(6) Fri 21 Nov 97 22:19 By: Christopher Baker To: All Re: Randigram - Psychic backpedaling St: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ @EID:bd47 2375b260 Delivered-To: majordomo-jrefinfo-nu-real-outgoing@redhotmomma.ssr.com Delivered-To: jrefinfo-nu-outgoing@ssr.com Date: 21 Nov 1997 05:53:11 -0000 From: James Randi --- Wizard To: broadcast-JREFInfo@ssr.com Subject: To set the record straight.... Sender: owner-jrefinfo@ssr.com Reply-To: James Randi --- Wizard Tonight, CBS-TV broadcast a "48 Minutes" show featuring a "reading" by a prominent "psychic." I was brought to New York some weeks back to see the segment and to comment on it. The viewing audience saw a sanitized version of the session that omitted many important factors. Here is an account of what actually took place during 60 minutes of a very weak attempt at psychic flummery.... ---------------------------------------- THE ACTUAL READING.... (Figures in parentheses indicate the elapsed time in a one-hour-long reading.) Van Praag began with a prayer designed to establish that this is a religious exercise, and he established that interruptions or doubts are not encouraged. Next, he provided loopholes for his failures to guess correctly: he said that he might "get" a message from any of a multitude of entities out there -- he said there were hundreds -- and he often just can't sort them out. (0:47) He said that they all "come through" at once, and confuse him. He warned (01.20) that skepticism slows things down, makes things difficult. He said that he would only "get" what "they" would give him, so he should not be blamed for errors, and that if he is wrong, he will ask the spirits to "refine" the facts for him. This reader is typical of the profession. He works with stereotypes and generalizations. Expressions like "Who is....?" are used frequently and are very general, and require the victim to fill in the details. They can be narrowed down quickly and then they appear to be specific. Heart disease and cancer are the two predominate causes of death in middle-aged or older persons. He tried and hit on both these, in this reading. Glaringly obvious and quite safe scenarios were offered: "Many times you've felt that you're alone." (4.45) "Are there stairs in the house?" (16.20) Quoting the spirit of the husband, after the woman said her husband sometimes gave her jewelry, and that she was pleased by this act: "She used to love it when I gave her jewelry." (22.10) He tentatively suggested something many times, and when he got a "no," he passed right on. But if it was a "yes," he quickly invented a clear, direct word-for-word quote from the spirit that expresses this "hit," and delivers it: (9.06) "He's very strong, and I'm not sure what.... Is this your husband?" "Yes" "Cause he just said, 'Husband, I'm her husband, I'm her husband.' Okay?" And, (21.10) "Was he in the hospital before he passed over, please? "Yes." "Because he's talking about being in the hospital before he passed over." "Did he die in a hospital?" "Yes." "It's like, I'm waiting for him to come through with this.....Yeah! I died there! He says he died there." As with all these operators, he constantly asked questions, requiring the victim to establish a connection between what he said, and something in her life. It's her failure to find a connection that made the "misses." When he got a direct, unequivocal "no," he told the victim to "Keep that," as if the connection would later become evident, which it never did. (5.45) "She's mentioning something about the head area, here. Have there been headaches, problems with headaches? Do you know about that?" "No." "Okay. Who had trouble with the head? Ah... head problem, or past the head condition? Like a quick head problem?" "I don't know." "You're not aware of that. Keep that, please." And he rushed on, never coming back to this bad guess. Typically, in these scams, the victim is portrayed as a person of virtue, and the reader used that ploy, too. (9.45) "You've always been there for everyone else. And you're not there for yourself. You're very good at helping other people, and taking care of people's problems. And always there for other people but not for yourself." etc. He offered very common names or simply initials, as well as expected events, and the victim tried to make them fit. In this reading, he tried 25 common names, in less than 60 minutes: (Alphabetically: Ben. Bernie. Betty. Bob. Fran. Frank. Frankie. Howard. Howie. Jack. Jackie. Joe. Joey. John. Joseph. Lillian. Lilly. Linda. Liz. Lizzie. Lynn. Marie. Mary. Rob. Robert. This fact, that he guessed so badly, was not introduced on the "48 Hours" show. Other can't-lose guesses he threw out were: New York