Just a note...
I love psychics, and I consider myself a psychic clairvoyant as well. There are many modern day psychics and mediums that I admire, a few that I've shared correspondence with, and a handful of historical psychics that have caught my attention through some well-written biographies. However, we must be realistic here, and we realize that this is a field that is rife with imposters. With that said, read on...
One of America's most famous and controversial psychics, Sylvia Browne, claimed she had been a psychic her entire life, offering readings for family and friends. Eventually, she founded The Nirvana Foundation for Psychic Research in 1974 in order to study the phenomenon of psychic functioning. Browne employed the deep "sleep" technique of Cayce and believed in his same past-life Christian-based philosophy. In 1986, she founded the Society of Novus Spiritus to promote her Gnostic Christian philosophy about paranormal functioning. Browne was a frequent guest on the Montel Williams Show, making psychic predictions for his studio audience. She also wrote multiple books, gave lectures, and appeared frequently in the media.
- How accurate was Sylvia Browne?
A study compared Browne's televised statements about 115 cases with newspaper reports and found that in the 25 cases where the actual outcome was known, she was completely wrong in every one. In the rest, where the outcome was unknown, her predictions could not be substantiated:
In 1999, Browne said that six-year-old Opal Jo Jennings, who had disappeared a month earlier, had been forced into slavery in Japan. Later that year, a local man was convicted of kidnapping and murdering Jennings. In 2003, an autopsy of Jennings' remains found that she had died within hours of her abduction.
In 2002, Browne said that Holly Krewson, who had disappeared in 1995, was working as an exotic dancer in a Hollywood nightclub. In 2006, dental records were used to positively identify a body found in 1996 in San Diego as Krewson's.
In 2002, Browne said that Lynda McClelland, who had disappeared in 2000, had been taken by a man with the initials "MJ", was alive in Orlando Florida, and would be found soon. In 2003, McClelland's son-in-law David Repasky, who had been present at Browne's reading, was convicted of murdering McClelland. Her remains were found near her home in Pennsylvania.
In 2004, Browne said that Ryan Katcher, a 19-year-old who had disappeared in 2000, had been murdered, and his body could be found in a metal shaft. In 2006, Katcher's body was found in his truck at the bottom of a pond, where he had drowned.
- Was Sylvia Browne convicted of fraud?
Browne's reputation took a hit in 1992, when she and her husband were convicted of investment fraud and grand larceny in a gold mine scheme, said the San Diego CityBeat. But being a convicted fraudster didn't prevent her from becoming a regular guest psychic on The Montel Williams Show.
Browne married four times. Her first marriage, from 1959 to 1972, was to Gary Dufresne. The couple had two sons, Paul and Christopher. She took the surname Brown upon her third marriage, and later changed it to Browne. Her fourth marriage took place on February 14, 2009, to Michael Ulery, the owner of a jewelry store.
In March 2011, the Society of Novus Spiritus, the Gnostic Christian Church founded by Browne, announced that she had suffered a heart attack on March 21 in Hawaii, and was requesting donations on her behalf.
Browne died on November 20, 2013, aged 77, at Good Samaritan Hospital in San Jose, California. Her interment was at Oak Hill Memorial Park.
THOMAS JOHN...
Thomas John Flanagan, known professionally as Thomas John, is an American psychic medium. He starred in the 2018 reality TV show, Seatbelt Psychic, and the CBS All Access series, The Thomas John Experience, beginning in June 2020. In January 2020, John began a live show at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, which was put on hiatus as of March 16, 2020.
John has been the subject of significant criticism, including his use of information acquired online during group readings (hot readings).
In March 2017, John was accused of doing a hot reading after a sting operation planned and implemented by Susan Gerbic and mentalist Mark Edward. Gerbic and Edward attended John's show using aliases, and John "read" them as a married couple. During the entire reading, John failed to determine the actual identities of Gerbic and Edward, or that they were deceptive during his reading. All personal information he gave them matched what was on their falsified Facebook accounts, rather than being about their actual lives.
