Dr. Richard Ireland

billw

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Here are parts 1 and 2 of Dr. Richard Ireland’s appearance on the Steve Allen show in 1969. I recall this being discussed on the old forum (and even posting on the thread) but I don’t remember any clear or reasonable explanations. Even as someone who believes psychic phenomena is real (not a myth), and can be clearly demonstrated in real life situations, I have a hard time fathoming it at this level.

So, exactly how do you think he accomplished this? Please note if you think either Steve Allen and/or the crew was involved or if they were genuinely unaware and/or trying to trick him with the bill placed in Allen’s pocket:



Also keep in mind that Steve Allen was a skeptic:

http://www.csicop.org/si/show/tribute_to_steve_allen

Here is a negative commentary on Ireland from 1991, but it isn’t useful in terms of honest analysis of Ireland:

http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/1991-09-11/news/the-flamboyant-clairvoyant/

Cheers,
Bill
 
http://www.drrichardireland.com/gifts.html
...
Richard describes how he became aware of his psychic abilities:
...
Psychic vision is not like seeing with your eyes. It is more like seeing with your whole consciousness. While it seems more frontally directed, it does have a much broader horizon of sight than physical vision and yet not with the clarity of physical vision. It is much more like discerning shapes, and objects as in a darkened room at night when there is just enough light to see the outline of things. Also it is sort of pulsating. It comes and goes. It is similar to the ebb and flow of the sea in some ways."
 
I had never heard about Richard Ireland before, but I think it is possible that someone with such abilities could exist and some skeptics would not be convinced. Scientific verification isn't the answer. Targ and Puthoff's paper on Uri Geller in Nature (http://www.uri-geller.com/books/geller-papers/g3.htm) did little to change the mainstream scientific view. People often ask what would cause a paradigm shift? It is a difficult question. There is plenty of extraordinary evidence but it is ignored and no shift has occurred.
 
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Read what I wrote in the second paragraph above. I don't thimk it could be any clearer.

Cheers,
Bill
Well, finding out how the trick is done is easy. The blindfold trick is done by peeking down the side of the nose. (Ireland never closes the gap down the left side of the nose. He places a piece of tape from the nose to the cheek which bridges the gap, and then gets it to temporarily stick down by pushing it into the gap (at 4:50). But this will easily come loose as soon as he moves his face and he hides this by placing a black blindfold over top. After that he can read the cards which are right in his line of vision on the table top.) I'm questioning the wisdom of "as long as nobody can tell me how the trick is done, I can believe its psi".

Linda
 
Well, finding out how the trick is done is easy. The blindfold trick is done by peeking down the side of the nose. (Ireland never closes the gap down the left side of the nose. He places a piece of tape from the nose to the cheek which bridges the gap, and then gets it to temporarily stick down by pushing it into the gap (at 4:50). But this will easily come loose as soon as he moves his face and he hides this by placing a black blindfold over top. After that he can read the cards which are right in his line of vision on the table top.) I'm questioning the wisdom of "as long as nobody can tell me how the trick is done, I can believe its psi".

Linda
I didn't even pay much attention to the blindfolds, because when they said "cards" I just assumed they were inside envelopes! The video was grainy and I could only see white, and didn't notice that the writing was visible.

Cheers,
Bill
 
Well, finding out how the trick is done is easy. The blindfold trick is done by peeking down the side of the nose. (Ireland never closes the gap down the left side of the nose. He places a piece of tape from the nose to the cheek which bridges the gap, and then gets it to temporarily stick down by pushing it into the gap (at 4:50). But this will easily come loose as soon as he moves his face and he hides this by placing a black blindfold over top. After that he can read the cards which are right in his line of vision on the table top.) I'm questioning the wisdom of "as long as nobody can tell me how the trick is done, I can believe its psi".

Linda

I haven't seen the clip of Ireland, but I wanna ask you (since you seem to know about magic-tricks etc) about another quite common trick some illusionists do. It is the "word in a book"-trick. The illusionist is in a library, or a bookstore, and ask a person to take any book of the shelf, ANY book out of hundreds - or thousands - and open it on a random page, choose a random line, and choose a random word from it, close the book and then concentrate on the word, and then the illusionist tells the person the word. If the man is not an autistic book worm, how does he do it?

Mind you, it's not done with a "accomplice". I've read some interviews where the journalists interviewing the illusionist have suggesting the trick, not done in the illusionist own home and library, and they still get the word right. You got an idea how it's done?
 
I haven't seen the clip of Ireland, but I wanna ask you (since you seem to know about magic-tricks etc) about another quite common trick some illusionists do. It is the "word in a book"-trick. The illusionist is in a library, or a bookstore, and ask a person to take any book of the shelf, ANY book out of hundreds - or thousands - and open it on a random page, choose a random line, and choose a random word from it, close the book and then concentrate on the word, and then the illusionist tells the person the word. If the man is not an autistic book worm, how does he do it?

Mind you, it's not done with a "accomplice". I've read some interviews where the journalists interviewing the illusionist have suggesting the trick, not done in the illusionist own home and library, and they still get the word right. You got an idea how it's done?

I'd probably have to see a specific example to start thinking about how it might be done.

Linda
 
I hate to say it, but I think fls is right.

I had never noticed before, but there is a difference in how he puts the tape on each side of his face. Also, he seems to know how the information is written e.g., what kind of pen, and also in one of the first readings he get confused between"Chesten" and "Olesten" - a strange confusion until you think about the similarities between a handwritten 'Ch' and 'Ol.' There's a lot of moving those cards around too, up to his head, back down, waving them around....

Taking the 5 pound note from Allen's pocket may not necessarily indicate that others were in on it. It is possible that Ireland saw Allen fiddling with something in his pocket, or even saw the passing of the note earlier.

He was an entertaining guy, but I won't bank on him being psychic.
 
I hate to say it, but I think fls is right.
I agree. I never bothered looking closely at the blindfold because I thought the cards were sealed in envelopes. I've witnessed accurate psychics before, but I don't believe it's possible for any psychic to be get a "flow of perceptions" like THAT. Thinking the cards were in envelopes, I figured SOMETHING else had to be going on, like involvement of others, which was why I posted this. As far as the bill in Allen's pocket, it was probably sticking out a bit, and would have been in his line of sight also.

Cheers,
Bill
 
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