http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_14307819.

For $500.00 an hour, you can reach a dead loved one – but it’s not guaranteed. Rebecca Rosen makes no guarantees. Why not? If you can talk to one dead person, what’s stopping you from reaching another? I never understood that excuse. Believers in spirit communication can now get on her three year waiting list. As soon as her HarperCollins book, “Spirited”  hits the stands, her 20 city book tour starts and “Niteline” finishes with her, she will likely be booked far into the next decade. Better hurry.

Of course the G word gets it’s mention at the very end of the article and the reporter Karen Auge also quotes from the Book of Genesis, letting us know that Joseph could interpret dreams and predict the future.  This timely skill (according to Auge) not only got him out of Pharaoh’s dungeon but also made him rich. It’s good to know that mediums back then did so well isn’t it?

Nothing much seems to have changed since Genesis. Rebecca Rosen is no different than Joseph and like all the rest of the purveyors of this sort of nonsense, she seems to have all the right answers to every question. At least when the reporter is a believer anyway.  Mediums know how to lie very effectively. Please note that I have used the generic word “mediums’”  and not the actual name of Rebecca Rosen when I used the two words ”to lie.” Believers, book agents or would-be lawyers in sheep’s clothing can save their threats for some other website this time.

Telling the truth and lying are two very different ways of conveying information. If people who say they are talking to DEAD PEOPLE are not consciously lying, then they must be self-deluded. There are no two ways about this. You can talk to me about a third option, but talk is cheap.

Once again: Unless Mrs. Rosen can come up with consistent results that are verifiable by a credible third party, she has to be one or the other: dishonest or mentally unhinged. Pick one. There is no gray area or middle ground to be discussed. You can only play that card for so long. People who call themselves a medium can’t have it both ways. They can either talk to DEAD PEOPLE or they can’t.

Let me be a little clearer on this. If mediums are telling the world that they can do this, they may indeed have it both ways –  for awhile. But living in a world of deceit or mental illness can only get so many books published until looking in the mirror must eventually become unbearable. But then again this is by my standards and who am I to say?  Money makes the world go round. I can only state that I’m neither a liar or a whack job.

It’s sad that news organizations and major book publishers apparently don’t look into the same mirror that I do each morning and deplorable that the prosperous buisness of pretending to speak to DEAD PEOPLE gets so easily picked up and endorsed by publishers like HarperCollins. Doing so leaves no doubt in my mind that they know how to make a buck off people in pain too. They must ultimately share in the cuplpability for spreading superstition, ficticious babble and false hope into the lives of millions of gullible people.  Hey HarperCollins, would you be the slightest bit interested in the inside track about the spook racket and what really goes on it it, written by a person who has been there and back? I dare you to read my book, “Psychic Blues.” It’s not fiction, it’s fact.

It’s so simple really: I have said it once and I will say it again; If any medium anywhere  could truly do what they say they can do, it would be the most important breakthrough in modern science in history. So let’s have it.

Mrs. Rosen is mentioned by Auge as being the “medium of the moment.” How true.  It’s getting to be that mediums are like Metro trains. There will be another one coming along any moment thanks to writers like Karen Auge.

Is this really news?

The Duh Factor Again: People would be better served by seeking out a qualified bereavement counselor rather than a phony medium. Period.

And Again: Claiming to be able to speak to the dead is easy. Anyone can do it with a little training in magic, psychology and misdirection techniques. There’s only one way to make real news with people like Mrs. Rosen:

PROVE IT.

Karen Auge writes that in college Mrs. Rosen majored in advertising.

Right.

Rebecca Rosen is still majoring in advertising thanks to the Denver Post.

So it seems Bonnie Vent is more than a little bent out of shape about her claim to be able to talk to the deceased Michael Jackson.  The real question is not one of legality of freedom of speech as far as I’m concerned. (See Steve Novella’s follow-up blog written in response to Vent’s threat to sue myself, Steve, the Skepticblog, and the Skeptics Society if we did not remove my opinion of her claims).  It’s more about taking a stand against blatant exploitation of a deceased individual; namely, Michael Jackson.  So where does all this go from here? I would suggest that the focus now be taken away from the apparently offensive suggestion that I was previously made aware of through an internet press release (that was taken down) that this medium is taking money for taking to Michael Jackson,  to the real question at hand: Why are they doing this?

In my opinion, they are doing it for the publicity it brings them to gain customers for regular readings.  that is, if you’ re the psychic whom Michael Jackson has blessed with communication from the dead, then you must have special powers indeed.

Look at the Google and this person’s Youtube stuff. Do you think that saying you channel Michael Jackson might increase your chances of selling a reading to someone who misses the poor guy? You betcha folks. That’s showbiz.  I’m tempted to call myself.  Maybe it goes something like this…

MEDIUM: Yes, I see you have a new love interest coming into you life in mid April. Your spirit guide is named Phyllis and I see travel for you during the summer months. Watch out for rocks in your shoes and you also have to watch out for Venus when in goes into retrograde… gaining weight may become an issue. Anything else I can help you with?

SITTER: Hmmmmm. That’s okay I guess. But what I really wanted to do was ask Michael Jackson a question through you like it said on Google and at your site. Can I please talk to him. I miss him so…. Please?

MEDIUM: Er, …ahhhh yes. Well …I can’t really do that right now… You see I don’t take money for seances with Michael…

SITTER: Really? I read all about you doing seance for him right after he died and everything…

MEDIUM: Er, …uh…well I, ….eh.

SITTER: Does this mean I’m going to have to sit here and spend the next twenty seven minutes just listening to stuff about me? If so, I want my money back!

And what about the Jackson family? Don’t they have anything to say about this travesty? Hey Jermaine! Yo La Toya, Tito, Marlon and the rest of the First Family of Soul! Is this the kind of publicity you want for your dead brother? Can you allow someone like this to even pretend to disturb his resting in peace with such sideshow antics? And speaking of soul, what do you think Michael himself would make of all this?

