How can people appear telepathic, and what is the history of duos demonstrating this type of mindreading as entertainment? Two-person theatrical mindreading acts have been popular in the U.S. and Europe since the mid-1800s, with even earlier roots. Regular Skeptic magazine contributor, Michelle Ainsworth, reviews A First Look at Second Sight by Bob Loomis, and Cues: Variations on the Second Sight Act by Leo Behnke.
Most skeptics are familiar with modern psychics who pretend to read people’s minds and talk to dead people. In this review essay, Michelle Ainsworth discusses the many mind readers and fortune tellers between 1920 and 1940 who practiced their art of cold reading on the radio, fooling people then as they do today into believing that somehow the spirits were able to come through from the great beyond into radio stations.
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