REVIEW: Psychic Kids: Children of the Paranormal - Episode 6: Angels and Demons

“The invisible and the non-existent look very much alike” - Delos B. McKown.

The first child introduced is Dalton age fifteen. He claims to see and feel spirits. He also claims they are angry at him. Another claim is that he can feel emotions. The show then cuts to Dalton’s dad, Larry. Larry is asking Dalton if he can feel a spirit right now. Dalton answers, “Yes, I can.” The striking thing about this is that it is not Dalton saying he feels a spirit but his father asking.

Dalton then seeking approval from his dad answers yes. From appearances, which can be deceiving, it looks as though Dalton and his father do not have much in common. Dalton is dressed in black and has died his hair black. His hair is also beyond the shoulder in length and Dalton lets it fall onto his face. Larry is wearing a camouflage hat and more hunting type gear.

The next scene is Larry talking about how he used to be skeptical. The parents in almost every interview claim to be skeptical at first, but also believed in ghosts or spirits before their children exhibited these phenomena. Larry says he came to believe because of Dalton’s accuracy.


Dalton is now talking about his first psychic experience. It occurred two years prior to the show. Dalton was with his dad and an unnamed friend, who was not interviewed, trout fishing. What happened, according to Dalton, was he started to get flashes of sadness, a blue truck, and a kid in the truck. Two weeks after Dalton had this experience, a missing young adult and a truck were found in the lake.

As this seemed extraordinary, I decided to research the case. The child was a nineteen year old sophomore at the University of Illinois by the name of Ryan Katcher. He had been missing for 6 years, Dalton and his dad both claimed 7 years. Ryan’s body was discovered by emergency crews while testing new equipment. Why were they testing the equipment on this lake? This lake was where they believed Ryan could be but their old equipment just wasn’t able to detect the truck. Ryan was found 50 feet deep (15 meters) and 100 feet (30 meters) from the shore. The truck he was found in was his own. It was the truck Emergency workers had been stating he was in for the last 6 years. It was a black Ford. (http://www.commercial-news.com/homepage/local_story_206143447.html?keyword=leadpicturestory)

Now looking at what Dalton and his dad said compared with the facts. The truck was black, Dalton claimed it was blue. Considering the truck color was known it is more amazing he missed on this. Dalton said the truck was in the lake. The truck was in the lake. According to the newspaper article, I found, the emergency crews had suspected that the truck was in the lake since Ryan was reported missing. Due to the depth of the lake and the conditions of the water, it was very difficult to find anything in the lake. The show made it seem like Dalton was responsible for finding the truck and body. There is no mention of any psychic help with locating the body. In fact it seems that Dalton and his father only told this story after the truck was found.

The next child introduced is Ashley age thirteen. Ashley claims to see evil faces everywhere she goes. Her first experience was seeing her grandma’s face in her mom’s curtains shortly after her grandma died. Her grandmother died eight years ago. 13 – 8 = 5. Ashley was 5 years old. Ashley’s mom made her go to counseling for “a month or three”. She was 5 years old. Mom claims that as a child Ashley was always frightened. Mom sensed Ashley could see things. She was 5 years old. Her mom then took her to church where they believed that psychics are not speaking to the dead but to demons. She was 5 years old. It then states that Ashley does not believe the same as her mother. Ashley believes more along the lines of her Native American heritage, doesn’t say which one. Ashley says she believes all spirits are good. Her mother believes in angels and demons with nothing in between.

In the next scene, Dr. Lisa Miller and psychic Chip Coffey are seen driving to Ashley’s house. The show states that Chip knows nothing about Ashley. Chip makes the statement, “I had a dream last night about Native American things, the people, the culture, the land, but didn’t know what it meant.” Dr. Miller considers this amazing as the girl they are seeing is of Native American descent. Let’s take a closer look at what Chip said. He did not say he was going to see a Native American girl to help. He says this also as they are getting closer to where she lives, Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin. “The word Wisconsin has its origins in the name given to the Wisconsin River by one of the Algonquian speaking American Indian groups living in the region at the time of European contact (Wikipedia)”. All of Wisconsin is steeped in Native American history. There was no real way for Chip to be wrong.

