The BadPsychics Blog

Colin Fry was nearly on Derren Browns Experiments show about Luck!

2012-02-09T18:05:00.002Z

Remember the TV show that Derren Brown did The Secret of Luck? You will remember a brief appearance of Sally Morgan on the show where she was totally humiliated after claiming she could pick up psychic feelings from the so called Lucky Dog in the village. Well what she didn't know (despite claiming to be psychic) was that the dog was not lucky, and instead was a gimmick set up by Derren Brown. As usual Sally ended up making a fool of herself and further cementing her reputation as one of the worst psychics in the country.

Well did you know that Channel 4 and Derren Brown had originally put psychic Colin Fry in the position to be setup!

I recently sat down to speak with Colin Fry about a number of topics and Sally Morgan came up. Colin told me

"Last year I was approached by channel 4 to appear in a program about luck , I booked two days to cover filming they sent confirmation day before I was due to go up a researcher called me to ask me my angle on this, I explained I did not believe that luck was a force or power but people create their own luck by thinking positive , they asked me if I would do my "thing " over a supposed lucky bronze dog in a park up north!"

Colin goes on to tell me...

I burst out laughing and said if there was any luck it was only because people had convinced themselves their good fortune was down to the bronze dog and it was bullshit, but harmless if it gave them the feel good factor, the researcher said she was surprised and I had not given her the respounce she had expected.

Later that evening she phoned back and cancelled me - I was f*cking furious as I had cancelled two days bookings to accommodate them, we invoiced them for 50% of the agreed fee for wasting my time!

However in my fury I told them they had played the typical channel 4 tactic of trying to stitch up a medium and the only reason they had cancelled me was that I was too clever to be made a fool of and if they wanted a someone they should call Sally Morgan, which is what they did.

Colin finished by making a very astute observation

I dispair we idiot mediums will do anything to be on TV.

And there you have it. Colin Fry was the original person chosen to be stitched up by Ch4 and Derren Brown, but "luckily" he didn't play along and instead Sally Morgan ended up being humiliated.

Funny how Colin Fry ended up being quite lucky with regards to a show about luck!

ipadio: Skeptically Irish

2012-01-07T15:28:00.001Z

ipadio: Cognitive and Dissonant

2011-12-06T21:46:00.001Z

The Randi Show - Episode 1

2011-11-18T19:36:00.002Z

The Randi Show is a biweekly video podcast produced by the James Randi Educational Foundation. James Randi himself discusses news from the world of science, pseudoscience, and the paranormal. Plus, he shares some stories from his amazing life. In this episode, Randi explores the latest news in cold fusion. Has it finally been achieved?

Testing Psychic Sally Morgan

2011-10-30T14:50:00.002Z

A lot of people have asked me to write an article explaining why I am so against this latest publicity stunt by Merseyside Skeptics and Simon Singh, but to be honest I don't feel like writing an article criticising skeptics when my interest is more in psychics, but Hayley Stevens has written an interesting article which mirrors much of my opinions on this matter, so thought instead I would give you a link to her site and to read her article.

Remember if you want to hear a truly altruistic opinion from one of the original forerunners in modern skepticism then you can like me on facebook and follow me on twitter.

You can read her article at http://hayleyisaghost.co.uk/2011/10/29/testing-psychic-sally-morgan/

Interview with a "Psychics" Tour Manager

2011-10-27T21:19:00.002+01:00

As part of my reintroduction into the world of Skepticism, I decided that I should do something never done before.

Recent months the main subject of interest has been the allegations made against Sally Morgan, now unfortunately Sallys people are on full alert and not speaking to anyone.

However I still wanted to get the opinion of someone who has worked with a famous medium and who could tell me a bit more about the whole process of putting on a mediumship show in a theatre.

I got in contact with Colin Frys tour manager to ask the tough questions, but I didn't realise when I started how interesting it would be, and how the conversation would develop.

This interview is brought to you by Jon Donnis, and remains full copyright of Jon Donnis any reproduction without prior approval is strictly prohibited.

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1. First of all can you introduce yourselves to us, and explain to us briefly your job title, who you work with and what it is exactly you do?

My name is Tony Lewis & I'm tour manager & cameraman for Colin Fry, I work mainly with Colin but occasionally work with Derek Acorah.

As my job title suggests I manage the tour for Colin, this mainly consists of getting the production on stage.

In the days prior to us arriving at a theatre I will have sent a technical rider & talked to the theatre technicians about what is required regarding lighting & sound etc & also talked with the theatre regarding ticket sales, publicity etc. I will check all hotel details are are correct & send out a call sheet to the crew.

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2. Working with Colin Fry for many years, you are obviously there at every show working behind the scenes and making sure everything runs smoothly, how would you describe the general run up to a live show, with regards to once you turn up to a theatre for example?

