by James Randi
Just as the Zancigs were at the top of their form, Agnes died. Julius was genuinely attached to her, and his grief at losing the mate who had spent so many long years developing the very difficult and sophisticated methods by which they communicated was profound. He eventually remarried, this time to a Brooklyn schoolteacher named Ada. She was a confirmed spiritualist, and though she managed to learn the rudiments of the act, she was extremely shy and ashamed to face the audience with a blatantly fake act. For that reason, she performed with her head down and in a barely audible voice.
Seeing that Ada was unsuitable as a partner, Julius sought for another, and found Paul Vucci, a young man who was to eventually become an outstanding sleight-of-hand nightclub performer under the name Paul Rosini. Though Paul (who was called Henry in the act) was very proficient as a partner, the problem was that he was just draft age in 1917 and was about to become Uncle Sam's involuntary partner. Julius was fortunate enough to happen upon a thirteen-year-old youth named David Bamberg, who dropped into the position neatly for a while. (Bamberg went on to become a famous conjuror, touring with an oriental act in South America as Fu Manchu.)
Eventually Ada went back into service with Julius, but in his later years he, too, apparently began to accept spiritualism and spent much time at séances. The public enthusiasm for the Zancigs faded, and the act was soon working at carnivals and in cheap tent shows. To the dismay of his colleagues, Julius dedicated more and more of his time to belief in “real” psychic claims, and finally died in very impoverished circumstances in 1929.
Zener, Dr. Karl
(1903-1963) In the early 1930s, a Swiss psychologist named Zener, a partner of Dr. Joseph Banks Rhine, designed a set of cards bearing five symbols which he felt were sufficiently different from one another that they would be ideal for conducting certain tests, among them extrasensory perception (ESP) tests. These symbols are: circle, plus sign, wavy lines, square, and star.
The five symbols developed by Dr. Karl Zener for use in tests of extrasensory perception.
These are normally used in a deck of twenty-five cards, five of each symbol. For decades, Zener cards have been employed in parapsychological laboratories in the search for the ever-elusive powers called telepathy and clairvoyance. So far, in spite of millions of bits of data gathered through that extensive exploration, experiments with Zener cards have failed to yield convincing, replicable results.
After a few years of association with Dr. Rhine, Zener began efforts to have him removed from the campus of Duke University, fearing the burden that the university would have to bear for being connected with parapsychology.
Zodiac
The part of the sky through which the Sun, Moon, and planets move relative to the starry background. The zodiac consists of the twelve astrological signs as well as several other constellations that are ignored by the astrologers. Each sign is itself divided into twelve “houses,” which are said to determine a human characteristic or prospect such as love, home, travel, death, health, and employment.
The idea of the zodiac appears to date from the fifth century B.C. There is a tablet in the Louvre Museum, Paris, dated at about 300 B.C., which is the earliest known listing of the signs.
Parts of the human body were assigned to be governed by each of the twelve signs, and the signs were used as a method of diagnosis by early physicians. An analysis of the positions of the planets against the zodiac, along with their attributes, was believed to indicate the appropriate treatment.
Zombie
In Haitian voodoo, a deceased human who is resurrected minus soul and can be made to perform simple tasks as a laborer. Some anthropologists have attempted to explain the legend by invoking the possible use of special drugs that they believe might simulate death and enslave the victim.
The fact that the idea of real zombies has been taken seriously in Haiti can be seen in their old penal code, where it is stated that “the use of substances whereby a person is not killed but reduced to a state of lethargy, more or less prolonged,” falls under the category of “intention to kill by poisoning.”
APPENDIX I
Transcript of the "R" Reading
Note: "M" is the medium, and "C" is the client. This is an accurate, complete transcript of an actual thirty-minute professional reading done in 1990 for a very satisfied customer who paid $45 for the service and who believed that the reader had obtained valuable information for him.
M: Does Mark or Michael mean anything to you?
C: Michael more than Mark, yes.
M: Yes. I felt one or the other. Is Michael . . . I feel I want to put him quite close to you.
C: Yes, he's my eldest son.
M: That's it. Because I couldn't decide . . . the reason I questioned was . . . because I wasn't sure if he was a son or a brother, but I knew he should link there. I've got a lady here who sends much love to your son, to your children. You've got three. Is that right?
C: Ah, two.
