Nina Kulagina and Psychokinesis In Russia

[Aaron LeClair]

http://www.book-of-thoth.com/article1733.html

I've seen footage of her before over the years that interested me. I'll see if I can find some vids on the net of her in action to share.

[Aaron LeClair]

Here's several vids of her.

http://youtube.com/results?search_query=Nina+Kulagina&search=Search

[Michael L.]

Her basic technique is still used by magicians today, although there have been several improvements.

[Aaron LeClair]

Originally Posted by Michael L.

Her basic technique is still used by magicians today, although there have been several improvements.

Yes, I've seen many do some of the stuff on stage. Never in a lab under controlled settings though. I'm also unaware of any magicians duplicating the physiological states.

[Michael L.]

Yeah... I have seen it all, but I am probably more familiar with magic than most people. Of course, there is very little reporting on most sites of Ms. Kulagina's failings under test conditions. Here is a quote from a Martin Gardner book I have run across:

Ninel Kulagina.... was carefully tested at the Bekhterev Psychoneurological Scientific Institute in Leningrad. B. Lebdev, the institute's head, and his associates summarize their findings as follows:*

"In essence, Kulagina was given the same tasks as before, but under conditions of stricter control and in accordance with a plan prepared beforehand. And this was the plan: to alternate between experiments in which the woman could possibly peek and eavesdrop with experiments where peeking would be impossible. The woman of course did not know this. As was to be expected, phenomenal ability was shown in the first instance only. In the second instance [under controls] Kulagina could distinguish neither the color nor the form...

Thus the careful checking fully exposed the sensational "miracle." There were no miracles whatever. There was ordinary hoax.

---Martin Gardner, Science: Good, Bad and Bogus, Oxford University Press, 1983
* B Lebdev, Leningradskaya Pravda, 15 March 1964; trans. Albert Parry

Another claim I have run across several times is that Ms. Kulagina sued Pravda and won a defamation case, but I have never seen this backed up with any reference. In all seriousness, could anyone in the USSR sue Pravda? I wouldn't think it possible!

[Michael L.]

Also, you may want to look up a consultant of Criss Angel's named Banacek (Steve Shaw) and his involvement in a study called "Project Alpha."

[The Pair of Cats]

He says Nay, they say, yay!

Dr. Zdenek Rejdak, a prominent Czech scientist connected with a Prague Military Institute, tested Kulagina personally and reported the results in Czech Pravda. He stated:
‘I visited the Kulagina family the evening of 26 February, 1968. Mr. Blazek, an editor friend was with me, also a physician, Dr. J.S. Zverev, and Dr. Sergeyev. Her husband, an engineer, was also present. Dr. Zverev gave Mrs. Kulagina a very thorough physical examination. Tests with special instruments failed to show any indication whatever of magnets or any other concealed object.
‘We checked the table thoroughly and also asked Mrs. Kulagina frequently to change position at the table. We passed a compass around her body and the chair and table with negative results. I asked her to wash her hands. After concentrating, she turned the compass needle more than ten times, then the entire compass and its case, a matchbox and some twenty matches at once. I placed a cigarette in front of her. She moved that too, at a glance. I shredded it afterwards and there was nothing inside it. In between each set of tests, she was again physically examined by the doctor.’

Doctor Leonid L. Vasiliev, a psychologist at Leningrad University, had pioneered ESP study in Russia at the Institute for Brain Research in Leningrad, and was one of the first to test Kulagina, continuing to do so right up until his death in 1966.
Another Soviet scientist, Dr. Genady Sergeyev, a well-known physiologist working in a Leningrad military laboratory, did several years of intensive laboratory research on Kulagina, and made special studies of the electrical potentials in Kulagina’s brain. During observations he recorded exceptionally strong voltages and other unusual effects. In one series of experiments in Leningrad, recalling those of Dr. Shvetz, he and his colleagues placed undeveloped photo film in a black envelope. Incredibly, by staring at the envelope Kulagina was able to expose the film inside. If this is true, then it is particularly unfortunate that there is apparently no published account of the extraordinary experiment.

Brian Haughton -"Author of books on Archaeology, Ancient History and the Folklore of the Supernatural"

[Michael L.]

The first instance is beginner's magic. The second account the author himself admits is not confirmed or published, only hearsay.

Look, I can post instances of Harry Houdini being tested under scientific conditions and still escaping his bonds. He was proclaimed by many, including Sir CA Doyle, to have paranormal powers he was not even aware of... yet everything he did was achieved by trickery. Even in the description of the first instance of Ms. Kulagina's powers, I spot problems. Why would you have her wash her hands after testing her for magnets? If you expected some magnetic dust or some such, why not before the tests? Wouldn't the tests eliminate anything like that? It is very possible that the good doctor, in fact, did not ask her to do so... merely remembers it as such and the hand washing was initiated by Ms. Kulagina.

Also, where is the citation for the Czech news article? Do not trust the uncited.

[The Pair of Cats]

The problem is that for every person who tested her and said she faked it, there is a person who said she didn't.
There is no definitive proof either way.You either believe or you don't.

[Michael L.]

Sorry, but that's crap.

Once someone has been shown to be a fake, why should they retain any credibility? "Oh, they have real powers but this time they were feeling a bit sick so they subbed in something that cost $12.95 at Tannen's Magic Shop." Yeah, that's believable.

Uri Geller has fooled some people before, too. I suppose he really has amazing powers too, right? But he has been caught more than once using stage magic methodology. To me, that makes him a magician.

The business of the magician is to deceive people. The business of the scientist is not to root out deception. See the inherent problem in that? When, at any time, it can be shown that someone's psychic powers disappear when the methods of magicians are countered they should be entirely discounted.

I am not saying that someone who fails under strict testing should be automatically discounted. However, if they can be shown to be using magicians' methods then they should be automatically blacklisted. Once a purposeful fraud is attempted their credibility is undermined.