Since this article was first written back in 2003, upon John Edward's first massive visit to Australia, he has returned many many times charging the same exorbitant fees with very few satisfied customers. Tickets for his shows were selling for AUD$500.00 and upwards to AUD$1,000, is it worth the money?
There seems to be a lot of people out there who are willing to believe wholeheartedly in the man, an ex-ballroom dancer who's real name is John Edward Magee Jr. But so far there's not too many people out there who are willing to ignore the positive press and take a look at whats really going on.
I appreciate what he's trying to do.......make money.......we could all do it, but after watching quite a few of his shows, to me it appears that he is really not talking to the dead and in fact is an incredibly good showman. Lets face it, the guy is nice looking and has that Hollywood white smile that can sometimes be a little scary, tanned bod and oh so expensively nice looking clothes. I guess there is always going to be a certain amount of people who will just naturally fall for that act without questioning it.
I have seen the man miss and miss again and walk off in a huff, just watch the show carefully and you will see what's really going on, it's very obvious! At first I thought it was a laughable and silly Cable network show. Lets thank the Australian Public for making his show a failure on Australian T.V, I'm so glad they took it off!.
Then why is there so many people who want to believe and are so easily conned by this person?. When we lose a loved one the one thing we all wish for is to be able to communicate with them again, no matter what, some people would give almost anything to be able to receive a message from the other side, and unfortunately I think John Edward is getting peoples hopes up and giving them something that is not the truth which is in fact false hope and false information.....i.e. a pack of lies. When people are grieving the loss of someone dear to them they are far too willing and far too vulnerable, John Edward knows this and is therefore using it for his own gain.
I have also seen the Hollywood celebrity readings and am also sadly disappointed when the celebrities claim "But nobody else knew that!". Get real, almost everything and some is available on the Internet about any celebrity out there. I have seen celebrities claim "the fans know more about myself than I do!" and really it's quite easy to gain any amount of information on any celebrity nowdays simply by Googling them. Celebs are just as....er vulnerable, yeah that's it... as anyone else and can also be just as easily fooled, and lets face the facts.....some of those Celebs ain't the sharpest tool in the shed!.
It seems that John Edward is a big fan, but not a very good practitioner, of old magicians' tricks called "Cold, Warm and Hot Readings". James Randi, well known skeptic and son of famous magician The Amazing Randi has been reporting the art of these readings for years now. His website has an intriguing and highly interesting article The Art of Cold Reading which I recommend you read.
Shermer has a much more in depth review on "Cold, Warm and Hot Readings":
The first thing to know is that John Edward, like all other
psychic mediums, does not do the reading--his subjects do. He asks them
questions and they give him answers. "I'm getting a P name. Who is this
please?" "He's showing me something red. What is this please?" And so on.
This is what is known in the mentalism trade as cold reading, where you
literally "read" someone "cold," knowing nothing about them. You ask lots of
questions and make numerous statements, some general and some specific, and
sees what sticks. Most of the time Edward is wrong. If the subjects have time
they visibly nod their heads "no." But Edward is so fast that they usually
only have the time or impetus to acknowledge the hits. And Edward only needs
an occasional strike to convince his clientele he is genuine.
This is utilizing known principles of psychology that apply
to nearly everyone. For example, most grieving people will wear a piece of
jewelry that has a connection to their loved one. Katie Couric on The Today
Show, for example, after her husband died, wore his ring on a necklace when
she returned to the show. Edward knows this about mourning people and will
say something like "do you have a ring or a piece of jewelry on you, please?"
His subject cannot believe her ears and nods enthusiastically in the
affirmative. He says "thank you," and moves on as if he had just divined this
from heaven. Most people also keep a photograph of their loved one either on
them or near their bed, and Edward will take credit for this specific hit
that actually applies to most people.
Edward is facile at determining the cause of death by focusing either on the
chest or head areas, and then exploring whether it was a slow or sudden end.