Chip talks to Ashley. Ashley now claiming she hears demonic voices and wailing. This contradicts her previous statement of all spirits being good. This is also more in line with her mother’s beliefs. As they are talking, Chip stops and claims something just walked near them and that they are being watched. Ashley goes along with saying she feels like she is being watched all the time.

Dr. Miller interviews Ashley’s mom. Asks her if Ashley’s descriptions of when she sees things are different than her just imagining things. I have a few issues with this question. First, the question is automatically assuming that what Ashley is experiencing is real. Dr. Miller is giving credence to the idea that Ashley has paranormal powers. The second is Ashley’s mom cannot know if any of it is real or imaginary. Ashley’s mom answers of course yes. Dr. Miller follows this up with the most logical question in the whole episode. “How does it seem different?” The answer though fails logic. “I don’t believe she would make up something out of imagination or anything.” She was 5 years old during her first “psychic” experience. Imagination in children develops between the ages of 3 to 4. Also the experience of losing a grandparent at that age will have an affect on the child. There are plenty of articles on the internet discussing both of these issues. It is fair to say that Ashley’s mother affected how Ashley perceives the world now.

Dr. Miller then asks what it is that she thinks Ashley sees. Her mom answers Demons, fallen angels. The show then cuts to Ashley talking to Chip about the angel and demon thing. Ashley disagrees with her mom that all these things she sees are demons. She never disagrees with her mother’s views in front of her mother. Next is Ashley’s mom saying she wants Ashley to open up more to her.

Chip begins to talk to Ashley’s mom and they argue over whether it is demons or just lost spirits. Ashley’s mother says she will not let her daughter help others “cross over”. At this point Chip gets confrontational and tells the mom that her daughter doesn’t believe that everything is either angels or demons with nothing in between. I felt this was rather callous and insensitive of Chip. This was a discussion that the mother and daughter should have had in private. Chip did not have the right to just throw this in the mother’s face as a bargaining chip. He used this information for the shock value against the mother. The mother could only respond that she does not feel good about that. In my opinion, this showed that Chip, Dr. Miller, and the show do not care for the people they are “helping”, but instead are exploiting them for ratings.

Chip tries to convince the mother to let him “help” her daughter. Mom finally concedes with conditions. Ashley can do the exercises as long as she knows that she is communicating with demons.

The next scene is at the Inn where the two kids are going to meet. The East Park Inn built in 1893 in Racine, Wisconsin. There is some background about the house and how it is “haunted”. Chip makes another statement about feeling a child or young person died here. In 1911, the infant mortality rate for the US was 135 deaths per 1000 live births (http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/short/103/2/478). So there was a good chance that a child died at the house. It is confirmed by the current owner.

The next scene is Chip and Dr. Miller interviewing Dalton. Dalton talks about his “finding” of the dead body in the lake. Dalton’s dad then talks about his 15 year old emo son having mood swings and how it “isn’t normal”.

The kids are then shown to be on a ghost hunt while the parents share stories. Dalton’s dad talks about how the teachers get on to Dalton for daydreaming in class. His dad explains that this daydreaming is actually a psychic vision. His dad also says he had a psychologist talk to Dalton. Dalton was declared to be a perfectly normal teenage boy. So why does his dad keep insisting on these paranormal explanations? My thoughts on this, having no background in psychology, is that this is something Dalton and his father can both talk about. It seems that as father and son they don’t have a lot in common except for these psychic visions. Even the first vision relates back to a time they are both doing something together. These are just my own opinions.

Chip and the teenagers are in a dark room. He asks how they feel. Both answer scared. They are in a dark room at night that Chip just told them was haunted, and they are both predisposed to delusions of ghosts. How does Chip expect them to feel? Now Chip asks them to find out any information on ghosts present in the room. Dalton claims that it is a nurse that used to live in the room. He cannot give a name though. The information about the house being a nurse school was given during the tour. It also wasn’t shown if the kids were given the tour or what they did during the day before that night’s ghost hunt.

