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Two Performance Artists book by Scotch Wichmann
Two Performance Artists Kidnap Their Boss And Do Things With Him
Inspired by my crazy adventures as a performer on the road, this is the story of two performance artists who cook up the ultimate performance: to kidnap their billionaire boss...and turn him into the wildest performance artist the world's ever seen.

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Psychic Hacking Paper Published — Plus Isis Magick in Egypt!
July 21, 2026 4:35 pm

I’m excited to announce that my remote viewing research was just published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Scientific Exploration!

While conducting research for my Parapsychology Ph.D. in 2022, I combined my paranormal and cybersecurity interests into a simple question: Can clairvoyants use their powers to see data that is inside computers? Is “psychic hacking” of machines possible?

The answer is yes. Recruiting 146 psychics, I showed that some people can describe specific details about randomly chosen ATM PIN numbers, pictures, and videos held in computers that are located miles away, even when the computers’ screens are blacked out and the machines are password-protected and not connected to any network.

The implications are wild, if not scary: what good are barbed-wire fences, passwords, and firewalls if psychics can bypass all of these to access data using only their minds? Storing a nation’s deepest secrets deep in an underground bunker may not stop a psychic capable of accessing information outside of space and time.

Is psychic hacking possible? Read all about it in my paper published here.

 

…And if that’s not enough magick for you, here’s some more.

I’ve been obsessed with Egypt since I was a kid. It began with a 1970s live-action TV show called The Secrets of Isis, where a mystical gold amulet allowed a high school science teacher to transform into the goddess. She could fly, walk through walls, and even talk to animals, all in the name of saving lives, protecting the environment, and fighting crime.

Scotch Wichmann dreaming of Isis in the 1970s

Whenever a new episode aired, I’d become her, jumping on the living room couch and waving a magic wand while wearing an Isis-style white tunic and gold headband my mom had made for me. (My mom was a total hippie who burned incense and talked to houseplants while listening to Stevie Nicks and doing yoga, so naturally she encouraged my magical spells).

In my teen years I scoured library books on Egypt, memorizing hieroglyphics, teaching myself bits of Egyptian magic (Heka), and reveling in Isis lore. I loved that her favorite tree was the sycamore — a symbol of resurrection — and that she could transform herself into a falcon or hawk.

I especially loved the ancient story of Isis reassembling her husband Osiris after he’d been dismembered. Using her magic, Isis gathered his limbs from across Egypt and reconstituted him. Sadly, his penis was missing (fish in the Nile ate it), so she made him a new one. Nothing was more punk-rock-magical than a witch-goddess fashioning her dude a brand new cosmic phallus out of mud, wax, and gold.

Given my obsession, I was beyond excited to recently visit Egypt for real. I sailed on the Nile, dined on pigeon, visited Tutankhamun’s tomb, crawled into the Great Pyramid’s inner chambers like Indiana Jones, and ran my hands along the Sphinx’s dusty feet.

Scotch Wichmann at archeological dig in Egypt
Scotch Wichmann visiting Nile in Egypt
Scotch Wichmann with eye of Isis in Egypt
Scotch Wichmann visiting sphynx in Egypt

The pyramids blew my mind, but I was even more excited by Agilkia Island, home to the Temple of Isis (a.k.a. Temple of Philae). Originally built in 380 BC, it glowed white under the moon as our boat approached, vibrating with Isiac power.

Scotch Wichmann visiting Isis temple in Egypt

I pulled out a magic wand I’d cut from a sycamore branch, and like a dork, lovingly touched it against the temple’s stone walls every chance I got, making sure to imbue every crevice of the wood with ancient Isis dust.

Touring the temple, I saw its sacrificial altar up ahead. Its energy was palpable. I wanted to touch it so bad, to lay my Isis wand upon it (my own magical phallic moment?), but the altar was roped off and protected by a serious-looking security guard.

As my tour group finished exploring and exited the temple, I waited behind. I wanted every last second with the altar, even though it was out of reach behind velvet ropes. If only I could touch it. The air was still. Time slowed. I felt like something magical was about to happen. Then suddenly —

The security guard whispered: “Do you want to touch the altar?”