He works his way down through these possibilities as if he were following a
computer flow chart and then fills in the blanks. "I'm feeling a pain in the
chest." If he gets a positive nod, he continues. "Did he have cancer, please?
Because I'm seeing a slow death here." If he gets the nod, he takes the hit.
If the subject hesitates at all, he will quickly shift to heart attack. If it
is the head, he goes for stroke or head injury from an automobile accident or
fall. Statistically speaking there are only half a dozen ways most of us die,
so with just a little probing, and the verbal and nonverbal cues of his
subject, he can appear to get far more hits than he is really getting.
Sometimes psychic mediums cheat by obtaining information on a
subject ahead of time. I do not know if Edward does research or uses shills
in the audience to get information on people, or even plants in the audience
on which to do readings, but in my investigation of James Van Praagh I
discovered from numerous television producers that he consciously and deliberately pumps them for information about his subjects ahead of time, then uses
that information to deceive the viewing public that he got it from heaven.
"I was on the John Edward show. He even had a multiple guess "hit" on me that
was featured on the show. However, it was edited so that my answer to another
question was edited in after one of his questions. In other words, his
question and my answer were deliberately mismatched. Only a fraction of what
went on in the studio was actually seen in the final 30 minute show. He was
wrong about a lot and was very aggressive when somebody failed to acknowledge
something he said. Also, his "production assistants" were always around while we waited to get into the studio. They told us to keep very quiet, and they overheard a lot. I think that the whole place is bugged somehow. Also, once in the studio we had to wait around for almost two hours before the show began. Throughout that
time everybody was talking about what dead relative of theirs might pop up.
Remember that all this occurred under microphones and with cameras already
set up. My guess is that he was backstage listening and looking at us all and
noting certain readings. When he finally appeared, he looked at the audience
as if he were trying to spot people he recognized. He also had ringers in the
audience. I can tell because about fifteen people arrived in a chartered van,
and once inside they did not sit together."
I think there is enough evidence for any person out there to realise what John Edward really is. It's a case of opening up your eyes and taking a good look at how he's trying to take you and everyone else for a ride.
I wish John Edward all the luck in the world and hope there is some element of truth in his claim to be able to speak to the dead, otherwise I wonder how the dead will greet him at his own end?
THINGS TO REMEMBER WHEN CONSULTING A PSYCHIC
Try to get a Psychic who comes highly recommended from someone else.
Be highly skeptical and be sure to not wear any jewellry whatsoever or tell any type of personal details up front. If you wish for a reading on some jewelry it's best not to wear it but carry it in your pocket and hand it to the psychic.
Try not to react to anything the psychic says to you. A straight yes or no answer should be sufficient to keep them guessing. Always remember that body language will give your family history, your lifestyle and almost anything about you away and if the psychic is not genuine they will easily pick up on this and keep feeding you lies. Keep still and watch what your eyebrows are doing.
Be wary of giving large amounts of money. You should only have to pay for one sitting, usually between AUD$45.00 - AUD$75.00 (they can get a little expensive now) for approximately 1 - 2 hours.
If the psychic advises that you return for any type of further reading, spell casting, curse detection or eradication do not return back as this is usually a trick to get more money.
No self respecting psychic would tell a client bad news, if you have been advised of death or any extreme bad news leave the sitting immediately and do not return.
Rowena Gilbert - Castle of Spirits.com
Michael Shermer from Skeptic Magazine reports "There is, in reality, nothing
new here. Same story, different names. In watching Edward I'm amazed at how blatant he is in stealing lines from medium James Van Praagh. It reminds me of entertainers, comedians, and magicians who go to each others' shows to glean new ideas."
There is also the now well known Time magazine's article including a report from a John Edwards audience member, Michael O'Neill telling of how hopeless Edward is at the cold, warm and hot reading tricks he tries so hard at to work on the audience:
Don't consult the Psychic hotlines advertised in phone books, magazines and other places. These people have scripts which they work from and are in no way psychic. It is a complete waste of money.
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