Flim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns, and Other Delusions - James Randi [153]
On September 19, 1978, I visited Washington, D C., and arranged to meet with Ms. DeWitt in the company of Philip Klass and Robert Sheaffer, both members of the CSICOP. We were equipped with tape recorder and camera, and I had prepared a new map, "map B," for this next test. For the first time I saw the device Ms. DeWitt used in her determinations. It was a simple brass tube about six inches long, with a piece of coat-hanger wire bent to form nearly a right angle and inserted into the tube.
When Ms. DeWitt brought the device near a "hot" portion of the map it would begin to swing. It also answered queries with a spin one way for "yes" and the opposite way for "no." Klass took some time exposures of the device in operation, and these clearly revealed her method. Ms. DeWitt was simply—and perhaps unconsciously—giving the thing a bit of a swing, which caused a rapid spin with very little energy input due to the balanced nature of the device. Any inclination from the vertical caused a movement.
But the method of getting a spin going was not the most important aspect of the phenomenon. The crucial question was, Did it work? First, she chose to make another attempt with "map A." She spun her rod mightily, creating quite a breeze, while we watched. I stood looking over her shoulder, but unknown to her I was not watching the map but staring at the rod instead. This was to prevent any unconscious cueing on my part, since I was the only one there who knew the nature of the map.
Ms. DeWitt determined seven more possible sites on "map A"; there were now nine places marked on this map. I made no comment at all, accepting what she marked and having it signed and dated by the witnesses. I then gave her the new map, "map B." She worked on that one, expressing a great deal of uncertainty about all the decisions she made. There was "perhaps" a spot here, but maybe not. This or that area looked "promising" but not positive. "How about this?" was frequently asked of the dowsing rod, and tentative marks were made on the map. Four spots were determined this time, and Ms. DeWitt rested.
We learned a bit about her background. She told us that she worked at three different colleges in the Washington area, teaching a "smorgasbord" of noncredit courses dealing with paranormal subjects. It sounded very much like the kind of adult education classes that today are being taken seriously all over the United States—the astrology, psychokinesis, healing, etc., classes that otherwise sober administrators allow to be taught by self-proclaimed experts with no real credentials. Ms. DeWitt's claim to be a scientist was based on a master's degree she had earned in library science, and "Research Associates"—which I was unable to find in any listings—she described as a private group she formed to provide to employers people she had trained as "psychics." It was all rather nebulous. And, reported Ms. DeWitt, she had lost her job with a library in Charles County, Maryland, "because [I] am a psychic."
In her courses, she said, she tried to teach "biofeedback alpha-level retraining of the self-image" to her students, and she had been trying to get this accepted as part of the federal Law Enforcement Assistance Administration procedure, without success. She designed the system, she said, by "psychic guidance."
One of the maps on which dowser Rosemary DeWitt attempted to mark the locations of artifacts, sight unseen. The circled areas are DeWitt's guesses; the dots designate the actual sites.
The dowsing device used by Rosemary DeWitt. It is held upright as shown, and the rod spins around as a result of a slight, circular motion of the hand.
Rosemary DeWitt marks "map B" while the dowsing device whirls away in her left hand. The action of the rotor was "stopped" in this photograph by the short exposure. Philip Klass
Shortly after the September meeting