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Pieter van der Hurk (21 May 1911 – 1 June 1988) known as Peter Hurkos, was a Dutch people who claimed he manifested extrasensory perception (ESP) after recovering from a head injury and coma caused by a fall from a ladder when aged 30. He went to the United States in 1956 for psychic experiments, later becoming a professional psychic who sought clues in the Manson Family murders and the Boston Strangler case. With the help of businessman Henry Belk and Parapsychology Andrija Puharich, Hurkos became a popular entertainer known for performing psychic feats before live and television audiences.
The parapsychologist Andrija Puharich was impressed by the stories about Hurkos and invited him to the USA in 1956 to investigate his alleged psychic abilities. Hurkos was studied at Puharich's Glen Cove, Maine, medical research laboratory under what Dr. Puharich considered to be controlled conditions. The results convinced Puharich that Hurkos had genuine psychic abilities.Rosemary Guiley. (1991). Harper's Encyclopedia of Mystical and Paranormal Experience. HarperCollins. p. 271 However the experiments were not repeated by other scientists and Puharich was described as a "credulous investigator".Mind over Matter. (1988). Time-Life Books. p. 28 Raymond Buckland has written "with the exception of Dr. Andrija Puharich, not a single recognized psychic investigator has been impressed with Hurkos's performances."Raymond Buckland. (2003). The Fortune-Telling Book: The Encyclopedia of Divination and Soothsaying. Visible Ink Press. p. 246
During his early career as a psychic entertainer, Hurkos purported that he employed his psychic powers to discern details of audience members' private lives that he could not otherwise have known. However, the psychologist Ronald Schwartz wrote in the magazine Skeptical Inquirer that Hurkos used cold reading methods and published a transcription of such a reading in their autumn 1978 issue.Ronald Schwartz. (1978). Sleight of Tongue. Skeptical Inquirer. Volume 3: 47–55.
James Randi analyzed this and other transcripts of Hurkos performances and professed to have identified a number of standard cold reading techniques. For example, Hurkos might begin with something seemingly personal but actually quite common: a surgery. Hurkos would not specify that the subject underwent surgery—it could be any recent surgery of personal relevance to the subject. If this method failed, Randi maintained, Hurkos would qualify the statement with the phrase "long time ago." At this point, any operation to any family member or friend in the subjects's own life would have seemed psychic because an operation is thought of as a private matter. Randi added that the tone in Hurkos's voice was also significant: Hurkos presented himself as confident and knowing and characterized the subject as obstinate.
Other common techniques included guessing numbers of people in families (easy enough if one picks a typical number and allows himself to add frequent visitors or exclude family members who have relocated away from home as needed to match the target, as Hurkos did), including nonsense words in his presentation that could be interpreted by the subject to have any one of many meanings, and guessing on the importance of common names, which could be permutated as needed. (He most commonly used the name "Ann," which would give him a success with anybody who had a relative or friend or teacher or boss or co-worker named Ann, Anna, Anastasia, etc., at any time in his or her life.)
The gentleman in question whose activities have been publicized (though not by the police) was among a number of persons authorized to come to Westminster Abbey to examine the scene of the crime. He was not invited by the police, his expenses have not been refunded by the Government, and he did not obtain any result whatsoever.Réginald Omez. (1958). Psychical Phenomena. Hawthorn Books. p. 69
Hurkos made notable claims contrary to popular belief such as the claim that Adolf Hitler was alive and living in Argentina.Joe Nickell. (2004). Police Psychics: Do They Really Solve Crimes?. Skeptical Inquirer.John Kenneth Muir. (2006). An Analytical Guide to Television's One Step Beyond, 1959–1961. McFarland. p. 145
In 1964, Hurkos was put on trial on the charge of impersonating a federal agent, found guilty, and fined $1,000. Hurkos posed as the police officer in order to gather information that he could later claim to be psychic revelations.
In the case of murderer Michigan murders, he sometimes claimed the killer was blond and at other times brown-haired so that he could claim victory either way. He claimed to have identified Charles Manson to police; Manson was also identified by his devotee Susan Atkins to a cellmate while she was in jail for a different crime. In fact, Hurkos had been to the Tate residence to do a "reading," but his guesses, including descriptions of how the "killings erupted during a black magic ritual known as 'goona goona,'" were inaccurate.
The magician Milbourne Christopher in his book Mediums, Mystics and the Occult documented the errors Hurkos had made.Milbourne Christopher. (1975). Peter Hurkos — Psychic Sleuth in Mediums, Mystics and the Occult. Thomas Y. Crowell. pp. 66–76
Authors Arthur Lyons and Marcello Truzzi PhD, also a founder of the International Remote Viewing Association, wrote the Hurkos cases were "pure bunk" in their 1991 book The Blue Sense: Psychic Detectives and Crime.
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