Page 62 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - August/September 2017

62 4 Successful People Who Are Frauds
4 Successful People Who
Everyone Forgets Are
Exposed Frauds
by Sammy Trujillo
Making a career out of ripping people off takes
a special kind of ciminal. But to make a career
out of defrauding the general public, get
exposed as a fraud, and then keep right on
defrauding people as if nothing ever happened
takes a special kind of criminale with balls of
industrial steel. Either that, or a sociopathic lack movie is how only a fool would doubt the
of self-awareness. Here are four people who just Warrens). So the next time you're at the theater Peter Popoff, a televangelist faith healer and
can't stop making bullsh*t up (and are
inexplicably rewarded for it).
Ed and Lorraine Warren
Hey, have you noticed how some recent haunted
house movies have advertised themselves as
being based on a true story? And that some of
them -- like The Conjuring -- kind of make that
the whole point, going on and on about the
"real" adventures of this husband-and-wife
house de-haunting team?
That's Ed and Lorraine Warren, who've
made a half-century's worth of headlines as
honest to goodness ghostbusters -- not so much
the wisecracking Bill Murray kind as the shit-
your-pants spider-walking Exorcist kind. They
have performed thousands of paranormal
investigations since founding the New England
Society for Psychic Research in 1952 and were
long considered the go-to experts on
demonology, a field in which we imagine there
isn't much competition. Their chilling true-life
cases range from a demonic child's doll to a
dude possessed by the spirit of a werewolf.
The Fraud:
One of the Warrens' earliest claims to
fame was the Amityville Horror, which, as most https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GN2yGfA
people are now aware, was an elaborate hoax.
But what's the big deal, it's all just fun and
games, right? Who cares if these people go
around selling Hollywood fake ghost stories?
Well, another famous case of the
Warrens was detailed in their book The Devil in
Connecticut, about a teenager named Arnie
Johnson who murdered his landlord while
possessed by demons he had inherited from a
little boy named David Glatzel after David was what seems like innocent, idle conversation" to guy's probably just a long-forgotten blip on the
given an exorcism arranged by the Warrens. Carl
Glatzel Jr., David's brother, wound up suing the
Warrens on the grounds that his brother was
mentally ill, not possessed, and needed actual
help from actual doctors. According to Carl, the
Warrens promised his family that they'd become
millionaires if they would insist that the boys
had been plagued by demons instead of a
completely treatable mental disorder. They also of award you don't accept in person.
promised that Johnson could beat the rap by
using demonic possession as a defense, a
seemingly bulletproof tactic that somehow only
succeeded in earning Johnson a prison sentence.
When the Warrens were writing In a
Dark Place, the book upon which the cosmically
forgettable 2009 film The Haunting in
Connecticut was based, they contacted horror
author Ray Garton to help. Garton went into the someone else (this is known as "piggybacking"). saying, “Crime Does Not Pay” - this does not
project thinking that he'd be interviewing a
family who truly believed they were being a collection of Caputo's failures on YouTube (he
haunted, but quickly found that the family was did the clip above) and spent over a year
deeply troubled, and no one involved could keep interviewing her past clients to discover that the
their stories straight. When he expressed his majority of them felt ripped off (because Caputo
concerns to Ed Warren, he responded, "All the happily demands cash payment in exchange for
people who come to us are crazy ... just use what sharing her incredible gift). Her response to
you can and make the rest up ... make it up and fraud allegations is the verbal equivalent of a
make it scary. That's why we hired you." shrug -- "I respect and understand skeptics. I'm
Hollywood loves the Warrens. The not trying to prove anything to anyone, that's not
Conjuring was just the latest in a slew of why I do what I do. I feel, and have been told by
royalty-generating films based on their stories, my clients, that my gift has really helped them,
and it went on to become one of the highest- and that's all that matters to me."
grossing horror films of all time, with spinoffs
and a sequel planned (a key plot point in the Peter Popoff
and see a horror movie poster proudly self-proclaimed Christian prophet with the voice
emblazoned with the words "based on true
of an angry cartoon character, became famous
events," whip out your phone and Google that
for his miraculous ability to guess the names,
shit. Chances are you'll find Ed Warren's
addresses, and illnesses of complete strangers
grinning face staring back at you, which is the
during his sermons and cure them through the
closest most of us will get to an actual haunting.
power of God Almighty. This includes making
old people throw away their walkers and start
Theresa Caputo
tremble-dancing like malfunctioning robots and
having parishioners claim to receive "miracle
Theresa Caputo, also known as the Long Island money, transferred into their accounts
Medium, can totally talk to dead people, for supernaturally," which is a direct quote from
reals, no joke. She claims to have started Haley Popoff's television program:
Joel Osmenting when she was 4 years old and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaFCGx3SI
has been a practicing (and certified!) medium Fs
for over 10 years, showcasing her amazing
abilities on her hit TLC reality show since 2011. The Fraud:
She presumably keeps her hair in the shape of a
microphone to help her receive transmissions Popoff's abilities were so unbelievable that, in
from the spirit world. the late '80s, the aforementioned gunslinger
skeptic James Randi decided to investigate.
The Fraud: Randi infiltrated one of Popoff's faith-healing
Let's watch her bomb spectacularly in revivals and monitored the airwaves,
front of a room full of people who stubbornly discovering that Popoff's wife was feeding him
refused to have recently deceased mothers and information about the audience through a
then marvel as she blames it on fickle spirits, wireless earpiece (every attendee was required
because clearly it's the ghosts' fault and not the to fill out a "prayer card" with their name,
fact that she can't actually communicate with the address, and primary source of woe, which
dead: Popoff's wife would simply read back to him).
Randi even went so far as to have a male friend
qcc dress in drag and pretend to have ovarian cancer,
Professional debunker James Randi which Popoff miraculously healed (we assume
examined Caputo's act and, to no one's surprise, the remedy was using the divine powers of
determined that it was nothing more than a very Christ to travel back in time and ensure that
familiar sideshow routine. Just like John Randi's friend was born a man).
Edward and countless others before her, she's Randi reported his findings on The
simply quite skilled at an age-old technique Tonight Show, and Popoff quickly found
known as cold reading, a method in which a himself in bankruptcy court without an earpiece
performer "can pick up enough information in to help him. More than two decades later, this
make it seem like they are reading your mind. televangelist radar.
Basically, it's just intuitive guesswork. She's so Because Popoff's organization is
good at it, in fact, that along with D.J. Groethe considered "religious" and therefore tax exempt,
(president of the James Randi Educational it is difficult to determine exactly how rich his
Foundation), Randi awarded her the 2012 scams have made him; however, back in 2005
Pigasus Award, reserved for "the most deserving (the last year his company was still paying
charlatans, swindlers, psychics, taxes), his ministry earned $24.5 million and
pseudoscientists, and faith healers." It's the kind owned property in excess of $5 million. When
asked about Popoff's comeback, James Randi
Meanwhile, an investigation by Inside responded, "Flimflam is his profession ... he's
Edition found that, while Long Island Medium very good at it, and naturally he's going to go
is edited to make it appear as though Caputo is a back to it." Even so, we wouldn't be surprised to
font of supernatural wisdom, she strikes out learn that Popoff actually has some kind of
again and again during live readings. She supernatural power, because he has been able to
brushes off these embarrassing gaffes by convince people to spend millions of dollars on
insisting that the blazingly incorrect message magic water while they are drowning in debt.
she received must have been intended for When it comes to these people, the
Private investigator Ron Tebo maintains obviously does not apply. []