Gerard Croiset ( Boekbinder; March 10, 1909July 20, 1980) was a Dutch parapsychologist, psychometrist and

psychic A psychic is a person who claims to use powers rooted in parapsychology, such as extrasensory perception (ESP), to identify information hidden from the normal senses, particularly involving telepathy or clairvoyance; or who performs acts that a ...

. He was often asked to help police detectives trace

missing person A missing person is a person who has disappeared and whose status as Life, alive or Death, dead cannot be confirmed as their location and condition are unknown. A person may go missing through a voluntary disappearance, or else due to an accide ...

s, though authenticated successes were few, and compared against the failures, his success rate was ruled no better than chance.

Background

Croiset was born in

Laren Laren may refer to: Places * Laarne, municipality located in the Belgian province of East Flanders, earlier referenced as Laren * Laren, Gelderland, village in the Dutch municipality of Lochem * Laren, North Holland, municipality and town in the N ...

North Holland North Holland (, ) is a Provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands in the northwestern part of the country. It is located on the North Sea, north of South Holland and Utrecht (province), Utrecht, and west of Friesland and Flevola ...

, in March 1909. He said he began to become aware of his gifts while a youth working for a watch repairer, and that on one occasion he held a ruler belonging to his employer and saw events which he related to his employer and which his employer confirmed were accurate.

Early work

After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Croiset was sometimes consulted by Dutch police authorities for cases involving

s, or

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...

. On one occasion he was said to have examined the property of a murdered woman, and provided accurate information relating to her murder, and also gave the name of her murderer. The name matched a man who was being held in connection with the

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definiti ...

. He gained a reputation as a reliable consultant in the area of missing persons, and his fame extended beyond the Netherlands, as anecdotes about his abilities came to be discussed in other countries. He also gained a reputation as a psychic healer, and would allow people to visit him in his clinic for healing sessions.

Missing persons cases

In 1966, he was invited to Australia to aid in an investigation relating to the disappearance of the three

Beaumont children Jane Nartare Beaumont (born 10 September 1956), Arnna Kathleen Beaumont (born 11 November 1958) and Grant Ellis Beaumont (born 12 July 1961), collectively referred to as the Beaumont children, were three Australian siblings who disappeared from ...

, who had disappeared without trace from a beach in Adelaide, South Australia. Although police were skeptical, his expenses were paid by the wealthy property tycoon Con Polites, who was interested in the case, and publicity was such that Croiset's ideas were thought to be worthy of consideration. During his brief stay in Australia, he attracted widespread publicity but failed to find any trace of the missing children. In January 1970, Croiset participated in the investigation of the kidnapping of Muriel McKay, the wife of publishing tycoon

Rupert Murdoch Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian - American retired business magnate, investor, and media mogul. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of List of assets owned by News Corp, local, national, a ...

's Deputy Chairman Alick McKay. Croiset was asked by a McKay family friend, Eric Cutler, to help locate her. Croiset said that she was in a white farmhouse in the north or north-east of London, and that nearby to her was another farm and an abandoned aerodrome. He claimed that if she was not found within 14 days she would be dead. Her body was never found. Brothers Arthur and Nazimoodeen Hosein were convicted of her murder—the first case in British history of a murder conviction without a body. In 1978, the Chief Constable of

Devon and Cornwall Police Devon and Cornwall Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the ceremonial counties of Devon and Cornwall (including the Isles of Scilly) in South West England. The force serves approximately 1.8 million people over an ...

hired Croiset to investigate the

disappearance of Genette Tate The disappearance of Genette Tate is a missing person case in which a 13-year-old girl disappeared while delivering newspapers in Aylesbeare, Devon, England, on 19 August 1978. Despite extensive searches, Tate's body has not been found and the ca ...

, but he provided no information of value. In 1972 he was consulted at various times to assist with the location of a missing aircraft presumed crashed in the Andes mountains. His indications proved to be vague and ultimately incorrect. Croiset died in

Utrecht Utrecht ( ; ; ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city of the Netherlands, as well as the capital and the most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. The ...

in 1980, aged 71.

Evaluation

Croiset claimed he helped to solve the case of an assault of a girl in

Wierden Wierden (; Tweants dialect, Tweants: ''Wierdn'') is a town and a municipality in the eastern Netherlands, in the province of Overijssel. The municipality of Wierden also includes the following towns, villages and townships: Enter (town), Enter, ...

, the Netherlands. The Chief of Police of Wierden stated however, that the information by Croiset was inaccurate and his communications were not used in the case. He was investigated under controlled conditions by The Belgian Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Phenomena Reputed to be Paranormal and they did not find any evidence of psychic ability. The skeptic James Lett has written: The Dutch parapsychologist has written Croiset had genuine psychic powers due to the information he had given in police cases. However it was discovered that much of Tenhaeff's data was fraudulent.Hoebens, Piet Hein (1981). 'Gerard Croiset: Investigation of the Mozart of "Psychic Sleuths"'. ''

Skeptical Inquirer ''Skeptical Inquirer'' (S.I.) is a bimonthly American general-audience magazine published by the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI) with the subtitle "The Magazine for Science and Reason". The magazine initially focused on investigating clai ...

'' 6, nº 1: 18–28. Hoebens, Piet Hein (1982).
Croiset and Professor Tenhaeff: Discrepancies in Claims of Clairvoyance
. ''

'' 6, nº 2: 32–40.

References

External links