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November 23, 2005
Royal Quackery Lives On
Raymond Royal Rife, doctor of medicine, man of science. The first man ever to cure cancer virtually single-handed! His great legacy grows despite every attempt by the AMA to discredit him as a fraud. Although Rife died a convicted con and a faker, thousands of true-believers still tout his wacky science as fact and even hold up his phoney creditentials as the real McCoy.
The original "Rife Light Machine" was destroyed about 70 years ago, however many creative versions of it remain in use around the world. Worse yet, there are dozens of internet sites that will either sell you this "do nothing' machine for a few hundred bucks or they adverstise treatment at a Rife Clinic near you, for whatever ails you, from cancer to dandruff, no malady is too much for a Rife Machine.
So who was Royal Rife and what exactly did he invent? Well, for starters, we know Rife was no doctor. Despite his claims of attending Johns Hopkins and the University of Heidelberg, no student records were every found and nobody knew him as a student. Rather, Rife's education was limited to that of a machinist as an optical instrument maker (optician).
Next, his theory for the cause of cancer and it's cure was never proven in any sort of medically supervised, double blind, study and it was rejected at various times by the best medical science as sheer quackery. However, Rife was a clever man with an aptitude for mechanics, which was later displayed in his wonder machine that almost made him rich. He used his gift for promotion time and again to overwhelm his less entertaining, medical critics.
Rife was brought to prominence back in the 1930's, during the depression era, when he was working as a chauffeur for Timken family of the Timken Roller Bearing fortune. He devised a scam that involved faking his education and using the discredited work of another, to obtains thousands of dollars from Mrs. Timken. Allegedly, all the money went into the construction of a special microscope with the ability to focus on heretofore invisible bacterium! Rife claimed "he could see bacterium change over the course of their life. He believed that bacterium goes through 4 phases before they become what he identified as a cancer bacterium."
Rife didn't come up with any evidence and no one since then has been able to see what he claimed he saw, but never mind the facts, we've got a good con to promote! Rife claimed his first machine was mysteriously vandalized just before it could yield results! Until that vandalism, it was on display, viewed by hundreds of people as Rife proclaimed it's wonders. It was considered by all that saw it as quite impressive, just, nobody except Rife ever actually saw it work.
How it worked became another closely guarded secret and another red flag in spotting a con-game, although Rife openly talked about the theory of how it worked. The destruction of the machine should have been one more red flag, but this actually played out fairly well for Rife, because he often found himself dealing people who bought into the great medical conspiracy theory.
Rife's original (albeit naive) benefactor may have provided him with all the money he needed to complete his first grand deception, but, it was Rife's showmanship that won the day over the critics. And it was all done in a manner that would have made P.T. Barnum proud! Prior to his work being actually proven to work, Rife had convinced a fairly large number of investors to give him money to develop his science even further, part two of the big con.
His game went over almost too well, because the notoriety that followed brought a certain amount of unwanted attention on Rife and his unproven medical theories. This scientific oversight ultimately was Rife's undoing, and his pack of lies came tumbling down. Rife was indicted for fraud and convicted. Rife was a broken man and died an alcoholic.
Since Rife's fall from grace many imitators have emerged to champion his work and reap the financial rewards with their own version of a Rife machine....and the testimonials keep on mounting, adding new credibility to an old fraud.
Rife original work said cancer originated from bacteria and further, that all pathogens, including the cancer causing bacteria, emanated a certain frequency. By dialing in on this unique frequency and targeting the pathogen it could be immediately neutralized. Actually this idea was not even Rife's, it was first hypothesized by "Dr. Albert Abrams (1864-1924), an American physician who became a millionaire and was branded by the American Medical Association the dean of gadget quacks".
His research was refined by Royal Rife and a New Mexico chiropractor, James Bare. They drew up tables giving the..."frequency of 30,000 organisms they said caused every condition from dandruff to leprosy, strokes and syphilis. AIDS, for instance, is said to be cured by a frequency of 2,489 kilohertz in as little as three three-minute sessions."
Of course with all that we know today about the causes and cures for various cancers, Rifes medical ignorance was pathetic, but in the 1930's his claims were much more difficult to refute. But, despite this current knowledge, the Rife legacy lives on in con's seeking a quick buck from their willing dupes from around the world....thus fulfilling P.T. Barnum's most famous prophecy!