In early 2021, John announced plans to hold a Virtual Spirit Circle for Children on April 19. Upon learning of this event, neurologist Steven Novella criticized what he saw as the exploitation of child bereavement.
In 2009, John was arrested and pleaded guilty to theft and computer fraud for posting fake apartment ads on Craigslist and stealing the security deposits from renters.
- What happened to the show Seatbelt Psychic?
The show was put on indefinite hiatus on March 16, 2020. A musical based on John's life and experiences titled Dead Serious premiered off-Broadway in July 2019. Co-written by Michelle Wendt and John, the musical pulled from John's personal stories, exploring his journey as a medium.
MISS CLEO...
Youree Dell Harris (August 12, 1962 – July 26, 2016) was an American television personality and actress best known for portraying Miss Cleo, a spokeswoman for a psychic pay-per-call-minute service called Psychic Readers Network, in a series of television commercials that aired from 1997 to 2003. Harris used various aliases, including Ree Perris, Youree Cleomili, Youree Perris, Rae Dell Harris, Cleomili Perris Youree, and Cleomili Harris.
In 1997, Harris moved to Florida, met Steven Feder and Peter Stolz, Fort Lauderdale cousins behind Access Resource Services, doing business as Psychic Readers Network and took a call-taker job as reader No. 16153. Harris was using the Jamaican accent when she moved to Florida and began working as a tarot-reading psychic for a telemarketing center. Harris was approached by Access Resource Services while working at an event in a Pompano Beach, Florida mall and agreed to appear in an ad in 2000.
"the whole point was two things: keeping people on the phone as long as possible...and...telling people what they wanted to hear"
In the late 1990s, Harris began work for the Psychic Readers Network under the name Cleo. She appeared as a television infomercial psychic in which she claimed to be a shaman from Jamaica. Her employers' website also stated that Harris had been born in Trelawny, Jamaica, and said that she had grown up there.
The network used the title "Miss Cleo" and sent unsolicited emails, some of which stated, "Miss Cleo has been authorized to issue you a Special Tarot Reading!... it is vital that you call immediately!"
Charges of deceptive advertising and of fraud on the part of the network began to surface around this time. Among the complaints were allegations that calls to Miss Cleo were answered by her associates, who were actually actors reading from scripts, and that calls promoted as "free" were in fact charged to clients.
A tie-in book, Keepin' It Real: A Practical Guide for Spiritual Living appeared in 2001. Its authorship was attributed to Miss Cleo.
In 2001, Access Resource Services, doing business as Psychic Readers Network, was sued in various lawsuits originating in Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Florida and elsewhere, as well as the Federal Communications Commission.
In 2002, the Federal Trade Commission charged the company's owners and Harris' promoters, Steven Feder and Peter Stolz, with deceptive advertising, billing, and collection practices. Harris was not indicted. The network had billed its victims for an estimated $1 billion. Her promoters agreed to settle by paying a $5 million fine to the Federal Trade Commission, as well a combined debt forgiveness and refund checks to callers which came to a monumental $500 million. It emerged during a lawsuit in Florida that Harris had been born in Los Angeles, and that her parents were American citizens.
The state of Florida also sued Harris under a provision of the law that allowed spokespeople to be held liable. Dave Aronberg of the Florida Attorney General’s Office led the state’s case against her. His successor later dropped the charges.
Harris developed colorectal cancer, which metastasized. She died under hospice care in Palm Beach, Florida, on July 26, 2016, at the age of 53.
JAMES VAN PRAAGH...
James Van Praagh is an American writer and television personality who describes himself as a clairvoyant and spiritual medium. He has written numerous books, including The New York Times bestseller
Talking to Heaven. Van Praagh was a producer and screenwriter on the 2002 CBS primetime semi-autobiographical miniseries Living with the Dead starring Ted Danson. He also hosted a short-lived paranormal talk show called Beyond with James Van Praagh.
