A Hair’s Breadth From $1 million – Why Does Krügel Choose to Lose?
The James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF) was established for the primary purpose of promoting critical thinking – that is, a skeptical approach where ideas are rejected for which supporting evidence is insufficient, subject to possible later revision. For many years, the JREF has offered a prize of one million US dollars to anyone who can demonstrate any supernatural, paranormal or otherwise extraordinary ability that cannot be explained by the known laws of nature.
It is important to note that testing is carried out by independent authorities on behalf of the JREF, not by the JREF itself, and that a testing protocol is worked out via negotiations between the JREF and the person or agency putting forward unlikely claims to arrive at a mutually agreeable testing procedure. In addition, the prize money, once won, would be paid to any nominated beneficiary chosen by the entrant.
Danie Krügel has claimed an ability to locate a person by means of a hair sample (variously, a DNA sample) of that person in conjunction with a process that seems to involve triangulation of the target’s position. This claim defies the known laws of nature and for this reason, Mr Krügel’s claims are, for all practical purposes, paranormal.
As long ago as August 2006 (and December 2006), when Mr Krügel first came into public prominence, the possibility of testing his person-locating ability was raised with the JREF. The consensus at the JREF was that Mr Krügel’s claims are eligible for testing on the same essential grounds that dowsers and diviners qualify: that their claims cannot be accounted for by known naturalistic phenomena.
James Randi, founder of the JREF and eminent sceptic, himself has stated clearly in his weekly SWIFT newsletter that Mr Krügel qualifies for testing, and, moreover, that he could be tested in South Africa. In other words, the JREF was prepared to make every reasonable accommodation to test Mr Krügel with a minimum of inconvenience.
Mr Krügel has, however, apparently refused to take up the JREF’s offer without supplying any reason for doing so. It is hard to see what possible rationale Mr Krügel may have for avoiding being tested, given the relative ease with which testing could be accomplished and its importance for instilling confidence in the truth of his claims.