M: Then why do I...do you...you have two sons. Then why do I want a third? Did you lose one?
C: No.
M: How odd. Because there's a third child. This lady is quite adamant. [laughs] Oh. All right. OK. You see, it's a girl. Two girl . . . two boys and a girl, and the only thing I can assume, perhaps, is that there is a girl who is, has been like a part of the family.
C: There's a dog.
M: Do you have a female dog? [laughs] I won't accept that as a message, because I can hear this lady laughing. This lady feels like your mother. Is your mother in spirit?
C: [interrupts] Yes.
M: And she came in with a great flutter, and a laugh, and she said to me, you're so much better, so that's good, and, ah, life has settled down quite a lot.
C: Yes. Yeah.
M: And she's pleased about that and she's . . . does she . . . Who's Derek? Who's Derek?
C: Derek is a nephew.
M: She's . . . she's saying she's pleased about him, so obviously there's something she's pleased about where Derek is concerned, which is nice . . . and she's also telling me . . . and your job . . . isn't that good? So it's all good. [laughs] Does that make sense?
C: Well, I hope so.
M: [coughs] Well, she's quite excited about it, and then she just said, when you said you hope so, she said, "Go on, you know so." So obviously there's some kind of leg-up. There's some kind of . . . something happening now that's good. And she's very pleased. And supporters don't come much stronger than your mum! [laughs]
C: Right.
M: She's been through it quite a while, she tells me.
C: Yes.
M: And she's never stopped watching over you. What . . . she must have been . . . I must be going back, sort of, something over five years . . .
C: Oh, yes.
M: That's right, because what she told me was that you had hair when she . . .
C: That's . . .
M: When she went. You've . . . you've obviously been out of contact quite a while [laughs] and she's laughing. And John. Now who's John? [pause] John feels like a brother. Now, am I wrong with John? Does Jim make more sense?
C: John? John on Earth, or——
M: [interrupts] Yes.
C: Ummm . . . only in a business sense.
M: Well, that's interesting. Well, I suppose it's not that I've misunderstood, that perhaps, because she was actually talking about your work. So, is John a partner, or somebody that you work with?
C: Sort of. He's not a partner in . . . in the sort of legal sense of the word.
M: No, but you work with him?
C: Yes.
M: Because I wanted to put him a bit like a brother, because which meant that she put him beside you. [pause] Now she's laughing because you wouldn't seem like a brother. [pause, laughs] But on the other hand he's . . . he's been quite supportive.
C: Yes.
M: So that's good. And your mother just said that the one thing you don't lack is friends.
C: No.
M: She's sp
eaking of a very recent passing.
C: Yes.
M: Somebody . . . I mean I'm only going back a couple of months or so, or something like that. Does that make sense?
C: Yes.
M: And I feel that there's . . . come on, now, who's that I'm talking about? [pause] One of those problems that you can walk in . . . I feel I've got a lady. [pause] And the reason I question that is because I felt her talking about a man, so that was my . . . my problem. So is this lady an aunt or . . .
C: [interrupts] Yes.
M: And is her husband still here?
C: No. She was a spinster.
M: She was a spinster, then. A gentleman here, that she would have been very concerned about?
C: [pause] Can't think of anyone, really.
M: Well, then in that case . . . it's . . . ummm . . . if you were close to her . . . and she . . .
C: Yes.
M: And she would be concerned . . . for you . . . because I knew that it was a man she'd left here. So that makes sense to me. And she's just wanted to give you her love. Colin. Who's Colin? [pause] Or Kevin?
C: [long pause] I . . . I can't say I——
M: [interrupts] Come on, aunt, please. Give me somebody a bit clearer. Somebody's name begins with a K . . . Could be Katherine, I suppose. Or Karen. I'm not sure. Ummm. [coughs, laughs] But I would want to put it close.
C: [long pause] No.
M: [laughs] I don't get the feeling yet . . . we'll pass that by, because if it's important it will come back. She's . . . I don't get the feeling of her being a very big lady——
C: [interrupts] No, she wasn't.
M: And as she got older, she got littler, she tells me. A "May." Now, why "May"?
C: The month of May?
M: I'm not sure. She just said, "May," that it's "May." Now, sometimes people who have only just recently gone, they can bring in sort of a very staccato type of message, but May . . . whose birthday is in May?