I was in shock — Isis had granted my wish!

I nodded vigorously.

“Hurry!” the guard whispered.

Moving the ropes aside, he beckoned me into the chamber, then faded away, leaving me alone.

I touched the flat marble altar. It was cold and vibrating. I set my wand on it. The energy in the room was potent, female, dizzying. I stood there a long time, the Isis power passing through me.

Scotch Wichmann wand on altar of Isis in Egypt

Finally the guard returned. Time to go. It had only been minutes, but it felt like hours.

When I finally returned to my tour group, I felt crazy with excitement over my union with Isis. I carried the wand back home, and plan to paint it in gold leaf, sealing inside the dust and vibrations of Isis and her magic.

Filed under Amazing places, Cybersecurity, E.S.P., Parapsychology, Psychic Experiment, Travel | Post Comment | Permalink
 
 
A Goodbye to My Hero, John M. White
June 7, 2025 11:06 pm

My performance art hero and good friend John M. White has left this world just shy of his 88th birthday.

I first met him in 1991 when I wandered into his performance art class at the Univ. of California, Irvine.

I didn’t know what performance art was, not really, or that the burly, mustached guy teaching it was a famous painter & sculptor, and also one of the early pioneers of L.A.’s performance art scene in the 70s & 80s.

John M. White with wife Sylvia

But what he taught blew my mind. He helped becoming-artists dig deep, and many went full throttle, embodying the surreal to unleash emotional undercurrents that were often pure chaos & danger & gorgeous & that sometimes escalated so quickly that John had to grab the reins.

I saw artists throw themselves into walls and out of trees, risk knees & elbows rolling hard across concrete floors, bare their souls while eating lipstick, tap-dance across live electrical wires, one guy played hockey with a cow tongue, somebody else prattled Walt Whitman while pulling out a loaded gun (the gun was a terrible cliche, been done at least a hundred times & the student got expelled, but holey moley). Turning people into anarchic provocateurs wasn’t necessarily John’s intention, but it happened often because he was so good at providing safe spaces without limits.

John M. White with American flag over his head

After college, he took me around and introduced me to kick-ass L.A. performance art venues & artists who took me in like family, and John took me in too. I ate meals at his house. He gave me my first paid art jobs (I painted objects for his art installations around town, Warhol-factory-style). I met his wildly talented wife Sylvia, a driven art dealer/curator who went on to open successful galleries from NY to LA to Mexico while running a business that taught artists how to market themselves. And I met their hilarious little daughter Rachel, who John brought to class so she could critique students’ performance art pieces. “Did you like that performance?” John would ask, to which Rachel would often scream, “NO!” Lolol. (She liked my pieces, thank god!)

John M. White doing performance art with word-play, string, and socks

John started his 5x5x5 series in L.A. (five 5-minute pieces by 5 artists). The show later moved up to Ventura, which is home to incredible artists and amaaaazing audiences who are game for anything. Hundreds of performances (maybe thousands) erupted in gallery spaces with artists sweating, gambling everything, audiences thrilled & packed to the walls, the things we saw were a miracle, and this went on for decades.

A formally trained painter, John’s need to make art was rabid. Walk into his studio day or night, and you’d see at least 5 paintings going at once on a wall, paint dripping down to the carpet. His paintings are now part of American history in collections at the Guggenheim, LACMA, Smithsonian, Broad, and many others. His favorite studio was a Ventura strip mall storefront located next to a police substation — the cops would drive by the studio slowwww nightly to see what latest wild things were on display.

Performance Artist John M. White with protege Scotch Wichmann at Art City in Ventura

An avid fisherman and insatiable flirt, he was constantly surrounded by adoring friends and family and artists, and he was always quick to offer art advice, especially when it came to performance. Since he never stopped critiquing my work, I guess I was his student for 34 years (and I’d gladly take 34 more).

