminary tests, because the applicants for the award, like unsuccessful applicants, fail the tests - they, again, are quickly brought to clean water - they do not show their abilities, which they claimed.

Notable psychics they don't go to James Randi for easy money. Because, as some of them say, real psychic, like an angel, does not need to be checked. However, Randy himself claims that in fact they are simply afraid of exposing their foul play that they are playing. And besides, they, as a rule, do not really need money, because they make good money working on gullible townsfolk and participating in various television shows.

Felix Kirsanov