Project Alpha

Project Alpha was an elaborate hoax that began in 1979 and ended with its deliberate disclosure in 1983. It was orchestrated by the stage magician and skeptic James Randi. It involved planting two fake psychics, Steve Shaw (now better known as Banachek) and Michael Edwards, into a parapsychology (PSI) research project at Washington University. Introduced to the researchers during the initial stages of the program, the young men convinced the researchers that their psychic powers were real. With spoon bending demonstrated, the lab ran a long series of experiments to test the range of their abilities, involving everything from moving objects in sealed globes, to changing electronic clocks, to making images appear on unexposed film.

After over a year of such tests, the lab began to prepare papers for presentation at a major parapsychology meeting in Syracuse in August 1981. In July 1981, Randi leaked statements about the project at a magician's meeting in Pittsburgh. The August meeting was dominated by discussions of the experiments and Randi's role; opinions were sharply divided about what was actually happening. Randi presented a critique of the lab's videotapes, pointing out obvious fakery. When the team returned to the lab and ran a number of the experiments with tighter controls, all indications of PSI powers disappeared. At this point the lab largely ended their involvement with the two, quoting "meager results." Other researchers were happy to continue working with them, and for the next year they travelled about and were engaged in a wide variety of experiments. Many glowing reports were published in various journals and magazines.

In early 1983, Randi called a press conference at the offices of Discover magazine, ostensibly to announce the first example of true psychic abilities. When introducing the two, Randi casually asked how it all worked. Edwards replied "To be quite honest, we cheat", resulting in gasps from the assembled reporters. The fallout was immediate; the Washington lab was shut down shortly thereafter. One PSI researcher claimed that "Randi has set back the field 100 years!" Others came to believe Randi and the lead researcher, Philips, were conspiring to discredit the field.

Following Project Alpha, Randi went on to use variations of the technique on several other occasions. Perhaps the most famous example led to the downfall of TV evangelist and faith healer Peter Popoff, when Randi had a man pose as a woman with uterine cancer, which Popoff happily "cured". In another example, Randi worked with performance artist José Alvarez, who posed as a channeller known as "Carlos", who was presented on Australian TV and soon had a wide following. After this hoax was exposed, the artist was constantly approached by people who believed him to be genuine, even if he told them directly that he was an actor. Recently, Project Alpha has become the subject of a movie development.

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