For more information on this article I suggest the following sites:
http://amr2you.blogspot.com/2005/07/will-that-rife-machine-2005-plus-model.html
http://www.quackwatch.org/04ConsumerEducation/News/rife.html
http://www.healthwatcher.net/Quackerywatch/Cancer/Cancer-news/smh001230rife-aus.html
http://www.devicewatch.org/reports/aquadetox.shtml
Posted by Post Scripts at November 23, 2005 06:34 PM
Comments
NOW we know what that guy who roughed up Dan Rather on a city street some years ago was talking about when he uttered the words
"Kenneth, what is the frequency?"
Posted by: Anthony Watts at November 24, 2005 02:55 AM
When people feel sick, they hurt, and are frustrated they will believe any BS claim thrown at them. Even with my "traditional" medical training I have relatives that insist that a certain combination of amino acids, beet juice, fairy dust, and God knows what else will cure anything if taken long enough. The nifty thing about these claims is that if the malady kills you then everyone else who believes such crap just shakes their head and says that you didn't start early enough, or didn't add enough goats bile, or whatever. It never occurs to them that they've been duped.
Interestingly these are the same people who chant "no blood for oil" "Bush lied" and similar slogans. I wonder if there's a connection.
Posted by: Jordan Frazer at November 24, 2005 10:29 AM
The pure and unfiltered evil that spews from these medical con men never fails to dumbfound me. I can never manage to completely wrap my brain around how someone could look at a fellow human being who is sick and hurting and think "hey, if I can convince them of my crack-pot theory maybe I can make a few bucks." On the other hand, the ignorance of anyone who thinks that blending tobacco juice with hogs anus will somehow cure whatever problem they may be having is rather hard to accept too. If someone came up with a cure for blatant idiocy they could make a fortune.
For the most part I have no problem letting the gullible get screwed day after day. If you are so naive to belive that there is a magical cure-all out there then you deserve what you get. My problem with these people is that every time they get suckered into some scheme and out of their money they turn around with their hands out and expect the US government (ie: you and I) to compensate their complete lack of mental fortitude. We, being Americans, gladly lift this poor rube back onto his feet only to have him turn around and do the same thing over again. How many times must one put his foot into a bath tub and get bit before he finally opens his eyes and says "There's an aligator in there!"
Posted by: Cris F. at November 28, 2005 12:32 AM
You’re just a bunch of Glorified drug pushing, disease diagnosing closed minded fools. And if you knew the history of modern medicine and realized how it came to be, then you would soon start to feel guilty about what you are doing.
Note from Jack in response: Jason, thats all well and good for you to throw out a bunch of names but how about providing facts to support your position. I gave plenty of facts to support mine. This machine was a fraud of the worst sort because it preys on the weakness of people with a terminal illness. That is highly immoral in my book, what say you?
Posted by: Jason Casey at February 21, 2007 09:51 AM
didn't think you would post the truth.
NOTE FROM Jack: Jason, why would I lie about this machine? Why??? What possible motive would I have? I resent being called a liar.
I am an investigative reporter and I am a retired police detective. I search out the facts for a good story and let the facts fall where they may. I have no bias one way or the other.
If this RIFE machine had potential to cure cancer it would be a far, far better story and further I would be motivated to write about it for the highest of humanitarian reasons...but it was a FRAUD! It was not a cure for anything. RIFE lied about everything including his credentials. Do the research!
The whole basis for this machine was grossly unscientific and not one credible medical person has ever said otherwise. Testimonials from delusional victims or quacks selling the "cure" is not evidence.
Don't play the fool for a quack one more day! This is an evil fraud that deceives the weakest, most vulnerable people in our society.
I do not know what your motive is for wanting to believe in this fraud, but you would do well to do some personal introspection and some research because you are sadly under the spell of a con. I don't know what else I can offer you. If you refuse to believe this, I have done all that I can in the spirit of honest, truthful reporting. My Dad would have said, "You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink."
Well, I am not asking you to drink, I am asking you to think! ! ! THINK, my friend!
Posted by: Jason at March 6, 2007 04:26 AM
I am so glad to have come across your article. My husband in currently doing one of the rife type machines for lymphoma. He believes in the BS. He is for going conventional medical treatment and doing this whacked out stuff, I think it is a huge mistake. Anyway thanks for your investigative report. Most of the websites on rife are only those that are trying to sell the machines to naive people.
Posted by: Katie Sollis at September 13, 2008 08:56 PM