"Psychic surgery" is a procedure in which the alleged healer appears to insert their hands into a patient's body (at which point blood appears to flow), removes tumors, flesh, kidney stones or objects such as glass and then cleans the patient's skin of blood. The patient's skin appears to have no wound and no scar although certain practitioners make actual incisions.
Psychic surgery has routinely been debunked as a "confidence game", meant to elicit money from the patient. It is simple sleight of hand and can be replicated by any stage magician.
Psychic surgery is widely practised in the Phillipines and is known to have been practised in Brazil since the early 20th century. It also exists in other parts of Asia, South America and was brought by immigrants to Canada and the United States.
Psychic surgery has also drawn many Western tourists to the Phillipines, most notably late comedian Andy Kaufman. Actress Shirley MacLaine and comedian and actor Peter Sellers once counted among psychic surgery's devotees.
Former magician and professional skeptic James Randi demonstrates how psychic surgery is performed in these videos:
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