Ir Fl, chics e y -4-4 fAkq JOEL& A 464 16AL . . ......... .4,;~ P, ,. -1. - - 71, lc -,eklt VIM 0 ve ~,,, utj A4 4- f, i4", 4 A c ApproygdfqrtjgpjggggoapgQfPM7,;PfrrIA-Jgppf W3-O points among writers, editors, correspondents and re porter- research - ers---one that ultimately serves to balance and enhance the finished story. Such was the case in dealing with the complex and contro- versial subject of psychic phenomena. Los Angeles Correspondent Richard Duncan was particularly open in his approach. One day at U.C.L.A., Duncan submitted himself to Kirlian photography, a pro- cess for measuring psychic energy, Although there were too few ex- posures to prove or disprove anything to his satisfaction. Duncan was interested to see that the developed film of his fingertips showed blotchy, whorled or spiky "coronas" that corresponded to his dif- fering emotional states. Senior Editor Leon Jaroff, on the other hand, brought rigorous sci- entific standards to his judgments on the story, and an admitted pre- disposition to skepticism, "Belief in these matters," he feels, "is less a TIME 87R@00700030001-3 Foundem: SPIToN HADDEN 1898-1929 HFNPy R. Luce 1898 1967 Editor-in-Chief: Healey Donovan Chairman of the Board: Andrew Heiskell P esident: James R. Shepley C'hairmon Executive Committee: James A. Linen Group Vice President, Magazines; Arthur W. Keyloi Vice Chairmom Roy E. Larsen MANAGING EDITOR Henry Anatole Grunwald ASSISTANT MANAGING EDITORS Murray J. Gart, Edward L. Jamieson, Richard M. Seaman SENIOR EDITORS: Laurence 1. Barrett, Ruth Brine. John T. Elson Tim function of intelligence than of psychological, need." Although he firm- Foote, Otfo Friedrich, Leon Jorcill, Ronald P Kriss, Marsho I Loeb, Jason Mani, Donald Neff. ]y believes that even such ,, Diplomatic Editor: Jerrold L. Schecter International Editor: R. Edward widespread phenomena as Jock5on European Editor: Jesse L. Birnbaum. Associate: Curtis Prendergast, M" d& and precognitive ASSOCIATE EDITORSi James Atwater, dia vu William Benaer, Ciell Bryant, T Gi I Cant, George J. Church, Gerald dreams will eventually yield Clarke, Jc~ Cocks, Spencer Davidson, liam R. Doerner, Mortho M. Duffy, Jose M, efrer III Frederic Golden J , c o rational analysis, he can- , Grant, Philip Herrera, Robert Hughes, Geoffrey James, Timothy M. Ja T.E Kolem, Stefan Konfpr Ed Magnuson Fronk B M rri k M M not rationally explain why, , M , e c ayo , Lon ce Morrow, Burton Pines, R.Z. Sheppard, William E Smith Peter St three times in a row last , Edwin G. Warner. CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: Christopher week, his clock-radio failed P. Andersen, Alan H. Anderson Richard Bernstein, Patricia Blake, Joan Downs Judy Fayard Neil D Glu. to go off, making him late , . , Paul Gray, Marguerite Johnson, Bob McCabe, Gina Mallel, Donald M. I rison, Mark Nichols James Randall Clare M Rosen Phili T b h for work. , Even more bizarre was , , au , man, p Vishniak, Ivan Webster, Jack E. While, Roger Wolmuth. REPORTER-RESEARCHERS: Marylois Purdy Vega (Chief), Nancy 1. Will, ut (De ) the mysterious force that p 1A y Department Heads: Maria Luiso Cisneros (Letters), Rosalind Halvorsen, h W glitched TiME'S complex, y Hoystead, Ursula Nodosdy, Raisso Silverman, Senior Staff; Priscillo B Bod er Audre Ball P t ; i B k J B . computerized copy-process- r o c o , ec ean g , ert, erge y Peg gy T. Berman, Margaret G. Boeih, Nancy McD. Chose, Anne Consto M , Fit i Id D ii G in r s a st or m o zgera l an, i a i Eisen, Leah Shanks Gordon, Patricia ht N. C i e don, Harriet Heck, Anne H k n c ns, Marion Knox, Scro C. Medina, os Nancy N ng n Tul' g man y Sue Raffel g Bett ker F S d V h i d -at almost the precise mo- . nor , an ersc m y, , ct, Rosemarie y y y Zodikov . ment that our psychic- Swan Altchelk, Sarah Bedell, Sarah Button, Andreo Chambers, Diono Cros R d osamon phenomena story was fed Draper, Robert L. Goldstein, Georgia Harbison, Amanda N Intosh, Go pritosh, Alexandra Meze Brigid O'Hara-Forster Xe Hilar y , nto it. Against astronomi- 4, lere, Victoria R0inert, Susan M. Reed, exandro Henderson Rich, Jay t i it Si B d A S k sens KANFER (LEFT) READS JAROFF'S MIND cal odds, e both of the ma- on var n, a nna osnow5 , i, Zono Sparks, Mary Themo, Co Thomon, Edward Tiynan, Jean M. Vollely, Susanne S. Washburn, GE i1 P l W chines that print out TiME'S vieve son, A. au itteman, Linda Young. CORRESPONDENTS: Murray J. Gort copy stopped working simultaneously. No sooner(Chief), Benjamin W. Cate (Deputy) were the spirits ex- Senior Correspondent: John L. Steele orcised and the machines back in operation Washington; Hugh Sidey, John than the IBM computer F. Stocks, Bonnie Angelo, David Beck. John M rr B St l W Cl W lt d B . in effect swallowed the entire cover story; e it developed a flaw in its pro- an , ou a er y, ey ennett, Jess Cook, Simmons F , tress, Dean E. Fischer, Hays Gorey, Jerry Hannifin, Samuel R. lker, Josepl . Kone, Neil MacNeil, John Mulliken, gramming that sent the copy circling endlesslySand through memory loops y Smith, Mork Sullivan, Arthur Wh Chicoq Gre ory H Wierzynski Mar uerite Michael r ti S B I from which it could not be retrieved, Thirteen. hours and a second ex- re , s, a eaman, g ~ % vid Woo , Ric ord Woodbury. Los Angeles: Richard L. Duncan, Patricia I loney, David DeVoss, Roland pert exorcism later, the IBM 370/135 snapped Flamini, Leo Janos, John L, out of its trance and Wilhelm. Now Yo Marsh Clark, Marcia Gauger Mary Cronin Richard N Ostlin Eileen Shie' , grudgingly returned the finished story to , us. , g, Don Sider, James F. Simon, Stanley W. Stillman, John Tompkins. Atlan James Bell David C Lee Boston: bond t B h F Eli b l1 R Associate Editor Stefan Kanfer. who wrote . the cover story, man- . ra ur , on, et za o, roppo~ Mehrtens Galvin. Detroit: Edwin M. Reingold, K.L. Huff Son Francisco: seph N. Boyce, John J. Austin. aged to remain free of psychic interruption United Nations: Lansing Lamont. last week. "I got into this Europe: William Rademaekers David B Tinnin Robert Porker London A topic," he says, "through the back door-some . would say front door , , : , M, Scott, Lawrence Malkin, William McWhirier. Paris: Roger Beardwo( Paul Ress, George