Several cases have been reported in Russia recently of people who can detect
colours with their fingers, and even see through solid 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.