John Edward: Psychic Medium or Cold Reading Fraud?
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The title of this hub suggests that I am calling the validity of John Edward's mediumship into question. From a journalistic standpoint, indeed I am. I want to examine all available evidence and present an argument both for and against his psychic abilities, particularly his assertion that he communicates with the dead and has been doing so since a young age.
From a personal perspective, however, I will say that I do believe in him. I don't know whether or not he gives cold readings or has accomplices sitting in the audience or microphones hidden in the eaves outside where guests of the show wait on line. But I do know that he provides closure, that the people who have sat down with John Edward for a reading have come away feeling as though they connected with someone they had lost. His universal message is that another realm does exist, that although we cannot see those who have past we must never forget that they are still there, alive and well on the other side, and that they continue to watch over us. He reinforces this fact over and over again, and despite it's legitimacy it provides comfort if nothing else.
After giving private readings at home and at psychic fairs for a number of years, John Edward was eventually given his own show "Crossing Over" on the SciFi channel in July 2000. A hundred or so audience members gather in a studio with John Edward and wait as he receives images from the otherside. The audience is instructed NOT to give him any information or further details, just to either validate or invalidate the messages he is delivering to them. He emerges from backstage, gives a brief intro, then begins talking quickly and "feeling pulled" to a particular section of the audience, saying something like, "I'm getting an M name, like M, like Mary, Marie, Maria...?"
Skeptics unanimously agree that Edward uses a method called "cold reading" during his performances. Cold reading is a mentalist technique that dates back to the Spiritualist movement of the late-1800's. According to Wikipedia.org, cold reading is "a technique used to convince another person that the reader knows much more about a subject than he actually does. Even without prior knowledge of a person, a practiced cold reader can still quickly obtain a great deal of information about the subject by carefully analyzing the person's body language, clothing or fashion, hairstyle, gender, sexual orientation, religion, race or ethnicity, level of education, manner of speech, place of origin, etc." The definition goes on to say that cold readers use high probability guesses, picking up on clues from their subjects to see if their guess is going in the right direction. If it is, the medium will quickly reinforce this information. If it's a miss, the medium will quickly move on.
Barbara Walters 20/20 Investigation
Mediums who allegedly use the cold reading technique usually assure compliance from their subjects ahead of time by saying something like, "Often the messages I receive will be unclear and fuzzy; I'll need you to help me decipher what it is they're really trying to say." The medium will begin by making a series of probing questions, the subject will reveal further information with his or her verbal or non-verbal replies, and the pattern repeats from there. One cold reading technique supposedly employed by John Edward is called "shotgunning". Basically, the medium quickly offers a huge amount of very general information all in one sentence to a large group of people (the audience), watches for reactions, then narrows the scope down to a smaller section until someone connects with the information. A shotgun opening could sound something like, "I'm getting an M name from a mother-figure, someone above you, this could be mother, aunt, grandmother, older cousin, step-mother even someone who raised you who acted as a mother-figure."
Critics point out that due to the show being edited for television, Edward appears to be more accurate than he actually is. Those who have attended a live taping estimate that he is only correct 10-20% of the time. While this may be true, and certainly John Edward seems to employ these methods of cold reading, some amazing "hits" have been documented. On the website Greatest Hits and Misses of Psychic John Edward, one example of a great hit involves a Disney ring.
John Edward: One last validation. She says to go into the bathroom, Okay and in the bathroom there is something in an unusual spot, forward left. So when you walk into the bathroom, right to the left there, there's something right there she wants me to acknowledge. It's like Mickey Mouse related. It's like Disney related.
Sitter (Mother's older Daughter): - Oh My God!John Edward: What is this?Sitter (Mother's sister): That's where my ring is that she got me when she was in Disney World.Interview with a Con-Artist
Skeptics also latch onto the idea that Edward never says anything negative. The messages from the deceased are always pleasant, letting their loved ones know that they're fine, that they're doing okay. And yet I can remember one instance where he connected with a woman's mother and reported that she was very cold, very negative, with a biting tongue and a nasty attitude. Skeptics are hard pressed to believe that everyone is happy and loving on the other side, but isn't that what Heaven is for? Critics also believe that Edward is immoral for targeting people when they are at their most vulnerable, mourning over the loss of a loved one.
