Peter Hurkos

Pieter van der Hurk (21 May 1911 – 1 June 1988) known as Peter Hurkos, was a Dutchman who claimed he manifested extrasensory perception (ESP) after recovering from a head injury and coma caused by a fall from a ladder when aged 30. He went to the United States in 1956 for psychic experiments, later becoming a professional psychic who sought clues in the Manson Family murders and the Boston Strangler case. With the help of businessman Henry Belk and parapsychologist Andrija Puharich, Hurkos became a popular entertainer known for performing psychic feats before live and television audiences.

Testing and analysis

Hurkos stated in a 1960 episode of the television series One Step Beyond, after giving a lecture at Massachusetts Institute of Technology to a scientific panel, that he would participate in any scientific experiment under any circumstances. However, author and stage magician James Randi contended that Hurkos refused to allow his skill to be tested by scientists except for one session with the parapsychologist Charles Tart of the University of California, Davis. Dr. Tart's tests were negative. Randi commented "If Tart can't find such powers, they certainly aren't there!".

The parapsychologist Andrija Puharich was impressed by the stories about Hurkos and invited him to the USA in 1956 to investigate his alleged psychic abilities. Hurkos was studied at Puharich's Glen Cove, Maine, medical research laboratory under what Dr. Puharich considered to be controlled conditions. The results convinced Puharich that Hurkos had genuine psychic abilities. However the experiments were not repeated by other scientists and Puharich was described as a "credulous investigator". Raymond Buckland has written "with the exception of Dr. Andrija Puharich, not a single recognized psychic investigator has been impressed with Hurkos's performances."

During his early career as a psychic entertainer, Hurkos purported that he employed his psychic powers to discern details of audience members' private lives that he could not otherwise have known. However, the psychologist Ronald Schwartz wrote in the magazine Skeptical Inquirer that Hurkos used cold reading methods and published a transcription of such a reading in their autumn 1978 issue.

Hurkos: I see an operation. Subject: [no response]. Hurkos: Long time ago. Subject: No. We have been lucky. Hurkos: [somewhat angrily] Think! When you were a little girl. I see worried parents, and doctor, and scurrying about. Subject: [no response] Hurkos: [confidently] Long time ago. Subject: [yielding] I cannot remember for certain. Maybe you are right. I'm not sure.

James Randi analyzed this and other transcripts of Hurkos performances and professed to have identified a number of standard cold reading techniques. For example, Hurkos might begin with something seemingly personal but actually quite common: a surgery. Hurkos would not specify that the subject underwent surgery—it could be any recent surgery of personal relevance to the subject.

Hurkos made notable claims contrary to popular belief such as the claim that Adolf Hitler was alive and living in Argentina.

In 1964, Hurkos was put on trial on the charge of impersonating a federal agent, found guilty, and fined $1,000. Hurkos posed as the police officer in order to gather information that he could later claim to be psychic revelations.

The magician Milbourne Christopher in his book Mediums, Mystics and the Occult documented the errors Hurkos had made.

Authors Arthur Lyons and Marcello Truzzi PhD, also a founder of the International Remote Viewing Association, wrote the Hurkos cases were "pure bunk" in their 1991 book The Blue Sense: Psychic Detectives and Crime.

Popularization

Despite refutations, Hurkos remained famous. There have been several television specials about him, including: Japan: The Greatest Psychic in The World ... Peter Hurkos, a six-hour two-part special on TV-TOKYO and NET-TV filmed at Dr. Puharich's lab in Dobson, North Carolina, where Hurkos was specifically tested for this special, and also on location in Japan. He befriended children's TV producer Seichi Nishino of studio Knack, and became the inspiration of Chargeman Ken. He appeared three times on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. In 1960 his story was told by the television program Alcoa Presents: One Step Beyond as "The Peter Hurkos Story: Parts 1 and 2". Gold Keys Boris Karloff Thriller issue 2 (January 1963) profiles Hurkos in "The Amazing Peter Hurkos". Hurkos is mentioned in the 1979 Stephen King novel The Dead Zone. The novel seems to imply that Hurkos actually did have psychic powers.