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Psychic surgery is a phenomenon that originated in the 20th Century and has been deemed a form of medical fraud. During psychic surgery, practitioners appear to perform painless surgery using their fingers and unsterile tools. They say that they extract "tumors" or other pathological masses such as pus or bones from the patient's body through an incision. Psychic surgery is most prevalent in its countries of origin: Brazil and the Philippines.

Psychic surgery has been denounced by the US Federal Trade Commission as a "total hoax", and the American Cancer Society maintains that psychic surgery may cause needless death by keeping the ill away from life-saving medical care. Professional skeptics say that such paranormal talents do not exist, and argue that sleight of hand can best explain psychic surgery.

Procedure

Although the practice of psychic surgery varies by region and practitioner, there are some themes which are common to the practice. With no surgical instruments, practitioners push against the patient's skin. Their hands appear to enter the body without causing pain, and their hands become covered in blood. Some psychic surgeons will then hold up objects which they say are human tissue removed from the patient's body. According to testimony in the FTC trial given by two psychic surgeons, these objects consist of animal tissue and clotted blood. In regions where belief in evil spirits is prevalent, practitioners will sometimes demonstrate objects, such as glass, that they say were placed in the patient by the spirits. Using their fingers and hands to wipe away the blood, the practitioners will then end the procedure.

Fraud and sleight-of-hand

In in 1975, the Federal Trade Commission said in a unanimous opinion that "'psychic surgery' is nothing but a total hoax." Judge Daniel H. Hanscom, in granting the FTC an injunction against travel agencies promoting psychic surgery tours, said: "Psychic surgery is pure and unmitigated fakery. The 'surgical operations' of psychic surgeons ... with their bare hands are simply phony." In 1990, the American Cancer Society stated that it found no evidence that "psychic surgery" results in objective benefit in the treatment of any medical condition, and strongly urged individuals who are ill not to seek treatment by psychic surgery. While not directly hazardous to the patient, medical fraud of this kind carries considerable risk of the patient delaying or forgoing conventional medical help, sometimes with fatal consequences.

James Randi, a stage magician turned psychic debunker, says that psychic surgery is a sleight-of-hand confidence trick. He says that in personal observations of the procedure, and in movies showing the procedures, he can spot sleight-of-hand moves that are evident to experienced stage magicians, but might be missed by a casual observer. Randi has replicated the effects himself by sleight-of-hand. Professional magicians Milbourne Christopher and Robert Gurtler have also observed psychic surgeons at work, and claim to have spotted the use of sleight-of-hand. On his A&E show "Mindfreak" in the episode "Sucker," illusionist Criss Angel performs "Psychic Surgery," showing first-hand how it is done (using fake blood, plastic bags and chicken livers).

The healer will slightly roll or pinch the skin over the area of the "operation". When his flattened hand reaches under the roll of skin, it looks and feels as if he's actually reaching into the patient's body. Simultaneously, the healer will have small bags of animal entrails palmed in his hand, or hidden beneath the table within easy reach. These entrails simulate the "diseased" tissue that the healer is supposedly removing. If the healer wants to simulate bleeding, he squeezes a bladder of animal blood. It is a simple illusion requiring very little practice. (Like most magic tricks, it's best practiced in front of a mirror.) If done properly, it can fool most patients and onlookers. Some "psychic surgery" does not rely solely on this magic trick.

Regional History

Philippines

In the Philippines, the procedure originated in the 1940s with Eleuterio Terte. Terte and his student Tony Agpaoa trained others in his techniques. Terte and many of his students were associated with a religious organization, the Union Espiritista Christiana de Filipinas (The Christian Spiritist Union of the Philippines.)

In 1959, the procedure became widely known in the U. S. through the publication of Into the Strange Unknown by Ron Ormond and Ormond McGill. They called the practice "fourth dimensional surgery," and said " still don’t know what to think; but we have motion pictures to show it wasn’t the work of any normal magician, and could very well be just what the Filipinos said it was — a miracle of God performed by a fourth dimensional surgeon."

A known psychic healer with this speciality is Alex Orbito, who became well-known in the U. S. through association with actress Shirley MacLaine. On June 14, 2005, Orbito was arrested by Canadian authorities and indicted for fraud.

Psychic surgery made U.S. tabloid headlines in March 1984 when comedian Andy Kaufman, diagnosed with large cell carcinoma (a rare lung cancer), traveled to the Philippines for a six-week course of psychic surgery. Practitioner Jun Labo claimed to have removed large cancerous tumors and Kaufman believed the cancer had been removed. However, Kaufman died from renal failure, a consequence of his metastasic lung cancer, on May 16, 1984.

Brazil

The origins of the practice in Brazil are obscure; it may derive from Candomblé rituals, or it may have been inspired by reports from the Philippines. In any case, by the late 1950s several "spiritual healers" were practicing in the country. Many of them were associated with Kardecism, a major spiritualistic movement in Brazil, and claimed to be performing their operations merely as channels for spirits of deceased medical doctors.