Bottom line, whether his methods of communicating with the dead are valid or not, John Edward is friendlier, and more astute than his crude, harsh counterparts James Van Praagh and Sylvia Browne. The messages he delivers are positive and reassuring, providing comfort and solace in a time of extreme grief. His readings have helped thousands of people find peace in the midst of a tragedy, thereby enabling them to move on and live fuller, happier lives, secure with the knowledge that their loved ones are safe and sound in a place we cannot see, waiting to reconnect with us when the time is right.
External links
- John Edward
Official site for psychic medium John Edward - Can John Edward speak to the dead?
Transcript of John Edward's interview on Larry King Live - Psychic medium John Edward
Wikipedia entry for John Edward's biography and television credits
Critical articles
- Demystifying John Edward
Offers sample psychic readings and evidence that the studio is rigged - Hustling the Bereaved
Joe Nickell studies Edward for the show Dateline NBC - Crossing Over
Deconstructing the set-up of the show - James Randi
Paranormal debunker analyzes a two-hour taping of the show "Crossing Over"
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Comments
He gets lot of media attention. Hes being kept afloat as there are many stakes involved, media pundits etc.
How old is this article? John Edward "crossing over" hasn't been on Sci Fi in like 2 years. For the last year and a half he's been on WE network with Cross Country. It seemed like this was a current hub, but the info is pretty outdated.
Last year I went to a taping of Cross Country and was amazed. He read me and my family and hit things that I had never told anyone. We didn't speak to anyone in the audience, or fill out any papers. The tapings aren't like that. Even Penn & Teller Bullshit show couldn't find anything inappropriate or off about John Edward.
I think Isabella has a lot of nerve calling him a fraud when I just bet she's never even seen him live. Must be nice to just sit back and eat up what the tv feeds you and be able to judge on that.
I agree with the above.
Oh please. His readings are cold as hell. It's people like you who are so easy to convince. God, get real. Watch someone like Colin Fry and you'll see how shite John Edward is. Did he actually NAME anything? Or just elude and give random broad statements - he cant even tell if someone is related, FFS!! "A man to the side of me, which means brother, friend, cousin, neighbor" LOL! What a frigging joke!
I won't know till I experience something first hand. But I went once to what I discovered was a cold reading, but my intelligence signed off and left for the day. Only, when I sat and thought about it in private did I discover his tricks! This wasn't a communication with spirits, but an astrological prediction of my future.
I generally let sleeping spirits lie.
Great hub, BecauseIlive, to provoke such debate!
Does it matter- I hear he is hanging up his psychic hat to become the next president (he thinks) :)
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I don't think anyone can actually communicate with the dead. So-called psychics are a great farce and they use such general terms that a lot of people can relate to! If the dead truly have a voice through psychics, there'd be less crime in the world. Unfortunately, this isn't the case so we have to rely on the FBI and private investigators.
Cecille C.
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Marsha,Marsha,Marsha.....I OWN ALL the Bullshit series and I am surprised you are not on it!!!!! Penn & Teller found Edwards had the MOST iron clad "NO TELL" contract on the market that every one in ALL his audiences HAD to sign---IF you had been there,( and most likely hadn't- since you knowlege of Bullshit was bullshit) you would have known THAT. It must be difficult to preform felatio on someone while ballroom dancing-since it's the only "time" he has off from the "voices". Freaking crazy people-----baaaaaaaa.
If 'closure' is what you're looking for I'll be happy to take $1000.00 an hour from you and give you ALL the closure you want. Edwards charges $1500 so I'm a great deal. All it takes is a sociopathic-like ability to play a guessing game, fishing for information while watching diligently for tell-tale signs in your response (cold reading), and by telling you what you have psyched yourself up to hear your pre-programmed mind is amazingly easy to manipulate. Oh puhleeez. You really have to be a special kind of stupid to believe this stuff. IF Mr Edwards was authentic he would not be charging such outragous fees. By the way, why is it he NEVER brings messages from loved ones in hell or a place of torment??? If you want a logical explanation of how he operates and just how far WRONG he really is, go to : http://randi.org/jr/2006-04/042106edward.html And while you're there, take a look at the Million Dollar Challenge page. Maybe John Edwards wants to take a crack at it and prove once and for all that what he claims is truth. Go on John, I dare you!