Taber, Bonn: -of magic and mentalism. There are many tricksBruce W. Nelon, Gisela Bolte, with which one Christo Iyron. Brussels: Henry Muller, Rome: Jordan Bonfonte, Jerusalem: Wirli~ F. Mormon Jr., Marlin Levin. can duplicate paranormal phenomena." Indeed, Eastern Europe: Strobe Talboti, Amateur Magician Beirut: Kars Prager. Cairo: Wilton Wynn. Moscow: John Shcw Row, Hon Kon : R Kanfer astounded numerous TIME staffers last , week by seeming to g g David Aikman, Bing W. Wong. Saigon: Gavin Scott, Prom Xuon An, orry I % lenbrand, Nairobi: Lee Griggs, guess correctly, over the telephone, cards Eric Robins. New Delhi~ William that had been pulled from Stewc James Shepherd, Tokyo; Herman Nickel, S, Chang, Fronk iwoma. Melbourt John Dunn. Canada: B. William a deck in Jaroffs office-which is one floor Mader, Peter Rehok (Ottowa), below Kanfer's. James Wit rantional Corr.), Robert Lewis (Toroni John Blashill (Montreol), Ed 0i V B Ai Ch l Rli l h ) o 0 ver D . t uenos res: ar es sendrat . Rio de Janeiro: Rudo .Rauch Ill. Mexico City; Bernard Diederich. News Desks; Rosemary Byrnes. Cable Desk: Minnie Magazine. Admi Is trotion: Emily Friedrich, Penny Marshall. CL,t,oCj ~ OPERATIONS MANAGER: Eugene F. Coyle; Mary Ellen Simon (Deputy) PRODUCTION; Charles P. Jackson (Makeup Editor); John M. Cavanagh (De ut y); Monuel Delgado, Agustin Lamboy, Austin Metze, Leonard Schulmc 4 Ci J]u MO ai mpvferC mpositioni Robert W. Boyd Jr. ARTMENT: David Merrill JActing Art Director), Arturo Cozenev (Assistant Art Director Rosemar L Frank (Covers) rlor Ni t St ff L B , , : a v ayou y wo KI la, John F. Geisl~'Anthon " Libard', Alan Washburn, Michael C. Wit' Y D n over Story-65 all Charts: Jere 0 ovan, Joseph Economy Music-55 Arnon. Map Researche Minn"n ucius, Isobel Lenkiewicz. Ad . ei PHOTOGRAPHY: John Durniak (Picture Color-67 & Business-75 Notion-10 Editor); Arnold H, Drapkin (Colo, E itor); Michele Stephenson (Assistant Picture Editor). Picture Researchers: E~ I n Merrin, Alice Rose George, Francine M, Hyland, Kate K nergy-22 An oi,et People-AO Sin, f ElIzabe 4elillo, Rita Quinn, Suzanne Richie Carol Saner 4h Nanc L Art-56 Law-86 Press . 42 , , , y Stotler. - COPY DESK; Harriet Bachman (Chief). Frances Bonder, Madeline Butler, Anr Davis, Susan Hahn, Katherine Behavior-65 Letters-4 Religion-50 Miholk, Emily Mitchell, Shirley Zimmerman. EDITORIAL SERVICES: Paul Welch Books-82 Medicine-60 Science-74 (Director), Norman A;rey, George Kore Benjamin Lig hman, Doris O'Neil, Carolyn R. Pappas. n Cinema-62 Milestones-59 World-25 PUBLISHER Ralph P. Davidson General Manager; Donald J, Barr The Cover: Giwficolor illustration by Howard Assistant Publisher: Lone Fortinberry Sochurek , Circulation Directori George S. Wiedemann Ill Business Manager: Donald L. TIME is published weekly, $14,00&er year, Spurdle by Time Inc., 541 N. Fairbanks Court, Chicago,ADVERTISING SALES DIRECTOR Ill. 60611, Principal office: Rockefeller enter New York N Y 10020 James R She le Pr id t. Clif , . Robert C, Barr . Advertisin , U . S , Sales Director . T es t en G p i 6, S ford J. Grum, Treasurer; Charles B. Bear, Secretary. Second class postage paid of hicogo, Ill,' nd at additional moiling offices Vol 103 No 9 (D 1974 Time In All i ht d R ~o , r . . . . c. : r . s reserve on . orey eprod uct, ng in g g ym -hole or in pa wpout wrkn pf rmission 7 jr: Ker,,elh E. Clarke Approve e e i'p2bbb/08/07: CIA-RDP96-00 d7 TkVd 6 ?td d,3 6V 0)1 t. COVERSTORY Boom Times on the Psychic Frontier Glendower: I can call spiritsfroin the vasty deep. Hotspur: Why, so can 1, or so can any man; But will they come when you do call for thern ? -Henry IV For all the enormous achievements of science in posting the universe that man inhabits, odd things keep slipping past the sentries. The tap on the shoul- der may be fleeting, the brush across the cheek gone sooner than it is felt, but the momentary effect is unmistakable: an unwilling suspension of behef in the and memory? Could there be a para- normal world exempt from known nat- ural law? Both in America and abroad, those questions are being asked by increasing numbers of laymen and scientists hun- gry for answers. The diverse manifes- tations of interest in so-called psychic phenomena are everywhere: io, In the U.S., The Secret Life of Plants becomes a bestseller by offering an astonishing and heretical thesis: greenery can feel the thoughts of humans. 0- At Maimonides Medical Center in New York City, the image of a paint- DEVICE SET UP TO RECORD OU7-OF-BODY TRIP AT AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR PSYCHICAL RESEARCH Questionable procedures costumed in the prim gown of laboratory respectability. rational. An old friending is transmitted by Mitchell, who while suddenly remem- ESP, and seems to on the Apollo 14 bered, and as suddenlyenter the dreams of a moon mission conducted the telephone laboratory sub- telepathy ex- rings and the friend ject sleeping in anotherperiments with friends is on the line. A room. on earth, founds vivid dream that becomesIs. In England, a poll the Institute of Noetic the morning of its readers Sciences. His new reality. The sense by the New Scientist mission: investigate of bumping into one's indicates that near- occurrences that self around a corner 1y 70% of the respondentswill not yield to rational of time, of having (mainly sci- explanation. done and said just entists and technicians)P, In London, Arthur this, in this place, believe in the Koestler ex- once before in preciselypossibility of extrasensoryamines psychic research this fashion. A perception. with the zeal stab of anguish for 0o At the University of the believer. Koestler, a distant loved one. of California, one of the fore- and next day, the telegram.Psychologist Charles most explicators of Tart reports that Establishment sci- Hardly a person lives his subjects showed a ence (The Sleepwalkers, who can deny marked increase The Act of Cre- some such experience, in ESP scores after workingation), speaks of "synchronized" some such seem- with his new events ing visitation from teaching machine. that lie outside the across the psychic expectations of prob- frontier. For most 1~ In Los Angeles, a ability. In