Should 'Stage' Psychics Be Investigated For Fraud?

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   Seeker7posted 12 years ago

   Sally Morgan, dubbed as 'Britain's best loved psychic' has been all over the newspapers after fans who attended one of her shows, allegedly heard 'helpers' off stage giving prompts to the medium. Obviously these have been denied by the psychic and the theatre involved. I'm very open minded about the paranormal and I do believe in life-after-death, but one thing that I've never been able to buy into are these psychics - whether on stage or TV - professing to be able to tune into the dead relatives of the visiting audience. I've watched numerous shows with different psychics and not one of them has ever come out with anything that blew me away or made me say 'wow' that's incredible. In fact I've seen some of these psychics actually bully audience members into accepting information as correct, when the audience member obviously had no clue as to what the hell the psychic was talking about!
   
   But getting back to the question. If there is suspicion that psychics are using other people as prompters off stage, then surely this is fraud and they should be investigated for this?

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      DoubleScorpionposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      A wise saying:
      "A fool and his/her money are soon parted."
      
      Entertainment is entertainment. To each their own.

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      Shinkickerposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Should Stage Psychic audiences be investigated for stupidity? Yes!

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         earnestshubposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Check!

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            Wentworth35posted 12 years agoin reply to this

            It depends why they are going.  Some go, just for entertainment, some out of interest, some because they really believe in it, some because they have lost a loved one and are desperate to believe they still exist somewhere.  Personally, I attend some of these meetings, as an atheist, who does not believe in an afterlife, because I am fascinated by the psychology involved.  I have come to recognise the tricks of the trade, and can't see why others cannot see it.  However, I think people should be allowed to believe whatever gets them through the night, even if it is false.

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               earnestshubposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               People will always grasp whatever ideas are laying around in times of need.
               
               I think it is sad that so many learn later that they have been gypped though.

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         Seeker7posted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Hi Shinkicker - okay some audience members might be stupid, but that's not a crime! However deceiving to make money is. My hit is not at people who go to these shows, but whether or not these 'psychics' should be investigated under the law. If people want to be 'stupid/gullible' or are 'stupid/gullible' then let them be so, after all it's their life.

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      A Troubled Manposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      What's funny about this is the 'cherry picking' of beliefs. Believers will cherry pick their religious beliefs and decide what they want to believe and what they don't want to believe from their holy books. They project this contradiction and hypocrisy into other paranormal/supernatural nonsensical areas without any thought whatsoever to the fact they are cherry picking their beliefs.
      
      So, once again, it's all about what they want to believe, whether it's psychics or religions.

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         Seeker7posted 12 years agoin reply to this

         LMAO!!!!

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      Repairguy47posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Fraud? That is the equivalent to seeing a movie like Avatar and wanting the director brought up on fraud charges because a place like that featured in the movie doesn't really exist. Its entertainment, nothing more.

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   Wentworth35posted 12 years ago

   This is nothing new.  Mediums have been using the same tricks since the 19th century.  Doris Stokes used to have people she knew in the audience, and whenever she was getting too much wrong, she would turn to one of her friends, who of course accepted everything.  I have been told by a medium that she had the spirits of my mom and dad waiting to give me a message.  I let her give me all the information, before telling her that both my mom and dad are still living.  Even then, she tried to make me accept her message, and told me to go home and think about it.  I did think about it, but realised that my mom and dad were still alive, no matter how I tried to view her message.  I have also been told my another medium that in my previous life, I was a dog from another planet.  It all adds to the fun, but the problems arise when bereaved people need the hope that these mediums just cannot give.

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      Seeker7posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Hi,
      
      I think that's one thing that both angers and bothers me about some mediums who obviously play on and use people's grief in order to cash in. For me that's the lowest of the low! There was one 'medium' caught out many years ago - not a celebrity, but local. He would scour the newspapers for the latest deaths, find out what he could about the family and then contact them to say 'someone who has just died wants to speak to you badly' or something similar. He made a good living out of it as well until he was rumbled and was lucky to esacape to another area without getting lynched. But as people say he is probably doing the same thing but just under a different name. People are vulnerable when they are grieving and it makes people like him even more sick!

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   Emile Rposted 12 years ago

   Sure. I guess. The gullible should be protected. But, I'm not sure what good it would do. They've investigated and exposed those crazy televangelists that claim to heal people; but those who want to believe just keep on believing.

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      Wentworth35posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      A well-known British medium, who shall remain nameless, a few years ago was caught cheating in front of a large audience.  There was a lot in the press about it.  Did it destroy his career?  No, it made him even more popular than ever.  People need to believe, and no evidence will ever be allowed to get in the way of what they need.

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         Emile Rposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         That's true, but I don't know if it is such a bad thing to create the illusion; for those who have such a need. They say our  delusions are as important to our hapiness as our reality.

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      Cagsilposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Protecting stupidity is futile. Preventing stupidity is all about education and honesty with self.

