20 Times So-Called “Psychics” Were Exposed

Arguably the most famous skeptic of all time offered a million dollars to anyone who could demonstrate supernatural abilities in scientific tests. Psychics from all over the world tried for years to win this prize, but they failed one after another when asked to perform a demonstration without their own equipment.

A very popular televangelist claimed that God was revealing to him the health conditions of people in the audience. In reality, his wife was secretly listening to a radio transmitter as she made her way through the crowd and whispered the information into his ear. Skeptics managed to record her as she relayed confidential information to him using a scanner during one of his live broadcasts.

When these sisters began claiming that spirits were knocking on the wall, spiritualism was born. Years later, one of them admitted that they were simply using their knuckles to make the knocking sound. Imagine how many people got excited at the idea of little men wearing badges who were pretending to be ghosts.

The psychic who could bend spoons was challenged by Johnny Carson live on television to prove his powers. Since Carson had once been a magician, he knew how to prevent Geller from using rigged spoons or resorting to deceptive body language. The performer, visibly nervous, had to squirm for several minutes, as absolutely nothing was happening.

One of the most heartbreaking misidentifications occurred when a famous psychic told a mother that her missing daughter had died. Years later, Amanda Berry was found alive after being held captive for a decade in a neighboring house. This spectacular mistake served as a grim reminder that these “visions” often have serious, real-world consequences for grieving families.

For psychics, a “cold reading” involves making general statements that seem personal but could apply to anyone. These are called “Barnum statements” because psychics use them very often. Saying “you have lost a loved one whom you will find difficult to replace” is something almost everyone can relate to.

The investigators challenged this psychic to identify, from among the crowd, the person who had just lost a loved one. She failed miserably, thus proving that her so-called abilities were likely the result of her personal charm. While she excelled at relaying information from the group, she was unable to give a correct answer without clues.

Victorian-era mediums, who favored practical methods, used slates to record messages dictated by spirits. After tying them together, an investigator would place them under the table and wait for a message. Skeptics discovered that the mediums would discreetly remove the original blank slates while a complicit member of the audience slipped the real slate inside.

It eventually came to light that the face appearing in late-night commercials for psychic services belonged to an actress named Youree Dell Harris, who was using a fake Jamaican accent. Her company was sued by the Federal Trade Commission for misleading consumers with “free” readings. It turns out that her greatest sleight of hand was knowing exactly how to keep people on the phone for as long as possible.

Many of you probably remember that famous hoax in which two young girls led everyone to believe they had photographed fairies. Years later, they confessed that these “fairies” were actually just silhouettes cut out from a very popular storybook. Even Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was fooled by these children, who were able to balance expensive cameras on their heads.

The greatest escape artist of all time devoted his life to exposing fraudulent mediums. After mastering the tricks of the trade, he made his discoveries public in order to protect desperate families. Houdini challenged the mediums to send his wife a coded message from the afterlife, and they all failed.

Rather than making highly probable assumptions on the spot, some psychics practice “hot reading” by gathering information in advance. Some victims have caught psychics looking at their social media profiles, eavesdropping on them while they waited, or even rummaging through their trash. When a psychic knows that your grandmother had brown hair, it’s probably because they read her obituary.

Derren Brown is a British magician who set out to demonstrate just how easily people can be influenced. He secretly trained a stranger to pose as a psychic and encourage people to join a movement. By the end of his show, dozens of people believed that this stranger had miraculous powers.

Some early mediums sold photographs of deceased loved ones who were supposed to appear in them as ghosts. Skeptics noticed that these ghosts always appeared as white spots in the photographs, which helped expose the hoax. Photographers eventually figured out how to create double exposures using already-developed plates.

Have you ever wondered how the little pointer moves on its own? That’s a trick question. It’s your hands that make it move. Scientists call these unconscious muscle movements—which we make when we expect the pointer to go in one direction or another—the “ideomotor effect.”

People who attended the tapings of John Edward’s show were able to see for themselves that what you see on television isn’t reality. The edited show cuts out hours of incorrect predictions and keeps only the brief moment when he finally got it right. Editors can create a buzz around even the most mediocre psychics if they know how to go about it.

The “Long Island psychic” often uses very general questions, such as “Who is this elderly man suffering from chest pain?” to get her listeners to open up. Since heart disease is one of the leading causes of death, there is bound to be someone in the audience who has a grandfather or uncle who fits this description. As soon as the person starts crying and giving her information, she simply repeats it back to them in a more poetic way.

Some psychics use a pendulum over a card to “locate” missing loved ones or answer yes-or-no questions. If they are blindfolded, the pendulum tends to stop working. Since the person is holding the string, it is their brain that unconsciously moves the pendulum.

Many street fortune-tellers are said to be able to levitate above the ground by wedging a stick between their legs. While from a distance this may look like a magic trick, they are actually sitting on a thick metal rod. An inconspicuous metal frame runs through their pants and is attached to a heavy block disguised as a rug.

Perhaps the ultimate proof that psychic powers do not exist lies in the fact that no “psychic” has ever won the jackpot in a major lottery or predicted a stock market crash. If someone truly had the ability to see the future, they would probably be living on a private island rather than charging twenty dollars for a consultation. The fact that there are no billionaires with psychic powers in the real world is a pretty strong indication that the future remains a mystery to everyone.