It is after Dalton talks about the nurse that something happens. Chip and Dalton both claim to hear a voice say hello and then see a figure walk by the hall. One of the cameramen claims to have seen it too. The cameraman was not able to get a shot of it on his camera. He did give a description. It was a figure all dressed in black. It went down the staircase and looked up at them. He said it was like the figure was wearing a ski mask. The “ghost” then went out of eye range into the hall downstairs. When all three, Dalton, Chip, and the cameraman, arrived downstairs, it was gone. There are few things this could be. First, it could be a ghost. Second, the whole thing could have been made up by the members of the show. Third, it could have been someone who works at the Inn trying to drum up ghost stories for more publicity. I personally feel it is option three. It happened to fast for all three to make up the same story, although it could have been planned ahead of time. There is no evidence for the first option. The cameraman did not capture it on film, so all we have is anecdotal evidence. My main reason I believe it was staff there has mainly to do with what happens next in the show. Besides what happens next, it is also easy to explain away the disappearing of the ghost at the bottom of the stairs, if it was staff. They simply went into one of the rooms downstairs. The owners and employees would be able to set up the situation and know which rooms were unoccupied.

This next scene convinced me the ghost was a setup by the owners. Chip is touring the house with the owner of the inn. The owner claims that her daughter is also psychic and senses ghosts. Now we are introduced to Mallory, age 14. Mallory and Chip are talking to each other about her experiences. In this scene, Mallory says she doesn’t think they are psychic experiences but feelings.

Next, the kids are talking to each other about their experiences. Mallory tell them all the scary stories of the Inn. At this point, Mallory is now talking about spirits and “energy”. This is quite different than the talk shown between her and Chip.

A couple of reaffirmations occur next. In the first one Dalton is talking to Chip about a ghost he sees in a graveyard. He says how he is scared of it. Chip tells him how to “protect” himself from evil spirits. Ashley talks to Dr. Miller about seeing her grandmother. Dr. Miller insists that it is Ashley’s grandmother and not a demon. It seems that Dr. Miller and Chip are just trying to strain the relationship between Ashley and her mother.

The next night, Chip and the kids are going to the basement because Mallory is afraid of it. Chip asks how they are feeling, in this dark, damp, noisy, old basement. Ashley is scared. Dalton is nervous. Mallory says she is getting a headache, apparently a sign of paranormal, and she feels like someone is behind her. Dalton confirms this. Not to be left out this time, Ashley claims to suddenly feel it, also. Chip says they had a visitor and says no more about it. They hear a noise, in the dark, damp, noisy, old basement. Ashley claims to see a face. Chip says someone is present. Dalton says he feels it now. Mallory claims to see something crawling, in the dark, damp, noisy, old basement filled with the pipes for water and heating and air. Mallory now claims something is messing with her. She can be seen pinching her nose and her nose starts bleeding. The little bit of blood from the nose is considered a paranormal attack according to Chip. The attack does not end the ghost hunt, oh no, they continue on.

Chip now tells Ashley to summon her grandmother to protect them, like Lassie, here girl come on girl. At this point, Chip asks Dalton and Mallory what they think they feel of Ashley’s grandmother, let the warm reading begin. I say warm because they already know it is her grandmother and we do not know what all they talked about during the day as only a 5 minute conversation was shown. It is very possible and likely that Ashley told the other children about her grandmother. Especially since Ashley’s grandmother is part of Ashley’s first experience. Dalton says cancer popped into his head. He did not say cancer of the lymph nodes, which was the cause of her death. One would think the dead would know what killed them. Mallory says breathing, breathing and changes that to hearing the word chemo, after Dalton gets his hit. Even if Ashley did not tell them that her grandmother died from cancer, it is still a generic guess. According to the American Cancer Society, in 2007 there were 559,650 deaths caused by cancer.

(http://www.cancer.org/docroot/home/index.asp)

Ashley starts crying. The show states again that Dalton and Mallory knew nothing about Ashley’s grandmother, even though we never see what they are talking about during the days.

Chip then has Dalton and Mallory talk to Ashley’s mother. Dalton is to describe what he “saw”. The description Dalton gives is of very generic end of life cancer care. Tubes and monitors hooked up to the patient, again nothing specific. Mallory talks about how she thought heart first and then said chemo after Dalton got a hit with cancer. She then tells Ashley’s mother that she sees flowers. It was already stated that her grandmother was in a hospital. The common perception of hospital patients is people bringing them flowers, so this is a safe guess. Ashley’s mother says that flowers were the grandmother’s “thing” but she was not allowed to have them in the room with her. Mallory quickly adds that she felt it was a “mystical” flower in the room. So the flower guess was actually a miss but is quickly changed to a hit by making it mystical. Mallory then claims it is a red rose. Ashley’s mom confirms it was her favorite. The most popular cut flowers in the U.S. traditionally have been roses, carnations, and chrysanthemums.

