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THE METAL-BENDERS” by JOHN B. HASTED

Another form of paranormal movement experiment, not usually carried out under a dome, is on the sliding movements of light objects resting on a table. Many people have seen the moving picture of the Russian psychic Nina Kulagina demonstrating these movements, without touching the objects themselves. Since the Russian scientists also claim that electrostatic fields can be produced paranormally, it is important to make certain that the cause of this motion is not electrostatic. This can be done by rendering the working surface and the objects themselves slightly conducting. Low-loss polymers should not be used. There is also the important issue of fraud by the use of fine threads, particularly when these are passed round static objects in such a way that a hand movement causes a movement of the object in the opposite direction.

I became interested in the possible ability of metal-benders to produce this effect when l was told by Mrs Nemeth that a plastic cup had moved on the tea-table near where David (then aged eight) was sitting. ‘But that is something I don’t talk about,’ she said.

The opportunity to witness Jean-Pierre Girard attempt such an effect came to me in the summer of 1977, when I was asked to monitor film material being made in Paris for NBC television (in the United States) by Alan Neuman.

My task was to view the experiments, which were carried out on a glass table under camera, from a distance of about five feet; I concentrated particularly on the possible use of threads, even though there was a relatively long filming period (more than one hour); but I found no evidence of fraud. I also found it impossible to move objects on the table by frictional electrostatic means. The objects which moved paranormally in camera were a brandy glass (45 g weight) and a lipstick case (20 g weight). The movements recorded, and now widely seen by audiences, were jerky and only of a few inches’ distance. I lodged a detailed report with the television company.

I adhere to my general conclusion that some psychics, including some metal-benders, are able to produce temporary quasi-forces which act locally on neighbouring sensitive mobile apparatus.

We have seen that some psychics are able to slide objects about on a surface without the use of touch. I have not seen, but have heard, reliable reports of the occasions on which Jean-Pierre Girard has held small objects levitated above the table surface for a period of several seconds; this was also reported to be without the use of touch or fraud.

We might suppose that a paranormal quasi-force field was operating, such as electromagnetic forces operate in the normal levitation of metal objects above current-carrying coils. If a psychic quasi-force field can act on small objects, why can it not also act on the human body and allow it to levitate?