What are some special meditation techniques and/or objects that have been used to develop mental abilities? What are some special meditation techniques and/or objects that have been used to develop mental abilities to the point of almost being super powers or super human? Not necessarily  "super-mundane" as ESP but something along those lines. There is a lot of controversy in searches but I can not find any specific references. I could read the suttas myself but I am looking for direct tipitika, Buddha involvement.
In ancient India (mostly in southern parts of India) there are people called "Sittars". They possess many super-human powers like foreseeing the future (not just predicting it), alchemism (like converting any metal to gold), super-healing abilities. There are many written manuscripts which are still available but many of them of in Ancient Tamil. They have also written about many techniques which if practiced properly will give us super-human abilities.  Do not think of "Wolverine"-like abilities, but the sort of abilities that normal people cannot think of. It is rumored that they still exist in the western ghats of southern India and that they are in a form of light. I do not know how it is linked to Buddha but I firmly believe Buddhism has its core roots and values derived from Hinduism.