You are right that I have been working for with Colin many years, about 8 in fact. I'm freelance & Colin is my major client. I started with Colin as a cameraman on 6ixth Sense & the tour & about 4 years ago was asked to be Colin's tour manager, a job I really enjoy. I continue to work as a cameraman on other tv shows & productions.

On the day of the show I will check with the hotel that everything is ok regarding our stay & call the theatre to confirm our get in time, which is usually 1pm & check everything is ok at the theatre end.

In the afternoon I set up the show, assisted by Colin's PA Kevin. This will entail, setting up & plotting lighting states, setting up & testing microphones & setting up my camera & screen. This set up usually takes about 2 hours, after which I will check everything is ok with Colin's dressing room. For example, that tea & coffee is available. It's not a rock tour, so that's all we require really.

After set up, we'll check into the hotel, where I'll spend a hour or so doing work for the tour & having a bite to eat before returning to the theatre at around 6pm.

We'll then do a sound & lighting check with Colin. We thoroughly check all the audience mics with Colin, Colin is hard of hearing & has to wear hearing aids ( I assure you they are only hearing aids! ), so it's very important that Colin hears the audience clearly through the stage monitors.

I will then discuss the running of the show with the theatre duty manager, Colin's show is 2 x 1 hour halves with a 20 minute interval, I discuss late comers, our no alcohol in the auditorium policy & the logistics of Colin doing an autograph signing after the show.

The show usually starts at 7.30pm when I will introduce Colin on stage from the stage wings. I then operate the camera during the show, putting the people who are receiving messages up on the big screen.

Once the show has started it is purely Colin interacting with the audience & nothing else.

After the show, we derig all our gear & load it into the van before going front of house to be with Colin at the signing. After which we return to the hotel for a couple of well earned drinks.

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3. In recent months, questions have been brought up with regards to how mediums work while on stage, when Colin is performing, does he receive any instructions from anyone off stage, and if so what instructions are these, and how does he receive these instructions?

I assume you are talking about a medium who has admitted wearing an earpiece on stage, for which she says she receives stage direction only. The only direction Colin receives is from me, I'm on stage with him as I operate the camera, the only direction Colin receives from me is a hand signal to tell him he has 10 minutes left & another signal to tell him when it's time to wind up the half. There is absolutely no need for Colin to receive any other stage directions, it's his show & he doesn't need telling what to do.

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4. If someone was to see Colin on stage and the fact he wears a hearing aid, this could easily be confused as an ear piece, would you and Colin be prepared to allow me to inspect his hearing aid, and verify it is only a hearing aid and in no way an ear piece?

Colin makes a point of telling the audience that he wears hearing aids & offers to let anybody see them. He has made more of a point of since the recent controversy. But, he is as deaf as a post without them. He would be happy for you to inspect them & we would also be happy for anybody to have a scanner in the audience to prove they are only hearing aids.

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5. Why do you film Colin on stage? is it purely for a live big screen feed for people in the theatre to watch, or do you keep copies of each show?

It is purely for screen so that the rest of the audience can see what is happening. We do not tape the show as I feel it would be not be good to keep such personal information. However, I get asked by people who have received messages if I have filmed it as they would like a copy. The only time we tape the show is for tv or DVD & the audience are informed beforehand.

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6. One of the known methods for fake psychics is to have people hang around in the foyer before shows and listen in on peoples conversations, this info is then gathered and passed onto the psychic, either through notes on a pad which the psychic quickly memorizes, or even fed to them live during a show through an ear piece. As tour manager, who has access to Colin apart from you before a live show, and how can you make sure that Colin does not implement such methods regardless of your belief or trust in him?

Only myself & Kevin, Colin's PA have access to Colin before the show. Darren is front of house, selling merchandise, but he has no access to Colin before or during the show. I make a point of not going front of house so that people can't have such suspicions. Another example is, Colin will often have mail from the public delivered to venues. I take all mail, read it & don't allow Colin to see it until after the show, to make sure, again, nothing suspicious is happening. Also, should an audience member start telling Darren why they are there, Darren will ask them not to say anything as it may spoil the message should they receive one & because we don't want anything to look like information could have been fed to Colin.

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7. If we put to the side the laws regarding what a psychic can and cannot claim, entertainment only disclaimers, scientific experiment disclaimers and so on, would you be prepared to state professionally and on your own reputation that no hot reading, no prior research in any way is performed by Colin, and that as far as you are concerned when Colin steps on stage to perform he has no prior knowledge of anyone in the theatre, and that no information reaches him other than through his own claims of mediumship?

I'm more than happy to say professionally that no hot reading takes place. As far as I'm concerned Colin doesn't do any prior research, we have no access to box office details of the audience, Colin doesn't scour the obituaries or walk around the local cemetary. There simply isn't time to do any this! I can confirm that Colin steps onto the stage with no prior knowledge of the audience. Of course, there are occasions when there are people Colin or myself know in the audience. However, should Someone we know wish to claim a message, then Colin will inform the rest of the audience that he knows this person & then say that the message is not for them.

