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UNRAVELLING THE ENIGMA OF PsyCHIC SURGERY UNRAVELLING ENIGMA THE SURGERY PSYCHIC Filipino Christian Spiritist healers claim they perform their miraculous, fourth-dimensional operations through the intercession of Spirit Protectors under the direction of Jesus Christ. f all the controversies that have emerged around the various forms of spiritual healing, none has reached the level of controversy surrounding "psychic surgery". In the 1958 book, Into the Strange Unknown, written by reporters Ron Ormond and Ormond McGill, are the first references to what would later be termed "psychic surgery". Ron Ormond used the term "fourth-dimensional operations" to describe the paranormal healing work of Eleuterio Terte, whom Ormond referred to as a "fourth-dimensional surgeon". Ormond wrote: "A patient suffering from what had been diagnosed as a gallstone lay on the table, abdomen bared. Terte's thumb and forefinger of his right hand sank out of sight into the flesh. As his fingers disappeared within the man, the choir commenced their singing, stopping only when the healer's hands emerged with the gallstone, which he dropped into the waiting jar of alcohol." He went on to say: "In each operation, there was seemingly no pain, no bleeding, no open wound of any kind." Overwhelmed by what they had seen, the reporters interviewed the patients, one of whom told them: "God had performed the miracle, using the man, Terte, as His instru- ment." Terte confirmed this observation, saying: "I can do nothing unless the power of the Spirit Protector is within me." On their way back to Manila, the reporters discussed the amazing events they had wit- nessed. Ormond asked McGill: "What is your verdict?" McGill replied: "Either that man is working miracles, or he's the greatest magician that ever lived." In conclusion, Ron Ormond summarised: "I, and McGill, 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." Lacking any understanding of the religious beliefs and spiritual practices of the "fourth- dimensional surgeons", well-meaning but misinformed parapsychologists attempted to define what they had witnessed. The very term "psychic surgery", coined by the writer Harold Sherman, suggested that the spiritual healing practices of the Filipinos, derived from their religious practices, were equivalent in some way to the surgical procedures of Western medicine. This supposition aroused the ire of Western doctors and set into motion a concerted effort on the part of the Western medical profession to prove that "psychic surgery" was a fraudulent and deceitful form of medical quackery. On close examination, it became apparent that, in addition to the genuine miracles that had been thoroughly documented, some of the "psychic surgeons" were simulating the "operations" with a sophisticated and innovative form of sleight of hand. In 1974, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Senate Subcommittee on Health and Long Term Care held hearings on psychic surgery. In these hearings, the FTC heard the testimonies of 48 witnesses and reviewed 134 exhibits. According to these wit- nesses, the Filipino healers had defrauded their patients by palming small plastic bags which contained blood and tissue. The witnesses maintained that the Filipino healers were defrauding their patients by producing these plastic bags in sleight-of-hand simula- tions of surgery. Working from the premise that Filipino healers were impersonating surgeons, thereby practising medicine illegally, police began setting up sting operations in order to prosecute them. In 1984, congressional hearings, chaired by Claude Pepper, reviewed the files of five governmental agencies: the FTC, American Cancer Society, National Institutes of by Harvey Martin © 1999 Metamind Publications PO Box 15548 Savannah, GA 31416, USA Tel: 1888 777 7417 (toll-free in USA) Fax: +1 (912) 598 4900 E-mail: enigma@sysconn.com Website: www.metamind.net NEXUS - 25 by Harvey Martin © 1999 OCTOBER — NOVEMBER 1999