Revealing the tricks of Psychic John Edward Part 2

A lot of people contacted me about the first article on John Edward happy that I went into such detail with regards to how it performs his readings.

Well since he performed more readings on that show, I thought I would look at some more and further show that if you know how the tricks are done, any reading, however impressive looking to the average person, can be exposed.

Readings like this on daytime TV shows are actually some of the best to analyse. The reason is that they are not edited or produced in house by the psychic, so they are not editing in fake responses and reactions, bad guesses aren't edited out, and as long as you assume that the psychic hasn't planted the audience member themselves, you will get the psychic working in a purely cold reading way, which for people like me, people who actually know all the tricks, is really easy to break down and explain step by step how it is done.

The only bad parts are if a reading is stopped due to the show taking an advertisement break, because often the psychic will keep talking to them during the break, and we have no way of knowing what information they can glean during this and then repeat back to them when the show is live again.

So with that first watch the video below if you want, and then scroll down to see the Transcript (again done by the excellent forum member "girlseeksghosts") with my analysis and explanations interjected.

As always I will work from the transcript so I can be as analytical as possible, but will check the video for certain spots if needed.


Key:
John Edward - Normal Font
Audience Member - BOLD

Jon Donnis (Me) - RED

I don't know where I'm going next because I was pulled there first so I don't know if I am going to be here or if I'm going to be here to you guys so I won't get up until I know that yet so I won't be in the way of the camera; but I feel like I need to talk about the younger male, like the son figure who's passed. So I don't know if someone has lost their son or if there is a younger male that's passed but I feel like the younger male has two father figures with him that would be like he is with his dad and his father-in-law or he is with his dad and his uncle but there's two together and I think that there is an 'R' name that they want me to attach this to. So did anyone lose a younger male? A younger male to me would be like son, nephew, grandson, younger brother, that's what it feels like. If I had to go by 'pull' I was going to say I still feel like I am being pulled in front of me.

Us?

If it's a younger male then yes, do you have a younger male that's passed?

Yes.

If you read the first article, and you really should have done, you will see a similar pattern again. Lots of questions asked by John Edward, lots of vague comments, and using a huge net to catch the fish.

The moment a self proclaimed psychic asks a question, that is how you know they are fake. The moment they use terms like "father figure" or "male figure" you know they are fake.

I don't know if that's you, I don't know if I am with you. I have to move.

Why doesn't he know? He is supposed to be psychic. Why are the spirits so useless at just giving basic information?

I think I'm here. I think there is a younger male energy that I am supposed to talk about so somebody here lost a younger male that I would see as being like below you that would be like a son figure and there's two father figures who have passed. Let me rephrase this, imagine having the two father figures and their younger male, so if you have the brother who passed or if there is a husband energy who's passed and he is with both father figures I would see it as being the same scenario and I know that there is an 'R' name that's connected to it either living or passed, and I am supposed to talk about... that doesn't mean that... there you are, you could be the 'R' so that's what's getting me here so if this makes sense raise your hand so I can get a mic to you so I can hear you.

My daughter is Robyn.

Your daughter is Robyn?

Please read the last paragraph again, then read it again, and now one last time.

Do you see anything in there that is specific? One single thing?

He comes up with a "R" name. Could be living or dead, Could be the people present, or not, Could be male or female. Just a R name. 

And straight away the audience member jumps in with her daughter Robyn.

and she lost one of her friends about 4 years ago.

So she lost a younger male, so this would be younger than you?

Yes.

John asks more questions, remember, he claims to be the psychic, yet he doesn't know anything, he is fishing, he is getting information FROM the audience member, NOT giving it her. 

Are there two older... I don't think that's it, I don't think thats it, I feel like I am here, I feel like I'm more here (moves to someone else)

We had an uncle that was killed at 21.

Ok and is there, is your dad......no that wouldn't be ...?

John is struggling here, this is known as "casing" in the business. Basically it is a way of seeing who is best to "read" who will be most forthcoming, while at the same time making it appear like as a psychic you want to be specific.

