21 Banachek that value would be recorded . They obtained excellent results in this test , seeming to cause premature rupture of the fuses through mental influence . The reason for their success was simply that they were allowed to handle the fuses freely . The boys found that by secretly pressing down upon one end of the fuse in its holder , the fuse would register as blown . The boys would then remove the fuse themselves after the result was registered and switch it for a previously blown fuse . These unusual results were interpreted by the experimenters as marvelous PSI effects .
One rather naive experiment , conducted with Banachek , involved a small slab of clear acrylic plastic in which a shallow groove had been cut . Into this groove was placed a thin ( about 1 / 16 ”) metal rod a few inches long that fit loosely , flush with the surface . It was believed , and so stated , that it was not possible to remove the rod from the groove by hand without either overturning the slab or using a tool of some sort . Banachek was asked to stroke the metal with his finger and cause it to bend . He quickly discovered that the rod tilted up and out of the groove when he pressed down on one end , the flesh of his finger having squeezed into the groove . He simply removed the rod unnoticed , bent it slightly , and reinserted it into the groove , lying it on its side , since the groove was wide enough to accommodate the bend . Then he stroked and rotated the rod 90 degrees to make it appear to bend up and out of the groove . The feat was deemed impossible by trickery .
One device developed at the laboratory for testing the Alpha subjects consisted of an overturned aquarium bolted and padlocked to a stout table . Objects would be put inside and left overnight . Since the locks on the doors were of excellent quality , and Phillips wore the and door keys around his neck , security was thought to be absolute . It was not . Banachek and Edwards simply left a window unlocked , and returned to the premises
at night . There were several way to open the sealed aquarium , and they were free to do anything they pleased with the contents , which were discovered in the morning by lab personnel to have been bent , twisted , broken , and moved about by mysterious paranormal forces .
A part of the aquarium test used a shallow box in which dry coffee-grounds were spread in a thin layer . Small cubes and other objects were