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8. You mentioned that Colin is very open to his audience with regards to his hearing aids, but the question remains why does a medium need to wear hearing aids at all? One of the known methods used by fake psychics is that they rely on feedback from the person giving a reading, wouldn't it be more impressive if Colin could not hear the person getting the reading at all, and that he only make statements, would Colin, do you think be prepared to try an evenings mediumship whereby he has no hearing aids on, and infact ear plugs put in to prevent any hearing at all, and also some kind of partial blindfold so that he could not see anyone in the audience at all, but could for example see his feet so he doesn't walk off the edge of the stage, feel free to ask Colin that one yourself, as I don't think such an experiment has ever been done like this before and it would make for a fascinating demonstration.

It would make a very interesting demonstration if Colin was blindfolded & wearing ear plugs, but you hit the nail on the head when saying Colin must be able to see his feet as knowing his total lack of direction he would be bound to walk straight off the front of the stage.

I must disagree though as I think Colin does need to hear the responses from the audience for a couple of reasons. Firstly, to know that the message is with the right person & secondly, to know that the information is correct. However, I do know of mediums who will move on to another message if they get 3 no's in a row.

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9. But surely any feedback only facilitates the potential for cold reading, either Colin is speaking to spirit or not, he shouldn't have to rely on feedback from someone in the audience at all, the very nature of someone saying yes or no means that he is receiving feedback which in turn could direct the reading in different directions.

Surely if Colin ever wants to satisfy those who doubt him, he must give readings without any feedback, making only direct statements. After all isn't his conversation supposed to be with spirit and not the person he is giving the reading to? So are you stating in your professional opinion as tour manager that without the feedback from the person getting the reading Colin would be unable to successfully give readings to a room full of people?

In my professional opinion I think it's important to have feedback from the recipient of the message so that the rest of the audience can hear whether Colin is correct in the information he is giving, otherwise it could be a very boring show. My job is to make sure it's a good show for all of the audience & not just the recipient of the message. I also think Colin believes that spirit are speaking to him rather than the other way round. Colin is not worried what those who doubt him think, he's more concerned with those who believe. But, I do think that without feedback Colin could give successful messages.

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10. Surely Colin should be most concerned with providing proof of survival, instead of giving a good show. I happen to believe that if a medium is genuine he does not need any feedback whatsoever, the fact that Colin relies on the person for feedback opens him up to a world of criticism, when simple controls could be put in place to prevent any accusations of Cold Reading. Also it could also be said that if Colin received 0% feedback during a show and still was accurate that that would be much more impressive, and the people visiting the show would be more impressed. The only feedback any medium should receive is at the end of the reading, not before or during. Anyway I look forward to seeing Colin work first hand whereby I can better judge what is going on. My final question relates to the state of professional mediumship in the UK right now, would you agree that there has been a steady decline in the past few years, and if so what would you blame this on? Usually in times of economic and social problems, the reliance on mediumship increases, but it seems that professional mediumship these days is "dying on its arse" with the exception of a few of the top names.

I'm sure Colin is more concerned with providing proof of the afterlife, whereas I, being Tour Manager want to provide a full evening for all of the audience.

I think over exposure on television may be the answer to your final question. In recent years Derek Acorah became the 1st Medium to become famous through television, closely followed by Colin. In very recent years Sally Morgan has become very famous through television. However, I think some small satellite tv channels thought they could jump on the bandwagon & produced some poor tv shows. With so many mediums & psychics appearing on tv, lot's of so called psychics thought, "I can do what Colin Fry does & I want to be famous". So, they get a few cards printed & call themselves a psychic medium. If you look around lots of psychics claim to have been on tv & they think this gives them credence. They then approach a few theatres & think they can do a tour like ours & can't understand when they don't sell any tickets. In other words there is far too many psychics who want to be famous rather than wanting to help people. There are lots of very good people out there that do very good work, but there is also a lot that don't.

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I would like to thank Tony for this interview and for answering some pretty tough questions.

I very much look forward to seeing Colin Fry work in person, and perhaps I can convince him face to face to eliminate the need for feedback during his shows.

Jon Donnis

Like me on Facebook, Follow me on Twitter!

2011-10-24T18:52:00.003+01:00

Like me on Follow me on

In recent months the furore over Sally Morgan and the ear piece scandal and claims of her getting prompted by off stage people has wet my whistle when it comes to skepticism.

It has been nearly two years since I have felt this passion. All that remains of the BadPsychics legacy is this blog and the old Forum which has since been renamed the BadReligion forum.

So I have created a page for me to post on, on Facebook, as well as restarting a Twitter account. So if you have any interest in me, BadPsychics and so on, then please "like" me on Facebook, and follow me on Twitter and remember great skeptics never die, they just take extended vacations.

ipadio: Science Communication and the Coventry Skeptics

2011-10-18T15:39:00.001+01:00

ipadio: New Optimists and Asian Rationalists

2011-09-20T13:26:00.001+01:00

Radio Show that Exposed Sally Morgan as a fraud

2011-09-18T09:54:00.002+01:00

As you will know by reading my previous blog post, Sally Morgan has recently been exposed, well now we have the radio interview.

