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Psychic Surgery
Psychic Surgery
is claimed to remove tumors without leaving a skin wound. Actually, its practitioners use sleight-of-hand to create the illusion
that surgery is being performed. A false finger or thumb may be used to store a red dye that appears as "blood" when the
skin is "cut." Animal parts or cotton wads soaked in the dye
are palmed and then exhibited as "diseased organs" supposedly removed from the patient's body. (However, one Philippine
"healer" has been reported to use human blood, which raises the possibility that HIV or hepatitis B could be transmitted.)
The American Cancer Society has concluded that "all demonstrations to date of psychic surgery have been done by various
forms of trickery." Most "psychic surgeons" practice in the Philippines or Brazil, but some have made tours within the
United States. A few have been prosecuted for theft and/or practicing medicine without a license.
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