Psychokinetic event-give me some plausible explanations

[DuvalHMFIC]

For what it's worth, I don't believe in all this vibration and water film mumbo-jumbo. Sounds like someone is trying to throw you off the path. The more likely explanation is that a ghost moved your piece. 37 posts and no one has even considered this yet?

I don't play a lot of chess, but I find it odd that the most recognizable, and if I understand the game, one of the harder pieces to capture, is the star of this story. It's not a rook, pawn, or a knight, no, it's the QUEEN.

 

[PixyMisa]

Show of hands. Who doesn't have a nutbar in the family?

Singular?

 

[scarlettinlondon]

The cow thing is cool

only this summer, I was able to show my husband - a life long believer in ghosts that they, er, may not be real with the help of cows

we were down camping near omaha beach, northern france this easter and he left the van for a pee in the middle of the night, coming back with his hair on end. he described clearly seeing a pale young man in a glowing uniform jump down off a gate, he heard the gate rattle, and the young man strolled casually toward him across the field.

he was frightened.

however when we went to look in the morning we saw that the gate was further away than it had seemed in the night, (it has sounded closer, and the air was very still) and there was a whole bunch of cows behind it

what he has heard was the cows banging the metal gate and then one cow walking away from him across the field. the gloom made the white bits of the cow visible of course, and as the cows were further away, he had mistaken movement away for movement towards.

It stopped his ghosty ing dead in its tracks. in fact, since, he has become the most avid of anti ghosters. I think his eyes and ears ganging up on him that night made him rethink all other previous ghost related unexplainable events

 

[Dissolution]

Ghost cow!

 

[tsig]

I'd lean towards this explanation. Trying to throw the opponent off balance, while she is concentrating on the intense game. By tilting the table or what have you. Call/mail him and ask.

Another one is vibration, which can be introduced by involuntary body movements of which the person may not even be aware of at the moment (foot twitching).

It's called coffeehousing.

 

[godless dave]

I believe wholeheartedly that she is not lying about the event,

She could still be relaying claims that aren't true without lying. The human mind is easily fooled, and memories easily changed.

 

[Son of Rea]

She could still be relaying claims that aren't true without lying. The human mind is easily fooled, and memories easily changed.

That is absolutely correct, and is a running theme in this thread.

But is it more reasonable to 1) just assume she recalled the event wrongly, or 2) accept that her recollection could be fine and that there is an unknown, yet plausible explanation?

Most here seem to be biased toward #1 because it's an easy answer they can apply to any mystery. Case closed.

I am biased toward #2 because I know my sister, and believe her cognitive abilities deserve respect.

Imagine you told someone about a cool card trick you saw that you couldn't figure out. Would it be fair and respectful for them to tell you that you had not even seen the trick? That you can't trust your memory?

 

[DuvalHMFIC]

The trouble isn't whether you trust HER memory or not. It's everyone's. I just watched an episode of Brain Games the other day, where a mugging was staged as 20 or so people were gathered around a 3 card monte game. Interviewed within minutes of the mugging, and people were SURE they were right, but they were so wrong that they didn't even know how many people were involved, whether they were male or female, and in one instance, a witness actually thought the mugger was the one being robbed.

Yet they were all pretty darn sure they remembered the events correctly. Now, you extrapolate that over the course of YEARS, and details get lost, others get added, and we can only be sure of one thing-that most likely her story as told to you is not the same thing that actually happened.

Another failure of memory I saw involved a group of people writing down their memories of where they were and what they were doing during the attacks on 9/11. They did this within a week of the attacks, and the memory was fresh. I think it was 7 years later, they were brought back to recall again where they had been and what they were doing, and over 60% of the people didn't just lose details, they had added in a bunch of new ones.

And that's for something big and traumatic, that you think you'd remember. Also, they wrote it down which helps establish a memory too.

There's a reason skeptics are quick to point out the fallacy of memory-because it's been proven to be true over and over again. Heck, look at my post. I'm having a hard time remembering the details of the programs I watched. I saw the Brain Games episode probably all of 2 weeks ago. It had my full attention, as I really enjoy the show.