Remember these were NOT skeptics, these were Sally Morgan fans, believers. How you can listen to this and not question Sally's claims is beyond me.

Psychic Sally Morgan EXPOSED!!

2011-09-15T08:33:00.003+01:00

I thought I would use my old blog to give my opinions on the latest cock up by a psychic.

In the old days on BadPsychics Sally Morgan was one of our favourite psychics to expose, simply cause it was so easy, she made many claims of giving readings to famous people, many of which were 100% lies, in fact we forced her to remove the claims from her website!

Not only that but she also claimed to have helped the police on a number of cases, all of which were lies, and again we forced her to remove all of the claims.

Well its been nearly 2 years now since I closed down the main BadPsychics website, all that remains is the old forum now renamed the Bad Religion forum, and of course this blog, which is mainly used just as an auto updated form to plug the various podcasts I am associated with.

Well in the past few days a huge story (No gastric band needed) has emerged, Sally Morgan has been caught cheating live on stage!

In something that is very reminiscent of Randi Exposing Peter Popoff many years ago, Sally Morgan was on stage when suddenly people in the audience could hear Sallys confederates in a backstage room feeding her info through a hidden earpiece! Apparently a window had either been left open, or had come open, meaning that the information they were feeding to her could suddenly be heard.

This all came out when tens of people rang up Irish radio network RTE, during Joe Duffy’s ‘Liveline’ show.

"The first half of the show went really well but when the second half started we could clearly hear a man's voice coming from the window behind us," caller 'Sue' told 'Liveline' yesterday.

"Everything he said, the psychic would say 10 seconds later. It was as if she was having the information relayed to her."

The audience member said a number of people in her row heard the man speaking, but when an usher heard him, the window closed and the voice disappeared.

Sally Morgan’s management have responded to the allegations.

“There are absolutely no plants on Sally’s show. This is her gift and she has been sharing it for years with audiences and doesn’t need to do that,”

Well no one said anything about plants! This was simply the act of people feeding her lines. This is known in the business as Hot Reading.

I personally witnessed the exact same thing happen to Simon Peters once, although his show drew about 50 people as opposed to the 2000 that Morgan would perform to.

In his case the secret feed he was being fed through his head set briefly got picked up by his mic and played through the speakers!

So far Sally Morgan herself has decided against commenting on what happened, she will just ride the storm like so many other exposed psychics have done, her fans will soon forget about this, or believe the bogus explanations.

But for anyone out there with an ounce of critical thinking, Sally Morgan got caught cheating plain and simple, witnessed by many people. These people were not skeptics out to catch her, they were HER fans, believers in the paranormal. Sally was exposed by her own, and perhaps thats the greatest irony in all of this.

You can find out more about this story at the following links
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/no-happy-medium-as-psychic-sally-sidekick-prompts-outrage-2874250.html

and

http://www.melbourneskeptics.com.au/psychics-mediums/psychic-sally-morgan-accused-of-employing-a-sidekick/

ipadio: Steve Goldfarb: Living and working at Atlas, and Questival

2011-07-26T21:45:00.001+01:00

ipadio: Birmingham Skeptics

2011-06-24T23:56:00.001+01:00

ipadio: Birmingham SitP - Interview with Nick Pope, Rich Peppiatt & Dave creator of Jesus and Mo

2011-06-04T16:07:00.001+01:00

ipadio: Birmingham SitP - Interview with Nick Pope, Rich Peppiatt & Dave creator of Jesus and Mo

2011-06-04T15:49:00.001+01:00

ipadio: Birmingham Skeptics in the Pub - Interview with Amy Davis Roth and Rebecca Watson