I got to hug him just hours before he departed. I reminded him of his favorite performances — some of these included a 6-foot penis; his student Beth who stood on a busy street corner holding a sign that read “Will F**k For Money” that almost caused several traffic accidents; and, the guy (we could never remember his name) who peed on the audience and almost started a riot but still got applause. John also liked the time I did a testicle puppet show, and the time when I asked fellow artists to sell me their souls for a dollar (many did, and I still have those signed contracts! lol).

Paper mache 6-foot penis made for John M. White by KayDee Kersten

A memorial was held at the 5x5x5 in Ventura at Art City this past week. The gallery was packed to the gills with artists and friends, and I had the honor of performing a flurry of John White bits referencing his life and long performance art history that spanned 50 years (not easy to sum up in 5 minutes, but I tried!).

Performance artist Scotch Wichmann performing at John M. White memorial in Ventura
Performance artist Scotch Wichmann diving into a tub of 200 golf balls
Performance artist Scotch Wichmann performing with American flag wrapped around his head to memorialize John M. White

Since John was once a pro golfer, it seemed necessary to dump hundreds of golf balls into the audience at the end. Handwritten on each was “87″ (John’s age) and the initials “JW.” Watching everyone trying to exit afterward with all those balls underfoot was a slowgoing delight John would’ve enjoyed.

Performance artist Scotch Wichmann pouring 200 golf balls into audience

On my way up to the show from L.A., I stopped off to pick up John’s ashes, which were packed into a container held in a red velvet bag. It was surreal, driving to the 5x5x5 with John’s remains in my car. When I reached Ventura, I put the bag into a black box John had given me in the 1990s, carried it into the gallery, and set it on a tall white pedestal (John would’ve loved that! lol) so he could be physically present for the 5x5x5 one last time.

Box holding the ashes of performance artist John M. White at Art City in Ventura, 2025

If you’d told me in 1991 that 34 years later, I would carry John White in my arms into a Ventura gallery where he would sit on stage to watch me perform a retrospective of his life’s work, I’m not sure I would’ve believed it. Talk about full circle.

The final performance of the 5x5x5 memorial was a great piece by Steve Nagler of The Shrimps, who set a tiny empty chair made of matchsticks on fire. We all watched it burn to ash. It was moving, gorgeous, and the perfect finale.

Steve Nagler of The Shrimps lighting chair on fire in performance art for John M. White memorial, 2025

I feel insanely lucky that I got to be part of these many amazing adventures, all thanks to my longtime mentor, doting husband and father, artist and teacher extraordinaire, and loyal friend to so many, John M. White.

Performance art saved many lives (including mine), thanks to him.

(In case it’s not 100% obvious that I’m a rabid John White fan, check out this happy birthday video I made for him in 2021…hahaha. And of course, my novel about performance art is dedicated to John too).

And for making John’s memorial a massive success, THANK YOU to Ventura’s 5x5x5 artists & wild fans for your endless talents + support, to brilliant musician Steve Aguilar for organizing & hosting & playing guitar, to Paul Lindhard & Art City Studios for hosting the 5x5x5 all these years, and to my cheerleader, photographer, logician, & creative partner KayDee Kersten for all her magic. xoxo

Filed under Los Angeles, Performance art | 3 Comments | Permalink
 
 
Alien Tuning Fork and More
January 7, 2025 11:16 pm

I hope you had an amazing New Year! I’m writing this from a scary windstorm that’s walloping L.A. at the moment, but even the growing mess of leaves and branches in my front yard can’t deter my excitement for 2025, which promises to be full of more art and psychic weirdness.

For starters, I just shot a short experimental film called Untranslatable, where I recorded myself telling an impassioned story in gibberish, then returned afterward to “translate” it into a cohesive narrative using subtitles.

Still from Scotch Wichmann's experimental film, UNTRANSLATABLE

Speaking gibberish without an internal narrative in mind feels really strange. Unlike a textual narrative that builds on the memory of what’s been said, gibberish builds on the memory of the spontaneous feelings you’ve surfaced in yourself out of nowhere.