Ashley is claiming 100% hits by the other two kids about her grandmother. Looking at it though, Dalton’s predictions were very generic and could apply to thousands of people in a single year. Mallory was completely wrong about the heart and the flowers. She was only right about the rose, which is one of the most popular flowers in the United States.

The show ends with updates on all three kids. Dalton is still afraid of a cemetery near where he lives. Mallory is no longer afraid of the basement. Ashley and her mother still argue about beliefs.

Again, a common thread among all three of the kids is that they each were only shown with a single parent. This is exactly the same as the last show I reviewed. I am not sure if they are single parent homes or if the other parent just wasn’t shown.

By BeamStalk

Psychic Kids: Children of the Paranormal

"If a man doesn't know how to measure and is told by a crowd equally ignorant that he is six feet tall, how can you expect him not to believe it?" -- Plato, The Republic

This is a new show on the US television channel A&E.; A&E; describes the show as “an intense journey of a medium and a psychologist, who draw on their own personal experiences, training, and unique outlook on life to teach troubled kids how to deal with what they often feel is a curse, as much as a unique and special gift.”

The “medium” named here is Chip Coffey. One can read more about his claims on his website (chipcoffey.com) as I am not concerning myself with his claims except those made in the show.

www.aetv.com/psychic-kids/about/index.jsp

Dr. Lisa Miller is the psychologist and she is a clinical psychologist and associate professor at Columbia University. She is also a believer in parapsychology and mediumship. One thing notable about this show is that there are no dissenting views, no lone skeptic to give a scientific explanation to any occurrence.

The episode being reviewed is called “Night Terrors” and was first aired on July 7, 2008. It followed the stories of three children: Kali, age 9; Caleb, age 8; and ReAnna, age 8, and their fears of being left alone in the dark. This fear is somehow equated to the children seeing ghosts, which was first recognized by the mother of each child. The opening half of the show is an introduction to each child.

The first child introduced is Kali, the eldest of the three in this episode. She introduces herself and says she can see spirits. A caption then says “Kali has been seeing spirits her entire life and is afraid to share her experiences with other kids.” According to this statement, we are lead to believe she has been seeing spirits since she came out of the womb; how anyone would test this or even prove this is unknown and not explained. Kali then goes on to claim that she “feels bad energy”. Kali’s mother then shows up to say that Kali has “always” been able to tell when someone passes away. The mother says that Kali sees a tall figure in a dark suit, who the mother calls “the caretaker”. Kali then says that she sees the caretaker drag spirits into the floor where “hell is”. The proof of these claims comes in an anecdotal story about the passing of Kali’s aunt. The mother retells the story of Kali seeing her aunt with the caretaker 3 days before her aunt died. Besides this story being anecdotal and unfalsifiable, it is never mentioned what condition the aunt was in during this time or how she died. Also, earlier the claim was that Kali was able to see dead people, but when she sees her aunt, her aunt is still alive.

In the next segment, Kali's mother stated that whenever Kali sees this “negative energy” she becomes ill. Her mother even mentions that she will keep her out of school for 2-3 days after one of these episodes. Later in the show it is even mentioned that the school Kali attends has sent a truant officer after her and are holding her back because she has missed so many days. The mother also says Kali has a blood disorder but gives no other information beyond that of what kind of disorder or if it was even medically confirmed. She also goes on to say that the blood disorder is caused by the “negative energy” that is draining her child and is causing stress in Kali’s life. If Kali truly has a medical disorder then the school would help to work with her and her mother. Kali then comes on to say that this sickness is a gift.

