Carrie White, a teenage girl subjected to domestic violence and bullying, made her return to screens on October 7. This latest adaptation by Prime Video, helmed by Mike Flanagan—known for works such as “The Haunting of Hill House” and “Midnight Mass”—has garnered predominantly positive reviews, despite initial reservations about yet another rendition of one of Stephen King’s most iconic narratives.
Originally published in 1974 and adapted into a film by Brian De Palma shortly thereafter, Carrie now re-emerges in an eight-episode series, with King serving as an executive producer. The storyline follows a teenager, portrayed by Summer H. Howell, who, raised under her mother’s stringent religious beliefs, begins to develop telekinesis—the alleged ability to move objects with her mind. Flanagan expands on this premise by exploring a concept that is merely hinted at in the novel: the idea that such abilities may have a genetic origin.
The series introduces accounts of women who claimed to possess similar abilities and were subjects of scientific investigation. Some of these women were real figures whose cases sparked controversy for decades. Additionally, the new adaptation contextualises bullying within the modern technological landscape, where humiliations can be broadcast to strangers via screens.
More than fifty years after the novel’s release, what real-life narratives underpin the fiction? What has science discovered about telekinesis? And how have the fears surrounding Carrie evolved from the 1976 film to the digital age? To delve into these inquiries, specialists in psychology, the history of science, and horror cinema were consulted.
Scientific Examination of Telekinesis
Etzel Cardeña, a Mexican psychologist and professor at Lund University in Sweden, focuses on altered states of consciousness, hypnosis, and anomalous experiences. He has also scrutinised studies on psychokinesis—the ability to influence physical systems through intention or emotion “without any obvious intermediary”. This phenomenon falls within the realm of parapsychology, which investigates paranormal events through various methodologies, including laboratory experiments.
The American Psychological Association notes that findings in this field often evoke scepticism, primarily because replicating positive results has proven difficult; in other words, researchers have struggled to achieve similar outcomes when attempting to repeat the experiments. Cardeña differentiates between two forms of psychokinesis: macropsychokinesis, which refers to observable movements, such as lifting a table, and micropsychokinesis, which seeks to identify changes so subtle they require instruments and statistical analysis to detect.
Carrie would fit into the former category, yet her abilities extend beyond the phenomena typically studied. Historical accounts provide intriguing insights; Cardeña references the case of Teresa of Ávila, a 16th-century Carmelite nun and mystic who described religious ecstasies during which her body reportedly levitated—a claim echoed by witnesses. A century later, Italian friar José de Cupertino was investigated by the Holy Office after reports surfaced of him levitating while in prayer. While these experiences are chronicled in religious writings, verifiable evidence remains elusive.
“These are exceedingly rare observations,” the psychologist remarks. “Some of the authors documenting these phenomena were sceptics themselves, approaching them with the same scrutiny we might apply today. They were not merely credulous individuals claiming to have witnessed them.”
Women at the Forefront of Scientific Inquiry
In the mid-19th century, amidst the rise of modern spiritualism, the phenomenon of table-turning gained popularity. Participants would gather around tables, claiming they could move them through spirit intervention, igniting curiosity among specialists seeking alternative explanations. “At that time, the study of these phenomena held the potential for scientific discipline that it never quite realised,” explains Andrea Graus, a historian of science and researcher at the Spanish National Research Council. Scholars suspected that unknown natural forces or psychological capabilities might be at play.
Across Europe and America, societies emerged dedicated to investigating these phenomena, involving figures like American psychologist William James and French physiologist Charles Richet, who won the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1913 for his work on anaphylaxis. Experiments often involved mediums—predominantly women claiming to communicate with spirits or manipulate objects without physical contact. Some sessions drew researchers from various countries, though conditions for experimentation were not always ideal.
“Scientists had to be present, waiting for favourable conditions for these phenomena to manifest,” Graus recounts, author of “Science and Spiritualism in Spain, 1880-1930”. Some sessions took place in dimly lit rooms, as light was believed to interfere with occurrences, while others prohibited physical contact with the mediums during trances, as it was thought to affect them adversely.
