Amanda Berry

Grief Vampire Sylvia Browne has once again proven herself to be the worst possible psychic medium in known history. Skeptics should be happy she is back in the news this time for her ”incorrectly predicting”(?) the outcome of the Amanda Berry disappearance. Chalk up another totally reprehensible miss to her worthless career.

Words cannot be used here at Skepticblog that could express my utter contempt for this bottom-feeding woman and her supporters. This time out she not only caused untold grief to family and community members, but also may have contributed to Amanda’s mother Louwana’s untimely death:

From:  http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2013/05/amanda_berrys_mother_louwana_m.html

“The case was featured on “American’s Most Wanted.” Louwana Miller appeared on Montel Williams’ nationally-syndicated talk show in November 2004. On the show, a psychic (read as Sylvia Browne)  told Miller that Amanda was probably dead.

“I still don’t want to believe it,” Louwana Miller said in an interview after the show. “I want to have hope but . . . what else is there?”

Louwana Miller: Amanda’s Mother: Dead of a Broken Heart?

Activist Art McKoy befriended Louwana Miller during her ordeal. He said he could tell that the stress and heartache were wearing her down. The visit with the psychic was the breaking point, he said.“From that point, Ms. Miller was never the same,” McKoy said. “I think she had given up.”

For those who say psychics like Browne, Edward et. al. somehow help or comfort those in need and repeat the phrase “What’s the harm?” there should be a real answer in what has taken place here. How much more can we stand without getting The Law involved in these sorts of horrible mind games? This is not comforting or entertainment – this is blatant criminality of the worst kind. Sylvia and her ilk make a very good living doing this day in and day out. How many other people have had their lives, hopes and dreams shattered by these predatory harpies?

Browne to Miller: “ She’s not alive, honey.”

The Hornbeck Family

In a related development: French television news program “Enquete exclusive – Voyants, mediums, mentalistes revelations sur leurs mysterieux pouvoirs’” which featured myself and CFI/IIG’s Jim Underdown, showcased through amazing interview footage the entire Shawn Hornbeck drama. If you are not already familiar with Browne’s mis-deeds in this matter – it’s too much to go into here. Let’s just say once again, Sylvia told Shawn’s parents on nationwide television he was dead when he was later found quite well and alive.

French program here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34Iji3aMAa0

Not only do the Hornbeck parents come forward and speak out about the emotional damage that ravenous bad-tempered shrew Browne inflicted on their lives, they also give a very negative shout out to that other slimeball James VanPraagh for doing the same sort of “comforting.”

Maureen Hancock

In the “Enquete” program, “The Medium Next Door,” everybody’s darling Maureen Hancock also gets her fair share of explicit exposing when Jim and I reveal the latest trend in mediumship: using “hot reads” taken from credit card information to later reveal dramatic “hits” in a live audience performance. This isn’t a magic or mentalism show folks, this is a con pure and simple.

Later in another segment of the program, Hancock is also shown in her opulent home psychically picking out suspects and leading police (and another mother of a missing woman) on wild goose chases that lead everybody off the track. It is obvious Maureen is bluffing her way through the whole segment. Hancock has absolutely no track record anywhere for her claims as a successful “psychic detective” – other than her known background an “associate member” of the Licensed Private Detective Association of Massachusetts. What might that tell us about her ability to suss out information on people? So why isn’t this mis-use of private information a crime? Isn’t this tantamount to filing a false police report? Having the French television crew capturing her deceptions on camera in the presence of their own law enforcement officers should be extra embarrassing for the police involved. How do you feel about being seen internationally as dupes for this woman?

It is heartening to see Hornbeck’s parents speaking out so freely on the “Enquete’” special that has been seen by millions of French and European audiences, but where are the American counterparts in all this? There must be hundreds of stories and victim files on this sort of fraud. Why are we not seeing people stepping up who have been so abused by these media vultures?

As I have asked here at Skepticblog over and over: Isn’t this kind of money making enterprise. i.e. selling a product; (life and death information) under false pretenses (unproven psychic skills) against the law? Shouldn’t such conscious manipulators have to show in a court of law they can come up with the verified proof before they are allowed to waste time, money and manpower by continuing such outright deception?

I don’t understand how this goes on day after day without people so horribly burned by these cons seeking legal intervention or speaking up to the media. If they are so dispirited or too depressed to deal with coming forward themselves, well okay we have seen enough. Isn’t the justice system set up to protect those who cannot protect themselves? Are our law makers and police personnel really that inept and plain stupid? Sadly, (at least here in America) I think we all know the answer to that question.

