Psychic surgery

Psychic surgery is allegedly a paranormal surgical procedure. It is associated with the Philippines and performed by self-styled psychic doctors or psychic surgeons. Its practitioners claim it involves the extraction of "tumors" or other presumed pathological objects (pus, bones, and so on) from the patient's body through a bloody but painless and invisible "incision", often made with bare hands and without the use of antiseptics or anesthetics. Usually the practitioners claim special magical abilities.

The website of practitioner Rev. Leony Romero describes the practice thus:

the few Filipinos who are born with the gift of a psychic surgeon are able to raise the vibration of their hands to be able to pass through physical matter. When touching a patient the area touched matches the vibration and can be opened up like an incision. The healer can then remove tumors, calcification, blockage, and diseased energy turned to physical matter.

The procedure originated in the Philippines 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 "[we] 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."

Perhaps the most famous psychic surgeon is Alex Orbito, who became well-known in the U. S. through association with actress Shirley MacLaine, who wrote about him in her best-selling book, Going Within: A Guide for Inner Transformation. In 1999 Orbito built the Pyramid of Asia Spiritual Healing Center in Cabanbanan, Manaoag, and from 1999 through 2004 conducted International Healing Festivals there. The 1999 inauguration was attended by Fidel V. Ramos, former President of the Philippines. The center features an 200-meter-high pyramid, constructed entirely of wood and stone and containing no screws, nails, or any electrically conductive material at all. (As of 2005 it requires extensive repairs due to termite damage). Orbito owns Orbit Tours and Travel Agency, which offers "tours of the Philippines for the purpose of encountering spiritual healer Rev. Alex L. Orbito."

Psychic surgery was discredited by the U. S. Federal Trade Commission in 1975. In a unanimous opinion, the commission declared 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."

James Randi has repeatedly exposed psychic surgery as a fraudulent sleight-of-hand confidence trick. He has stated 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. He has shown how he can replicate the effects himself by sleight-of-hand. Professional magicians Milbourne Christopher and Robert Gurtler have also observed psychic surgeons' and claim to have spotted the use of sleight-of-hand.

Psychic surgery made U. S. tabloid headlines in March 1984 when comedian Andy Kaufman, diagnosed with 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. Kaufman died of metastatic carcinoma on May 16, 1984.

While not generally hazardous to the patient, medical fraud of this kind carries considerable risk of the patient delaying or forgoing any competent medical help — sometimes with fatal consequences.

In 1990, the American Cancer Society stated:

The American Cancer Society has found no evidence that "psychic surgery" results in objective benefit in the treatment of any medical condition. Lacking such evidence, the American Cancer Society strongly urges individuals who are ill not to seek treatment by psychic surgery."

Treatments described as "psychic surgery" are practiced in Brazil. According to the descriptions of Y. Omura (1997), Brazilian psychic surgery appears to be different from that practiced in the Philippines. Omura refers to practitioners using using techniques resembling Qi Jong, Shiatsu massage, and chiropractic manipulation. Many patients were injected with a brown liquid, and minor surgery was performed in about 1/5 of the cases observed; "the clamping of the blood vessels and the closings of the surgical wounds were performed by licensed surgeons or licensed nurses."

There are a handful of practitioners in the U.K., notably Stephen Turoff, who operates the Danbury Healing Clinic in Chelmsford, England. 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 should not be confused with psychosurgery.

See also

• Pseudoscience

External links

• Unconventional therapies - Psychic Surgery (http://www.bccancer.bc.ca/PPI/UnconventionalTherapies/PsychicSurgery.htm) — overview by the British Columbia Cancer Agency
• Psychic "surgery" (http://skepdic.com/psurgery.html) — definition in the Skeptic's Dictionary
• The Facts About Faith Healing (http://www.netasia.net/users/truehealth/Psychic%20Surgery.htm) — article about fraud in faith healing.

References

• Andy Kaufman's death certificate (http://andykaufman.jvlnet.com/death.htm) "Metastatic carcinoma"
• Filipino faith healing (http://inainainc.org/staff.htm) as described on a healer's website
• "F.T.C. Curtails the Promotion Of All Psychic Surgery Tours" New York Times October 25, 1975 p. 27. (FTC: "nothing but a total hoax...")
• "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")
• Omura, Y (1997): "Impression on observing psychic surgery and healing in Brazil" Acupunct. Electrother. Res. 1997;22(1):17-33. Abstract (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=9188913&dopt=Abstract)
• Pyramid of Asia (http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid_of_Asia) German Wikipedia article with photo
• [http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2004/nov/29/yehey/prov/20041129pro2.html Repairs to Pangasinan’s pyramid

to start next year, says healers group] Manila Times article on late-2004 status of Orbito's Pyramid of Asia

• "Psychic Surgery" (1990) Ca. Cancer J. Clin. 40(3) 184-8 Abstract (http://caonline.amcancersoc.org/cgi/content/abstract/40/3/184) Full text (http://caonline.amcancersoc.org/cgi/reprint/40/3/184.pdf) Terte/Agpaoa origins; exposed by Milbourne Christopher and Robert Gurtler.
• "Sideshows of Science," David Perlman, San Francisco Chronicle, January 8, 2001; text (http://www.rickross.com/reference/general/general327.html). Reference to "psychic underground"
• Randi, J. (1989) The Faith Healers. Prometheus Books.

Template:Para-stub