Topic : 05/15 Psychic Dramas

   I would like to recommend a book, " The Beautiful Side Of Evil"  by Johanna Michelson. Not sure I spelled her name correctly. I checked and found out the book can be ordered through Amazon.com

For the lady you had on your show that is spending all her money on Psychics, let her know please that my mother use to do this for a living right out of her bedroom in her apt. The company came in and put a phone line in her home, ( 800 number) and my mother with no training at all, was doing psychic readings over the phone to people paying big bucks per minute. This is a big scam, and the lady is getting totally taken. My mother was good at it ( it was her job). This lady needs to keep her 500.00 bucks in her wallet. This sort of reading over the phone is nothing but phony.  The object is to get the caller to stay on the phone with the Psychic for as long as possible. The longer you can keep them on, the more money my mother would make. Anything over 15 minutes was a big bonus for my mother in her pay check. So tell that poor lady to save her $$. She's better off giving 500 a month to a church, or the hungry.. futhermore she stated that she calls the Psyhics to see if she will find a job soon. Perhaps this  lady would not need a job if she wasn't putting it in someone else's pocket. They are laughing at her when she hangs up, just the way my Mother use to when she did this for a living.

Do a search on Google for the terms "Cold Reading".

That is what James Van Praagh did on the Dr. Phil show. Did you see him trolling, and trying to fit in info about music to save himself?

Why didn't Dr. Phil mention "Cold Reading"?

Yeah we know, CBS wants some advertising for their new Psychic TV show for the female Dr. Phil demographic.

But it really is very ugly and beyond unethical to allow a Cold Reader to make people cry and make up stuff about their recently passed-away friends and relatives. That's about as low as it gets.

Even worse, its clear Dr. Phil knows what's up with JamesVan Praagh. That actually makes it worse.

Very well said!

I may just be a naive housewife, but I do tend to think that Dr. Phil and Robin are true Christians, just going by the way that they lead their lives ~ the things that they say and do. My sister-in-law told me about an interview with one of them where Dr. Phil asked Robin on her first date and she asked two questions, "Do you drink alcohol and is Jesus Christ your Savior?" And, he answered no to the first and yes to the second. 

Of course, that example alone doesn't prove anything, but the two of them really do seem to be the real deal.

But, he's definitely not hard up for supporters, so he didn't need to do this to get ratings or anything.  And, even if he did, which I don't think he did, it still seems like a compromise.  It's one thing to give someone a free makeover and let them get 2-inch long chartreuse fingernails even if you think it won't help them get dates, but a phony psychic reading?  Sounds like he might need to go back and re-read the book of Deuteronomy.

Suzan, you were obviously disappointed with Mr. VanPraagh's erroneous advice; however, any psychic worth his salt explains beforehand that, sometimes, they get the message wrong or that it was actually intended for someone else.  I am every bit a Christian but I also cannot argue with "what is is what is."  I've witnessed too many people who have given accounts of personal experiences and benefitted from the paranormal via a psychic.  Please don't write them all off, especially someone with the reputation of Mr. VanPraagh.  What I was wondering, though, is: Did you ever contact Mr. VanPraagh after this experience and ask him to give an accounting for his erroneous advice that he gave the family (and you) that day?  I'd love to know what he had to say about it. 

Most sincerely,

Judy Johnson