What’s the impact of this entrepreneurial excess? Huge. As we get deeper into economic chaos, we can expect more and more of this type of insane exploitation. There’s no watchdog for this mess, no rules and no regulation whatsoever. In the worst cases, when faith and religion gets invoked, we lose even the tiniest chance to suggest critical thinking. These reprobates take every advantage of the faithful. I can only hope that because of blog interventions like this one, when net surfers look at so-called “paranormal research” sites and see adverts fo Eddie Munster dolls and “Buy/Sell Haunted Houses” listings, a few rational thinking minds might pause and consider that purveyors of this kind of garbage are nothing but snake oil salesmen (or saleswomen). In our present condition as a free-falling society, snake oil might be a viable option since there is so much of it is around. How much is snake oil per barrel anyway?

This new breed of low-brow marketing and yard sale mentality only makes the possibility of any serious discussion or scientific research into things supposedly paranormal less and less credible or approachable. I will make the debatable assumption that the regular readers of this blog have some basic common sense. Millions of other people don’t have a clue.

Let me make a few other things clear: Anyone can say they talk to spirits and dead people. Whether you sit at a computer and type it out, talk it on the telephone or sit at a seance table, it’s easy to talk the talk. I did it myself for 14 years at Hollywood’s Magic Castle. The difference is; I did what I did for entertainment purpose only and it has always been clearly labeled as such in my publicity and on my website. When I’m invited into the homes of clients to provide that entertainment, join in the party atmosphere and pretend to bring back the spirits of dead celebs like Hendrix, Elvis, Bela Lugosi or whoever, it is clearly understood by the hosts that we are out to have a good time. There is never any intention to convince anyone that I’m doing anything other than a dramatic send up of the traditional Victorian seance. If I have added in the words “Who knows?” in regard to whether or not something “real” might happen at one of these performances, that’s part of the mystery I’m selling. Magicians and mentalists have been doing this for centuries. Look at any of the advertising posters for Keller, Houdini or Thurston from earlier decades. There are cartoon demons and ghosts crawling all over them, sitting on there shoulders and whispering in their ears.  I have an agent, not a spirit guide! In my performances, as far as I can control there is never an expectation of actual spirit contact or blessed relief from bereavement. If some people in the seance circle are more susceptible to seeing things in the dark or have overactive imaginations, I cannot control that anymore than a movie theater owner can take responsibility for a viewer having a nightmare after watching an effective horror film. Creating suspense, tension and release of that tension through pacing and theatrics is what I do. I have never taken money to do a seance for a grieving family. That’s not fun. In my many years of experience in the field seeing the damage that can occur by messing with epole’s hearts and minds in that way is only one thing: wrong.

If you set yourself up as a real spirit medium and say you are doing these things for real, regardless of whether or not you take one dime for what you say you do, you are eventually going to come up against forces that will question what you do, ask for proof and yes, likely be hostile to you. It’s a nasty business. If you are consciously defrauding the public with unsubstantiated claims, you put yourself squarely in the cross-hairs of the people of honor. In the absence of said authorities who refuse to recognize their duties,  there will be people like myself  to out your nefarious activities. If you are feeling abused, defamed or rejected after all this is said and done, there’s really only one way to put this whole situation truly to rest :

PROVE IT.

“Bonnie knew from birth that she was “different”. As a child she would stare into candle flame to attain an alpha state.  The first messages came as drawings.  Since she had no natural ability for drawing, she knew this was coming from another source.  Being a very practical person, she finally requested that the messages be in word form.  Trying to guess what the pictures meant was too tedious.  Later Bonnie discovered this method is called “automatic writing”.  Soon the words came into her head before the writing was done. She then knew she no longer needed the writing, and had progressed to a new level as a full-fledged clairvoyant/clairaudient.   Today she uses a laptop and Microsoft Word to document her channeled messages. Don’t tell Bill Gates.  This may not be a feature he intended.”

What a load of baloney. It’s getting to be that anyone who says they are “different” really isn’t that much different after all huh? Everybody is doing this shtick. What’s so different about it?  Even kids are all the rage if you are keeping up with Chip Coffey and his bunch of Psychic Kids. There’s no end to it. I used to stare at Superman episodes on the television when I was a kid and self hypnotize myself too. Big deal. I suppose that in our dumbed down culture staring at anything that might lead to any form of concentration has now become a novelty. If you think, you can now call yourself ”different.”

I felt really bad for poor Bonnie when I read that, “trying to guess what the pictures meant was too tedious.” Boo Hoo.  I’m sure Bill Gates would be happy to know he has helped psychically speed things along in his own way. It gets worse:

“In 2003 Bonnie appeared in 2 episodes of Macabre Theatre with Butch Patrick.  The subjects were the Villa Montezuma and the Queen Mary.  She was on the Fall Pilot of Macabre Theatre on October 31, 2003 with additional film of the Villa Montezuma.”

Butch Patrick: Your New Paranormal Expert

So step right up Ladies and Gentlemen: Bonnie V’s got your best interests in mind. She’s moving with real movers and shakers in the celebrity world; hanging out and doing fancy film work with ButchPatrick. You remember Butch don’t you? He knows all about the paranormal and has years of spookiness to back him up. He was Eddie Munster on The Munsters. Who better to consult with? ..And Villa Montezuma? Sounds like a really bad Mexican restaurant. We all know about the Queen Mary by now, don’t we? How long can these people continue to dredge up this crap?

The only thing I found mildly interesting about this latest flavor of the month witch-for-hire was the alluring pop-up ads that appear below her “Official Home of Medium Bonnie Vent” banner:  “Air Duct Cleaning,” “Clean Your Dryer Vent,” and “Dryer Vent Clean.” At first I thought this was some new up-beat “Chakra Cleaning” service. No, it’s just commercial adverts she has to post. I’m sure those will be coming down off her site in the coming weeks as her bank account swells.

Chakra Cleaners at work

Discerning viewers can also look forward to:

“As of June 2005 Bonnie Vent has agreed to join a group in Houston TX known as the Phenomena Police.  These are active duty Houston Police Officers providing paranormal investigation services.  A new show has developed from this group.  The television show will also be called the Phenomena Police and Bonnie Vent will be their paranormal expert specializing in spirit communication..  ”

Oh good. Houston must be brimming with excitement over that… Oh wait. That was back in 2005. I wonder what happened to that show? Call the Phenomena Police!

Help!

