The shining magician and skeptic James Randy has died at the age of 92


1 of 3

Date to Day Today, O.C.T. 20 Monday Establishment, CT Ct. 19 – File – This Friday, June 29, 2007, a photo file shows James Randy in front of a poster at his home in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The founder of the Florida-based James Randy Educational Foundation passed away on Tuesday, Oct. 1. On 20, 2020, 92. (AP Photo / Alan Diaz, file)

1 of 3

Date to Day Today, O.C.T. 20 Monday Establishment, CT Ct. 19 – File – This Friday, June 29, 2007, a photo file shows James Randy in front of a poster at his home in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The founder of the Florida-based James Randy Educational Foundation passed away on Tuesday, Oct. 1. On 20, 2020, 92. (AP Photo / Alan Diaz, file)

The death of James Randy, a magician who later challenged spoon-wielding, mind-readers and faith healers with such dynamics that he was considered the country’s leading suspect, was declared dead. He was 92 years old.

The James Randy Educational Foundation confirmed the death, saying only that its founder died on Tuesday for “age-related reasons”.

Entertainer, genius, debunker, atheist ̶ Randy was all. After leaving high school to join the carnival he began to draw attention. As the amazing Randy, he escaped from a coffin and a straightjacket that had been submerged in water while he was hovering over Niagara Falls.

Seemingly his feat as a magician, Randy ended his show around the world with a simple statement, insisting that no other world powers are in the game.

He will say, “Everything you see here are tricks. “It doesn’t involve anything supernatural.”

The magician’s transparency, as the country’s dubious chief, gave a glimpse of what would become his longest-running act. In that role, his first widespread exploitation was his most enduring.

On the 1972 episode of “The Tonight Show”, he helped Johnny Carson set up Israeli artist Uri Geller, who claimed to have a spoon in his brain. Randy made sure that the spoon and other props were kept by Geller’s hand up to the shoal to avoid any tampering.

The result was annoying in 22 minutes in which Geller was unable to perform any tricks.

Randi had pale white eyebrows and a beard, a cheekbone, and gold cut glasses, and even in her final years, she bounced with a 5-foot (1.6 m) frame enerja. He not only tried to deny the palms and mind readers, but he saw chiropractors, homeopaths and others as predators seeking the money of innocent people.

It was a morale to target people whom Randy saw as a fraud with devotion and dedication. His efforts are reminiscent of his great predecessor, Harry Houdini, who devoted much of his time to debunking spiritualists and their scenes.

Randi told the Associated Press in 1998, “I see people claiming every day to be able to find lost children or help them invest their money through medical queries, all kinds of scams, psychology and their hot lines.” “I know they’ve melted because I know the methods used.”

Once, in the wake of a faith healer’s trash can, Randi would spend days in his car, eating twinkles and drinking Pepsi.

“I suffer from the obsession that I have to do something important,” he explained in a 2007 interview with the AP.

There were other uprisings for Randy: he once showed a television-inspiring faith, Peter Puff Puff Fe claimed from God about his audience that he was actually coming from his wife by ear bandage. But in the temptation to prove their abilities by the James Randy Educational Foundation, most of those people aimed to show that fraud was less well known.

Through that organization, Randy was the guardian of the 1 million prize he promised to give to anyone who could prove either his own supernatural power or the presence of a supernatural being.

His loud-mouthed protesters said they don’t believe the money even exists, but Randy has bank documents. No one ever came close to gathering.

Randi quit her foundation’s daily operations in 2009 and retired in 2015.

Randall James Hamilton Zwing, Randy – born August 7, 1928 in Toronto – had a strong desire to question from an early age. Academically, he said he was bored at school and teachers admitted he was far ahead of his peers. He never received a high school diploma or went to college, but in 1986 he was awarded a prestigious Fellowship, often referred to simply as a “talent grant.”

He spoke with certainty. While he said he never really questioned his beliefs, he admitted there was always a chance he was wrong.

“I am probably right. But I’m always just probably right, “he said.” Absolutes are very hard to find. ”

For all the analysis Randy put into almost everything, he enjoyed making magical observations whether he knew it was a stunt or watching a movie that was just fantasy. He talked about the crashing feelings of watching a friend die and talked about the magic of love. In 2010, he announced that he was gay. In 2013, he moved to Washington, D.C. In a ceremony he married his longtime partner, the goddess Pena, it was the subject of a 2014 documentary, “An Honest Lie.”

Penny Gillette, the magician of Randy’s ghat, wrote to her friend on Twitter on Wednesday night, expressing grief: It’s really pretty simple. “

Randy said he can’t help but be angry that his targets are always doing acts of escaping from him, continuing to win new followers and he said the investigation has been cashed at the expense of reality. He wanted to see the fraud punished, but he acknowledged that most people wanted to believe.

He said, “True believers will not pay attention to evidence that does not show that they believe it to be untrue.”

He frustrated Randy and raised his inner anger at those who labeled him a fraud. When he let out his resentment, however, he often merges into understanding, when asked about his ultimate desires and how he wants to dispose of his ashes.

“My best friend is instructed to throw them in Uri Geller’s eyes,” he said. “I wish he would pay attention to my ashes. I think that would be appropriate. “

___

The day of death has been corrected to Tuesday, not Monday.

.