anecdotes of man's history, leaf is cut in of foresight and ex- those intrusions were mainspringshalf, then photographed trasensory perception, of action, by a special in the repetition the very life of Greekprocess. The picture of events and the strange epic and bibhcal miraculously shows behavior of saga, of medieval talethe "aura" or outline random samplings, Koestler and Eastern of the whole leaf spots what chronicle, Modern scienceii. In Washington, the he calls the roots and psychol- Defense De- of coincidence. In his ogy have learned to partment's Advanced Researchunforgettable metaphor, explain much of Projects modern scien- what was once inexplicable,Agency assigns a team tists are "Peeping but mys- to investigate Toms at the keyhole teries remain. The seemingly authentic psychicof eternity." That workings of the mind phenome- keyhole is stuffed with still resist rational na at the Stanford Researchancient biases toward analysis~ reports Institute. the materialistic of psychic phenomena persist.lo. On both sides of and rational explication Are they all the Atlantic, Uri and, ' conse- accident, illusion? Geller, a young Israeli quently, away from Or are there other psychic, astounds the emerging field planes andAPVF'd 7b6050bV+_1ban- vecPfFbiPeRv4ea_ftn20GG10&G7t9- t4A4;MPi9G-00N11KGN TIME, MARCH 4,1974 65 spoons and keys apparently with the force of his thoughts. lo~ In the Philippines, Tennis Star Tony Roche is relieved of painful -ten- nis elbow" when an incision is made and three blood clots are apparently re- moved by the touch of a psychic healer. who knows nothing of surgery or of mod- ern sanitation. i~ In the U.S., the number of col- leges offering courses in parapsychology increases to more than 100. Po. In the U.S.S.R., researchers file reports on blindfolded women who can "see" colors with their hands. lo, In California, ex-Astronaut Edgar HENRY ~RCSKINSKY ADDroved For Release 2000/08/07 : CIA-RDP96-00787ROO0700030001-3 BEHAVIOR don those prejudices, says Koestler, they will be free to explore fresh concepts and new categories. That exploration is already being conducted by a number of serious para- normalists in a wide range of disciplines. In his Foundation for the Research on the Nature of Man, in Durham, N.C., the grand old man of paranormal stud- ies. I.B. Rhine (see box page 70), still keeps watch on test animals for precog- nitive powers. At the nearby Psychical Research Foundation, William Roll and a research staff investigates "survival af- ter bodily death." In studies with a "sen- sitive" and his pet cat, Roll finds ev- idence for a human ability "to leave" some extent in the existence of some form of paranormal psychic powers. But the forms are open to wide debate. Says Psychologist Gardner Murphy, profes- sor at the District of Columbia's George Washington University and a dean of psychic researchers, "It may well turn out that parapsychology will be a mul- tidisciplinary thing, owing much to psy- chiatry, neurology ... medicine, bio- chemistry, social sciences." One of parapsychology's most famous propo- nents, in fact, is an anthropologist: Mar- garet Mead. It was her passionate ad- vocacy that helped give the Parapsycho- logical Association its greatest claim to legitimacy. After several vain attempts mitted to finding phenomena. And few are aware of the controls necessary in a field in which deception, conscious or unconscious, is all too familiar." Daniel Cohen, former managing ed- itor of Science Digest and author of the debunking volume Myths of the Space Age, remains unpersuaded by what he sees through the Koestlerian keyhole. "After decades of research and exper- iments," Cohen observes, "the parapsy- chologists are not one step closer to ac- ceptable scientific proof of psychic phenomena, Examining the slipshod work of the modern researchers, one be- gins to wonder if any proof exists," The criticism that psychics find VALEQY to enter Lne eminent narcest to counter comes SHUSTOYAmerican ASSO- not irom sci- ciation for the Advancemententists but from conjurers. of Science, Theoretically. the P.A. won membership magicians have no place in 1969-af- in serious sel- ter a speech by Mead. ence. But they are entertainers Her argument: whose "The whole history of business it is to deceived scientific advance thus they feel is full of scientists that they are better investigating phenom- qualified to spot chi- ena that the Establishmentcanery than scientists, did not be- who can be woe- lieve were there. I submit that we vote in favor of this association's work." The final vote: 6 to I in favor of admission. Immense Claims. As parapsychol ogy gains new respectability, so do its f I terms gain wide currency: "psi" for any "clairvoyance" psychic phenomenon; for the awareness of events and objects 4~ that lie outside the perimeters of the five senses; 11 out-of-body" experience for seeming to journey to a place that may be miles from the body; *'psychokinesis" for the mental ability to influence phys ical objects~ "precognition" for the foreknowledge of events, from the fall of dice to the prediction of political as sassinations; and the wide-ranging term ESP for extrasensory perception. For all its articulate spokesmen and scientific terminology, however, the new world of psi still has a serious credibil- ity problem. One reason is that like any growth industry or pop phenomenon, it has attracted a fair share of hustlers. In- deed, the psychic-phenomena boom may contain more charlatans and con Jurers, more nalffs and gullibles than can be found on the stage and in the au- dience of ten Ringling Brothers circus- es. The situation is not helped at all by 4 the "proofs" that fail to satisfy tradition- RUSSIAN FINGER-READING TEST al canons of scientific investigations. De- Basically show biz. spite the published discoveries, despite the indefatigable explorations of the the body and "visit" the animal. At the psychic researchers, no one has yet been University of Virginia Medical School, able to document experiments suffi Psychiatrist Ian Stevenson also studies ciently to convince the infidel. For the plausibilities of reincarnation. many, doubt grows larger