The men on magic carpets: searching for the superhuman sports star

Imagine you are a professional footballer, golfer or athlete.

Now imagine you are that professional sportsman or sportswoman but - using no more than the power of your own mind - you can make yourself bigger, faster, more accurate, or able to control your opponent's mind.

You would be the world's first superhuman sports star.

In the 1970s the US military believed they could create a 'super soldier' - one who could use psychic powers to walk through walls, disarm the enemy through telepathy, or kill a goat by staring at it.

The brain behind these techniques was Michael Murphy, one of the founders of 'New Age' spiritualism in the hippy enclaves of San Francisco.

But Murphy's primary goal was to use these powers in sport to create a supreme athlete capable of extraordinary feats.