Psychic Sleuth Without a Clue
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INVESTIGATIVE FILES JOE NICKELL Psychic Sleuth without a Clue espite the lack of scientific was actually caught attempting to pass undergo a scientific test of her alleged confirmation of their alleged ofF previously gained knowledge as spirit powers by famed paranormal investigator D powers, psychics continue to revelation (Nickell 2001a). James Randi, she subsequently reneged. gain popularity in a credulous society. Edward was to forego the psychic- On Larry King Live she had agreed to Some have undergone makeovers, trans- sleuth route, but not so the Montel take Randi's "million-dollar challenge" in forming themselves from ordinary psy- Williams show's resident clairvoyant, no uncertain terms: "Are you willing to chics to psychic sleuths and beyond— Sylvia Browne. (Born Sylvia Celeste take his test," King queried the claimed communicants with the Great Beyond, Shoemaker in 1936, she acquired the clairvoyant, and she replied. "Yeah, what- in fact. One such purveyor is Phil name Brown—to which she added an e ever test it is." However, her later excuses Jordan, whose flagging career has been for effect—from the third of her four prompted Randi to write her. saying: "Of given new impetus by popular TV husbands.) Since childhood she has course, if you arc afraid of taking the test, mediums (i.e., those who purport to claimed to have an invisible companion, or you are aware that you cannot pass a communicate with the dead). Jordan has and she reports seeing apparitions, talk- simple double-blind test of your claims, climbed aboard that spiritualist band- ing to ghosts, having clairvoyant visions, you may wish to further obfuscate the wagon. 1 donned a disguise to get close making psychic medical diagnoses, matter by producing more excuses and to him and check out his alleged powers. divining past lives (including fifty-four problems." Browne's response was to of her own), and possessing other pow- refuse receipt of Randi's certified letter Ascendant Stars ers (Browne and May 1998). Such an (Farha 2003). Among the superstar psychics is John array of traits is indicative of what psy- Among many other psychics who Edward. Born John MaGee Jr., he began chologists term a "fantasy-prone" per- have discovered they too can talk to the his career as a card reader at psychic sonality (Wilson and Barber 1983). dead are James Van Praagh (who has fairs. However, when he learned that Browne purports to be a "psychic been overshadowed by the fast-talking names and other "validating informa- detective." and she has also gotten on the John Edward) and Rosemary Altea. tion" sometimes applied not to the liv- talking-with-the-dead bandwagon, Both have also enjoyed some media suc- ing but the dead, he changed his billing appearing frequently as a medium on cess, including appearances on Larry from "psychic" to "psychic medium." Larry King Live. Her offerings are fre- King Live and other venues. (I debated His appearances on Larry King Live— quently wide of die mark, but callers and both on radio programs in 1998 which has become a prime venue for a helpful Larry King help her transform [Nickell 1998].) Still another is George spiritualistic hucksters—helped him frequent failures into successes. For Anderson, whose now-waning career launch his own television show. Crossing instance, one woman, who had asked was also once boosted by Larry King Over. Revealingly, on Dateline NBC a about her dead husband, learned that (Anderson 2004). program with which I assisted, Edward Browne saw "something about a clot." The caller agreed, saying, "Yes, he had a Lesser Light Joe Nickell is a former private detective so ire brain hemorrhage at the very last Enter Phil Jordan, psychic sleuth cum and author of numerous investigative minute," although, in fact, a hemorrhage spiritualist. He was, he says, "raised books including Crime Science and is the opposite of a clot (Farha 2003). on dreams," and from about the age Psychic Sleuths. Although Browne committed to of six experienced clairvoyant visions. SKEPTICAL INQUIRER May/June 2004 19 Prompted in part by "severe unemploy- own admission, chosen an area of the "some trees down in a marshy area"— ment," he decided to offer "psychic con- woods that "no one had searched" but their offerings were of no use what- sultations" to the public. Two years later, (although Randies and Hough [2001] soever. After Levy's remains were acci- he launched his reputation as a psychic report odierwise). "Just as I was ready to dentally discovered in late May 2002, detective by supposedly locating a miss- give up, he says, "I looked down and saw some of the failed psychics attempted to ing five-year-old boy. Although Jordan the footprint of a young barefoot human match their vague speculations with the claims to have been helpful in other headed up the trail." Even with such good known facts (Radford 2002). This is a cases, it is this one that receives the most luck, Jordan happened to be elsewhere— technique called "retrofitting" and is a attention in his autobiography, / Knew in a ravine—when other searchers in the mainstay of alleged psychic detectives This Day Would Come: A Personal party actually located the lost child. They (Nickell 2001b, 125-126). Journey to Psychic Awareness (Jordan had heard him "yelling for help" (Jordan 1999, 58-64). 