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Is Caputo Kaputo Yet?

by Mark Edward, Nov 09 2012

Together at Last!

If you didn’t watch the Nov. 8th episode of “Inside Edition,” you missed an expose of “America’s favorite psychic” and star of the popular “Long Island Medium” television “reality” series, Theresa Caputo. A few weeks ago I was asked to take part in a “sting” on Caputo with several IE investigative reporters who had been singling out Caputo for a serious takedown for months. We worked hard to reveal her for what she is – a fast talker of the lowest order. There was no question she was doing old cold reading bits, but her other methods were less obvious to the untrained eye.  I was put on the case in New York City for four days. It was a eye-opening experience and great fun watching Caputo going through her histrionics, but I quickly learned that mediums and psychics are getting more and more slippery and hard to catch red-handed than they were only a decade ago.

Like many of the latest crop of bullshit tossers making the rounds, Theresa and her savvy crew have learned from the mistakes of others like Sally Morgan, John Edward and Jimmy VanPraagh. Instead of taking chances with too much guessing, Theresa bumps-up her percentage of hits and avoids bad misses by front-loading her stage shows with a combination of techniques; some time tested like cold reading and planting previous clients they have already read for in specific seats in the audience, (ala Rosemary Altea on the Penn & teller “Bullshit!” episode I worked on) but also making use of the latest social media outlets.

In combination with selling seats through Ticketmaster and the use of credit cards, Facebook, Fousquare, Twitter and all the rest of the latest places people post private information, our own egocentric fascination with ourselves makes it easy for the techie-smart-agent or producer to make seeming miracles happen. Like the old days when the gypsy only needed to tell her sitters what they wanted to hear about themselves, we are now in an era when anyone can tell you more about yourself than you might ever want to know.

At the show we saw, at one point Theresa asked a woman, “…Why am I picking up baby clothes?” To which the woman replied, “On, that’s weird. I just put up a bunch of pictures of baby clothes on my Facebook page!”

Not weird at all really. With five or six  gathered bits of information like that placed beforehand on a seating chart of the show  it’s easy to be cued by her staff of roving  microphone and camera people. All seats are numbered and the sections are far enough apart so even Theresa can’t screw up: a red shirt is a fireman, down in front under the lights is the missing child, on the left is the suicide’s mother, etc.

After watching this crew with their equipment  move over to a person who was next called upon by Theresa, it became apparent that only one of two things could be happening.  The only two logical reasons for the roving crew to move  BEFORE Theresa points out the person in the audience they are standing near are:

1.  Theresa has already planned with her crew what people she is going to be talking to before the show.
2.  The crew is psychic and knows who Theresa is going to be calling on.

I leave it to the reader to decide which option is more likely.

On the heavily edited segments for Caputo’s so-called “reality” program, everyone who happens to apparently casually “bump into” Theresa on the street or in supermarkets or beauty parlors, each is a carefully choreographed set-up.  In classic mentalist style, everyone must sign a pre-show waiver or agreement to have their image used on television. It’s only a standard form to those folks. Why would they suspect anything? They should. All the staff needs is a laptop, a name, an address and a willing victim.

The slippery part is this perfect storm of information availability seems to make no sense when you watch Theresa live doing nothing but asking a non-stop machine gun scatter shot of questions, one after the other. It would be so much easier for her to just stick to a list of sure-fire pre-show information. That’s what I would do… So why doesn’t she stick to that strategy?

I’ll tell you why: She’s not a professional mentalist for one, and also because if she did use all the information available all the time, she would be far too accurate and her audience of adoring believers would begin to smell a rat.  She has to play that “odds” part down to a believable minimum. It’s the “less is more” angle mediums have been using for centuries.