One woman who garnered significant attention was Eusapia Palladino, described by Graus as “the most scientifically studied medium” from the late 19th to early 20th century. This Italian woman, of humble origins, became renowned for her claims of moving furniture, lifting objects, and producing other physical phenomena. Her purported abilities attracted interest because, unlike telepathy, the movements could be directly observed.
Palladino participated in sessions with researchers from various countries, amidst conflicting testimonies and accusations of fraud. By the 1930s, many scientists had lost hope of uncovering new physical laws governing these phenomena. “There comes a point where the unfavourable conditions for scientific study can no longer be tolerated, and also where the hope of discovering physical laws behind these supposed forces—like odic force, psychic force, and neural force—diminishes, as does the belief in telepathy itself,” the specialist notes.
Examining the Findings of Experiments
By the late 1960s, research into psychokinesis began employing new instruments. Physicist Helmut Schmidt was a pioneer in using electronic random number generators—devices designed to produce unpredictable outcomes, such as sequences of zeros and ones. Researchers aimed to determine whether a person could mentally influence these results.
For instance, if a machine has equal chances of generating a zero or a one, a person might be asked to concentrate on trying to produce more ones. Researchers would then statistically compare these results to what occurs when no one attempts to influence the system mentally. Cardeña indicates that some of these experiments have also included individuals practising meditation, who were asked to focus on desired outcomes.
“Several studies have found what appears to be a replicable effect, though it is exceedingly small,” the psychologist explains. However, interpretations of these results have led to disagreements among researchers. In 2006, a meta-analysis published in the “Psychological Bulletin” compiled 380 studies concerning the potential influence of human intention on random number generators. It discovered a statistically significant deviation from what would be expected by chance, albeit extremely minor. The authors noted substantial differences among experiments and suggested that publication bias could account for the results—a phenomenon where studies with striking findings are more likely to be published than those yielding no effects.
Cardeña offers an alternative interpretation of some evidence. In a review published in “American Psychologist” in 2018, he examined studies on telepathy, precognition (the alleged ability to foresee future events), and psychokinesis. He believes some of these findings warrant further investigation.
That same year, a research team published results from an online experiment involving 12,571 participants from Germany, Spain, and Italy in “Frontiers in Psychology”. After a relaxation exercise, participants viewed pleasant and unpleasant images paired with sounds, selected via a quantum random number generator, to assess whether their emotional state could promote the emergence of positive stimuli. The results did not support this hypothesis, showing positive stimuli appearing in 50.02% of cases—essentially the same proportion expected by chance. Based on these data, the researchers found statistical evidence against the existence of micropsychokinesis under the experimental conditions.
Cardeña acknowledges that one of the primary challenges in studying these phenomena is their unpredictability; they do not occur at researchers’ convenience. “We lack a phenomenon that can be replicated at will,” he clarifies. Regarding instances of reported unexplained object movement, he admits, “we are far from understanding why it happens, to whom it happens, how it begins, and how it concludes.” The divide between the fictional abilities displayed by characters like Carrie and reality is vast. “If Carries existed in the world, we would observe them… every day,” he asserts.
The Concept of the TK Gene and its Influence
Within the universe of Carrie, telekinesis is a tangible reality. The notion that such abilities may be hereditary also originates from King’s writing. In his 1974 novel, the author introduces the concept of the TK gene through a fictional scientific report attempting to explain why certain individuals can move objects using their minds.
This new adaptation revisits and elaborates on this idea, linking Carrie to other women attributed with similar capabilities. Mike Flanagan noted that the eight-episode format allowed for a deeper exploration of aspects of the book that received less attention in prior adaptations.
In actual genetics, there are two similarly named genes, TK1 and TK2, associated with necessary processes for DNA synthesis and maintenance; however, neither is related to telekinesis. The genetic explanation intrigues Valeria Villegas Lindvall, a doctor in film studies with a focus on feminist and decolonial thought. She explains that horror cinema frequently utilises characters linked to supernatural forces