ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

How does one begin to acknowledge all the contributions made by others when writing a book? If Professor Walter Wier, director of the honors programs at the University of Colorado had not approved Walter's proposal to teach a survey course in parapsychology in 1970, we might not have been invited to write a book on the subject for Colin Smythe and Peter Bander, Gerrards Cross, England. Through Colin and Peter we met Matthew Manning of Linton/Cambridge whose paranormal talents in some ways are similar to those of Uri Geller whom we met later at the Book Fair in Frankfurt, Germany where our book was one of those publicized by the Colin Smythe publishing firm. Later we were to meet Geller again at Harold Sherman's Mind/ Body/ Spirit Workshop in St. Louis in June 1976.

Had we not written the book, New Psychic Frontiers: Your Key to New Worlds, Alan Neuman, a Hollywood producer, most likely would not have invited Walter to accompany him to the Philippines and Japan in the fall of 1976 to help locate psychic talent for filming the 90-minute special program, "Exploring the Unknown," (narrated by Burt Lancaster) presented on NBC-TV October 30, 1977.

If we had not known Harold Sherman and read his book, Wonder Healers of the Philippines, we would not have known about Dr. Hiroshi Motoyama and his research center in Tokyo. There Rande Brown, a young American who worked for Dr. Motoyama, arranged for Toshiaki Harada, Ph.D., a physicist working for Dr. Motoyama, to go with Walter to Dr. Tsutomu Miyauchi, the managing director of the Japan Nengraphy Association, to discuss possible subjects for the Neuman film. Dr. Miyauchi and Dr. Harada both accompanied him and Neuman to the Yoshinori Kiyota family home in Northeast Tokyo to meet their young son Masuaki who had already shown remarkable abilities in metal bending and nengraphy (thoughtography). Those who saw the NBC program may recall the scene of this young Japanese boy concentrating on a polaroid camera and producing a recognizable image of the Tokyo Tower.

This visit led to a continuing correspondence with the Kiyota father and son, a visit to them in Tokyo in March 1979, and an invitation to Masuaki and his friend Hiroto Yamashita to come to the U.S. during their school vacation in July and August 1979 to participate in further investigation of their exceptional psychic abilities. Scientists and investigators from various parts of the country participated in workshops in Madison, San Francisco and at our home where the two teenagers bent and twisted metal by PK and produced paranormal effects on film.

The report which we had planned for workshop attenders and others interested in psychokinesis (PK) - the phenomenon of producing observable effects with "Mindpower" - outgrew the form of a monograph and has become this book - so much data and material having accumulated concerning the feats of these boys and other persons who possess PK abilities in varying degrees.

We wish to thank all those who shared experiences and knowledge with us. They have contributed much which we hope will further the understanding of these remarkable persons and the dimensions of reality which the PK phenomenon represents. It should be of interest, and a challenge, to those who accept the occurrence of these events as well as to skeptics.

Our special thanks to Mr. Jun-Ichi Yaoi of the Nippon Television Network (NTV) for arranging to supply us with photos, some of which appear in Chapter VI. We are grateful also to Mr. Hedeye Yamaguchi and Mr. Seido Hino and the film crew for the impressive demonstration of patience they gave us when we witnessed the initial filming at the Kiyota home for the documentary they presented in Japan later in the year.

Mr. Miyauchi gave us two beautiful books of color illustrations and plates as evidence for paranormal effects on film. Prof. Shegemi Sasaki of the Electro-Communications University supplied us with more than a dozen professional papers (with English synopses) dealing with laboratory experiments with PK effects on metal, film, bamboo, etc. Mr. Yutaka Fukuda, a professional photographer who has closely observed and studied the paranormal effects these two young Japanese can produce on film, gave us both photos and illustrated reports on nengraphy experiments.

Prof. John B. Hasted, a British physicist who has worked extensively with a number of young metal benders, interrupted his vacation plans to come to lead discussions and participate in experiments at our workshops on "Psychokinesis and its Effects on Metal and Film" - a major contribution to this project.

Naturally the friendship of the Kiyota family and the complete willingness and co-operation of Masuaki Kiyota and Hiroto Yamashita in the experiments and demonstrations was the key to the study and observations which have been made. It is not possible to adequately express appreciation for their role as subjects in these experiments.

