Psycic John Edwards is being challenged by mind- illusionist

I have always felt that John Edward preys on people, and instills false belief by asking very well placed questions.Some folks are so vulnerable- Anyhow, this Aussie may be calling his bluff, I am curious to hear what the rest of the story is on this one!

Quote from Article follows-

A Melbourne sceptic has lodged a formal complaint with Consumer Affairs he hopes will force American psychic John Edward to prove claims he communicates with the dead.Self-described "mind-illusionist" Mark Mayer, who admittedly possesses no psychic abilities, but has his own show where he appears to read minds, said he wanted to force Edward to prove his claims or admit his show was a scam.Edward begins his Australian tour in Perth on Friday. His After Life tour arrives in Melbourne on March 2."In the history of spiritualism no one has ever been able to prove that they communicate with the dead," he said.He believes under section 106A of the Fair Trading Act John Edward will be forced to substantiate claims on promotional material that he communicates with the dead."(Edward is) riding on people's vulnerabilities at the worst time in their lives," Mr Mayer said.Mr Mayer said a disclaimer that appears on John Edward's television show Crossing Over showed the opinion of Edward was not intended to be "a factual statement in any way whatsoever" and "was intended as entertainment" yet he promoted his show as a genuine communication with the dead.

Source

personally

i believe that it is no different to going to see a play or concert, if it makes you feel better than do it.

the way i see it is this, yes he charges 10k for a 1 hr reading but if he didn't how buisy would he be???

like i said if it makes someone feel better, why not get them to pay for it, it is no different than a massage or a foot rub, but you pay for that.

i believe that john edward is psychic, that guy trying to discredit him was only after 1 thing, publicity.

he told one of our largest current affairs programs that if they didn't air the story BEFORE he was finnished his own tour that he would take them to court, NOW WHO IS THE MONEY GRUBBER???

I think the SouthPark episode featuring Mr. Edward summed him up perfectly......

[Edited on 29-2-2004 by Facefirst]

If people are dumb enough to actually believe him and waste their money on him, thats thier business.

that other guy with the moustache, I don't remember his name, seems to be a better pyschic or communicator than John Edwards. Edwards just seem to know how to ask the right questions and make good guesses.

you mean james van pragh (sp?)

Colin Fry is also annother good one.

thanks!!!! that's the guy!!! Jame Von Pragh or however you spell it.

yeah, he seems to be more intuned to the "supernatural" than John Edwards.

There was a show describing the kind of show John Edward has. Apparently someone from the show's workforce goes into the line of audience waiting to go in and take a seat and starts asking random people random questions about them. They then mark where the person is sitting and tell John the information they got and he has to memorize all of it. During the show he then asks those same people that were asked the questions outside of the studio and then everyone goes WOW!!! (I forgot which show this was, sorry).

thecatalyst - that is a lie, if you intend to keep up that it's about john edward's show. but there was a show in the past that did this. im reasonably sure he had a class action suit filed against him, and lost. what logic would motivate people to try this a second time, especially with a previous court ruling against it?

with a little bit of practice, anyone can do what edwards does. he is nothing special. i would love to see him humilated by this guy.

Penn and Teller had a show where they looked into John Edwards as well as some other so called psychics. Their research exposed a few things that many people don't know.
1.) The technique used is called "Cold Reading" which anyone can learn to do and has been used for many years by various Con Artists and Grifters.
Cold Reading: Involves the psychic reading the subject's body language etc, and skilfully extracting information from the subject, which can then be fed back later, convincing the subject that the psychic has told them things they couldn't possibly have known!
Guide to "Cold Reading"
www.skeptics.com.au...

2.) All those who are guests on the show must sign a long contract that binds them legally to never be able to expose anything they witness while at the show which may discredit the ability of the psychic.

3.) There are inside "spies", as someone else has pointed out earlier, who find out information directly from the people so that it can be used later.

4.) Besides the "planted spies" who directly recieve their intel, there are also people who do various types of background checks and research to find any available information which might also help the reading.

5.) What people don't see, from the TV show anyway, are all the missed attempts or completely wrong 'guesses' that happen during the reading. The taping of the show is actually very long compared to the 30min. or hour long show that is edited and broadcast for the public.

Penn and Teller also made a point to express their personal feelings towards these TV psychics and what they are doing and the way they do it. Simply put, they were very angry and disgusted by the whole thing. As entertainers themselves they know the technique and how it's used. When used as a means of entertainment they have no problem with it or those who use it. However, many of these so called psychics go to far they say. Many of these people who get readings need real help dealing with the loss of family members and/or friends and not someone who tells them a bunch tales resulting in short term fixing of long term emotional problems. On top of that, the cost required for these readings is outrageously high, often resulting in serious financial trouble as well, on top of everything else. They (Penn & Teller), known around the world for their style of comedy mixed with magic, see these 'cold reading psychics' as nothing more than charlatans who prey on people when they are in emotionally weakened states of mind and take them for incredible amounts of money just as any common thief would do.

I'll keep my personal feelings and opinions out of this, so don't complain to me if you don't agree with what I posted above. Write to Penn and Teller if you have problems with it. Whether or not you still want to believe in these TV Psychics is still up to you of course.

I think the SouthPark episode featuring Mr. Edward summed him up perfectly......

I agree, Penn and Teller tore him apart too

Originally posted by JustAnIllusion
If people are dumb enough to actually believe him and waste their money on him, thats thier business.

i guess you didn't read the part about preying on people during the weakest point in their lives. Either that or you are someone who thinks it's fine to manipulate others as long as they don't get it.

John Edwards uses FACS
Sorry about the one liner, I have nothing else to add.

[edit on 7/3/2008 by schrodingers dog]

Maybe that David John Oates character from Australia should do reverse speech on Edwards and see how that goes.



Are there any links online for the Penn and Teller video? I'm awful curious to check that out.