 

[Son of Rea]

The trouble isn't whether you trust HER memory or not. It's everyone's. I just watched an episode of Brain Games the other day, where a mugging was staged as 20 or so people were gathered around a 3 card monte game. Interviewed within minutes of the mugging, and people were SURE they were right, but they were so wrong that they didn't even know how many people were involved, whether they were male or female, and in one instance, a witness actually thought the mugger was the one being robbed.

Yet they were all pretty darn sure they remembered the events correctly. Now, you extrapolate that over the course of YEARS, and details get lost, others get added, and we can only be sure of one thing-that most likely her story as told to you is not the same thing that actually happened.

Another failure of memory I saw involved a group of people writing down their memories of where they were and what they were doing during the attacks on 9/11. They did this within a week of the attacks, and the memory was fresh. I think it was 7 years later, they were brought back to recall again where they had been and what they were doing, and over 60% of the people didn't just lose details, they had added in a bunch of new ones.

And that's for something big and traumatic, that you think you'd remember. Also, they wrote it down which helps establish a memory too.

There's a reason skeptics are quick to point out the fallacy of memory-because it's been proven to be true over and over again. Heck, look at my post. I'm having a hard time remembering the details of the programs I watched. I saw the Brain Games episode probably all of 2 weeks ago. It had my full attention, as I really enjoy the show.

Again, I agree.
But it is wrong to simply assume ALL memories are incorrect simply because an event seems unlikely. It is far more constructive in this instance to give the benefit of the doubt and think of plausible explanations that can be looked for next time something like this happens.

 

[godless dave]

That is absolutely correct, and is a running theme in this thread.

But is it more reasonable to 1) just assume she recalled the event wrongly, or 2) accept that her recollection could be fine and that there is an unknown, yet plausible explanation?

Most here seem to be biased toward #1 because it's an easy answer they can apply to any mystery. Case closed.

I am biased toward #2 because I know my sister, and believe her cognitive abilities deserve respect.

Her cognitive abilities deserve as much respect as anyone else's. And like anyone else, she is prone to misperceiving what happened and misremembering it later.

 

[aggle-rithm]

Again, I agree.
But it is wrong to simply assume ALL memories are incorrect simply because an event seems unlikely. It is far more constructive in this instance to give the benefit of the doubt and think of plausible explanations that can be looked for next time something like this happens.

I would say that whatever happened, whether it was vibrations, a trick, or even magic, it probably wasn't nearly as impressive as she remembers it.

 

[DuvalHMFIC]

Yeah, I'm not saying she's misremembering (thanks Roger Clemens) the entire event. To me, what is more likely is she probably saw the piece move a little bit once due to vibration or whatever. Over the years, with tellings and retellings, and with her having thought about it quite a bit, her memory changed from "the queen just moved a little bit, did you see that?" To "Suddenly the captured queen slides forward a few inches", Nevermind the bit about the piece turning a corner. That's another thing our minds will do subconsciously over retellings without us even realizing it.

You have this fantastic story to tell, and with each telling, it's gets a bit more fantastic. So maybe the piece moved half an inch, and rotated (which would make sense if it was due to vibration.) "moved half an inch and rotated a little" becomes "it moved several inches and turned a corner!"

I'm sure most of us, if we're being honest with ourselves, have either done this ourselves or known someone else who has done it.

And let's put the story into context here. You spent the better part of a few hours denying the existence of the supernatural, and she brings this story up to play devil's advocate. That will cause one to embellish as well. It's an argumentative tactic that we evolved with. "If 3+3 will probably score me some points in the argument, I'm better off stepping it up to 4+4 just to be sure."

 

[Sockor]

It's called coffeehousing.

You beatniks and your crazy language.
Fumbling my chip stack or spilling my drink, making body noises and general fidgeting at the friendly poker table now has a name.

 

[barehl]

So my sister [...] focusing hard on her next move. Suddenly the captured queen slides forward a few inches. [...] really concentrating, she said the queen moved along the edge of the board, then turned the corner and moved along the other edge for a few inches.

