Flim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns, and Other Delusions - James Randi [167]
The Salvatori case is a good example of a performer not knowing what a double-blind controlled test is, and of his trying to fit facts to a theory. It's an old and tired story. Salvatori had told us, in the questionnaire, that he was satisfied with the target selection and the subjects, that he usually selected his own targets "any way," that he had never tried a controlled test like this before, and that his power worked over any distance. He also claimed that "a psychologist" had tested him and validated his ability, but when we pressed him for the name of the man, Salvatori told us that the investigator would not want to get involved. Mr. Salvatori retired from competition, and the next contender stepped forward.
Catarina Zarica, a rather spare and mysterious lady, told us that the spirits would manifest themselves when she and her husband placed their hands on a table. But, she said, she required a three-legged table. We scouted Rome for such an item, and shopkeepers thought us a bit strange when we turned down perfectly good tables because they had four legs. Finally, we had to order a special table made to Zarica's specifications. Meanwhile, we went ahead with Mrs. Clara Del Re and her fellow table-thumpers.
We had been assured in advance that Mrs. Del Re was "very religious." If so, I would like to know how her religious philosophy accommodates such shenanigans. Her husband, who spoke good English (my Italian is confined to E pericoloso sporgersi), had a long conversation with me in which he promised that a table would "walk over to you" during the séance. We shook hands on that, and I agreed that I would be appropriately impressed—$10,000 worth—with such an occurrence.
The Del Re family bombed out. They sat around the table (mom, dad, and daughter) seemingly forever, and it would not move. We lowered the lights. Still no action. The crucifix and rosary were moved about the table, and family members changed positions. Nothing. They admitted defeat but promised that later that night, during an informal demonstration, wonders would blossom. I could hardly wait, especially since it was quite obvious to me why no miracles had been seen. A discussion of a few fundamentals of physics is required to explain my precautions.
Mrs. Clara Del Re, table-tipper. Under conditions that precluded cheating, she and her family failed to move the table.
There are two basic methods of table-tipping. If a portion of the table that is outside the possible fulcrum position is pressed down, the opposite side will rise. In Diagram 1, applying pressure in direction D with the hands at the position marked by the stars will cause the table to tilt upward in direction R, the legs at F acting as a fulcrum. Thus the sitter at point SI is the instigator, while S2, S3, and S4 can be quite innocent, though S3 has to cooperate by applying very little pressure on that side. The second contributor to table motion is a move that consists of placing the hands down firmly at the position of the two arrows and drawing the table in direction H, horizontally. The result is the same, F acting as the fulcrum and the table tilting upward in direction R. Pressing down within the area delineated by the broken lines, however, will not produce any table motion; only horizontal pulling will do this when the hands are in this area. To eliminate any movement of the table by either of these means, first insist that the hands be kept within the area bordered by the four broken lines, with no part of the palm or any finger allowed to contact the table outside that area, and with all arms held off the table. Then place two sheets of waxed paper, one atop the other, beneath the hands of the "psychic" performer. You will have the results that we observed with the Del Res and with the Zaricas. The table cannot move in any way. Horizontal pulling only makes the hands slip on the paper, and pressing down is