Tom Sawyer

On my local news last night, one of the investigative reporters was doing a piece on a faith healer here in Atlanta. This guy's schtick was that he could make a leg grow for people who had one leg shorter than the other (??) and was scamming people out of money using this.

The reporter went down to Florida and interviewed James Randi about this and Randi gave a demonstration of how the guy does it and exactly how it's a scam. They mentioned the million dollar reward and everything and Randi came off looking really good. They also mentioned about how the faith healer had been investigated for fraud in the past and arrested for tax evasion.

It was a very good piece on both Randi and how faith healing is a scam and I'm glad to see the news covering stuff like this to show how these people are ripping off others.

Stephen T-B

I This isn�t much to do with the OP, but it does refer to a shorter leg.

In old age, a charismatic preacher / healer I knew well suddenly developed extremely severe arthritis in one of his hips, and it very quickly disabled him.

He was told by the people he worshiped with that arthritis could make one leg shorter than the other, and when he lay in his bath that evening he noticed that sure enough, one leg was indeed shorter than the other.
The next time he met his friends they prayed for him, that his legs would be made the same length - and lo! that night as he lay in his bath he noticed that his legs were indeed the same length.

(I didn�t like to mention it - because I respected him, and he was a lot older than me - but when I lie in the bath I can make either leg about two inches longer than the other.)

And completely besides the point: a year or so ago I began to develop a severe pain in my right hip, and concerned about arthritis which many in my family have had, I consulted my aunt, who�se a doctor. She said many of us have inherited a twisted pelvis, which makes one leg shorter than the other. So I devised a test which I was able to carry out in the comfort of my own home at absolutely no expense, and found out that my left leg is about 3cms longer than my right. So I put thick insoles in all my right shoes, and after a period of readjustment, I now walk more comfortably than I have ever walked in my life, and the pain in my hip - and it used to affect my knees - has gone. Could be my imagination, I suppose. But it makes me wonder if the one-leg-shorter-than-the-other syndrome (or OLSTO syndrome as we say in Yorkshire) isn�t rather more common than is thought, and doesn�t, in fact, account for some types of arthritis. I�m pretty sure, for instance, that OLSTO syndrome was putting stresses on my joints and that in time they would have become diseased.

Deacon Doubtmonger

In case anyone thinks it's only flaming fundies who pull this stunt, see Randi's book The Faith Healers. He's got a whole chapter on a Catholic "miracle healer," Father DiOrio (sp?), who also does the fake leg lengthening; Randi, of course, lays out just how the trick works.

Deacon Doubtmonger

religion

NonHomogenized

You can't be serious. "Leg lengthening"?!? They're as much as admitting that they're "pulling your leg"! Or, if not literally pulling your leg themselves, they're praying that god'll pull your leg. :banghead:

Doctor X

Just seconding the recommendation on Randi's book The Faith Healers. I am upset to see that Peter Popoff--debunked by him on The Tonight Show, no less, now scams on the BET.

These are OLD tricks known to magicians. What is funny is martial arts flim-flammer's have discovered them and use them to demonstrate "the powers of chi" or whathaveyou! Nothing like a tried and true trick.

--J.D.

miss djax

speaking of james randi, he is selling a lunch meeting with penn jillette on e-bay....

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=2201336592

sounds pretty cool

ms d