James Randi wants to give you a million dollars. And all you have to do to claim it is prove that paranormal, supernatural, or occult powers actually exist. Pretty simple, right? Apparently not. The James Randi Educational Foundation has been offering this prize since 1964, and no one has yet come close to claiming it. At the time of its creation, the prize was $1000, but the amount was later increased to $10,000, and eventually $1 million, where it currently sits in a Goldman Sachs account awaiting its rightful claimant (want proof?).

Randi got his start as “The Amazing Randi,” a magician and escapist, who once appeared on “The Today Show” where he broke a record held by Houdini by sealing himself inside a metal coffin and submerging it into a swimming pool for 104 minutes. He continued his work as a magician, eventually hooking up with Alice Cooper in the 1970s, for whom he designed several stage props, including the infamous guillotine, which Randi got to serve as executioner for during Cooper’s gruesome live performances.

Around this same time, Randi began to debunk performers he deemed charlatans, most notably Uri Geller. Randi wrote a book about Geller’s techniques, and prior to one of Geller’s appearances on “The Tonght Show,” was contacted by Johnny Carson, a fellow skeptic, to ensure the appearance’s validity. Randi explained his role in a 1993 episode of “NOVA”: “I was asked to prevent any trickery. I told them to provide their own props and not to let Geller or his people anywhere near them.” Here’s the clip of that 1973 appearance, where strangely enough, Geller’s abilities go mysteriously limp:

Later that decade, Randi orchestrated a three-year long hoax called Project Alpha, in which two of Randi’s magician friends posed as psychics in order to participate in a paranormal research project at Washington University in St. Louis. The duo were such skilled sleight of hand artists in fact, that they had no trouble fooling researchers, and when the truth was eventually revealed in Discover magazine, parapsychology experts were decidedly split — some were outraged at the revelation while others offered praise.

Randi continued his crusade into the 1980s, bringing down faith healer Peter Popoff, who, with the aid of a carefully-concealed ear piece, received information from his backstage wife who read to him from prayer cards the congregation filled out on their way in to church. This scam was later portrayed in the Steve Martin film “Leap of Faith.” Here’s the expose that exposed Popoff:

In recent years, Randi has focused his attention on psychics like Sylvia Browne, Rosemary Althea and John Edwards, whom Randi says aren’t psychics, but rather, cold readers who offer up little more than vague facts that anyone hoping to believe in the supernatural could latch onto. On “Larry King Live,” Browne even agreed to take Randi’s million dollar challenge, though she has yet to get in touch with the foundation for testing.

This of course means the million dollar prize is still up for grabs, and while Randi may be a skeptic, he has never flat-out denied the existence of paranormal powers, only offered up a reward for anyone able to provide scientific proof of their existence. If you want to get lost for an hour or two, take a look at the foundation’s log of applications, which are rife with the ramblings of delusional individuals, but are also incredibly entertaining. And good luck in your quest should you ever decide to go after that million.

For additional skepticism, put any of the first four seasons of “Penn & Teller: Bullshit” in your Netflix queue. All of them are excellent.

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