One famous Brazilian psychic healer of this specialty was José (Zé) Arigó, who claimed to be channeling for a certain Dr. Fritz. Unlike most other psychic healers, who work bare-handed, Arigo used a blade. Other psychic healers who claimed to channel for Dr. Fritz were Edson Queiroz and Rubens Farias Jr.. Popular today (especially abroad) is João de Deus, who operates in Abadiânia, state of Goiás.

According to the descriptions of Yoshiaki Omura (1997), Brazilian psychic surgery appears to be different from that practiced in the Philippines. Omura refers to practitioners using techniques resembling Qi Gong, Shiatsu massage, and chiropractic manipulation. Many patients were injected with a brown liquid, and alleged minor surgery was performed in about 20% of the cases observed. While Arigó performed his operations with kitchen knives in improvised settings, Omura reports that the clamping of the blood vessels and the closings of the surgical wounds are now performed by licensed surgeons or licensed nurses.

Other countries

There are a handful of practitioners in the UK, .

A San Francisco Chronicle article refers to psychic surgery as being practiced within "a kind of psychic underground in America, England, Russia and many other countries."

Psychic surgery is also practised in Colombia, Jamaica, Portugal, Spain, Marroc, Gabon, Mozambique, Angola and Thailand among others.

Art and entertainment

• In the 1989 film Penn & Teller Get Killed, comedic magicians Penn and Teller demonstrate how to perform the illusion of psychic surgery.

• The song "Placebo Effect" by Siouxsie and the Banshees is about psychic surgery.

• In the TV show Criss Angel Mindfreak, Season 2 Episode "Sucker", Criss explains psychic surgery.

• In the 1999 movie Man on the Moon, a movie based on the life of Andy Kaufman, Kaufman receives Psychic surgery and notices its "trick".

See also

• Faith healing
• Health fraud

Footnotes

1. (PDF). Retrieved 2007-08-19. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
2. ^ "F.T.C. Curtails the Promotion Of All Psychic Surgery Tours - The New York Times". Retrieved 2007-08-19.
3. ^ ""Psychic surgery"". CA: a cancer journal for clinicians. 40 (3): 184–8. 1990. PMID 2110023. Retrieved 2007-08-19.
4. "psychic surgery". Retrieved 2007-08-19.
5. Randi, James (1989). The Faith Healers. Prometheus Books. ISBN 0-87975-535-0.
6. David Vernon in Skeptical - a Handbook of Pseudoscience and the Paranormal, ed Donald Laycock, David Vernon, Colin Groves, Simon Brown, Imagecraft, Canberra, 1989, ISBN 0731657942, p47
7. ""Psychic surgery"". CA: a cancer journal for clinicians. 40 (3): 184–8. 1990. PMID 2110023. The Wrights learned to shop for the animal parts used to prepare "bullets" of animal tissue and clotted blood. They learned how to hide the bullets, palm them for transfer onto the patient, and create the illusion that their hands were penetrating the body. {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
8. "ACS :: Psychic Surgery". Retrieved 2007-08-19.
9. "F.T.C. Curbs Philippines Flights For Cures by 'Psychic Surgery'"; New York Times March 15, 1975, p. 11 (Judge Hanscom: "pure and unmitigated fakery... simply phony")
10. "NCAHF Statements on Faith Healing and Psychic Surgery". Retrieved 2007-08-19.
11. The following images are of Randi demonstrating "psychic surgery":
    • prepare
    • go in
    • come out
12. http://www.randi.org/jr/021805a.html#5
13. "Fake healing". Retrieved 2007-08-19.
14. "The Filipino Reporter". Retrieved 2007-08-19.
15. ", Psychic Surgery". Retrieved 2007-08-19.
16. "Andy Kaufman's death certificate". Retrieved 2007-08-19.
17. California Death Index
18. "James Randi Educational Foundation — Arigó, José". Retrieved 2007-08-19.
19. "Rio Journal;Live, in Brazil (Again): The Reincarnated Dr. Fritz - New York Times". Retrieved 2007-08-19.
20. "John of God". Retrieved 2007-08-19.
21. "Yoshiaki Omura on psychic surgery in Brazil". Retrieved 2007-08-19.

External links

• James Randi debunks "psychic surgery"
• Unconventional therapies - Psychic Surgery — overview by the British Columbia Cancer Agency
• Psychic "surgery" — definition in the Skeptic's Dictionary
• An Article on Alex L. Orbito - a believer's view.
• Fake Healing - a description of an event involving Mr. Orbito with editorial commentary.
• Abstract
• "Psychic Surgery" (1990) Ca. Cancer J. Clin. 40(3) 184-8 Abstract Full text Terte/Agpaoa origins; exposed by Milbourne Christopher and Robert Gurtler.
• "Sideshows of Science," David Perlman, San Francisco Chronicle, January 8, 2001; text. Reference to "psychic underground"
• 'Psychic surgeon' a heel, not a healer, police say Globe and Mail story on Orbito's 2005 arrest in Toronto
• Psychic surgeon charged Filipino Reporter story on Orbito's 2005 arrest in Toronto

• New Age
• Supernatural healing
• Psychic powers
• Spirituality
• Spiritism
• Pseudoscience