In answer to those who object to my calling out or using all caps to say DO SOMETHING without any place to go to learn how and what to do, there are tons on vids, lectures and podcasts by myself on these subjects at my website www.themarkedward.com and here’s a great link:

http://www.skepticink.com/gps/2012/11/16/protesting-pseudoscience-a-how-to-guide/

And here’s a major working group for those of you who don’t want to leave the house and want to do something in your jammies:

http://guerrillaskepticismonwikipedia.blogspot.com/2013/05/gsow-rocks-internet-with-major-updates.html

I realise it may be way to soon to expect anyone to step forward an speak up against psychic mediums in the Amanda Berry case, and with Mom dead, …well who is to do the speaking up? It’s a double tragedy this time.

Give up Sylvia.

For whatever it’s worth: I’m calling out the family of Amanda Berry and Amanda Berry herself, along with her community, local media and law enforcement to DO SOMETHING about the rising tide of scum-bags like Sylvia Browne and the damage they inflict on everybody concerned in these fiascoes. Pretending to receive messages from beyond or deferring to any form of “psychic powers” concerning missing persons has to stop or at the very least be exposed as the terrible scam it is.  

The Fabulously Busy Susan Gerbic & Myself

Join the Guerrilla Skepitcism movement and take a few minutes to really DO SOMETHING.

“The people behind Isklar claim that while most of our planet’s water evaporates into the atmosphere and is recycled in a seven-year period – picking up pollutants on the way – the water frozen inside  glaciers was formed thousands of years ago when the air was far cleaner. But some reviewers on Amazon say Isklar water (£8.44 for 24 500ml bottles) never tastes better than when mixed with whisky. ”

I suppose the “frozen inside” theory makes sense of a sort and the taste test from Amazon would depend largely on the whisky and amount you drink. We all have blind spots. Back in my single malt drinking days, I had to have that special bottle of Scottish “Highland Spring Water” to truly complete my solemn drinking ritual. I bought into the hype. What garden hose it came from didn’t matter to me as I fancied myself a connoisseur of fine regional “waters of life” and wouldn’t think of sullying my fine dram with mere tap water. 

Today you can even get genuine “Loch Ness Water.”  Never mind what the locals say when you read about the loch. They warn visitors boiling for 5 minutes before drinking any loch water owing to the algae and other pollutants present in the murky depths. Visitors are further advised to take any water from the center of the loch rather than the surrounding edges for that reason. I’m not sure how far out in the loch or what part of  the purveyors of “Genuine Loch Ness Water” syphon their bounty from, but I’m guessing it’s close to the shore.

Mayor Villaraigosa Hydrtaes

But now we are assured have the ultimate:

Starfire Water!

Yes, it’s here – and no less a personage than Mayor Villaragosa himself heartily endorses it! 

If you aren’t sitting down while you read the next paragraph, I would advise it. I haven’t seen such a load of non-stop woo bullshit since the power bracelet hit the streets. Here’s the label in it’s entirety:

THIRST THE FIRE

“Legend has it that the mystical “Starfire”was the liquid manna of the divine, used by the ancients for ultra-focus, extreme performance, and even enlightenment. In that vein, we introduce STARFIRE WATER, a propiratary alkaline performance, bio-holographic “living” water produced using breakthrough 21st century, quantum water technology. STARFIRE WATER is treated with ultraviolet, ozonation,infra-red stimulation and electromagnetism for a negative (-) ion charged water, as in nature, allowing deep cellular intake through your aquaporins, the floodgates to hydration.Vortex induced, using a solar -helix and pyramid-grid system. to give it a hexagonal structure, and infused with monatomic elements, we are able to achieve a water with cosmic healing energy. This water is amplified with psionic wave oscillation tuned to the Universe’s frequency, helping to synchronize you with the heartbeat of our Earth. STARFIRE WATER is treated with Sacred Sound Resonance Transmission to vibrationally transform you on the deepest molecular level. Altogether we’ve created the world’s first premium alkaline . performance, “living,”" hexagonal super-structured water.”

It isn’t just water – it’s structured water. It’s also infused and energized.

I noticed at their site www.starfire.com that they are offering 25% discounts. Perhaps their over-the-top labeling may have strangled sales with too much of their own woo? Personally I’m almost afraid to drink the stuff.

