John Edward: Spirit Huckster
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SI March April 2010 pgs_SI J A 2009 1/27/10 10:45 AM Page 17 INVESTIGATIVE FILES J O E N I C K E L L John Edward: Spirit Huckster sychic medium” John Ed ward found, and every lucky guess or shrewd The new “psychic mediums” opt in - is reemerging from relative deduction proof of communication with stead for the simpler, safer mental medi- “Pobscurity after his popular tele- the dead. umship, the supposed production of mes- vision show, Crossing Over with John sages from the Great Beyond. This itself is Edward, ended in 2004. He appears on Old ‘Spirits’ in New Bottles nothing new, but now instead of the flow- another cable show, gives tours, has a Web Edward is part of the new breed of spir- ery language supposedly channeled from site (Infinitequest.com), and generally itualists (like Sylvia Browne and James talkative Vic torians, we get fragmented makes his living claiming to communi- Van Praagh) who avoid the risky physical bits of data from spirits seeming to have cate with those who have “crossed over.” mediumship of yore. During the heyday diminished memories and limited speech: I was invited by Central New “I feel like there’s a J- or G-sounding York Skeptics to join them in name at tached to this” is a typical Syracuse, New York, for an evening Edward offering (Nickell 2004). with Edward. (It was held at Mulroy Styles change even in supposedly Civic Center on Sunday, October 11, talking with the dead. Today’s medi- 2009. I was accompanied by CNY ums employ the old fortuneteller’s Skeptics president Lisa Goodlin, technique of “cold reading”—so David Harding, and Brian Madigan, named because the sensitive has no all of whom afterward shared insight- advance information about the sit- ful observations on what we had wit- ter. He artfully fishes for informa- nessed.) The glib Edward—real tion from the person, often asking a name John Edward McGee, Jr.— question which, if the answer is yes, held forth for more than two hours. will be treated as a “hit” but other- He began with a joke to the effect wise will become only part of the that although he is psychic, he neverthe- of Spiritualism, magicians such as lead-up to a statement. less needed a GPS to get to the site. The Houdini and Maskelyne used to catch Not surprisingly, Edward has a back- highly credulous, adoring crowd found mediums at their dark-room séance ground in fortunetelling. His mother, he every gag hilarious, every platitude pro- deceptions, such as slate writing, float- acknowledges, was a “psychic junkie” ing spirit trumpets, and full-bodied who threw fortunetelling “house par- Joe Nickell, CSI’s senior research fellow, is a “materializations.” The investigators ties.” Advised by one visiting clairvoyant former magician and detective. He is author gave public demonstrations of the trick- that he had “wonderful psychic abilities,” of many books, including Entities and ery. “Do Spirits Return?” a Houdini Edward began doing card readings for Adventures in Paranormal Investiga tion. poster asked. “Houdini says No—and family and friends as a teenager. He pro- His Web site is at www.joenickell.com. Proves It” (Gibson 1977, 157). gressed to giving readings at so-called SKEPTICAL INQUIRER March / April 2010 17 SI March April 2010 pgs_SI J A 2009 1/27/10 10:46 AM Page 18 psychic fairs. There he soon learned that occasion, when multiple sitters acknowl- Joe Nickell” (2001, 243). Edward also names and other “validating informa- edge a particular offering, the medium referred to Hockenberry’s “big Gotcha! tion” could sometimes be better fitted to can simply narrow the choice to a single moment.” That’s right, John, we the dead than the living. Edward eventu- person and then build on that success—a Gotcha! You were caught cheating. And ally changed his billing from “psychic” to technique definitely employed by John your claimed psychic powers didn’t even “psychic medium” (Edward 1999), set- Edward (Ballard 2001). let you see it coming. ting him on the road to financial success. Getting Burned Fast Talker The Group Approach with ‘Hot’ Reading In his stand-up act, Edward keeps things Edward’s audiences typically find him According to respected