Researchers want to prove that autistic people have telepathic abilities… and even Joe Rogan is convinced

A new podcast that replaced “The Joe Rogan Experience” as the most popular audio show on Spotify last week tackles a highly controversial topic.

“The Telepathy Tapes,” co-hosted by journalist and filmmaker Ky Dickens and psychiatrist Dr. Diane Hennacy Powell, explores the “profound abilities” of people with autism who cannot speak.

Those abilities, according to Dickens and Dr. Powell telepathy, access to infinite knowledge and the power to visit heaven.

In episode one, listeners are introduced to a nonverbal autistic girl from Mexico named Mia, whose telepathic abilities have “100 percent accuracy,” her family says.

Mia’s family explains that she can communicate with her mother mind-to-mind, and Dr. Powell guides Mia through a series of exercises to test her mind-reading skills.

She is asked to use a letter board to spell out the number or word her mother is thinking of and say the correct number or word each time.

According to Dickens, the fact that she was able to do this in a controlled environment suggests that she can read her mother’s mind. But not all experts are convinced.

Despite mixed reactions, the podcast has received a perfect five-star rating from over 1,400 reviewers since its debut on September 3, 2024.

According to the CDC’s most recent estimate, approximately 1 in 36 children in the U.S. has been identified with autism.

A 2018 estimate found that only one in 44 children in the US had been diagnosed with the disorder, indicating that the prevalence of autism has risen in recent years.

Experts have yet to determine exactly why the rate is increasing, but possible explanations include increased awareness, screening and diagnostic options, genetic and environmental factors.

Furthermore, experts are still working toward a complete understanding of autism and its underlying causes.

On The Telepathy Tapes, Dickens shares that she has a brother with high-functioning autism, which partly piqued her curiosity about the exceptional abilities of people with the disorder.

While listening to another podcast on topics such as astrology, intuition and mediumship, Dickens was introduced to Dr. Powell and her work, which focuses on the so-called ‘telepathic’ skills of autistic children.

Dr. Powell, who received her medical degree from Johns Hopkins University and is a former faculty member at Harvard Medical School, has built her career on the claim that non-speaking autistic children are capable of an alien way of communicating.

Although there is currently no accepted scientific evidence to support this, both Dickens and Dr. Powell is convinced that the phenomenon is real.

They started The Telepathy Tapes as a way to raise awareness and give a voice to families of autistic children who reportedly exhibit these supernatural abilities.

“If I had a million dollars, I’d like to open a healing and education center where non-speakers could work with the best minds in science and math and, you know, healthcare, so they could save the planet and people and relationships.” and animals can heal. Dickens said in an episode of the podcast.

Dickens claims that all tests performed in the study were designed to prevent any form of cheating, and states that video clips of the experiment are available on the show’s website if listeners want to see it for themselves.

All tests follow the same basic formula. In Mia’s case, her mother is given a thought to keep in her head, such as a number from a random number generator or a word she has been browsing for in a book.

Although she had 100 percent accuracy with her mother, Mia fails replicate her abilities in tests with her father.

That’s because she wrote in her diary that she can read anyone’s mind, but you have to believe in her before she can do that.

In another test, Mia spells the word “pirata,” or “pirate” in Spanish, which is the correct answer to what her mother was thinking.

But Jarry believes her mother could have influenced her reaction by controlling her facial movements or using fingers to guide the girl.

“The influence of the mother cannot be excluded,” writes science communicator Jonathan Jarry in an article McGill University Office of Science and Society.

“The video clip posted on the website clearly shows the mother not only holding the letter board for Mia, but also holding Mia’s jaw as Mia points to the board,” he explains.

“In another test, Mia’s mother touches Mia’s forehead while spelling, where it would be easy to subtly press down when Mia’s finger hovers over the correct number,” he adds.

Even Dr. Recognizing the limitations of these types of experiments, Powell tells Dickens that none of the tests they performed on Mia would be accepted by the scientific community.

That of Dr. Powell website states: ‘Proof that the phenomenon I am witnessing is telepathy requires the elimination of all possibilities of subtle signals.

‘This means that the child and parent/doctor can be tested in separate rooms, or with a larger partition.’

Because autistic children are extremely sensitive to change and new people, studying them in this way has been largely unfeasible, Dr.’s website claims. Powell.

“However, using behavioral strategies we can work towards the ideal protocol before filming the next set of experiments,” it says.

Despite obvious weaknesses in the evidence supporting Dickens and Dr. Powell, many listeners have become convinced that non-speaking autistic children have supernatural powers, including Joe Rogan.

Despite the new competition for the number one podcast in the country, Rogan said he’s actually a fan of The Telepathy Tapes.

On a recent episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, he said he listens to the show and believes “some telepathy is real.”

“I’m only on episode two, but he’s a really fascinating man,” he told American actor and stand-up comedian Duncan Trussell, who appeared as a guest on his show.

Other listeners have taken to social media to voice their opinions on the show’s wild claims, with some saying they believe the evidence that Dickens and Dr. Presenting Powell.

‘Heard about The Telepathy Tapes two days ago and just finished the last episode. If we take it seriously, and if our species can find enough collective humility to listen, the implications of these studies will radically change our paradigm and propel us to a transcendental stage,” one X user wrote.

Another shared a more skeptical final version. “I’ve been listening through The Telepathy Tapes podcast and have now also (paid for and watched) all the videos on the website, some many times over,” they posted.

‘As someone who has long been interested in illusion and deception, I can tell you that some experiments look like downright living room tricks. In one of them you can even see the subject’s mother showing him the answer.’

Whether you believe The Telepathy Tapes’ claims or not, there’s no denying that this podcast has captured the attention of Spotify users.

After rising to the top of the charts in late 2024, the hosts announced they will air a second season, this time focusing on non-autistic ‘telepaths’.

If you ask Jarry, the show’s success underlines something fundamental about human nature: “We all want to believe.”