Several cases have been reported in Russia recently of people who can read and detected colours with their fingers, and even see through solid doors and walls. One case concerns an eleven-year-old girl, Vera Petrova, who has normal vision but who can also perceive things with diiferent 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.
Vara's curious talent was brought to the notice of a scientific research institute in the town of Ulyanovk, near where she lives, and in April she was given a series of tests by a special commission of the Minstry of Health of The Russian Federal Republic. During these tests she was able to read a newspaper throug an opaque screen and, stanger still, by moving her elbow over a child's game of Lotto she was able to describe the figures and colors printed on it;and, in another instance, wearing stocking and sloppers, 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 simmilar sensitive. During all these tests Vera was blindfold; and, indeed,expect when blindfold she lacked the ability to preceive 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