A Fresh New Look

I’m not normally prone to mystical cats or too much Internet craziness, but since I’ll be off on the Skeptics of the Carribean cruise with Randi and lots of other fun loving folks next week, I thought I would leave you all with some silliness to ponder.

We all need some time off and after the last few weeks with all its slings and arrows, I need some serious rest and relaxtion. Too much investigation and no play makes Mark a dull boy. I’ll be back with a fresh new outlook – and plenty of stories to tell.

Please watch this video and remember that just like John Edward; with the right editor, even a cat can appear to have mediumsitic abilities.

Yes, kitty is a very BAD medium, but aren’t they all really?

Until Next Time,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bTbAsmPOKo

Meeeooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

The results are in: alcohol and telepathy don’t mix. At least they didn’t this past Saturday, when after over two years of negotiations with alleged telepath Regan Traynor, his test ended in a complete wash-out for him and his “receiver” Fernando.CFI hosted this much awaited preliminary test for their $50,000 challenge. The protocol was nearly as tight as the set-up was previously for Anita Ikonen. In fact, to the surprise of all in attendance at the earlier morning meeting of the IIG, Anita herself showed up and paid dues to become a member of the IIG! This was an amazing moment made even more amazing because I had just posted my blog about Karla McLaren and the plight of skepticism and how to reach out to the woo generation. It seems that Anita is experiencing a change of heart and is seriously considering becoming more of a skeptic. This may be sign of greater things to come, but as Steven Muscarella of the IIG group steering committee mentioned to her, she may have a long way to go before everyone embraces her with open arms. But that’s another story for another blog.

Regan showed up direct from a 14 hour bus ride from Washington state after cancelling a previously set date because he had been in jail. Nonetheless, preparations had been were made for him to be in one room while his receiver would sit in another room somewhere in the same building. His claim was that he could send the values of playing cards telepathically to his receiver. His only provision was that he would need to be able to see his receiver. It was never explained why this made any difference, but was written into the protocol as per Regan’s demands.

CFI did their usual totally professional job of setting up closed circuit television cameras, providing streaming video on UStream and making everybody comfortable with seating for an audience and refreshments.

Jim Underdown Trying to Explain Reality to Regan Traynor

We first heard that something might be going awry when it was noted by several IIG members that Regan and his buddy Fernando had been observed staggering across Vermont Avenue near CFI West passing a bottle of vodka between the two of them.  Hey, don’t get me wrong here: I certainly have had my martini days, but it struck all of us as odd to hear they were imbibing so early in the fray. My first impression was to think, well, …maybe alcohol might be somehow connected with their ability to send images from one mind to another – who was I to judge?  As long as they showed up, we would follow through with our end of the deal.

As it transpired, Regan and Fernando weren’t just tipsy, they were stinking drunk. You really can’t tell from the photos or the video – you had to be there. BTW: Thanks to Brian Hart for the use of his photos which were needed to document this fiasco. It’s doubtful anyone would believe us without them. I was reminded of the film footage I have seen of one-time psychic superstar Ted Serios; his jocular antics with ”thoughtography” and his boozing – classic stuff. I’ve heard Ted’s still around – and still boozing. Some people’s livers can take this kind of abuse. Ted’s routine was very dramatic and he got startling results. Check out “The World of Ted Serios: Thoughtographic Studies of an Extraordinary Mind” (1967)

A Skeptical Glance by Yours Truly During the Test

My job was to write down the cards as they were turned up from a shuffled jumbo deck of cards and keep tabs until we matched up what the receiver said in the adjoining room at the end of the 52 card roster. After being thoroughly frisked and searched by ex-LAPD officer Spenser Marks, (we “wanded” them too) the two test subjects signed off on their respective paperwork and were taken to their positions. It was good to have Spenser there after I made mention of the fact that people could easily take a gun on a bus whereas smuggling a gun on a jet flight would be impossible (?) Spenser had already thought of that well in advance and was prepared for a smack-down should it have become necessary. These are things anybody considering a test with unknown personalities should think through for their own safety. There’s a lot of nut cases out there and as investigators of some of the weirdest crap around, we shouldn’t be surprised to find ourselves dealing with crazies of all brands.