2011-04-13T12:52:00.001+01:00

ipadio: Skeptics in the Pub - Interview with Ray Jayawardhana

2011-03-31T14:34:00.003+01:00

ipadio: Skeptics in the Pub - Interview with Ray Jayawardhana

2011-03-31T14:34:00.001+01:00

ipadio: Birmingham Skeptics in the Pub - Mark Stevenson

2011-03-14T16:03:00.001Z

ipadio: Birmingham Skeptics in the Pub - Dr Martin Austwick

2011-03-04T23:05:00.001Z

ipadio: BadCast Series 2 Episode 2

2011-03-01T22:08:00.001Z

ipadio: Birmingham Skeptics in the Pub - QED

2011-02-15T11:28:00.001Z

ipadio: Birmingham Skeptics in the Pub - Ben Pugh

2011-02-04T22:18:00.001Z

ipadio: Birmingham Skeptics in the Pub - Mark Crislip

2011-01-24T10:45:00.001Z

ipadio: BadCast Series 2 Episode 1

2011-01-17T16:33:00.001Z

ipadio: Birmingham Skeptics in the Pub - Professor Steve Fuller

2011-01-17T00:26:00.000Z

ipadio: BadCast Ep24

2010-10-04T15:18:00.001+01:00

ipadio: Birmingham Skeptics in the Pub - Christopher Ryan Interview

2010-10-04T14:40:00.001+01:00

ipadio: Birmingham Skeptics in the Pub - HamishMacPherson Interview

2010-09-26T17:22:00.001+01:00

ipadio: Birmingham Skeptics in the Pub - Prof. Stanley Krippner Interview

2010-09-19T09:55:00.001+01:00

ipadio: Birmingham Skeptics in the Pub - Alice Sheppard Interview

2010-09-15T21:55:00.001+01:00

ipadio: Birmingham Skeptics in the Pub - Tracy King Interview

2010-09-14T17:30:00.001+01:00

ipadio: BadCast Ep23

2010-09-10T16:30:00.001+01:00

ipadio: Birmingham Skeptics in the Pub - PROFFESOR BILL MCGUIRE Interview

2010-09-10T16:13:00.001+01:00

ipadio: BadCast Ep22

2010-08-20T14:22:00.001+01:00

ipadio: Birmingham Skeptics in the Pub - Janis Bennion Interview

2010-08-20T13:52:00.001+01:00

ipadio: BadCast Ep21

2010-08-13T13:42:00.001+01:00

ipadio: Birmingham Skeptics in the Pub - Dean Burnett Interview

2010-08-07T13:54:00.001+01:00

ipadio: BadCast Ep20

2010-07-27T12:33:00.001+01:00

ipadio: Birmingham Skeptics in the Pub - Reap Sow Interview

2010-07-27T12:06:00.001+01:00

ipadio: Birmingham Skeptics in the Pub - Chris French Interview

2010-07-21T08:28:00.001+01:00

ipadio: BadCast Ep19

2010-07-12T13:21:00.003+01:00

ipadio: BadCast Ep19

2010-07-12T13:21:00.001+01:00

ipadio: Birmingham Skeptics in the Pub - Danny Strickland Interview

2010-07-08T11:45:00.001+01:00

ipadio: BadCast Ep18 - Interview Special

2010-07-04T14:31:00.001+01:00

ipadio: BadCast - Announcement

2010-07-01T14:12:00.001+01:00

ipadio: Birmingham Skeptics in the Pub - Chris Mooney Interview

2010-07-01T10:17:00.001+01:00

ipadio: BadCast Ep17

2010-06-24T18:31:00.001+01:00

ipadio: Birmingham Skeptics in the Pub - Amy Davis Roth Interview

2010-06-23T13:27:00.001+01:00

ipadio: Birmingham Skeptics in the Pub - Amy Davis Roth Interview

2010-06-23T13:20:00.001+01:00

ipadio: Birmingham Skeptics in the Pub - Ash Pryce and Keir Liddl Interview

2010-06-19T19:22:00.001+01:00

ipadio: Birmingham Skeptics in the Pub - Matt Rossano Interview

2010-06-18T09:22:00.001+01:00

ipadio: Birmingham Skeptics in the Pub - Matt Rossano Interview

2010-06-18T09:21:00.001+01:00

ipadio: BadCast Ep16

2010-06-18T09:00:00.001+01:00

ipadio: BadCast Bulletin 14/06/10

2010-06-14T07:43:00.001+01:00

ipadio: Birmingham Skeptics in the Pub - Birmingham Skeptics in the Pub - Chris Worfolk Interview

