Post by Mr. Jon Donnis on Nov 24, 2010 15:35:48 GMT
Secrets of a Russian psychic - truth behind her psychokinetic ability
Is there a rational explanation for Alla Vinogradova's extraordinary ability to move objects without touching them? A research study was conducted and an interesting and counterintuitive explanation found. However, in the process it was also found that closer cooperation with serious parapsychology is needed.
For years, psychic research in the USSR, owing to the aura of secrecy that surrounded it, has been regarded as some kind of myth. It was being said, for example, that the Russians were far ahead in parapsychological discoveries and that the West had better invest lots of money in the field to avoid a "psi-gap." The sparse information that reached the West hinted to extraordinary faculties being scientific. ally demonstrated by amazing psychics. During the early 1960s, interest in Soviet paranormal claims was first aroused by newspaper articles describing the astonishing abilities of Rosa Kuleshova, a twenty-two-year-old Russian girl who apparently could read print while blindfolded (Time, January 25, 1963; Life, June 12, 1964). However, the loose conditions in which Rosa operated allowed for very easy methods of deception to be used (Gardner 1981).
In 1968, films showing Nina Kulagina apparently moving objects with her mind (psychokinesis, or PK) were viewed at the First Moscow International Conference on Parapsychology and were also observed by some Western scientists. Finally, the general public became aware of the varied work in parapsychology carried out in the USSR with the publication of Sheila Ostrander and Lynn Schroeder's Psychic Discoveries Behind the Iron Curtain (1970), followed by various other similar publications on the subject.
Many films of Russian psychics at work have now been seen on Western TV shows and documentaries. The most popular are those that show apparent PK in action. We have seen, then, Nina Kulagina apparently moving compass needles and light objects, Boris Ermolaev "levitating" small objects, and Alia Vinogradova willing round objects to roll on flat surfaces.
RUSSIAN PK STARS
As for Nina Kulagina, the conditions under which she operated were far from acceptable by basic scientific standards. Tests were frequently carried out at her own home or in hotel rooms; no tight controls were ever applied, owing in part to the fact that a demonstration might take several hours of preparation (i.e., concentration by Nina), which, of course, was no guarantee of success. Also, when watching these films, anybody who has a background in magic cannot avoid the feeling that she is using standard conjuring techniques: magnets hidden on her body to move the compass needle; threads or thin hair to move objects across the table; small mirrors concealed in her hand to read signs with numbers and letters being held behind her. Unfortunately, no expert in conjuring techniques was ever present at Kulagina's demonstrations.
Boris Ermolaev, a Russian film director, became relatively famous during the 1970s for his apparent ability to suspend objects in midair by concentrating on them. Ermolaev didn't perform on stage but showed his demonstrations "only to serious scientists of his own choosing or to close friends" (italics mine, Gris and Dick 1986). He and others were tested by Professor Venyamin Pushkin, who stated: "The experiments were conducted under the strictest controls, and no devices of any kind were used" (ibid.). However, in a 1992 World of Discovery documentary called "Secrets of the Russian Psychics," Ermolaev's method was finally revealed. He used to sit on a chair and then place the objects to be suspended between his knees; unfortunately for him, the light conditions when the documentary crew was filming were probably not what he was accustomed to. That's how the TV crew was able to capture a fine thread fixed at both his knees to which he attached the objects; the whole unmasking procedure was filmed and shown during the documentary.
Alla Vinogradova is another story.
VINOGRADOVA'S MOVING OBJECTS
A child psychologist and teacher, wife of Russian psi-researcher Victor Adamenko, Alia Vinogradova saw in 1969 a film of Kulagina in action and suspected that she too could move objects without touching them. In fact, trained by Adamenko, she discovered she could really move objects placed on transparent surfaces. Films of her demonstrations were shot in the early 1970s, and recently the previously mentioned World of Discovery documentary on Russian psychics had an interesting section devoted to her. Here she was presented as she is today, still demonstrating the same abilities for the camera. She took such objects as cigarettes, aluminum cigar tubes, and pens and put them on a Plexiglass plate suspended between two chairs; in such conditions she was able to make them rotate, roll, and move just by having her hand approach, but never touch, them. The demonstration was quite puzzling. It did appear very natural and repeatable and it seemed that the usual tricks (like secretly blowing on the surface to have the object move thanks to the air current thus created) were unlikely.