Once agian: You can’t write comedy any funnier than this.

And yet this woman continues with her mediumship shenanigans. Is there any justice in the world? Truth be told, I suppose that if I had to choose a particular group to have to endure the barrage of phony mediums and everything else that comes with them, Michael Jackson fans would be on my list along with Scientologists, Pat Robertson and Dick Chaney. I hate to say it, but some people who live in world of willful ignorance and contemptible evil may just deserve people like Bonnie. Maybe we are in the midst of some form of spiritual Darwinism where only the mentally fittest will eventually survive. We seem lost in a world of woo. I will keep this post short. FORCE ONE has much work to do.

Brian Dunning, if by chance you are reading this post. I suggest you change the title of “The Skeptologists.” The new title should be

“ENOUGH IS ENOUGH”

You might be able to attract somebody using that strategy.

]]> http://skepticblog.org/2010/01/21/venting-on-bonnie/feed/ 153 http://skepticblog.org/2010/01/15/a-little-bit-of-knowledge/ http://skepticblog.org/2010/01/15/a-little-bit-of-knowledge/#comments Fri, 15 Jan 2010 18:48:51 +0000 Mark Edward http://skepticblog.org/?p=6009 A person who I will call for purposes of anonymity “one of my students” sent me an interesting email the other day. She was upset. Apparently after I had shown her a few of the basic lines in the palm and how to “cold read” those lines to fit any person, she was suffering a strange sort of skeptical guilt:

“I’m not sure if I have gotten in over my head or not.  I’m not sure even how it happened.  I was talking with several people there and we all started talking, we were talking about Facebook Friends and somehow I said, ‘well I could find that out if I could read your palm’  And a friend stuck his hand out.  I haven’t ever done a palm reading but I’ve wondered if I could bluff it.  But I was awesome, at least in their eyes.  I just gave him a reading based on the things I already knew about him, and just general things that are common to most people like “you would love to travel more but just can’t seem the time to go” and I also told him things that I had heard as gossip about him.  He agreed to everything and was totally amazed.  I had told him that some of the things I was seeing are kinda personal and maybe I shouldn’t say them, he said, “no, tell me, I don’t care”

Other people who I knew were shocked too, and they stood farther away after I kept getting hits.  They startde daring each other to get a reading from me reading, but some were having none of that.  The went back and forth and I said I don’t want to read the palm of anyone that isn’t comfortable with that.  One person kept saying that I would discover too much about him.

So then I started to realize that maybe I shouldn’t have done this,  I didn’t want to tell anyone that it was all crap, that I was reading him, repeating gossip and just stating general things.  It would make him look stupid for believing it, and me look like a liar.  Then it got worse, the guy I was reading just opened up to me and starting telling me all about his relationships.  He has never been a private person, I know he tells his girlfriend everything.  But we didn’t have that kind of a friendship, mainly we would just talk about small talk and I liked it that way.

So now I am not sure what to do..  I suppose I will just not say anything unless someone presses it.  I will tell anyone that asks that I don’t think it is a good idea for me to do anymore readings of people as I might say the wrong thing.  People like their privacy and I shouldn’t be prying into that kind of thing.

If anyone seriously asks me, or if they make a big deal out of it, I guess I will just have to say something about how palm reading is just reading things about a person, if you know them it is easier.  Gosh Mark, this was so easy to do, he just filled in all the details as I said stuff which just led on to more things.  I could have “read” him for an hour and not repeated myself.  It was very odd.

Now I’m kinda mad at myself.  But it is done and I need your advise on how to handle this as I don’t like the idea of letting people believe that I can read palms.  I can read people and so can most people, maybe that is what I can say.  Maybe I can give an example as a way it is done..

I could say, ‘Lets see if you can do this also.’ I can point to someone in the place and say, ‘tell me what you see about that person’ then I can help them make general statements about them, ‘they love to eat’ or ‘they love the outdoors’ just by looking at them and explain how we make those general statements. I think that is how I’m going to handle it if it is brought up…”

So we can certainly say in this case, a little knowledge proved to be somewhat dangerous can’t we? Perhaps just this sort of playful repartee is how a person like Sylvia Browne or James VanPraagh first fell into? Getting the credit and adulation of appearing psychic can quickly turn even the most high-minded skeptic down a dark path. What starts out as a fun little lark can transform any social situation into a nightmare. It’s a fine line to cross. When we are with friends, we do indeed know a lot about them, but we wouldn’t necessarily divulge what we really “deep down” think about them would we? People like Sylvia Browne who have learned how to get a hook into their prey and hold on for dear life do this all the time without the slightest twinge of remorse.

When you offer anyone a reading no matter what you use, you are setting yourself up for an experience that at its best can be entertaining. Other times – not so much. For a person who is skeptical, reticent or incapable of playing that role, it can be an uncomfortable ordeal. It takes getting used to. Even in jest, if you get hits (and you will) you can’t tell them it was all bullcrap – because much of what we would naturally see in a friend or relative is true! What is a skeptic to do?

Well, as they say; if you can’t handle the heat, stay out of the kitchen. This guru-psychic-medium stuff is best left to the …ahem, …professionals. Professional con artists don’t have a hard time at all. In fact they love it when you fill in all the blanks with as much information as you can possibly give them. How you re-package and sell it back to them in a cunning way is waht seprates the pros from the dabblers.

The real question that raises it ugly head is when this happens, (at least in their minds) …is it at all psychic? Of course not. You and I knowm it isn’t, but Joe Average doesn’t have a clue. If you happen to get stuck in this bind, just BE HONEST. It’s that simple. That’s what I did for over ten years when I was on a 900 line and that’s still how I handle my “psychicness” if it becomes a problem.

For example: Tell them about the time they told you about their dog Megs that they also conveniently forgot they told you about. Let them know that facial expressions can sometimes literally allow you to “read their mind.” Tell them about body language, NLP and that generalities fit everyone and the more privileged information you might have “fed back” to them was nothing any aware person who can read which way the wind blows might have offered. They may fight and struggle to accept what you may need to say, but if you stay on point it will eventually sink in. That pretty much takes the wind out of that sail quite quickly. Two problems will likely present themselves:

1) Are you willing to make this type of “breakthrough” for the person …or are you beginning to see the benefits of this power tripping? Hmmmmmmm.