Fortunately (or not depending on how you feel about vast amounts of booze) both Regan and Fernando offered no resistance and more than a few of the team took the viewpoint that the test may be over much sooner than we had anticipated. They were more than just relaxed – they were both reduced to jelly-like inebriation. We were watching for either of them to pass out or hurl.  The humor of this situation was not lost on the crowd and when you get a chance to watch the video, you will see how ridiculous the whole scene quickly became. Imagine Laurel and Hardy in a hospital scenario and you will get a rough idea of what we were dealing with

The Latest Psychic Super-Loser

I have to hand it to Jim Underdown, who had the unenviable job of trying to stay professional in the face of a situation that could have easily degenerated into slapstick. There were a few moments that were really funny, like when it was clear that Regan needed to take his shirt off to “get the vibes” before sitting down (ugh) and when several (six actually) instruction and advertising cards that were sandwiched into the thrice shuffled deck of cards were inadvertently held up by Jim to Regan for him to send. This stopped the show several times and provided a humorous “running gag”  when after the fifth of these unknown game cards were held up toward Regan and myself and after Jim took note of same, questioned Regan with, “What’s the matter, …you can’t send instruction cards?” Now THAT was funny.

The whole thing can be viewed at www.iigwest.comand is worth watching for these and many other bizarre moments when it was clear neither Regan nor Fernando had a clue as to what was going on. They were twitching and fumbling like fish on a fryer. After the fourth card was turned, Regan blurted out, “Okay, …We lost!” Jim had to tell him that he was just begininng to get him to pay attention, focus and calm down. At one point after belching audibly, Regan asked for a cold beer and a cigarette. CFI’s lounge accomedations were  admittedly somewhat lacking in that area.

Regan and Fernando needed to get 7 cards out of 52 to win the test and score above average enough to make the grade. Guess what? They didn’t get A SINGLE CARD correct! And this in spite of the fact that Fernando’s intense concentration, dramatic hand gestures and visualizations could be seen on the monitor screen to rival the best mentalist histrionics. He really gave it his best shot. Several people in the audience mamnged to get one card right out of the 52 . Before the test began, I took a few minutes to write down my choices  – and even I got one right. So I guess I predicted one card correctly. Regan twitched and groaned and generally slumped lower and lower into his chair and several times poured water all over himself in an befuddled attempt to get some of the liquid in his mouth. Jim had to ask him to clean the slobber off his beard for the sake of the camera once.

The Big Board: Zilch!

Near the end of the session when met with their total failure, Fernando was heard to comment to the crowd, “Hey, …were’e just like Cheech and Chong, you know, …what the hell.” Yes, we all had a laugh or two, but I have to say I was left with a feeling that these sorts of challenges, where groups like the IIG go to so much time and trouble to do things correctly, such protocol, preparation and professionalism is totally wasted on people like Regan and Fernando. Cheech and Chong act like stoned idiots on purpose and are marginally funny. These guys were just pathetic. Both were having a big laugh at our expense.

While I generally agree with IIG’s Jim Neuman that we have to respond to each claimant in some way or we might be thought of a s cherry-picking or not fair, this particular challenge bordered on being worthless. It was a sad comment on both sides of the psychic issue. Putting this kind of farce out on the Internet makes us all look bad. Maybe that was Regan and Fernando’s plan all along. The IIG stayed professional and we held our ground throughout the ordeal, so they came out much the worse for wear.

I will stay involved because this had to have been an anomaly of the worst kind. It’s likely that we won’t see another pair like Regan and Fernando for a long, long time. Better screening is an obvious next step and doing the homework necessary to weed out felons and substance abusers needs to be addressed in an age when meth addiction and alcoholism is at all-time highs (if you will excuse the expression). Groups that do paranormal tests or investigations need to be on their guard against people who just think it’s all a lark and that they might “just get lucky” with some offered cash prize challenge. I’m betting that theses two guys never looked at any odds, statistics on ESP or have even the slightest inkling of what their chances really were. They didn’t care a rat’s ass. They were just faking it in the hopes they might hit the jackpot Vegas style. In the meantime, IIG went through hours and hours of serious deliberation over these jerks.

So is this the future of parapsychology: challenges that taunt the lowest of the low to take a stab at fame and fortune to the detriment of those of us who do actually take what we do seriously?

I’m in for the long run with the IIG, CFI , JREF and all the rest now. What I’m really saying here is that there are already so many flat-out frauds and scam artists out there who are truly hurting people and causing untold damage and distress, for my time and energy, I say we stop wasting so mush time on people who are merely claiming unproven silliness and get out there in the faces of the Big Fish. We should all be on the tails of people like John Edward, Sylvia Browne, James VanPraagh, Lisa Williams, Bonnie Vent, Chris Moon, Chip Coffey, Rebecca Rosen and Robbie Thomas… and the list goes on and on –  growing larger with each passing day. Just watch network television prime time and visit Barnes & Noble and you will see who the real charlatans are. I have a fairly open mind to all sorts of magical things – I’ m a magician!  But when push comes to shove, if you are saying you TALK TO DEAD PEOPLE, you aren’t doing that schtick to help anybody but yourself.

