A Look At Matthew James International Celebrity Medium! - UPDATED

Back in September 2014, we published the article below, I had completely forgotten about it, afterall Matthew James is kinda a forgettable character. Anyway since we have been talking about him a lot recently, I thought I would bump this up to the top of the site, so people could see what we said about him about 10 months ago! Enjoy.
- Jon Donnis 01/07/15

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Originally Published 02/09/2014 - 14:44

So this Matthew James blokes decides to write an article online whereby he uses the term "Bad Psychics" way too many times for a coincidence, usually psychics do this in the hope of nicking some google hits from BadPsychics.com

Its an old trick, he also writes a lot of articles warning people about fake psychics, which is another trick, pretty much saying "there are a lot of fakes out there but I am the real deal... honest.."

Anyway I thought I would have a look at him, and encourage others on here to do the same, and get back to me if you have had a bad experience with him.

I found this video of him.
Very stereotypical of a male medium these days! All the way down to his mannerisms and dodgy ear piercing!



Incase he removes this, a copy can be found at http://tviscool.com/play.php?vid=934

Now lets look at his Facebook Biography

Matthew James is a natural born Clairvoyant and Medium, who from the tender age of five, has seen and heard what others around him could not. 

So in other words he was a lonely child who had imaginary friends and his parents encouraged this and told him that it was ghosties!

As a young teenager, he joined his local Psychic Centre. From there he developed his gift as a Medium/Clairvoyant and has been a professional reader for over 25 years.

Developed probably not the right word here, groomed would be a better word.

Matthew James is predominately clairvoyant (Clear Seeing), clairsentient (Clear Sensing) and clairsentinent (Clear feeling); but also receives information using clairaudience (Clear hearing), clairalience (Clear smelling) and clairgustance (Clear tasting).

Wow he claims the whole gambit of magical bullshit powers does this one!

His natural abilities of mediumship, which have been employed since he was a young child, provide incredible direct connections with 'the spirit world'.

Yet these so called "natural abilities" have NOT allowed him to pick up a Nobel Prize, or win $1m from Mr James Randi.

It seems when you have these multitude of magical powers, instead of trying to change the world, you instead do little stage shows and have a booth at spiritual festivals!

Matthew James generally uses runes; numerology; his own cards, The Light Of Truth Oracle and tarot cards during his consultations.

Is there anything this man can't do??? Oh yeah he can't talk to the dead!

He conducts private readings at his home in Canberra; in expos throughout Australia; in party bookings throughout Australia & New Zealand ... as well conducting private readings via Skype, Phone & video readings for his clients all over the world ............

In other words he is willing to take money from gullible vulnerable grieving people anywhere he can find them.

He also has a nice "Legal Disclaimer" on his website, of course it is a load of tosh, but then would you expect anything less from someone claiming so many magical Jesus like powers?

Lets take a look

Legal Disclaimer: 'UK Law now states that all mediumship, clairvoyance and tarot/rune readings are for "entertainment purposes only". All guidance given from any of the services on this website are undertaken on a free will basis. Under no circumstances are you obliged to take the courses of action based on any guidance provided to you during a reading obtained from this website.'

Now a lot of Psychics and Mediums like to claim that they are forced by UK Law to have an "Entertainment Purposes Only" disclaimer, this is rubbish, no such law exists and this is a 100% LIE. Yes Matthew James has just told a blatant LIE to all of his gullible fans!

You see the truth is he does not in any way need to have any such disclaimer, in fact he can legally claim that every one of his claims is 100% true! Yep, he would not be breaking a single law if he said that..... UNLESS of course its another lie.

Now in the UK we have something called the Consumer Protection Act, now not to bore you, but basically this covers pretty much all trade, and in doing so people like Matthew James come under its jurisdiction. So if you were to phone up a plumber to come and fix your sink, but in doing so he lied, created another problem and then charged you a huge amount of money, he would be breaking the law, he might find himself on BBC Watchdog, and would definitely upset Trading Standards if a victim was to complain, And the same applies to Matthew James, and mediums/psychics like him.