Listening to the gibberish repeatedly later until a story emerges feels similar to how Surrealists employed automatic writing to plumb their unconscious minds for universal symbols and hidden meaning. It’s like listening to a foreign film whose language you don’t speak, but where you still try to make meaning out of a speaker’s raw human sounds, gestures, and tone.

Interpreting gibberish after-the-fact raises interesting questions: When does authorship truly occur? How does context (such as the addition of subtitles) change content? And, what role does the unconscious play in providing meaning, especially where a work was partially created unconsciously?

Photo of performance artist Scotch Wichmann performing ALIEN TUNING FORK in Ventura, CA, 2025

On the performance art front, I kicked off the new year by performing Alien Tuning Fork, a new piece that explores my past encounters with possible extraterrestrial intelligences. (Not only does it involve forks, I also discovered I can break a fork in half with my toes — how cool is that?!). I unveiled the new work at the 5x5x5 show at Art City, a killer art space in Ventura, CA that featured a bunch of fun performances for a standing-room-only audience that was positively on fire! You can check out Tuning Fork photos, and I hope to post some video of it soon. Special thanks to Ventura’s Steve Aguilar for producing the 5x5x5, and for his devastating piano work.

Photo of performance artist Scotch Wichmann performing ALIEN TUNING FORK in Ventura, CA, 2025

Photo of performance artist Scotch Wichmann in Ventura, CA, 2025

And, last but not least, in January ’25 I presented results again from my psychic experiment, this time at the International Remote Viewing Association (IRVA), an organization dedicated to exploring the science, mystery, and utility of remote viewing. I was a little nervous presenting to luminaries in the remote viewing field (some had worked on the U.S. Government’s top secret Star Gate project in the 1970s & 1980s), but the audience was incredibly kind, excited by my research, and super supportive during the Q&A with a ton of great ideas for future research directions. What an amazing and humbling experience. Thank you for inspiring me, IRVA!

May your 2025 be magical! If you’re interested in watching Untranslatable or checking out some performance art (I hope to produce a show in L.A. this summer!) check back here! xoxo

Filed under E.S.P., Film/Video, Parapsychology, Performance art, Photos, Weird | Post Comment | Permalink
 
 
More Psychic Hacking and My Legs Are Dead
October 11, 2024 3:24 pm

Fall is here, the leaves are falling, and I’m super excited to say that my presentation on Psychic Hacking at the 42nd Society for Scientific Exploration convention was a success with lively Q&A and a bunch of exciting follow-ups, including possible publishing and research collaboration opportunities. Yay! If you have 20 minutes to spare, and you’re curious whether psychics can hack into secure computers using only their minds, check out the video of my presentation on YouTube.

Click here to watch YouTube video from Scotch's presentation on psychic hacking

After getting bunches of post-conference requests to share my parapsychology Ph.D. dissertation, I went ahead and made it public. It contains all of the experiment details, the results, the data, and my sources. You can download it here, or from the Psychic Experiment website. (p.s., if you work for the CIA, and are interested in reviving the Star Gate project to leverage intelligence from psychics, gimme a call!).

In other news, I had good intentions of running a 100K (62-mile) race east of San Diego, but 91F weather, a 5000-foot climb, and miles of ravines filled with sharp & slippery river rocks got the better of me.

I decided to drop at the 50K mark for my own safety, and because the heat slog slowed my pace considerably. I thought I’d finish the first 50K in 5-6 hours, but ended up finishing it in 9 hours, which meant I probably wouldn’t complete the second 50K before the race’s cutoff time. Nearly half of the runners dropped out early due to heat exhaustion (I saw some getting sick in the bushes), so I feel lucky I finished 50K unscathed, other than being caked in layers of dirt. Looking forward to revenge at my next 100K in April 2025! xoxo

Filed under Cybersecurity, E.S.P., Parapsychology, Psychic Experiment, Running, Weird | 3 Comments | Permalink
 
 
Psychic Hacking & Kidnapping Elon Musk
September 17, 2024 9:55 pm

I hope you had a great summer — how’s it September already?! I’ve been keeping busy writing, training for my next 100K race, keeping the world safe from hackers, and working on paranormal projects.

