James Randi and the Project Alpha Hoax: How Two Magicians Fooled a Parapsychology Lab for Four Years

Imagine giving your car keys to a stage magician and asking him to "just drive responsibly." Then being shocked when the car ends up on a rooftop. That’s essentially what happened in the late 1970s, when two teenage mentalists infiltrated a scientific lab and convinced the staff that they had psychic powers—by doing magic tricks right under their noses.

This wasn’t just a prank. It was a masterclass in why scientific protocols need to assume deception is possible. Welcome to Project Alpha, orchestrated by the incomparable James Randi and carried out by Steve Shaw (Banachek) and Michael Edwards—two kids who proved that even scientists can be fooled when they don’t know what they’re looking at.

Setting the Scene: The Lab That Invited the Magicians In

Between 1979 and 1983, the McDonnell Laboratory for Psychical Research at Washington University in St. Louis, funded by aerospace magnate James S. McDonnell, was a serious academic attempt to study psychic phenomena—telepathy, telekinesis, the works. Under the leadership of physicist Dr. Peter Phillips, the lab recruited two young men who claimed they could bend metal, read minds, and manipulate physical systems without touching them.

The problem? Those two young men were magicians. And they were there to test—not the laws of physics—but the lab’s ability to guard against fraud.

How They Pulled It Off: Detailed Breakdowns of the Actual Tricks

Here’s where the story moves from impressive to alarming: not only did Shaw and Edwards trick a professional lab—they did it using standard mentalist techniques you might see in a parlor show. Only these weren’t tricks meant to dazzle—they were tricks meant to pass as ordinary, repeatable phenomena under lab conditions.

Spoon and Metal Bending: “Psychokinesis” by Way of Furniture Abuse

The researchers believed they were witnessing metal warping under psychic influence. But here’s what really happened:

Hand Pressure with Natural Motion: Shaw would hold the spoon upright, appearing to focus intently. He’d brace the spoon against a table edge or his thigh and apply focused pressure at the neck, rocking it gently. It looked like part of the concentration process—but the metal was quietly weakening.

The Chair Press: In one brazen instance, he ducked down under the guise of picking something up and pressed the spoon beneath the leg of his chair, bending it with body weight. Seconds later, he lifted it dramatically, now visibly warped.

Pre-bent Props: Sometimes they’d swap in pre-bent or pre-weakened spoons—ones partially fractured with pliers—using sleight-of-hand. The switch would occur during a routine gesture: stretching, brushing their sleeve, shifting in their seat.

All of this played off the observer’s expectation that nothing fraudulent could happen in a lab under observation.

Telepathy and Information Transfer: Code Systems Masquerading as Mind Reading

In tests where one subject viewed an image or card and the other "received" it mentally, they used classic code-based communication.

Verbal Code: Certain phrases were prearranged to signal shapes. For example, “It’s starting to come into focus” could mean "circle," while “I’m getting something with edges” meant "triangle."

Gestural Cues: They incorporated tapping fingers, shifting weight, or even head nods, each assigned to a value or shape.

Visual Echoes: If seated in rooms with reflective surfaces, they used mirrors or glass to see the symbol being held up, then pretended to divine it via “energy.”

This is standard stuff for mentalists—but it became “proof” of psychic phenomena because the researchers never imagined such coordination.

Envelope Peeking: How “Sealed” Tests Weren’t So Sealed

In tests involving sealed envelopes containing symbols or pictures, they used multiple methods of compromise:

Backlighting: Holding the envelope near a strong light source allowed them to see the shape inside.

The Nail Nick: A magician’s trick where you gently lift the flap of a sealed envelope with your fingernail just enough to peek, then reseal it with a damp finger or sleeve.

Paper Irregularities: Scientists sometimes used envelopes with slight tears, crinkles, or transparency. Shaw and Edwards quickly learned to identify these as unintentional “tells” for envelope content or position.

They often appeared to be simply “tuning in” or “sensing vibrations,” while actually manipulating the object in plain sight.

Pendulum Influence: The “Invisible Breath”

Instruments like pendulums and strain gauges were used to test whether the subjects could influence physical systems without touching them.

Micro-breathing: Shaw would sit perfectly still, lean forward slightly, and blow an almost imperceptible stream of air toward the pendulum. The airflow was enough to affect motion but too subtle to notice without specific equipment.

Table Pressure: Edwards would gently press his knee or toe against a table leg, introducing minute vibrations that would register on sensitive equipment as anomalous movement.

The scientists saw what looked like tiny, real effects—never suspecting they were watching well-practiced sleight-of-body.

The Infamous Break-In: ESP by Breaking and Entering

Perhaps the most audacious moment came when the lab challenged the duo to bend a metal rod sealed in a locked case. The idea was that if the case was never opened, any deformation would be undeniable proof of psychic power.

Shaw and Edwards requested time alone in the lab to “concentrate.” Permission was granted.

That night, they:

Returned after hours and entered through a window with a faulty latch they’d previously discovered.

Used hidden tools to carefully unscrew the case.

Bent the rod manually, just enough to be noticeable.

Reassembled the case without leaving a trace and exited through the same window.

The next morning, the scientists found the rod bent and declared the event “highly significant.” To this day, it remains one of the most absurdly effective examples of how security theater can be utterly useless when no one expects trickery.

The Reveal

Eventually, after four years of testing and documentation, James Randi exposed the hoax publicly in 1983, announcing the deception at a conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

He explained in detail how the two young men had fooled the researchers by exploiting poor scientific controls—and how no amount of experimental enthusiasm could make up for basic methodological blindness.

Then came the real sting:

“𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑡𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑝𝑠𝑦𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑐 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑠. 𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑎𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑑𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑓𝑟𝑎𝑢𝑑—𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑓𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑒𝑑.”—James Randi

That quote became the lasting legacy of Project Alpha: a reminder that what’s being tested in a lab isn’t just the subject—it’s the science itself.

The McDonnell Laboratory shut down shortly thereafter. Dr. Phillips and his colleagues were stunned, some even defensive, but none could deny that they had never anticipated professional deception—and therefore had never really tested for it.

Conclusion: The Greatest Trick They Ever Pulled

Project Alpha is more than just a story about trickery. It’s a warning:

Believe in data, not personalities.

Never assume good intentions mean good science.

And if you’re going to study paranormal powers, maybe have a magician on staff.

Because the greatest psychic trick of all time wasn’t bending spoons or guessing drawings—it was convincing a room full of scientists that the impossible was happening, while standing three feet away from the guy who made it happen.

Further Reading

Randi, James. Flim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns, and Other Delusions.

Shermer, Michael. Why People Believe Weird Things.

Banachek’s website and interviews: https://www.banachek.com

NOVA (PBS): “Secrets of the Psychics”

Skeptical Inquirer: Archives on Project Alpha and lab design