It was amazing to see her act “surprised” by her hits, as if she had no idea how she did it. Maybe  a few times she was genuinely surprised, it’s happened to me when a wild guess gets a connection from some poor soul in the audience.  This happens more times than one might think. Logic again should tell us if she was a real seer, why act surprised by your powers? You are expected to know. As I wrote in “Psychic Blues,” a real medium (if such a thing existed) would most certainly make bold statements as  fact and not ask a single question. But Theresa isn’t that good – yet.

And she’ not that smart – yet.

At one point, Theresa said in the show I saw (and I liked the line – trust me, I”ll be using it…) “Lotto numbers would be so much easier…”  So true Theresa, so true. So why don’t you go away and do that?  The money there and at race tracks has to be easier than traipsing around the country working two three hour shows a day. Why bother if you are real? Oh wait. I know. You want to help people, …right.

It’s my opinion she’s still a tad green for the on-the-road market and her handlers and agents are sending her out into the spotlight to toughen her up and get her trained to be even more confident and get her used to asking less questions. Only time will tell, but I predict a much smoother delivery and more direct hits in her future – if she doesn’t get lazy and opt for an even more laid back approach. Either way – she wins.

Caputo’s Souvenir List

Her popularity and a huge part of why people  seem to love her shtick so much is her personality; a raw mix of Long Island cynical strut and folksy Italian/Catholic swagger. Like so many other psychics who exude charisma, she would do better as a comedienne. Unfortunately we are destined to be not so lucky – she knows where the money is. Instead of a new Phyllis Diller, we are trending toward new pink-sweatered versions of Sylvia Browne. She’s on the rise and I predict there will be more who are even now making their own plans. What will it be next? A Quaker medium from Pennsylvania or the Native American maiden from next door in Albuquerque who reads auras? And don’t even get me started with the guy who just sits on stage and stares at people…

It’s hard to argue with a ratted up bleached blond bee-hive hairdo and $1,000 rhinestone high heels. Caputo projects the image of someone who could easily get in a nasty cat-fight with you if you got on her wrong side. She can be just as rude as Sylvia, as when she gets no response from a luke-warm cold reading and  turns on her heel away from that person with the quip, “…I’m gonna pass on that one.” Really Theresa? Why? I saw that move several times.

Like her mean-spirited -croaking competition Sylvia Browne who often spouts prayers and religious mumbo-jumbo at the outset of her shows, Caputo invokes her Catholicism from time to time as a shield for her travesty of feigned compassion and tired self-help jargon. One wonders if she is going to ask forgiveness at Mass the next day? In this way, she is setting the stage for a future Sylvia Browne style image that will be hard to stop once it’s out of the gate – and it’s on it’s way to your neighborhood.

Theresa showcased several other neat tricks you can bet I will be incorporating into my own act. However in my own version of this charade, I’ll be explaining how and why these ploys worked at the end. This is something Caputo, Browne and John Edward will never do.

As in the Belgian PSA posted a few weeks back – the information gathering search and destroy technique is a goldmine for the entrepreneur showman and underscores the need for caution in placing anything on the internet – especially if you plan to visit a high-end medium or buy tickets to one of their shows. I know I’m preaching to the choir once again here and it’s not likely if you are reading this you would do such a thing, but you might know someone who would – and they should be warned.

At it’s core, we have a few undeniable truths to show in our favor: No one, even Theresa Caputo, saw hurricane Sandy coming to New York City, or told us how Obama would win in near landslide fashion, or that the man standing next to her in the photograph I took with her was out to pull the rug from beneath her even as he stood smiling next to her. She even refereed to the photograph seen pinned to my lapel as “…he was a warm soul.” This was a high school picture of my son Miles, who remains quite alive and well. Some psychic huh?

All this being said, and even after exhausting research and carefully planning the “reveal” portion of my “psychic readings” for the live audience I worked with on IE, many of them still remained believers. Same in The Jeff Probst Show audience.  If you saw that show, even after we explained how easy it is to pull the wool over anyone’s eyes and I made my position clear as a non-psychic, a woman in the audience still wanted a reading from me!