I’m super excited to announce that I’ll be presenting at the 42nd Society for Scientific Exploration convention Sept. 27-29, where scientists will offer the latest paranormal research on nonphysical beings, crop circles, Tesla, tuning forks, energy healing, and more!

Ad for the 2024 Society for Scientific Exploration conference, where Scotch Wichmann will present on Psychic Hacking

In my talk, Psychic Hacking: Using Remote Viewing to Steal Computer Data, I’ll present evidence from my Ph.D. research showing that psychics can use remote viewing to steal computer data (and possibly even national secrets) from thousands of miles away. Pretty wild!

The conference is streaming online this year, so if you’re into fringe science & the paranormal, check it out at www.scientificexploration.org.

….Andddd, I just learned that my dark caper-comedy screenplay, TWO ARTISTS KIDNAP ELON MUSK, is an official selection at the 2024 Austin Comedy Film Festival!

Adapted from my novel, two performance artists are driven over the edge by their soul-sucking jobs, so they plot the ultimate performance: to kidnap their billionaire boss Elon Musk, and turn him into a performance artist.

Two strong female protagonists? A villainous Elon Musk smoking out with bad boy Joe Rogan? Madcap action and art with danger and absurdity? I guarantee it!

Poster for the screenplay, Two Artists Kidnap Elon Musk, by writer Scotch Wichmann

Filed under Comedy, E.S.P., Parapsychology, Performance art, Psychic Experiment, Weird, Writing | 1 Comment | Permalink
 
 
Parapsychology Ph.D. Complete!
February 10, 2024 4:49 pm

Yesssss….. My parapsychology schooling (scientific study of the paranormal) is finally done — I’m a Ghostbuster at last! Lolol.

Building upon declassified U.S. government psychic research, my Ph.D. project tried to prove whether people can steal information from computers clairvoyantly.

I launched a double-blind study where 146 people from around the world tried to psychically sense information about randomly chosen picture, video, ATM PIN, & passphrase targets stored in computers located at a secret location in L.A., with submissions scored by 6 judges. Computers were not networked, had audio disabled, & screens were dimmed to black & shielded.

Many results were statistically significant. From thousands of miles away, some psychics described as many as 7 unique details about picture targets (a=0.05, p=0.000597) and video targets (p=0.000911). Likelihood was calculated to be on par with flipping a coin & getting heads 11 times in a row.

Some people sensed details tangentially related to psychic targets, even when the details weren’t physically present. One target was a short video clip from The Shining. Some psychics sensed blood, loud heartbeats, “a mother on vacation in the mountains,” and other film specifics, even though these details weren’t contained in the actual clip I used — wild!!

I’ll publish full results (600+ pgs!) after presenting in journals & conferences later this year. For fun, here’s one submission:

Parapsychology experiment by Scotch Wichmann showing a glass cathedral dome

Participant's submission successful described the dome features and colors

THANK YOU to my amazing participants, Dr. C. Bishop of Wesleyan U. for his math genius, the U of Sedona for guidance, my 6 tireless judges who judged 1,752 rounds of data, and to KayDee Kersten for being my adventure buddy on this wild ride!

P.S.: Wanna be more psychic? Participants answered survey questions about past psychic experiences, which I then compared to their actual psychic performance. Based on the data, you’ll have more success in your psychic endeavors if you set your intention to be psychic. Participants who BELIEVED they might be psychic were 21.8 times more accurate than doubters. xoxo

Filed under E.S.P., Parapsychology, Psychic Experiment, Weird | 4 Comments | Permalink
 
 
Dissertation Finally Finished
July 15, 2023 6:12 pm

Parapsychology Ph.D. candidate Scotch Wichmann holding his dissertation
After 18 months of work on my Parapsychology Ph.D. dissertation, I finally submitted it for review, defense, and approval — yayyyy! Clocking in at a whopping 658 pages, it may take months for my doctoral committee to read it all…lol.