with each ex At the Division of Parapsychology travagant claim. and Psychophysics of the Maimonides To Science and Mathematics Ana- Medical Center, Dr. Montague Ullman lyst Martin Gardner (Relativity for the directs tests in which message senders Million, Ambidextrous Universe), an- "think" images into the brains of sleep- nouncements of psychic phenomena be- ing subjects. "If we had adequate fund- long not to the march of science but to ing," says Ullman, "we could have a the pageant of publicity. "Uri Geller, major breakthrough in this decade." In The Secret Life of Plants, telepathy, ESP, Connecticut, Businessman Robert Nel- the incomplete conclusions of Koestler son directs the Central Premonitions -all seem part of a new uncritical en- Registry, meticulously recording the thusiasm for pseudo science," says Gard- prop . r&ridl S (6)0grbrP 6~9V 2(Wgftl~P KF_q We~pfrft that W , Ws~ All of these researchers believe to without exception, are emotionally com- fully naive about the gimmicks and tech- niques that charlatans may use for mystical effects. James Randi, who ap- pears on television as "the Amazing Randi," duplicates many of Uri Geller's achievements with a combination of sleight of hand, misdirected attention and patented paraphernalia, then calls them feats of clay. -Scientists who fall for the paranormal go through the most devious reasoning," Randi says. "For- tunes are squandered annually in pur- suit of mystical forces that are actually the result of clever deceits. The money would be better spent investigating the tooth fairy or Santa Claus. There is more evidence for their reality." Pure Deception. Charles Reyn olds, editor and member of the Psychic Investigating Committee of the Amer- ican Society of Magicians, agrees. "When evaluating the research. we have found that the researcher's will to be- lieve is all powerful. It's a will that has nothing to do with religion: there are Marxists, atheists, agnostics who cling stubbornly to the ancient faith in black magic. Only now it's called paranormal.' That faith is nowhere more evident than in the U.S.S.R., which has been beset in recent years with controversial sensitives. One, Ninel Kulagina, was ap- praised as capable of causing objects to float in mid-air. As Martin Gardner notes, "She is a pretty, plump, dark- eyed little charlatan who took the stage name of Ninel because it is Lenin spelled backward. She is no more a sensitive than Kreskin, and like that amiable American television humbug. she is basically show biz." Indeed, Ninel has been caught cheating more than U.C.L.A. Psychologist Thelma Moss ex- plores the mysteries of Kirlian photog- raphy-pictures believed by some to show the "aura" of living things. Insert: la ]bow (leff) and OP!QA, e 87MOBTI" Pe JZ same w iencing mild electrical shock. Ml "~Q :_'j~ IF er r "OW _ej 741 AL. -A XI., 'rV -w 4 i4 *13v .4F it . . . . . . . . . . . . . . k 49 v"_ L 7 Approved For Release 20 am ElEa CLOCKWISE. FROM LEFT: At Durham's Psychical Re- Medical Center in Ne~A York City: Artist and PsNchic Ingo search Foundation. Robert Morris displays test in which Swann with painting completed after his "out of bodN" ad- subject outside of room "influences" movement of a cai: venture in outer space: gerbil in tests for precogniti-,e po"- sensory-isolation and telepathy experiment at Maimonides ers at The Institute for Parapsychology in Durham. N.C. Approved For Release 2000/08/07 : CIA-RDP96-00787ROO0700030001-3 CLOCK'NISAP13COMedf OTI AM7999114191919dlFr~ld the Menninger Foundation prepares a biofeedback test for a who duplicates psychic feats with a combination of sleight yogi on bed of nails. Ex-AstTonaut Edgar Mitchell. who of-hand. psychology and theatrical gimmicks checks set of experienced "altered state of consciousness" in outer space. "ESP" cards~ Trinidadian "sensitive" performing card clair at his Institute for Noetic Sciences in Palo Alto. Cal voyance experiment at The Institute for Paiaps)chology. 4 46 2-W?, do V, 2000/08/07 ~J4 A -~~w f TAIF a 31.417-IT -3 '40~~1 -Z- f JV ICON - J.1 _71 '6 rl VII '' 'A "i !gg ly doe BEHAVIOR once by Vftk~n s_S !4q0P."L0G"7RGNTG00WMw3he in- . "I&L ests Vp v Y, T1 Anot P S" re in eed conducted vestipators from S.R.I., he confesses that 1. ova,can read" with her with what University outer-space intelligence fingertips while of Oregon Profes- directs his securely blindfolded. sor Ray Hyman CaHs "incrediblework. But the S.R.I. James Randi, an- slop- scientists are not alyzing photographs of piness," then other taken aback. One, Russell Kuleshova, disturbing questions Targ, plac- promptly announced that may be raised. Assignedidly remarks, "The things her act was b~ the Depart- you arc tell- -a fraud.- To prove his ment of Defense to relx)rting us agree very well point, he invit- on the won- with things that ed testers to blindfold drous happerings at Hal 1S.R.I. Colleague hirn with pizza S.R.I., Hyman, ac- Harold Puthoff) dough, a mask and a hood.companied by George and I believe but we Then he pro- Lawren-~e, DOD can't prove." Adds ceeded to drive a car projects manager for Astronaut Ed Mitchell: in traffic. A won't the Advanced Re- "Uri, you're not tell you how I did it," search Projects Agency,saying anything to us he says. "But it caught Geller we don't in some was not parapsychologicalin some outright deceptions.way already sense or ly. It was pure understand." The deception, just as hers Unhappily for Geller, text raises some troubling was." Such rev- his powers questions. is elations have not deterredhave a tendency to vanishPuharich indeed in touch the parapsy- in the pres- with what he chologists in the U.S.S.R.ence of sleight-of-handcalls "my editor in or elsewhere. men. On the To- the sky"? Is his ac- They freely concede that night Show, wheTe Johnnycount of the S.R.I. many of their Carson in- meeting as true as subjects do sometimes stituted airtight controlshis reasonably accurate cheat, but still at Randi's report of Uri's may have paranormal powers.suggestion, nothing meeting a year ago with that Geller attempt- the editors of In and out of the laboratory,ed (during an embarrassingTIME? If it is, why many 20 minutes) have the