Lady Wonder (February 9, 1924 - March 19, 1957) was a mare some claimed to have psychic abilities and be able to perform intellectually demanding tasks such as arithmetic and spelling. Lady was born on February 9, 1924. Lady died on March 19, 1957, at the age of 33 from heart attack.
Lady Wonder with Mrs. Fonda in 1952
Early Life and Training
Clarence and Claudia Fonda adopted the weeks-old filly and called her Lady. Due to her early age, Lady was bottle-fed by her owner, Mrs. Fonda, who also trained Lady using lettered and numbered children's wood blocks in an attempt to teach her the alphabet and numbers so they could communicate. By the time Lady was two years old the horse had been taught to spell out words by using blocks with letters on them. Eventually, Lady outgrew the children's blocks and Mr. Fonda built her a large typewriter, that Lady could use by hitting her nose on padded keys which lifted tin cards containing letters and numbers. Central to the operations was a custom lettered board or rack system, designed as a large, piano-sized apparatus with rows of levers and tin cards bearing letters and numbers. Lady Wonder operated it by nudging specific levers with her nose, causing the corresponding cards to flip up and spell out responses to questions.
Lady Wonder primarily communicated through a custom-designed apparatus resembling a large typewriter or piano keyboard, featuring rows of levers or keys that, when pressed by her nose or muzzle, would flip up tin cards displaying letters, numbers, and symbols.
Alleged Psychic Abilities and Predictions
During its long life, several predictions have been attributed to Lady such as predicting the victory of Gene Tunney over Jack Dempsey in a 1927 boxing match, predicting earthquakes and shifts in the stock exchange. Lady Wonder's reputation extended beyond political forecasts to include notable successes in sports predictions, particularly in boxing and horse racing during the 1920s. Lady Wonder was said to have predicted the outcome of boxing fights and political elections, and was consulted by the police in criminal investigations.
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Lady Wonder's most celebrated forecast came in the 1948 presidential election, where she called Harry S. Truman's upset win over Thomas E. Dewey. The horse continued her streak in 1952 by correctly identifying Dwight D. Eisenhower as the next president.
In addition to verbal responses, Lady Wonder performed arithmetic tasks by selecting numbered cards to indicate sums or results from addition and subtraction problems involving up to three-digit figures presented on the board. For example, when given the problem 7 + 6, she would press the levers corresponding to 13.
Lady Wonder - The Psychic Horse | Alex in Wonderland
Involvement in Criminal Investigations
Lady's celebrity grew across the United States when she was credited to have helped to solve the case of a missing 4-year-old boy, Danny Matson, in Quincy, Massachusetts. One of the most prominent examples of Lady Wonder's alleged contributions to law enforcement occurred in 1952, when she was consulted in the investigation of a missing child, 4-year-old Danny Matson, in Quincy, Norfolk County, Massachusetts. When prompted about Matson's location, Lady spelled "Pittsfield Water Wheel". The police investigation concluded that there was no water wheel in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. The police chief William Ferrazzi tried to interpret Lady's message and wonder if she might mean "Field and Wilde Water Pit", a quarry close to Matson's house which had already been searched. A search was made, and, yes, that was where Matson's body was found.
The first documented consultation with law enforcement occurred in 1927, when Richmond authorities sought Lady Wonder's assistance in locating a stolen car. In 1929, Virginia police turned to Lady Wonder for help in recovering two missing boys in Richmond, leading to their successful location. Beyond this high-profile instance, Lady Wonder was reportedly involved in numerous other criminal investigations throughout the 1940s and 1950s, with law enforcement officials from Virginia and surrounding states seeking her input on unsolved cases.
In December 1952, two children went missing in Naperville, Illinois. The boy's mother resorted to Lady which suggested that the children would be found at the DuPage River, a river close to the boy's house from where both children went missing. Several weeks later the bodies of both children were found over the frozen river.
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Scientific Investigations and Skepticism
The parapsychologist researcher J. B. Rhine investigated Lady's alleged abilities and concluded that there was evidence for extrasensory perception between human and horse. During the winter of 1927-1928, J. B. Rhine, one of the initial proponents of extrasensory perception, tested the psychic abilities of Lady Wonder, concluding that there was no evidence of either conscious or unconscious signaling by the researchers or Mrs. Fonda and that his results could be explained only using the "telepathic explanation". Rhine's team tested the horse by having participants think of words or numbers, which Lady Wonder then spelled or indicated correctly on her lever device, even when Fonda was positioned out of direct line of sight.
The magicians and skeptical investigators Milbourne Christopher and John Scarne showed that Lady's prediction abilities resulted from Mrs. In 1956, the magician Milbourne Christopher was skeptical about the alleged abilities of Lady and decided to visit the Fondas, presenting himself as John Banks, and when asked Lady for his name she spelled "Banks". Christopher suspected Mrs. Fonda's involvement in Lady's answers, and he decided to test if Fonda was employing a technique called pencil reading, where mentalists track the writing movement to "predict" what is written. When he asked Lady which number was written in the paper she readily spelled "9". Christopher's tests concluded that Fonda was involved in Lady's apparent intelligence and that she achieved this by providing subtle cues when Lady's head was in the correct letter.
John Scarne, a New Jersey magician, also investigated Lady's abilities and arrived at the same conclusion, Lady's behavior was highly dependent on cues given by Mrs. Fonda when holding a whip. Scarne also concluded that when Mrs.
During the late 1920s and 1930s, several animal behaviorists and psychologists, including horse trainer Edward Staib and psychologist Thomas L. Garrett, visited Lady Wonder's stable to investigate claims of cueing by Fonda. These tests aimed to replicate the "Clever Hans" phenomenon, where animals respond to inadvertent human signals, but examiners like Garrett found no evidence of trickery.
A researcher named Dr. Gayle told the Richmond Times-Dispatch, "I am perfectly willing to admit that I have no idea how she arrives at the correct answers to our questions. There is no conscious trickery here, I am convinced. But I am not converted to the mind-reading theory. What's the solution of the puzzle? I don't know!"
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Legacy
Lady Wonder garnered significant media attention during her active years, particularly through newspaper features that highlighted her purported predictive abilities, such as election outcomes and sporting events. LIFE magazine featured Lady Wonder twice, cementing her status as a national phenomenon. Following her death, the Lady Wonder attraction permanently closed in 1957, ending decades of operation as a popular site in Richmond. Posthumous recognition of Lady Wonder includes her case study in parapsychology archives, stemming from evaluations by researcher J.B. Rhine.
The 27-year-old Lady Wonder, a horse with purported clairvoyant abilities who communicated answers by flipping letters on a rack, was a popular tourist attraction in Richmond, Va,. Mrs. Lady Wonder, a horse with supposed clairvoyant powers, attracted visits from tourists and well as regulars.
Sign for Lady Wonder
Lady Wonder's Predictions
| Event | Prediction | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| 1927 Boxing Match | Gene Tunney victory over Jack Dempsey | Correct |
| 1948 Presidential Election | Harry S. Truman victory over Thomas E. Dewey | Correct |
| 1952 Presidential Election | Dwight D. Eisenhower victory | Correct |
| 1952 Missing Boy Case | Pittsfield Water Wheel (interpreted as Field and Wilde Water Pit) | Led to discovery of the body |