Page 60 - April-May 2020 Neat

60 Famously Dubious Psychics & Mediums

Famously Dubious

Mediums, Psychics, And
Supernatural Investigators

by Melissa Brinks

Fake psychics are almost as compelling as the
real deal. Being a psychic, medium, or other
afterlife mediator is rarely a lucrative career, but
the flash-in-the-pan attention it can garner has
drawn many aspiring supernatural superstars to
the field. Fake mediums and other supernatural
frauds have a long history in America and
beyond, inspiring figures like Harry Houdini to Miss Cleo's High-Cost Deceptions Sylvia Browne was one of the best-known
dedicate their lives to exposing the hoaxes. television psychics, especially for her work with
Were Discovered By The FBI
police in finding missing people. Unfortunately,
When it comes to supernatural phenomena, the most of her predictions were revealed to be
burden of proof always falls on the person who completely wrong - on more than one occasion,
claims that they can communicate with the dead Browne said that missing people were dead
or banish bad spirits. If you say that's what you when they were later found alive. In one
can do, then that's what you're expected to do - particular case, she told the mother of missing
but these fake psychics and other charlatans girl Amanda Berry that her daughter was dead.
instead prey on the fear and grief of others to The mother died two years later - seven years
make their tricks seem believable. Here are just before her daughter was found alive. In fact,
a few of the trickiest psychic frauds who have according to the Committee for Skeptical
been making the rounds. Inquiry, of the cases with conclusive endings,
none of Browne's predictions were actually
The Fox Sisters Kicked Off Victorian correct.

Spiritualism
Uri Geller's Spoon-Bending Exposed
On Late Night TV

Miss Cleo was once a mainstay of the late-night
infomercial circuit, promising that she'd reveal
the future to callers using tarot cards and other
psychic methods. In actuality, Miss Cleo was
Youree Dell Harris, a woman from Los Angeles
who joined the Psychic Readers Network in the
late '90s. The network was later fined for
fraudulent claims and billing deception, and
ultimately revealed to not even be filmed live -
they were delivered from a script. Though Harris
herself was not indicted, she was the face of a
company with serious lapses in ethics, making
her one of the most visible fake psychics in
history.
The most common depiction of a medium often
includes a group of people sitting around a table Sylvia Browne's False Predictions Uri Geller is one of the world's most famous (or
watching a crystal ball, waiting to hear rapping maybe infamous) psychics, best known for his
Leave Parents Grieving
sounds indicating that someone is trying to apparent spoon-bending ability. However,
communicate with the leader of the séance. during a 1973 appearance on The Tonight Show,
Those rapping sounds, however, can be directly the host coerced Geller into using objects he
traced back to the Fox sisters - Leah, Margaret, selected rather than Geller's usual equipment.
and Kate - whose antics shaped the future of After spending some time contemplating the
American spiritualism. As religious movements objects, he claimed that he wasn't feeling strong
were gaining strength, the sisters discovered that enough to perform his feats and called it off.
they could make rapping sounds by cracking Carson, the host that evening, was familiar with
their joints, which they used to convince others stage magic and had set the situation up to
that they were communing with the dead. prevent Geller from using sleight of hand or
Eventually, Margaret and Kate confessed to their other trickery. When Geller declined to perform
trick, though Margaret recanted her confession without his own spoons and other objects, it was
when she hit a period of poverty later in life. a pretty clear signal that when he wasn't in
control Geller's powers seemed to mysteriously
STAY SAFE, STAY HEALTHY, vanish.
STAY AT HOME AND
PRACTICE SOCIAL DISTANCING (Continues on Page 61)