Flim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns, and Other Delusions - James Randi [149]
SMITH: Okay. The first thing that—actually I'm very quickly being taken over maps, and I'm tuning in very strongly to Mexico, United States—general area there. I'm seeing three very strong personalities, two females and a male, and I'll describe them all for you. First of all, the man I'm seeing is approximately five foot eight, five foot nine. To me, that's short for a male. Very deep brown hair, but receding at the temples. Glasses, quite thick. Obviously very bad eyes, because the focus I'm seeing is very, very strong. I'm seeing kind of a round-neck shirt. It's not the type you have on now. I guess it would be more along the line that he is wearing [she pointed at two of us]. Then I'm going to the two ladies. Oh, I didn't give you an age on the man. He would have to be forty-five to fifty. Something like that. The ladies I'm seeing—one would be... hmmm... five foot. Very short. Four-nine, five foot. The other lady is quite a bit taller. One is very, very, very heavyset, and shortish, curlyish hair, but fluffy. And the other one, the shorter one, is just—well, there's nothing really big about her. I'm seeing these three people very much in connection with this. Do you recognize them at all?
RANDI: Now you're asking me something. You're supposed to be telling me.
SMITH: I mean, do you recognize them?
RANDI: Do you now want the history of the object? Is the reading finished?
Some observations about the above are obvious. She took a guess at an Indian origin, but missed. It could have been North American Indian or Mexican to the uninitiated, but it was not. She threw in three people for a "try-on," and I'm still trying to fit in the two women, but can't. The man's eyesight is excellent; he does not wear glasses. As for height, she's great on that, and the fellow does wear turtleneck sweaters frequently. His hair is very definitely not receding; quite the contrary. The age she gave him was at least seventeen years off the mark.
You should know two other things about this test. First, I told Geraldine Smith very clearly that this was not to be considered a formal test. My reasons should be obvious: It was quite possible for her to have looked into my background and discovered my interest in Peruvian archaeology, and she could easily have visited a museum and prepared herself to come up with the origin of the object. Second, she agreed to consider a formal test administered by the CSICOP, to be conducted regardless of the outcome of this demonstration. We have not heard from her since.
The Fall 1978 issue of The Skeptical Inquirer contained an excellent analysis by Dr. Ronald Schwartz of some similar readings by "psychic" Peter Hurkos. This man has a reputation—of his own invention—for being a crime sleuth who is constantly "consulted by police" who need his assistance to find killers. Here is a typical performance:
HURKOS: I see an operation.
SUBJECT: (no response)
HURKOS: Long time ago.
SUBJECT: No. We have been very lucky.
Hurkos does not say that the subject had an operation. He says that he "sees" an operation.Thus any operation will fill the bill. Notice also how Hurkos "extends the domain" of his first guess with "Long time ago." If there had been a recent operation, he'd have refrained from this modification. As it is, he is pretty safe. He uses this ploy of "an operation" in almost every session. Most people have had or will have some kind of medical operation. Having failed to get a positive response, Hurkos now makes the subject look like an incompetent who cannot remember the incident:
HURKOS: (somewhat angrily) Think! When you