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Psychokinesis
 Daniel Dunglas Home (born in Scotland on March 20, 1833; died in 1886) was regarded by some as an extraordinary clairvoyant who was also thought to have psychokinetic abilities. (Home's surname was pronounced "Hume"). When he was a child, there was purportedly poltergeist activity in his home that was attributed to his presence there. There were reports that Home could levitate and that apparitions appeared and objects moved without the use physical means when he conducted his seances. He allegedly did not exclusively conduct seances in his home where objects could perhaps easily be manipulated to simulate apports and other paranormal phenomena, but conducted them in places where it might have been more difficult to fake supernatural phenomena. Home allegedly allowed dubious investigators to observe his seances. One of the investigators was British physicist, Sir William Crookes, the scientist who discovered thallium. Crookes reported that he had concluded that Home was genuine, not practicing any sleight-of-hand methods. Observers (one of them was Lord Adare) claimed that they saw Home float head first out an open window and come back feet first through the window of an adjoining room. Home was allegedly visiting in the home of a manufacturer when he levitated toward the ceiling. Apparently, some of the people present at the time tried to pull Home down and found themselves rising up in the air.  There were continual attempts made to expose Home as a fraud, but no one succeeded in proving him a fake. The poet Robert Browning and his equally famous wife, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, witnessed D.D. Home's phenomena. (The author, Ruth Montgomery, apparently believed she was Elizabeth Barrett Browning reincarnated).  At first, Robert Browning was impressed and his wife was enthralled. Later, Browning determined that Home had to be a fraud and wrote a poem attacking Home called "Mr. Sludge the Medium". Some suspected that Robert Browning resented how deeply impressed his wife was by Home. Daniel Dunglas Home died of tuberculosis on June 21, 1886. (Portrait of Elizabeth Barrett Browning) A Russian housewife named Nina Kulagina (aka Nelya Mikhailova) was supposed to have astonishing psychokinetic talent. Her purported ability was studied by Soviet Dr. Leonid Vasiliev and Czechoslovakian scientist Dr. Zdenek Rejdak. Mrs. Kulagina was alleged to be able to make objects move without physical means and to influence the needle of a compass by willing it to move and to separate the white and yolk of an egg in a container. Apparently, when she accomplished these extraordinary things, her heart rate and blood pressure were recorded as having changed rather dramatically and she reportedly actually lost pounds of weight. It was reported that Mrs. Kulagina seemed to become ill as a result of her PK efforts and would emerge from a session exhausted. Mrs. Kulagina, who died in 1990, allegedly slept for two or three days after she produced PK phenomena. Some American scientists who observed her in action seemed to conclude that she was not a fraud. One of the American researchers who allegedly observed Mrs. Kulagina was J. Gaither Pratt. The Soviet Academy of Sciences determined that her PK ability was genuine. Sheila Ostrander and Lynn Schroeder discussed the PK feats of Nina Kulagina in their book "Psychic Discoveries Behind the Iron Curtain." Edvard Naumov was involved in Soviet parapsychological research and allegedly was persecuted by the KGB for sharing research information with Western scientists. Naumov was an engineer and parapsychologist who was the director of a parapsychology institute in Russia.   Russian psychic Rosa Kuleshova was alleged to be capable of reading text with her fingers while blindfolded and to be able to differentiate between various colors and name them simply by touching them while her eyes were covered. Eyeless sight is also called dermo-optic vision and cutaneous vision. Soviet researchers who studied Kuleshova claimed to use careful methods to insure that no cheating was involved. Nina Kulagina was also supposed to be able to read with "eyeless sight".  Israeli Uri Geller was alleged to have PK abilities, though his claims of this and other abilities have been disputed as skillful magic tricks. Geller was reknown for his supposed ability to bend spoons and keys simply by touching them.  Austrians Rudi Schneider
and his brother, Willi, were regarded as PK mediums in the earlier part of
the 1900's. Harry Price, the famous ghost-hunter, and Eric Dingwall,
another paranormal researcher, traveled to the Munich laboratory of
physician Baron Albert von Schrenk-Notzing to watch Rudi and Willi
perform. Price was impressed. Rudi seemed to be able to produce loud
sounds of rapping and levitations of objects as well as
apports. Matthew Manning of the U.K. began having paranormal experiences as a child and is regarded by some as a healer who has PK abilities. Allegedly when Manning was in boarding school, pk type activity occurred, such as silverware seeming to be hurled around and stones and other objects seemed to manifest and be thrown by an invisible force. Manning was tested by a physicist at Cambridge University, but the results were evidently inconclusive. Manning's apparent ability to cause metal to bend was allegedly recorded on film by other investigators. 
Apparently, Joseph of Copertino (born in 1603) was known for levitating, particularly during states of religious ectasy. He was also said to be able to read minds. Father Joseph was called the "Flying Friar". When he was young, his nickname was the "gaper" because he was considered to be a dimwit whose mouth was usually hanging open. Allegedly, the Duke of Brunswick observed Joseph levitate and was himself lifted up into the air with Joseph. Joseph of Copertino died in 1663. In 1767 he was canonized as a saint.  
Saint Philip Neri was also supposed to levitate, as was Saint Ignatius Loyola. Some students of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi claim that they have learned to levitate during meditation, though film of some of them seems to show that they appear to be hopping and thus lifting slightly off the floor. (St. Philip Neri, left; St. Ignatius Loyola, right)  Elizabeth Barrett Browning from Pictures Now Levitation and Spoon Bender from The Ultimate Image Archive Images of Catholic Saints Magician from Grandegraphics.com |