How Gullible Could the Disciples Have Been?

Something that I've been wondering about lately is how skeptical the early followers of Jesus would have been regarding his miracles and resurrection. The best documents we have regarding these individuals are the Gospels, which were anonymously written decades later by people who had a vested interest in promoting their religion; thus, I don't think we have anything which we could confidently trust to give us an accurate picture of how the disciples really reacted to Jesus' miracles. For example, even if it were the case that there is a kernel of truth in the so-called "appearance narratives," we cannot be sure that any skepticism displayed in the stories by a character reflects actual skepticism to the resurrection tale by an actual disciple. As such, we cannot conclude that the disciples would have been extremely critical investigators who would have carefully evaluated the evidence for the resurrection.

This leaves open an important question: If we cannot confidently say that the earliest Christians were skeptical and critical thinkers, how gullible might they have been? What I've posted here are two videos in which James Hydrick (a man who claimed to have psychic powers) somehow moves objects without touching them.

In the first video, after Hydrick does his trick he is challenged by James Randi to put his powers to a simple scientific test. Randi offered to pay Hydrick $10,000 dollars if he could pass the test.



The next video briefly describes how James Hydrick was further exposed as a fraud, and finally confessed that he did not have psychic powers:



Would the disciples have reacted to similar phenomena with awe and amazement, or would they have thought that the performer might be tricking them? And even if they did think there was a chance they were being duped, would they have reacted like James Randi did in the first video, or would they have merely said "hey, wait a minute, let me see that again" and watched more closely?

The fact is, ordinary people can and are tricked all the time, and they often end up believing all sorts of things. Faith healers manage to convince thousands of people that they can summon the Holy Spirit to cure diseases--so much so that people shovel their money over. If James Randi were to watch Benny Hinn "heal" somebody, there's no chance he would convert before putting Hinn to a valid scientific test. Can we say the same of the earliest Christians?