Editing Project Alpha (hoax) (section)

== Revelation and aftermath ==
{{Gallery|
|align=right
|File:The Alpha Project reveal.jpg|Project Alpha reveal "To be quite honest, we cheat" - Michael Edwards
|File:Project Alpha Lookback w- Michael Edwards 1 of 2.webm|2008 interview - James Randi and Michael Edwards pt. 1
|File:Project Alpha Lookback w- Michael Edwards 2 of 2.webm|2008 interview - James Randi and Michael Edwards pt. 2
}}
Phillips decided to release a research brief at a workshop of the [[Parapsychological Association]] Convention in August 1981. According to the researchers' official version, in preparation Phillips also wrote to Randi to ask for a tape of fake metal-bending, which was to be shown alongside the recording of Shaw and Edwards. The researchers were looking for critical input from the parapsychology community and afterward released a revised abstract that reflected the received criticism.<ref name=":1" />

After the Project Alpha announcements in the press, Randi wrote to the lab again and stated that it was entirely possible the two were magicians using common sleight of hand to fool the researchers. He also started to leak stories that the two were his plants.<ref name=":0" /> The story had been widely circulated by the time the meeting was held the next month. Upon returning from the meeting, Phillips immediately changed the test protocols; Shaw and Edwards found that they were no longer able to fool the experimenters so easily, and in most cases, unable to fool them at all. During this time the lab started releasing additional reports that seriously toned down the success rate.<ref name=":1" /> In their own words, "We did not conclude that they must be frauds, but only that after extensive testing, they were not behaving nearly as psychically as they had led us to expect."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Thalbourne |first=Michael Anthony |date=1995 |title=Science Versus Showmanship: A History of the Randi Hoax |url=https://www.aiprinc.org/para-c05_Thalbourne_1995.pdf |journal=Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research |volume=89 |pages=344–366}}</ref>

According to [[Marcello Truzzi]], [[Berthold E. Schwarz]] was the "chief victim of Project Alpha".<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Truzzi |first=Marcello |date=1987 |title=Reflections on 'Project Alpha': Scientific Experiment or Conjuror's Illusion? |url=https://www.aiprinc.org/documents/Zet.pdf |journal=Zetetic Scholar |pages=73–98 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref> Schwarz had written a monograph on Shaw's psychic powers which was withdrawn from publication. Truzzi adds "Dr. Schwarz first became involved with Shaw because Schwarz hoped that Shaw might be able to use PK to help his seriously ill daughter for whom no orthodox medical cure is available." Shaw states that he was unaware of this agenda of Dr. Schwarz.<ref name=":3" />