In the Soviet Union several cases have been reported recently of people who

can read and detect colours with their fingers, and even see through solid doors

and walls. One case concerns an 'eleven-year-old schoolgirl, Vera Petrova, who

has normal vision but who can also perceive things with different parts of her

skin, and through solid walls. This ability was first noticed by her father. One

day she came into his office and happened to put her hands on the door of a

locked safe. Suddenly she asked her father why he kept so many old newspapers

locked away there, and even described the way they were done up in bundles.

Vera's curious talent was brought to the notice of a scientific research institute

in the town of UIyanovsk, near where she lives, and in April she was given a

series of tests by a special commission of the Ministry of Health of the Russian

Federal Republic. During these tests she was able to read a newspaper through

an opaque screen and, stranger still, by moving her elbow over a child's game of

Lotto she was able to describe the figures and colours printed on it; and, in another

instance, wearing stockings and slippers, to make out with her foot the

outlines and colours of a picture hidden under a carpet. Other experiments

showed that her knees and shoulders had a similar sensitivity. During all these

tests Vera was blindfold; and, indeed, except when blindfold she lacked the

ability to perceive things with her skin. lt was also found that although she

could perceive things with her fingers this ability ceased the moment her hands

were wet.