Some time ago, I visited James Randi in Florida; he had recently returned from Russia, where he had gone for some filming to be included in Nova's 1993 documentary about his work: "Secrets of the Psychics." Randi told me that, while he was there, the TV production staff approached Vinogradova and asked if she would agree to demonstrate her abilities on camera. She agreed; however, she put forth the condition that Randi had to be kept away from the room where filming was to take place. This was quite an inappropriate request, considering that the documentary was dedicated to Randi's investigations. Nonetheless, Randi accepted her veto: this way, she would present her demonstration as she always did, that is, not under controlled conditions. It was, in any event, an occasion to film her from different angles and to have better video material for study.
The segments filmed with Vinogradova were not included in the final documentary; however, Randi had copies of the original unedited footage that he was going to show me. Vinogradova was seen speaking, in Russian, with the operators, then walking back and forth on the thick carpet, combing her hair, and rubbing with a towel the surface of a Plexiglass plate placed on top of four glasses turned upside down on a table. Originally, she started to demonstrate her abilities with various objects: cigarettes, pens, plastic rings, a small wooden doll from a set of nesting dolls, a small hairspray bottle, and a glass. All objects moved quite freely, as seen in the other films; only the spray bottle and the glass, being the heaviest objects, moved little or only wobbled back and forth as she passed her hand over them. Suddenly, while moving the nesting doll, a white thread that was on the table, under the Plexiglass, was seen to be moving too, following the doll. I pointed this out to Randi and he told me that the cameraman, after shooting the film, told him that he had seen the moving thread but didn't realize that he had actually zoomed in on it and caught it on film. Randi himself hadn't yet had a chance to examine the film so he was quite interested too. "That thread," he told me, "was from the torn end of a cloth-based duct tape used to hold tiny microphones to the edge of the Plexiglass. The microphones were there to detect if she was doing any blowing to move the objects. The thread was not placed there purposely. It was just a loose thread. But, of course, it proved to be the indicator needed."
A NEGLECTED EXPLANATION?
Randi and I discussed the possibility of static electricity being solely responsible for the phenomena. In the World of Discovery documentary, this possibility was mentioned as an explanation proposed by skeptics, but it was immediately discarded since Vinogradova said she could move objects weighing up to two hundred grams. She claimed that it was impossible to do this using only static electricity. We thought we should try to repeat her performance with a Plexiglass plate, but, owing to other things we were involved with at the time, we didn't have a chance to get around to it before my departure.
Once back in Italy, I discussed the subject with my colleagues Luigi Garlaschelli and Franco Ramaccini of CICAP (the Italian Committee for the Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal) and soon we tested the theory of static electricity. Ramaccini found a Plexiglass plate and showed us how easy it was to move any kind of round object on top of it, only by making use of the repelling forces caused by static electricity. Of course, the effect was quite better if the surface was electrically charged, by rubbing a towel on it. Heavier objects, like glasses and spray bottles, could be as easily moved. Everything shown on Alla Vinogradova's films, then, now seemed to have a very simple and rational explanation.
We then wondered whether others had already discovered this very interesting and counterintuitive phenomenon. No trace or mention of Vinogradova's abilities appeared in the skeptical literature on the paranormal or in popular science "magic" books, and some of the best-known skeptics didn't know much about her.
&nsp;
I then got in touch with today's leading parapsychologists and was more than pleased to discover that they had a lot of information on Vinogradova and, above all, had solved the mystery years ago.