2) The second  problem any honest person who gets caught up in this kind of situation usually faces is this: Even though you get down on your hands and knees and beg for most people to accept these facts as the honest truth that was accessed through purely normal means, many people will still ascribe some connection with something psychic to you!

They may tell their friends, “Well, …I know she knew about my dog Megs, but when she said I was going to do something creative like with art! How could she have known that just yesterday I dragged that paint by numbers set out of the garage! It’s just unreal!”

So really, you can’t win.

Now on the other hand, if you want to make lots of money in your spare time…

BOTTOM LINE:Try if you must to see for yourself how easy it is to be a psychic, it can be most illuminating. But beware of the traps that will open up beneath your feet if you dare to become too accurate – even if that happens by mistake. If you choose to let slepping dogs lie and carry on like a Sylvia wannabe, eventually you will have a terrible burden to shoulder if you have even the smallest bit of a conscience. Trust me, I know. I have been there and back and I still have qualms even when I’m dressed as an obvious gypsy parody working a sideshow venue. Yo Chip, Sylvia and VanPraagh: How are you sleeping these days? Are those big lumps of cash in your pillow cases keeping you awake at night? This racket is always new to somebody and a sucker IS born every minute. Unless you are a legit counselor (and there’s plenty of sickos in that business too…) it’s probably best not to “dabble” with being a psychic.

Leave to us pros…

Tyrone Power: Inspiration for a Fall

By now whatever has hit that fan will have hit. It doesn’t matter to me whether or not you agree with what I did. The main thing to bear it mind was that I did SOMETHING.Those who may complain about the details, the ethics of fighting fire with fire or whether or not we have to take some sort of higher moral ground need to step aside and let FORCE ONEdo what it has to do.  Every day that goes by with the likes of  Browne, Coffey and whoever pitches the woo in your neighborhood is a day that denies bereaved people their right to have peace with their departed loved ones, sick or diseased people proper access to competent medical care and the personal freedoms to be able to decide for themselves what and how their own futures will play out.

Don’t get me wrong. I have little confidence that the rubes who lined up alongside me that night will ever care a whit about truth or what a person like Sylvia can do. They don’t care, take joy in dwelling on the misfortunes of others or are blissfully and willingly ignorant. I have pity on them all, but the head of the snake must be removed to have any lasting effect.

It was never my sole intention to try to save any of them from what they crave anymore than how I might vainly attempt to dissuade a drug addict or a alcoholic from destroying their life. I would like to make difference for them , but I’m not stupid enough to think standing up and calling Sylvia out as a fraud in the crowd that night would have made any difference at all. In fact, it’s my opinion that I would have been booed and abruptly removed like any of the countless other people who have tried in vain to call her out on her treachery in public. People make choices and they have to live with them.

No, I was going for something more dramatic and hopefully more effective. It was SYLVIA HERSELF whose bow I meant to send a warning shot across. She now knows that there will be people like myself standing in line with the other sheep no matter where she goes. If there is any doubt left in her mind that she is not safe to tread the boards unchallenged, last Tuesday night at the Universal Amphitheatre should have given her pause to consider. Hopefully, FORCE ONE has lighted a fuse in the hearts and minds of many other outraged citizens (skeptical or not) who previously might have thought they were helpless in the face of these monsters. The first prong of my two-pronged pitchfork was to get in her face.

I have always admired Tyrone Power’s supreme moment in “Nightmare Alley”(1948) when as mentalist The Great Stanton, he gets the entire audience in the palm of his hand by blurting out a rambling bunch of pre-planned “visions,” then crumples into an unconscious pile on the stage. I have tried this ruse a few times in seance situations and always found it a show stopper. When I have had the nerve to apply this technique, I will lie perfectly still until someone wonders aloud if I’m okay or attempts to rouse me by shaking me back into consciousness. This is albeit a shaky premise for the standard crowd, but in this instance at Universal; this was anything but a standard crowd and as any good skeptic knows, extraordinary claims require, …well you know, …extraordinary bullshit.

In the few minutes I had to cobble together my plan that night, I had to make a choice of my own: stay in the comfort zone and go home that night unfulfilled or go over the top and face the consequences. I chose the latter.

Tyrone Power Delivering One of the Greatest Cold Readings in History "Nightmare Alley" (1948)

Most of the audience had been given red tickets as they entered which were to be used as a raffle. If your number was called, you were invited to come down to the stage and get in line for a reading. Since I arrived quite early on, I had not been given a number, but I figured… who would check the numbers anyway? If I just got up and came down to the stage, nobody was likely to look at my ticket. I was fully prepared to go up anyway.

As it turned out, three other people from a local skeptic group had been given tickets. When I told them during intermission what steps I had already taken and that I really wanted to shake up the audience, each kindly proffered their ticket. 

But wouldn’t you know it, …the last number Montel called out was indeed my number! Providence? Hmmmmmm. Maybe it was my spirit guide or something. I might not have been able to summon the courage I needed to get up if it hadn’t been a genuine  number, but when I looked down at the ticket in my hand, there it was. I knew I had to act. My number was up.

On the way down to the stage area and while I listened to the other questions, I determined that I would go into a trance of my own, playing on Sylvia’s own psychic shtick, acting as if the voices of the dead people I had memorized from my list were speaking through me to her. I wanted to tell her they were angry that she had put their parents and relatives through such pain. It worked beautifully, but by the time I had uttered the second name, Montel(who has obviously been hired to “moderate” Sylvia’s answers, prime her and keep her on track) began to interrupt as both of them quickly figured out what was going on. It would have been difficult to continue any other way and make any sort of dignified escape from the spotlight at that point.

Tyrone Power Getting Ready to Collapse in "Nightmare Alley" (1948)

So, staying in character; I pulled a “Tyrone” and slumped to the floor, making sure to take the microphone and stand with me for good measure. I stayed inert with eyes closed on the floor for several seconds waiting to hear what would happen. I was shocked when I heard no further comment from Sylvia about me or my condition and that she quickly went right on with the next person in line. That alone should have told any compassionate human beings who happened to be in the audience what an uncaring individual she is. I might have been dead for all she cared. Truth is, – she probably hoped by then that I was dead.

