JEANNE BOGARD, Ohio Dowser

[KRAMER]

This application arrived this morning with no accompanying claim letter of any kind, though it was accompanied by a clipping from a 1994 Ohio newsletter in which the applicant was pictured with a dowsing rod above the headline, OH WELL, IT'S WATER!!!

I sent the following reply;

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Dear Mrs. Bogart,

Thank you for your application. Unfortunately, you have neglected to provide us with a claim letter, as per the Challenge rules, nor any of the data necessary in processing your application.

It is clear that you have not read and understood the Challenge rules. Please go to our website (www.randi.org) and read the rules carefully before proceeding further. Continued ignorance of the rules will only result in our being forced to reject your claim, so, if you are sincere about being tested, please following them to the letter. They cannot be circumvented.

You also neglected to include an SASE with your application. Please do so when you submit your claim letter.

Please compose a brief, two-paragraph letter describing your claim, along with the answers to the following three questions:

A- What, SPECIFICALLY, do you propose to do as a demonstration of your claim -

B- Under what CIRCUMSTANCES -

C- With what degree of ACCURACY (that is, what rate of success do you propose will constitute a successful demonstration?).

Please do NOT burden us with hypothesis, anecdotal references or theories you may have as to WHY your power works, or HOW it came to you.

Also, please do NOT send us any more magazine clippings, as they prove nothing other than the fact that a journalist chose to write an article about you (which is NOT acceptable as evidence).

We are only interested in an actual demonstration that would verify your claim.

Please conduct all further correspondence to me personally, via email if at all possible, at the email address listed below.

Yours,

M. KRAMER
JREF PARANORMAL CHALLENGE DEPT.
Email: Kramer@randi.org

 

[KRAMER]

Dear Ms. Bogard,

As you have not submitted a claim letter along with your Challenge application according to the Challenge rules, and have not responded to my letter advising you of this important part of the Challenge rules, we are closing your file at this time.

Thank you for your interest in the Challenge. Please feel free to re-apply in one year, but, if you chose to do so, it would behoove you to follow the Challenge rules.

 

[KRAMER]

Been real busy this spring..... live on a farm and have garden, lawn etc to take time..... just excuses, I guess.... anyway. the letter is in the mail, with what all you wanted, I HOPE!!! After reading the "Library" in the corner of the Email . I realize that you don't think these things, such as mine, can be done and that you don't believe in it..... and that I can just "believe that ( my stick) is indicating the presence of the sought after material" (water) and therefore I can "impel" it to turn downward - wherever I want it to !! and that it is "an unconcious movement made in response to an idea" !!! This is not the case, but I'm afraid I will never be able to convince you of the fact.

BUT, surely would like to be able to show you...... Which leads me to a question or two: How do I go about doing a "double blind test" etc..... also: IF I should get to the point of a demonstration, where, how, and with whom??? also: do I have to pay to GO someplace far away for it??? Sorry I've taken so long to get back to this, but that is life in the country...... Realize you hate to give up the million dollars, after all these years.......... and , I can see why other people have gotten discouraged along the way...... but, I'm a "stickler" when I believe in something.... Have a good day....... Jeanne Bogard

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Dear Ms. Bogard,

If you wish to learn about double-blind testing, my best suggestion would be that you join the JREF forum and discuss it with forum members, who are very helpful in matters such as these. They can also assist you in preparing an acceptable test protocol which you can submit to us if you chose to re-apply for the JREF Challenge at a later date.

 

[KRAMER]

7 Days Later

Only days after notifying this applicant that her claim file had been closed due to inactivity and that she would be eligible to apply again in one year, she sent a new application.

I sent it back to her, repeating what I had told her previously:

Please feel free to apply again in one year (June 2006).