Their website continues the farce:

“The problem with most water is that the body can’t actually absorb it, as the water’s composition can’t properly seep into the cells. You see water isn’t just water. If you’ve ever gone for a run and then stopped at a drinking fountain to drink some water, you may have experienced the feeling of the water not really quenching your thirst, besides tasting terrible. The problem is that the tap water is essentially sewer water with all the gunk inside of it and even with basic filtration on a basic level it is still sewer water.”

You see, water isn’t just water. Right? 

“Starfire Water is different. Our water is spinned for several hours in a vortex to change the [hydrogen] composition of the water at a molecular level. Your cells suck up this water like a sponge. Plus, it tastes better than anything else”

The medicine show wagon has once again pulled into the center of town –  only this time it’s in Beverly Hills and not some obscure outpost in the Oklahoma Territiry. The barker and his wares are the same quackery dressed up with the latest buzz words. Thanks to companies like STARFIRE, we can now look forward to more “quantums,” “bio-holographics” and ”vortex induced” products raining down on us like the divine manna that legends of ancient  mystical yore told us about.  There oughta’ be a law.

Is this false advertising?

I’m guessing all the fancy scientific sounding double-talk processes listed on the label come down to a couple of guys in a warehouse stiring tap water into an inverted funnel (the pyramid grid syatem) under a bright UV bulb, while someone passes a horseshoe magnet under the tap while banging on a gong (or maybe there’s Grateful Dead music in the background) for that all-important “Sacred Sound Resonance.”

More likely still: Nothing at all happens except the tap water is syphoned into bottles to the sacred sound of money being counted into the tills.

A visit to the STARFIRE exclusive proprietary location would provide the only true enlightenment..

Challenge:

If the producers of STARFIRE WATER would like to invite me personally to their “laboratory,” I would truly appreciate the chance to view their processes and if necessary;  review and amend the statements I have made here.  If after a guided tour, I find I have witnessed one single “breakthrough technology, ” or “psionic wave oscillation,” I will provide the readers of Skepticblog with a complete retraction.  Until then, I remain skeptical.

Cheers.

Steve Freedman & Grace Divine

I have joked about it for years. In the never ending world of psychic exploitation and the greed that drives it, I have often wondered what if psychics and medium like Sylvia Browne actually went for laughs instead of the serious life and death mediumship game they play in today’s market? She’s never been right, so why not do a Phyllis Diller routine and make hay while the sun is still shining on her painted nails? Well, it looks like a couple of California dreamers have taken their cues from others like Maureen Hancock (who was once supposedly a stand-up comedienne) and decided that rather than risk blunders in their calling-back-the-dead cold readings, they are mixing their metaphors and going for laughs.  “And no readers; once again, I’m not making this up.

“Meet Steve Freedman and Grace Divine, the dynamic psychic comedy duo. A combination of comedy and group psychic mediumship reading, they’ll have your group in stiches while tantalizing their curiosity.”  

Really?

Here’s more:

“As the first part of this fun and entertaining act, Steve will entertain the audience with fun and titillating stand-up comedy. For the last half of the show, Grace will perform a fun and entertaining “group reading” aimed at providing an enlivening and fun experience intermingled with funny anecdotes and jokes. For this part of the show, Grace relies on her innate psychic mediumship abilities and the collaboration of several audience members who wish to be read! This is a fun and exciting experience that usually thrills the audience.”

It “usually” thrills the audience? What about the other times it doesn’t thrill them? Like when they pretend to talk to a loved one killed in a head-on car crash?

Well, at least they are calling it “an act.’” I’ll give them credit for that. Splicing death and the hereafter with stand-up comedy seems ill advised at best no matter how good your timing might be. I have to hand to these two enterprising individuals. You have to be a lot more than just a versatile performer to satisfy the bereaved parent of a missing or murdered child with clever one-liners. Do you laugh or cry, or both when these two wacky fun people call forth your dead relatives?  Wow. Where does the humor stop and the emotional manipulation begin?

I fondly remember Johnny Carson doing his schtick as “El Mouldo” the mysterious mentalist on “The Tonight Show” – it was hilarious. He would announce some mind-over-matter feat and always fail, although triumphantly shouting “El Mouldo has done it again!” Ed McMahon would take exception, noting El Mouldo’s failure. “Did I fail before?” asked El Mouldo. “Yes!,” replied McMahon, to which El Mouldo said, “Well, I’ve done it again!” And who can forget Carnak The Magnificent in which Carson played a psychic who clairvoyantly divined the answer to a question contained in a sealed envelope?  ” Camelot … “Where do Arabians park their camels?”

