h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Regardless of what you think of Randi's motives, no one has ever collected on his million dollar reward for proof of paranormal powers.

http://skepdic.com/randi.html

Nobody ever collected on Houdini's, either.

Arthur Conan Doyle - who liked Houdini, by the way - said this in his 'The Edge of the Unknown':

'He perpetually offered large sums to any medium who would do this or that, knowing well that even in the unlikely event of the thing being done he could always raise some objection and get out of it.Sometimes his tactics were too obvious to be artistic. In Boston he arrived by prearrangement before a great crowd at the City Hall and walked solemnly up the steps with ten thousand dollars' worth of stock in his hand, which represented one of his perennial stakes against phenomena.'

http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks05/0500151.txt

I don't think any serious scientific question is best settled by a bet, but maybe somebody has, at one time or another.

I'm less interested in whether anybody's proven anything to Mr Randi's satisfaction than I would be in whether the Rhine Institute was happy with the findings. They're pretty picky.

http://m.dukechronicle.com/article/rhine-research-center#/article/rhine-research-center

By the way, we're getting spooked by the prescience of whatever algorithm the advert people are using. Once I got the Post up, and this journal entry, the Pliny ad popped up, offering a free virtual Ouija board.

mmm, that was a lot to read

but this subject title, couldn't resist

I might just keep bumping it to seeing where it comes in neighbouring threads

and

sorry , can't help myself

The Amazing Randi
The Life and Times of Horatio Hornblower

goes away now...