In the 60s and 70s of the last century, the phenomenon of Rosa Kuleshova, a girl who could read ordinary books, only by touching the pages with her hands, was heatedly discussed in the USSR.
Rose discovered amazing abilities in herself after she decided to master the Braille alphabet. The girl was not blind, she just became interested. By the way, Kuleshova did not even manage to finish school, because she began to have epileptic seizures. Nevertheless, Rosa mastered the carved alphabet for first graders in two weeks, and then learned to read fluently with her fingers.
One day Kuleshova decided to try to read a book with ordinary letters blindly. At first, by her own admission, she only felt a certain roughness from the printed letters, but after two years she easily read any text, tracing the lines with her fingers and not looking into the book.
Her attending physician learned about Rosa's amazing ability, and after the girl demonstrated her skill to him, he wrote a whole article about her in a scientific journal.
The news about Rosa Kuleshova spread throughout the country. Scientists interested in her abilities, seeking to unravel the secret of the phenomenon. By the way, it turned out that Rosa not only reads with her fingers (as well as any open part of her body: bare foot, elbow, knee), but is also able to recognize the colors and outlines of various objects without looking at them.
The girl liked to be in the spotlight, so she gladly demonstrated her abilities. For which in the end she paid. Not everyone believed in Kuleshova's unusual gift.
Some researchers have claimed that she is a common swindler. As proof, the results of experiments were cited when Rosa failed the tests: for example, she correctly named only one color out of ten or could not read a line in an unfamiliar book.
Some skeptics argued that Kuleshova was just peeping through her bandage, noting that if a screen was put between the girl and the book, then she could not read and recognize anything. Others were convinced that Rosa had a phenomenal memory: they say, a few seconds are enough for her to look at an open book in order to memorize the text, before they put a blindfold on her eyes.
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Many experts considered it their duty to expose Rosa Kuleshova, noting that charlatans should not deceive the Soviet people.
Rosa was very worried, listening to these accusations, and explained her failures precisely by the fact that during some tests they did not initially believe her, and this confuses her mood. One way or another, Rose did not succeed in precisely "catching" on the fact that the girl was deceiving everyone. Some researchers remained unconvinced, confident that Kuleshova deftly deceived everyone. Others were inclined to believe that the girl did have a gift. True, many believed that, rather, Rosa had the ability to clairvoyance.
After the death of Rosa in 1978 from a cerebral hemorrhage caused by a tumor, some experts suggested that Kuleshova's abilities were the result of brain disorders that had been observed in her since childhood.
In any case, the phenomenon of Rosa Kuleshova remained unsolved.
