Explainer · 2 min read
Can we describe an image that nobody shows us?
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Imagine being asked to describe a hidden photograph. You write down “water”, “a building”, “something red”. When the photograph is revealed, several details seem to match. How can we tell whether the resemblance goes beyond what chance could produce?
This is a central question in remote viewing: attempting to describe a target without accessing it through the usual sensory channels.
In a study reviewed in the bulletin, Scotch Wichmann collected 584 sessions from 146 participants. The targets included images and videos stored on computers disconnected from the network. Three judges assessed the descriptions. The author reports favourable results in some analyses.
The work is exploratory. Several target categories and several ways of scoring successful responses were examined. The findings therefore need to be tested on new data, using criteria set in advance.
A resemblance becomes informative when we know how it was assessed and what it was compared with. In particular, a description should match its target better than other images it might also bring to mind.
Further reading: Bulletin of 25 September 2026.
Source: Wichmann (2026), “Psychic Hacking: Using Remote Viewing to Steal Computer Data”, Journal of Scientific Exploration. DOI.