THE HELP OF PARAPSYCHOLOGISTS
Stanley Krippner, psychologist at Saybrook Institute in San Francisco and past president of the Parapsychological Association, told me that he had dealt with Vinogradova in his book Human Possibilities (1980). In it he writes that, when he was in Russia, he observed Vinogradova in action with an aluminum tube: "She picked it up and rubbed it for a few seconds - suggesting to me that she was simply producing an electrostatic charge that would cause her hand to repel the tube. As expected, the object moved across the table" (Krippner 1980, 20). He was able to reproduce the effect once back in the United States. In his book, Krippner quotes a Canadian parapsychologist, A. R. G. Owen, who back in 1975 wrote, "Anyone can produce this effect. . . . It is entirely due to static electricity" (ibid., 46).
Richard Broughton, director of the Rhine Research Center in Durham, North Carolina, explained to me that: "Adamenko had a notion that he could 'train' people to produce Kulagina-like effects by starting them out moving objects by static electricity, and then gradually moving them to objects that would not be susceptible to static electricity effects" (Broughton 1996).
A LESSON TO BE LEARNED
Although the more impressive feat of moving objects not susceptible to static electricity hasn't so far been publicly demonstrated by Vinogradova or others, I think there's a lesson to be learned. Serious skeptics and serious parapsychologists should establish more occasions for mutual cooperation. Parapsychologists shouldn't be generally thought of by skeptics as more gullible than other researchers (although there have been many examples of such cases) simply because they may have a more open attitude toward psi. Some of the best skeptical investigations in early psychical research were carried out by members of the Society for Psychical Research. More important, however, is the fact that today parapsychologists are quite aware of the pitfalls of experimenting with self-proclaimed psychics, and they either make use of experts in psychic fraud or, like Richard Wiseman of the Perrot-Warrick Research Unit at the University of Hertfordshire, England, have themselves developed an expertise in this field.
I hope the era of hard fights between proponents and critics of parapsychology is over. The time has come for a new era of cooperation, where there may be agreement on some basic points, namely, that it is in both sides' interest to get rid of superstition and charlatans, and also that it is in both sides' interest to examine the claims, rather than simply argue over them. I am not saying that there may be real psi to be discovered, but, at least, that there may be something interesting to be discovered about human psychology.
Source: Skeptical Inquirer, July-August, 1997
www.csicop.org/si/
Is there a rational explanation for Alla Vinogradova's extraordinary ability to move objects without touching them? A research study was conducted and an interesting and counterintuitive explanation found. However, in the process it was also found that closer cooperation with serious parapsychology is needed.
For years, psychic research in the USSR, owing to the aura of secrecy that surrounded it, has been regarded as some kind of myth. It was being said, for example, that the Russians were far ahead in parapsychological discoveries and that the West had better invest lots of money in the field to avoid a "psi-gap." The sparse information that reached the West hinted to extraordinary faculties being scientific. ally demonstrated by amazing psychics. During the early 1960s, interest in Soviet paranormal claims was first aroused by newspaper articles describing the astonishing abilities of Rosa Kuleshova, a twenty-two-year-old Russian girl who apparently could read print while blindfolded (Time, January 25, 1963; Life, June 12, 1964). However, the loose conditions in which Rosa operated allowed for very easy methods of deception to be used (Gardner 1981).
In 1968, films showing Nina Kulagina apparently moving objects with her mind (psychokinesis, or PK) were viewed at the First Moscow International Conference on Parapsychology and were also observed by some Western scientists. Finally, the general public became aware of the varied work in parapsychology carried out in the USSR with the publication of Sheila Ostrander and Lynn Schroeder's Psychic Discoveries Behind the Iron Curtain (1970), followed by various other similar publications on the subject.
Many films of Russian psychics at work have now been seen on Western TV shows and documentaries. The most popular are those that show apparent PK in action. We have seen, then, Nina Kulagina apparently moving compass needles and light objects, Boris Ermolaev "levitating" small objects, and Alia Vinogradova willing round objects to roll on flat surfaces.
