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The author's hands apparently enter the body of the subject. The fingers of the right hand are merely folded under to create the illusion that the body is being penetrated. This time, the copious flow of blood was obtained from a piece of balloon (seen on the left), which was extracted from the liquid as if it were a tumor. GONG, Hamburg

Tom Williams, who leads the afflicted into the hands of the so-called Filipino healers "on behalf of the Christian Travel Centre" in Manila. The organization is not affiliated with any Christian church. Granada Television

Said one "cured" patient when interviewed, "I think it's fantastic... marvelous... Oh, I'm very confident because I myself have had some—well several growths taken out... I just think they couldn't possibly have been there... they were quite large growths." Yes, they were large, and they were pieces of chicken, lady; they were not part of your body. Your doctor told you, when you returned to England, that your tumors were still there.

Ironically, the Christian Travel Centre insists in its brochure that "participants must have an International certificate of vaccination against smallpox... inoculation against cholera and a course of anti-malaria tablets are strongly recommended." Sure. So you can have a grubby faker rub chicken guts and cow blood on your tummy and take your money while singing hymns. Sounds logical.

One incident sums up the deceit involved in this cruel business. After Mike Scott grabbed the fake tumor, the camera crew was excluded from the operating room at the hotel, and when the camera was later allowed to "peek," the patients had been positioned in such a way that nothing could be seen. Granada had their number, and they knew it.

When I visited England in 1978 to expose the fakery of David and Helen Elizalde, two "healers" who were working through the Spiritualists' National Union, it was a simple matter to show, in one film shot, that the performers' fingers were not inside the patient's body but merely curled up. But the funniest part came at the close of the film—a segment not used on TV—when the two were shown in their kitchen after a long day of healing and sleight of hand: David was cutting up a chicken for supper.

In the spiritualist press it was claimed that the Elizaldes made not a penny from their labors. But it was admitted that there was a £10 registration fee for each patient, and some ninety patients were seen each day. Also, a donation could be left if the patient wished. Most wished. Now, $1,640 a day is pretty fair money. The Elizaldes stayed ten days. Not bad, for a racket that requires little more than a couple of chickens, a plastic thumb, and a dozen balloons. Perhaps these items are even deducted in computing their income tax—oops, I almost forgot! These are religious folks, remember? They are free of such encumbrances, of course!

In 1979 I again went to England, and the Elizaldes were further exposed on a BBC program. The BBC host branded them as "fakes, hoaxers, and frauds." Forensic tests of their "tumors" and blood proved them to have come from a pig. The Elizaldes looked a tad disturbed by the exposure, but Mr. Gordon Higginson, the sponsor of the tour they had undertaken in England, simply refused to believe the evidence. Standard procedure.

I repeat my offer, tailored this time to the "psychic healers." If they can show me a case in which a doctor has diagnosed a disease that is not self-terminating or subject to periodic remission, and then prove that the patient underwent psychic healing and without medication was healed as a result of that ministration, I will pay them my $10,000.

After Mike Scott's television crew became suspicious, the patient was put in this position to block camera angles. Note the opened bible to aid concealment. Granada Television

Surely that is an offer worth accepting. Or maybe they would like to extract a tumor while I watch. I think not....

When all else fails to convince the skeptic, promoters of the paranormal fall back on