Gerard Croiset was born in Holland in 1909. As a youth, he trained as a watchmaker. He began saying he could sense events in his employer’s life based on contact with a personal object.
He opened a clinic to use his gifts to help others. By 1945, he was being studied by scientists. A series of tests impressed them so much that they decided to help him develop his “natural psychic abilities.”
After World War II, Croiset was consulted by Dutch police authorities for cases involving missing persons or murder. 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.
After that, his reputation quickly grew to a level of fame.
He also gained a reputation as a psychic healer and would see patients at his clinic for healing sessions.
He claimed to have achieved one notable success when he was invited to Tokyo, Japan during the 1970s to locate a missing child. As he claimed, he had provided a description of the location in which her body could be found within 24 hours. When her body was found after following his instructions, all details seemed to match exactly with his prediction. There are no known independent sources for this claim.
In another apparently successful case during May 1976, Croiset was flown from the Netherlands to Japan by a Japanese television station to see if he could help locate a missing seven-year-old girl. After being shown a picture of the missing girl, Miwa Kikuchi, Croiset stated that she was dead “on the surface of a lake near her home and near a quay for boats near a yellow protruding structure.” The girl’s body was later recovered floating in the reservoir near row boats and a water supply tower, which was painted yellow.
His gifts were tested scientifically throughout his life. One method for determining true psychic ability is the “chair test.” During this test, a believed psychic looks at a seating plan and selects a random chair number. Once the chair is selected, the psychic provides specific details about the individual who will sit in the chair. There is no way to falsify the answers because the meeting is set to take place in the future without reserved seating placement. Croiset provided answers that remained sealed until the actual meeting took place. Each characteristic was compared against the individual, showing Croiset to have “remarkable success” in providing specific and accurate details. Croiset is said to have taken part in severed successful chair tests in different parts of the world.
Despite these seeming successes, Croiset 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.
Croiset died in Utrecht in 1980, at 71.
The skeptic James Lett has written, “The truth is that the overwhelming majority of Croiset’s predictions were either vague or simply wrong. Given the fact that Croiset made thousands of predictions during his lifetime, it is hardly surprising that he enjoyed one or two chance hits.”
Croiset’s son, Gerard Junior, carries on his legacy.