I live in Vineland, NJ 08360, that's in South New Jersey near Atlantic City. I would like you, to recommend me, a physic that I could travel to see, let's say about 130 miles from were I live. I would like to go see a medium in person. I would very much appreciate, your help.Michael J. Batt615 S. 7th St.Vineland NJ 08360 856-794-2180
To BeeSA - you say J Edward must be fake for making money off of his talent, but then urge him to take a million dollar dare to prove he's real. Then, if he took you up on your dare, you'd turn around and say a real medium wouldn't profit off of their talent. Which way do you want it? Also, this 'cold reading' information is certainly hard to prove or disprove, but how does that explain telephone readings?
I'm not sure where I fall in believing Edward, but I do think it's as much a mistake to 100% disbelieve in speaking with the dead as it is to 100% believe anyone who says they are a medium.
Also, Edward does explain that there is suffering on 'the other side' - that one must atone for his/her negative actions made on earth. That is something I most certainly do believe in.
after watching all the mediums on tv ive come to the conclusion there all fake except for one lisa williams,i joined a spiritulist church and have worked out how most mediums do it,i could do it myself,its so easy,they never give names only say things like ive got you grandfather here,and then give you a so called message from them,i got one medium tongue tied when he said he had a message from my grandfather i asked him which one as i have 2 he just said he wouldnt say his name,no proof to me.
All I know is I had a reading by John Edward and he got my name (even though I went alone so I wouldn't be talking with anyone.) He also mentioned "Mary the Artist" the same phrase used by another well known psychic who I had visited more than a year earlier. (My Grandmother Mary did art shows all over the country.)
I am fairly skeptical, wasn't as convinced by his getting my name as with the "Mary the Artist" phrase being given me exactly by two different psychics more than a year apart. I would be crazier to think they were following me around and planning this or thinking they had both said those exact words by coincidence.
Noone is perfect in their trade, and J.E. couldn't do this work for free and still support his family.
That's all I have to say about this. Good luck with your evaluation.
The way I look at it, John Edwards is a very soul, the other two mentioned (Browne and Praagh) are soulless, they often come across "ghoulish". Browne had me fooled many times on Montel, I almost believed her, then I went to her website, and the minute I saw her for money church, and the languaging there, I realized she was one of the best con artists. She is long and well known as a fraudulent, yet is heavily promoted by the Hollywood media powers for reasons best known to them (and some of us investigators).
What I saw and know is this: John Edwards brings light and comfort to people - the other two - esp. Browne - when she pretends to be human - come across as artificial. JE was making a lot of those people nervous, as they would put him on air and promote heavily as LONG as ALL he was doing was getting hits via cold reading - when he demonstrated more and more real hits, they took him off.
But even if ALL JE is cold reading with those amazing results, it was OK as he had a soul. Had I lost someone and didn't know how to go on, I'd rather be cold read by someone like him back to a place where I could function and move on. Better than paying a zillion dollars for often useless therapy and/or getting addicted to scrip drugs like I see happening to so many.
As for the rest of the naysayers, beware of the negative karma you are setting up for yourself on this matter. Psychics have existed for as long as spirit has been on this earth - and that's exactly where we are returning, full speed ahead, despite the long predicted "age of destruction" currently underway.
I have been a psychic for years with fabulous results. trouble is i do a variation of the same routine every time. even when i tell people it is a trick, they don't believe me. lying to someone does not give them closure.
I feel sorry for the nay-sayers...It's sad to me that you have no faith...JE has a gift...We should be thanking him for sharing it with the world instead of tearing him down...Not that JE is anything like Jesus...BUT...there were plenty of people who hated him because he was special...they killed him because they were afraid of him...Hmmm...sounds like humans are simply inperfect, but we knew that didnt we?
Watch the South Park episode about John Edward...it sums it all up
Hi
I think wherther these people cold read or are the real deal - are they really hurting anybody ?? it's no different to religon if people want to believe and it helps them deal with their grief and mourning where's the harm ??
Why tear these 'physics' down everybody has to make a living and they have every right to charge for their services the same as a doctor or a shrink - if people go of their own accord and leave happy and feeling better then fair play to them and good on them for filling the world with a bit of happiness instead of fighting and raging war on the rest of the world !!!
LEAVE THEM ALONE
I just saw John Edwards in a Gallery setting last night. I believe he is a complete fraud! Out of 500 people, he did readings for maybe 10-15 people and he was 100% accurate. The most interesting thing was that none of the people who received readings were in line! I was there for several hours before the doors opened and those people were not in that line. He should be ashamed of himself for preying on people who are in such fragile emotional states. He charges $175 a ticket, and everyone leaving looked extremely depressed. It's strange though.....the people who recieved readings were no where to be found after the show was over. I honestly don't know how this man lives with himself.
