Flim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns, and Other Delusions - James Randi [36]
Early in 1978 I had an ideal opportunity to test a pet theory of mine. The chance arose when a radio station in Winnipeg, Canada, phoned and asked me to do an interview via telephone from my home in New Jersey. I agreed, but suggested a novel approach. I instructed the host to advertise on the show that he would have an "astrographologist" available by phone the following week, and to tell listeners to send in samples of handwriting and their birth-dates. The following week he called me while on the air and referred to three listeners he had standing by on the telephone to hear their analyses. They were asked, at the conclusion, to rate the "readings" from one to ten. My real identity was not given; I was identified by a fictitious name, sort of a nom de charlatan. I was hugely successful, getting accuracy ratings of nine, ten, and ten. This changed to straight tens when the first listener noted that I had said he "disliked hard work" when in fact, he insisted, he was a laborer and thus accustomed to hard work. "But," I countered, "I said that you disliked hard work." "True," he replied. "I guess you're right. I don't really like it." And he changed my score to ten.
The amazing thing about this episode is that I did not have the handwriting samples or the birthdates; and I read, word for word, three readings that had been given months before in Las Vegas by Sydney Omarr, one of the best-paid and most reliable astrologers in the United States, on "The Merv Griffin Show" for three members of that television program's audience. And these readings, for three other people, months and thousands of miles apart, were accepted and scored as 100 percent accurate! When it was revealed that I was a fake, and my real name was announced, the three listeners hung up their phones and probably had a thought or two about their powers of discrimination.
One of these Omarr readings was as follows:
People close to you have been taking advantage of you. Your basic honesty has been getting in your way. Many opportunities that you have had offered to you in the past have had to be surrendered because you refuse to take advantage of others. You like to read books and articles that improve your mind. In fact, if you're not already in some sort of personal service business, you should be. You have an infinite capacity for understanding people's problems and you can sympathize with them. But you are firm when confronted with obstinacy or outright stupidity. Law enforcement would be another field you understand. Your sense of justice is quite strong.
Does my reader see himself/herself in that description? If so, give me ten points.
Many years ago, when two friends of mine in Montreal, Canada, started a newspaper called Midnight, I was asked to write an astrological column for it. Had I any notion of what that newspaper would become, I'd have run away screaming. As it was, I agreed to give it a try, seeing the chance to conduct an excellent experiment at the same time. I went out and bought an astrology magazine, clipped a few pages of daily forecasts at random, mixed them in a hat, and pasted them up in any old fashion. With the name Zo-ran at the top of the column, it went to press.
Several weeks later I watched in dismay as two office workers at the corner soda counter eagerly scanned my fake column for their individual prognostications. They squealed with delight on seeing their future so well laid out, and in response to my query said that Zo-ran had been "right smack on" last week. I did not identify myself as Zo-ran; I was only seventeen at the time, and not very scholarly-looking. Reaction in the mail to the column had been quite interesting, too, and sufficient