As I mentioned to the IE staff, it’s the “just because” factor that makes this all so frustrating and ultimately why we don’t see more critical thinking about the paranormal on network tv:

“…Just because you use tricks doesn’t mean my psychic isn’t real.”

How can we ever hope to beat that thinking?

Thoughts?

Suggestions?

And don’t tell me to give up. I just have to keep going. I can’t stop to think about the almost hopeless situation we as rational thinkers find ourselves in. If I turn around to look back, I will be turned to stone. I’m officially in denial.

Caputo apparently sent a message to Inside Edition saying that she doesn’t care what they say. Her clients like her and that’s good enough for her.

Is that good enough for you?

Persevere.

59 Responses to “Is Caputo Kaputo Yet?”

  1. Max says:

    At the show we saw, at one point Theresa asked a woman, “…Why am I picking up baby clothes?” To which the woman replied, “On, that’s weird. I just put up a bunch of pictures of baby clothes on my Facebook page!”

    LMAO, nobody put two and two together?

    “No one, even Theresa Caputo, saw hurricane Sandy coming to New York City, or told us how Obama would win in near landslide fashion”

    Nate Silver tweeted about that.
    http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/cocktail-party-physics/2012/11/07/why-math-is-like-the-honey-badger-nate-silver-ascendant
    “CAN’T BELIEVE METEOROLOGISTS USED MATH AND SCIENCE TO PREDICT THIS STORM. THEY MUST BE MAGIC WIZARDS.”

    • Susan Gerbic says:

      Max, it happens so fast that the audience can’t think of these things. Maybe the woman who got the reading will but it together afterward but will just shrug it off. She paid a bunch for that ticket and does not want her to be a fake. That would mean she was conned and wasted her money. Few people want to think they were that stupid.

      • tmac57 says:

        Confirmation bias and motivated reasoning are two of the most pernicious factors in poor reasoning skills. We are all susceptible to them,and that makes it all the more important to keep up the constant drum beat for skepticism/critical thinking.

    • Student says:

      Also, she’s not thinking about what she put on her facebook.

      Cold reading works off feeding back clues that were given through probating questions. You’d expect people to pick up on that far more easily than someone googling them and checking their facebook or blog for information.

      Most of us put a lot of information out there, what we say, how we carry ourselves, how we dress. Many more put out even more information through social media. It’s not stuff we consciously think of, so we’re not connecting it to the impressions or reads it gives.

  2. David says:

    I just tried to find the segment on the IE archives page, and it doesn’t appear to be there for November 8. Just tried YouTube as well. Any ideas? I’d love to see it, since Caputo has unfortunately already made an appearance in my neighborhood.

  3. Susan Gerbic says:

    Awesome write up Mark. I thought at first that they hadn’t mentioned or shown your book, but thinking back now I seem to remember they did show the book cover, but I won’t swear to it.

  4. Mike Grattan says:

    Great article Mark! I have been gradually teaching my mom to be more of a critical thinker over the past few years, and she’s starting to get the hang of it; however, she still brings up stories from her past about having her aura read by a medium one time, and having photographs read another time.

    The photograph reading was very interesting the way she told it. The reader was a college professor at a JC and my mom was in his class; he told her that the photograph was of her father and that he had a scar on his hand from jumping over a fence as a kid. My mom was not aware of this and asked her father, who confirmed that he did actually have such a scar and that it happened while he was jumping over a fence; my mom had never been told this story before.

    I didn’t really have a way to challenge her on that one; it happened a long time ago and I would just chalk it up to her memory “shifting” over the years until it happened the way she wants to remember it having happened. Kind of a long-term result of confirmation bias. What do you think?

    • Student says:

      If the memory’s correct, it’s probably just a wild guess that was accurate. Even professional mediums don’t get everything right, they just spam enough details, and people remember the ones which match up to what they wanted to believe (Usually that the person is psychic).