Soon I could hear one of her handlers tell the usher to call 911. I quickly surmised this ballgame would be a big mistake for me to continue. I wasn’t about to incur any ambulance bills, carry on my act to the hospital or fake anything any longer. I told the assembled throng that I was okay and shambled up the stairs accompanied by two Amphitheatre guards.

I was escorted to a back stage area, where the in-house first aid person showed up to check me out. She was a nice helpful young lady in her twenties who skillfully took my pulse and blood pressure. Both turned out to be normal. She was as puzzled as everybody else. I tried to tell her that I might have just lapsed into a light trance or not eaten enough that night, but when she began to take out triplicate paperwork that looked official, I knew the game was up. The guards had gone back to watching the show, so I spilled the beans to her. I told her I was a psychic investigator who was investigating the claims of Sylvia Browne and trying to get her to look like the fraud she is in front of the audience. She lightened up and was very interested in a non-official capacity. And now here’s the kicker as far as she was concerned:

After telling her in no uncertain terms that I was a skeptic and out to nail this phony medium, she asked me for a reading! Unbelievable! She actually said to me, “Will my husband get a good job soon.?  For me, this was one of the most surreal parts of the whole evening. This was a staff EMT person! She was trained in science and facts, yet she still thought I could give her some sort of advice even after I told her I was an outright fraud.

We are in deep trouble folks. If this sort of situation isn’t ripe for reality television, I don’t know what is.

You can’t write comedy like this.

For those wondering what the second prong of my two pronged attack was, it was my own way of trying to generate some curiosity in the same names I blurted out to the audience that night. I trusted (perhaps naively) that many people would want to know who exactly I was talking about. This part of the deal make take years to really make a difference, but it was worth a shot.

Before leaving for the show that night, I typed up four sqaures on a sheet of 8×11 copy paper with these names in bold 30pt. type:

Opal Jo Jennings

Terrence Farrell

Saga Mine

Holly Krewson

Lynda McClelland

No explanations were given, just those key words and names in bold black print. I then copied around 60 copies of this page, then cut them into quarters, giving me 240 tight little notes I could comfortably fit in my coat pocket.

I got to the Universal Amphitheatre early. In fact I was one of the first people there. Right away I went into the men’s restroom. Once I was sure I was alone and not seen, I took out my bundle from my pocket and put small piles of these “announcements” on every flat sink, urinal and toilet surface I could find. In a venue like the Universal Amphitheatre, this is considerable. The restrooms are large lounge areas that service dozens of people. After finishing my distribution of these mini-flyers, I went into the main room and waited for the place to fill up. The room only partially filled, leaving huge gaps of seating. I would say it was about a third full, and even this space was curtained off from the room’s full potential. As we got closer to showtime, I went back in to see if anyone had “cleaned-up” my little diversion. Everything was still there as I had left it.

Right after it was announced that there would be a fifteen minute intermission (to allow Sylvia’s son to do readings and her husband to sell cheap jewelry in the lobby) I went back to check on the restroom. It was still basically untouched. 

After everyone came back into the room, it was assured tha a goodly proportion of the male crowd had either seen these “prompts” or had them in their possession. I could have printed www.stopsylvia.com on them too, but decided that to do so would only be something easy for the believers to ignore or throw away in their righteous indignation.

With just the names, my hope was to engender curiosity. Or if the people reading them already knew what these key words represented, spur them on to anger or some display of dissension. Granted, it was only males I was allowed time enough to cover, but my feeling was that most of the women were died -in-wool- shut eyes (believers) and that men or husbands who may have been dragged to the show by their wives would be  more likely to share my angst.

At the end of the show as I was walking through the lobby, a guy came up and showed me one of the yellow notes and asked, “…What’s this all about?” I shrugged and replied that I didn’t know but that it was weird that those were the same names I kept hearing in my head. I suggested that he go home and Google them and see what comes up.  He then asked me to sign his paper. I scrawled my name and turned away, but not before he asked to shake my hand. Apparently, at least one person was already on my team. I’m still not sure what he thought. After all, I’m not a mindreader…

I can only hope several hundred other people might stop and think about what they heard. This is what I do. This is what YOU should be doing if you have the will to make a difference. Think up your own stratedgies, It needn’t be quite as confrontive or dramatic. But DO SOMETHING!

In a strange up-date to my previous post: As I mentioned earlier, one of Sylvia’s lines that was memorable to me was telling someone that “coins” would be a sign that their spirit guide was trying to reach them. Most of us find a coin or two in the street once in awhile and we don’t attach any particular significance to it. It just happens. I never thought much of it but to remind myself when this occurs that, “…a penny saved is a penny earned.”  Today when I came to work, I found a pile of pennies placed next to the bottom of a light pole outside. Of course, searching for deep meaning in this after my experience, I was momentarily struck by the oddness of this event. Here was a pile of coins – not just one or two. Was it a sign? I counted them out and there are 52 pennies. Could this be the Saga miners or some of the other dead entities trying to tell me they are with me? Weaker minds might think so.

AND THIS JUST IN:Through sources I am not at liberty to divulge, Sylvia’s own spirit guide Francine has contacted me in a dream (as well as posting as JREF’s Swift blog and here at skepticblog in the comments section) letting me know that afte  Sylvia’s December 29th performance, she is no longer interested in being involved in any capacity with Sylvia Browne. She has handed in her resignation vision to Sylvia after having reached her limit with Browne’s trashy behavior and has now offered to become my own spirit guide to help me in my FORCE ONE endeavors. Stay tuned for more thrills…

JREF Swiftblog and Sylvia Gets Punked Video at: http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/swift-blog/825-sylvia-browne-one-cool-cucumber.html

“And the crowd was stilled. One elderly man, wondering at the sudden silence, turned to the Child and asked him to repeat what he had said. Wide-eyed, the Child raised his voice and said once again, “Why the Emperor has no clothes. He’s naked!”

