Tonight I am going to Hastings Theatre to see, believe it or not, Sally Morgan, the TV psychic and medium do her thing. I have always been extremely sceptical of psychics, but when you know people who have had their minds read - and then had it done to you yourself, you tend to re-evaluate things. I saw a programme on ITV2 a few weeks ago where Mrs Morgan 'spoke' to the dead relatives of various celebrities. On the face of it, it was amazing stuff. Anyway, my partner and my sister fancied going, so I thought why not?My only experience of this sort of thing was at university when we had one of these shows in one of the lecture theatres one evening. I got called on stage and had my mind read. I can't remember the psychic's name but he asked if I had a library card on me. I produced it and he proceeded to read a 15 digit number off it without being able to see it. He then asked me who my favourite TV character was and to think about the person as I wrote it down. He correctly guessed it was J R Ewing. My sister went to a similar evening recently and the medium spoke to her via my Godmother who died last year. She was completely spooked but it as there were a number of things which the medium said which she could not possibly have known.
One of my colleagues at Total Politics told me a story the other night. His father broke down in the middle of nowhere, but there was a telephone box nearby. As he was walking past it the phone rang. He went into the phone box and picked up the receiver. "Hello darling, what time will you be home?" said the person at the other end. It was his wife. When he asked her how one earth she could phone a telephone box without knowing where he was, she said she hadn't, she had phoned his mobile. When they checked their phone bill a few weeks later the number which was shown was the phone box. How spooky is that?
Anyway, in case you think I am going off my rocker, I intend to treat the evening as a bit of fun. Have any of you had any experiences with mediums or psychics you wish to share?
UPDATE: 10.30pm What a load of old bollocks. She may be hugely convincing on TV but in the theatre she's rubbish. The polite applause at the end told the story of the evening. But the number of people who were hanging on her every word and willing her to play with their emotions was astonishing. After the second person she reduced to tears I felt like leaving, but the sheer mawkishness of it was somehow too gripping. "I'm getting Justin, or Justine ... Maybe justice. Has anyone had a problem with the law?" she asked at one stage. Half the audience then looked at their feet. Well, it was in Hastings... She finished by telling a story about a 23 year old British soldier who came to her for a reading. "I fitted him in on a slack day between TV filming," she informed us. He wanted to know if there was an afterlife. Three days later he killed himself. "His Mum came to see me," Sally told us. I bet she did.
31 comments:
There's this fella called Crystal Balls Blaney whose been amazing with his predictions over the last few years.
Check this out from October 20:
"And yet stealthily, Obama's fabled 14-point poll lead has been chipped away at. One poll has Obama 2.7% ahead, within the 3% margin of error. Of course national polls are largely meaningless, it's how each state votes that matters. But the national polls matter because they give one candidate or other "the Big Mo" - the momentum necessary to carry him to victory. After the conventions, McCain had the Big Mo. As the economic crisis exploded earlier this month, Obama had the Big Mo. Does McCain now have the Big Mo?"
There can be no rational explanation for Donal being wrong 100% of the time - how does he do it?
It sounds great. Do look out for the various tricks usually employed and report back. Try counting the missed shots in fishing expeditions like"I am hearing a name beginning with T ... Terry? Tommy?... Tim? ... Oh of course, it is Tim" -- no "of course" about that one! And see if anyone is chatting in the queue or foyer and getting a bit of personal info, and then moving on to chat with someone else. See how many of the "facts" divined about a person on stage would also fit you, or at least 75% of people of the same age and gender.
Your library card story is a cracker -- where was the assistant standing? How far were you from the wings? Did you have to hold the card a certain way?
When you read things like this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Sylvia_Browne
particularly the Shawn Hornbeck story it makes you wonder why anyone thinks it's just a bit of fun.
During a brief sojourn running a pub I (against my better judgement), allowed some "psychics" in. I'll never forget how much they upset one young (19yo) girl whose mother had died about a year earlier. Worrying, especially as she had a habit of glassing people when she got emotional.
It's sad to see so many unhappy people being fobbed off with a cold reading and bland platitudes.
Vile people. Shame on you for giving them money and perpetuating this nonsense.
I went to see the Psychic Barber http://www.thepsychicbarber.co.uk/index.html a few years ago at St James's church in Piccadilly. Standing room only, and weird. Meditation, lighting of candles, incense, patchouli oil, and then horror of horrors 'introducing yourself to the person next to you'. (Juan from Colombia) What a crowd, I hadn't seen so many flakes since my last attack of the scabies.