S.R.I. sci- paranormalist investigatorsseemed to work. After entists failed to mention conduct ex- a group of Eng- Uri Geller's periments that mock rigorouslish magicians made contacts with outer and log- plans to catch him space? Are they ical procedure. Claims BILL EPPRIDGE properly fearful of are made, and that most the burden of proof is irrefutable antidote shifted to the to non- doubter. Ground rules sense: laughter? Or are laid down by were the psychic subject and they, as they now claim, are all too eagerly accepted by his merely "humoring" their examiner. If the venture proves unsuccessful, a wide subject? range of excuses are proffered: Almost as im pressi an un- ve as believer provided hostile Geller's rise to fame vibrations~ the is the subject was not receivingQ, phenomena] success of well; negative The influences were presents T Secret Life of Plants testing rules (Har- per & Row~ $8.95), a were too restrictive. vol- It is all reminiscent of the laws in Through ume that is unaccountably the Looking- Glass, where people approach placed on the nonfiction objects by walking away from them. shelves of bookstores. And it cre- The ates an atmosphere in work of two occult journal- which even a gen- uine paranormal subject ists, Secret Life is might have a an anthol- hard time certifying his abilities. ogy of the absurd, costumed No one has contributed more to the in the prim gown of labo- ratory respectability. paranormal explosion than In it Uri Geller, the handsome, 26-year-old are researchers like Israeli for- Cleve mer nightclub magician Backster. a lie-detector who seems ex- equally adept at telepathy, pert who attached the psychokine- ter- minals of his machines sis and precognition. to "I don't want to spend my whole life in plants. Behold' The laboratories,,," vegeta- Gefler recently told TiME tion reacted to his London Cor- thoughts. respondent Lawrence Malkin. "I'vejust Most scientists have greeted done a whole year at StanfordT711 Research the experiments with open skepticism-with good Institute [TwE, March rea- 121. Now I'll go on to other countries, son. After his plants and let th would em see if they know what it is not respond for a visiting I've got." Death Threats. At the PSYCHOLOGIST TART WORKINGCanadian plant physiolo- Stanford ESP MACHINE Research Institute GellerSearching for a wider gist, for example, Backster successfully kind of self. worked most of his repertoire offered an interesting of mir- hy- acles. In a film made in the act during a pothesis: the plants by S.R.I., Geller British tour, Geller "fainted" because picks the can containing abruptly canceled out, they sensed that she an object from citing mysterious routinely inciner- a group of identical empty"death threats." ated her own plants cans, influ- and then weighed ences laboratory scales, In the long run, however,the ashes after her reproduces Geller's experiments. drawings sealed in opaquefriends may well be Backster is the essence envelopes, more damaging to of conserva- deflects a magnetometer his cause than are his tism compared with the and correctly detractors. This book*s more ad- cal1s the upper face of spring the reputable venturous researchers. a die in a closed old firm of Dou- A New Jersey box-eight times in eight bleday will publish electronics buff, Pierre tries, If Gel- a book entitled Uri Paul Sauvin, at- ler's prowess with dice by Dr. Andfija Puharich,tached a Rube Goldbergian is indeed para- who brought machine to normal, it raises seriousGeller to the U.S. fromhis plants, and then and disturbing Israel. In a crude spent the weekend mishmash of Mission: with his girl friend Impossible, 2001 at a place 80 miles and the James Bond series,away. He found that Puharicb even at that dis- CLOCKWISE FROM UPPER LEFT:(author of a previous tance the plants had volume on the psy- responded to his Psychic Uri Geller, whosechedelic effects of sexual relations with reputed abil- mushrooms) soberly the girl. The tone ity to bend objects with describes his adventuresoscillators went "right his mind has with Geller. off the top," be stirred sharp debate; From outer space, highlysays, at the moment ESP test at the inteltigent of orgasm. American Society for Psychicalcomputers called SPECTRAIn Japan, Ken Hashimoto, Re- communi- another search; Lie Detector Expertcate through taped messages,polygraph expert, discovered Cleve Back- which dis- thai his ster with plant that he appear. "We can only cactus could count and believes can talk to you add up to 20. 11 read" his thoughts; through Uri's power," George De La Warr, a in psychokinesis rays the mystical British engineer, test, subject tries to voice. "It is a shame insisted that young influence sequence that for such a brfl- plants grew better if in which bulbs will light. 6-weare 6L dlive. oni- liant mind we cannot d6$*i:11=RtUh5 7UO 30 contac -01 - hb1PI4 2000/08/07 - : Approved For Release COLOR SPREAD (TOP) DON SNYDER-HORIZON, HENRY GROSKINSKY, ELDA HARTLEY. BILL EPPRIDGE; (BOTTOM) HENRY GROSKI"SKY. OPPOSITE PAGE: (TOP LEFT) BEN MARTIN, GROSKINSKY 69 BEHAVIOR caDy, the authors Jid , noVdIress the d Professor -T 7 NO -a-PA" 91~ 01,16 4200 Wh" 'ftPK "~MOOA fm f l" . I l otany. Plants do respondI u physiological- a ast o tographs and done more the experimental paranormal, is more assured about the ly to certain sound work with them than technical cause of Kirlian waves. Talking to anyone outside phenomena a plant may indeed make Russia. on film. "What we're it healthier, be- looking at." he cause it thrives on Moss, a former Broadwaymaintains, "is cold the carbon dioxide actress, electron discharge." ex- haled by the speaker. found her interest in Sickly Tissue. Says parapsychological L. Jerome Stan- Many psychics and theirphenomena kindled afterton. author of a forthcoming followers LSD therapy. book on believe that paranormal"From the first," she auras and Kirlian photography: powers may be recalls, A intend- "Per- dependent on mysterioused to specialize in haps some day the technique auras or "en- parapsychology be- will be a ergy flows," phenomenacause of the glimpses valuable diagnostic that they say of psychic phe- too]. Maybe sick can be