James Hydrick
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James Hydrick was a martial arts instructor and self-described psychic who claimed to be able to move objects with his mind. He was exposed as a fraud and confessed.
James Hydrick's brief brushes with fame occurred in the early 1980s in Salt Lake City, where he developed a cult-like following. He claimed he was able to use psychokinesis to turn the pages of books and make pencils spin around while placed on the edge of a desk, amongst other feats. Hydrick rose to international attention through his demonstration of these skills on the American television show, "That's Incredible!". Notice that he performed it with the skeptical host's hand on his mouth to block possible air blowing.
He had also set up martial arts classes and claimed he could pass on the gift of psychokinesis to youngsters through special training techniques.
However, his fame was not long-lasting. He appeared on the television program That's My Line (hosted by Bob Barker) along with well-known magician and debunker James Randi. Hydrick moved a pencil and turned the pages of a phone book, claiming to be using only his mental powers. However, when Randi performed the simple control of placing small strips of lightweight foam around the phone book (to show if Hydrick was actually turning the pages by blowing on them), Hydrick's "powers" suddenly failed him. After a few minutes of Hydrick staring at the pages and indignantly claiming that his powers were real, he finally admitted defeat. The judging panel (which included a parapsychologist) stated that, in their opinion, no supernatural phenomenon had taken place.[1]
His psychic powers were definitively exposed as being fraudulent by investigative journalist Dan Korem who discovered that Hydrick had developed an extraordinary talent for blowing almost undetectable but highly powerful and focussed jets of air from his mouth. Hydrick eventually confessed his fraud and admitted that he had developed his unique talent while he was in prison, and did not learn it from a Chinese master as he had originally claimed.
Hydrick's fraud resulted in the television show That's Incredible receiving a Pigasus Award.