It is a psychological trick which is often done on purpose. Now John Edward has a number of people he can see are willing, he has picked up a fair bit on info, so if he struggles on one, he can switch back to the other, and makes him appear to be more genuine, as he is not just jumping on the first person who answers one of his question in the affirmative. It is a bit like when a ghost hunter will say "nothing happened" as that gives the impression that they must be telling the truth when something does happen.

Our grandfather?

No. Is somebody in the food business? Does somebody work in the food industry or does somebody have a connection to doing something with food? They are showing my symbol for a cornucopia when I see that it means somebody works in food in some way.

Our uncle used to be a grocer who lived with Ray.

Ok so I think I am with you guys then. So you have the two father figures who have passed?

Yes.

Ok, so it would be like a father and an uncle?

Well it's grandfather and his brother.

After a lot of digging, asking questions etc, John has decided to settling on this person to read. And straight away he gets the "older male figures" wrong.

Ok so where's the 'R' name?

Ray our uncle.

Ok and he's the one that worked with food?

No, our great uncle is Ray as well, he worked with food.

Look at the sheer amount of questions John is asking here. One question after another, and every time he tries to make an assumption, he gets it wrong, and the audience member corrects him and gives him more information.

He worked with food. Ok so here's what I know I have, I have the younger male with two older males, somebody who worked with food and there is an R name. 

Yes you have that because the audience member just told you. They literally told you all of that and you told them none of that. You asked questions to an audience. 

Why is August important in the family? What took place in August or who's birthday is in August? Is this on your mum's side?

Yes.

More questions, he chooses a month, then asks multiple questions. If anyone can explain to me how asking questions is evidence of psychic abilities please do, as for the life of me I don't get how anyone can believe in John Edward.

He then gets a positive answer to a QUESTION.

Ok because they are telling me to go to mum's side of the family so is mum still here?

Yes.

John Edward a man who claims to talk to the dead, does not know if this persons mother is dead or alive.

and did she have some type of hip thing or did she have some type of....

She has got a hip problem at the moment.

A minute ago John didn't know if the ladies mother was dead or alive.

But hang on a second, what happened to the two old males, the younger male, and the R name?

Now he is ASKING questions about the woman's mother and if she had a "hip thing"

Now I wanted to check the video on this. If you do skip to 3m25s. Notice how John is stating she "had" a hip thing, as in the paste tense. So with the reply of "at the moment" that is not what John is saying. Now look at the two women he is talking to. I assume they are sisters, they look to be in their 50s, maybe late 40s. So their mother the woman being talked about is most likely to be in her late 60s or early 70s. Both women in the audience are over weight, one morbidly so. So with two sisters, you can also assume that their mother is overweight also, just by looking at them and making educated assumptions. So is it really such a stretch to assume that such a person would have hip "things".

This is what psychics do, they look at people, they ASK questions, they make educated guesses. 

Ok because they are telling me to talk about her hip thing but its only on one side because I don't see it on both sides.

Yes.

Very crafty here by John Edward, after ASKING the woman earlier, she clearly said that her mother had a "hip problem" indicating just one hip. So with this information, John is now repeating it back as if he knows psychicly.

Not to mention the fact that people who do have hip issues will nearly always have it on one side. In my own family I know of 3 older women who have had hip issues, and it is always one side first, never both at once. It is sadly very common in women as they get to a certain age, if they carry a bit extra weight.

and she is a very, very strong, tough, no nonsense, I don't want any assistance, I can do this on my own, kind of personality. But you got to be careful with that because if she does need assistance or help she might not ask for it so we have to kind of put her in that position.

Yes.

Very generalised comment here. We are talking about someone probably in the 70s. That generation were very much like that. Ask yourself, how many people do you know in that generation that are not strong, tough, no nonsense types when it comes to health etc. Literally every one I know in that generation and above fit that description.