Next the show introduces Caleb. Caleb claims that he hears spirits calling his name. After that claim, the show places a caption saying, “Since the age of 2, Caleb has been tormented by spirits. The frequency and intensity of these experiences have caused him severe anxiety.” Caleb’s mom, who is very young looking, starts to talk about the first time he saw a spirit. According to the previous caption, this would have been while he was 2. She says that she tried to tell him it was his imagination, but that she was scared of what he was seeing. It is doubtful that a 2 year old would understand what imagination was, but a child can tell when their parent or parents are scared and would take their cues from the parent. His mom then goes on to say that she takes him to a therapist for his anxiety; it never says what therapist or even interview the therapist. Caleb says that he does not tell his friends about his “gift”. The episode then shows his mom putting him to bed. His mom then talks about his reward and punishment system for being afraid at night alone. If he spends 10 nights not afraid he gets a new game. If he spends 10 nights being afraid he loses a game for a week. His room is painted pink with pink hearts and flowers on white doors. Caleb is then shown waking up at night afraid, which is common when having a nightmare, but Caleb equates it to spirits.

ReAnna is the final child is introduced. She claims to be terrified of spirits, especially at night. She then begins to talk about one of her first experiences. She apparently witnessed the death of a little girl that lived next door. The girl was killed by a passing vehicle. ReAnna dealt with this traumatic experience by imagining seeing the little girl after the accident. The show never mentions how long after the accident. ReAnna talks about hearing the girl say she missed her family. These neighbors were not interviewed as they had moved away, so they wouldn’t have to see the sight of where their daughter died. ReAnna’s mother is holding her and had her write this story down to read for the taping of the show, thus reinforcing the behavior. The mother also then says that ReAnna can also diagnose and heal any medical condition. According to the mother she does this by taking the disease or condition into herself, just like the character from the movie and book “The Green Mile”. Once again the evidence for this is an anecdotal story given by the mother. ReAnna’s mother claims that ReAnna healed cramps in the mother’s hand by waving her hand over the cramping area. ReAnna’s experiences all happen at night while she is alone. She claims to hear noises and see shadows.

A few similarities between all three children were noted: They are all young and at an impressionable age. None of them are shown to have a father figure. The mothers seem to be shaping what the children believe. They are all afraid of the dark; as are most children at their age. All three are afraid to talk to their friends about their “gifts”. Anxiety seems to be haunting all of three of them.

Now, enter Chip Coffey and Dr. Lisa Miller. They are at ReAnna’s house to talk to her. The first thing out of Chip’s mouth is this house has “strong energy”. He proceeds to describe spirits to ReAnna and asks her if this is what she sees; of course the 8 year old girl answers yes. She does not describe these things herself; instead it was Chip describing them to her and ReAnna just agreeing with him. This is ReAnna appeasing to an authority figure. Chip is also asking leading questions and not letting ReAnna speak as herself.

Dr. Miller talks to ReAnna’s mother and points out that ReAnna is at the age of strong imagination. Dr. Miller then follows that statement by asking the mother when was it that you realized your child’s gift was real. This is a loaded question and an implicit assumption; it is assuming that the gift is real and not just imagination without proof of it being real. The mother answers by saying she also heard a spirit voice while staying one night in her daughter’s room. Chip then says the room is “very spiritual.”

The next scene is Dr. Miller and Chip talking outside the house. Chip says the best way to tell a child is psychic is by noticing two things. 1) They are afraid of the dark. 2) They don’t know what to do about being afraid. By this definition, almost every child is psychic. Dr. Miller then points out fear of the dark is common and widespread in children. She follows that statement up by saying ReAnna’s fear is beyond what is normal in most children and thus must be caused by her seeing spirits. This statement makes two logical fallacies. The first is excluded middle, spirits may not be the only reason a child is afraid of the dark. ReAnna has anxiety of the dark and thus is showing a phobia of the dark, this can be caused by many different things which are not suggested or discussed with ReAnna or her mother. The second fallacy is non sequitur or it does not follow. The fact that spirits are brought in as an explanation just does not make any logical sense. They base this decision, not off scientific studies, but off of unverifiable anecdotal evidence.

Chip and Dr. Miller’s answer to helping ReAnna is isolating her from reality with the other two children, Kali and Caleb. The three children and their mothers are taken to a ranch in Arizona that is supposedly built on American Indian sacred grounds and is said to be haunted. This help means dragging these kids around at night with only Chip. The first night Chip has them go to the dining room area and asks them to sense for the energy of ghosts. This is encouraging the behavior of the children. Once again, to appease an authority figure, all three children start to sense something. Caleb describes a man at a table looking at “someone”. Kali says she is in contact with a woman with a black stripe around her waste.

