Gerard Croiset
Gerard Croiset | |
|---|---|
 Croiset in 1976 | |
| Born | Gerard Boekbinder 10 March 1909 Laren, North Holland, Netherlands |
| Died | 20 May 1980 (aged 71) Utrecht, Netherlands |
| Occupation(s) | Psychic, parapsychologist, psychometrist |
Gerard Croiset (né Boekbinder; March 10, 1909 – July 20, 1980) was a Dutch parapsychologist, psychometrist and psychic. He was often asked to help police detectives trace missing persons, though authenticated successes were few, and compared against the failures, his success rate was ruled no better than chance.
Background
[edit]Croiset was born in Laren, North Holland, in March 1909.[1] He said he began to become aware of his gifts while a youth working for a watch repairer, and that on one occasion he held a ruler belonging to his employer and saw events which he related to his employer and which his employer confirmed were accurate.[citation needed]
Early work
[edit]After World War II, Croiset was sometimes consulted by Dutch police authorities for cases involving missing persons, or murder. On one occasion he was said to have examined the property of a murdered woman, and provided accurate information relating to her murder, and also gave the name of her murderer. The name matched a man who was being held in connection with the crime. He gained a reputation as a reliable consultant in the area of missing persons, and his fame extended beyond the Netherlands, as anecdotes about his abilities came to be discussed in other countries. He also gained a reputation as a psychic healer, and would allow people to visit him in his clinic for healing sessions.
Missing persons cases
[edit]In 1966, he was invited to Australia to aid in an investigation relating to the disappearance of the three Beaumont children, who had disappeared without trace from a beach in Adelaide, South Australia. Although police were skeptical, his expenses were paid by the wealthy property tycoon Con Polites, who was interested in the case, and publicity was such that Croiset's ideas were thought to be worthy of consideration. During his brief stay in Australia, he attracted widespread publicity but failed to find any trace of the missing children.[2]
In January 1970, Croiset participated in the investigation of the kidnapping of Muriel McKay, the wife of publishing tycoon Rupert Murdoch's Deputy Chairman Alick McKay. Croiset was asked by a McKay family friend, Eric Cutler, to help locate her. Croiset said that she was in a white farmhouse in the north or north-east of London, and that nearby to her was another farm and an abandoned aerodrome. He claimed that if she was not found within 14 days she would be dead.[3] Her body was never found. Brothers Arthur and Nazimoodeen Hosein were convicted of her murder—the first case in British history of a murder conviction without a body. In 1978, the Chief Constable of Devon and Cornwall Police hired Croiset to investigate the disappearance of Genette Tate, but he provided no information of value.[4]
In 1972 he was consulted at various times to assist with the location of a missing aircraft presumed crashed in the Andes mountains. His indications proved to be vague and ultimately incorrect.
Croiset died in Utrecht in 1980, aged 71.
Evaluation
[edit]Croiset claimed he helped to solve the case of an assault of a girl in Wierden, the Netherlands. The Chief of Police of Wierden stated however, that the information by Croiset was inaccurate and his communications were not used in the case.[5] He was investigated under controlled conditions by The Belgian Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Phenomena Reputed to be Paranormal and they did not find any evidence of psychic ability.[6][7]
The skeptic James Lett has written:
The truth is that the overwhelming majority of Croiset’s predictions were either vague and nonfalsifiable or simply wrong. Given the fact that Croiset made thousands of predictions during his lifetime, it is hardly surprising that he enjoyed one or two chance “hits”.[8][9]
The Dutch parapsychologist Wilhelm Tenhaeff has written Croiset had genuine psychic powers due to the information he had given in police cases. However it was discovered that much of Tenhaeff's data was fraudulent.[10]
See also
[edit]- Con artist
- Confidence trick
- Fortune telling fraud
- Houdini's debunking of psychics and mediums
- Ann O'Delia Diss Debar
- Televangelist Peter Popoff exposed by James Randi
- Bob Nygaard
References
[edit]- ^ Boekbinder, Gerard (1909–1980), Huygens Institute for the History of the Netherlands
- ^ Troy Lennon (25 January 2016). "Clairvoyant Gerard Croiset failed to crack the Beaumont case but gave rise to the 'psychic detective'". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2016-03-25.
- ^ Casefile: True Crime Podcast (3 May 2019). "Case 110: Muriel McKay". Retrieved 8 July 2019.
- ^ Greaves, Paul (12 December 2021). "Genette Tate: Paranormal investigators and damaging conspiracy theories dogged case". Devon Live. Retrieved 22 December 2021.
- ^ Neher, Andrew (2011). Paranormal and Transcendental Experience: A Psychological Examination. Dover Publications. p. 221
- ^ Clement, Stone and Browning, Norma (1964). The Other Side of the Mind. Prentice-Hall. p. 85
- ^ Lennon, Troy (25 January 2016). "Clairvoyant Gerard Croiset failed to crack the Beaumont case but gave rise to the 'psychic detective'". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2016-03-25.
- ^ Hoebens, Piet Hein (1981). "Gerard Croiset: Investigation of the Mozart of 'Psychic Sleuths' – Part I. Croiset and Professor Tenhaeff: Discrepancies in Claims of Clairvoyance (Part II)". Skeptical Inquirer. VI (1 (Part I), 2 (Part II)). Committee for Skeptical Inquiry: 17–28 (Part I), 32–40 (Part II). Retrieved 2 March 2017.
- ^ A Field Guide to Critical Thinking, James Lett.
- ^ Hoebens, Piet Hein (1981). 'Gerard Croiset: Investigation of the Mozart of "Psychic Sleuths"'. Skeptical Inquirer 6, nº 1: 18–28. Hoebens, Piet Hein (1982). 'Croiset and Professor Tenhaeff: Discrepancies in Claims of Clairvoyance'. Skeptical Inquirer 6, nº 2: 32–40.
External links
[edit]
Media related to Gerard Croiset at Wikimedia Commons
- Boekbinder, Gerard (1909–1980) Dutch language entry in scholarly biographical dictionary
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