journalists, epi - going at such a pace that there is little accurate and convincing. However, a sodes of Crossing Over were edited to time to critically analyze what is occur- study I made of one television tran- make Edward appear more accurate ring. The average person is not much 1 script revealed he was actually wrong than he was (Ballard 2001), even to the better equipped to avoid being fooled by about as often as not (Nickell 1998). In point of apparently splicing in clips of John Edward’s sleight-of-tongue tricks Syracuse, for example, no one seemed to one sitter nodding yes “after statements than the artful illusions of a stage magi- relate to a cat named Smokey. Never - with which he remembers disagreeing” cian. Careful analysis of a recorded ses- theless, in such cases Edward can still (Jaroff 2001). sion by one knowledgeable of the tech- niques employed will prove more effec- tive than the testimonials of someone fooled by the deceptions. And so Edward’s Syracuse audience The onus is on his listeners to somehow regarded their belief in otherworldly communication as fully vindicated. match his offerings to their lives, and if one person There appeared to be only about four skeptics in the audience. Ironically, can’t oblige, someone else will give it a try. Edward seemed not to know they were there—even though one has been a par- ticular thorn in his side. Couldn’t he feel all those bad vibes coming from an area of the orchestra? ! toss out something he “sees” or “feels,” Rarely, when the opportunity pre- and he may get lucky. Besides, the onus sents itself, Edward may turn from “cold Acknowledgments is on his listeners to somehow match his reading” to the much more accurate In addition to those mentioned in the text, I offerings to their lives, and if one person “hot reading.” Although I have no evi- am also grateful to Barry Karr, CSI executive can’t oblige, someone else will give it a dence of him using that technique in director, for providing finances for my trip to Syracuse and to Timothy Binga, Center for try. Thus, when no one seemed to be Syracuse, he was caught cheating with it Inquiry Libraries director, for research assis- “going to Thailand,” Edward doubled on a Dateline NBC episode for which I tance. his options, suggesting the trip was for was both a behind-the-scenes advisor adoption. Finally, one woman shouted and an on-camera interviewee. Edward Note out that she had adopted a child from was exposed passing off knowledge he 1. This was the June 19, 1998, Larry King Live Korea. When no one had experienced had gained from a Dateline cameraman show on CNN. an Edward-visualized tattoo removal, a during a shoot hours earlier as other- References young lady helpfully supplied her worldly revelation during a reading ses- Ballard, Chris. 2001. Oprah of the other side. The adventure of an excised mole. Edward sion. He feigned surprise that his alleged New York Times Magazine, July 29, 38–41. then looked for validation of an imag- spirit gleanings applied to the camera- Edward, John. 1999. One Last Time. New York: ined spirit named Lily: She soon mor- man. As Dateline’s John Hockenberry Berkeley Books. ———. 2001. Crossing Over: The Stories Behind phed into a cat of that name, still living! subsequently told an evasive Edward, the Stories. San Diego, CA: Jodere Group. Edward sometimes joked his way out of “So that’s not some energy coming Gibson, Walter B. 1977. The Original Houdini a dilemma. For instance, when one through, that’s something you knew Scrapbook. New York: Corwin/Sterling. Jaroff, Leon. 2001. Talking to the dead. Time, woman’s late husband had not had the going in” (Nickell 2001). March 5, 52. envisioned “foot surgery,” Edward quipped, In his book, Crossing Over, Edward Nickell, Joe. 1998. Investigating spirit communi- “Do you have any other husbands?” disparaged Hockenberry who, he said, cations. Skeptical Briefs 8:3 (September), 5–6. ———. 2001. John Edward: Hustling the be - Joking aside, this group approach has “came down on the side of the profes- reaved. SKEPTICAL INQUIRER 25:6 (November/ been a boon to modern mediums. On sional skeptic they used as my foil . .. December), 19–22. 18 Volume 34, Issue 2 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER.