Psychic paper Psychic paper was a blank , white card that had special properties . When shown to a person , it could usually induce them to see whatever the user wished them to see printed on it . However , it proved useless on geniuses such as William Shakespeare ( TV : " The Shakespeare Code " ) or people with feeble imaginations , such as Fenton . ( TV : " Flatline " ) It was often used by the Doctor in his later incarnations . It served as a " get out of jail free card " , allowing the Doctor to avoid many setbacks . Users . The Second Doctor was given psychic paper while employed as an agent by the Time Lord s ' covert organisation , the Celestial Intervention Agency , which had developed the technology . ( PROSE : " World Game " ) The War Doctor used it in the Last Great Time War , ( AUDIO : " Legion of the Lost " ) but preferred the feel of a gun in his hands . ( COMIC : " The Organ Grinder " ) The Doctor , in his ninth , ( TV : " The End of the World " ) tenth , ( TV : " New Earth " ) eleventh ( TV : " The Eleventh Hour " ) and twelfth incarnations , ( TV : " Listen " ) habitually carried it , as did Captain Jack Harkness during his rogue days . Jack said that the paper was a new technology put into use by the Time Agency which had employed him . ( TV : " The Empty Child " ) At least some Weeping Angel s had access to psychic paper , which according to the Eleventh Doctor , was " child ' s play " for them . ( PROSE : " Touched by an Angel " ) Properties . Usually , it showed what the holder of the paper wanted the person reading the paper to see , ( TV : " The End of the World " ) or vice - versa . ( TV : " The Idiot ' s Lantern " ) Messages on psychic paper appeared in the reader ' s handwriting . ( PROSE : " Touched by an Angel " ) The message could also be signed with a kiss , something Donna teased the Tenth Doctor about . ( TV : " Silence in the Library " ) It could even be used to open doors in place of a keycard ( TV : " Army of Ghosts " ) and the Tenth Doctor once used it in lieu of an Oyster card to pay before boarding a bus in London . ( TV : " Planet of the Dead " ) It could also be used like a credit card ; Amy told the Eleventh Doctor to hand her the psychic paper when they landed in New York so she could go shopping . ( PROSE : " The Forgotten Army " ) Mischief - making Courtney Woods swiped it , also using it to shop , and as a fake ID to get into clubs . ( TV : " Kill the Moon " ) Psychic paper could receive messages from beings with sufficient psychic ability , no matter where the Doctor was in time and space , such as the Face of Boe , ( TV : " New Earth " ) Atraxi , ( TV : " The Eleventh Hour " ) Tenza s , ( TV : " Night Terrors " ) and , to his initial surprise , River Song . ( TV : " Silence in the Library " , GAME : " The Eternity Clock " ) The Doctor explained this function to Amelia Pond as taking " a dandy little message " when the Atraxi sent him a message , warning about Prisoner Zero ' s escape . ( TV : " The Eleventh Hour " ) Kate Stewart and UNIT managed to contact the Doctor through the psychic paper . ( TV : " The Power of Three " ) Time Lord s like the Doctor could psychically connect with the paper . He did this to lead Amy to where he was being held captive by Vykoid s . However , the link was faulty and lingered even after the Doctor didn ' t need it . ( PROSE : " The Forgotten Army " ) When used by an individual with psychic power s , the psychic paper would sometimes bounce the individual ' s powers back on them . When used by Waechter , it allowed him to see his own future . ( PROSE : " The Weeping " ) It could also display text messages from mobile phones the Doctor upgraded to allow communication with him and the TARDIS . ( COMIC : " The Fountains of Forever " ) The Tenth Doctor also once used the psychic paper as a truth telling device by having Constantine Ethelred Gurney hold the blank paper and then reading off who he was , where he was from , his crimes , and his Volag - Noc release date . ( TV : " The Infinite Quest " ) The Eleventh Doctor at some point set his psychic paper to Temporal News Feed , and was alerted via the sound of a horn honking . ( TV : " Dinosaurs on a Spaceship " ) According to the Twelfth Doctor , if there was any trouble at the Vault he would receive a message on his psychic paper . ( TV : " The Pilot " ) Limitations . In the hands of untrained users , the paper was prone to displaying facts they subconsciously wanted the reader to be aware of . This could be quite embarrassing , such as in Rose Tyler ' s case . ( TV : " The Empty Child " ) When the intended thought was too unbelievable , the psychic paper would only display wavy lines . The Eleventh Doctor explained that such a lie — in his case , that he was universally recognised as a mature and responsible adult — shorted it out because it was " too big " . ( TV : " A Christmas Carol " ) The paper did not work on people of genius , such as William Shakespeare , making him the first person the Doctor met who was naturally immune to it , ( TV : " The Shakespeare Code " ) or on people who had " a serious lack of imagination . " ( TV : " Flatline " ) It also didn ' t seem to work on some species , such as Saturnynian s . ( TV : " The Vampires of Venice " ) The psychic paper did not work on humans whose minds had already been manipulated by another source . The minds of the inhabitants of a 1982 nuclear bunker were manipulated by giant cockroaches , so the psychic paper did not work on them . ( AUDIO : " Day of the Cockroach " ) The " basic psychic training " that was standard at Torchwood One was enough to distinguish psychic paper from real . ( TV : " Army of Ghosts " ) When wet , the psychic paper acted rather differently and was unable to translate the Tenth Doctor ' s thoughts properly . ( PROSE : " Wetworld " ) When a parking inspector signed the Eleventh Doctor ' s psychic paper , he believed it wouldn ' t work , until Amy Pond turned it around the other way , causing messages to appear back to front . ( PROSE : " Apollo 23 " ) One could distinguish psychic paper from real paper by looking for " fractal lines " on the former . ( TV : " A Good Man Goes to War " ) The paper could also only work effectively on civilisations that had invented writing — when the Eleventh Doctor attempted to use it in the Viking era it remained blank before eventually displaying an image of a rabbit ( of which there were thousands around ) , implying that he was a " Rabbit Inspector " . ( PROSE : " Dark Horizons " ) If a civilisation had the concept of writing , the paper could work on a level beyond written language , such as one man being able to read the message on it even when he himself was illiterate . ( PROSE : " The Silent Stars Go By " ) Not everyone was affected by the psychic paper . People , or groups , known to be immune to its illusions included Torchwood One personnel , due to psychic training , ( TV : " Army of Ghosts " ) William Shakespeare , apparently due to his incredible mind , ( TV : " The Shakespeare Code " ) Ernest Shackleton , due to how determined he was , ( COMIC : " The First " ) Eve , ( PROSE : " The Last Dodo " ) Morret and other veterans of the Telepath Uprising , ( PROSE : " Judgement of the Judoon " ) GateBot s , ( COMIC : " Attack of the GateBots ! " ) Rosanna Calvierri , ( TV : " The Vampires of Venice " ) Frederick Abberline , ( COMIC : " Ripper ' s Curse " ) Stella , ( PROSE : " Prisoner of the Daleks " ) the Anglican Marines of the Church , who trained themselves for the Battle of Demons Run , ( TV : " A Good Man Goes to War " ) Ood , ( COMIC : " Psychic Paper Inc Claims Department " ) a community service officer , due to having a highly unimaginative mind ( TV : " Flatline " ) and Field Marshall Erwin Rommel . ( COMIC : " The Instruments of War " )