recorded, by nomena I experienced people do have different Kirlian photogra- during the LSD 'auras.' But as phy. The technique, treatments. But I certainlyof now, there is no developed in the don't feel the assurance that it is at late 1930s by Russian need to use drugs any all useful." Though Electronics Ex- more ... When not accusing Kirlian pert Semyon Kirlian you've gotten the message,researchers of faking and his wife Va- you bang up effects, Stanton lentina, involves introducingthe phone." For Moss, notes that the famous a small the message is "phantom lear' is amount of high-voltage,that Kirlian photographyeasy to duplicate by high-frequency clearly dem- double-exposing the current into the subjectonstrates a human aura.film, first with the and recording "We have done whole leaf, again af- the subsequent dischargework with acupuncturistster a portion has been on photo- and [psychic] removed. and that graphic film. The resulthealers," she says, different voltages and is a photograph "and we find that the conditions can showing an "energy Corona of the healer change the picture in body*'-a weird becomes intense be- incalculable ways. aura-around the plant.fore healing, and then "Working with advanced animal or hu- afterward is more equipment," man part being photographed.relaxed and less strong.he says. A could produce We think we're Kirlian effects Soon, Kirlians claimedlooking at a transfer that would astound the that photo- of energy from the unsophisticated, graphing a portion healer to the injured and that includes a of a leaf, for exam- person." lot of scientists and ple, would produce Others are less certain.physicists. Remember, the aura of the en- Writing in electronics and tire leaf on film. the Photographic Societyphotography are two Some psychics claim of America very complicated that in time the aura journal, Bill Zalud of a missing limb concluded, "All spec- ho- ulation hin might be discernible es with Kirlian n btai i h h p o o n s otograp ng p g tography. Today the of normal tissue patterns process is an in- for compar- tegral part of paranormalative purposes and, V exploration. so far, no one has In the U.S. the leadingreally determined what proponent of the a normal Kir- A Long History of Hoaxes The first professional organization to study paranormal phenomena was the British Society for Psychical Research, founded in 1882. Among its membership were prominent scholars and scientists -men of unimpeachable credentials and high moral character. They soon discovered and enthusiastically reported on the telepathic abilities of five little girls, daughters of the Rev. A.M. Creery. The mentalist millennium was at hand. Six years later, the girls were caught cheating and shamefacedly admitted that they had fooled the investigators. They were the first in a long series of de- ceivers of scientists. The society*s next major project was an investigation of two "sensitives" from Brighton, G.A. Smith and Douglas Blackburn. Smith would allow himself to be blindfolded, his ears to be plugged, his body to be thoroughly blanketed~ yet somehow the thoughts of Blackburn reached him. This time, it seemed, the S.P.R. had really justified its existence. When Smith left the S.P.R. in 1892, no other comparable sensitive could be found. Still, the members had seen the telepathy performed with their own eyes~ the evidence was held acceptable. It was not until 1908 that Blackburn ad- mitted deceit. "The whole of these al- leged experiments were bogus," he later wrote. The remainder of his statement has echoed to this day: -[Our hoax] orig- inated in the honest desire of two youths to show how easily men of scientific mind and training could be deceived when seeking for evidence in support of a theory they were wishful to establish," The American Society for Psychical Research, organized with the help of Philosopher William James in 1885. suf- fered similar embarrassments. Yet it pursued its quarry with vigor. As James had noted, "To upset the conclusion that all crows are black, there is no need to seek demonstration that no crow is black, it is sufficient to produce one white crow." But after 25 years of read- ing psychic literature and witnessing phenomena, James admitted that he was "theoretically no further than I was at the beginning, and I confess that at times I have been tempted to believe that the Creator has eternally intended this de- parture of nature to remain baffling." Other researchers had not been humble or uncertain. Late in the cen- tury, a self-styled sensitive named Henry Slade toured the U.S. and Europe mak- ing objects vanish and swinging com- pass needles without the aid of a mag- net. He was so convincing that a German scientist published a book. Transcendental Physics, devoted to Slade's accomplishments. Again. the psychic millennium seemed imminent. But in his biography. A Magician Among the Spirits. Harry Houdini -reported that the conjurer was simply a fraud with a'dazzling technique: Slade later con- fessed that it was indeed all an act. 7oApproved For Release 2000/08/07 : CIA-RDP96-00787ROO070003000~7;[, 1974 EXPERIMENTER J.B. RHINE VOLUNTEERS COMING OF THE FAIRIES fields. Mi c e as- 00911875~0007WW000"c wwnq tbqqM A VPA~a la r . 1m i.11 rema s Suring lm that Arigo The most irresponsiblen was not burt in his and odious a fatal car accident in ; 1971: "There was no valid medical tests performed on it. The niche in the world tests, conducted in pain. He left his body of the paranormal Seattle, showed that before the crash." is occupied by the psychicthe tissue was 'consistentNo amount of demonstrable healers, who with origin fraudu- cannot operate legallyfrom a small animal lence, no exposure of in the U.S. but ... there is no ev- the fake, the ma- lure unfortunate Americansidence in any of this nipulator, the unscrupulous, overseas tissue to suggest ever seems with claims of spectacularthat this represents capable of dissuading cures. Diag- metastatic carcino- the true believer nosing illnesses and ma from the breast of in paranormality. James locating diseased the patient.'" Fadiman, of or- gans by purely psychicTom Valentine, author the Stanford School means, they