Wolf was born in Poland in 1891. As a child he was something of a loner, and grew into a shy, slightly build individual, someone you would pass on the street without a moment's thought. The fact is, Wolf messing is believed to have possessed abilities, the like of which would not be out of place on a Star Wars movie. Although much of what is known about him is anecdotal, the sources of the remarkable stories are very credible indeed.
Young Wolf would amaze members of his family by finding objects that had been lost, and appeared to know what they were going to say before they said it. Another interesting ability of this man was to be able to 'mentally suggest' and control other people's actions!
Wolf carved himself out a career as a celebrated 'mentalist', touring Poland giving demonstrations of his abilities. After Germany invaded Poland, Wolf was rash enough to predict the war would end with defeat for Germany at the hands of the Russians, and the death of Hitler. As a result of this, his arrest was ordered, and Wolf fled to Russia, where he was to spend the rest of his life. Later, at a public demonstration in 1944, Wolf correctly predicted the end of the war on May 9, 1945.
When in Russian, Wolf soon came to the attention of Stalin. Stalin had seen one of Wolf's public performances, and was very impressed by his ability to mentally influence the actions of others. A test was devised for Wolf. He was taken to a Moscow bank, and given a large attaché case. He was then told to enter the bank, and make a withdrawal of 100,000 roubles by using mental command alone. This was a vast some of money, but Wolf entered the bank, and gave the cashier a blank piece of paper. Then he mentally 'told' the cashier it was a cheque for 100,000 roubles. Convinced, the cashier counted out the money, and handed it over. Later, the ageing cashier, when show the blank piece of paper had a heart attack.
Stalin's next test for Messing was to enter Stalin's country dacha (apartment/stronghold) using his mental powers. Stalin feared assassination and was very security conscious. After a couple of days had passed, Messing slipped into Stalin's dacha while giving out the mental command "I am Beria, I am Beria". Beria was a huge man, and feared head of Stalin's secret police. As the slight Messing walked down the corridors of Stalin's dacha, guards stood to attention and saluted him, believing they were seeing Beria. Messing suprised Stalin in his study, Stalin looked up in astonishment to see Messing saluting him in his doorway.
Messing spent his days in Russia touring and displaying his powers, but he grew to hate the endless travelling. On a visit to Ashkhabad (Russia's southern capital), Messing was filled with a sense of alarm. The sensation grew stronger and stronger until Messing fled, cancelling his shows there. Three days later, a massive earthquake destroyed the city, killing an estimated 50,000 people. One thing Messing didn't predict, was his own demise of a stroke, in 1966. Even if the stories about him were only half-true, he must be one of the most remarkable individuals of the twentieth century.