Now that was funny.  But that was a fictional character like Carson’s other roles: Floyd R. Turbo, Art Fern or Aunt Blabby.  They were played for and all about laughs. What’s funny about talking to dead people? Doesn’t the very fact that you are funny somehow negate the serious nature of communication with dead souls? Or am I just being a fuddy-duddy stick in the mud? Am I missing something here?

“Comedy Psychics” are aping all the bad moves and failures that has made Theresa Caputo all the more endearing and taking us to the lowest level of absurdity. Don’t get me wrong; I love absurdest theater as much as the next guy and I’m probably not alone in wondering just how far these sorts of charades will go – and that fact alone likely sells some tickets. I’m interested in seeing how this couple bridges the huge gap between parody and reality for those grieving people who show up expecting a medium and not a clown show. Sure, for skeptics the difference may be minimal.  When a mentalist makes a blunder it can make everything more believable and is often done on purpose to get that reaction – but using comedy to cover bad cold readings is really stretching that ploy to the max.

I was almost tempted to pop for a ticket when I saw the advert for the couple’s up-coming show at Anahiem’s infamous Learning Light Foundation:

http://www.learninglight.org/

I’m guessing Steve and Grace gently get their hooks in, then hand out a ton of “more spiritual” business cards at the end of their show, garnering a steady stream of future readings long after the laughter has died down. Bringing funniness and an off-hand manner has become an extension of the humbler, more approachable fuzzy sweater psychic pitch we have come to loath in people like Sylvia Browne, Caputo and Hancock. Hey, they are just folksy down home peeps like you and me, right? If they screw-up about where your missing kid’s decomposed body will be found, …hey that’s hilarious!

Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it) I’m already booked myself this Saturday night, so I wouldn’t be able to make it to Steve and Divine’s show. If you are in the L.A./Orange County area this weekend, (Brian?) why not check back with The Learning Light Foundation and see what up with this groovy new slant on young, hip spirituality.

Grace Divine

We have crossed over into a Twilight Zone tipping point where anything goes. So what’s next? “Psychic Hollywood Squares” or “Psychic Survivor” with Van Praagh and John Edward battling to the death over who can best channel Huel Howser? I remember an episode of “The Larry King Show” that featuterd VanPraagh, John Edward and some other dyed blond psychic who did indeed fall all over each other arguing about who was right about various psychic things in a half hour battle that nearly became a treasured satire – but that humor was unintentional.

I almost forgot. At the very bottom of Steve and Divine’s page, in the smallest font imaginable, reads the following :

Disclaimer: The Psychic Comics perform for fun and entertainment purposes only. The psychic comics can not give professional advice of any kind including medical, legal or otherwise. Please seek the help of authorized parties for that. “Psychic Comics,” and everything related are copyright of  Grace  Divine 2010 All Rights Reserved 

And on the Learning Light’s page for the show, the added warning.

“We thank you for not videotaping or recording as it is not allowed. However, the reading will be recorded for promotional purposes* and a video or taping will be available for purchase.   Please order it after the show. Thank you.”

* Read as “heavily edited”

Fellow magician and bizarrist, Erick Fearson sent me a link to a French television news special on psychics and mediums that I worked on back in October. Several days of shooting seems to have produced quite a exposure of fakery. Not speaking French, from what I can “intuit” as they say, it  looks really good. Finally someone is stepping up and graphically showing the lowest depths people like Maureen Hancock, VanPraagh and Sylvia Browne will go.I can’t be sure of the final tone on this show until I hear from someone who speaks fluent French, but sandwiched between Jim Underdown and I showing exactly how Hancock got her miraculous information, the entire Shawn Hornbeck/Browne drama  revealed and myself doing banana readings, the whole enterprise should generate a lot of skepticism. Let’s hope so.

Gee, I wonder if witch Dr. Phil speaks French? 

This link will apparently only be up until Sunday, Jan. 13, so please watch the link below and let me know what you think.

http://www.m6replay.fr/#/enquete-exclusive/11267290-voyants-mediums-mentalistes-revelations-sur-leurs-mysterieux-pouvoirs

Sarah Lassez Author of “Psychic Junkie”

It had to happen. It was just a matter of time.* The phenomena of addiction to psychics finally reached the point in our society where the fabled Twelve Step Program stepped in to fill the need for support groups. The brand of fellowship once previously reserved for wayward drunks and speed freaks is now preaching to a whole new choir. Thanks in part to the twisted badinage of the likes of Dr. Phil and Anderson Cooper, there are now thousands of lost souls who have found their lives taken over by an uncontrollable urge to get a psychic reading. It sounds like a SNL skit, but the sad truth is a new wave of Psychic Junkie support groups are springing up, and it’s no laughing matter.

