Flim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns, and Other Delusions - James Randi [145]
In another test, Suzie asked that two different subjects draw five cards each from the deck and compare their hands to see if they had "corresponding" cards—that is, to see if one had a card with the same number and color as the other (Jack of hearts/Jack of diamonds, two of clubs/two of spades, etc.). In this experiment, which she herself suggested, she scored zero.
She tried to predict which persons would select the highest cards in a simple dealing of the pack. She tried 80 times—again, her idea, not ours, but strictly controlled by us—she failed 80 times.
In another test, in 104 attempts to predict cards to be turned up she fell somewhat short of her estimated 92.3 percent success rate; she scored zero. A following set of 40 predictions failed 100 percent. In a series designed to test her ability to determine the suit of a card by psychic means—an ability she had claimed—her success rate was 22 percent, though 25 percent would be expected by chance. And so on and on.
In a press interview later, Suzie complained that I had been "setting up mental blocks." Actually, though I had offered to leave the room—and the building—if she wished, she had declined my offer. It was a poor excuse for her failure, but an expected one, brought out of the bottomless bag of excuses with which these folks trot about the country.
But there are two things I have not yet revealed. First, in the document that Suzie Cottrell signed before beginning the tests were a number of statements that she agreed to explicitly. She certified that she had not in the past used any form of trickery, that she would not on this occasion use any deception, and that she would not feel compelled by the pressure of the situation to resort to any such methods. Yet she performed, in magician's parlance, the top-peek, false three-way cuts, top-retaining shuffles, and the Schulein force, followed by multiple-choice forces! There's not a great deal left in the lexicon of the cardsharp!
Second, there came a pause in the middle of the testing procedure when Suzie asked for a break. I had been shuffling a deck for her to use, and I placed it on the table, within camera range of course, to await her return to the room. When she reentered she saw the videotape reels not moving and sat at the table while the hubbub went on around her. On the videotape we see her hands casually pick up the deck. She blatantly looks at the top card, then replaces the deck in position. Then in a loud voice she announces that she is ready. You bet she was, and until I reached forward at the last moment to cut the cards before she resumed the tests, she was anticipating imminent success.
Suzie Cottrell does tricks with cards. The methods are standard conjurer's methods and not in any way psychic miracles. Her intentions are appealing: She says she wants to develop her powers to help autistic children, wants no money, and has no interest in becoming a professional psychic. After the encounter in Buffalo she need not specify the last intention. It seems fairly obvious, on the basis of certain aspects of the examination, that her father is unaware of the trickery and believes Suzie has genuine powers.
As she left the session in tears, Suzie Cottrell turned to one of the psychologists who had controlled the tests. "I'm going to forget what you did to me today," she cried, "and if you ever have any autistic children I'll help them all I can, in spite of what you've done!" Martin and I turned away in dismay. Later, Irving Biederman, the psychologist, summed it up for the press this way: "On the basis of the tests, one cannot discriminate between Suzie Cottrell and a fraud." Amen.
The Cottrell case reminds me of the Olle Jonsson matter. His public knows him better as Olof (or Olaf) Jonsson. It was Jonsson