Why you should avoid James Higgins Psychic Medium

Source: Facebook/Google Images

"I recently had a run in with self proclaimed "Psychic Medium" James Higgins, and I thought it would be a good idea to look into him further, however since he had made certain rather nasty comments towards me, I thought it would be better if I asked someone else to write the article, so I asked a colleague here at BadPsychics, and the article below is written by them. As such I will say that any of the comments and opinions in the article below are those of the author." - Jon Donnis

As readers of Bad Psychics may be aware, we have various dealings with a woman called Deborah Davies over the years.

You can read the original article about her here, which reveals - among other things - the disgraceful claims she made about Madeleine McCann.

And don’t forget to check out the sequel, detailing the catfight she had with her former friend, Gail Cuffe who runs the ‘Readings by Gail’ Facebook page, (previously ‘Psychic123UKreadings’).

Alas, despite all of this, Ms Davies has continued to practise as a self-proclaimed psychic and medium. One of her latest schemes involves offering weekly horoscopes, which just happen to bear a curious resemblance to those on Russell Grant’s website.

Source: Facebook/Google Images/RusselGrant.mobi

Can you spot the differences?

Anyway, it now turns out that she is not the only person in her family to be making forays into the psychic world.  In autumn 2016, a series of posts appeared on her Facebook page, promoting her son, James Higgins. This struck me as a little odd as he was already 25 years old, and she had never indicated that he had any psychic ability before then.

In fact, one of the few times that she had mentioned him previously was when she publicised an event that he was due to host with someone from an inane reality show, back in 2014.

Source: Facebook/Google Images

However, it appears that this venture didn’t last long – as his Facebook page as an entertainment host/MC has since been deactivated. A cynic might be tempted to think that the sudden emergence of his alleged psychic ability very conveniently coincided with the failure of this business. Nevertheless, one must not jump to conclusions.  Let’s look at the evidence first before making our minds up as to whether James Higgins is the real deal or not.

To begin with, here are screenshots of Ms. Davies’s posts from last year – interspersed with my comments.

Source: Facebook/Google Images

So what do you think the odds of him creating his own psychic/mediumship Facebook page were?

Source: Facebook/Google Images

Oh, what a surprise! By the very next day, he had created a page.  And apparently, he had “no intention” of charging for his psychic services. Well, as we are about to see, that soon went out the window.

Source: Facebook/Google Images

As stated above, James was already 25 years old. Isn’t a bit strange that she hadn’t taught him to connect with his ‘spirit guide’ before then? Even more bizarre that she only taught him to do so after he had created a psychic mediumship page.

A few weeks later, this post appeared on both their pages:

Source: Facebook/Google Images

I have to say these are some of the most unconvincing examples of validations that I have ever seen. In the first case, I could name you half a dozen people who keep their feelings hidden. In fact, this is often said to be a typically British trait – i.e. keeping a stiff upper lip and not showing your emotions.

The second comment, on the other hand, really makes me sad. Clearly, this is someone who has suffered bereavement and is clutching at anything – no matter how vague – to give her hope of an afterlife.

Let’s be honest, though. Anyone could link the letter ‘B’ to a multitude of things in their lives. For example, just off the top of my head, I baked some bread for breakfast this morning.  I also got a text from my brother. One of best friends had a baby boy this year, and another close friend of mine had a birthday last month. I bought him a photo autographed by Bobby Charlton. I also have an Uncle Bruce and my grandmother’s sister was called Betty. And in my immediate circle of friends, I know people with the surnames Brown, Burton, Bennett, and Bright.

Furthermore, for all the positive responses that Ms Davies has for her son, we have received plenty of negative feedback in return.

For example, here are two typical complaints from former fans:

However, they were among the lucky ones, who decided not to pay for James Higgins’s psychic services. One customer, unfortunately, made the mistake of buying a reading from him and waited for three days – before she was sent this:  

Source: Facebook

(NB: At the time, James Higgins described himself as a ‘spirit medium’. He has now changed the name of his page to ‘James Higgins Psychic Medium’)

Just from looking at this reading, we can see that it’s simply a load of rambling waffle. James can’t seem to make up his mind as to whether the customer has just had a baby or is about to have one. He also talks about the customer getting the opportunity to work online – but then strangely contradicts himself at the end by saying that he “can’t see anything flagging up in her career”.