2010-06-11T07:01:00.001+01:00

ipadio: Birmingham Skeptics in the Pub - Prof. David Colquhoun Interview

2010-06-10T16:42:00.001+01:00

ipadio: BadCast Ep15

2010-06-10T15:54:00.001+01:00

ipadio: Birmingham Skeptics in the Pub - Gary Mason Interview

2010-06-10T15:19:00.001+01:00

ipadio: BadCast Bulletin 07/06/10

2010-06-07T10:35:00.001+01:00

ipadio: Birmingham Skeptics in the Pub - Paul Allen of GALHA Interview

2010-06-05T15:15:00.001+01:00

ipadio: BadCast Ep14

2010-06-04T11:06:00.001+01:00

ipadio: Birmingham Skeptics in the Pub - News Update

2010-06-04T10:34:00.001+01:00

ipadio: BadCast Bulletin 31/05/10

2010-05-31T12:59:00.001+01:00

ipadio: BadCast Ep13

2010-05-27T15:48:00.001+01:00

ipadio: Birmingham Skeptics in the Pub - Steve Fuller Interview

2010-05-25T13:47:00.001+01:00

ipadio: BadCast Bulletin 23/05/10

2010-05-23T23:00:00.001+01:00

ipadio: BadCast Ep12

2010-05-19T13:57:00.000+01:00

ipadio: Birmingham Skeptics in the Pub - Colin Murphy Interview

2010-05-18T18:35:00.001+01:00

ipadio: BadCast Bulletin 16/05/10

2010-05-16T15:31:00.001+01:00

ipadio: BadCast - New Theme Music

2010-05-14T15:53:00.001+01:00

The Official BadPsychics Podcast - "The BadCast" Episode 01 - 6th March 2010

2010-03-06T21:03:00.004Z

0:00:00 Introduction: Two Blokes in their bedroom trying to be funny.
0:01:35 Matt Parker - Maths behind Homeopathy
0:07:50 Richard Saunders - Psychics
0:15:35 Emma-Louise Rhodes - True Believer Syndrome
0:20:40 William Brougham - My Journey to Skepticism

Welcome to the first episode of the official BadPsychics.com Podcast or the BadCast for short.

This week we have Mathematician Matt Parker who talks about the numbers behind homeopathy, Australian Skeptic Richard Saunders talking about psychics, Emma-Louise Rhodes joins us to talk about True Believer Syndrome.

And our final guest is journalist William Brougham (Kensington) who talks about his journey into skepticism.

Hope you enjoy the show any question please post them on the Forum or leave a comment on this page.

If you cannot listen to the player below, or you would just like to download to your pc, links are available below the player.

Download Links:
Link 1
Link 2

Psychic Joe Power

2009-06-25T11:33:00.001+01:00

In recent times a 'psychic' by the name of Joe Power has come into the media eye, in fact we have covered the last few years of his professional career in some detail on my site www.badpsychics.co.uk, but how has a psychic such as this manipulated his position in life to that of a 'wannabe celebrity' psychic. Well for that we must go back to the beginning, well not the beginning, but lets say 2006 instead.

In April of 2006, Joe Power caused controversy when he made it public that he was going to contact the spirit of John Lennon, as you can imagine this caused a lot of discussion, even Yoko Ono had her representatives release a statement calling the stunt “Exploitative”, but of course this is exactly what Joe Power wanted, media attention. A US TV station had apparently found someone who would be willing to partake in this stunt and for what? A pay-per view TV special. Oh how very spiritual, and only $9.95, that's a good $5 cheaper than the Princess Diana séance from a few years earlier.

So what did John Lennon have to say for himself, well the ground breaking message from the dead Lennon was “peace....the message is peace”, now if that isn't worth $9.95 then I don't know what is.

Despite appearing on this American special, things were still not going great for Joe, despite his own claims, he was having to cancel shows on a regular basis due to poor ticket sales, when you cant sell out small hotel function rooms then you know that a new stunt is in order, especially since the Lennon séance did nothing for his career.

One of the claims Joe has made over the years is one that many psychics use, that being that they have helped the police solve crimes, you hear this all the time, but with Joe Power we decided to dig deeper. He claimed to have helped Southport Police in the Lyndsey Quy murder case, yet when we asked Detective Superintendent Geoff Sloan, he made the following statement: “I wish to state, categorically, that as Senior Investigating Officer on the Lyndsey Quy murder, I made a policy decision not to use psychics on the investigation. Joe Power has allegedly made claims that he assisted the enquiry but this is not the case.”

So like most if not all psychics Joe Power was simply making claims that were not true, but this would not stop him from using such claims in the future, claims we would show were untrue time after time after time.

Joe also claimed “through one of his astonishing spirit links” to have known the killer of model Sally Anne Bowman and that he informed the police that the killer was a “Stephen” or “Stephan White”, aged between 24 and 26 and was a delivery driver. Yet following DNA evidence the police arrested and charged 36 year old chef Mark Dixie who is now serving a life sentence in prison. So yet again Joe is wrong. Yet he keeps telling people how he helps the police.

So despite cancelling 44% of his publicised shows in 2005, 2006 and 2007, Joe Power was still hungry for 'power' and fame. In 2008 he made an astounding public statement when he said “‘TV mediums are ripping people off. The place is saturated with fake mediums getting away with playing on people’s emotions ....” Yes the same man who did a tacky pay-per view TV special in America contacting John Lennon, despite the objections of the Lennon estate and Yoko Ono.

Throughout 2008 things just got worse for Joe, of 65 advertised shows at least 51 were cancelled due to poor sales.

But in 2009 Joe saw an opportunity, an opportunity to get himself on the front page of every newspaper in the country, and he took it. This was at the time when the Madeleine McCann story had become worldwide news, another child by the name of Shannon Matthews had gone missing in similar circumstances, knowing full well that the interest of this story would be front page news Joe visited the Shannons mother Karen Matthews and her partner Craig Meehan, he gave them a reading which would even be quoted in the Sunday People newspaper. Suddenly he found himself in the papers, In a photograph standing next to Karen Matthews, this was exactly what Joe wanted, media attention.

Unfortunately despite claiming to be clairvoyant, clairaudient, and clairessient, and despite spending a lot of time with the family of Shannon Matthews, Joe seemed to have missed one tiny detail, that being that Karen Matthews had actually been behind the fake kidnap of her 9 year old daughter. Karen Matthews is now serving time in prison, and has shown no remorse for her crimes. This is the woman who Joe Power happily had his photo taken with, and who he gave readings too.

As you would expect this was not the kind of thing that Joe had hoped that would happen, he now found himself in the position of failed psychic once again.

Joe Power claims he has helped the police solve crimes, we know this is not true, in fact from the very mouths of the police, he has not helped them at all. The one case where he truly put himself on the line, he failed miserably.

So now we find ourselves bang up to date, many tacky stunts, failed tours, cancelled shows, yet still Joe Power manages to find himself a book publisher, although when a member of Bad Psychics went along to one of his signings, all that could be found was a lonely figure of Joe sat at a table on his own, no line of people, no crowds scrambling for his photo, nothing, maybe this is all that is left for this man, or maybe he has already planned his next stunt, only time will tell.

But Joe would have one last dig at those who dare to doubt him.

I will quote from my good friend, Bad Psychics member and Merseyside skeptic Marsh who recently met Joe Power, and handed him an application form for the JREF Million Dollar challenge, Joe would reply:

“The thing about you sceptics, is that you sit there, festering in front of your computers at 3am, thinking up ways to get at people. What if I were to sit in front of your house and tell people you’re a paedophile?”

“because you’re there festering, at 3am, plotting to get at me, in the same way that paedophiles fester and plot to interfere with children – you both have to be sick in the head to do what you do.”

”I think most sceptics probably are paedophiles. I mean you’re sat around at 3am, plotting, aren’t you? Do you deny that?”

And people wonder why Joe is disliked by so many people, why he has to cancel show after show, and why no one turns up to his book signings.

Joe Powers career should be a warning to any wannabe celebrity psychic out there. Don'tt make claims you cant back up, because the one annoying thing about skeptics is that we simplydon'tt take things on faith, we investigate, we search, and we find out the truth.

By Jon Donnis – BadPsychics.co.uk

The Return Of Craig Shell

2009-02-20T20:53:00.003Z

It is the news you had all feared, but knew deep down was inevitable, yes psychic fraud Craig Shell is back in the news, and he has still not learned his lesson.

Since his early release from prison, instead of keeping a low profile, he has decided to make as much noise as he can, and go back to his old ways. Despite sending me threatening emails, I had chose to ignore him and hope he would go away.

Here is one of the emails he sent to me.

Hello friends.
Just thought that I would let you know that I was doing a performance the other night! pitty you were not there! would of looked forward to seeing you in your "badpsychics" t-shirt! maybe I should get myself one? better still rather not look like a total wanker in it!!!! thats your job!
Oh yes, stick your interview because I am giving an interview to a television company! wait till I mentioned about the crap you right!
Anyway wont be long till we finally meet, looking forward to it.
Bye for now

Well according to low class, tabloid paper The Sunday Mercury (Spit), he has now apparently seduced the daughter of Assistant Chief Constable of West Mercia Constabulary, the very force that arrested him in the first place. He has then got her to help him take out a phone and computer contract which she would be liable for if he failed to pay!

Not only that, after she dumped him when she found out about his criminal past, he tried to sell details of his affair with the daughter of Simon Chesterman, to try and embarress him.

Despite the claims of The Sunday Mercury, it was infact BadPsychics who exposed Craig Shell, and had been doing so for months, unfortunately good journalism is hard to find, especially when dealing with backstreet newspaper companies who will step on whoever they like just to claim an exclusive.

Luckily people who had been following BadPsychics know the truth.

Craig Shell may now find himself under investigation by West Mercia Constabulary, and could end up back in prison to serve the rest of his sentence.

I only hope they lock him up and throw away the key.

Craig Shell has proven time and time again he is not only a "bad psychic" but an evil conman who will use anyone he can to make money.

If you happen to come across this man, RUN AWAY, seriously guys, he is not worth the hassle.

And if you do find yourself in contact with him, and he does or says anything to you contact West Mercia Constabulary on the below details.

psd.northworcs@westmercia.pnn.police.uk

or contact us 0300 333 3000

Public Service Desk
West Mercia Constabulary
Kidderminster Police Station.

Jon On The BBC

2009-01-21T17:57:00.002Z

A while back someone contacted me from the BBC, they told me they were making a documentary on Gary Mannion and wanted my help.

Why did they ask me I hear you ask? Well not only do I run the UKs most popular sceptical website in BadPsychics, I also happen to have a website dedicated to Gary Mannion, that site being www.badpsychicsgarymannion.co.uk, we started that site in the latter half of 2007 as we realised that this young man was about to start a journey that would propel him into infamy, and we wanted to make sure we exposed him every step of the way.