http://www.psychicjunkie.net/index.html

Adopting the tenants of Alcoholics Anonymous by trading out the word “alcohol” for “psychic readings,” Psychic Junkie chat groups, meetings and websites are becoming all the rage. Welcome to the natural outgrowth of the paranormal glut we are living in. Too much of everything mystical is starting to take its toll. America’s insecure mind has  become as obese as its spreading torso and our craving for something sweet in the form of a fuzzy shoulder to cry on or a calm voice to get “spiritual” advice from has reached epidemic proportions. In a New York Times article about Sarah Lassaz, the author of “Psychic Junkie,” a psychologist tells us;

“If psychic addiction is a budding epidemic, Ms. Lassez is well out in front of the scientific curve in exploring it, said John W. Welte, a psychologist and senior research scientist at the Research Institute on Addictions at the State University of New York at Buffalo. Dr. Welte said he had never heard of any research on the subject or of the subject itself.

Still, he did not discount the possibility that one could develop the same patterns of emotional dependence on the supernatural as others develop with behavioral addictions like gambling: overpowering urges to chase a brief but powerful high, followed by increasing tolerance, thus the need for the subject to increase the dose continually to get the same effect.”
More here on that :http://www.psychicjunkie.net/html/nytimesarticle.html

I found out about this disturbing new development through an email exchange and telephone call.  My reality is often stranger than my fiction.  And no, … I’m not lying or making this story up to anger or incur the wrath of the troll skeptics out there. These kind of conversations actually occur when your work involves contact with people who want to believe in impossible things. In this case I can’t reveal a name because of the “anonymous” nature of the Psychic Junkie group he is active in. I’ll call him Dave.

Psychic Junkie: A Memoir by Sarah Lassez

Dave told me when he found himself spending a thousand dollars a week on psychics, he began to suspect he might have a problem. When he hit eleven hundred a week, he contacted Lassez’s group and began to “detox.” He was lucky.  I have had interviews (ABC “Good Morning America” 05/08/10) and met individuals who have spent far more. One woman I worked with on two separate programs admitted she lost over $150,000, her home, her business and a long term marriage that ended in divorce.  After I interviewed her about her addiction, she asked me for a tarot reading.

Yep. That’s what it’s coming down to.

“Ms. Lassez acknowledged that most people’s embarrassment about the behavior keeps them even from disclosing it, let alone seeking help. She said she found it absurd that a belief system so at odds with critical thinking could gain so strong a pull in her life. “I really believed in it, even though most of the predictions weren’t coming true,” she said.”

A Part of The Program

I fully realize many reading this blog will respond with comments like, “Who cares, those ignorant people deserve what they get,” or “Why bother?” or  ”Why waste your time?  If they are stupid enough to throw their money away, it’s their own fault,” and so on.  The problem is, the more we see this kind of gradual eroding away of common sense, (and degree of humility towards those less fortunate in terms of rational thinking) might I suggest that in doing so we may forget that impressionable people can eventually take a dramatic toll in all of our lives when they begin to affect areas such as medical and emergency services, when they lose jobs or homes, become addicted to other substances, commit suicide or decide to go on a rampage with automatic weapons. I may be stretching my point a bit – but not much.

As with alcoholism, this psychic epidemic has no social boundaries.  Psychic dependence is not a special sub-set  isolated to the uneducated or underprivileged individual. The average “seekers of psychic knowledge” are not idiots or mentally unstable feral humans standing on the outskirts of the shopping mall drooling on themselves. Far from it. They vote, have children and pay taxes just like everybody else. They are your next door neighbors. Psychic belief affects everybody in all levels of society. In the case of  the aforementioned Californian woman from “Good Morning America;” she once owned a successful art gallery in Beverly Hills, a palatial home in Brentwood and had three successful grown children.

Doubt me? Google “Psychic Junkies” or take a quick look at one of many interesting “projects’ dealing with psychic addiction:

http://www.experienceproject.com/groups/Am-Addicted-To-Psychics/181576

The Psychic Junkie Twelve Step Program may be a step in the right direction for some who have no where else to turn. From my talk with Dave, I heard in his voice the seeds of a new skepticism – and that was a good thing. However slowly and painfully it happens, I’m encouraged that some people are being forced by circumstance to wake up. In the long run, this news may help inculcate new skepticism in other areas as well.  As with alcoholism, the addict has to want to change his or herself. You cannot convince a drinker to stop drinking until they are ready to accept how cunning and baffling alcohol can be. The same is true of psychic readings.  