If they sell a service which is real, and they deliver that service, then there is no problem at all, they can charge people, take money, declare it to the Taxman, and all is fine and dandy, HOWEVER if a medium like Matthew James was to sell a reading, but that reading was not real, but instead of cold reading, or he had prior researched his victim, or used anything other than real psychic powers, then he much like that dodgy plumber would be in breach of Consumer Protection Laws, and be liable for prosecution. And NOW you see why he has that Entertainment Purposes Only Disclaimer!

That Disclaimer which he puts their BY CHOICE remember! basically admits he is a fraud! Yep Matthew James the Medium is admitting he is a fraud and that what he does is just an act, like a Magician or Mentalist, there is no difference. That disclaimer is there purely to protect himself from prosecution if he used anything other than real psychic abilities!

He also claims on his site that... " he is able to provide ACCURATE FUTURE PREDICTIONS"

Yes not only can this man communicate with the dead and break the laws of physics, he can also do what no one else on the planet can do and that is see the future and make Accurate Future Predictions! Of course again his disclaimer states as a fact that what he does is just Entertainment and not real in any way, so of course his little statement can be taken with a pinch of salt.

Wait folks, there is more!

"Matthew is also a 'Medical Intuitive' which enables him to sense, feel and describe the medical ailments of his clients and also of the deceased loved ones who communicate with him."

Lets hope he doesn't contact the dead soul of someone who suffered with and died from dysentery, now that could be nasty.

Surely this man can't say anything else that would make me shake my head any more could he? Oh of course he "studied the Kabbalah for over 12 years back in the 80's & 90's and gained a deep understanding of the Tree Of Life after partaking in intensive pathworking journeys during this period."

For anyone unaware Kabbalah is just a load of spiritual mumbo jumbo made famous by Madonna!

So how much does Matthew James charge for his world changing magic powers?

1 question, 2 question or 3 question readings comprise a written reading in PDF format sent to you via E-Mail. Please allow 7 - 10 days to receive your reading. Please include your date of birth along with your question (s)
$25 for 1 question
$50 for 2 questions
$75 for 3 questions


$75 for 3 questions.
Hmmm. My 3 questions would be
1. Why do you lie
2. How do you sleep at night
3. Whats with the ear ring?

$75 for a PDF! There must be some really desperate people out there if you can charge that much for your "Entertainment Purposes Only" readings.

10 minute, 20 minute or 30 minute Voice readings comprise an MP3 recording of your absent reading undertaken by Matthew James.  Please allow 7 - 10 days to receive your reading. Please include your date of birth along with your question (s)
$30 for 10 minute Voice (MP3 recording)
$55 for 20 minute Voice (MP3 recording)
$80 for 30 minute Voice (MP3 recording)

$80 for an half hour recording of Matthew James cold reading! Blimey, that's a good living to make, much easier than actually trying to change science, take the human race forward and proving what you do is real, but wait you don't claim what you do is real, you quite clearly state what you do is entertainment, that it is an act! Lets never forget that people, remember there is NO UK LAW whatsoever that forces him to state that, he states that by his own personal choice and admission he is not really psychic!

And if you are in Canberra you can even get a one hour personal one to one reading for the bargain basement drop down price of....... wait for it ........ $160!!

And guess what to book a reading, you only have to pay a $50 NON REFUNDABLE charge!
Yep even if you book and then change your mind, you still just lost $50!

Does that sound like the kind of person you would want a reading from?

His website basically reads like a shopping list, and like so many mediums, its always about the money, there is little to no interest in proving any claims, its just about getting as much money as you can from grieving people as quickly as you can, and making sure they have as little comeback as possible if they are not happy with a reading!

You name it, he sells it, from all of his various kinds of readings, to workshops, to tarot cards, every possible gimmick you can imagine and he is in on it.

