Page 24 - 201002 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - February 2010

February 2010_june_july_2009.qxd 18/02/2010 9:04 AM Page 24 24 John Edward: Hustling the Bereaved John Edward: Hustling extras” in photographs of his clients. But and so on in this talkative fashion. the Bereaved Mumler’s scam was revealed when some of his “Cold Reading” ethereal entities were recognized as living Boston residents (Nickell 1994). The great magician Harry Houdini By contrast, today’s spirits-whom John (1874-1926) crusaded against phony Edward and his fellow mediums supposedly spiritualists, seeking out elderly mediums who contact-seem to have poor memories and taught him the tricks of the trade. For example, difficulty communicating. For example, in one while sitters touched hands around the séance of his on-air séances (on Larry King Live, June table, mediums had clever ways of gaining the 19, 1998), Edward said: “I feel like there’s a J- use of one hand. (One method was to slowly or G-sounding name attached to this.” He also move the hands close together so that the perceived “Linda or Lindy or Leslie; who’s this fingers of one could be substituted for those of L name?” Again, he got a “Maggie or Margie, or the other.) This allowed the production of some M-G-sounding name,” and yet again special effects, such as causing a tin trumpet to heard from “either Ellen or Helen, or Eleanore- appear to be levitating. Houdini gave public it’s like an Ellen-sounding name.” Gone is the demonstrations of the deceptions. “Do Spirits clear-speaking eloquence of yore; the dead now Return?” asked one of his posters. “Houdini seem to mumble. Says No-and Proves It” (Gibson 1977, 157). The spirits also seemingly communicate Continuing the tradition, I have to Edward et al. as if they were engaging in investigated various mediums, sometimes pantomime. As Edward said of one alleged attending séances undercover and once spirit communicant, in a Dateline “He’s obtaining police warrants against a fraudulent pointing to his head; something had to affect the medium from the notorious Camp Chesterfield mind or the head, from what he’s showing me.” spiritualist center in Indiana (Nickell 1998). The No longer, apparently, can the dead speak in By Joe Nickell camp is the subject of the book The Psychic flowing Victorian sentences, but instead are Mafia, written by a former medium who reduced to gestures, as if playing a game of Superstar “psychic medium” John Edward is a recanted and revealed the tricks of floating charades. stand-up guy. Unlike the spiritualists of yore, trumpets (with disembodied voices), ghostly One suspects, of course, that it is not the who typically plied their trade in dark-room apparitions, materializing “apports,” and other imagined spirits who have changed but rather séances, Edward and his ilk often perform fake phenomena (Keene 1976)-some of which I the approach today’s mediums have chosen to before live audiences and even under the glare have also witnessed firsthand. employ. It is, indeed, a shrewd technique known of TV lights. Indeed, Edward (a pseudonym: he as “cold reading"-so named because the subject was born John MaGee Jr.) has his own popular Mental Mediumship walks in “cold"; that is, the medium lacks show on the SciFi channel called Crossing advance information about the person (Gresham Over, which has gone into national syndication The new breed of spiritualists-like 1953). It is an artful method of gleaning (Barrett 2001; Mui 2001). I was asked by Edward, James Van Praagh, Rosemary Altea, information from the sitter, then feeding it back television newsmagazine Dateline NBC to Sylvia Browne, and George Anderson-avoid the as mystical revelation. study Edward’s act: was he really talking to the physical approach with its risks of exposure and The “psychic” can obtain clues by dead? possible criminal charges. Instead they opt for observing dress and body language (noting the comparatively safe “mental mediumship” expressions that indicate when one is on or off The Old Spiritualism which involves the purported use of psychic track), asking questions (which if correct will ability to obtain messages from the spirit realm. appear as “hits” but otherwise will seem Today’s spiritualism traces its roots to This is not a new approach, since innocent queries), and inviting the subject to 1848 and the schoolgirl antics of the Fox sisters, mediums have long done readings for their interpret the vague statements offered. For Maggie and Katie. They seemed to credulous clients. In the early days they example, nearly anyone can respond to the communicate with the ghost of a murdered exhibited “the classic form of trance mention of a common object (like a ring or peddler by means of mysterious rapping sounds. mediumship, as practiced by shamans and watch) with a personal recollection that can Four decades later the foxy sisters confessed oracles,” giving spoken “'spirit messages’ that seem to transform the mention into a hit. (For how they had produced the noises by trickery ranged all the way from personal (and more on cold reading see Gresham 1953; (Nickell 1994), but meanwhile others sometimes strikingly accurate) trivia to hours- Hyman 1977; Nickell 2000.) discovered they too could be “mediums” (those long public trance-lectures on subjects of the It should not be surprising that Edward who supposedly communicate with the dead). deepest philosophical and religious import” is skilled at cold reading, an old fortunetelling The “spiritualism” craze spread across (McHargue 1972). technique. His mother was a “psychic junkie” the United States, Europe, and beyond. In Some mediums produced “automatic” who threw fortunetelling “house parties,” one of darkened séance rooms, lecture halls, and or “trance” or “spirit” writing, which the entities the alleged clairvoyants advising the then- theaters, various “spirit” phenomena occurred. supposedly dictated to the medium or produced fifteen-year-old that he had “wonderful psychic The Davenport Brothers conjured up spirit by guiding his or her hand. Such writings could abilities.” He began doing card readings for entities to play musical instruments while the be in flowery language indeed, as in this excerpt friends and family, then progressed to psychic two mediums were, apparently, securely tied in from one spirit writing in my collection: fairs where he soon learned that names and a special “spirit cabinet.” Unfortunately the other “validating information” sometimes Davenports were exposed many times, once by Oh my Brother-I am so glad to be able to come applied to the dead rather than the living. a local printer. He visited their spook show and here with you and hold sweet communion for it Eventually he changed his billing from volunteered as part of an audience committee to has been a long time since I have controlled this “psychic” to “psychic medium” (Edward 1999). help secure the two mediums. He took that medium but I remember how well used I had The revised approach set him on the road to opportunity to secretly place some printer’s ink become to her magnetism[,] but we will soon stardom. In addition to his TV show, he now on the neck of a violin, and after the séance one get accustomed to her again and then renew the commands hundreds of dollars for a private of the duo had his shoulder smeared with the pleasant times we used to have. I want to assure reading and is booked two years in advance black substance (Nickell 1999). you that we are all here with you this (Mui 2001). In Boston, while photographer William afternoon[-]Father[,] Mother[,] little Alice[- H. Mumler was recycling some glass ]and so glad to find it so well with you and we Continued on Page 25 photographic plates, he accidentally obtained hope and feel dear Brother that you have seen faint images of previous sitters. He soon the darkest part of life and that times are not Visit The ‘X’ Zone Radio Show on the Web adapted the technique to producing “spirit with you now as they have been . . . . www.xzoneradiotv.com