Guy Lyon Playfair

[[File:Guy Lyon Playfair.png|165px|thumb|Guy Lyon Playfair]]
{{Paranormal}}

{{cquote|Playfair has made a career of first being fooled by tricksters, and then fooling others. It isn’t much of a legacy, but it does serve as a model of how not to approach paranormal claims.|||[[Joe Nickell]].<ref>[http://www.centerforinquiry.net/blogs/entry/enfield_haunting_guy_playfair_not_a_fair-playing_guy/ Enfield Haunting: Guy Playfair not a Fair-playing Guy]. ([http://archive.ph/ZzIUU Archive]).</ref>}}

'''Guy Lyon Playfair''' {{lived|1935|2018}} was a [[United Kingdom|British]] author and [[parapsychologist]].<ref>[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2018/04/12/guy-lyon-playfair-poltergeist-hunter-obituary/ Guy Lyon Playfair, poltergeist hunter – obituary]</ref> He was a fan of [[Uri Geller]], "greatly impressed" by [[psychic]] [[medium]]s like [[Chico Xavier]] (a Brazilian author who allegedly [[channeling|"channeled"]] new works by other, dead, Brazilian authors), felt that [[psychic surgery|psychic surgeons]] were been capable of mysterious [[healing]], and even claimed that British psychic healer Matthew Manning cured him of a slipped disc.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120203171343/http://subversivethinking.blogspot.com/2011/11/interview-with-researcher-of-psychic.html Interview with researcher of psychic phenomena Guy Lyon Playfair]</ref> 

==Beliefs==
Playfair's mother was a member of the [[Society for Psychical Research]] (SPR) and he fondly recalled reading the ''SPR Journal'' as a child, which explains a lot. He believed that [[Uri Geller]] performed actual [[psychokinesis]]<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20020615193308/http://www.uri-geller.com/geller-effect/tge0.htm The Geller Effect]</ref> and that "a lot of the opposition to him is just based on jealousy." He was also known for his rather gullible investigation of the [[Enfield Poltergeist]], believing he'd found genuine evidence of a [[poltergeist]], where others saw only the mischievous pranks of attention-seeking adolescents.<ref>[http://www.csicop.org/si/show/enfield_poltergeist Enfield Poltergeist by Joe Nickell]</ref> He felt that mediums such as [[Eusapia Palladino]] and Chico Xavier were genuine. He was also convinced that {{wpl|Carmine Mirabelli||,}} a medium who was caught passing off a retouched photo as evidence of his powers of [[levitation]], had some genuine paranormal ability.<ref>[[Joe Nickell]] (2005). ''Camera Clues: A Handbook for Photographic Investigation''. The University Press of Kentucky. p. 178</ref>

==Books==
Playfair's ''The Flying Cow'' mostly expressed his admiration for [[Chico Xavier]]. ''New Scientist'' magazine reviewed it and quipped, "Many books misuse science to gull the reader (and, perhaps the author as well, and the flying Cow is just one more)". 

''The Cycles of Heaven: Cosmic Forces and What They are Doing to You'' was also negatively reviewed in the ''New Scientist'' for offering "irrational explanations" for alleged "Cosmic forces" and cyclic influences. According to the reviewer Judith Mirzoeff, Playfair prefers only favorable evidence and rejects certain research on biorhythms, the most popular explanation for random variations in well-being.

Playfair co-authored the book ''The Geller Effect'' (1986) with Uri Geller. The book received a negative review from the psychical researcher Michael Goss, who came to the conclusion "Playfair provides little evidence to support the existence of paranormal powers. His main theory boils down to the fact that, because so many people imitate spoonbending, someone with real paranormal abilities must have started it off."<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20140308133241/https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=beBFR2Kyg3oC&pg=PA57&dq=guy+lyon+playfair+new+scientist&hl=en&sa=X&ei=g2nLUszYL-qh7AaTj4HQCQ&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=guy%20lyon%20playfair%20new%20scientist&f=false After the spoonbending] New Scientist, November 5, 1986 (from Wayback Machine)</ref>

The [[magician]] Ben Harris had previously published the book ''Gellerism Revealed: The Psychology and Methodology Behind the Geller Effect'' (1985),  which revealed step-by-step photos and text showing how to bend keys and cutlery by trick methods. Harris reviewed Playfair's book and stated that Playfair was not experienced in [[Magic|sleight of hand]] and was fooled by Geller's tricks. According to Harris: "Mr Playfair turns out to be a weak observer due to his own misplaced confidence in his abilities as an observer... [he] rushes along crucifying the skeptics, the magicians and almost anyone who has questioned the Geller myth."<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20140226141547/http://www.urigellerinfo.com/gereview.htm Book Review &mdash; The Geller Effect Reviewed by Ben Harris]</ref> Science writer [[Martin Gardner]] also criticized Playfair's endorsement of Geller, and described him as a "hack writer on the occult".<ref>[[Martin Gardner]]. (1983). ''Order and Surprise''. Prometheus Books. p. 362</ref>

Some of his books have been re-published by White Crow Books, a spiritualist company co-run by the author [[Michael E. Tymn]].<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20110318125546/http://whitecrowbooks.com/authors/list/category/guy_lyon_playfair/ Guy Lyon Playfair at White Crow Books]</ref>

==Publications==
*''The Unknown Power'' (1977) (aka ''The Flying Cow'')
*''The Indefinite Boundary'' (1977)
*''The Cycles of Heaven: Cosmic Forces and What They Are Doing to You'' (1978)
*''This House is Haunted : The Investigation of the [[Enfield Poltergeist]]'' (1980)
* ''If This Be Magic'' (1985)
* ''Twin Telepathy: The Psychic Connection'' (2002)
*''New Clothes for Old Souls : World Wide Evidence for Reincarnation'' (2006)
*''Chico Xavier, Medium of the Century'' (2010)

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Playfair, Guy Lyon}}
[[Category:British people]]
[[Category:Paranormal]]
[[Category:Parapsychology]]
[[Category:Pseudoscience promoters]]

Categories: British people, Paranormal, Parapsychology, Pseudoscience promoters