---
title: "Center for Inquiry says psychics failed Nancy Guthrie challenge"
url: "https://usubjects.com/article/center-for-inquiry-says-psychics-failed-nancy-guthrie-challenge-3549"
updated: "2026-09-09T16:05:32.861Z"
description: "Center for Inquiry notes that eight months after Nancy Guthrie’s alleged abduction, a $1 million police reward has not been meaningfully advanced by any psychic involvement, despite speculation that some assistance may be happening behind the scenes. The piece also questions the reliability of common ghost-hunting tools, saying many are easily distorted by everyday electromagnetic interference while cameras and video remain the most credible options for capturing evidence."
sources: ["https://centerforinquiry.org/news/psychics-fail-cfiig-nancy-guthrie-challenge/"]
licence: "All rights reserved"
---

# Center for Inquiry says psychics failed Nancy Guthrie challenge

Published: 2026-09-08  
Source: [Anomalist](https://centerforinquiry.org/news/psychics-fail-cfiig-nancy-guthrie-challenge/)

### Overview

The Center for Inquiry Investigations Group (CFIIG) says the long-running **“Nancy Guthrie Challenge”** has produced no meaningful psychic help, even as the high-profile missing persons case has remained unresolved and a **$1 million police reward** has continued to draw public attention. In a statement released Sept. 1, the skeptical organization said that months after the elderly Tucson woman’s alleged abduction from her home, police still had few leads and no suspects, and none of the celebrity psychics CFIIG contacted stepped forward with verifiable information. The group framed the effort as a straightforward test of whether well-known psychics could support their claims when a real-world case was on the line.

### The challenge to celebrity psychics

CFIIG’s push grew out of an earlier question posed by _Skeptical Inquirer_ deputy editor Benjamin Radford: **“Where are the psychics?”** Radford argued that a case like Guthrie’s should present an ideal opportunity for anyone claiming paranormal insight. If a psychic could provide accurate, actionable information, the potential upside would be enormous: saving a life, helping police, relieving the family’s suffering, and publicly demonstrating extraordinary ability under conditions where results could be verified. CFIIG chairman and founder **Jim Underdown** echoed that view, saying the group wanted “famous psychics who earn millions” to either produce usable evidence or acknowledge their limits.

### Responses, excuses, and silence

According to CFIIG, the organization contacted a roster of recognizable names, including **Allison DuBois, Matt Fraser, Thomas John, John Edward, Maureen Hancock, Rebecca Rosen, and Noreen Renier**. The responses, the group said, ranged from carefully worded refusals to no response at all. Some psychics cited concerns about interfering with an active police investigation, but CFIIG countered that meaningful leads would help rather than hinder the case if they were genuinely accurate. Underdown said the moment called for specificity, not vague reassurance: **“Give us an address, not excuses,”** he said, urging anyone with real information to come forward before the case was resolved by conventional means.

### Skepticism beyond one case

The organization’s broader message extends beyond the Guthrie case itself. CFIIG has long positioned itself as a watchdog over paranormal claims, and the group’s standards are rooted in the idea that extraordinary assertions require testable evidence. That skepticism also applies to **ghost-hunting equipment**, which critics say is often less reliable than popular culture suggests. Devices marketed as paranormal detectors can be distorted by **everyday electromagnetic interference** from wiring, appliances, or wireless signals, making false positives difficult to avoid. By contrast, **cameras and video** remain the most credible tools for capturing possible evidence, not because they prove the paranormal on their own, but because they can be reviewed, contextualized, and compared against other data.

### What the case says about paranormal claims

For CFIIG, the unresolved Guthrie case illustrates a recurring problem in paranormal investigations: when the stakes are real, the results often are not. The group’s $500,000 prize for anyone who can prove paranormal ability under mutually agreed test conditions remains part of its larger effort to challenge claims that are difficult to verify in public life. In this case, the organization says the absence of actionable psychic evidence is itself a finding. Whether the Guthrie investigation is ultimately solved by police work, a confession, or an accidental discovery, CFIIG’s conclusion is blunt: **the psychics did not deliver when it mattered most**.

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