Perhaps we are now seeing the beginnings of the psychic dependence dilemma becoming a public health issue? 

Although I’m neither surprised nor particularly happy about it’s necessity, this new burgeoning direction bears watching. Like the myriad website and paranormal groups that promote the “sciency” approach in their mission statements but have little or no scientific grounding, my fear is as with any panacea, there will no doubt be a surplus of copy-cat systems, false programmers and predatory instant gratification promises that will blossom in this fertile new environment of “psychic self-help.” My skeptical mind says watch out; supplanting one addictive behavior for another is never a cure-all answer. It would not shock me to hear witch Dr. Phil capitalizing on this trendy redress any day now. 

The core issues and root causes remain.

Expose the psychic blight we see on every street corner for the greedy unscrupulous vermin they truly are.

 * For more, read my previous blog on Psychic Junkies here in my skepticblog archive from Sept. 5, 2009.

Get Ready

Bain Capital is one of the world’s leading private, alternative asset management firms, with approximately $65 billion in assets under management. That’s the first thing you read when you go to their web page. That’s right $65 billion, let’s say approximately and round off at 66 billion. Last night a Bain representative (who will for the time being be referred to as Mr. X) called me up to discuss “platforms” and “marketing options” his investor clients want to take a look at. They are interested in the “psychic market.” Hmmmmmm. Looks like the Big Bucks guys are looking for new ways to make the money grab now that Romney is out.Flattering as it was to be their “go to guy” in this enterprise, my antennae went up after I first Googled this fellow’s name before officially accepting his call. I’ve been here before. The last time somebody wanted to pump me for the  ”how to” on 900 lines, it was Uri Geller himself back in the 90′s. Uri wanted to set-up a new phone line with me as his partner. I declined. Later he left a voice mail on my message machine and believe it or not, after listening  to his greeting, that machine never worked again. But that’s another story.

It was odd indeed to be interviewed by a person who apparently hadn’t read my book, “Psychic Blues” or have any idea about what my take on this dicey world would be. I guess they are just too busy counting money over at Bain to get into the higher spiritual realms.

The key phrase Mr. X used that set the tone was, “…We aren’t interested  in the skeptical aspects of your work.”  Yeah. Duh. This was not a surprising introduction to what was to come.

Bain and their partners, clients and moguls are knocking on the doors of the psychic world. Again, not surprising at all really. Who wouldn’t? Especially when you’ve got billions to spend?  

We know as skeptics we are mostly losing the battle for rational thinking (and now investing) and when things get worse in the economy and elsewhere; well, …things get worse.  The vultures are circling. They smell blood in the water and want their piece of the action. Knowing what little I know about Bain, the Koch brothers and their pack I braced myself, listened carefully and as in my past role infiltrating the psychic market in “Psychic Blues;” I played the game.

Miss Cleo

Standard questions such as who calls 900 lines, payment, basic demographics and such were covered. I told Mr. X the absolute truth from the perspective of someone who has been there and back. I made sure to underscore the fact that back in the 90′s when 900 psychic lines began to take off, it was a novelty and fun new way for many people to feel “entertained.” It remains true that when times get tough, psychics tend to prosper and people want cheap solutions to their problems now just as then. The problem for young guys like Mr. X and his investors today is since convicted frauds like Miss Cleo, the Psychic Friends Network and their ilk have ben so badly discredited or gone belly up, not only are most people thankfully a little bit smarter than back then, they also have little or no discretionary funds to piss away on such frivolities. They need things like food, gas and heating more than psychic harmony or healing crystals. I let him know in no uncertain terms it’s now more than ever a risky business for anyone to get into and unless somebody comes up with an original and exciting way to banish the deceptive practices and woo mumbo-jumbo, they are bound to lose money and fail.

After dwelling on the downside of entering into a business that would no doubt increase the misery and poverty of millions of people, Mr. X told me he personally had “moral reservations” about supporting alliences with his investors in these ventures, but hey, …that’s his job. Nice dodge Mr. X.

It’s clear to me that no matter how discouraging my answers to this interrogation may have been, Bain & Co. are likely going  full-steam-ahead with their plans. Mr X told me they had spoken to many other “psychics, healers and intuitives” about future options. I got the distinct feeling I was the one dissenting voice in his day. Let’s face it, I’m sure those “professional” charlatans made things look as rosy and inviting as possible.