  5. Kitty says:

    Wow, great work. The point is, we have to keep them on their toes. Too many people now think SOME psychics are real. There are people that use them as their therapists (they just don’t get that’s the reason, someone to talk to). When someone is telling you what you WANT to hear, you want to believe.

    I know someone that worked at Macy’s in the high end women’s couture section. She would tell clients how WONDERFUL they looked, often in a dress she couldn’t sell to anyone else. She knew just which clients (she was a “personal consultant) would fall for that line and would push off the dresses no one else wanted. Over and over again, they would keep coming back for more, even when they said “My husband really didn’t like that lime green dress” she would say “Well now, what does he know about fashion, trust me.” For her, she lied to make money, and she did very well. However, selling a dress is far less criminal than selling a lie about a dead child.

  6. Robert Sheaffer says:

    “How can we ever hope to beat that thinking?”

    Occam’s Razor is the only tool for that. But how to use it in this context?

    “No, but it shows that a person doesn’t need any special powers to achieve the same results she does.”

    • tmac57 says:

      The problem with that idea Robert,is that someone who already assumes that there are people who possess ‘psychic powers’ will say that the simpler answer (Occam’s razor) is that if someone ‘knows’ something about you that they ‘could not’ know,then they must be psychic,not that they are employing a wide variety of magician’s tricks,cons,plants,Facebook mining etc.
      And it is has been shown that a large amount (if not a majority) of people do assume that all sorts of paranormal things and abilities are real,and have already been proven.

      • Student says:

        They’d be using Occam’s Razor with a false premise then. Someone employing conventional means, however convoluted, is always more likely than magic which defies reason, or testing. You can combine any number of terms together as “Magic” and make something “Simple”, but that’s not Occam’s Razor.

        I don’t think Occam’s Razor is the most useful tool for beating it to be honest. Occam’s Razor only works when you can pin down assumptions, and if they believe in magic, they may not be interested in determining whether that belief is more likely true.

        I’d suggest use rational self interest as the basis of an argument.

        “Why don’t they use their powers for the lottery?”
        A) They want to “Help” people.
        B) Their powers are unpredictable.
        C) They’re a different claim altogether, and claim no such powers.

        If A) Why do they take money from those people then? Couldn’t they run the lottery to make a living so they could help people for free? Couldn’t they run the lottery and give it to charity?

        B) Then how do they use them on people at will?

        C) Aura see-ers and the like don’t necessarily claim to have the ability to see the future, so their claim is harder to get with this argument. This one would be better shown some other way. I still think the best way of demonstrating the nonsense of cold-reading is to do the disguise trick, where you appear completely different to your personality, and then show that they come to the wrong conclusion.

        There’s no rational reason why someone who could see the future would charge regular people small amounts of money, whether they were good or evil, for any reason. It’s inefficient for gaining money, and it’s cruel if it’s for helping people.

      • Susan Gerbic says:

        I remember Mark telling people not to try hiding your personality. The reading will also be false because you are false.

  7. Claus Larsen says:

    How to beat the thinking of “…Just because you use tricks doesn’t mean my psychic isn’t real.”

    Ask them: How do you tell the difference, so I understand what it is?

    In order to do so, they have to understand it themselves.

    And when they realize that there is no difference – that’s an eye opener.

  8. Steve B says:

    I missed it. Doesn’t look like their old episodes are available either. Poop.

  9. Gary says:

    “Just because you use tricks doesn’t mean my psychic isn’t real.”

    You hit the nail on the head. The same goes for ghost hunters, UFO hunters.

    So, why bother?

  10. Jo says:

    The segment on Inside Edition (which I saw) is nowhere to be found today. Saw the L.I.M. in person in Des Moines on 11/5. VERY disappointing. She would “see the number 13. Which may mean January, it may mean March, it may the 13th of a month…” She struggled to get “hits.” “Is it your aniversary? And that can be a three-month window: October, November or December.” At one point she said, “has anyone lost a father?” and the audience of 3,000 burst out laughing.

