The girl with the X-ray eyes

If you need any more evidence for people’s incredible gullibility, then here it is. She’s from Russia, she has ‘medical vision’ that enables her to look inside you and diagnose your ailments. And all for only a small fee. Of course she’s been a huge hit in Russia but now she’s over here and managed to secure herself a TV gig.

But here in Britain we’re above all that, aren’t we? Apparently not. On ITV’s This Morning she diagnosed Fern Briton’s sore ankle and convinced the resident doctor, Chris Steele, to rush to the hospital for a scan. The man is a medical doctor for God’s sake!

When the real scientists, headed by Professor Richard Wiseman, moved in, the scam was soon exposed. But the fact remains that we want to believe. We really want to believe.

> From The Guardian

Author: Dr Jeremy Dean

Psychologist, Jeremy Dean, PhD is the founder and author of PsyBlog. He holds a doctorate in psychology from University College London and two other advanced degrees in psychology. He has been writing about scientific research on PsyBlog since 2004.

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