RUSSIAN PK STARS
As for Nina Kulagina, the conditions under which she operated were far from acceptable by basic scientific standards. Tests were frequently carried out at her own home or in hotel rooms; no tight controls were ever applied, owing in part to the fact that a demonstration might take several hours of preparation (i.e., concentration by Nina), which, of course, was no guarantee of success. Also, when watching these films, anybody who has a background in magic cannot avoid the feeling that she is using standard conjuring techniques: magnets hidden on her body to move the compass needle; threads or thin hair to move objects across the table; small mirrors concealed in her hand to read signs with numbers and letters being held behind her. Unfortunately, no expert in conjuring techniques was ever present at Kulagina's demonstrations.
Boris Ermolaev, a Russian film director, became relatively famous during the 1970s for his apparent ability to suspend objects in midair by concentrating on them. Ermolaev didn't perform on stage but showed his demonstrations "only to serious scientists of his own choosing or to close friends" (italics mine, Gris and Dick 1986). He and others were tested by Professor Venyamin Pushkin, who stated: "The experiments were conducted under the strictest controls, and no devices of any kind were used" (ibid.). However, in a 1992 World of Discovery documentary called "Secrets of the Russian Psychics," Ermolaev's method was finally revealed. He used to sit on a chair and then place the objects to be suspended between his knees; unfortunately for him, the light conditions when the documentary crew was filming were probably not what he was accustomed to. That's how the TV crew was able to capture a fine thread fixed at both his knees to which he attached the objects; the whole unmasking procedure was filmed and shown during the documentary.
Alla Vinogradova is another story.
VINOGRADOVA'S MOVING OBJECTS
A child psychologist and teacher, wife of Russian psi-researcher Victor Adamenko, Alia Vinogradova saw in 1969 a film of Kulagina in action and suspected that she too could move objects without touching them. In fact, trained by Adamenko, she discovered she could really move objects placed on transparent surfaces. Films of her demonstrations were shot in the early 1970s, and recently the previously mentioned World of Discovery documentary on Russian psychics had an interesting section devoted to her. Here she was presented as she is today, still demonstrating the same abilities for the camera. She took such objects as cigarettes, aluminum cigar tubes, and pens and put them on a Plexiglass plate suspended between two chairs; in such conditions she was able to make them rotate, roll, and move just by having her hand approach, but never touch, them. The demonstration was quite puzzling. It did appear very natural and repeatable and it seemed that the usual tricks (like secretly blowing on the surface to have the object move thanks to the air current thus created) were unlikely.
Some time ago, I visited James Randi in Florida; he had recently returned from Russia, where he had gone for some filming to be included in Nova's 1993 documentary about his work: "Secrets of the Psychics." Randi told me that, while he was there, the TV production staff approached Vinogradova and asked if she would agree to demonstrate her abilities on camera. She agreed; however, she put forth the condition that Randi had to be kept away from the room where filming was to take place. This was quite an inappropriate request, considering that the documentary was dedicated to Randi's investigations. Nonetheless, Randi accepted her veto: this way, she would present her demonstration as she always did, that is, not under controlled conditions. It was, in any event, an occasion to film her from different angles and to have better video material for study.
The segments filmed with Vinogradova were not included in the final documentary; however, Randi had copies of the original unedited footage that he was going to show me. Vinogradova was seen speaking, in Russian, with the operators, then walking back and forth on the thick carpet, combing her hair, and rubbing with a towel the surface of a Plexiglass plate placed on top of four glasses turned upside down on a table. Originally, she started to demonstrate her abilities with various objects: cigarettes, pens, plastic rings, a small wooden doll from a set of nesting dolls, a small hairspray bottle, and a glass. All objects moved quite freely, as seen in the other films; only the spray bottle and the glass, being the heaviest objects, moved little or only wobbled back and forth as she passed her hand over them. Suddenly, while moving the nesting doll, a white thread that was on the table, under the Plexiglass, was seen to be moving too, following the doll. I pointed this out to Randi and he told me that the cameraman, after shooting the film, told him that he had seen the moving thread but didn't realize that he had actually zoomed in on it and caught it on film. Randi himself hadn't yet had a chance to examine the film so he was quite interested too. "That thread," he told me, "was from the torn end of a cloth-based duct tape used to hold tiny microphones to the edge of the Plexiglass. The microphones were there to detect if she was doing any blowing to move the objects. The thread was not placed there purposely. It was just a loose thread. But, of course, it proved to be the indicator needed."
