Project Alpha - Steve Shaw and Michael Edwards

Steve Shaw and Michael Edwards

Shaw and Edwards (18 and 17 respectively at the time Alpha started) were skilled amateur magicians who managed to fool the researchers with fairly simple tricks during the first stages of investigations. The project had originally started with spoon bending, so the two quickly developed a way to accomplish this trick. Contrary to one of the caveats Randi noted in his letter, the test setup included not one, but many and all sorts of spoons on the table, labeled with paper on a loop of string instead of some permanent marking. When starting to bend a spoon they would actually pick up two or more and remove the labels, which they were allowed to do, because they claimed they were in the way. They would then simply switch the labels when putting them back and wait. The spoons were measured before and after the experiment, and since all sorts of spoons were used, simply switching the labels would produce different measurements, causing the scientist to believe that something paranormal had happened. In other cases, they would drop one of the spoons in their lap and bend it below the table with one hand, while pretending to bend a spoon in their other hand, distracting the scientists.

Because the studio was set up to allow people in front of the camera to see themselves on monitors, Edwards found that one particular camera operator was on guard to capture any attempts at sleight of hand, but he simply "randomly" picked the man to be a volunteer for audience participation, and he was replaced by a less competent cameraman. This was also a clear violation of one of Randi's caveats; the test run should have been stopped at this point and recorded as a failure.

The two were so successful at spoon bending that several other tests were invented. In one they were given pictures in sealed envelopes and then asked to try to identify them from a list shown to them later. The two were left alone in a room with the envelopes, and although there was a possibility that they would peek, this was "controlled" by examining the envelopes later. The envelopes were held closed with four staples, which they simply pried open with their fingernails, looked at the picture, and then resealed by inserting the staples back into the same holes and forcing them closed by pressing them against the table.

Another test was electronic; they were asked to influence the burnout point of a common fuse. After they "worked it" with their mind, an increasing amount of current was run through it until it blew. The two proved to have amazing abilities in this test after a few trials, eventually causing the fuses to blow immediately once they "got used to it." In fact they were simply palming the already blown fuses and then handing them back to the experimenters. They also found that by pressing down on one end of the fuse in its holder, or just touching it briefly, the instruments recorded unusual results that were interpreted by the experimenters as psi effects.

In one instance, Shaw and Edwards were asked to move small objects in a sealed transparent container, normally small bits of paper balanced on an edge. Shaw and Edwards realized that the "sealed" container really wasn't. They spotted small openings and blew through them.

Other examples included their ability to make digital clocks stop working properly (Edwards put it in a microwave for a few seconds), or make images appear on film just by staring at the camera (Shaw spat on the lens). In an example of a sort of Rorschach test, the experimenters later described the images as being various bits of the female anatomy, which, "of course," young men (such as Shaw and Edwards) would be interested in.

In one particular experiment, Shaw tried to get them to say on film that he was not allowed to touch the object he was supposed to bend in the experiment (he had already secretly done that, and with them affirming that he could not and had not touched it, the 'miracle' would look even greater). When Shaw asked: "Can I touch it?", the reply was, to his surprise: "You do what you have to do."

The researchers explain these apparently inexcusable inadequacies in experimental protocols by drawing a clear distinction between two different stages of an investigation: the exploratory, informal experiments and the formal experiments. During the exploratory phase, the researchers would simply be trying to determine whether there is a phenomenon that could be worth further investigation, which often implies the use of much more complicated protocols and expensive equipment. In doing so, they are also trying to set up a comfortable, relaxed atmosphere that is believed to be conducive to psychic phenomena. It is during this stage that Shaw and Edwards were able to convince the researchers of psychic abilities. However, when the scientists moved on to tightly controlled experimental conditions, Shaw and Edwards were no longer able to replicate the effects and were now considered "no longer worthwhile to fly them in, if they were only going to produce such meager results."