As you would expect he has a lot of testimonials on his site all saying how great he is, but remember he is a self admitted "entertainment purposes only" medium, he is not real, yet the testimonials sound almost like the people believe he is genuine! You don't suppose he has been lying to them do you?

He also commented on the disappearance of Maddie McCann, afterall he is a Grief Vulture so why wouldn't he comment on this.

Intuitive Insight: Plenty of travels via boats even in recent times. Uncompleted transactions. MM still not to be released. MM very much a commodity too for financial gain = blackmail? MM location on an island (Ireland?) ... Eye surgery or changed colour of her eyes with lenses. Hair dyed black. Cornwall (Exmoor or Dartmoor ??) - most likely location with its relative quick access to sea plus isolation. - Copyright Matthew James

Much like him I like a good testimonial, so I will leave you with one I found online at ripoffreport.com

Matthew James - Predicting future events was a fail!! He may have gotten a few tiny stuff right but when it came to big predictions he was so wrong. Even with exam results he was so wrong and insisted i get a remark and it was still wrong. I dont know how he is getting so many new clients?? maybe people go to him for the connections with people who have passed?? i dont see the point in that cos we have to look to the future and not the past. People who have died  should be at peace and not disturbed. I find that he was also very adamant even when he was wrong. Very very money minded and would not tolerate any calls to follow up or clarify why his predictions were not unfolding. He once said i would be working within a month and he was sooooo confident, well until today it has not happened.. Big shame

BadPsychics.com advice - AVOID Matthew James - He does NOT speak to the dead, he is only interested in your money!

An Analysis of a Matthew James Reading

Matthew James is a self proclaimed medium currently living in Australia.

Recently I noticed that he was posting articles on his blog, and using the term "BadPsychics" in the title. Many psychic websites do this, as my site ranks very highly on Google, and a lot of people will search for a psychics name followed by BadPsychics, in the hope that we may have written about them. So Psychic websites will used the "BadPsychics" brand name, in the hope that the odd person on google might end up on their site.

Anyway I called out Matthew James for doing this, and was rather surprised at the vitriol he then spewed my way. Ok so I am used to it, so I did a little digging, and as you will see from a previous brief article I wrote about him, he has made a lot of claims, including claims that he had passed scientifically controlled tests in the 90s that were also peer reviewed. So of course I asked to see evidence of this, and suddenly he starts blocking me at every turn.

He also started to reply to that article on this site, and in the comments section made many a threat, including one to sue me for "defamation of character", he since deleted that threat, as well as some other rather nasty comments he made. For the record I have still yet to hear from his solicitor!

Anyway, he seemed to take umbrage at some comments I left on a video he had uploaded to Youtube, apparently showing him work. Titled Matthew James Renowned Medium & Clairvoyant - LIVE, and from November 2011. Clearly by uploading this video to his channel, he considered it to be a fine example of his craft. I pointed out that within 1 minute all he had done is ask questions, and then repeat back to the victim what he had just heard, a classic trick of cold reading.

So I thought I would take things a little further and allow people to make up their own mind.

I will share the video here, and include a full transcript below, and interject my own comments and opinions. I am sure Matthew will only end up deleting the video, when he fully realises it acts to expose his own methods of trickery, if that is the case, I have a back up people, so don't worry.

So here is the video, and remember to scroll down to read the transcript and my analysis of what he is doing. Please note that the audio isn't great in the video, and some parts are a bit muffled, so we have done our best with the transcript, but it might not be perfect, so please do watch the video as well, so you get the true full picture of what is going on. And make sure to leave your comments too.

"UPDATE: As expected Matthew James has made the video unviewable, as he desperately tries to hide how truly awful his mediumship is, and by removing the video he can tell people that my transcript is a lie, or I missed things out and so on. Luckily I downloaded a copy of the video, so here it is back for you all! - Jon Donnis"

Key:

Medium Matthew James in BOLD writing.

