Wolf Messing, please help

[evilvlad]

I have searched the forums, as well as the internet, and found virtually nothing on this man.

Wolf Messing was one of the most profound "psychics" in history, with serious influence and power during the Second World War. He was very close to Stalin, and was, despite being Jewish, highly sought after by Hitler (or so the legend says). There are countless stories of his psychic abilities, and predictions of the future (with "documented" evidence).

I'm looking for any and all information on this character, particularly on the skeptical side. Thanks for all the help.

 

[Mojo]

Oh, sorry: thought you wanted advice about how to housetrain a wolf.

 

[Luke T.]

Wolf Messing was a mystic who lived far away (Russia) and is no longer among the living. Which makes it easy to make all kinds of claims about him which are impossible to verify.

However, this skeptical article written by a Randi-esque character who claims to have first hand experience with Messing does a pretty good job of showing how a charlatan's "magical" abilities can be reproduced by a skilled entertainer, which goes a long way toward casting doubt that anything paranormal is taking place on the part of the mystic.

The fact that some web sites compare Wolf Messing to Uri Geller is alone enough to cast dispersions on his abilities.

 

[Luke T.]

evilvlad, if you have any predictions for the future which were made by Messing, I'd appreciate a link or posting of them.

Predictions which were purportedly made and came to fruition are virtually worthless.

For instance:

According to SB, "He proclaimed that Stalin's state would collapse and just as he prophesied, Khruschev transformed it soon after."

Found here.

Pretty lame.

I'm guessing "SB" is Sathya Sai Baba, who is a big promoter of Messing as a mystic.

The quoted prediction is a third hand account which probably originated from the mouth of Messing himself.

So any predictions for the period after 2005 would be appreciated.

 

[Aoidoi]

Wolf Messing (1899-1974) was a Polish Jew and in particular circles a quite well known ‘psychic stage performer’, to whose name nowadays are attached a number of persistent stories. The weaving together of a handful of anecdotes and some hard facts has made Messing into a legendary figure. One aspect of the current ‘Messing myth’ has been created by the Indian guru Sri Sathya Sai Baba and his followers. It is dealt with by former Sai Baba-devotee Brian Steel within the context of de-mystifying stories intimately connected to this guru.[1] The purpose of this essay is to concentrate on Messing himself.

http://home.hetnet.nl/~ex_baba/engels/articles/Paper_WM_2.htm

Seems somebody wrote a paper on the man.

 

[evilvlad]

So any predictions for the period after 2005 would be appreciated.

Nope, nothing.

The reason I even brought him up, is that my father and I had a VERY long debate (actually, it's been going for weeks now) about the legitimacy of paranormal occurances. I managed to shoot down his belief in Geller, and a number of other "psychics", but he still firmly believes in the abilities of Messing. Thought I'd run it by you guys for any more info.

Beyond the fall of Stalin's regime, he also supposably predicted the fall of Hitler. Another legend about him is that he managed to directly walk into Stalin's heavily guarded quarters (perhaps one of THE most Heavily guarded men ever) without a single guard or watchman seeing him. That's about all I can remember for now. Thanks for all the help though.

 

[Dr Adequate]

OK.

Wolf Messing on the SkepticWiki.

The basic problem with the stories about him is that he himself is the one and only source for them. So, did he really have magical powers ... or did he tell tall stories?

Hmm, where's that razor?

 

[Euromutt]

Oh, sorry: thought you wanted advice about how to housetrain a wolf.

Snort!
Actually, I can give you some advice on house-training wolves: you can't. It's one of the reasons wolves make bad house pets.

 

[Azrael 5]

Hitler was a well known believer in psychics etc. indeed he had his own personal medium in Hanussen,until he discovered Hanussen was Jewish and had him executed.Funny, Hanussen didnt see that coming.

 

[Luke T.]

Another legend about him is that he managed to directly walk into Stalin's heavily guarded quarters (perhaps one of THE most Heavily guarded men ever) without a single guard or watchman seeing him. That's about all I can remember for now. Thanks for all the help though.

Yes. He claimed he mentally affected the guards' minds to make them think he was Beria.

So he either made the story up, or the event actuallly happened, in which case he disguised himself to look like Beria.

Here's Messing.

Here's Beria.

Here's Stalin with Beria.

 

[evilvlad]

Well, I was scavanging through my fathers library, and found Messing's memoirs in Russian. I'll try reading those over just to see what they really are. I'll try to keep this thread updated with what I see, if anyone cares. Also, I'll post information pertaining to messing, that you guys can help me shoot down. For all you keeping up with this thread, thanks for your help.