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James Randi once said in an interview : “ The director of the McDonnell Lab was physics professor Peter R . Phillips , who had a decade of interest in parapsychology behind him . He had declared in the press that the lab intended to investigate psychokinetic metal bending ( PKMB ) by children . Accordingly , two young conjurors who had been in touch with me by mail , and had expressed an interest in my work as a skeptic , wrote to the McDonnell lab claiming psychic powers , and were accepted to be studied , our experiment was to be code-named “ Project Alpha .”
Examples of the ‘ tests ’: In one experiment Banachek suggested that he might be able to affect a video camera and while seated before one , staring into the lens , he gestured mysteriously over the instrument . The picture twice suddenly “ bloomed ” brightly , the image swelling and subsiding . This was recorded and subsequently shown in the official McDonnell lab film . It seemed to the researchers that this event was not possible by any but paranormal means : yet Banachek had simply reached forward and turned the “ target ” control on the side of the camera - twice - unseen by the lab personnel .
In another run of experiments , involving an electronic setup , the boys were asked to shorten the capacity of tubular electric fuses . A current would be passed through a fuse and gradually increased until the fuse blew out , and
VANISH SPECIAL EDITION 2024
BANACHEK AND MIKE