The Psychic World of Horses Part I
Professor E. Clarapede chronicled the horse's accomplishments. The horse count numbers by tapping his hoof and make calculations. He knew how to read and tell the dates of the days of the current week, by tapping to the corresponding letter or number. "A" was one tap, "B" two and down through the alphabet. . He could distinguish between dissonant and harmonious chords.
People came from many places to see this wonder horse. A scientific committee was formed and nothing suspicious was discovered. The horse had genuine intelligence. A second committee debunked the horse's intelligence scathingly. Oskar Pfungst wrote that Hans reacted to imperceptible signs that von Osten gave him. Von Osten never got over this and died embittered in June, 1909.
Herr Krall inherited Hans. He was very interested in von Osten's work and had helped educate Hans. He bought two Arabian horses, Zarif and Muhamed. They soon surpassed Hans in ability. Maeterlinck went to Elberfeld to see the horses for himself. In addition to the Arabian horses, there was also a Shetland pony, Hanschen and a black horse, Berto who was blind. Unfortunately Hans, who was about sixteen or seventeen, had injured himself badly.
Maeterlinck saw for himself how the horses responded. Even Berto who was blind gave correct answers.
The original committee who investigated Hans found no sign of trickery. Hans' performance was about as good when Osten was not present as it was when he was there.
Pfungst discovered something important. Hans could not answer questions if no one present knew the answers. Could someone other person be cuing Hans without anyone knowing? The seemed apparent to Pfungst. All Hans needed was for someone who knows the answers to be there.
Some of the scientists thought Hans had great telepathic ability. Others concluded that he had extremely well developed extreme sensitivity to perceiving human involuntary physical responses. He could perceive the involuntary relaxing and tensing of peoples' muscles when they expected the right answer. He would continue tapping his hoof until he perceived this.
Interesting theory.... Perception or telepathy...? And, what about the other horses? With the proper education, if answering questions is a matter of perception, could not other horses and other animals be taught to respond to queries?
Lady Wonder was a 3 year old mare owned by Claudia Fonda who lived in Richmond, Virginia. In 1928, she was studied by two men who are considered the founders of modern parapsychology, Drs.
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