Psychics, Mediums, Faith Healers, and their Debunkers

Since time immemorial there have been individuals who claim to have “special powers”. They maintain they can tap into the “vibrations” or “energies” or “essences” of nature, or they even claim to have a special relationship with the “divinity”. And these individuals can demonstrate their powers or even use them to help people…for a fee, of course. At the same time there have been other individuals that have stood up to these fakes and exposed the tricks they use to lie and manipulate. For example, in the 1920s the magician Harry Houdini exposed many mediums who claimed they could communicate with the dead even offering thousands of dollars to anyone who could provide believable evidence of their powers (no one could).
 
In more recent times others have taken to this task. The magician James (The Amazing) Randi exposed many of these individuals who claimed to have special powers such as the psychic James Hydrick in 1981.
​

Randi, like Houdini, also offered a monetary prize that ended up reaching an amount of one million dollars to anyone who could present conclusive evidence of psychic powers in carefully controlled conditions (no one succeeded). Randi was also instrumental in exposing the televangelist Peter Popoff in 1986.
​

Magicians Penn and Teller, who are disciples of James Randi, have continued this tradition of debunking paranormal or pseudoscientific claims in their famous program “Penn & Teller: Bullshit!” that ran from 2003 to 2010. Below you can see their debunking of the psychic Rosemary Altea.
​

​The best way to deal with these characters who claim to have special powers is to keep a closed mind and to contract the services of a seasoned magician!