The Poor House? Or Future Psychics Working in Their Cubicles for Bain?

So get ready Ladies and Gentlemen – a whole new barrage of hyped-up nonsense is on the horizon. With people like Dr. Phil (take home pay 35 million a year) and the Koch brothers hosting the lowest of the low in our society, it won’t be long before your PC, iPhone, and most private sensitive information will be skillfully woven into a huge fabric of consumer fraud and used against you by people who have the money, power and initiative to think up bigger and more devious ways to convince you they have what you need in “spiritual guidance.”

Without wanting to sound too conspiratorial – or political, expect this new wave of streamlinde state-of-the-art bullshit to subtly inject right-wing thought into their new witche’s brew of high-tech wonders.

I predict things like; “…Psychics are into inner higher awareness and shun big government intrusion into their space” or “Psychics support the right to carry concealed weapons – it’s all about Karma” etc.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

In his latest ratings mongering he has really stooped to new lows.

Last night’s “show” promised the following:  

Todd Robbins and the Very Corporeal Ghost of Margery Crandon

Last night I had the chance to finally see the film “Play Dead” starring Todd Robbins. This really is my kind of production. Teller should be proud of his creation, which boasts the P&T style of direction without the cynical bombast that often overshadows their usual style of show. This was a class act all the way through. Todd is the ultimate storyteller and gives the entire film the kind of creative and compelling energy that sets him far above the standard side-show ballyhoo artist.

After knowing Todd’s work for many years in the once blooming “bizarrist” magician realm, it did my heart good to see him in a ghoulish mood weaving tales of terror and seance with such glee and absolute conviction – rare in any magic, theater or mentalism performance. You know this man is a pro from the first moment he speaks.

What Todd does in this heady hour and ten minute stew of ghostly tales and Grand Guignol revivalism is something totally ignored in main stream theater these days and an almost thankless task to sell to today’s sophisticated audiences so used to overblown CGI effects and slasher gore. He manages to create genuine warmth subtly mixed with dark humor in the Hitchcockian mode. How I miss this brand of glorious entertainment!

Hearkening back to the early days of the 40′s spook shows when unsuspecting live audiences were frequently plunged into complete darkness and treated to tactile sensations like cobwebs being drawn over their faces or the suggestion of live rats scurrying about under their seats, all this and much more is accomplished with freakish delight by Todd, Teller & Co.

Best of all for this skeptic was the blend of sly critical thinking that shoots through each story when it comes to death and the hereafter. Here Teller gets a chance to really speak out in his own way about the “pure evil” mediums do.  Without the brash berating of Penn to overpower his message, he injects a heartfelt pathos into the proceedings that succeeds in reaching out to people on a viscerally emotional level. We need more of this approach in our skeptical activism. While still retaining the charm and basic secrets of the illusions so well done, the undertone of what has become the real evil that walks the streets today is revealed. Todd becomes a sort of dark game show host, comparing and showcasing the cruelty done by charlatans from the past disguised as mediums and calls them out for the criminals they truly are.

Sandwiched in between all the shock and awe are particularly poignant moments. At one point Todd goes into the audience and delivers a few well-placed hot readings, all the while retaining his cunning veneer of pure evil. He’s obviously and outwardly conning us and we recognize it and love it. In doing his readings, he reaches that moment in the spectator’s mind where that person is reminded of their lost loved one and encourages them to remember and feel that loss. After nearly bringing these people to tears, (which he could have easily accomplished, but mercifully holds back) he reminds the entire audience it’s all a ruse by having another random spectator step on stage and do the exact same thing. This is not a stooge in the traditional sense and showcases one of several state-of-the-art effects in the show. Brilliant. Sorry, no spoilers.

The point is clearly brought out about how vulnerable these “sitters” that were taken through this roller coaster of emotions can be .  ”…Maybe only for that one or two seconds, didn’t you feel that person? Didn’t you feel that you could believe for those two seconds?”

For me this was one of the scariest moments in the whole shockorama. It showed how even when we know better; we can all momnetarily lose our rational grip and want to believe to the exclusion of all rational or critical thinking, no matter how skeptical we may think we are. It only takes a second or two and an impeccable storyteller like Todd Robbins to bring us to our emotional knees.

Sigourney Weaver in “Red Lights”

This same brief heart-rending tipping point moment was also brought out powerfully by Segourney Weaver in one of the better scenes in last year’s “Red Lights,” and one of the reasons I highly suggest viewing that film as well. In the mere blink of an eye, we can lose ourselves to a few whispered words.

