Science of Scams - Factoids

Telekinesis

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James Randi challenges the telekinesis powers of James Hydrick. Hydrick later confessed he was a fake.
In September 2006, a survey about belief in various religious and paranormal topics polled Americans on their belief in telekinesis. Of the participants, 28% of male participants and 31% of female participants selected "agree" or "strongly agree" with the statement "It is possible to influence the world through the mind alone". There were 1,721 participants.
Project Alpha was a hoax designed by James Randi, Steve Shaw, and Mike Edwards from 1979-1983. Randi trained the two young magicians to fake psychic powers while being investigated in a serious scientific setting. They were able to fool the scientists for four years through more than 160 hours of experiments on their paranormal powers. The deception was only revealed when Randi and his team decided to expose the hoax themselves.
Learning about Telekinesis at school
Telekinesis, or TK, literally means "distant-movement" and is often used to refer to the direct influence of the mind on a physical object. Examples of TK include apparently moving an object through thought alone or making an object bend through concentration. Telekinesis always fails under true scientific testing.
Telekinesis is also referred to as psychokinesis or PK.
The term was originally coined in 1890 by the psychical researcher Frederick Myers.
Frederick Myers, along with Edmund Gurney and Henry Sidgwick was one of the founders of the Society for Psychical Research in 1882.
The Society for Psychical Research (SPR) is the oldest organisation, still operating today, dedicated to the scientific investigation of the paranormal.
In 1875, the French spirit photographer Edouard Isidore Buguet released a hoaxed telekinesis photograph entitled Fluidic Effect.