per- of a book on per- of Engineering, be- form operations by haps the best known lieves that "most (but plunging their hands of the psychic sur- not all) para- through what appear geons, Tony Agpaoa, psychologist demonstrators to be deep inci- documents the ex- are also sions to grasp and perience of a Mrs. Raymondfrauds," then gives remove sickly tissue. Steinberg the classic rationale: In the Philippines, of Two Rivers, Wis. "Look at it this way. currently the center Tony "made a ma- You think you have for psychic surgery, jor production" of removingpowers of clairvoyance, a number of con- a piece of and finally you jurers use sleight. metal and several screwsbecome a celebrity because of hand and buckets that had been of it. You're of blood and animal surgically placed in on the stage or in an parts to work their her hip after an au- experimental sit- wonders. Surrounded tomobile accident. X uation and sometimes by adherents who rays later showed your powers fail have been "cured," that Agpaoa had removedyou. They do very often the ill-educated and nothing. for most of these often filthy surgeons True Believer. But the guys. So what do they perform -opera- psychics, do? They cbeat." tions"-slashes of the and those who profit Robert Benchley once epidermis, knives from them, remain separated in the eye cavity, undaunted. In a few people into two categories: fmgers in the abdomen months, the respect- those who -sometimes painlessly able publishing firm separate people into and always with of Thomas Y. two categories and great flourish. Crowell will publish those who do not. Parapsychologist the story of yet an- Ger- As one witness to suchother psychic healer, trude Schmeidler of "surgery" de- the late great Bra- New York's City scribes it: "The healerzilian Arigo, Surgeon College is in the first pulled some tis- of the Rusty Knife. category. Her stud- sue from the area of The author: John Fuller,ies show that on the the 'operation' . whose pro-fly- issue of para- . . ing-saucer books Incidentpsychology her subjects at Exeter and divide into be- The Interrupted Journeylieving sheep and doubting were big sellers goats. The during the UFO craze sheep almost invariably of the 1960s. The score higher afterword is written in tests of paranormal by Geller Biogra- wers. Will po pher Puharich, who in the sheep ever convince Uri incidentally the ruminating Perhaps parapsychology's most gul- lible proponent was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of the superrationalist detective Sherlock Holmes. Doyle re- mains the greatest proof that intelli- gence and scruple cannot compete with naivetd and the desire to accept the par- anormal as demonstrable fact. After the death of his son in the Great War, he turned to spiritualism for solace. This led, in time, to investigations of spirits, and eventually to little winged creatures in the bottoms of gardens. In his 1922 volume The Coming ofthe Fairies, Doyle reproduced photographs of a tiny gob- lin and elves caught by a child's cam- era. The pictures were manifestly staged~ the entire project made all but the blind- est believers wince. One who did not was a young American botanist named J.B. Rhine. After an inspiring Doyle lecture on spiritualism, Rhine and his wife Louisa immersed themselves in lit- erature published by the Society for Psychical Research. When Rhine later joincd the faculty of Duke University, be began a lifelong devotion to psychic research. It was he who coined the terms extrasensory perception and psi (for psychic phenomena)~ it was he who gave his specialty an academic imprimatur by compiling mountains of statistics about psychic subjects who could "read" cards that they could not see. From the start, Rhine was criticized for juggling numbers. (Subsequent re- searchers have also used questionable procedures, citing "negative ESP" when the number of correct guesses fall be- low average and "displacernent- when subjects call the card before or after the one they are trying to guess.) H.L. Menc- ken summarized the early views of the dubious when he wrote, "In plain lan- guage, Professor Rhine segregates all those persons who, in guessing the cards. enjoy noteworthy runs of luck. and then adduces those noteworthy runs of luck as proof that they must possess myste- rious powers." Rhine tightened his lab- oratory conditions in the 1930s. and much of the criticism withered-but so did his ESP stars. In the 1960s a psychic superstar came along in the person of Ted Scrios, a hard-drinking, onetime bellhop from Chicago. Serios' gift was definitely off- beat: he produced pictures inside a Po- laroid camera using nothing but his mind and a little hollow tube he called his "gismo." Reporters Charles Reyn- olds and David Eisendrath. who ob- served Series at work in Denver, had little trouble constructing a device that could be secreted inside a gismo to pro- duce all of Serios' effects. The instru- ment contained a minuscule lens at one end and a photographic transparency at the other. When the device was pointed at the camera lens and the shutter was clicked, an image was recorded on film. The Reynolds- Eisend ra th story was printed in Popular Photography and many of Serios' followers were shattered, Again the millennium was deferred. , pproved For Release 2000/08/07 : CIA-RDP96-00787ROO0700030001-3 TIME, MARCHA 71 IN EARLY ESP TEST (1940) TED SERIOS PROJECTING PICTURES BEHAVIOR goats? Will the goats faith; they must be - ever undermine convincingly dem- in the U.S., at the Univers i o1 ir i n ty g - 9 ve , , r "'R o T690pnog r vemeto e 0 s hfg" s " dVp " F" M '"O" " , e y n e a e C egat e I i C n ing y nega ive, it is rs unli ely that acad- Jda e, those Just a few years ago strations have not beenemies or foundations what smug made. would encourage Western rationalist Any close examiner of more chairs, or promote would have accred- psychic in- further psychic ited acupuncture? Yet vestigators and reportersinvestigations. the ethnocentric will find a new prejudice seemed to meaning for Koestler's In a way, it is rather disappear almost at roots of ' coinci- a pity that the a stroke when the Westerndence, A loose confederacysheep