He was totally wrong, in any case. The customer actually completed her family many years ago. All her children are now adults, so she isn’t about to have another baby. Neither is anyone close to her, and she has no plans to work online.  She couldn’t believe it had taken him so long to produce something so short and inaccurate. She initiated a dispute to get her money back – but has yet to receive a refund.

These are not the only complaints that there have been about him. Another customer recently got in touch with us, alleging that James appears to be buying items online and then selling them at marked-up prices on his Facebook page. For instance, a few months ago, he offered this dress for £29.99 with a ‘free’ spirit reading.

Source: Facebook/Google Images

Note however, that you can buy EXACTLY the same dress here on eBay for £16.99 (plus £9.99 postage).

Now, in the interests of fairness, we should not confine our analysis of James’s psychic ability to his written readings or the items he sells. On occasion, he has conducted mediumship demonstrations for his customers.

Unfortunately, they don’t seem to be particularly impressive either.

A few months ago, he took part in a bizarre ghost hunt at a pub in Macclesfield. Apparently, this pub was supposed to be haunted by 22 ghosts, including a particularly evil spirit who has regularly assaulted women.

The video of the hunt went viral – and was picked up the Daily Mirror, which published an edited version on their website, complete with spooky background music. Yet *spoiler alert* absolutely NOTHING happens! The pub landlord, for some reason, goes into a particularly foul-mouthed rant at the ghost, goading it to attack him.  But James Higgins, for the most part, just stands there like a lemon, sporadically saying vague things like, “I sense a male presence.”

But let’s give James another chance. He sometimes holds live ‘question-and-answer’ sessions on Facebook. Here is a sample, which you can watch here:

You can, of course, judge for yourselves as to whether this video shows any proof of psychic ability. But for the purposes of accuracy, here is a transcript – with:

James Higgins’s reading in normal text,

commentary by me added in red,

and parts that I wish to draw attention to in bold.

---------

James: Sarah Lewis, you’re just commenting there. That is, you know, it’s really nice that I’m seeing messages like this. “What will my children be when they grow up?”

A fairly straightforward question about the future. But can he give her a straightforward answer?

Okay, erm, for now, I feel as though your children are at quite a young age.

She’s just asked what her kids will be “when they grow up”, so it’s pretty obvious that they aren’t very old.

There is so many factors that can influence this. I don’t feel in any way whatsoever that a child’s viewpoint on what they want to be now is what they’re going to be in the future. I wanted to be a barrister and that’s a very different job from what I’m doing right now. Erm, there are certain things that can influence this throughout their whole life. Lots of different roads that they could be taking at certain points and each option has a different outcome. So, it’s very difficult for me to be able to tell you that at the moment.

Eh – what?? This is common sense. Everyone already knows that there are different factors that can influence a person’s career path. But aren’t you supposed to be psychic? So shouldn’t you be able to say exactly which road the woman’s children will take?

But it’s very good that I’m seeing that you’re concerned about this. You’re very driven for your children and in the long run, that’s going to benefit them further down the line.

Well, if she wasn’t driven for her children, she wouldn’t have asked that question.

What I think is so important here to say – and this goes for anyone that’s got children. I’ve not got children at the moment, I’ve not got children. But I feel as though I’m very wise with knowledge of what I might pass on to my children. And a lot of what they teach you in school…it’s not the real world. It’s not the real world at all. The things that I’d be telling my children aren’t necessarily the things that they’d be taught in the educational system.

So your school didn’t prepare you for the real world? Very interesting, I’m sure. But what does that have to do with what the woman’s children will be when they grow up?

So, I think it’s important that you – at every available opportunity – give them the lessons that you have learned to develop over the years and things that you wish you knew when you were their age. And a lot of the time, you know, there’s things that you wish you would have known back then that you’ve only just found out recently. There’s things that you might not even know yet, that you’re yet to find out that would have benefited you when you were a child. And looking back, would you have done anything different? A lot of you might have. A lot of you might have done things differently and you know, that’s the whole point of life’s lessons. It’s us learning and developing on the things that we do and then passing that down to our children. And it’s important that we do that for the sake….for the sake of the children’s life, career, finances. You know, we want the best for our children at the end of the day, don’t we?