Even the term “Challenge” bugs me a bit. It’s like the “Unicorn Theory.” If you use the term challenge, you make it sound like there is a chance people like Regan and Fernando might actually win. They can’t can they? I mean, let’s back up and wait a minute: Don’t we as rational, critical thinkers know that winning anything whether it’s $5,000 or a million is most probably never going to happen? No one is ever going to seriously attempt to convince a group of magicians and committed skeptics that they can levitate, read minds or send the images of playing cards through solid walls are they? Don’t we all know that? That’s what David Copperfield does three shows a night, not two alcoholic guys off the street. Although to be fair some teeny-tiny part of my intellect still would be delighted if some no-account drifter showed up on the scene with these abilities, over forty years in search of that fragile possiblity with absolutely no tangible results to show for my time and trouble has left me, well,  …skeptical.

Let’s get REAL.

I remember hearing Sylvia Browne saying on Larry King one night that, “…Nobody is ever going to win Randi’s Million Dollar Challenge.”

Of course at the time many of her minions believed that Randi didn’t actually have the money in the bank or would trick anybody out of their chance of winning by merely duplicating the contested effect or claim. Other objections were bandied about for years.

I think it goes even deeper than that. I think that in some way the statement made by Sylvia may possibly have been the only true statement she’s ever made even if it was a rather “left-handed” truism:

No one ever will win the money because they can’t. Period.

I suggest taking the “challenge” aspect out of the mix. We need to find a not-so-subtle way of simply saying:

YOU CAN’T DO IT!

It’s up to the Big Fish to rise to that comment or shut up. This might lessen the chances of people like Regan and Fernando wasting the time and energy of thousands of people in the future who want to seriously take on these claims.

Simply put: You can’t do it. If you can, there’s a ton of cash and notoriety waiting for you.

Come on, change history!

PROVE IT!

We’re waiting.

Karla McLaren

Are skeptics being too rude, insulting and obnoxious in our quest to spread critical thinking? Are our methods and actions demeaning and cruel? Do we come on too strong? I know that I have little patience with all the woo peddlers and my blogs here are usually characterized by sarcasm and a call to arms. That’s where I’m going with Guerrilla and Ambush Skepticism and I make no apologies for taking a stronger stance against the bottom feeders like the phonies I have been putting up here for the last few weeks. But what about the great masses of undecided people who are on the fence? Could the “greater movement” of skeptical thinking be putting these people off?  This is probably happening right now – and it’s a shame. I recently received an article that appeared in “Skeptical Inquirer” back in 2004, “Bridging the Chasm Between Two Cultures.” In it, a once full-time new age author Karla McLaren, tells a powerful story of her own awakening, her position on critical thinking and the hard fought trials and tribulations of what some might call an ”ordinary mystic.”

The complete article from Volume 3, May/June 2004 can be found here: http://www.csicop.org/si/show/bridging_the_chasm_between_two_cultures/

I was pleasantly surprised to find out after reading this article that a news segment on cold reading that I did was partly responsible for Karla’s eye’s opening to a more rational acceptance of what she was doing:

“For instance, an understanding of cold reading would have helped me a great deal. I never knew what cold reading was, and until I saw professional magician and debunker Mark Edward use cold reading on an ABC News special last year, I didn’t understand that I had long used a form of cold reading in my own work! I was never taught cold reading and I never intended to defraud anyone—I simply picked up the technique through cultural osmosis.”

Penn admonishing

Karla’s main point is that by being too strident, name calling and other outbursts of emotion that many of us who have been in this movement for so long have finally began resorting to doesn’t work. As much as I admire Penn Jillette, his “Bullshit”style rants only have a small chance of reaching the ears of vegans, people who meditate or think they are psychically communicating with their pets. We get it,but there are thousands – millions maybe – who don’t have a clue.  Karla’s expereince has to be one that many other people certainly have when they first read or are exposed to skeptical thinking. In this case, a chance viewing of a television segment turned her thinking around and helped her to get a more balanced picture, starting her on the road to critically realizing what she was doing. Imagine what effect a prime time television production would have if it was put together in the right way. The right way being exactly what Karla wrote about. Multiply her transition a thousand times and skepticality might have a fighting chance.

