Would you let someone operate on you with their bare hands, even if you were totally relaxed and told you wouldn’t feel a thing? Nor me – but weirdly, some people believe ‘psychic surgery’ is real. It’s one of the few daft practices that is genuinely dangerous; if the patient believed the practitioner really had removed a tumour, for example, they could miss out on life-saving surgery and get very ill indeed.
It can look quite convincing. But as realistic as the blood and guts might seem when the ‘surgeon’ apparently plunges their hand deep into the subject’s abdomen, I can assure you it’s all sleight of hand!
And it can make a powerful impression even if you know it’s faked. Watch the effect I had on some of the onlookers in this video:
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Filed under: Magic, Psychology | Tagged: debunk, james randi, Magic, magic trick, operation, psychic, psychic surgery, skeptic, sleight of hand, surgery | 1 Comment »