Uri Gellar achieved fame and fortune in the ’70s by performing a series of televised demonstrations which he claimed were paranormal performances of psychokinesis, dowsing and telepathy. His most famous demonstration was the ability to bend spoons, seemingly by mind control. He claims his supernatural feats were accomplished by using willpower and the strength of his mind. Skeptics, such as James Randi, and professional stage magicians disagree.

The link below not only shows several television shows of Uri’s talents, but Randi’s demonstration on how to bend a key and a spoon. Although his demonstration was sound and rational, it was Uri’s appearance on Johnny Carson that convinced me that Randi just may be telling the truth.

The second segment involved Peter Popoff, an evangelist who earned $4M dollars a year by defrauding people with his faith healing scam until Randi exposed him. I’m not sure which disturbed me the most–the desperate looks on the faces of his audience or the static voice of Popoff’s wife, giving previously gleaned information on an elderly woman who nearly fell after he pronounced her “healed,” or the emotional belief of a daughter whose mother was “freed of her cancer.”

While I had almost no reaction to the Gellar segment, I was appalled and frightened by the way Popoff manipulated those people out of their money and possibly their lives. Shortly after Popoff was exposed, he was forced to declare bankruptcy. So, I guess he received some due justice.

James Randi exposed Uri Gellar and Peter Popoff

The Atlantic Paranormal Society (TAPS) has enjoyed a significant rise in popularity since the Sci-Fi Channel aired the first season of Ghost Hunters, a paranormal reality TV show. Their enjoyment came to a halt when Allison Smith of Skeptical Analysis launched an investigation against TAPS for fraud.

Her organization is a skeptical group devoted to debunking popular claims of paranormal activity. She received complaints from “interested parties” who claimed that TAPS was intentionally misleading the public into believing that it was a non-profit organization. MondoSkepto and the TAPS Tattler had launched their own investigation, but didn’t uncover the information that Allison did.

TAPS has been promoting themselves as a non-profit organization for years, collecting thousands of dollars in donations from fans and holding fundraisers for charities. However, they did not register themselves as a non-profit agency with the state of Rhode Island. Had they registered their company, the records of all donations would have been available to the public and held accountable. Because they didn’t, they have come under intense scrutiny and harassment from Allison and her cohorts.

Once Allison discovered this discrepancy, she contacted the IRS, the Better Business Bureau, the Rhode Island State Police, and the Rhode Island Gaming Commission. She contact the last agency with the hopes of busting the founders (Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson) for throwing a raffle without obtaining a permit. Her attack didn’t end there. She posted Jason’s home address and telephone number on her website.

After numerous emails, Jason was able to coerce her into removing his information. He wrote an apology on the TAPS website. The attacks from Allison and her SAPS supporters continued, despite his efforts to fix his mistake and despite the fact that both the IRS and the police have cleared him and his co-founder of any wrongdoing.

Whether this mistake was intentional or not doesn’t matter to TAPS fans. They have rallied for Jason and Grant since this began and will continue to support TAPS because of the great things they’ve done with their local communities.

“TAPS helped raise over $8,000 for various charities just on our Queen Mary retreat in January alone, and over $4,000 for schools on January 27th in Massachusetts,” Jason Hawes said on his myspace.com blog.

There are many con-artists out there as there are vindictive, spiteful people. Allison Smith does make a valid point in that you should research any organization that you plan on giving money to.