Somebody was misdiagnosed, they were being treated for one thing and I think they realised then it was something else. They were being treated for maybe something they thought was this then they realised it was cancer, where is that? I have a whole bunch of stuff going on in this section so I have that and then I have somebody who passed from a suicide where their actions brought about their passing. So that might be somebody else in this section so if you have the suicide or somebody's actions brought about their passing they might be jumping in, separate from this.

Possibly.

So not only are the two older males, and younger male and the R name forgotten, he is already going to forget about this old lady with a bad hip and move on to someone with a misdiagnosed cancer, and then a suicide.

Nope, its not possibly its either their actions brought about how they got there ...

Oh yeh I was just saying possibly it's me sorry!

Oh sorry because I feel like I am supposed to bring that up. How is that connected to you?

My cousin.

Is that where Michael or Mark or the M...

Mark.

Mark ok, I just need you to know that that's their way of letting you know. Is Mark connected to your dad's side of the family or is his dad still here?

This is really sad to see, the woman is almost instantly in tears, this is the sad side of the psychic con. 

Anyway lets look at what John said, he asked the question of who it was, the woman told John it was her cousin, John Edward did NOT know.

Next he is about to ask her the name, Michael, Mark or the M.... she then cuts him off and volunteers the name of Mark. Now believers will watch this and say that John Edward knew the name of the person who committed suicide and that he was called Mark. But no that is not what happened. John said two incredibly common names, and was going to go on to say "M sounding name", but the woman cut him off and she told him the name was Mark.

Lets just say that John had continued talking. If that woman had ANYONE in her family with the name Michael, Mark or any M name, that would be classed as a hit in the eyes of a believer. But John did NOT tell her the name Mark, he was asking a question, and the woman told him the name.

This really is an important difference that it is sometimes very hard to spot, especially when the client is jumping in and volunteering so much information.

I'm not sure.

I need to talk about the issue with dad.

Ok.

So I don't know if your cousin is talking about you possibly having an issue with dad? I'm sorry to do this on live television, is there anything going on with dad I need to bring up?

My dad or?

Yes.

I don't know my biological father but he passed last year I think.

Your dad?

Yes my dad.. like my real dad.

but your biological father has passed?

Yes

This is a huge fail here by John, he clearly assumes that the girls dad is alive and that she has "possibly" had an issue with him. Not only that the woman then gives away a load more information about biological father, which of course then indicates she has a step dad and so on. And again notice how John Edward is just asking question after question and not really telling her anything.

Ok, your cousin Mark is letting me know that dad, the one that you had the issue with which was maybe not knowing or not having a connection to, is there in spirit and watching over you.

A moment ago John didn't even know that the dead person was her cousin, SHE TOLD HIM. He guessed the names Michael, Mark or M, again SHE TOLD HIM. John didn't know her Dad was dead. He is just repeating back to her everything she told him.

Now here is the interesting thing, I don't know if you had one experience with him at the age of 13 or if there was a one-time meeting where you guys connected and he kind of disconnected from you in some way. 

Again remember that the woman told John that is was her "biological dad", no one refers to their father as "biological" unless they were abandoned, or they were adopted, and so on. So from the information that she gave to John Edward he has now created the scenario in his head, which he will now ask her questions about to try and make everything fit together.

I feel like I'm supposed to tell you I'm sorry and apologise for not being able to cope or be responsible for what took place at that time in your life. That actually created and started some stuff for you in your life and sent you down a unique path but you're trying to work thought that. Is there anybody who had some type of either... I'm going to be really off the wall like crazy for a second so do I have your permission to be very personal?

Yes.

Again he says a lot here but never really gets an answer to the specific things he asked her. Then at the end of his rambling he asks a question, that way he is almost guaranteed to get a "yes" reply, despite her not confirming anything he said. Psychics do this so that others in the audience, and even the client themselves remember saying the word "yes" to the psychic. People remember people confirming things. They do not remember the details, the questions asked, how things were worded, all they remember is the final response, and emotions.

