Magicians are deceiving us, but we already know that they are and expect it. However, psychics, evangelists and even some common products are liars and fakes, and many people believe them.

That’s the topic psychic investigator James Randi brought to campus Sunday night.

Randi captured the attention of the packed Bob Hope Theatre in the Owen Art Center.

Known as a “professional skeptic,” Randi has made a career of investigating and demystifing paranormal and pseudoscientific claims.

“James Randi has made a career in answering the question ‘What are we really dealing with?’ He asks what we all wish we had the tenacity and cleverness to ask,” said Jasper Neel, dean of Dedman College.

Randi likes to say he’s in the business of travelling across the world and telling people things they should already know. He says that a magician is the “most honest liar in the world.”

Randi mentioned a video of psychic John Edwards. In the first 50 seconds of the video, Edwards asked a man in his audience about himself. Of the 26 guesses, Edwards only guessed three correctly. The three he guessed correctly were basic questions that could be easily answered, such as “Are you younger than your deceased father?”

The man was still astonished by the psychic power of Edwards. Randi claims this is because people like this man are in need of people like Edwards to be right. It makes them feel more assured. It is not, however, true psychic power, but merely a guessing

game.

A video shown during the lecture that Randi called “Reverend Popov exposed on the Johnny Carson Show” revealed how Popov and other evangelists who claim to heal people on television find out information about their audiences. They have them fill out a “healing card” prior to the show. During the show someone backstage reads the card and tells the evangelist information about his audience

“He is wearing a device in his ear that picks up a radio frequency. The reverend then talks to that person and claims that God is speaking through him. This is a hoax. He is ripping people off,” Randi said.

But even the government sanctions some of these hoaxes.

“I’m shocked, annoyed, amused to a certain extent, but more than anything angry,” said Randi in regard to some of the outrageous products that are given U.S. patents. Some absurd patents include the one given to Dunkin Donuts on the peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a patent given to toast.

“We can make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and toast, but we better not try to sell them,” Randi said.

People don’t have to believe in these things, he said. They can test and investigate them.

“Just give us a chance to get into it, and sit still long enough,” he said.

Randi has received numerous awards and recognition for his work. He is the author of many books, including Flim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns, and Other Delusions.

In 1996, the James Randi Education Foundation was established to further his studies. This foundation offers the “$1 Million Prize,” given to anyone who can show, under proper observing conditions, evidence of any paranormal, supernatural or occult event.

“Scientists really do reveal a great deal about this world to us,” Randi said. “I have great respect for these people and I want you to know that.”

For more information on James Randi and his foundation visit his Web site www.randi.org.