Chip then tells the children he is going to give the children a challenge; he insists that it is not a test and that there are no right answers. He then tells the children to close their eyes and concentrate. Next, Chip turns out the lights in the room. The kids become visibly afraid and ReAnna is crying. Chip tells them to not be afraid. He then goes over about feeling energy and sensing spirits. He tells them they are afraid of spirits and not the dark. He starts to insist they need to face their fears.

Next Chip and Dr. Miller talk to the parents. He makes one good point here. He tells the mothers that they are causing the fear in their children by being afraid in front of them. This is the truth; the actions of the mothers are affecting the actions of the kids. Chip still insists though that the kids can see spirits.

During the day, the kids are talking to each other. The topic is about seeing spirits and so are reinforcing their beliefs. Since they are isolated now, thanks to Chip and Dr. Miller, there are no outside sources interfering with this reinforcement. Kali then starts talking about how other kids at school make fun of her and won’t sit next to her in the lunchroom. She says this is because she told her friends about seeing spirits and energy. She uses words like energy very much in the woo sense. She is shown talking about energy and then her mother is shown saying almost the exact same thing. This shows that Kali is coached in her words and beliefs by her mom.

Next, Chip is seen talking to Dr. Miller about what the kids did the night before. He tells her that Caleb saw a man in the dining room. Dr. Miller finds this amazing and states that it correlates with other sightings. She describes these sightings as men sitting, around a table, playing cards and dressed as cowboys. Caleb claims to have just seen a man sitting at a table, this is not near as specific as what Dr. Miller describes and is in fact very vague and could fit any male ghost story. This is still seen as validation of Caleb’s ability. Dr. Miller also points out that there is a story of a women being seen wearing a black skirt. The sighting is equated to Kali’s description of woman with a black stripe around her waist. This is discounting the fact the stories of the ghost are suppose to take place in the kitchen and Kali was in the dining room. At the age of 9, Kali should know the difference between a black stripe and skirt or dress. Her description is just too vague.

ReAnna and Kali are taken to Mega Mease, an “energy healer.” She is teaches ReAnna how to heal Kali of her disease. ReAnna is now using the word energy in the woo sense. Mega has ReAnna move her hands over Kali in a therapeutic touch fashion. She also has ReAnna start drawing a picture of what she pictures in her mind while doing the “healing.” After the “healing” is done they look at the picture. The picture has a bunch of random lines and weird images but these are ignored and they focus on one part. In this part ReAnna drew blood, this is equated to the “blood disease” that Kali has and says she never told ReAnna. In this instant they are remembering the hits and forgetting the misses. ReAnna’s mom now starts calling ReAnna a healer.

The next night, the children are sent out on their own with night cameras to “ghost hunt.” Caleb is the first to claim to see a man staring at them by the rocks. The two girls freak out, scream, cry, and run back to the cabin. Chip gathers the kids and the mothers outside, still at night. He begins to raise his voice at the children for getting scared. He admonishes the children and the mothers. He then says one of the most ironic things in the show. Chips says, “We cannot let our actions feed off each other.” Caleb says he was not afraid and Chip congratulates him for that. Chip then tells them all they are going out to where they saw the spirit.

They go to a stage coach wagon. The kids are now saying the spirit is in wagon and not by the rocks as Caleb said earlier. Chip now claims to feel “energy” at the wagon. He then goes to show the children how to cold read by telling them to ask the spirit for a name or a first initial. ReAnna says “B” and Chip reinforces that by agreeing. Chip then just says the name Bart and that is the end of the retreat.

As they are leaving the ranch the kids are given a chance to talk again. Kali claims to be able to protect herself from negative energy now. All three claim to be friends now and only want each other as friends, thus creating more isolation.

The last bit is taken 2 weeks after the retreat. The mothers all claim the children are better and not as afraid. Kali’s mother even says Kali doesn’t get sick anymore. The show ends, mentioning that all three kids keep in touch with each other.

By BeamStalk