                                                                                    - The Emperor’s New Clothes

Keep Em’ Freaked…

 

French One-Sheet Poster for “Nightmare Alley” – Mandatory Viewing for any skeptical thinker! Available at Amazon.com

Force One

Our Modern Oracle in situ

Forget that this is a person who employs a rough street talking variety of cheap spirituality. She’s the closest thing we have in our age to compare with the Witch of Endor. This is a brash, classless and very unhappy person. I was more than appalled by her complete lack of courtesy and simple good manners. Her attitude and demeanor came off as a tired old woman with nowhere else to go carrying a huge load of her own personal baggage. She might as well have been doing Howard Stern fart jokes.

Arriving early, I did a sweep of the crowd to get a feel for the demographic. Not surprisingly; these were your garden variety Jerry Springer low-brow thrill seekers with a smattering of up-scale 30-40’s single women with their girlfriends in tow. Trailer trash? Yessirree. You betcha. To see people like this prostrate themselves before the throne of such a base individual defies imagination. But I wasn’t surprised aftre glancing over the popcorn stands and cheap silver jewelry Sylvia’s husband of five months was hawking in the lobby. I’m afraid this all points out the dire situation we face as human beings in need of leadership and real answers. People seem to be approaching serious life issues as if they are going to a side-show. If this is the best we can do for guidence, we are in worse trouble than I thought.

The Venerable Witch of Endor

Here is the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BradlE-Uloc

Part 2 of this blog will give the real dirt and what I think anyone with a conscience should be doing to fight back against these criminals. I advise people to TAKE ACTION.

To whet your appetiete for now, here’s some of the gems that I remember: Many people asked who their spirit guides were. Sylvia dashed off names without a moments hesitation; literally off the top of her head with such abandon, you would have thought she was bored with the whole thing. I think she is. Unfortunately, her all-consuming greed that has kept her wealthy won’t allow her to stop. Names like Veronique and Michael stick in my mind. Anyone could do this and if it was me, I would have taken my sweet time. She doesn’t care. She doesn’t use any cold reading methods. Like her peers Van Praagh and John Edward, she doen’t have to. She can get away with simply making bold statements as if they are facts.Welcome to the lazy form of doing psychic readings. Just say whatever comes into your head. No mentalism methods are needed.

. When met with a reply from a questioner such as, “Oh really…?” Sylvia would bark, “I’m the psychic here!”  or “You came to see a psychic didn’t you?” with the same rough intonation. Many times she would give an answer before the question was even half-finished coming out of the mouth of the questioner, such as:

QUESTIONER: “In terms of my new career, will I ….”

SYLVIA: “You are going to be very happy with your job. …Next!”

This went on for nearly a hour. It was like being in a delicatessen line, when your number was called, you trotted by the microphone and were given your sausage-style reading in one short utterance, usually in one or two syllable responses. Some of these were just pathetically rude and had the air of obnoxiousness that I would have previously thought to be inappropriate . Being insulted is hardly worth paying a dime for:

QUESTIONER:  “Will I ever have a child?”

SYLVIA: “No.”

and;

QUESTIONER: Is my boyfriend (who happened to be sitting right next to the young lady) right for me?”

SYLVIA: “No. You can do better…”

When it came to medical questions, Sylvia takes the cake.  She rattled off off-hand pop-wisdom as if it was second nature to the crowd in her rasping croak of what’s left of her emphysema-ravaged voice and punctuated her dialogue with scatological phrases. Not very lady-like:

QUESTIONER: “Will they be able to cut away all the cancer?”

SYLVIA: “Yes,  (this bark delivered in the rapid-fire style that characterized her entire deameanor; dismissive and abrupt)

and,

QUESTIONER: (weeping uncontrollably) “My brother and his best friend both died in a car accident… and I …..”

SYLVIA: “Yeah I know. I’m seeing something about his head. Was his head crushed or something?”

QUESTIONER: (Whose voice had by then become a yelping bray) “No! He was burned alive, …so I don’t know!”

SYLVIA: “Well, I’m seeing a crushed head …or something. Anyway, it was quick, …that’s all.”

        What a cold bitch.

. When people asked, “What kind of signs do my spirit guides give me when he/she is near?”

           “When your lights go on and off, that’s him/her.”

           “Coins.” (I assume she means when you find a penny on the street of something…)

and an old standard:

          ‘When your phone rings and there’s no one there… that’s him/her.”

These sort of shenanigans went on all night after Montell’s 30 minute diatribe about himself and all his accomplishments. One of the most amazing things about this monologue was his proud insistence (after giving the crowd some warm-up feel good induction techniques familiar to hypnotists and motivational speakers) that everyone should follow his example of eschewing anyone’s attempts to “define your personality or tell you what or what not you can be.”  Brilliant. Within five minutes of making this statement,  Montell proudly introduced, “…The only psychic I will go to… Sylvia Browne!” Who then proceeded to spend the next hour and a half telling people what their personalities are and precisely what they need to do (and not do) in their future to become happy and successful!  What hypocrisy.

Do you think there was a critical thinking mind in all those hundreds of seekers who managed to put two and two together and see this incredible contradiction? I hope so, but probably not. These were overwhelmingly Sylvia worshippers and there was nary a skeptic in the crowd.  Simple logic completely escapes these yokels.  They are totally focused on Sylvia’s folksy attitude. She is so blunt and crude, people figure she must be real. Nobody could be that callous unless they were for real, right?

Her predictions bordered on lunacy and were either boringly faciule or totally uninteresting, here’s few I remember hearing:

. Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt will break up. And Jennifer Anniston won’t take him back, to which Sylvia added sagely,  “Why should she?” This is certainly the sort of earth shattering news anyone would be happy to plunk down $35.00 to hear huh? She’s also seriously worried about Elizabeth  Taylor and says she’s lonely. Boo Hoo.

In one of the more revealing Hollywood star tales told, she spoke about a very famous personality who, “We would know from the stage and screen” who calls her all the time. She went on to say that when she gets a call from this person, she takes the phone off her ear and sets it down on the table, then comes back fifteen minutes later and says, “…Is that so?” She then sets the receiver back down on the table, vacuums her carpet and comes back in like fashion over and over until the call is finished. Now here’s the kicker: After a week or two passes, Sylvia gets a phone call back from this person telling her how absolutely accurate she was! Does that tell us a little more about how she works and what she thinks about her clients who are paying upwards of $700.00 for a reading?