1999, 58-63). Makeover The case—the rescue of Tommy In 2001 Phil Jordan's fame as a psychic Kennedy in Tioga County, New York— seemed in decline. However, in that year began on August 3, 1975. Young he purchased The Gould Hotel in Kennedy had wandered away from his Seneca Falls, New York, and began family at Empire Lake, and some offering "Psychic Dinner Floorshows" searchers feared he might have fallen twice a week. Also on Saturdays he into the water and drowned. Using psy- scheduled "The Spirit Connection," chometry (or object-reading, an alleged which his promotional literature type of ESP) Jordan supposedly received describes as "a show similar to The John impressions from the boy's discovered T- Edwards [sic] Show on TV" ("Phil shirt. Jordan announced, "He's alive," Jordan" 2003). and, producing a sketch, said, "that's Jordan, who was made an honorary where they will find him." sheriff's deputy for his efforts in the Subsequently, Jordan led searchers into Tommy Kennedy case, is also a licensed the woods where "they found the funeral director and ordained minister exhausted five-year-old, under a tree in of a non-denominational Christian the exact location sketched by the psy- church. Potentially, he could help police chic the night before" (Randies and find a missing body, secure the crime Hough 2001). scene, supply a coffin, preach at the Unfortunately, the story has become funeral, and give periodic updates from "mythologized," according to Kenneth the person in the spirit realm! L. Feder and Michael Alan Park, who To assess Jordan's spiritualistic ability, investigated the Kennedy case for my I decided to sign up for one of his Figure 1. Phil Jordan, alleged clairvoyant and book Psychic Sleuths (Nickell 1994). medium, at the bar of his Seneca Falls, N.Y., shows. Since I had featured him at chap- They demonstrated how facts have been hotel where he gives spiritualist readings. ter length in a book (Nickell 1994), I (Photo by "Johnny Adams," a.k.a. Joe Nickell) exaggerated and the story subjected to decided it was best to adopt a pseudo- various embellishments. For example, A 1989 television re-creation further nym and to disguise my appearance. As the psychic's own accounts (Jordan exaggerated the story, leading Feder and "Johnny Adams," a somewhat homely 1977, 1999) fail to mention the T-shirt, Park (1994) to conclude, "It is curious old yokel with slicked-back hair and a detail given in Arthur Lyons and indeed that this case, with all of its con- nerdy hornrims, I attended Jordan's ses- Marcello Truzzi's The Blue Sense: Psychic tradictions and odd coincidences, is con- sion on August 9, 2003, with some four Detectives and Crime (1991, 74), citing sidered an example compelling enough dozen other hopefuls. Arriving early, I Fate magazine and the tabloid National to be singled out in a television docu- soon found my small table, its name- Enquirer. It is repeated by Jenny mentary more than a decade after the plate lettered with a red felt marker, Randies and Peter Hough in their cred- fact." And, of course, it has also been fea- "ADAMS 1." ulous Psychic Detectives (2001, 86-88), tured in mystery-mongering books such Sitting on a stool, Jordan tried to which, astonishingly, ascribes the as that by Randies and Hough (2001). provide readings for nearly every sitter. Kennedy case to 1982! Revealingly, the powers of Jordan and Some of his first readings seemed to Moreover, Jordan's map was vague and his ilk were illuminated by something of leave die targeted individual puzzled, contained erroneous details. It was appar- a national test case, when Washington, prompting that blank look—albeit endy of little use in the search, during D.Ci intern Chandra Levy went missing sometimes with a nodding head—that which Jordan supposedly received vibra- for many months. Thousands of self- seemed to say, "I'm trying to make a tions telling him "to go here, to go diere" proclaimed psychics offered "clues"— connection." His was a standard "cold- (Feder and Park 1994). Jordan had, by his Sylvia Browne, for example, visualized reading" technique (in which the reader 2 0 May/June 2004 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER artfully fishes for information and tosses One might have thought that—if he References out vague statements he hopes the sitter really had clairvoyant abilities—Jordan Anderson, George.