    Why did the segment disappear from Inside Edition?

  11. Janet Camp says:

    I’ve never heard of this Caputo person, or any other “psychic”. I don’t have a TV. At the risk of using bad logic, maybe there’s a connection?

  12. pearlheartgtr says:

    Go to the Inside Edition Facebook page. People are posting about how the segment is wrong and how Caputo is a real psychic. There’s some irony there.

    Look for the post by Morgan Porada.
    https://www.facebook.com/Inside.Edition?filter=2

  13. Peter Robinson says:

    The only thing that is going to stop scammers like Caputo is if they are prosecuted for fraud. Surely a complainant can be found to pursue a case against her or one of the others like Browne or Edward.

  14. Claus Larsen says:

    All they need to do is what John Edward has done: Put in a disclaimer that it is for entertainment purposes only.

  15. MadScientist says:

    I can imagine Randi saying “If you really want to help people, you can start by taking my million dollars”. A real psychic who genuinely wants to help people will take Randi’s money and spend it wisely. If they don’t then they either really don’t care as they claim and are also too lazy to take the money for themselves, or they’re simply lying and aren’t psychic at all. Of course they all like to use the Geller excuse: my magic powers disappear in the presence of Randi.

  16. Phea says:

    “…Just because you use tricks doesn’t mean my psychic isn’t real.”

    OK Mark, I used to be a pretty good pitch writer, and if I can’t help you with this, I should at least be able to get you thinking and analyzing the problem from a different perspective.

    One of the great things about pitches is you’ll hear the same responses over and over. What the mooch thinks is a cleaver, original objection, you were expecting.

    The remark about “my psychic” is very defensive. If you come on a little too strong demonstrating how easy you can fool her, the result is, she’s going to feel foolish, and then get defensive. The absolute best way to keep control of a mooch, is to plant seeds which allow them to come up with great ideas, which happen to be exactly the ideas you want them to “discover”. It’s the same principle as a magician forcing a card on someone.

    One approach you might try is to make sure that remark isn’t going to be made… early on. Instead of fooling her you might try explaining that some of the most fun people have with you is discussing their psychics, and together, figuring out sneaky ways to “test” her abilities, as some psychics are SO GOOD at fooling people, they fool themselves, and blah, blah, blah. At this point, you begin showing her that voodoo that you do so well. Not to FOOL her, but to TEACH her. Then, instead of feeling foolish and defensive, she’s feeling trusted, part of a little conspiracy. She’s now an insider, she knows secrets, she’s armed and dangerous.

    That’s how I might approach pitching someone I was trying to turn anti-woo. People like to feel good, trusted, and excited, not foolish, defensive and frightened.

    • Susan Gerbic says:

      Nice thoughts.

      I wonder if the problem is also in the amount of time you have. On TV you only have minutes (if your lucky) and they film for hours but cut out most. We don’t have that kind of control when media is presenting it. But I think maybe in a lecture your pitch might be better.

      If I remember correctly, the last couple lectures Mark gave he is nearing this angle. He does his thing reading the audience with hot and cold methods and then asks the audience, “how could I have done this without paranormal powers?”

  17. Student says:

    “…Just because you use tricks doesn’t mean my psychic isn’t real.”

    I’d say the answer’s twofold.

    1) If your magic is only equal to my tricks and inductive reasoning and guesswork, then your magic is worthless. It’s indistinguishable from a trick, and holds no power greater than one. It’s as useful to the victim as the tricks are.

    2) If it’s something that can be done with tricks, why would you pay for it? It’s no better than that.

    If they’re willing to admit you can simulate what they consider a true psychic, then expand on that comparison. If the trick is worthless, the psychic is worthless. Their response to that will then have to be “My Psychic produces results which are unexplainable by tricks”, or they must concede the point. At which point, you can ask for examples.

    • Phea says:

      We must always try to keep our ego’s in check. One thing I always taught my salespeople: “If you win the argument, but lose the sale, you’re still a loser.”