I’m so excited my Psychic Experiment was a success. I was able to show that people with clairvoyant powers can “see” and describe secret data held in computers. The results (which were obvious to the naked eye and statistically significant) provided solid evidence that psychics can mentally access pictures, video clips, ATM PIN numbers, and passphrases stored in laptop machines. The experiment was judged by 6 independent judges (including a skeptic, a psychic, and a stage magician), and I can’t wait to share more results once the paper and research are approved. Stay tuned!

Filed under E.S.P., Psychic Experiment | 2 Comments | Permalink
 
 
RIP Jerry Springer
April 27, 2023 10:51 am

B88243219Z.1_20180620064515_000_GMM7OAER.3-0_Gallery

RIP Jerry Springer. Full disclosure: I loved watching him continue what Donahue, Geraldo, Howard Stern, & Les Crane (1960′s) turned into a live-action tabloid art form. It was impossible to look away. Gimme that lurid sleaze, those profanity-laden fistfights, hurled chairs, all of it — our own American style of rough-and-ready sideshow performance, like watching grainy Kenneth Anger films live mixed with Harmony Korine…. Yeah, it was trashy (and probably partly scripted) and childishly ridiculous and definitely exploitative, but it was also reflective of people I knew and saw growing up….the 1970s-1980s were especially sleazy, gritty, and violent in my formative experience. I especially loved the episodes where people in the margins were given a voice, even if it was sensationalized by the form — maybe seeing Springer episodes like “I’m a witch” or “I like to cross-dress” that were considered so shocking back then helped set the stage for some level of normalization and equity that will eventually come. History will judge. But for sure, those episodes connected with the creative, emotive, sensitive, scared, and wilder parts of me that were rejected (often violently) by my peers — somehow I was not alone. And watching all the cro-magnon haters who Springer would bring on stage to create drama? Maybe seeing them helped steel us collectively to battle the ignorant haters still burning books and banning drag shows today.

Watch this clip of tabloid talker Les Crane in 1964 ask a male guest questions about a thing called “homosexuality.” This was ground-breaking for TV. And as archaic and weirdly quaint as this footage looks, one day people will look back on Jerry Springer episodes and probably feel the same about them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ev387WTquB8

Filed under Confessions, Performance art, Sex, Weird | Post Comment | Permalink
 
 
The Psychic Experiment is Done!
November 6, 2022 5:24 pm

After running for 2 weeks, the Psychic Experiment finally closed its doors to the public on Sunday, November 6. And now the fun begins: independent judges and I are analyzing the data, which will eventually become part of my Ph.D. dissertation in Parapsychology.

To everyone who participated and promoted the experiment, THANK YOU SO MUCH! The turnout was fantastic. We had professional psychics participate, but for many people around the world, this was their very first paranormal experience EVER — how amazing is that?!?

I’ll post an update here once results are available sometime in 2023. Again, THANK YOU!

Filed under E.S.P., Los Angeles, Parapsychology, Psychic Experiment | Post Comment | Permalink
 
 
The Psychic Experiment is Live!
October 23, 2022 12:26 pm

My PSYCHIC EXPERIMENT is live! As part of my final school project in Parapsychology, and inspired by the CIA’s STARGATE remote viewing program in the 1970s, I’m trying to prove that some people have clairvoyant powers allowing them to “see” data in computers far away — and YOU can be part of it!

Plus, everyone who participates will be entered into a random drawing to win one of three $200 Amazon gift cards!

The experiment only takes a few minutes, so check out the video, and head on over to www.psychicexperiment.org.

P.S. — Once I have enough data, the experiment will close, so don’t wait too long to join the fun!

join the experiment

*** OCTOBER 31st UPDATE! *** It’s Halloween, and the Psychic Experiment has been ROCKETING forward with more participants than we ever thought possible — if you participated, THANK YOU! And if you’re still planning to try it, good news, there’s still time — the experiment closes Sunday, November 6, 2022.

Here’s a quick thank you:

thank you

Filed under E.S.P., Los Angeles, Parapsychology, Psychic Experiment, Weird | 1 Comment | Permalink