I have to wrap this up but I will talk to you after the break with this if thats ok.

(advert break)

So before the break I was just about ready to say something and then we got pulled away so I want to come back and repeat what it was I said off camera but everybody here heard me say but I am going to ask you again but for the folks at home. I asked if there was somebody who had a, I don't know how I phrased it before, if there was somone who had swiched genders in some way and you said?

My husband!

Now unfortunately we don't know exactly how John worded things in the break, and how much information the woman gave him. But if history has shown us anything, it is that John asks a question and the client gives him all the information.

So this would be your biological dad's way of talking about seeing what's going on in your life and not being a part of it. I feel like there's like you know separate from your relationship, separate from stuff, communication is very very key in anybody's relationship and I feel like sometimes, and I'm very sorry to put you on the spot but I feel like if someones made that choice to become empowered and know who they really are on the inside and reflect that a lot of communication and inner dialogue has to take place but I feel like sometimes you lack in that arena, you lack in the ability to dig deep and express that, you can talk and you can communicate, but really owning your own feelings, imperative. (Turns to lady's partner) How do you feel hearing me say that as partner?

Yeh, well she definitely talks a lot.

but the depth of it, you want more, you need more, correct?

Yes.

I have to admit, I was surprised to see John Edward go down this whole gender issue route. So I thought I would check the video for clues, and yes it is quite clear that the ladies partner is transgender, so for John to ask her if "someone she knew had switched genders" well, its quite clear why he asked. And perhaps before the John Edward segment they may have even had a discussion about Trans people, and if he was watching backstage. Just a thought.

And I feel that you need more as well. There's an interesting thing about nine kids in a family. So I don't know if someone is one of nine or whats the joke about nine?

Hopefully not for us, but my Nan is one of 13 and my grandad is one of seven I believe, so maybe nine is in the middle.

Completely wrong. Just took a number, made a guess and hoped the client would make it fit.

What I see is this, my mum is one of 11 and I get them as like five and six there was like five boys, six girls so either nine of one and then like 3 of another one or 4 of another, was somebody one of nine?

Yes I think I think my nan was one of nine girls.

So as expected it has been made to fit.

and the cousin did he cross himself over because of drugs or was there some kind of issue of drug consumption connected to that?

Yes.

Bizarrely he goes back to the dead cousin, and takes a chance with drugs being involved, and gets lucky. Whether it is drug overdose, or suicide via drugs, sadly it is a major cause of death in young people. Also keep in mind that John kept talking to this lady in the break, so we have no idea how much she gave away then.

I just feel like this is their way of saying we see what's going on around you and I do think there is going to be some type of legality that you have to work through, so I don't know if you're dealing with laywers or if you are dealing with something legal now in order to get something forced through or to get something approved. It's almost like what they are showing is like when my mum was sick and her health insurance wouldn't cover something that she needed. It was just like right outside the box and they would not cover it and I had to like fight to get them to cover that. So I feel like I'm trying to get something included inside the circle of something. So I hope that helps.

Thank you.

No confirmation or talk about anything there, it just ends.

So Looking back, did John get anything right in the whole reading?

He jumped from one dead person to another, 2 father figures, a younger male and a R name all quickly forgotten. An educated guess about if someone was transgender, just by looking at them and hearing their voice. Wow that could have gone really badly if you think about it.

Out of the whole reading, being really generous, I would give him two hits. Just two. The name Mark, and Drugs. The Mark name was part of a question which the woman interrupted him and gave him the information. So you cant really count that, its a very common name and he was asking a question. And secondly the comment about drugs. We never really found out what happened to the cousin, why or how he killed himself, so it is all left very open to interpretation and vague, so this woman might leave the studio and be convinced.

Personally like all of his other readings I was just not impressed, not at all.

He asks question after question, he repeats back to people what they tell him, and we are expected to believe that he is psychic.
Sorry John Edward fans, he is not psychic, he is a fake. And with that I am done for the day.

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By Jon Donnis