    • Max says:

      Just to play devil’s advocate, how do you know your paper money isn’t counterfeit?

      • Phea says:

        I don’t know, Max, the same way you don’t know if your tap water is contaminated. Some things we just take on, (dare I say it?), faith…

  18. rose says:

    if its real or not some of us need the closure we never got..everyone gets closure their own way and theresa happens to be what some people need especially people like me thats been waiting over 20 years for peace and i still havent gotten it yet..i wish i was lucky enough to have someone help me make peace and move on..some go to church some go to the bar and some go to someone whos not bias and can make you feel better

    • Susan Gerbic says:

      Rose, I’m very sorry for your loss. I’m sure you are still in a lot of pain if it has been 20 years.

      Do you really want someone to tell you that they are talking to this person you loved, telling you whatever they think you want to hear, just to take your money.

      If you loved this person, then respect your memory of them. Do not let some con trample all over your loss.

      There is help out there if you are still grieving, they can help you with the pain. And they won’t lie to you like these grief vampires do. Sucking on your pain just so they can laugh at you behind your back and hope to make some money off of your loved one.

      Don’t fall for it Rose. Would your loved one really want you to do that?

    • Claus Larsen says:

      Rose,

      That is a good point you are raising: Closure is important for the grieving process.

      But do people really get closure when going to a psychic?

      For the true believers, clearly it is not the case. If they had closure, they would not keep returning, for more and more “information”. For those, something else is going on. It is almost like a drug to them – and that is never healthy.

      For those who try it to try it, in the hopes of getting closure, what is the evidence that any psychic has ever been able to communicate with the dead? It is non-existent.

      How is closure even possible, if the psychic gets something wrong – yet you don’t know which parts? The things you can recognize are the ones you fed to the psychic, or a lucky guess. The things you cannot recognize could theoretically be real messages from the beyond, but you will never be able to distinguish between real and false messages. The psychic sure doesn’t, since *you* are the one who needs to confirm if it is true or not.

      Like Susan said, there are many ways to get help getting over the loss of a loved one. But psychics are not the solution. All the evidence points to a cruel scam.

      And it is cruel to tell someone in need of help that they can help, yet all they can do is offer lies and confabulations.

    • Phea says:

      Rose, while a psychic might seem to offer comfort and help with closure, all they’re really doing is tampering with, and maybe even polluting the only real things you have left of your loved one… your precious memories of them.

  19. RoboSapien says:

    Mark, I have a tactic for you…

    Set up a tent outside of one of these shows, put up a big sign that says FREE PSYCHIC READINGS (subtitled “A gift is given, not sold”)

    Then you begin the cold readings, but make sure you do it really bad. Also do your best to get “busted” looking up info on Facebook. If you fail badly enough, they will label you as a crank and probably criticize your psychic ability, to which you respond “you get what you pay for”

    Hopefully, when said customers make their way into the show to see the “real” psychic, they will notice the same tricks being used and get wise to the fact that this person is trying to take their money in exchange for the same bullshit you are willing to give them for free.

  20. RoboSapien says:

    Perhaps, but most of these folks are already sold before they even show up. As a skeptic, anything he says will just be seen as an assault on the medium’s credibility, but he can gain his own credibility and then sabotage it. All he needs is an accomplice to throw him under the bus. Sour the experience, and people won’t be eager to get fooled twice.

  21. Susan Gerbic says:

    The more the skeptical message is in the public’s eye the better. Eventually the fence sitters will “get it”. Don’t know how many believers we will ever convince but I think that their pool will become smaller over time.

    • RoboSapien says:

      Well, Mark is the “guerrilla skepticism” guy so this kind of thing is right up his alley. I’m sure he’s smart enough to figure out how to get some PR out of it.

