Page 83 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - February 2023 Edition

Secret Sting to Expose Celebrity Psychic 83

Inside the Secret Sting

Operations to Expose

Celebrity Psychic

Continued from Page 80

After he began busting paranormal con
artists as a hobby, Randi won a
MacArthur grant that he leveraged into a
variety of different venues, including
annual ship cruises filled with skeptics,
called the Amazing Adventure. On a
2009 voyage to Mexico, Gerbic met
Edward, who was on board as the

skeptics’ entertainment.

alive — kidnapped by a white guy with Moore. His audiences admire him, but
Edward himself is a mentalist and claims
no powers other than to entertain. He tedious hair. then they probably haven’t Googled past
once posed as an undercover clairvoyant the first page of results to learn that
to infiltrate the Psychic Friends Network, During the Q. and A. session, Edward before he popularized his gift for talking
managed to get to the microphone. He to the dead, he was Lady Vera Parker, a
which became popular as late-night
told Browne he was possessed by spirits, drag queen in Chicago who later got into
infomercials that offered psychic
readings over the phone in the 1990s. For fell into a trance and started to name some trouble when Thomas John
another Psychic Friends spinoff radio them: “Lynda McClelland!” On Flanagan (his legal name) was charged
program, he climbed the heights of the YouTube, you can see Browne barrel with theft, fined and sentenced to
onward, even as Edward pretends to probation — precisely what the specific
organization and became the backup to
collapse, and move to the next audience charge was for, his lawyer explained in a
the show’s Master Psychic. Edward
wrote a book about his clandestine life as member with startling speed. statement, the psychic can no longer
a medium, “Psychic Blues.” remember.
One day, at a skeptics’ meeting in 2011,
Gerbic and some others realized that On the appointed night of the show, in
After they became friends, Gerbic and
Sylvia Browne was just down the street. came Susanna and Mark Wilson, dressed
Edward found themselves griping to each
other that skeptics had become too much They decided to sabotage her show but in fancy clothes and toting third-row
of a closed group, too often just patting with a slight twist. They couldn’t V.I.P. tickets and unobtrusive recording

each other on the back. Skeptics’ groups, guarantee getting someone to a equipment. Because Susanna’s Facebook
microphone; instead, they just handed out page mentioned her losing her twin
Gerbic told me, “always seemed to be
cards to people entering the show. The brother, Andrew, to pancreatic cancer,
bogged down by bureaucracy and rules,”
and she really wanted “to do something cards said nothing more than “Shawn Gerbic arrived clutching a handful of
and stop talking about it.” Hornbeck” and “Lynda McClelland” — tissues, a tactic she encourages because it
the idea being that for some audience sends the psychic the message that you

members, a little curiosity and Google will be an emotional and entertaining
Then Edward happened upon a new way
would handle the rest. reading. Right away, Thomas John said
to lure people into the realm of reason.
Instead of just busting psychics outright, he was tuning in to a twin brother who
he focused on helping the audience Gerbic told me that the group’s previous wanted to speak to his sister. Gerbic
members discover the ruse. Edward was hot-read sting — Operation Pizza Roll — raised her hand.
worked perfectly back in 2017. She and
at a 2009 show featuring a giant of the
the other skeptics spent 10 days creating “Somebody is making me aware of
business, Sylvia Browne, who was
performing at the Gibson Amphitheater Facebook profiles in advance of Thomas cancer?” John asked, and Gerbic choked
in Los Angeles, hosted by the TV John’s visit to southern Los Angeles. up, yes, yes. John reeled her in: “I’m
celebrity Montel Williams. At the time, Gerbic used her Facebook sock puppets, getting something right in here,” and
“Susanna and Mark Wilson,” to register pointed to his abdomen, “stomach or
Browne was making a comeback from a
herself and her pal Edward. pancreas?” Gerbic acted emotional. And
few psychic catastrophes. Browne told
Lynda McClelland’s daughters that their John went straight down the rabbit hole,
mother, who had disappeared, was alive John is a well-known figure on the all the while being careful not to bring the

and in Florida. Later, McClelland’s body psychic circuit. He names people’s pets crowd down. He said of Gerbic’s
and dead relatives with breathtaking first- fictional dead brother: “First off, he is
was found near where she lived in
attempt accuracy. He has a thriving making fun of you, teasing you for being
Pennsylvania. Browne also predicted that
an 11-year-old named Shawn Hornbeck practice on Madison Avenue, and on the here with me! He’s laughing about it!”
in Missouri had been kidnapped by a West Coast, his press materials tout a host And the audience laughed, too.
brown-skinned man in dreadlocks and of Hollywood clients, including Sam
Smith, Courteney Cox and Julianne (Continued on Page 85)
was dead. Then Hornbeck was found