cannot get together world of parapsy- with the goats. learned of James Reston'schologists parodies At the very least, the appendix op- the notion of the sci- paranormal es- eration. The New York entific method. Harold tablishment has questioned Times columnist Puthoff, one of the dogma, submitted to acupuncturethe two S.R.I. investigatorsemphasized the ignorance after surgery of Uri Gel- and under- on a trip to China in ler, is singled out lined the arrogance 1971; thereafter, in The Secret Life of modern medicine of the unorthodox method Plants as a reputable and science. Indeed, was examined scientist who has modern doctors throughout the U.S. been experimenting withhave scarcely breached Today acupuncture the response the frontiers of is under intense study of one chicken egg to the mind. Science has at several med- the breaking of an- all too frequently ical centers. Although other. He isalso apromoterdestroyed the layman's some of the ben- of the bi- sense of wonder eficial effects of "paranormal"zarre and controversialby seeking materialistic medicine cult of Scientol- explanations for have been acknowledged ogy, which Ingo Swann, all phenomena. by Western another psychic scientists, they are As C.P. Snow says: "Scientists still at NAT IONA L re- TATTLER a loss to explain it. gard it as a major intellectual It was virtue to not long ago that most know what not to think about." Com- Americans attributed lains one S.R.I. spokesman: the "The so- p f ' f E i eats o s to ciely we live in doesn astern yog t give you per clever fakery. Yet the mission to have psychic new abilities. That Western experimentation is one reason that so much talent is sup- with biofeedback* has pressed." As Martin Gardner believes. shown skeptics that "Modem science should the indeed arouse mind can indeed control in all of us a humility before the im- what are normally invol- ensity of the unexplored and a toler- m untary bodily functions. ance for crazy hypotheses." The Menninger Founda- As for the parapsychologists who tion in Topeka, Kans make many of those hypotheses. they reports incontrovertible could learn the most valuable weapon proof that subjects in the arsenal of the trained truth seeker: doubt. by biofeedback can con- One hundred and fifty years a o Charles trol their blood circulation g Lamb observed that credulity was the ' and lower the temperature child s strength but the adult's weakness. of the parts of their That observation is bod- even more valid to- ies at will; migraine day, when shoddy or head- ignorant research aches can be literally is used to lend legitimacy to the most wished away. The ancient extravagant tenets of the psychic movement. yogic mythic skills sud- That is not to say that 4" parapsychol- denly seem within the grasp of everyone. ogy ought to be excluded from serious Is it not possible that scrutiny. Some first-rate minds have ro- been attracted to it: thoughts-like TV p Freud, Einstein, grams-can be transmit- Jung, Edison. The paranormal may ex- ted from one brain to ist, against logic, an- A. against reason, against other? And if enough present evidence and beyond the stan- energy can be generatedON OPERATING IN PHILIPPINESdard criteria ofempifical PSYCHIC SURGE proof. Perhaps by the brain, why should there are reasons why Sometimes painlessly, the roll of the dice always with flourish. it not influence the and turn of the cards roll of sometimes appear dice? Or make a plant tested by S.R.I., also to obey the bettor's respond? practices. William will. Perhaps the In an epoch when the Targ, a Putnam executive,laws of probability new physics recently con- are often suspended. posits black holes in tracted to publish AstronautPerhaps Geller and other the universe and Ed Mitch- magicians can particles that travel ell's forthcoming book,indeed force metal to faster than the speed Psychic Explo- bend merely be- of light, and has alreadyration, A Challenge cause they will it. confirmed the for Science. At the Perhaps photographs existence of such bizarresigning, Targ stated can be projected by things as neu- that "the real race the mind. Perhaps trinos that have no now between the Russiansplants think. mass or charge, an- and us is in timatter and quasars, the area of sciences Perhaps not. why should any like EsP." Mitch- phenomenon be assumed ell's Institute of NoeticThere is only one way impossible? Sciences helped to tell: by a What is wrong with Physicistto fund S.R.J.'s Gellerthorough examination Sir James research, which of the phenom- Jeans' attempt to give was conducted largely ena by those who do coherence to an by Puthoff and not express an a unruly cosmos: "The Russell Targ, who happenspriori belief. By those universe begins to to be Editor for whom proba- look more and more likeTarg's son. bility is not a mystique a great thought but a compre- than a great machine"? The questionable connectionshensible code. By those of who have noth- The psychic adherent's many psychic researchers,ing to lose but their reply is sim- in addition skepticism. Until ple: anything is possible.to the paucity ofobjectivelysuch examiners are allowed But simply say- verifiable re- to play the ing that it is so and sults in their work, psychic game, it is then supporting the has made it difficult unlikely that the contention with shoddy to raise funds for research;paranormal will escape or downright parapsychol- the ambiguous fraudulent evidence, ogists barely squeak utterance against it is not enough. Psy- by with money from in Leviticus.- "Do not chic phenomena cannot a few foundations and turn to mediums or wizards~ be accepted on gifts and encour- do not seek agement from occasionalthem out, to be defiled philanthro- by them..." And *A process by which pists like Stewart Mottthat most wondrous and one can learn to controland Manhattan mysterious of in- voluntary bodily functions (such as heartbeat) through the visual or Realtor John Tishman. entities, the human aural monitoring of There is only mind, will remain physi- ological data. one academic chair on an underdeveloped country. parapsychology 72Approved For Release 2000/08/07 : CIA-RDP96-00787ROO0700030001lisE, MARCH 4,1974