Now over a year later, and Mannion finds himself the subject of a documentary about him and his claims, I admit I wish that this documentary was not being made, but I also admit I am not surprised.

Over the past year Mannion has conned many many people, and I can only hope that this latest project will blow up in his face.

We have to trust the program makers to do the right thing, ok so history tells us they will fuck it up as usual, and we will end up with Mannion sticking an "as seen on BBC" logo on his website, but you never know.

Anyway last night at the monthly Skeptics in the Pub meeting in Leicester, I met with the program maker and was filmed giving my opinions on Mannion as well as psychics in general.

I was filmed for over 20 minutes, however I expect my on screen time in the final documentary will be very brief, either way I hope they show the best of me, especially when you think of how much material and help I have given them with the documentary.

The show is due to air on BBC 3, 26th February 2009.
Here is the official BBC synopsis for the show.

"In Young, Psychic And Possessed, film-maker Emeka Onono follows Gary as he tries to prove that he really does have the power to heal.

It's a journey that is likely to confound sceptics and true believers.

Emeka hears stories of miracle cures, takes part in seances and even speaks to "Abraham", before turning to science and psychiatry to try to separate fact from fiction. "

Alex Pidoux To Investigate Our Gary Mannion Exposé Site

2009-01-18T15:56:00.003Z

Alex Pidoux, a random person from Bristol has decided to start an investigation into one of my sites www.badpsychicsgarymannion.co.uk to be precise.

This site was created in the latter part of 2007 after I read about a so called psychic surgeon who had just come onto the scene.

No more than a teenager, we could see that from an early age Gary Mannion was positioning himself as the next big thing. Learning from the mistakes of people like Stephen Turoff and the Filipino psychic surgeons, Gary Mannions gimmick was that he performed psychic surgery but did not physically enter the body, instead it was done spiritually through his guide Abraham (the one from the Bible no less!)

By performing this type of psychic surgery it made it harder for people to debunk as he wasn't using the old chicken guts and fake blood sleight of hand tricks.

Anyway over one year later and unfortunately Gary Mannion is still going strong, although we do have a comprehensive analysis of almost everything he has done, and are ranked very high up in google, so high up that anyone searching for Gary Mannion will see our site second in the results, just below Mannions own site.

Latest news is that the BBC and Emeka Onono are filming a documentary on Mannion, how this documentary will turn out I have no idea, due for broadcast at the end of February 09, it could go one of two ways, it could be a piece of serious journalism showing Mannion for the fraud he is, or it could be a piece of viewer pleasing nonsense full of anecdotes, either way I have done everything I can to help and show Emeka the truth about Mannion, so anything less than a serious piece of journalism and we will all know who to blame, and who to report to the BBC Trust.

Anyway back to Alex Pidoux, here is what he had to say on our Gary Mannion website.

"I am starting an investigation into this website and I intend to expose the real reason you are trying to stop Gary Mannion with such determination. When people like Gary or any of the others you don't know about prove what they do once and for all you will look very silly! I wonder what impact it will have on the drugs industry, science, religion and politics as we know it? Could this be be the real reason for your witch hunt against Gary mannion?"

His "investigation" and I use that word very lightly started back in November, as of yet we have heard nothing, I am looking forward with great excitement as to what his investigation will uncover.

More likely he will never post again, disappear into obscurity and we will continue doing what we do best, that being exposing the frauds and finding out the truth.

Welcome to the BadPsychics Blog

2009-01-17T16:20:00.001Z

Hi guys

If you have found this place then you are probably of the sceptical persuasion.

If you are not then this is a good place to start.

Lets start off by talking about scepticism

"Scepticism (from the Greek, skeptesthai, 'to examine') is the philosophical view that it is impossible to know anything with absolute certainty, or to know the world as it 'really' is. The word can also mean a general reluctance to accept anything on face value without sufficient proof (as in "He heard that Jim had run the 100m in under ten seconds but he remained sceptical")."
http://www.philosophyonline.co.uk/tok/scepticism8.htm

It modern terms however to be sceptical is simply to doubt until you receive real proof.

A true sceptic will always remain open minded, all it takes to convince a sceptic is real proof.

Notice how I use the term "real proof" this is to differentiate it from personal proof, which is something completely different. Personal proof is often the claim used by people who believe in something that the rest of us our sceptical about.

For example

"I received personal proof that the medium does talk to the dead."

Usually this personal proof would involve the person being convinced, as opposed to them witnessing actual proof.

Ask yourself do you believe that David Copperfield made the Statue of Liberty disappear? Of course you don't, you know it is a magic trick, but how do you know? Simple because he calls himself a magician.

With psychics, healers, mediums etc they are claiming what they do is real, and unfortunately when people like this perform a trick, because they claim it is real some people take this claim at face value and thus they believe.

The best magicians are the ones that make you think what they do is real.

Remember always be sceptical, especially when it involves claims that break the laws of physics.

And personal proof is never enough.