The problem with viewing this story as supernatural is followup. Presumably, if your sister had telekinetic powers, she would now be internationally renowned. Or if the house itself were the location for such blatant poltergeist activity then it would be equally renowned. Since neither of these have happened, there cannot be a supernatural explanation.

But for the sake of argument, please assume it happened as described and give me some possible non-supernatural explanations.

I've seen many different types of chess pieces from plastic to wood to carved marble. Some had felt bases and others did not. So, it would be difficult to make any assumptions about the pieces themselves. However, there are two things that can be known about the event. First, in order to have moment, you need a source of energy. Since blowing air would have been obvious, we can assume that it wasn't wind. That means the most likely source would have been a tilt in the table. I have drops in the floor in both my kitchen and my living room. This is not unlikely.

Secondly, we know that there had to be some reduction in friction. I've seen cups slide on their own due to water on the table. Most likely at an age where someone could play chess, they probably would not have been surprised by movement if there had been water on the table. So, a more likely cause could be a fine powder like cornstarch or cocoa powder.

By the way, turning the corner is also not surprising. I've again seen cups do this when sliding due to water. The assumption that it must travel in a straight line is incorrect. As long as the base is round as most of them are, an edge touching a spot with higher friction will tend to make it rotate and change direction.

 

[aggle-rithm]

The problem with viewing this story as supernatural is followup. Presumably, if your sister had telekinetic powers, she would now be internationally renowned.

Maybe the powers only work under extreme duress...like when you really, REALLY need to win a chess game.

(Welcome to the forum, by the way.)

 

[aggle-rithm]

Maybe the powers only work under extreme duress...like when you really, REALLY need to win a chess game.

Plus your arm is just really, really tired.

 

[SonOfLaertes]

Wait, your sister is telling you that she believes that she has demonstrable powers of psychokinesis and that she has done nothing over the intervening years to explore, develop. or verify these powers?

Damn, if I thought for a second that I could really move things with my mind I would be crazy about finding a way to exploit this world-changing power. The event certainly would not be consigned to an anecdote about an isolated occurrence told to my sister years later.

(A scene from the movie "Modern Problems" with Chevy Chase and Patti D'Arbanville comes immediately to mind. So many practical applications of this talent.)

 

[ctamblyn]

Years ago she was playing chess against my older brother and was very determined to beat him, and focusing hard on her next move. Suddenly the captured queen slides forward a few inches. She thinks that she's being pranked, grabs it and turns it over to look for a magnet. They both then awkwardly laugh off the strange occurrence, and continue playing.

Moments later, again during a moment when she claims to be really concentrating, she said the queen moved along the edge of the board, then turned the corner and moved along the other edge for a few inches.

She said at that point they were both so freaked out that they just stopped playing and went to bed.

Hi. I have a question: Do you have any idea why did she might not have freaked out after the first movement even after confirming the absence of a magnet, instead remaining calm enough to continue with the game (and to really concentrate on it)?

 

[Son of Rea]

Hi. I have a question: Do you have any idea why did she might not have freaked out after the first movement even after confirming the absence of a magnet, instead remaining calm enough to continue with the game (and to really concentrate on it)?

That's a really good question. My impression was that since it was a minor thing, they just laughed it off, assuming some plausible yet unknown explanation existed. Kind of like if you are sitting alone in your room and a book falls off the shelf that's been there a long time. You just sort of scratch your head and put it back, not really knowing or caring too much about why it fell.

 

[Weak Kitten]

Thanks for the cow story Hellbound, I like it!

I'd like to point out that it makes a great deal of sense that the piece would be the queen. It's heavier than a pawn, always a little off balance due to its shape, and tends to have a rounded top. It also makes sense that the movement happened when she was concentrating very hard. As others have noted a vibration of the table would cause just this sort of movement and I've known many young ladies over the years who, when concentrating intensely, will wiggle their feet rapidly and unknowingly knock them against whatever happens to be nearby. Bonus points if the table was a bit wobbly to begin with.

So, an interesting story but not beyond the realm of explanation.