Flim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns, and Other Delusions - James Randi [154]
The rotor has begun to spin rapidly, and obvious movement of the hand and tube is seen in this two-second exposure. Philip Klass
The dowsing device is stationary in this two-second exposure. There is no motion of the tube. Philip Klass
I had no answer from her for almost three months. Finally, during a meeting in Washington early in December, I contacted Ms. DeWitt and she agreed to visit me and some other CSICOP members to tell us her findings concerning the third map. Dr. Ray Hyman was present, along with Robert Sheaffer and Michael Hutchinson. The latter had recently done a definitive test of a Japanese "psychic photographer" in England and wanted to see what miracle-workers we could come up with.
In less than fifteen minutes we discovered the truth. Rosemary began by telling me that she "felt" we were in Peru, in the area of Machu Picchu, site of the ancient Inca city. She said she also felt that all three maps were similar! She scolded me for having denied in the previous meeting that the mapped area was Machu Picchu and claimed that, since I had misled her, she had been correct in getting an impression of a "P" and in assuming that this meant Panama rather than Peru. This was a total fabrication. Every word said during the previous meeting had been recorded, and neither Peru nor Machu Picchu had been mentioned. Nor was a "P" brought up. In fact, never had there been any attempt, in our meetings or in written accounts, to even vaguely identify any location.
Ms. DeWitt set about her rod-spinning and immediately went to the right area of the map. But then she faltered, vacillating between two adjacent rivers and finally settling upon the wrong one. The proof was now in, and the verdict obvious. Rosemary DeWitt had failed the tests.
In summary, DeWitt identified fifteen different spots on three different versions of the same map, for in each case she had been looking at the same archaeologically rich area of Peru, an area with which I am very familiar. She not only failed to identify any spot twice in three different attempts but also missed the most significant sites of all—Cuzco, Machu Picchu, Pisac, Urubamba, and many others in that area. She instead came up with locations in deep jungle and other uninhabitable spots with no ruins or artifacts whatsoever. Yet she had told us that she did best with exposed, above ground ruins—a strong feature of the Cuzco and Machu Picchu ruins. Only when she was supplied with the coordinates could she even guess that the mapped area was in South America, and her claim that she didn't have a globe of the world (and thus could not have determined the location) is a weak excuse indeed. In short, when she was correct at all it was only when she was told what area of the world the map represented.
Surely the case is proved. Perhaps Rosemary DeWitt really believes she has psychic powers. Certainly she was not able to prove it. And if her other claimed successes are based upon evidence as flimsy as that presented to us, we may dismiss her pretensions altogether.
My two-year stint on all-night radio at station WOR in New York brought me in contact with many interesting people. As our tired but happy group broke up early one Saturday morning, a panel guest took me aside and told me of a matter in which I might be of use. The man, a psychiatrist, informed me of a series of experiments being performed quietly at a laboratory of the New York State Department of Mental Hygiene. A young girl from a small town in Massachusetts who seemed to be able to see while blindfolded was being tested