Oh, good grief! This sounds like the kind of guff you can hear on American talk shows about the best way to raise your children. I’m sure if the woman wanted parenting advice, she would have consulted Supernanny instead of a psychic.

And Sarah, no doubt in any way whatsoever that you are capable of relaying everything that they need to know. I feel as though you’re a very good mum to your children and I do feel as though you’ll get there and give them the support that they need throughout their life. Hope that makes sense to you.

No, I’m afraid it doesn’t. It’s just generalised blather.

But erm…it’s an exciting…exciting time, very exciting time, and watching a child grow up, you know, it must be amazing to, you know, hear at different stages…their aspirations from such a young age. A lot of children want to be a fireman when they grow up or you’ll hear the most randomest things…..I’ve heard children say they want to be a binman when they grow up and when they get older, you know, everything changes. Nothing stays the same. Nothing does stay the same, but it’s just something to bear in mind for the future.

This just basically repeats what he stated earlier about how children’s ambitions often don’t pan out. Sorry, but I can’t see anything remotely psychic about this fairly obvious fact. No answer whatsoever to the woman’s question – despite waffling on for almost five minutes.

---------------

Nonetheless, Jon Donnis (who runs this site) was prepared to give James Higgins one final try. A few weeks ago, James asked people to see if he was drawn to them by messaging him on Facebook. So Jon took him up on his offer – and received quite a surprising response:

Source: Facebook

However, not long afterwards….perhaps after consulting the spirit of Google Search…. James Higgins changed his mind, and sadly decided that Jon wasn’t so ‘lovely’ after all:

Source: Facebook

Regrettably, Jon then received a Facebook block before he was able to reply. But for my part, I simply say this: 
1. Read both previous articles about James’s mother,

2. Consider the evidence that we have provided here on what ‘help and guidance’ James Higgins actually gives to people in need, and

3. then, decide for yourselves who are the ‘evil ones’.

By Stefanie Schmidt

This article is the opinion of Stefanie Schmidt, any images used are freely available in the public domain either on google images or facebook, or otherwise specified and are used for the express purpose of criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research.

A Warning about Gail Cuffe aka Psychic123UKreadings

The following article was sent to me, the author wishes to remain anonymous due to the aggressive nature of the psychic being talked about, as such you can direct all your abuse to me on Twitter @JonDonnis Please enjoy my little disclaimer below, as we all know how much these psychics like to use Disclaimers!


DISCLAIMER:
The following article is the opinion of the author and may not correspond with the opinions of BadPsychics.com

This article is for Entertainment purposes only, and/or for scientific experimentation

---

Regular readers of Bad Psychics might remember the article that was published some time ago about Deborah Davies (Higgins).

Well, in summer 2013, a curious post appeared on Ms Davies’s Facebook page:

Leaving aside the issue as to why one psychic would need to consult another, it’s fair to say that any such recommendation from Deborah Davies should be treated with caution - given her own track record. Indeed, Deborah Davies and Gail Cuffe (the owner of Psychic123UKreadings) seem to have a lot in common. Both come from the Stockport area, both run Facebook pages with around 150,000 followers, and both have given readings that are less-than-convincing.


As an example, let’s take this reading which appeared on Ms Cuffe’s Facebook page recently:

If you can get past the spelling mistakes and lack of punctuation, you can see that this reading is nothing more than a load of vague waffle. It is so general that it could apply to anyone or anything.

1.    Most of us will have some sort of ambition that we have yet to fulfil.

2.    January is usually a financially difficult time for all of us, especially following the expensive Christmas/New Year period.

3.    The number 9 and a man with the same initial (in this case “J”) are so common that they’re meaningless. The number 9 crops up in everything from shoe sizes to barcodes to telephone numbers, while I can think of at least ten people I know whose first name begins with “J”. 


