AGPAOA, Tony
(Investigator 212, 2023 September)
Psychic surgery is the gift of performing invasive surgery without
anaesthesia, cutting the flesh or leaving a scar. Almost exclusively
practiced by the spiritual healers of the Philippines, Tony Agpaoa is
probably one of the best known.
The terminally ill, the sick and the desperate from all over the world
have been drawn to the Philippines seeking a cure for what ails them
with some remarkable results.
The operations are truly amazing to watch. One I witnessed, the removal
of a tumor from a male patient’s stomach, I would not have believed had
I been told about it instead of seeing it with my own eyes. The
"surgeon" kneeded the patient's stomach, his fingers gradually
disappearing inside as blood spurted out. Then deftly removing some
bloody tissue he wiped off the area and pronounced the man cured. There
was no sign of a scar or anything to indicate that an operation had
been performed. Sceptics and investigators have on many occasions
exposed psychic surgeons as frauds using sleight-of-hand tricks, false
thumbs and balloons containing blood. Analysis has shown that tumors
allegedly removed from a person's body were in fact animal and not
human tissue. Despite the exposures, these operations do in many cases
have a beneficial effect particularly on those suffering from
psychosomatic illnesses.
Comment:
There is no doubt, at least to the rational mind, while non-invasive
surgery such as that describe above is impressive albeit bizarre to
watch, psychic surgery is undoubtedly a fraudulent practice - the
illusion relies on sleight of hand and the proclivity of people to
believe - it is a form of faith healing attracting thousands of the
often desperately ill, many of whom die after being "cured" by a
psychic surgeon.
The practitioners have been exposed time and time again on slow motion
film and many have ended up in courts of law. An American Federal Court
Trade Commission judgement in 1975, determined that "psychic surgery"
and "psychic healing" are pure fakery and fraud accomplished by the
deception and trickery of the "psychic surgeons" to deceive trusting
persons into the false and mistaken belief that human bodies have been
opened with the bare hands, diseased material or disease causing
material removed and the incision closed all without pain or suffering.
Concomitant with fraud, many people jeopardise their lives by opting in
favour of "psychic surgery" rather than conventional treatment, and the
terminally ill have their hopes falsely raised.
Further reading:
Hines, T. 1988. Pseudoscience and the Paranormal. Prometheus Books, Buffalo, New York.
Nolen, William A. 1975. Healing: A Doctor in Search of a Miracle. Fawcett Publications, Inc., Greenwich, Conn.
Randi, James. 1980. Flim-Flam. Lippincott and Crowell. New York.
From: Edwards, H. 1994 Magic Minds Miraculous Moments, Harry Edwards Publications