In the Soviet Union several cases have been reported recently of people
who can read and detect colours with their fingers, and even see through
solid doors and walls. One case concerns an eleven-year-old schoolgirl,
Vera Petrova, who has normal vision but who can also perceive things with different parts of her skin, and through solid walls. This ability was first
noticed by her father. One day she came into his office and happened to
put her hands on the door of a locked safe. Suddenly she asked her father
why he kept so many old newspapers locked away there,
and even described the way they were done up in bundles.
Veras curious talent was brought to the notice of a scientific research
institute in the town of UIyanovsk, near where she lives,
and in April she was given a series of tests by a special commission of
the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federal Republic.
During these tests she was able to read a newspaper through
an opaque screen and, stranger still, by moving her elbow over
a childs game of Lotto she was able to describe the figures
and colours printed on it; and, in another instance,
wearing stockings and slippers, to make out with her foot the outlines
and colours of a picture hidden under a carpet.
Other experiments showed that her knees and shoulders had a similar sensitivity. During all these tests Vera was blindfold; and, indeed,
except when blindfold she lacked the ability to perceive things with her skin.
lt was also found that although she could perceive things
with her fingers this ability ceased the moment her hands were wet. |