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Wolf Messing –the true story of Russia’s greatest psychic – Tatiana Lungin

One panel received the following instructions: Wolf was to approach the fifth row, ask the woman in seat number thirteen to give him a book in a blue binding, open it to page twenty-eight, read the seventh line from the bottom, and shake her hand.

"The task was not particularly complicated, "Wolf continued "It was like thousands of others I’ve performed. On this occasion, seat number thirteen was occupied by an extraordinarily attractive young lady wearing a colourful dress with a low neckline. Now, the joker who sent the note up to the stage had other, definitely more amorous, things in mind than what he'd written down.

"Psychoanalytic theory holds that there are no accidental slips of the pen or the tongue. It also teaches that all words have associated, as well as literal, meanings. In this respect the words to ask and to open have hidden sexual connotations. Nor were the figures written in the note randomly selected. The person I was to approach was twenty-eight years old, and the author of the note was thirty-five. This sum is easily obtained by adding twenty-eight (the page number) and seven (the number of the verse). The word bottom especially gives the author away.

"Not everyone is convinced by this type of psychoanalysis, and there are skeptics even among Freud's followers. I was not acquainted with the subtle nuances of Freudian theory at the time; I simply 'heard' the young man's true intentions when I carried out his task.

"Evidently, he had met this charming young lady earlier but had not won her favour and felt rejected. It's possible that he saw her shortly before the beginning of the program, or in the lobby during the intermission.

"I stepped past the floodlights and into the half-dark auditorium. Although they didn’t interfere with my telepathy, I clearly perceived his frivolous desires. These desires were clearly more important to him than his stated task. His signals unmistakably said: take off her blouse ... kiss her on the lips ...put your hand on her breast ... bend down and lift up the edge of her skirt from below...

"I heard these instructions three or four times. I read the verse from the book - a small volume of Tiutchev's poems.

Finally, I told the audience, 'I will not carry out the other desires of this impudent young man. This is not the place for a rendezvous, and he should express his feelings toward this lovely young woman in a suitable manner. I am offering a session of psychological experiments, not organizing a strip tease show.'

The hall resounded with laughter and applause.