Psychics fail Toronto skeptics' $1,000 challenge - News and Comment

In a direct public challenge to self-proclaimed psychics, Toronto-area skeptics put up $1,000 in prize money for anyone who could identify three common items in sealed boxes.

The $1,000 Psychic Challenge was held November 2, 2002, as part of the Psychic UnFair hosted by the Ontario Skeptics Society for Critical Inquiry (OSSCI). OSSCI organizes the UnFair each year to counter the psychic fairs and expositions held frequently in Toronto, as in other major North American cities, presenting mediums, astrologers, tea-leaf readers, aura painters, herb hawkers, and other paranormal practitioners to the public.

With so many local people professing psychic powers in the Toronto area, it might have seemed a sure thing that at least one of them would be able to claim the prize money.

However, at the end of the day, when the boxes were opened, it was found that no one had identified the three items.

Neither did anyone identify two of the three items in the correct boxes, which would have won them the $100 second prize. Nor did anyone identify even one item in the correct box.

The cardboard boxes were displayed in plain sight on a table behind a rope barrier, with a guard watching over them to ensure no one tried to touch them. People were able to view the boxes from six feet away and take their time to visualize the objects in them. They were told the objects were common items that could be easily identified by most adults or adolescents. Their answers were submitted in writing on a form. There was no charge for participating.

At the end of the UnFair, the boxes containing the mystery items were opened before a crowd of hopeful onlookers. The items were found to be a tangerine, a glove, and a roll of toilet paper.

A review of the submitted entries showed no one who had taken the challenge that day would win any of the skeptics' money.

No close matches--such as calling the tangerine an orange, for example--were found either, although these would have been honored as correct identifications, according to the published rules of the challenge.

The Psychic UnFair was held at the University of Toronto for the second year in a row, with an exhibit hall of exhibits and two presentation theatres. Exhibits included displays showing skeptical explanations of paranormal claims such as UFOs, the purported moon landing hoax, cryptozoology, and astrology. "Madame Liz" gave mind-reading demonstrations, after each of which she revealed to her amazed customers how the readings were done without paranormal powers. At another booth a skeptic explained how he successfully acted as an online psychic by using cold-reading and warm-reading techniques. Game booths tested skeptical skills and knowledge. Emily Rosa's experiment testing Therapeutic Touch was replicated at another booth.

Guest speakers throughout the day included psychologist and CSICOP fellow and Executive Council member James Alcock, who spoke on belief systems; magician and CSICOP fellow Henry Gordon, who related his lifetime of experiences debunking the paranormal; philosopher Fred Wilson, who has written and taught on science and pseudoscience; and biochemist Larry Moran, who has been prominent in defending evolution against creationism in Canada.

OSSCI is now working on developing a more extensive Psychic Challenge with a larger cash award--$10,000--as a greater incentive for psychics to take the test.

After the initial challenge, Toronto-area skeptics are confident their money will be safe even if they increase the stake tenfold.

Eric McMillan is Chair of the Ontario Skeptics Society for Critical Inquiry.

COPYRIGHT 2003 Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal
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