I saw John Edward 2 nights ago also (Wednesday in L.A.) probably the same show "Brenda" went to. I was with my 2 sisters, and we were fortunate enough to be among those who received readings. And you are WRONG, Brenda... we most certainly WERE too in line!! I saw a few of the other reading recipients in line and in their seats during the time before John came out on stage. Brenda states "the people who recieved readings were no where to be found after the show"... you didn't look very hard -- my sisters and I stayed around after the show... why didn't you approach us?? WE saw other reading recipients after the show... where the heck were YOU? None of the things the skeptics claim are true: We were NOT told where to sit, staff members did not hover around eavesdropping on conversations, we were not asked to fill out cards, or any other type of thing like that. Besides, while in line and in our seats before the show, we didn't discuss ANYTHING that might come up in a reading, neither did the ladies sitting next to us, who also got a reading... so that blows the "surreptitious info gathering" theory!! John was almost 100% accurate in our reading. Our Dad and my sister's husband both came through. John knew my father's name, without "fishing", he said it straight out "Jack is here". He knew my sister's husband's astrological sign. He brought up my nephew's name "Patrick" (not a common name). He knew how both my sister's husband and our Dad died. He actually pinpointed my father's problem to his lower back (a spinal abscess led to his death). He knew my sister's husband was in the navy. He knew the nick-name of his & my sister's dog, Libby. My sister's husband sometimes called her "Lulu" (also not a common name). My sister didn't pick up on this right away, because John mistook the dog for a cat, so she didn't acknowledge it, and John went on to something else. He knew about the 2 flags my sister has (from her husband's funeral, and her father-in-law's funeral) and a third one that my mother has from my dad's funeral. He referred to a drug problem that my nephew has. He said that someone in my sister's family was having a dental problem.... well, my sister's 6-year-old grand-daughter had visited the dentist that very day for an abscess. He knew that someone in the family sang opera (my paternal grandfather). And there was more that I can't think of right this second. Most of these things are NOT general things that could apply to anybody, as the critics assert. So Brenda, don't assume that just because YOU didn't get a reading that John Edward is a fraud... it sounds like sour grapes to me! Obviously you didn't feel this way before, or you wouldn't have paid to see him. You most assuredly would be singing a different tune, if you HAD gotten a reading!! I believe that John is the genuine article. I believe he is a very spiritual, honest, God-fearing, beautiful human being, and I'm grateful for the gift he shares with others.
And he charged you $175 for a ticket????? Hmmmm seems to me like he is also making all sorts of money off this. He said someone having dental problems...and you said that a grand daughter had dental work that day...what does that have to do with the afterlife...sounds kind of fishy or is it fishing to me. Iam glad tho that you got your $175 worth.
Do YOU work for free?? Oh really? Why not?? Every other professional "makes all sorts of money off" what they do: doctors, lawyers, athletes, singers, musicians, etc. (It's common for people to pay upwards of $1,000 for sports or concert tickets -- to ME, THAT'S ridiculous! But people have the right to spend their money any way they see fit.) Anyways, John is worth every penny and then some! In fact, I just bought another ticket to see him again in August. And by the way, you misunderstood... the dental problem, for instance, doesn't in itself have to do with the after life... John is simply interpreting info coming from the person who has passed. I understand that not everyone believes that spirits can communicate through people like John Edward, but many of us do!
You are right..professionals have to make money at what they do best, and people have the right to spend their money as they see fit. I like to spend mine on buying a ticket to see a magician. I watch them perform their shows and know that they are tricks but they seem so real. I just wonder tho....there are many unsolved murders in the United States every year, why doesn't he help the police solve them by contacting their spirits so they can say who killed them? Would that stand up in a court of law? I don't think so.