She croaks out these stories about people close to her (including family members) with an air of detached condescension or as if they are a bother to her. It reminded me of early Phillis Diller routines, only without Fang and good punch lines. If Sylvia ever wanted to, she could make the leap from psychic to stand-up comedienne with only a little re-tooling and a decent writer.

I won’t go so far as to predict that just yet…

. Cures will be found for cancer and diabetes. Really? When?

. There will be no terrorist attcaks against the United States in 2010. I’m sure the CIA, Interpol and the Mossad would love to hear about how and where she gets her info on that from. Where’s Bin Laden anyway Sylvia? You did so well with all those murdered dead bodies, right? He should be an easy find. Why not help the WHOLE WORLD Sylvia?

Nope. She’s just like Rosemary Altea when I interviewed her. Like Dear Rosemary, Sylvia prefers to work ; “one on one” where she can really be of service. I’m sure most of these “one-on’one” clients were given preferred seating in the first three rows of the performance.

So all in all we are looking at a woman who has reached the top of the dung-heap that is psychic-stardom by merely telling people who are abused, neglected, bereaved and desperate just how stupid they are – and from her easy-chair on the stage, rubbed everybody’s nose in it. And they ate it up. There was no compassion or great cosmic empathy on display as with many of the other bright lights of the psychic world. Just a brusque bitchy old woman talking down to the masses. I would rather listen to Roseanne Barr. At least she’s funny. I couldn’t help but wonder what the Oracle of Delphi must have been like. 

There is much, much more to this story and I will be picking it up next week with the nitty-gritty and details about how I stuck it to Sylvia. I can tell you now that my attack was two-pronged: One was to set the crowd wondering and the second and most important aspect was to let Sylvia herself know (without messing with the belief systems of the crowd and setting them against skepticism – which would have been pointless and self-defeating) in no uncertain terms; that if she plans to continue her career (which she shows every intention of doing) there will be people like myself lying in wait to embarrass her. Big Time.

You have to fight fire with fire. Anything less is just talk.

Please forward the video with your own comments to anyone in the media.

BOTTOM LINE:  How could Sylvia Browne give such profound advice to me about my hearing the spirit voices of the dead children she herself was wrong about? Opal Jo Jennings, Terence Farrell , Holly Kershon and Linda Macallum are DEAD. How come she didn’t know right off that I was a fraud? Seems simple to me . She’s a liar – and now we have the proof.

More Soon.

.

Black Peter: The Anti-Claus

Just a quick wish for happiness from me to all of you. Is a skeptic allowed to dare make such a thing as a wish? Can happiness be a possibility in a world where there is such an overwhelming mess to be skeptical about? How can any of us sleep at night when huge masses of people say they talk to dead people or have x-ray vision? It’s almost unbearable. If you are like me, we have no other choice. The sand has no place for our kind to bury our heads. 

I don’t have a lot to say this week. It’s been over a year now since I started writing at this blog. It was October, 2008 when I began to put my thoughts down here. In some ways many things have happened and in other ways - many things have not happened. The Skeptologists which launched this project is still searching for the right foothold among the wilderness that is television. I still hold out hope.

When I see with my own eyes all the claims and counter-claims, all the cons and dodges and totality of what we have to face as incoming bullcrap from the world of woo, it seems like a never-ending uphill battle. Can a skeptic have such a thing as faith?

I don’t know what else to call it. Is is perseverance? Is it folly? Is it just a blind feeling that things will get better? The slope keeps getting more slippery with no light at the end of the tunnel. Find your own light in 2010 and let it shine brightly.

So while you are toasting in the New Year and sitting in front of a roaring fire with friends or family, please take a moment to stop, take a deep cleansing breath and be of good cheer.

We are growing. 
There is hope, whatever that may mean  to each of you.

Peace,

Mark Edward

Defense analyst Pavel Felgenhauersaidthe images seen over Norway were consistent with a missile failure. “Such lights and clouds appear from time to time when a missile fails in the upper layers of the atmosphere and have been reported before,” he said. “At least this failed test made some nice fireworks for the Norwegians.”

The Time Tunnel, remember?

I’m a bit surprised that the international UFO community hasn’t gone through the roof on this one. Although UFO’sare not my speciality, one would think magical conspiracy theories would be sprouting up like weeds after such a magnificent display of astral pyrotechnics. So far, all I could dredge up were that some Russian with his finger on The Button sent up a missile and it had to be aborted and the Russian/missile connection. Then the woo started gathering momentum: Enter PROJECT HESSDALEN:

According to Norway’s  ”scientists” (my quotes here), it is now clear that the phenomena is not UFO-related, but are luminous balls containing some form of energy.

“Norwegian scientists now believe they are nearing a solution to the Hessdalen UFO-mystery which has puzzled experts for more than 25 years. The so-called Hessdalen lights have been seen ever since the 1940’s and have since 1984 been monitored by volunteers. Hessdalen is a small valley in the central part of Norway. At the end of 1981 through 1984, residents of the Valley became concerned and alarmed about strange, unexplained lights that appeared at many locations throughout the Valley. Hundreds of lights were observed. At the peak of activity there were about 20 reports a week. Project Hessdalen was established in the summer of 1983. A field investigation was carried out between 21st of January and 26th of February 1984. Fifty-three light observations were made during the field investigation.”

Hessdalen Lights

Here’s some quotes from their site:

We know the light phenomena produces considerable luminous energy. Can a study of the Hessdalenphenomenon lead us to a new clean energy source?

Today’s mystery may be tomorrows technology.

Hessdalenphenomenon? Uh huh. Well, maybe that’s so. But I remain skeptical. My cynical guess is that the tiny valley of Hessdalen needs some serious tourist trade. I’m sure they will be getting some real soon. Their website: www.hessdalen.org  boasts quite an array of wild theories. Unfortunately none are scientifically validated by anyone yet. They are begging for scientists to help them understand this “phenomena.” Their “Guided Tour” page isn’t up yet. Expect to see it and more in the coming weeks.

This is prime territory for a conspiracy movement. If I had the time, money and manpower; I would be hard at work setting up the Mother of All Hoaxes – maybe I’m too late.

Ahhh well, better luck next time...