Skeptical activists such as James Randi and Joe Nickell, organizations such as the Independent Investigations Group, and notable media personalities, including Barbara Walters and John Oliver, have attempted to counter the perception that what Van Praagh and other mediums do reflects reality. Critics maintain that Van Praagh's readings are produced through cold reading and hot reading techniques and not through psychic powers.
Paranormal investigator Joe Nickell believes Van Praagh uses tactics such as hot reading, or gleaning information from sitters beforehand. Group readings improve the odds that at least one person in the audience will identify with a general statement made with conviction. Shows are edited before airing to show only what appear to be hits and removing anything that does not reflect well on the medium.
In 2003 the Independent Investigations Group attended a taping of Van Praagh's talk show Beyond. According to the IIG, there were differences between the live segments and how they were edited for broadcast. In one of the live shows they witnessed, Van Praagh was signing books and chatted with a woman who was from Italy. During the taping, he asked if there was someone from another country, and the same woman raised her hand, which to the investigators, was evidence of a hot reading.
In Skeptic Magazine, Michael Shermer stated that Van Praagh was caught using a hot reading technique on 20/20 and that numerous television producers have confirmed that Van Praagh uses hot-reading techniques. Shermer quotes producer Leah Hanes as stating:
"I can't say I think James Van Praagh is a total fraud, because he came up with things I hadn't told him, but there were moments on the show when he appeared to be coming up with fresh information that he got from me and other researchers earlier on. For example, I recall him asking about the profession of the deceased loved one of one of our guests, and I told him he was a fireman. Then, when the show began, he said something to the effect, "I see a uniform. Was he a policeman or fireman please?" Everyone was stunned, but he got that directly from me."
In a 2011 ABC News segment, reporter Josh Elliott was read by Van Praagh, and was initially impressed by details provided, though later Elliott revealed that what was detailed was easily available through a basic web search.
- Living with the dead (2002)
In April 2002, CBS aired Living with the Dead (also known by the alternate title, Talking to Heaven), a four-hour miniseries based on Van Praagh and directed by Stephen Gyllenhaal, with the screenplay by John Pielmeier. Although the series followed Van Praagh's experiences, it included a fictional mystery around the murder of a teenage boy at the hands of a serial killer. Van Praagh was played by Ted Danson, his mother by Diane Ladd and his father by Jack Palance. Danson received praise from outlets like the Chicago Tribune and People for his portrayal of Van Praagh as a man anguished by his lifelong visions of the dead, including his mother.
- Beyond with James Van Praagh (2002)
During the success of the paranormal television show Crossing Over with John Edward, in the early 2000s, Van Praagh and Tribune Entertainment launched Beyond with James Van Praagh, a paranormal talk show that distributed in broadcast syndication, though it was unsuccessful, only running a half-season in the fall of 2002. Beyond followed a similar format as Crossing Over, with Van Praagh giving audience members and celebrities readings, as well as field investigations into crimes and missing persons.
- Talking with the Dead (2004)
CBS aired Talking with the Dead (also known by the alternative title, The Dead Will Tell), a thriller based on Van Praagh's experiences and directed by Stephen Kay, on October 24, 2004. Anne Heche produced and starred in the film as Emily Parkes, a woman who receives an antique engagement ring from her fiancé and begins to have visions of its murdered previous owner. The made-for-TV movie also starred Eva Longoria, Christopher Guest and Chris Sarandon.
- Ghost Whisperer (2005 -- 2010)
Van Praagh served as co-executive producer on the CBS show Ghost Whisperer, which starred Jennifer Love Hewitt. Though the work and experiences of Van Praagh may have influenced the teleplay, Ghost Whisperer was actually inspired by psychic Mary Ann Wynchowski, a woman whom Van Praagh met while filming Beyond with James Van Praagh in 2002. Ghost Whisperer ran for five seasons from September 23, 2005, to May 21, 2010, on CBS.