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         Emile Rposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Good point, but all the education in the world won't necessarily lead to an emotionally balanced and rational individual. Some people aren't capable of being honest with themselves.

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            Cagsilposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            That's obvious with all the religious folk running rampant on the world

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      Seeker7posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Hi Emile,
      
      I don't think it would stop those who want to believe in these mediums, but maybe it would stop these psychics being able to make so much money out of people's grief and hopes? But you are right, when people have an absolute need to believe, even if some of these mediums were sent to jail, they would still believe in them, because not to do so would be too painful!
      
      
      Hi Wentworth35,
      
      As I was saying to Emile, I do agree that it won't stop people believing in what they feel they need. But one of the issues about this is, are these mediums actually breaking the law? If for example a nurse or doctor claimed to be healing people and they were found out it was false, they would get struck off the medical register and prosecuted as well. I know that's an extreme example in comparison to a psychic, but it really pisses me off when these people get away with this 'fraud' - if of course that's what it was.
      
      I did hear about the 'British medium'. What I heard was that many of 'his' fans believed that he had been 'set-up' deliberately and so he didn't actually 'cheat' - as you say people do need to believe in these kind of people and idolise them. I think many fans also believe that these 'psychics' have a special gift given to them from 'god' and of course this just adds to the 'belief' syndrome.

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         Jean Bakulaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         I travel in Metaphysical circles, and nobody I know (nor me) has ever consulted the kind of psychic who claims to get you in touch with a loved one who has passed on. I have had experiences myself where I am sure I feel the attention or intervention of a departed loved one, but would never try to "get in touch" with a soul for another person. It might give them false hope, or intensify their grief. Most people have psychic ability, it's just that they don't all develop it. Some tarot readers keep people coming back by saying they can tell them more for X amount of dollars. In that case, you have to be very naive to believe somebody would use them and take their money.

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            Jean Bakulaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            PS Once while shopping in a store of metaphysical stuff (can't stand the term new age, it's all ancient wisdom) a psychic approached both me and the friend I was with, and did tell us things that would have been impossible for her to know, in my case about my father, and in her case about her husband. But in a setting like that, it just upset us both and made us cry. Sometimes you aren't in the mind set to be reminded someone you love is no longer with you in body.

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         Wentworth35posted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Yes, these mediums are breaking the law, at least in Britain.  The Fraudulent Medium's Act of 1951, made such fraud against the law. Under this law, it was up to the person accusing the medium to prove that they were fraudulent.   However, this act was replaced in April 2008 by the Consumer Protection for Unfair Trading Act.  It is up to the medium under the new rules to prove that they are innocent.  The only way they could do this, will be to prove that they are actually psychic or mediumistic.  The only way mediums can protect themselves from accusations of fraud, is by stating before they give any readings, that they are doing so for  entertainment purposes only.   However, I have been to many Spiritualist meetings, and have never heard a medium make this statement.

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            Jean Bakulaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            In my state of NJ, any kind of astrology or tarot reading has to come with that kind of "entertainment only" statement. Many of the same groups have Reiki healing and sharing groups, so you find many different kinds of activities going on under one roof, one business. It's up to readers like myself to decide if I trust the person who owns the business to work out of it (you need each other, there's not a huge amount of clientele), and vice versa. Usually mediums work on their own, in private settings. We have Spiritualist churches, but I have only attended other kinds of affairs held there, am not a member of a congregation, though I do believe the soul survives after physical death.

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               Seeker7posted 12 years agoin reply to this

               Hi Jean,
               
               I'm like you in that I don't attend any main stream audience participation such as with the spiritualist church. Also when I studied the Kabbalah with my tutor they basically said that most 'psychics' who touted for money were rip off merchants and to stay clear. With the Kabbalah as well, you may be aware of spirit but you don't force the issue or draw them out.
               
               The best 'psychic' I ever met and the only one I have met who did have ability was an old aunt of my Dad's. She didn't discuss or display any of her abilities outside the family - she was remarkable.

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                  Jean Bakulaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                  Hi Seeker 7,
                  Nice to see you . If you want to investigate something that serious and emotional, you want your info to come from someone you know and trust, like your Dad's Aunt, in a setting where you are more familiar. I know a little about the Kabblah tree of life, but learning more is always on the list.

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                     Seeker7posted 12 years agoin reply to this

                     Hi Jean,
                     
                     I know what you mean about 'always on the list' - I still have a very long list that I've had for a few years now and instead of getting shorter it just seems to get longer!!!!!

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   recommend1posted 12 years ago

   Cheating psychics should be jailed for fraud,
   
   along with the main stream psychic frauds priests and vicars and ministers and preachers and others who claim to be in touch with dead people.

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      Seeker7posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Hi recommend1,
      
      I agree with you. If it can be proved that any form of psychic/healer/church people who are taking people's money by claiming to do something they are not, then it is breaking the law - or it should be!

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         nadejda13posted 12 years agoin reply to this

         so a lot of doctors- they are taking people's money but not always  can cure the disease

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