I happen to be a skeptic about things like E.S.P. and talking to the dead and flying saucers and such. I've never believed in the paranormal, and this view was further solidified when I worked for a time on a TV show that welcomed many of the folks who were then most prominent in claiming to be able to levitate things with their minds, bend spoons via telekinetic powers, converse with your late Uncle Myron, etc. Though their experiences were then the most celebrated exemplars of unearthly occurrence, they all struck me not only as fakes but as bad fakes, easily debunked by anyone with the slightest knowledge of magic tricks and no desperate desire to believe. About half, I would say, sincerely believed they could do what they claimed they could do. The other half gave you a wink that seemed to say, "Hey, I know it's bull but look how far it's gotten me."
I am not strident in my view. Up until the point where it starts becoming a con job, I think it's okay for people to believe what they want to believe. People in this world believe all sorts of non-psychic stuff that I think is dead wrong about politics and the Kennedy assassination and whether tofu is edible…so if someone wants to consult their horoscope, fine. Let them. I don't think that's always harmful…and if one of these days, someone does prove they can warp cutlery through sheer mental energy, I'm ready to believe. But I'm not there yet and one of the reasons I'm not there yet is the fine work of James Randi, aka The Amazing Randi. Once an accomplished magician, Randi now spends most of his time knocking down claims of ghost-sightings and spoon-bendings and the like. His James Randi Educational Foundation (there's the link) has a standing offer of one million bucks to anyone who can prove some power that Randi and his associates cannot disprove. So far, no one's come close.
One person who accepted Randi's challenge but has yet to submit herself to his tests is a lady named Sylvia Browne. According to the listing for Larry King Live (she's on tonight), "Best-selling author and psychic Sylvia Browne says she can talk to departed loved ones in the afterlife." The last time Larry had her on, or maybe the time before, Randi got on with her and made her look pretty unremarkable. He also got her to agree to submit to his testing but it's been more than two years now and she always seems to be too busy. Perhaps tonight, he'll crash the proceedings and pin her down to an appointment.
By the way: In a current essay on his site, Randi hails the Scooby Doo cartoon show because on it, the ghosts were always exposed as fake. Two points I would add: One is that in later episodes, long after I stopped writing for the Great Dane, Hanna-Barbera decided that formula had run dry. Well, actually, it ran dry after about the third episode but six or seven seasons later, they relaxed the rules and "real" ghosts and monsters began chasing Scooby and Shaggy through the old houses. Second point: I always thought it was a bit odd that the premise of that show was that there's no such thing as a ghost and that this is proven each week by a talking dog. Those standards of reality always seemed a bit askew, especially during the season where they had guest stars on the show like Speed Buggy (a talking car) and Jeannie (a genie) helping expose the phony ghosts. But like I say, if it works for you…