Mental Magic

[SteveGrenard]

Mental Magic - Telepathy and Clairvoyance by Trickery
By: Barry Robbins

Although Barry Robbins was never directly involved in psychical research, his article below on "mental magic" is of great importance as it demonstrates, in plain language, how trickery can be used to demonstrate apparently supernormal phenomena.

This article can be found here:

http://www.survivalafterdeath.org/articles/robbins/magic.htm

 

[Skeptical Greg]

Interesting..

I book-marked it to read thoroughly later..

Thanks for sharing...

 

[Loki]

At the bottom of the article Steve has linked to is a link to another book : "Telepathy: Genuine and Fraudulent (London, 1917) by W. W. Baggally". The author is described as :

W. W. Baggally: Experienced investigator of supernormal phenomena and amateur conjuror with much experience. Alan Gauld notes in The Founders of Psychical Research that Baggally 'had sat with every notable physical medium since Home and had found them all wanting'. For many years he had come to a negative conclusion as to the possibility of any genuine physical phenomena - until his co-investigation of Eusapia Palladino in 1909, with Everard Feilding and Hereward Carrington.

This to me is a perfect example of the dangers of believing that *you* can't be fooled. This book is largely about the Zancigs, a Danish couple specialising in "Telepathy". Baggally, in the book, details why he is convinced they are genuine. They weren't!

For Clancie, Neofight, Showme2 - a few details ...

Baggally explains why he finds them convincing (from here)

The following and last experiment that I tried on this occasion was the most crucial. I requested Mr Zancig to go out with me on to the landing outside the door of the flat. I did not previously inform Madame Zancig nor Mr Zancig of the nature of the test that I was about to put. Madame Zancig remained in the room with my wife. The door was closed, but not completely. When we were on the landing I suddenly drew my cheque-book out of my pocket, tore out a cheque, and handed it to Mr Zancig, requesting him to transmit the number. ... He then remained silent while he looked at the cheque. My wife then came out on to the landing, and handed me a slate upon which Madame Zancig had during the experiment written the words, "In the year 1875." Mr Zancig then said aloud, "This is not what we want; it is the number." My wife returned into the room with the slate, and the door was closed, but not completely. It was impossible, however, for Madame Zancig to see her husband. The suspicion arose in my mind that the number on the cheque might have been communicated to Madame Zancig by the words that Mr Zancig had spoken aloud. I therefore took the cheque that he had in his hand and substituted another one with a different number that I tore from the bottom of my cheque-book. Mr Zancig remained absolutely silent during the whole time that this second experiment lasted. My wife again came out of the room with the slate, upon which Madame Zancig had written quite correctly, in their proper order, four of the five numbers of the second cheque, with the exception of the last figure, which was wanting, but just as we were returning to the room Madame Zancig said, "There was another figure; it was four" - which was correct.

This impressed me as a good test, with regard to the three last numbers of this cheque, which were different from the corresponding ones of the first cheque. Madame Zancig could not see her husband, and he remained absolutely silent while the experiment was being carried out.

And from here

Mr and Mrs Zancig were divided by a large screen. They could not see each other. A recording trumpet was placed near each, into which they spoke. A table was placed by the side of Mr Zancig on which a great number of articles had been placed by the members of the Committee. Madame Zancig with great rapidity named the articles as Mr Zancig took them up in answer to his "What is this? and this?" etc. An incident which struck me as remarkable was the following. Mr Zancig raised a pencil, saying, "What is this?" and after Madame Zancig had correctly stated what it was, he took up immediately (not in the vicinity of the pencil, but some distance from it) a case, and said, "And this?" Instead of naming the article Madame Zancig proceeded to enumerate in their proper order the articles that lay between the two articles which Mr Zancig had taken up. Thus, a pencil, a seal, a penknife, a case. It appeared as if Madame Zancig had actually seen the articles over which her husband had passed his hand.

In the book, Baggallay takes pleasure in detailing how he has debunked fakes, and describes how it is he has come to realise that the Zancigs cannot be faking.

But, from here

In April, Doyle returned to the States to continue his lecture tour and, in Denver, he met Houdini. They had long discussions about Spiritualism and some recent psychic investigations. Doyle had witnessed a demonstration by the Zancig, a couple of vaudeville mind-readers, and was convinced they were real telepaths. Houdini, however, knew them personally, they were acknowledged magicians and members of the Society of American Magicians, but nothing of this moved Doyle. «Sir Arthur said that he was capable of detecting trickery», wrote Houdini in his notes, «and we had a discussion in which I said that I did not think he could. He looked amazed at me, and I said, "Why, every once in a while I see something I cannot account for"».

And here

In 1922, Doyle tested a husband and wife team, the Zancigs, who demonstrated telepathic transfer of thoughts between them. Houdini recognized that they were using a clever, silent signaling system, a good trick but a trick nonetheless. He even interviewed Professor Zancig who gave his personal word that it was stage magic, not telepathy, at work, ...

And here

Daisy declined. She wanted to know if he employed "supernatural power" to accomplish his inexplicable feats. "Now, friends," he replied, addressing the wife and husband, "first of all I want to make myself clear and understood. I teach nothing supernatural. My work is my own and an original idea on how too transfer thoughts from one to an other. There is nothing supernatural connected with it. I don't want you too think I have any power of any sort. When I perform it is all a very clever system."

The point of this? Simply that Baggally (a) was a serious investigator of the paranormal; (b) had debunked numerous frauds; (c) was convinced that the Zancigs were genuine because he could not figure out any way it could be faked; (d) was wrong.

It *could* be faked. It *was* faked. Personal belief fails again...