Richard Chanfray - Self-claimed Powers

Self-claimed Powers

Richard Chanfray claimed to have many powers, most of them related to alchemy. He also claimed on numerous occasions that his knowledge came from a "mysterious man" whom he had met in his past. He swore to never reveal said person's identity.

Some of the powers Chanfray's claimed to possess:

• Transmutation of lead into gold. Chanfray performed this trick several times in public, and some European television stations recorded him allegedly transmutating the metals. Stage magicians, scientists and jewellers were invited to some of his soirées, and none apparently discovered the trick.

• The power of immortality. Traditional alchemy considered those two powers (transmutation and immortality) to go hand-in-hand. A Spanish reporter, José María Íñigo, was once invited to Chanfray's house. According to Íñigo "he threw a bit of this powder over a dog's corpse. After a few spasmodic movements, the dog arose and walked a few steps before falling again and remaining dead". It is unclear whether the dog was actually dead before, or even after, the trick.

• The capability of remembering past lives. When invited to old palaces or castles, he claimed to have been there before, in a past life. He would demonstrate this by identifying private areas of the building, secret passages, and so on. It has been suggested that Chanfray studied the blueprints of the buildings, open to the public, before going to these places.