Psychic abilities
Extraordinarily
gifted
Ordinary humans can
have super-powers too...
C
hris Barbour’s ability to draw the dead is
certainly an unusual psychic gift – but
other people in history have had weird
powers, too. Let’s take a look.Telekinesis
I
n Stephen King’s horror novel Carrie, the
lead character is famously able to move
objects with her mind. In the 1970s and 80s,
the illusionist Uri Geller captured the public’s
imagination with his ability to bend spoons –
using the power of his mind. However, many
people believe this to be a hoax – although
Geller himself has never admitted that.
Russian psychic Nina Kulagina
also displayed telekinetic
powers and rose to fame in the
1960s to her death in 1990. The
story goes that she was also
tested by Russian scientists for
psychokinesis and the results
were apparently so
remarkable that, in order to
keep her real identity secret,
she was obliged for many
years to use the
pseudonym of Nelya
Mikhailova. But,
nobody knows what
these ‘remarkable
results’ actually were!Words: Amanda Vlietstra Photos: Alamy
Psychic surgery
T
he 16th century Spanish
explorer Alvar Nunez
Cabeza de Vaca wrote about a
psychic surgeon called Mala
Cosa or ‘Evil Thing’, a Native
American witch doctor who
would cut into a person’s
abdomen with a fl int knife,
remove part of their entrails and
burn them – and the wound
would spontaneously close.
However, psychic surgery really
came into its own in the 20th
century, particularly in Brazil and
the Philippines. Most ‘surgeons’
cut into their patients using their
bare hands, remove the offending
tumour or lesion, and mend the
wound using just the power of
their mind or by channellingspirit. There
have even
been psychic
dentists, who
give patients
fi llings in much the
same way! However, in 1975, the
American Federal Trade
Commission declared that
‘psychic surgery’ is ‘nothing but a
total hoax.’ It seems likely that
most practitioners are frauds,
using sleight-of-hand trickery (for
example, carrying bags of animal
blood up their sleeves) to fool
people into thinking that surgery
has taken place.Prophecy
A
prophecy is a
message from
the divine, and
people who
channel those
messages are
known as
prophets. There
are prophets in
every faith, from
John the Baptist,
who predicted the
rise of Jesus
Christ as the
Messiah, to Ichadon, who said that his death
would cement Buddhism as the state religion in
the ancient kingdom of Silla (Korea). When he
was executed, milk sprayed from his corpse
instead of blood, and Buddhism was indeed duly
adopted as the state religion! The most famous
secular prophet is Nostradamus, the 16th century
French seer who’s said to have predicted the
Great Fire of London and the Second World War.Pyrokinesis
T
he ability to create and control fi re with the mind,
pyrokinesis is an ability that’s often found in
superheroes from Marvel’s Ghost Rider and
Jubilee to Liz in the Hellboy movies. But does it
exist in real life? In March 2011, a three-year-old
girl called Emma Tablate made the news in the
Philippines for her ability to start fi res by just saying the
word ‘fi re.’ Her mother Karen Tablate confi rmed that she
couldn’t believe what was happening until she saw it with
her own eyes. Local police cordoned off the girl’s
residence for safety reasons. Neighbour Nelfa
Escanillas told reporters: ‘When she was speaking
“fi re” to the radio, pillow, blanket and mat, that is
exactly what happened. Even our dress in the
wardrobe was not safe.’Did you know?
I
f you’re worried
about the future of
the planet, then
perhaps you can
take some comfort
from the prophecy of
St Hildegard, a 12th
century nun. She
predicted that peace
would return to
Earth when the French throne is
restored. So all we have to do is to persuade
the French to resurrect their monarchy!Nostradamus:
ExtraordinaryMind tricks:
Real or fake?Spontaneous:
Wound closureFire starter:
Stuff of myths