A closer look into Ms Cuffe’s record as a psychic reveals further inconsistencies. For example, she likes to state that she has over 25 years’ experience. This is a little odd for someone who is only in her early/mid forties. Especially since she has claimed this in 2012, 2013, 2014 and in August of this year - as this screenshot shows:

Incidentally, the aggressive message from her on the bottom right was in response to an observation that despite allegedly having 25 years’ experience, she only set up a limited company a year ago and has not yet submitted returns for it - as the DueDil website indicates.

After her message was made public to allow her to clarify her own business situation, it was followed up by another belligerent missive:

Now, please note the first few lines. If she really had psychic powers, wouldn’t she know who was behind the page? 

This aggression is nothing new for her. The earliest verified trace of Ms Cuffe dates back to 2005, when she started selling readings via eBay. She did this until about 2012, when eBay banned the sale of psychic/paranormal goods and services.  Her main line involved making pregnancy predictions and casting magic spells - purportedly to bring the customer luck, fertility, and fortune.


This appealed to a lot of women who were trying for a baby - some of them quite desperately. Ms Cuffe soon gained a reputation among the prospective parents, but it was not altogether positive. If a customer wasn’t happy with Ms Cuffe’s service, she would respond in a rude and unprofessional manner:

This was picked up on various forums and people began sharing their experiences of her. It was alleged that Ms Cuffe’s actions went beyond leaving rude responses on eBay. Here are a few examples, the first of which is taken from this forum here.

Another customer claimed that she had actually received abuse, threats and even a curse from Ms Cuffe, after simply enquiring politely whether she had received the wrong reading.

While yet another customer got an extremely foul-mouthed response from Ms Cuffe after questioning whether she lived in the UK. 

As if this wasn’t enough, people also started to compare the readings that Ms Cuffe sent them - and discovered that they were similar or identical.

As we can see from the excerpt of this reading, it is like a horoscope. Again, like the other reading above, there’s nothing specific about it. It’s just a lot of waffling generalisation about someone who is strong and determined, but who can feel “down” on occasion. I’m pretty certain that we all know someone who falls into that category - if it doesn’t apply to us personally.

As for how Ms Cuffe responded when complaints were put to her, the indications are that she simply carried on in her aggressive manner - occasionally by threatening to sue the other people or by getting her followers to report any negative Facebook posts about her.

This is where the story gets interesting, though. After Ms Cuffe was no longer able to sell her psychic services via eBay, she moved her business to her Facebook page. Perhaps inspired by her then-friend Deborah Davies, she gained a huge number of “likes” by heavily advertising psychic readings or spell casting - sometimes for free and/or at discounted prices. However, by continuing to run her business in a less-than-professional manner, the customer queries started to pile up.

And unfortunately for her, some of her customers then started to mix her up with Deborah Davies!

This came to a head when Ms Cuffe started offering “magic spells”. The deal was that the customers would send Ms Cuffe money and in return, Ms Cuffe would cast a magic spell to bring them love, fertility, fortune, etc. After she had cast her spell, she would send them an e-mail containing one word - which they then had to chant in order to activate this spell. 


Sadly, there were several people who did believe this. When the spells either didn’t work or they never got the e-mail from Ms Cuffe with the “magic activation word”, Ms Davies suddenly found herself inundated with e-mails. As you can imagine, she wasn’t too pleased:

And after that, it became pretty clear that the friendship between Ms Davies and Ms Cuffe was over. Despite once championing Ms Cuffe as “the only medium" she would recommend, Ms Davies then decided to “out" Ms Cuffe in January this year.

There is a supreme irony in Deborah Davies criticising Gail Cuffe for sending identical readings - because she has been accused of doing exactly the same thing herself! Do check the earlier article about her (linked to here), where Ms Davies effectively admitted giving out duplicates and then tried to blame it on the customers picking the same cards.

However, that aside, we should not forget that there appear to be vulnerable people out there who have been genuinely hurt by the actions of Ms Cuffe. It should be mentioned that statistically, most women who try for a baby manage it within a year. However, for those who don’t, it can be absolutely devastating. The desperation to conceive a child then leads them to consult psychics - even though this may seem like a daft idea afterwards.


Just see this one comment as an example:

Of course, you are all free to make your own mind up about Ms Cuffe. However, if only for what allegedly happened to the last woman alone, I would strongly advise avoiding her like the plague.