Korem (alternative forms include Quoram Vecchia, Kworam) is a town in northern Ethiopia. Located on the eastern edge of the Ethiopian highlands in the Debubawi (Southern) Zone of the Tigray Region, this town has a latitude and longitude of 12°30′N 39°31′E / 12.5°N 39.517°E / 12.5; 39.517 with an elevation of 2539 meters above sea level.

Based on figures from the Central Statistical Agency in 2005, Korem has an estimated total population of 29,340 of whom 13,842 were males and 15,498 were females. The 1994 census reported it had a total population of 16,895 of whom 7,371 were males and 9,524 were females. It is the largest settlement in Ofla woreda.

The telegraph line the Italians constructed between 1902 and 1904 from Asmara south to Addis Ababa passed through the town, and had an office in Korem. Near the town on 9 October 1909, Abraha Araya, governor of Enderta, made a surprise attack at dawn on Dejazmach Abate Bwalu, the new governor of Tigray. Abreha had declared that he would not submit to the Dejazmach.

James Alan Hydrick (born February 28, 1959 in New Ellenton, South Carolina ) is a former American performer and self-described psychic. Hydrick claimed to be able to perform acts of telekinesis, such as his trademark trick involving the movement of a pencil resting at the edge of a table. Following a nationally televised demonstration of his abilities on That's Incredible!, he was unable to prove his supernatural abilities on a subsequent show called That's My Line, and Hydrick subsequently confessed the fraud to an investigative reporter.

By the early 1980s in Salt Lake City, Utah, Hydrick developed a cult-like following. He claimed he was able to use psychokinesis to turn the pages of books and make pencils spin around while placed on the edge of a desk, among other feats. Hydrick had also set up martial arts classes and claimed he could pass on the gift of psychokinesis to youngsters through special training techniques.

Hydrick rose to international attention through his demonstration of these skills on the American television show, That's Incredible!. The episode originally aired in December 1980 and was later repeated in 1981. He performed the pencil-spinning trick with the skeptical host's hand on his mouth to block possible air blowing (after the host suggested that he could hear Hydrick blowing). However, Hydrick deliberately readjusted the pencil beforehand so that it was as precarious as possible and so would move with the slight disturbance caused by his hands. He also caused a page from a telephone book to turn over, again, allegedly by telekinesis. James Randi awarded the program a 1980 Uri Award, later renamed the Pigasus Award, "for declaring a simple magic trick to be genuine."