Dr. Berthold E. Schwarz, author of A Psychiatrist Looks at ESP, Parent-Child Telepathy, etc., for his suggestion that some staff members at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota might be interested in running tests on the two boys;

The Mayo staff members, who skeptical but open-minded, took time to run the experiments, even though paranormal events only occurred after the electrodes had been removed from the boys' heads;

The Capital Times and The Wisconsin State Journal for providing an interesting case study of the sociology of belief systems, and how belief, as well as peer and "superior" pressures, affects reportage;

The Sheboygan Press for good coverage, even though the wire services did not consider the effects newsworthy or believable enough to carry the story. WTMJ-TV (Milwaukee) and WISC-TV and Cable 4 (Madison) as well as radio stations WIBA and WORT which aired interviews related to our guests from Japan;

Jamie Hubbard from the Asian Studies department at the University of Wisconsin who was helpful as interpreter until Elaine Morikawa arrived from Japan, and who translated the NTV videotape commentary so that those who saw the documentary at the workshops could better understand it;

Henry S. Dakin, Jeffrey Mishlove and Jean Millay at the Washington Research Center, San Francisco who provided hospitality to all of us while the experiments were conducted at the Research Center, and together with Brendan O'Regan from the Institute of Noetic Sciences, arranged a public program for the community and for interested persons from the Parapsychological Association convention who stayed over an extra day;

William E. Cox, Rolla, Missouri, from the staff of the Foundation for Research on the Nature of Man; Prof. John B. Hasted and Mark G. Shafer, University of California/ Irvine, for permission to print their papers on their research findings on PK;

Toshihiko Maruta, M.D. psychiatrist at Mayo Clinic who was helpful translating and summarizing the essential content of some research reports from Prof. Shegemi Sasaki.

In the broader areas of PK we are indebted to Dr. Hans Bender, Dr. Friedbert Karger, Prof. Werner Schiebeler, Burkhard Heim, Dr. Sigrun Seutemann, Fr. Dr. Roswitha Rees-Dietz, Dr. Konstantin Raudive and others in Germany, and Dr. Hans Naegeli, Prof. Alex Schneider and Paul and Edith Affolter in Switzerland for sharing knowledge, experiences and information with us on a number of occasions.

Others who should be mentioned include Prof. David Mack, of the metallurgy department and Prof. Richard G. Koegel in mechanical engineering at the University of Wisconsin who ran tests relevant to Masuaki's spoon bending; Laurence J. Venne, technical director of ESCO Steel Corporation, Portland, Oregon, and his two research staff members who examined the twisted cutlery and provided us information concerning the physical effects of the phenomenon; Glenn Austin. our neighbor and professional photographer; and Roger A. Severson, Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Wisconsin and director of the Institute of Clinical Hypnosis, Madison, who as co-chairman of the New Frontiers Center planning committee, helped in countless ways to implement the PK project. The support of Richard Brostrum, Prof. Frank Meyer and Peter Rank, M.D., other members of the committee, was also much appreciated.

Articles and relevant excerpts from publications which indicate the range of viewpoints, pro and con, have been included. Our thanks to the following for illustrating the variety of views which have appeared in print: Esotera, FATE magazine, Human Dimensions, Metals and Materials, National Enquirer, Newsweek, The Princeton Alumni Weekly, PSI-M, Psychic News, The Skeptical Inquirer, and TIME, as well as to Alan Neuman for supplying the script related to Masuaki Kiyota's appearance in the program on NBC-TV.

Our thanks to Frank Farrelly, ACWS, psychotherapist, Madison, Wisconsin, and Roger A. Severson for reading sections of the manuscript while keeping an eye out for typographical errors, etc. which every author hopes will never get into print. We hope their help and our efforts have kept such errors at a minimum.

Photo credits: Glenn Austin, pages l6, 45, 54, 55; Yutaka Fukuda, pages 17, 52, 53, 55, 63, 101; Nippon TV Network, pages 59, 61 and picture on cover. David Sandell and Rich Righ of The Capital Times staff supplied photos for the articles on pages 117 and 122.