Anyway the psychic scalper set to work. Conveniently the spirits neatly alternated their appearance from one side of the church to the other, so each side felt they got their money's worth (apart from me). He was a bit so-so and then he came dashing over to our side of the church and said 'has anyone just lost their son in Iraq'.
'Jeez', I thought, 'Ab-so-lute Dy-na-mite'.
Sadly no-one had. What a disappointment. He was stood there then feeling a bit stupid and, as they do, tried to suggest he'd got it right and we'd got it wrong.
'A soldier? Passed on in the last two weeks. He's coming through very strongly'.
My half of the church to a man and woman sat there thinking '...son...soldier...died...Iraq...nope...not me'. Like it's the sort of thing that could have slipped your mind.
Then there was excitement as a woman over the other side shouted, 'soldier...son...Iraq...yes.' So the psychic chap dashed over followed by the lady with the microphone. And said to her,
'Your son...a soldier in Iraq'.
'Yes', she said, 'can you get a message to him?'
'Has he passed on', said the Psychic Barber.
'No', she said, 'he's still alive'.
Jesus H by this point I'd had enough and stood up and shouted 'then send him a letter you silly mare, that's what the bloody postal service is for.' Ok I didn't but I thought it
, James Randi, through the JREF, will pay US$1,000,000 [One Million Dollars/US] to any person who can demonstrate any psychic, supernatural or paranormal ability under satisfactory observing conditions. Such demonstration must take place under the following rules and limitations: blah blah blah.
-----------------------------------
That should tell you all you need to know about whether there is anything to psychics or not. I mean when there's a million on the table why mess about reading library cards?
...and pps I've lost count of the number of tmes I've heard that telephone story,
That explains why Sally Morgan, the Lib Dem PPC for Central Devon, keeps getting odd casework - about contacting the dead!
I'm sorry to say it's all cold reading - these people are preying on their audience's emotions.
They remember the "hits" and forget all the missed guesses.
Here's an analysis of one of Morgan's readings. it's a pretty shabby sideshow to be honest...
http://badpsychics.co.uk/thefraudfiles/modules/news/article.php?storyid=681
It's strange how people who are so sceptical about the simple message of Jesus fall for this sort of thing.
p.s. word verification = triall
What Joe Bonnano said.
I think that psychics are either self deluded or extraordinarily cynical people who take advantage of the vulnerable and grieving. If any of them can prove that they can speak to the dead under reasonable experimental conditions then I'll change my mind, but until them I'm in the same camp as Charlie Brooker who had an entry in the index of one of his books :
Psychics see Grief Raping Sucksacks
I went to a psychic once, I asked if she knew I was coming. She said no.
And now a big hand for ... Gordon the Great.
I predict..{pause..spotlight shines.Gordon in his magic cape is deep in thought} I predict...
{drums begin to roll}
"An end to boom and bust!"
{fanfare tumultuous applause from the conference}
"Thank you thank you..you sir, what was your tax rate in 1997?"
"erm i think 37%?"
"Correct..and today its 45%!"
{Surprised man turns to partner and says "he's right!"}
"Ok.. you madam. Do you drive?"
"Why yes."
And you live at 36,Acorn Close?"
"my gosh..that's right."
"and you have children? four children?"
"Yes! How did you know.?"
"The Great Gordon knows all. He has CCTV everywhere."
"So..You have a large gas guzzler..A Ford Focus"
"Thats not a gas guzzler"
"it is since the last budget. I predict an extra £250 car tax for you..from..{deep thought}..April 1st 2009"
"And finally.. I will now make the value of your pensions Disappear!"
{puff of smoke, big Flash Gordon}
"Thank you thank you, try the fish..I'm here for at least two more years."
crowd leaves.They are impressed. One man says to wife " I saw him do that pension trick before..only he did it with gold."
She replies "I saw him make house price wealth completely vanish. He's on the telly too. Richard and Judy sometimes have him on ."
Go and see a Derren Brown show and how accurately he 'cold reads' audience members using psychology rather than magic powers. I have and its very impressive.
Psychics and mediums make money by tricking vulnerable people. That's okay when it's pretending to guess your library card number, but questionable to say the least when it's pretending to communicate with the dead.