I remember feeling much the same way back in the 70’s when I was a young magician beginning my endeavors in the world of mentalism and psychic entertainment. I hadn’t made up my mind either way about telepathy, clairvoyance or tha myriad of other strange beliefs that were flowering out of the late sixties environment. I had never heard of The Amazing Randi back then. I was a lot like Karla. At that point Randi seemed to me to be a hard nosed guy who was bitterly down on Uri Geller for some unknown reason. I thought the whole debunking must have been showbiz rivalry of some sort, which was/is so common in the so-called “magic fraternity.” I didn’t know any better. I had no idea of where my interests in what he was doing might one day lead. If I hadn’t been a fellow magician who also saw through what Uri was doing, I might not have been left with any other impression. Slowly, through patient study and seeking out other people who were asking the same tough questions, I had a complete turnabout.

We face the same problem today – only the paranormal and all its offshoots have mushroomed into a billion dollar industry with no end in sight. There are no new Randi icons out there to guide us. The skeptical movement can’t afford to be too vitriolic if we want to reach the merely curious, the undecided and the culture that is springing out of this Pandora’s Box. The lid is off the box and it’s out of control. We can’t be heard by only being naysayers in a crowd.

For my own part, I prefer to take it to the streets. This is because I’ve talked the talk for too long. It’s difficult for me to withhold my rage. I know the tricks of the trade and I’m out to teach these cons to the masses in whatever ways I can. I’m a performer not a scholar and my approach may not be right for everyone. If others can listen and begin to pay attention to Karla’s suggestions – the kind of headway we really want may begin to happen. Another more recent blog from www.theordinarymystic.com/blog/what-does-karla-mclarens-conversion-to-skepticism-mean/ should show us that we are gaining support:

“What Does Karla McLaren’s Conversion to Skepticism Mean?

Apr 24th, 2007 by chris

It’s rare when a New Age/metaphysical believer turns into a skeptic. In fact, I use to think that such a thing was pretty much impossible. Why would someone take that step backwards, was my thinking. Well, it happened, giving me cause to reflect on my own convictions and basis for why I believe in what I believe.”

Steps backwards huh? Hey chris, don’t get me started. Think again. Anyway, this same person posited some useful first steps. I wish I had heard them back when I was trying to make some sort of sense out of the paranormal:

“There are three approaches that I’ve found useful. I’ll go into them in more detail in a later post, but three key things that you can do to maintain a balanced world view are:

• View faith-based concepts as tools that are valid as long as they are useful.
• Be grounded by engaging in physically-oriented exercises and activities.
• Practice non-attachment, especially to ideas and beliefs

If we put these ideas into practice, then we won’t feel personally threatened by ideas that challenge our beliefs. And if we do have a change of heart, we won’t have to go through the pain and distress that Karla experienced.”

Wouldn’t we all like to avoid pain and distress?

Well. …okay.  To my way of thinking, some of the loser mediums and phony psychics out there deserve plenty of pain and distress. I will deliver it to them however I can. While I can’t say I will be toning down my own personal way of dealing with all the woo, Karla’s suggestions bear some consideration by all of us who want to promote skeptical thinking. In the spirit of a mutual search for communication and truth I agree with Karla in principle when she writes:

“It’s vital that a way be found to help people in my culture question, think about, and critically interpret the barrage of information and misinformation they receive on a daily basis. However, it’s also vital that the information be culturally sensitive.”

FORCE ONE and its operatives are on a mission. We want to be in the face of the opposition, but understanding Karla McLaren’s cogent point of view can help us all when we may find ourselves in cocktail party type moments. Remember how you felt when you began to ask questions.

AND THIS JUST IN:In case you don’t ascribe to the well-known aphorism: “What Goes Around, Comes Around,” it’s tragic but true in this case from Orange County, CA headlines. The story reads like an episode of “Perry Mason:”

“Fortune Teller Murder: Tanya Nelson Killed Mind Reader and Daughter Over Love Advice She Didn’t Like”

Bummer. Like I always say; no matter how phony you are, when you are giving psychic advice, try to keep keep it positive…

Dead Fortune Teller

“Ha “Jade” Smith, known as Miss Ha in the local Vietnamese community, did card and palm readings and had clients across the country. She was famous among Vietnamese-Americans for wearing expensive jewelry and was considered a skilled fortune-teller.”

So much for skill. I guess she didn’t see that coming huh? I would of course never wish such a harsh retribution as ten stab wounds for anybody, but one might hope that any aspiring psychics who read this and like expensive jewelry will take note.

I’m not making all this up. Once again - this week’s story is stranger and more bizarre than any television plot. If you don’t believe me, check Robbie and his creds out for yourself at  http://www.robbiethomas.net/

So what do you get when you cross Vin Diesel and James Van Praagh? Psychic Justice of course! Although the term “psychic justice” comes off to me as somewhat of an oxymoron, it looks like the whole “profiler” thing is getting a face lift courtesy of this “prolific author, radio personality and film star.” He’s also “world renowned.” Hey, just because I never heard of him or read one of his books doesn’t mean he isn’t world renowned- somewhere in the world. It’s like Dog the Bounty Hunter meets John Edward. I have to hand it to the guy – it’s a brilliant ruse.