  22. Bella says:

    There is something about Theresa, she is very charming and down to earth. I’ve watched bits and pieces of her show and can see why so many people are drawn to her and want to believe her. But on the show she is too good, and now, thanks to your help Mark, hopefully people will start to see the light! Another thing I found interesting is that Theresa seems to say word for word what the spirit is telling her. I thought most ‘psychics’ just felt things and couldn’t actually hear words? It’s all baloney anyway. It’s a very dangerous game they are playing and I’m glad people like Mark are out there to help expose them! Your book was fantastic Mark, very informative and entertaining. I loved reading about your experiences and shall we say interesting clients!

    • Susan Gerbic says:

      Bella, it must be a East Coast thing if you think she is charming. I just look at her and know we would never be able to have lunch together even if she wasn’t a grief vampire.

      Have you seen Sylvia Browne, OMG she is a piece of work. I guess Theresa is a sweetheart in comparison.

      But I suppose your right, people identify with Theresa.

  23. Ron Tebo says:

    Great article Mark and very cute photo! She was taken by the master. LOL. The writers over at scifake have been diligently investigating Caputo and her double dealings.

    Scifake conversed (via email) with her former assistant Joey and he sings loudly. In addition, we have reached out to her clients (a select few) and it appears (as you said) the show is staged. Like we didn’t expect the show to be staged? LOL.

    Keep up the good work and scifake will have more very soon about Caputo.

  24. HardTruth88 says:

    I’m surprised there aren’t the usual defensive diatribes posted here yet…

    You are all hateful, mean spirited, jealous, afraid of the unknown, lack the ability to comprehend something so mystical, never lost a love one etc. …

    The episode where she (Caputo) reduced the child to tears with her facade of channeling his dead father was repulsive and reprehensible …many of her fans claim she helped this boy with “closure” but you don’t have to be a PHD to surmise that this sort of deceit could have some serious adverse psychological effects in both the immediate and long term …

    • Ron Tebo says:

      scifake has an article (and video) in regards to that episode and we even reached out to the mother of the child. Caputo = grief vampire.

  25. Amy says:

    scifake is more of a fraud than teresa caputo could ever be. Atleast she has a soul and cares for people. I tried joining a discussion in Scifake only to have them change the words around in my comments. And they are accusing other people of that? I suppose Eban Alexander is a fraud too, right? Why don’t you people do some real investigating on the whole story instead of constantly trying reach for an shred of evidence against the matter? That way you can actually have a balanced opinion.

  26. HardTruth88 says:

    @ Amy
    The evidence unequivocally points towards deception.
    Stop blaming others for your inane comments after all, you believe in psychics so your credibility is already severely compromised.

  27. Ken Kaplan says:

    If you do a search for “Psychics 2012 election”, you will see Obama was predicted by over 90-95% of them. Many were very explicit. One said the Dems would surprisingly pick up seats in the Senate (which was considered highly unlikely at the time, the other a year out said Obama would win convincingly and Romney would make several mistakes late in the election that would hurt him.) So you’re full of it.

    Secondly, your entire article is full of assumptions without evidence. Where is your hard evidence that this is planted? Where are the leaks from people who have agreed to be set up? or former disgruntled crew members? Nada. None. The opposite is true.

    Caputo is a medium, not a psychic. Like any profession her
    directive” is limited”. She’s not here to “win the lottery”. That’s the nonsense of your linear rationalist mind. YOu assume that psychics are to be aware of and warn us of disaster so they can be prevented. Why? Certain events are ordained, thus they get veiled. You run the Universe so you know how it works? Lincoln gad a totally prescient dream about his death. He went to the theater anyway.

    BTW, I had an intuitive friend predict Sandy. Two months before. Si when I saw it forming, I knew this was it. What good was the info anyway? And finally, I am a medium also, I do it by phone so there ain’t no cold reading because all a person can say is yes or no. And it isn’t fake. Its real. Whether you believe it or not. I spent a week training with Van Praagh with 100 people and we all had to read each other constantly. The accuracy was generally astounding, even from the non pros.