So much has already been written about this place, it would be superfluous for me to go over the complete history. Skeptic and psychic investigator Dr. Karen Stolznow has done a far better job chronicling this phenomena than I dare to venture. You can read her excellent work on it at www.bad-language.com/winchestermysteryhouse.

It is the medium in this story that fascinates me. After getting a reading from Coons, the frightened Sarah had builders working 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, for over 4 decades of construction. From the moment her “psychic advisor” told her that the spirits of those people and animals who had died at the hands of a Winchester rifle, ‘the gun that won the west’, were avenging their deaths by claiming the lives of her husband, child and father-in-law, she became obsessed. According to her seer Coons, the only way poor Sarah could appease the spirits was to build them a house. She was not really poor in a monetary sense; she had about a thousand a month to spend from her Winchester trust – a lot more in today’s money. Coons advised that his sitter move west where Sarah built and re-built this monstrosity continually, day and night. There are still huge barns full of unused pieces and architectural fragments (see bottom photo) and miles of unfinished hallways, many that lead nowhere or into blank walls. Coons told Sarah that as long as the house was being built, the spirits would not harm her. She started in 1884 and ended on the day of her death, 5th September 1922. In total, the mansion was remodelled over 600 times, at a cost of five and a half million dollars. Unreal. What a testament to credulity. I doubt today’s pond scum like John Edward or Sylvia Browne could ever boast such a successful “spiritual connection” as Mr. Coons & Co.  I’m sure he figured out a way to get a steady paycheck out of the deal too.

I have tried (so far in vain) to find out more about the venerable Mr. Adam Coons. Googling has only left me with a modicum of info on him and a few other people with the same name. One is listed as “Merrill Lynch Financial Advisor Personalized Wealth Mgmt Solutions.” Hmmmm. I wonder if he is related to the 1880’s Coons? I wouldn’t be surprised. Then there is another rock and roller with the same name, but not much info on the Boston medium who started this whole farce.

Skeptics: please let me know what you can find on him.

I have also heard that the responsible parties back in 1884 were a husband and wife “team.” If that is true, they were probably a ex-carnival mind reading racket that found a wealthy pigeon. This is “Nightmare Alley” on a grand scale and the stuff of Hollywood box-office gold – or at the very least this story begs for a television episode.  Perhaps even a skeptical program if such a thing ever sees the light of day? I’m visualizing Robert De Niro as Coons and Meryl Streep or Jodie Foster as Sarah. Imagine a sort of “There Will be Blood” with supernatural/psychological overtones. Stranger things have happened. Agents or other interested parties: you know where to find me.

My favorite room is the fabled “Seance Room”  – of course. I had expected an opulent velvet draped cloistered sanctum santorum  in the fashion of The Magic Castle’s Houdini Seance Room. I was sorely disappointed. The room was cramped and for my taste even more claustrophobic than the usual rooms I have seen used for such high-spirited antics. The tight space featured blocked window panes, supposedly because no one but Sarah was ever allowed inside the room. One wall had specially fitted window spaces with black wrought iron to keep prying eyes away. Another narrow window was used for Sarah to be able to spy on her maids below in the kitchen. She was apparently not only paranoid about the spirits, but also her help. Thirteen was her favorite number and every window or woodwork has 13 sections or parts. This house is triskaidekaphobia defined.

Superstition built this house. It was interesting to note that not only did Sarah Winchester spend her money on ghost protection, but she was also very ahead of her time with scientific “state-of-the-art” watering systems and other extravagant inventions and imporvements that would have been thought of as “high tech” back in her time. Apparently, she was no dummy in those areas. There’s no doubt that people like Sarah still exist. Eccentrics with money are an interesting demographic. Nowadays, there must be many equally as whacked out people and places, but my guess is that those who own anything near this kind of “attraction” probably keep it a closely guarded secret. Micheal Jackson’s “Wonderland” comes to mind, but even that folly can’t hold a candle to Winchester House. It is a place well worth a visit for anyone interested in the paranormal and how it can influence those who have little regard for reality. The tourist trade there is a brisk one. The gift shop has ever conceivable doo-dad and the whole well-groomed facade resembles a sort of Disneyland Main Street. At $26.oo per person with an average group of 12 people per tour, figuring roughly ten tours per day and two tours per hour, you’re looking at about $6,000 a day in clear profit. And they don’t even mention any ghosts. Why? They don’t have to. The story is weird enough without them.

Shown in the picture here is the magical “crescent shrub” that Sarah had planted below her bedroom window. It supposedly has serious magical powers. I stood next to it for quite some and nothing happened.

To their credit, the tour guides never make mention of any ghosts or and haunted tales besides the mention of medium Coons. They keep to the facts and there is few if any editorializing going on during the hour tour. This aspect of the presentation was one thing I definately appreciated. Back in the 90’s, I put together a seance package based on the Sarah Winchester story called “Ashes and Wood.” It was scripted as a mini-one-act in my first published book, “Restless Plots” and I had wanted to preview it as a show at the actual “haunted” house. The Winchester House didn’t go for it. Now in retrospect, I can see why they passed on that opportunity. The trustees are very protective of the house and Sarah’s legacy – as well they should be. Winchester House is Registered California Historical Landmark #868 and the city of San Jose has literally grown up around it. This is the one example I have seen where the dead and their life are respected and not completely exploited. The fever for “ghost tours” has yet to take hold at Winchester House and I’m hopeful it will remain that way.

In my seance production,  wanted to underscore the obsessive-compulsive nature that drives so many people to construct not only haunted houses of brick, stained glass and wood, but also the deeper haunted rooms within their minds. No money can buy a free ticket off the guilt ghost train. As long as there are phony mediums and psychics out there who can suggest such folly, we will likely continue to see such colossal wastes of time and energy being put on display. It’s fun in a way and of course the money you earn you are free to spend however you wish, but I can’t help but wonder that if Mr. Coons hadn’t taken that moment to spout off that one probably off-hand reading that left such an impression on Sarah Winchester, maybe the millions of dollars Sarah Winchester spent running from her own ghosts might have been better spent on cancer research, homeless shelters or psychiatric help for people just like her who suffer lifetimes of pain so needlessly.