Robbie ’s promo ad says he ” does what other criminal psychics stop short of ” and “what victims of crime praise,” although the ad itself stops short of telling us what he does do exactly. Does he crush the crooks into tiny bits with his psychic powers? Bend steel in his bare hands or what? What does he do that victims of crimes praise?  Is he Walker Texas Ranger with a pendulum or Steven Seagal with a crystal ball? I can’t wait to find out.

I’m open to just about anything and I love a good side-show act or a bit of geek, but when I read in his text that Mr. Thomas is a “superior K-9 who goes straight for the throat of injustice,” I had to wonder if he can self-inflict such wounds. Saying you are for justice is one thing, ascribing any ability to affect that outcome through psychic powers is another. Sorry Robbie, but to my way of thinking doing that sort of thing in a show arena format and taking money for tickets is just well, …unjust. A sentence or two later that colorful line about going for throats was carefully balanced by reminding us of Robbie’s “gentle spiritual nature.” After reading that I began visualizing Bruce Willis in a pink tutu. Robbie Thompson is the “righter of wrongs” according to Joe Johnson of the Central City Arkansas Police Department. Wow. Another impassioned quote tells us he is an “impactual” speaker. Dictionary.com doesn’t list that word, but I think I know what that person meant.

Police and family victims are invited to take part in “live case interactions” with Robbie and guest speakers who will no doubt offer glowing testimonials to make everything amazingly believable. We have all heard this hype before. Every psychic to hit the pike has cloned the cop/psychic claim. The Skeptic’s Dictionary sites the book, “The Blue Sense,”by Arthur Lyons and Marcello Truzzi, where they list several reasons how people without any psychic powers gain a reputation for assisting in the detection of crime:

“In many cases, most of the evidence in favor of the psychic detective is provided to the mass media by the psychic rather than by an independent source. Moreover, the FBI and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children maintain that to their knowledge, psychic detectives have never helped solve a single missing-person case.”

Mr. Thomas, will you please name one single missing person that you found on your own using your psychic powers?  You can post the details here anytime.

Where does this leave the victims of horrible crimes who have nowhere else to go and are willing to listen to anybody who says they have a direct pipeline to accurate supernatural insights? Those unfortunates now have a new caped crusader to line up for. It had to happen. How many people are actually comforted and reassured by this con? Probably thousands. Are thay really soothed and inspired by what they hear? I’m sure that many are, but that’s not the point.

The point is that if any Superman could be anywhere near as accurate as Robbie Thompson’s pre-show ads claim, he would put his mighty biceps on the line and sign on for Randi’s Million Dollar Challenge. Are you reading this Robbie? Let me be the first to challenge you “mano y mano.” I’m sure you could do a lot of helping and caring for many unhappy people with a million dollars in your pocket, not to mention the incredible publicity that would be garnered from a few weeks worth of your time. You might even get a medal from the police department.

So why travel all over the country with your “Psychic Justice North American Tour” staying in all those hotels, eating in all those bad restaurants and going through all that needless bother when in one swoop you could get center stage all over America and the world and get real psychic justice?

The money is in the bank waiting. The real world renowned publicity is yours when you are ready to put yourself to the test. JREF will be happy to work out a protocol with you as soon as you are ready.

In the meantime:  BUYER BEWARE:

Be sure to scroll down to the very small print disclaimer at the bottom of Robbie’s advert. It tells the real tale and is such a powerful statement, it should have appeared in bold font at the top of the ad:

“The information provided by Robbie Thomas on crime cases is not meant to replace proper police investigations, but rather only to assist such investigation by offering potentially new insights on said cases. Families are encouraged to take Robbie’s information to their case investigator.”

The word “potentially” is key here. A fortune cookie can be potentially insightful too. No doubt having a kind compassionate person offer intuitive insights to families of victims of missing children or in other highly emotional situations could be a real benefit in some cases, but whether or not there is anything “psychic” or “spiritual” about this roadshow remains to be seen. 

I’m waiting.

“We discovered that the work of the psychics was not just ludicrous and laughable, it was sinister and evil…. None of it ever led anywhere except to despair and disapppointment, misery and confusion.” – John Tate, father of Gennette Tate who disappeared in 1978 (quoted in “Investigating the Unexplained”, pg 42)

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.

.