A NEGLECTED EXPLANATION?
Randi and I discussed the possibility of static electricity being solely responsible for the phenomena. In the World of Discovery documentary, this possibility was mentioned as an explanation proposed by skeptics, but it was immediately discarded since Vinogradova said she could move objects weighing up to two hundred grams. She claimed that it was impossible to do this using only static electricity. We thought we should try to repeat her performance with a Plexiglass plate, but, owing to other things we were involved with at the time, we didn't have a chance to get around to it before my departure.
Once back in Italy, I discussed the subject with my colleagues Luigi Garlaschelli and Franco Ramaccini of CICAP (the Italian Committee for the Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal) and soon we tested the theory of static electricity. Ramaccini found a Plexiglass plate and showed us how easy it was to move any kind of round object on top of it, only by making use of the repelling forces caused by static electricity. Of course, the effect was quite better if the surface was electrically charged, by rubbing a towel on it. Heavier objects, like glasses and spray bottles, could be as easily moved. Everything shown on Alla Vinogradova's films, then, now seemed to have a very simple and rational explanation.
We then wondered whether others had already discovered this very interesting and counterintuitive phenomenon. No trace or mention of Vinogradova's abilities appeared in the skeptical literature on the paranormal or in popular science "magic" books, and some of the best-known skeptics didn't know much about her.
&nsp;
I then got in touch with today's leading parapsychologists and was more than pleased to discover that they had a lot of information on Vinogradova and, above all, had solved the mystery years ago.
THE HELP OF PARAPSYCHOLOGISTS
Stanley Krippner, psychologist at Saybrook Institute in San Francisco and past president of the Parapsychological Association, told me that he had dealt with Vinogradova in his book Human Possibilities (1980). In it he writes that, when he was in Russia, he observed Vinogradova in action with an aluminum tube: "She picked it up and rubbed it for a few seconds - suggesting to me that she was simply producing an electrostatic charge that would cause her hand to repel the tube. As expected, the object moved across the table" (Krippner 1980, 20). He was able to reproduce the effect once back in the United States. In his book, Krippner quotes a Canadian parapsychologist, A. R. G. Owen, who back in 1975 wrote, "Anyone can produce this effect. . . . It is entirely due to static electricity" (ibid., 46).
Richard Broughton, director of the Rhine Research Center in Durham, North Carolina, explained to me that: "Adamenko had a notion that he could 'train' people to produce Kulagina-like effects by starting them out moving objects by static electricity, and then gradually moving them to objects that would not be susceptible to static electricity effects" (Broughton 1996).
A LESSON TO BE LEARNED
Although the more impressive feat of moving objects not susceptible to static electricity hasn't so far been publicly demonstrated by Vinogradova or others, I think there's a lesson to be learned. Serious skeptics and serious parapsychologists should establish more occasions for mutual cooperation. Parapsychologists shouldn't be generally thought of by skeptics as more gullible than other researchers (although there have been many examples of such cases) simply because they may have a more open attitude toward psi. Some of the best skeptical investigations in early psychical research were carried out by members of the Society for Psychical Research. More important, however, is the fact that today parapsychologists are quite aware of the pitfalls of experimenting with self-proclaimed psychics, and they either make use of experts in psychic fraud or, like Richard Wiseman of the Perrot-Warrick Research Unit at the University of Hertfordshire, England, have themselves developed an expertise in this field.
I hope the era of hard fights between proponents and critics of parapsychology is over. The time has come for a new era of cooperation, where there may be agreement on some basic points, namely, that it is in both sides' interest to get rid of superstition and charlatans, and also that it is in both sides' interest to examine the claims, rather than simply argue over them. I am not saying that there may be real psi to be discovered, but, at least, that there may be something interesting to be discovered about human psychology.
Source: Skeptical Inquirer, July-August, 1997
www.csicop.org/si/