City, Brooklyn, birthday, anniversary, reading newspapers in the morning, glasses, cooking, then the initials H, J, and L, which could be for names of people, cities, anything. A common technique which he used is to give the victim back material that was already developed or already known. For example, 30 minutes into the reading, he gave her "Long Island," which he was already told about before the session started. His specific guesses missed badly. (18.20) He tried for a Cadillac, any Cadillac, belonging to anyone, past, present, or future, and missed. (18.00) He guessed she has a son; she doesn't. (20.20) He tried for legal problems with the husband's will, and failed. (34.00) He assured her she'll have a message waiting for her at home from a Lynn or a Linda. It didn't happen. She didn't find the watch set at 3 o'clock in that second drawer that he assured her she'd find. He's obviously experienced in his trade. When the victim slipped and mentioned her husband's name, Jack, he wisely saved it until later, at which point, eleven minutes later, he suddenly "got" a large letter "J" and then "Jack" fifteen minutes later. He tried standard ploys. Female persons of this age range are very likely to have inherited a piece of jewelry from a deceased relative. As soon as he learned that the victim's mother was dead (she told him this), he tried for that jewelry "hit," but it was denied. Even though he came back to it later, he still didn't get it accepted. And knowing that the victim's mother was dead, he naturally threw in the grandmother, too. A person of this age is unlikely to have a living grandmother. The fact that he says the two women were "close," is hardly miraculous. Another common gimmick in this scam: he quickly followed a guess with the question "Do you understand?" all in one fluid sentence, getting a "yes" response. The "yes" will always follow such an attempt, but it's an answer that says, "Yes, I understand what you've said or what you're talking about." However, the strong impression is that it's an affirmation of the guess, not of the understanding. When we can't see the face of the victim continuously as in this taping we can't know how much nodding (affirming or denying) is taking place. This subject, when we did see her face, appeared to give such clues freely; it's polite and quite natural to do so, especially when the reader is always asking for a response by his inflection or by his non-verbal facial expressions. Usually, the victim will tend to give a blank reaction if the reader is not going in the right direction, and a "yes" nod or actual verbal agreement, when he is. Thus, we can get many more "yes" responses than are really evidential. There were two predictions made by the "psychic." He said, "There was a watch....oh, the watch. He's saying it's a watch.... something to do with 3 o'clock.....There's a box at your house that has a watch of his in it.... second drawer down. Pull it out." He said she'd find this watch when she went home. This did not happen, but we were not told this. He also said there would be a message from a Linda or a Lillian awaiting her when she got home. There was no such message waiting, but we were not told that, either. **************************************** Subscribe to SWIFT! **************************************** SWIFT our quarterly (hardcopy) newsletter, is $10/annum Checks payable to JREF (address below). Tax deductible in the USA. Overseas, add $6 for airmail. ********************************************************************* To Subscribe/Unsubscribe from the mailing list: ********************************************************************** To subscribe: send a message to JREFInfo-request@ssr.com. In the body of the message have the one word, subscribe. To unsubscribe: Send mail to JREFInfo-request@ssr.com. In the body of the message have the one word, unsubscribe ----------------- How to Contact Randi: ----------------- James Randi Educational Foundation phone: +1 954 467 1112 201 SE Davie Boulevard fax: +1 954 467 1660 Fort Lauderdale FL 33316-1815 http://www.randi.org U.S.A. General questions: randi@randi.org Mail directly to Randi: 76702.3507@COMPUSERVE.COM --------------------------- BACK ISSUES OF THE HOTLINE: --------------------------- ftp.ssr.com is the home of the hotline, but we are very over loaded, so please try the other sites first. European users please try: Thanks to Anson Kennedy and Massimo Macucci for providing the ftp sites at netcom and unipi.it. -30- --- DB B2300sl/001027 * Origin: Rights On! - Make me believe it! - Edgewater_FL_USA (1:18/14) SEEN-BY: 12/12 218/890 1001 270/101 353/250 396/1 3615/50 51 3804/180 @PATH: 18/14 374/98 46 3651/9 396/1 3615/50 218/1001