On January 22, 2013, James Van Praagh filed a lawsuit in federal district court in New York against his sister Lynn Gratton, who is also a psychic. James Van Praagh has a trademark on his name and alleged that Lynn had infringed upon that trademark by starting to use her maiden name Van Praagh to financially benefit from his name even though Lynn took her (now deceased) husband's surname more than 50 years ago when she married him on August 28, 1970.
MINA CRANDON, aka MARGERY...
Mina Crandon (1888–November 1, 1941) was an American psychic medium who performed under the stage name Margery and claimed to channel her dead brother, Walter Stinson. Investigators who studied Crandon concluded that she had no such paranormal ability, and others detected her in outright deception. She became known as her alleged paranormal skills were touted by Sherlock Holmes author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and were disproved by magician Harry Houdini. Crandon was investigated by members of the American Society for Psychical Research and employees of the Scientific American.
Crandon was the wife of a wealthy Boston surgeon and socialite, Dr. Le Roi Goddard Crandon. Her life has been extensively documented in magic and parapsychology literature.
By 1925, due to the investigation of Crandon, the American Society for Psychical Research (ASPR) had been taken over by a spiritualist faction. The ASPR championed Crandon and suppressed any reports unfavorable to her. In response, Walter Franklin Prince,who was the Society's research officer, resigned to establish the Boston Society for Psychical Research. Prince was accused by supporters of Crandon of being biased against paranormal phenomena.
Crandon's husband was known for displaying nude photographs of her in her mediumship sessions. Mina Crandon was described as a beautiful woman whom men found too attractive for her own good. It was suggested that the psychical investigator J. Malcolm Bird actively conspired with the Crandons in stage-managing the séances in an attempt to have a sexual relationship with Mina. Reports, however, suggest that Mina found Bird repulsive. Instead, she had amorous feelings for the psychical researcher Hereward Carrington, with whom she had an affair. Carrington also borrowed money he was unable to repay from Crandon. Critics have written that it is easy to imagine these factors could have biased his judgement regarding her mediumship.
Crandon performed many of her séances in the nude, and was reported to throw herself onto the laps of her male sitters. She was also described as an alcoholic. During séances, Eric Dingwall told Crandon to take off her clothes and sit in the nude. Crandon would also sometimes sprinkle luminous powder on her breasts and because of such activities William McDougall and other psychical researchers criticized Dingwall for having improper relations with Crandon.
Historian Ruth Brandon has noted that as Bird, Carrington, and Dingwall were all personally involved with Crandon, they were biased and unreliable witnesses. Magician Fred Keating, who had observed Crandon at her house, suggested Carrington pretended some of her phenomena baffled him in an attempt to get financial backing for his own psychical laboratory.
A review by the father of modern parapsychology, Joseph Banks Rhine, lent further insight into Crandon's performances. Dr. Rhine was able to observe some of her trickery in the dark when she used luminous objects. Rhine claimed to have observed Crandon committing fraud in a séance in 1926. According to Rhine, during the séance she was free from control and kicked a megaphone to give the impression it was levitating.
Rhine's report documenting the fraud was refused by the ASPR, so he published it in the Journal of Abnormal Social Psychology. In response, defenders of Crandon attacked Rhine. Arthur Conan Doyle wrote a letter to the Boston Herald attacking Rhine's colossal impertinence, stupidity, and malignancy.
Crandon continued to conduct séances and the English teacher, Grant Code, became a frequent visitor to the Crandon home and was enthralled by Crandon's later performances. Ultimately, he too was able to duplicate them. Code's exchange of letters with psychic investigator Walter Franklin Prince regarding Margery is currently held in the archives of the ASPR.
An elaborate investigation was held by a committee of Harvard scholars. Finally, the Harvard committee also pronounced Crandon as fraudulent. On June 30, 1925, one of the Harvard investigators saw Crandon draw three objects from her lap. One object was shaped like a glove or flat hand, one resembled a baby's hand, and the third was described but not identified.
