<span class="SFPTagline"> From SCIFIPEDIA </span>

Contact mind reading was first exhibited by John Randall Brown in 1872. Brown, a Chicago newspaper reporter at the time, first used the technique to entertain his co-workers by finding various objects that had been hidden around the office. The stunt became so popular that Brown eventually accepted a challenge to find a pin hidden somewhere in the city of Chicago. Brown not only located the pin, he used the publicity generated to launch a new career as a performer.

In 1874, Dr. George Miller Beard, fascinated by this new phenomenon, began writing about the topic for various scientific journals. Beard also coined the term "muscle reading" to describe Brown's method.

Other early presenters of contact mind reading include Washing Irving Bishop, a former assistant to Brown; Charles Garner, who later changed his name to Stuart Cumberland, a former assistant to Bishop; and a German mentalist, born Axel Vogt, who performed as Hellstrom. Vogt's performance at a magician's convention in 1928 helped re-introduce this amazing and little-known technique to a new generation of magic performers. His name became synonymous with the method when two books explaining his technique were published in 1935; both entitled, "Hellstromism."

Around this same period, Hungarian mentalist Franz Polgar originated the idea of having his paycheck for an evening's entertainment hidden by a committee. The thought being, if he did not locate the check at the end of the show; he was not paid for the occasion. The presentation proved a huge hit and the idea has been subsequently adopted by many later mentalists, including Kreskin.

Related Terms and Articles

• Psychometry
• Telepathy

Reference

Contact Mind Reading Expanded - Dariel Fitzkee, 1945