SANDRA
That Creepy Feeling Someone Is Looking At You
And when you look up, sure enough, someone is staring right at you
The paranormal and supernatural phenomenon has been the subject of much scientific debunking. Yet, haven’t we all experienced that feeling of being watched, and we look up, and sure enough, someone is staring at us?
Surely that alone is proof that we all have an extrasensory perception (ESP).
Have you experienced it? What is it? Can it help solve crimes?
The Case of the Missing Teenager
Three weeks into my new role as a detective, the family of a long-term missing teenager came to us with news that a psychic had information concerning her whereabouts.
I got the job of investigating.
I liaised with the family. Their daughter had been missing for five days. A psychic had approached them. The psychic told the family she had seen their daughter in a spectral vision.
She described the clothes she had been wearing when she went missing and a large wooden barn where she was tied up. It gave the family hope that she was alive, if not well. The family was desperate for us to do something.
I interviewed the psychic and spent two days looking into her claims. She was accurate about the girl’s clothing, but all the other information she provided was vague.
The psychic had the feeling the girl was still within ten miles of her home but was being held captive by a man. She described him as being in his fifties, with a pockmarked face and wearing dungarees.
Should we be looking at farms in the area? Perhaps we could get the psychic to work on a Photofit and publicise it to see if anyone recognised him.
This dilemma is not new.
The Dutchman
Peter Hurkos was 30 when he fell from a ladder and suffered a head injury.
When he came out of his coma, he manifested powers of extrasensory perception. He could read names from a crumpled piece of paper that he hadn’t touched.
He could describe someone thousands of miles away whom he had never met, just by speaking to him on the phone.
Norma Lee Browning, a journalist for the Chicago Tribune, gave a spine-chilling report of her first meeting with Hurkos: “He scored nearly 100 percent on the tests I put him through.”
He made many accurate predictions of baseball scores, and the newspapers reported on his crime-solving feats. In Europe, they knew him as the ‘telepathic detective,’ and credited him with solving many crimes — including 27 murders in 17 countries.
Dr Joseph Banks Rhine spent 34 years of his life at Duke University exploring the powers of extrasensory perception scientifically, endeavouring to prove their validity.
He was convinced that Hurkos was the real deal.
W. Clement Stone wrote in his Success book about Dr. Rhine and the possibility that the world is on the brink of a breakthrough in discoveries of psychic phenomena more awesome than the discoveries of technology in the past.
Set a Thief to Catch a Thief
Hurkos claimed he helped with the successful solution of 27 murder cases. The detectives assigned to these cases disagreed that Hurkos contributed. He’d provided no information unobtainable from newspapers, and, in some cases, he had taken no part in the investigations whatsoever.
Scientists and journalists investigating his powers were hoodwinked by what Hurkos really was; a showman and entertainer.
Scientists and journalists are unqualified to investigate such claims. James Randi, a stage magician, and paranormal skeptic analysed transcripts of Hurkos’ performances and identified several standard cold reading techniques.
For example, Hurkos might begin with something seemingly personal but actually quite common: surgery. Hurkos would not specify that the subject underwent surgery; it could be any recent surgery of personal relevance to the subject.
If this method failed, Randi maintains, Hurkos would qualify the statement with the phrase “long time ago.”
Any operation on any family member or friend in the subject’s own life would have seemed psychic because we think of an operation as a private matter.
Randi added that the tone in Hurkos’ voice was also significant. Hurkos presented himself as confident and knowing. If he failed, he’d characterise the subject as obstinate.
W. Clement Stone’s book was published in 1962, and we are still waiting.
The Case of the Missing Teenager
I reported back to my boss. I debunked all the information the psychic provided as nonsense. My boss looked at me and said, “I know.” He already knew it was nonsense.
He picked me to investigate because I was the newest in the department and, therefore, the most expendable. The family was grasping at straws and sending me was an exercise to assure them we were doing everything possible. My involvement was to soothe their angst.
The actual detective work going on in the background. Inquiries led us to a new boyfriend, and his credit card details led us to a seaside resort in the south of England. We sent the local cops to the hotel, but the boyfriend and the girl he was with had left that morning.
A day later, the teenager returned home of her own accord and was embarrassed and angry at all the fuss.
The Police Do Not Use Extrasensory Perception
It doesn’t help solve crimes. What helps is evidence. The ABC of policing: Assume nothing. Believe no one. Challenge everything. The evidence needs testing.
How many times have you had that feeling someone is looking at you?
And when you look up, sure enough, there isn’t. But there is no significance to that. You only recall the times when someone is looking at you.
Think about it a different way. Humans are people watchers. We like to look at other people. When we see someone beautiful, we feel a rush of dopamine. We are naturally curious creatures. We often wonder what is going on in someone else’s head.
A better question to ask might be, ‘How many times have you not looked up while someone is looking at you?’
It is likely to happen so often that coincidence is equal to probability.
I know what you are thinking, you want to read more here and/or sign up to get an email when Malky publishes.
Follow The Hub Publication for practical tips and inspiring stories.