C: [long pause] I can't think——
M: [interrupts] Actually I think it's more a name. I really do, because I can feel her going, "No." [pause] Unless it's Mary. She could be saying Mary . . .
C: I can take Mary.
M: Mary would make more sense, would it?
C: Yes, yes.
M: Is Mary an aunt? Or——
C: [interrupts] No. She was a cousin. By marriage.
M: Oh, well, fine. That's okay. Is she in spirit?
C: Yes.
M: Then I understand that. But she's been in . . . been gone a lot longer?
C: Ah . . . a couple of years.
M: That's it. Well, a lot longer than your aunt——
C: [interrupts] Oh, yes. Yes.
M: So . . . because she's a bit more able . . . because I thought she said, "It's May," but it's Mary . . . and ummm . . . she's quite a nice lady . . . but I think she was a bit bigger than your aunt——
C: [interrupts] Oh, yes. Yes.
M: [laughs] 'Cause she's a big lady. [laughs] Ummm . . . and your aunt was such a sick lady before she passed. [pause] I feel that when she went, she was just tired.
C: Yes.
M: That's what she tells me. She says, "I was so tired. I didn't want to eat, I didn't want to do anything. I just was tired. I'd had enough." So, I think that whatever they put on her death certificate, it would have really meant that she gave up. She didn't want to live anymore. She'd had enough . . .
C: Yes.
M: I think she might have had a little stroke, because I can feel as if something went . . .
C: Yes, she did.
M: But again, it was just something to . . . to herald the end . . . and Ellen. [pause] Or Eileen.
C: I can accept Ellen, but I can't think why she would be saying Ellen.
M: Well, is Ellen in spirit?
C: Oh, no, no . . . she . . . she's a cousin.
M: She's a cousin.
C: Well, a second cousin.
M: Of yours?
C: Of mine.
M: Well, it's . . . there's a family link . . .
C: Yes . . .
M: One of the problems here is that when somebody is speaking to me they can . . . [pause] Oh, you must know Connie?
C: [laughs] Connie's the dog!
M: Who's the dog?
C: It's a neighbor of ours. They've got the same sort of dog as we have.
M: And you've got a Connie dog! Now I understand! Now I understand! And it's a girl! Oh, yes . . . I understand. [pause] And they're laughing . . . and they're laughing. And, ummm . . . [pause] I think Ellen or Eileen is wrong. I think it might be Lillian. Or Lynne. But there is another name, but I think it's . . . I don't think Ellen is right. I think there's another name. [pause] Could even be Liz. Or Lisa. It's a name like that. But it's . . .
C: I've got a niece named Lisa.
M: You have.
C: And my wife's name is Lesley.
M: Lesley. That's much better. Forgive me, because when I said Ellen, and you said . . . and I went back and I thought, "No." [pause] She's not Lesley Ann, is she?
C: No.
M: Does Ann make any sense? Or N? [pause] If it doesn't, then don't worry. Because the "Luh," Lesley and Lisa, make much more sense to me . . . than Ellen, because it's the L she was trying to give me, you see, and of course I misunderstood her. I just wondered why I picked up the N. And I know there is a lot of love for your wife and family. And Steve. Now, who's Steve?
C: He's the lodger at the moment.
M: He's . . . he's living with you at the moment. [whispers, laughs] He's all right, he's all right. But she just said, "Isn't he untidy?" [laughs, pause] Even worse than the boys.
C: Yes. Yes, I suppose he is.
M: Who's David?
C: That's my brother.
M: That's your brother. . . . Okay, I'm glad she's corrected that one. He's not Lisa's father, is he?
C: Yes.
M: So we've put it together. She's a very sparkling lady, your aunt. She wasn't, before she went. She wants you to know that she is now . . . and it's important, because she was for so long . . . her room, her whole world was reduced to nothing . . .
C: That's right.
M: And now, she can do what she likes and go where she likes and that's wonderful. But it doesn't stop her worrying about you . . . and . . . uh . . . but you've got such a lot of help on your side from all those who've come, and it's funny it's ladies who've come. They're all ladies who have come this morning, which is nice. Because sometimes we need . . . we need a sort of a feminine input when we're, you know . . . because . . . ladies are very comforting . . . and you've got enough ladies there to be comforting. [pause] And there's a wedding. [pause] Is there a wedding coming up?