@Kaffee..................great posts there and for defending JE. I dont need to get a reading from JE..i know the chap is a real deel. Reading all these nego...posts about JE and whatnot........shows completely why this country or the world is in such a bad place. Ego driven peeps that just believe in the I and me and show no relation to the spirit side. Faithless turds....what i'd say. Keep driving your fast car....................see where it takes you. See ya back at the light.
well said skopas - kinda what I was saying but perhaps slightly less politely - like it :o)
Kaffee Completely with you too .... :oD
Why is it so hard to believe that someone can communicate with our past friends and relatives? It's the same concept as a child prodigy being born with the knowledge of playing the piano. If people would just stop and think about the possibilities. My son, my husband and myself were on an episode of Cross country that aired in Oct. of 2008 which they entitled "energy abound". I was the one who was knocked off a horse backward, I was 12 years old, and my Grandfather came through as a father figure to my husband, to whom he was very close, And he knew my uncles name, Wayne and about the property my grandmother gave my father, after grandpa died, 20 years ago. That was not a cold reading or luck by any means. You do sign a contract, and believe me, no one was talking to each other in the waiting room before the taping of 73 people. I'm not a religious person, but John Edward has opened up a spirituality in us that didn't exist before, and frankly I think we're a little better for it. To the nay-sayers I say, don't be too quick to criticize us if you haven't REALLY thought about the possibility.
Great Article.
I'm a psychic though, this test said so, I got 23 out of 25 correct, making me 100% genuine psychic!
t.sue, in answer to your question: because it scares them and threatens their religious beliefs to think that it could be true, that people can communicate with loved ones on the other side. If this is true, then it might invalidate some of the religious beliefs they've been taught all their lives. They have "faith" in their religions and believe things because they were told all their lives to believe them, yet they are hostile to people who believe that there are folks with special gifts who can communicate with the spirits of those who have passed. The ironic thing is that gifted people are able to prove that spirits exist among us and that they can communicate with them, yet the naysayers will still deny what they see and hear with their own eyes and ears - at the same time they will defend their own religions all day long, when there is no way to prove what they believe to be true. With there being so many different interpretations of the Bible, thus so many different religions, how does anyone know which interpretation to believe? Why is there a need for so many different versions/variations of the Bible? I mean no disrespect to anyone's religious beliefs, but I think people who discount psychic abilities, with hostility, should really ask themselves where the hostility comes from. Fear that it might actually be true, perhaps?
I also recently attended a John Edward event, and I confirm that there were absolutely no forms to fill out, no one lurking around the crowd trying to eavesdrop on conversations. And after the show, I saw the people who had been read, standing around among the rest of us regular humans. Give me a break! Why would the staff go to that much trouble to defraud people. Seems like a huge risk to me. Where are all the people who have been read by John coming forward to tell everyone that their reading was pre-arranged and fake? I don't see anyone coming forward to tell all about their arrangement with the staff to be brought in after the rest of the "sucker" audience has been seated and then somehow made to disappear after the show, so no one could ask them questions. Again, give me a break!! Do you people really think that NONE of them would squeal? Oh, maybe they were paid off to not say anything about the "trick" readings. After the money was spent, would they really still not squeal all over the internet? It's amazing the number of justifications people can come up with to discount the validity of John's readings.
John is genuine. Accept it. Or don't. But, please, don't make an idiot out of yourself agruing against something you know nothing about. Once we're dead we'll know the truth. We'll just have to be a little patient!
I have been to see John Edward a year and a half ago in Houston. Went in skeptical and came out 110% sure he is the real deal. I think Sylvia Browne is a big fraud. So are alot of others. Everyone that got read was in line. No one, as someone mentioned above, had to sign an "agreement" of confidentiality.
I went too see john edward in the helix in Dublin on september and he is the real thing. I do beleave in sprits they are all around we know they are there. I would like too get a reading with john thats one thing i would like is a reading.
regards
Lisa
i must say that sue c is really meaning something here but I still belive in God.and we really do not know but go with the bible..physc abilites cld be true..i just dont know..
Oh yes I think he is real and I think I know how he is able to do so.
John Edward has often remarked that he sometimes feel as though he is taken hostage and has to do a reading.
Now I used to have right temporal lobe epilepsy, triggered by music and trust me your brain is certainly taken hostage complete with auras and all, The temporal lobe has to work its way through the fit complete with auras and deja vu's and psychic feelings I would often get the names of people who I hadn't been introduced to via thought forms . Now just supposing my temporal lobe was not damaged yet still these psychic feelings occured?
Wouldn't that make me well... psychic?
Isabella Snow says:
2 years ago
Fraud, who probably believes he's psychic. His readings are 100% cold. I used to watch his show all the time, he sucks. But Americans just eat him up like he's God. Really sad.