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Sally Morgan



Genuine or hot/cold reader (and selective editing)? You can probably guess what I think. Derren Brown recently said in passing it's a shame we cannot imprison psychic fakes and charlatans like in the old days. Let's bring those days back, I say. The "Luke" example at 3min 30 secs looks to me like a really excellent bit of cold reading. Worth replaying to see exactly what she does...

Here's some hot reading...



Thanks to Skeptic's Dictionary - which provides excellent resources on hot and cold reading.
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Comments

Hannah Nichol said…
I love James Randi, the way he examines and explains things so simply and carefully in his videos!

Also, that Popoff guy seemed quite terrifying--I think if I met him in the flesh I would run and hide from him, though I suppose it must help to hype up the audience!

I felt very sorry for the lady who suffered arthritis; there must have been so much pressure on her to do that walk, and she clearly was having some trouble!

It's a good job that honest peoples like Derren Brown and James Randi are out there!!!

Stephen, have you ever seen the Derren Brown clip with the voodoo doll and the spiritualist? I can't seem to find the video on the internet (probably because of copyright), but he takes a ring from the woman, and puts it in a voodoo doll. He then proceeds to do things to the voodoo doll (I'm not sure that she can even actually see what he is doing), but he succeeds in making her unable to talk or move in any way. He then reveals that he never actually took the ring in the first place--it was just slight of hand and it is still on her finger! It's only short, but a really good example of how easily people can be drawn into beliefs and the power that these then have over them.
June 11, 2010 at 8:44 PM
Stephen Law said…
Yes the voodoo thing was freaky.
June 13, 2010 at 10:44 AM
pascal said…
'Derren Brown recently said in passing it's a shame we cannot imprison psychic fakes and charlatans like in the old days. Let's bring those days back, I say.'

Well, in the really old days the Scythians burned alive failed soothsayers (Herodotus via Montaigne), but you and Derren Brown appear to be unfamiliar with the extraordinary magical powers of google.

If you had essayed them you would have discovered the Consumer Protection Regulations, introduced in 2008, where errant psychics, along with double glazing salespeople, can face fines of up to £5,000, if their case is heard in a magistrates’ courts, or a fine and up to two years in jail if the case is severe enough to be heard in the Crown Court.

As Frances Gibb said in the Times, the fortune tellers must have have seen it coming; you and Derren should at least have realised it had arrived...
June 18, 2010 at 2:59 PM
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