Several cases have been reported in Russia recently of people who can read and
detect colours with their fingers, and even see through solid doors and walls.
One case concerns and 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 Ulyanovsk, 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. It was
also found that although she could perceive things with her fingers this
ability ceased the moment her hands were wet.&