The American Society for Psychical Research wanted further investigation. In 1926, a committee of three professors (Knight Dunlap, Henry C. McComas, and Robert Williams Wood) was sent to Boston. Crandon had a luminous star attached to her forehead, identifying the location of her face in the dark. After a few minutes, a narrow dark rod appeared over a luminous checkerboard which had been placed on the table opposite Crandon. It moved from side to side and picked up an object. As it passed in front of Wood, he lightly touched it with the tip of his finger and followed it back to a point very near Crandon's mouth. Wood thought it probable she was holding the rod by her teeth. He took hold of the tip and very quietly pinched it. It felt like a knitting needle covered with one or two layers of soft leather. Though the committee had been warned that touching the ectoplasm could result in the illness or death of the medium, neither Crandon nor the ectoplasm rod showed any reaction to Wood's actions. At the end of the sitting, Wood dictated his actions to the stenographer. Upon hearing this, Crandon gave a shriek and fainted. She was carried out of the room, and the committee was asked to depart. Wood was never invited again.
The committee that consisted of Dunlap, McComas, and Wood considered the phenomena to be fraudulent. They concluded that the rod was an animal intestine that had been stuffed with cotton and stiffened with wire. In 1939, Crandon's husband died and Crandon, an alcoholic, went into a deep depression. At one of her last séances she attempted to jump off the roof of the house.
Mina Crandon was born in 1888 and died in November 1941.
ROSEMARY ALTEA...
Rosemary Altea (born Rosemary Edwards) is a British author who describes herself as a medium and healer. She has appeared on various programs, including Larry King Live, The Oprah Winfrey Show, and was featured in the series premiere of Penn & Teller: Bullshit! alongside mentalist Mark Edward. She has written six books and claims to have a "healing foundation".
Altea was featured on Penn & Teller: Bullshit! in the show's premiere episode, Talking to the Dead. Kevin Christopher of the Skeptical Inquirer wrote that the segment on Altea was a nice expose of Rosemary Altea during a taped reading arranged by Showtime. Viewers got a clear picture of how she worked the small group of people present for readings prior to the taping in order to glean information for later use. Skeptic and mentalist Mark Edward replicated the cold reading tactics she used and showed how her publicist, Joni Evans, seeded the group with people whose biographies were already known to Altea in order to boost her on-camera success. Critics describe Altea as a clear example of hot reading.
Investigator Joe Nickell believes modern day self-proclaimed mediums like Altea are avoiding the Victorian tradition of dark rooms, spirit handwriting, and flying tambourines as these methods risk exposure. They instead use mental mediumship tactics like cold reading or gleaning information from sitters beforehand. Group readings also improve hits by making general statements with conviction, which will fit at least one person in the audience.
Skeptic and author Michael Shermer concludes in Why People Believe Weird Things, Altea learned cold reading by trial and error, and honestly misattributes her success to psychic ability rather than deliberate deception. However, Shermer also alleges that during his appearance alongside Altea on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 1995, Altea used information obtained about a guest through an earlier discussion in a limo ride to the studio, an example of hot reading.
In November 1981, Rosemary claims to have had a vision at night, after which she felt open to the possibility of a spirit world. The same year, struggling to make ends meet and take care of her daughter, she began charging £3.50 per session for psychic readings and adopted the name Rosemary Altea.
In 2001 Altea inherited a farm in Dorset,Vermont, from Llewella Day, an elderly cancer victim. Ms. Day changed her will shortly before she died, thereby cutting her family out and leaving the $740,000 farm to Altea, with the desire it remain a working farm. Altea successfully fought Day's family's attempts to invalidate the will, and -- against Ms. Day's wishes -- demolished the farm house to make the farm into "a healing foundation".
On January 26, 2007, Altea appeared on Larry King Live with skeptic James Randi. When asked on the show to take the One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge, she argued that she doesn't believe there's $1 million.
In 2009, Altea learned that her bookkeeper, Denise M. Hall, had stolen $200,000 from her over a period of seven years, using four credit cards to obtain cash advances, forging checks, and giving herself unauthorised electronic paychecks all under Altea's name.