And your phone box story is baloney. This one too: http://stevyncolgan.blogspot.com/2007/01/another-cosmic-joke.html
The J.R. Ewing thing is just pencil reading (deducing what you write from the movement of the pencil.) The rest of it will have been fake too - because that's what psychics are.
Word verification: bedepol, the international police force for arresting Northumbrian monks.
If anyone is tempted to believe in psychics, then I suggest reading this website.
http://www.randi.org/
Either these people are fakes, or they see no purpose to having an extra million US$, to do with as they will.
Nothing silly about that anecdote, Iain.
I think it's dreadful that people play on others weaknesses and emotions like that. Didn't Houdini expose many fakes?
Anyway, Darwin's friend Wallace became heavily involved in spiritualism. It didn't escape my notice that spiritualism was heavily populated by women at that time. I wonder if it still is? Are women designed to be more gullable?
If people know what they are getting into and enjoy it then these things are cool.
It is just a shame that so many charlatans manage to convince people they are serious, take their money and mislead.
If it is offered and taken as entertainment then fine, but beyond that....?
To get a good understanding how much of this area works, we only have to watch Derren Brown and many past 'magicians' including Houdini who spent a lot of time debunking them.
I’ve never believed these people who profess to tell us the future.
My late father was told that after I had one bout of cancer, I would never have another cancer, and that I would be fit, healthy and father with three children.
Well, I did get cancer again, never had children, so its complete tosh.
They have found a nice way to earn a lot of money.
Strange - I read the minds of your readers in advance before even looking at their replies.
Why should any of these people with amazing powers perform in public? Surely they should be amongst the super-rich? Their answer is brilliant - they cannot use their powers for their own enrichment.
They know what type of gullibles come to see them and have a team in the queue and foyer spotting likely marks. Every audience must contain somebody who lost a relative or friend recently and so on.
The best commentary on this can be found in the life of Harry Houdini. Desperate to contact his dead mother he visited many mediums (media?) and, with his knowledge of illusion, found them all to be fake. A good magician or illusionist can be very impressive.
Ian - If you have time read Christopher Brookmyre's 'Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks'. It's a novel, but it contains an excellent debunking of all things psychic and reveals many of the tricks used.
But just empahsize those last words - 'tricks used'. Everything you will see is a trick. Some will by achieved by 'cold reading' some will be acheved by careful planning, some will be achieved by detailed research, but everything is a trick.
Anyone standing on stage portraying thmeselves out as psychics have actually just one thought running through their minds - YOUR MONEY. Please don't be fooled...
Don't worry, biblebasher, plenty of us atheists frown upon mystic mumbo-jumbo in a perfectly even-handed fashion.
Would you have gone to see this if "Sally Morgan" had not been on the TV?
Can't people disengage themselves from the notion that ideas, people and events have to be validated by television?
In the old days we used to go to the local gig and take whatever was on that week. Sometimes you got magastars, sometimes you got those who achieved megastardom and sometimes you saw people who were perfectly good but vanished without trace. None of this, whether it was music or variety, depended on TV exposure.
This weekend was a trial for me. I have been promoting music concerts (yes, it is my day job) and have had difficulty pursuading punters to listen to unknown acts. One of my performers was signed to EMI and has a current national record distribution deal. She has a small enthusiastic fan base, but until she gets TV, few will gamble the price of a packet of fags to see her. She will make it because she is very good and very ambitious and well-connected. A shame. Just think of all those people who can say they saw (insert famous name here) before they made it.
There is a lot of fantastic talent out there. Its a shame you are waiting for the TV to tell you what to see and then complain how dire it is.
The phone box story is a well-known urban myth Iain. Suggest you check a few websites before republishing similar "a friend told me about something that happened to a friend" type stories.
"Psychics" use a clever combination of accurate "person-reading" (eg, wide knowledge of different types of people, emotional display, etc), tricks involving having sneaks in the audience (the library card trick would have been done by having a pickpocket read the card then via a radio-mike give the info to the "psychic") and other similar tricks.
Suggest a viewing of the series "Jonathan Creek" for further insights into how these things are done!
Derren Brown's your man, Iain, as someone else has mentioned. He's the astronomer to Morgan's astrologer, and a one-man antidote to this kind of psychic nonsense.
Comedy.
I hope your blog goes some way to alerting web users to the shortcomings of Sally Morgan and reducing the negative impact that she can have on vulnerable people.
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