Our man who knows the plan, "Doc" R.C. Anderson, gets a gushing profile in Ray Palmer's Search magazine, courtesy his friend Ernest Shinbaum. Would you believe Doc is the kindest, gentlest, most psychic fella you'd ever want to meet? He donates crutches to cripples! Don't cross him though, because he's performed feats of strength that would make your eyes bug out ... and even if you're his best friend, he's not above predicting your son's gonna die in the war and your wife's gonna die of a broken heart! See pages 14-15 for this and some other far-ranging predictions that Shinbaum says were typed up by Anderson in 1944 and sealed in an envelope, not to revealed until 1956.
Sadly, Shinbaum's son and wife died in the manner Anderson predicted ... if he really did predict it! The ballyhoo with sealed envelops and sworn affidavits is typical of 20th century psychic hooey. Shinbaum could have been rooked or he could have been a co-conspirator, or Anderson could have worked some personal magic after the fact to convince him of how things really went down.
There's no mention here of Anderson's supposed bumming around in China during WWII that he related to Warren Smith, only a short stint as a Marines athletic instructor before becoming a traveling strongman. Not to put too fine a point on it, but Anderson seems like he was a classic bullshitter! His geopolitical predictions are the usual psychic guff as well, either so obvious as to be pointless (conflict in the Middle East), so vague as to be useless (ditto, plus conflict with Russia and China), or just plain boldly wrong - dig a reunified Germany "within five years!"
Anderson was also a bullfighter, and it's appropriate that a psychic scammer and sideshow strongman would be into this rigged macho "sport" with its one, inevitable outcome. Looks are everything whether you're massaging a mark, bending iron bars, or pantomiming bravery in the bullring.
This issue of Search was pure Doc-o-mania! We also get another another ad for Ray Palmer's chili recipe!
Shinbaum's article is available to read and download at archive dot org.
From Search, Issue No. 19, February, 1957.
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