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Psychic pets and pet psychics - Investigative Files

Skeptical Inquirer, Nov-Dec, 2002 by Joe Nickell

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In one case a "talking" animal was allegedly just that: a mongoose who spoke in complete sentences. Gef, as he was called, not only spoke English but many foreign phrases as well. He appeared in 1931 on the Irving farm on the Isle of Man (in the Irish Sea) but was never reliably seen. Instead, he tossed stones at unwelcome visitors, "urinated" through cracks in walls, and--although he was partial to the family's twelve-year-old daughter, Viorrey, and allegedly lived in her room, he sometimes mischievously locked her inside with a lock that, reportedly, could only be accessed from outside the room. Psychic investigators supposed Gef was a poltergeist or perhaps a ghost.

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Not surprisingly, there were skeptics, including many fellow residents on the Isle of Man, who believed Viorrey was playing pranks. They accused her of using ventriloquism and other tricks, the effects of which were hyped by family members, reporters in search of a story, and credulous paranormalists. In fact, a reporter for the Isle of Man Examiner once caught Viorrey making a squeaking noise although her father had insisted the sound came from elsewhere in the room (Psychic Pets 1996, 72-83). In part the case recalls the celebrated magician/ventriloquist Signor Antonio Blitz who enjoyed strolling through a village and engaging in conversation with horses tied at hitching posts. Reportedly, he also "once discussed the state of the weather with a dead mackerel in a fish market and almost created a panic" (Christopher 1970, 49).

Psychic Pets

Trickery aside, what about reports of apparent animal ESP? Anecdotal evidence suggests some animals may have precognitive awareness of various types of natural catastrophes, becoming agitated before earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, cyclones, and other events. However, the creatures may actually be responding to subtle sensory factors--like variations in air pressure and tremors in the ground--that are beyond the range of human perception (Guiley 1991).

Something of the sort may explain some instances of apparent animal prescience. For example, a Kentucky friend of mine insists that his dogs seem to know when he has decided to go hunting, exhibiting a marked excitement even though they are lodged some distance away from the house. However, it seems possible that they are either responding to some unintended signal (such as recognizing certain noises associated with his getting ready for a hunting trip) or that he is selectively remembering those occasions when the dogs' excitement happens to coincide with his intentions. Another friend says he once had dogs who seemed to know when he was going to take them for a walk, but he decided he must have unconsciously signaled them (such as by glancing in the direction of their hanging leashes).

There is also considerable anecdotal evidence of animals supposedly knowing when their masters were about to suffer harm or were being harmed (Guiley 1991). The operable word here is anecdotal: such tales are notoriously untrustworthy. For example, they may be subject to selective recall, so that after a death, say, the deceased's dog is recalled to have "acted strangely" sometime before; other instances of the animals' odd behavior, that did not coincide with the event, are conveniently forgotten. Additional problems with anecdotal evidence include the narrator's ego and bias, memory distortion, and other factors.

Psychic pets and pet psychics - Investigative Files

Skeptical Inquirer, Nov-Dec, 2002 by Joe Nickell

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