Flim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns, and Other Delusions - James Randi [9]
Needed is a sequel to this volume, one in which I may deal with subjects necessarily dropped from these pages. I certainly should reveal another bit of claptrappery, Kirlian photography, continues to fascinate the gullible. This process is said to register the human "aura," but the illustration demonstrates just how shallow this claim is. More extensive treatment of this subject will also have to await another book.
Such eminent figures as Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, a psychiatrist who presented her brand of evidence for survival after death in a best-selling book, is now discovered to have obtained her inspiration from certain questionable goings-on at the Facet of Divinity Church, an institution dedicated to séances in which the congregation enjoys extramarital relations with "spirits"—in the dark, of course. Conveniently, these spirits predicted to Dr. Kübler-Ross that she would be persecuted for her participation. "I was told three years ago that the society in which I live would try to destroy me by any means possible," she asserts. It would seem that this matter, too, needs some looking into.
In Canada I have investigated such "psychics" as Rita Burns, whose fame rests almost entirely upon the enthusiastic hyperbole of one newspaper reporter who quoted endorsements made by the Royal Ontario Museum. Officials of the museum denied the statements only when I visited and questioned them. Rita had claimed to be working with that august organization, using her supposed powers to identify odd artifacts. Her performance was much less than successful, though her press coverage indicated quite the opposite. After extracting certain sums from a few Canadian businessmen for her "psychic" advice, she declined to meet me on a television program to examine her claims. This is an unfinished investigation that also needs more attention.
There is scant satisfaction in knowing that in another, more rational age yet to come, one's words will be read and believed easily. If such an era is not imminent, the human race may not survive its own folly in accepting uncritically the declarations of the incompetents and charlatans who corrupt science in their pursuit of harebrained ideas. Only the support and encouragement of certain prominent members of the academic world, here and abroad, have enabled me to pursue the battle in which I have chosen to become involved. It has not been rewarding from a financial point of view, and in fact has cost me substantial amounts both in travel and research expenses. But there is a reward—the satisfaction and salutary effect of telling the truth.
To possess specific and specialized information about any aspect of human behavior or of the environment and fail to put that knowledge to valuable use is to my mind a major failure of integrity. I have had no choice. At an early age I was driven to investigate and expose the hoaxers and their disciples, seeing clearly the emotional and physical harm they wreak upon their victims. The adage "The sleep of reason brings forth monsters" has stuck in my mind for several decades now, and I have manned the claxon to arouse that sleeper.
This kind of declaration is a familiar one in human history. It smacks of every madman who ever thought that he alone possessed the ultimate truth. But the passing years have a way of sorting out madmen; I will trust to that process for my vindication.