Flim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns, and Other Delusions - James Randi [169]
Q: Was her husband's name George?
A: No.
Q: Was it Nicolai?
A: No.
Q: Was it Walter?
A: Yes.
I gave no feedback during this exchange, refusing to indicate whether the answers were right or wrong until the test was over. In fact, the answers were 100 percent wrong. You see, my grandfather's name was George Nicolai Zwinger; the table had answered all three questions incorrectly. I asked the names of my grandmother's daughters, with the same results. It was then suggested that they could tell me something for which we could have immediate verification. Perhaps something in my passport? Well, we were staying at the same hotel where this seance had been arranged, and much of my passport information was recorded there. But one thing in my passport I knew had not been recorded, and that was a name written in the back. On the chance that my passport had been filched from my room for examination, I sent my colleague Rodriguez for it, and when he arrived with it safely in hand, I asked the others to give me the name, which, I told them, had six letters.
The table began thumping mightily, once for each letter of the alphabet, but since the Italian alphabet is lacking some letters of the English alphabet, we had to count thumps and translate it two different ways. Neither way made any sense. One gave us Itpbmt, the other Ivrbov. Neither even approaches Marvin, the name in the passport. Nor do I think I will ever meet Mr. Itpbmt....
William Rodriguez, who had previously been excluded from the seances for having a "frivolous" attitude (who could blame him, seeing grown people pushing a table around?), observed something that was beyond my line of sight. It happened while the table-thumping was being accomplished by little Mrs. Zarica, who was pressing the tabletop at the appropriate spot and drawing horizontally at the same time. Properly done, this combination of maneuvers produces a very satisfactory lift of the opposite side of the table. But with all those hands atop the table, and the great effort required, Rodriquez noted that every time the table tilted, her feet came off the floor! It was the unavoidable consequence of having to push like crazy to make the tilt, and Newton's Third Law was demonstrated. If the table had been tilted that way by any other means, her feet would have tended to push down, never up.
Mysteries remain, however. What part did the Del Res play in the drama? It was clear that Mr. Del Re assisted the table as it scooted around the floor, but he remained passive, as did the others, when the table thumped out its errors. Were the others in on the imposture? Undoubtedly they were familiar with these methods, so one can assume they were well aware of what was going on. But there is another distinct possibility. In such a group, each individual knows that he fakes the thing when he is the operator. Might he not suspect that when he is not pushing the table about or tilting it up, it is happening by genuine psychic means? How many husbands have convinced their wives that the wives have psychic powers just by performing the physical work themselves? One wonders. Certainly, the Zaricas had their act together. One took over from the other on a signal, and neither doubted the reason for the perambulations. But as for the others—I just don't know who knows what. I tend to think they are all mountebanks.
The Del Res took their defeat gracefully, though not without considerable alibi-ing as they packed up to leave. The Zaricas, due to