I wonder if Teller saw that scene and sought the same reaction for “Play Dead?”  I hope so. We need to see more of these momentary lapses of mental clarity and begin to understand how devastating they can be when manipulated by an individual who wishes to gain a foothold in our consciousness – for whatever purposes.

Such easily passed over “performances” are powerful indictments of what really moves us way beyond where it may be wise for us go in any “entertainment” offered up by the latest flavor of the month psychic or medium.

Thanks Teller.

Hey Piers Morgan, Anderson, Colbert, Stewart and Leno, why can’t you read the writing on this wall?

Look for “Play Dead” wherever you can a find it  – and support it. It’s a delightfully dark delicacy that shouldn’t be missed. Skeptic or not, you will get a real lesson in true evil and where it can lie in each of us.

Theatre Du Paris Grand Guignol circa 1920

Todd Robbins Deposes of an Audience Member “Play Dead” 2012

I must be doing something right.

In said article I’m held to the fire for telling, “one of the tricks involves pre-screening people in the audience: something actual psychics don’t do! In typical skeptical fashion, he just makes shit up.”

Not exactly. The article is a pretty rough go, but I found it amazing to note how the “actual psychics” and their believers go right off the cliff into their rant without thinking things through one little bit.

The writer goes on:

” Here is what one actual psychic — one Helen Hoffman — had to say in a comment below, all emphasis added:

“I happen to do psychic readings, & I have never ‘interviewed” people Before I read for them(!!!)

Not Likely to do Pre-Show Interview

Helen, that may well be true for the thousands of readers cluttering the psychic faire market and sitting in back rooms of psychic shops waiting for a walk-in, but you missed my point entirely. I wasn’t writing about your centuries old ilk  in “Psychic Blues” except as brief unimportant footnotes in the history of the current plague of mediums running rampant and unchallenged in America. The people who do make use of pre-show information and “screening” are the Big Fish. These are the people I’m after and the ”actual psychics” least likely to spend time on-line making wild assumptions about my work and comparing it to their own.

Yet dear Helen (who I have never heard of) prattles on:

“These money-hungry jerks give those of us who really DO see the future, etc. a bad name. I tell my clients what I ‘see’ in my visions, nothing more and nothing less. 99% of the time I had never even met the person until I read for them.”

Incredible. Of course not. It’s not necessary in your case. You don’t need to bother. You are not pushing a reality television show, hawking books or appearing on Dr. Phil or Anderson either, right? You are happy in your own comfortable insulated world of fuzzy woo, oblivious to the real money-making racket going on everyday, twenty four-seven. Complete and utter denial.

Helen’s percentage ratio also of course begs the question about that left over 1% . Does this mean you know that one out of 100 before you read for them? If you do,  you have a leg up on the psychic sitting next to you at the faire who might not. That’s a clear advantage. One percent can make a huge difference to gullible people who want to believe. Psychics know how to take the tiniest shred of information and pump it up into what can at first appear as astonishing hits. When taken apart, dissected and examined through transcripts or on video replay their glib verbal manipulations tend to fall apart like rotting fruit.

“Mark Edward is paraded as a “good guy” who swindles you so you won’t get swindled again (gotta love that logic) by ‘real’ mountebanks in the future, but I say we call him what he really is: scum.

The first part of that last statement actually does hold some logic if you think about it. But it would be counter-intuitive for any “actual psychic” to embrace the truth of their own awkward statement. Yep, chances are if you read my book, you are not likely to get “swindled again,” … even by Helen.

Very Likely to do Pre-Show Interviewing

BTW: Contrary to Helen’s opinion, I’m not making a huge money-hungry greedy killing with my skeptical activism. In fact all told, my current pursuits in trying to make a dent in what passes for spirituality in the real scumbag universe ends up frequently costing much more than I make.  But don’t boo hoo me. Skeptics do what we have to do when we see red and witness close-up the sham compassion running the Big Media show. Every day I have to wake up and face the facts: Few if any people want to know what the real psychic deal is all about. The truth refuses to sell even as another casting company trolls for the latest psychic detective.

We are the minority. To my way of thinking that fact is far scarier than any ten ghost hunter reality shows.

You can read the whole ugly tirade  (including the requisite Edgar Cayce “scientific” studies at Duke University blathering) here:

http://physicalismisdead.blogspot.com/2012/09/mark-edward-is-scum.html