    You have no idea what you’re talking about.

    If you had had a personal session with Caputo, there might be legitimacy to your complaint. But that would entail a vulnerability you probably do not possess.

    • Max says:

      “You assume that psychics are to be aware of and warn us of disaster so they can be prevented.”

      Didn’t you just say that your friend predicted Sandy?

      Well none of these psychics did, but they did predict earthquakes and tsunamis that didn’t happen.
      http://paranormal.about.com/od/prophetsandprophecies/tp/Psychic-Predictions-For-2012.htm

      -Earthquake in Mexico City destroying most of the city.
      -Giant earthquake in California.
      -A tsunami in Hawaii; major wildfires in Canada.
      -Watch for a tsunami in the spring that will threaten the island kingdom of Tonga.

  28. Ken Kaplan says:

    Sorry for the typos.

  29. HardTruth88 says:

    Ken why is it IMPOSSIBLE for your psychic/medium powers to be proven in a controlled environment?

  30. HardTruth88 says:

    Also; just once I would love to see a “prediction” like that of your “intuitive friend” before the actual event (like Sandy) as opposed to after.

    Yeah Lincoln’s prognostication sure seems like irrefutable proof of psychic phenomena! Gee why would a civil war era president ever have thoughts of his assassination lurking in his subconscious and manifest in a dream or two?

    How many psychics made election predictions that weren’t even close? Selective validate much? LOL

  31. THess says:

    I believe that the natural ‘draw’, of humanity, to prophecy; is the freedom the ‘answers’ (manufactured or not) allow our minds. We are able to worry less about the things there are no answers for.

    The big worry being: what really happens when we die?

    Organizations (religious or otherwise) prey on this fear; successfully so.

  32. Captain Dg says:

    I suggest having skeptics try cold reading themselves. It is really not that hard. With no training (and may I say not a lot of natural skill) I was able to do a fair job on my first attempt.

  33. ad says:

    Why is this such an issue for everyone? This has gone from an attack on Theresa Caputo to a demonizing of ALL psychics/mediums.
    Most people that go to these people do so of their own free will.

    Back to the beginning of this long winded conversation – Theresa does not claim to be able to predict the future…she claims to bring a message from a departed loved one. What is the harm in that? she is not telling people to go and spend all of their money or anything. She is helping people let go of guilt, anguish and sorrow over the loss of a loved one.
    I personally like to watch her…ok sometimes its a little wonky but so what! it’s entertainment! If it helps one person feel better then where is the harm?

  34. Tina says:

    Dude. Suggestions?
    Yes. First know what you’re talking about. Theresa is a meduim not a psychic-they are very different as mediums dont precide shit. So you lose on most of those ramblings
    And, second, LISTEN TO YOURSELF-
    “And don’t tell me to give up. I just have to keep going”
    Are you serious?? Who gives a shit if someone finds comfort from this stuff. They’re suffering stops, but you want them to suffer cause it’s all fake. Big Man. A real man would’nt waste gis tine OBSESSING over such nonsense. Jesus, live your life, man

  35. Shelby says:

    The one point you make that seems like evidence against her is her crew moving toward a section before she mentioned it. If that is true, I would like for IE staff or people from the audience to corroborate this. Just saying how she could be a scam isn’t evidence. If you were working for IE, wouldn’t they know if she had a sound feed giving her info? I would be interested to know if she reads people who’s names were not known to her or the venue.

  36. Craig Boyd says:

    Looks like a friend (or former friend) is trying to expose her:

    http://www.longislandmediumfake.com

  37. Sheryl says:

    I started watching her, liked her jewelry, hair and stuff but then her true colors came out and it bothers me that she gets by with scamming people at 400.00 a pop while toying with their emotions and it explains how uncomfortable her son is when she does it. Its as if he is disgusted by what’s going on but does not know what to do. I think this is should be against the law to swindle people out of their money like this. This is Very wrong.