Victim/Client in normal text

Jon Donnis in Red

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I'm looking at the gentleman with the white shirt over there; I know there was a message over there before but whose father did Suzy get before?

So the very first thing he says is a question. Lets keep a count of how many questions he asks, remember a real medium would not need to ask any questions, and Matthew James has also claimed that he does not ask his clients any questions at all.

(Woman) Our father...... (Male) It was their father.

Where's your father, where's your father? (Talking to the male)

I think we can count that as just one question. Again he is asking directly where this persons father is, doesn't he know? Isn't he meant to be speaking with spirit. (2 Questions asked)

He's passed away, a few years ago.

Ok but you're a sceptic aren’t you sir?

(3 Questions asked)

Me?

Yeh – you're bit of a sceptic aren’t you?

Asks the question, then repeats it as if to suggest that the medium knew before hand. Lets be honest here the man in the audience is giving off a certain kind of attitude, which would suggest he is skeptical, not to mention the fact that women are often more likely to be believers than men, and 90% of the audience of any psychic show will be female, and this bloke looks like he has been dragged along to this event.

Yeh 50/50.

Funnily enough Matthew is wrong, as the man admits he is 50/50, or undecided.

It's just that he was an impatient man and he's been nagging me all night to come to you.

You serious?

Yes.

 
Yeh, ok.

Hang on a second, a moment ago Matthew didn't know who the father was, who the previous medium Suzy had got, in fact he knew nothing about this dead father, yet now suddenly he is claiming that this dead man had been nagging him all night to come to this man. This is pretty blatant cold reading here, and if you rewind the video, you can see Matthew had no idea at the start, and is just using the man's answers and throwing them back at him.

And he was a bit of ladies' man wasn't he and he liked the blondes?

Well he liked women, not just blondes, all sorts of women.

 
Well he liked women I better come to you 

 
I like blondes, I like blonds I like ????? (COULDN'T CATCH NAME)

I'd call this a fail, and Matthew quickly moves away from this.

From stating that his father was a ladies man, and he liked blondes, all we get is that his father liked women, which you would expect since he had a son.

 
You're a bit of a joker, I know as soon as I said that, but I've got a couple of difficult messages that I've got to do so I've got to set the tone. Do you understand me; and I've got told I've got to come to you because you will make everybody laugh and joke because you can do that but so could your father, and the reason he's here with me is like high spirits, literally high spirits because he had a kidney problem I don't have to tell you I know he had a kidney problem. I don't know if he passed with it but ..

Again Matthew James here is making out he knew this man was a bit of a joker before he came to him, yet he never said that before, I could tell after speaking to this man he is a bit of a joker, anyone could tell that. Matthew James makes out he was told by spirit to come to him cause he would make people laugh! Hang on a minute ago Matthew thought this man was a skeptic, and had to ask him where his father was, and now he is using what he has learnt in a minute of talking to him, and repeating it back to him as if it was told to him by his dead father!

He had pain around there but mainly the back, a bad back a really bad back around that area there (indicates where)

.
I'm sorry I'm sorry but I'm going to be very argumentative right and I'm going to say what he is telling me and he had a kidney problem.

Well he's like that so if he said kidney yeh.

Ok its just that he didn’t tell everybody what was wrong with him, he just got on with things, do you understand that?

Yeh.

Ok so this is very clear here. Matthew James specifically mentions kidneys, now i will tell you why he used this, when you are giving a reading you make snap decisions, and you make an educated guess as to why someone may have died. Looking at this man, you would say he is in his 40s, so his dead dad would likely have died in his 60s, which is obviously a very young age. The assumption here is his father had high blood pressure from a bad diet, and that caused kidney failure, sadly a very common death for men in their 60s.

The problem is Matthew James is 100% wrong here, the man states quite clearly he had a bad back, and that is the only connection to the area of the kidneys. Matthew realises he has failed in his educated guess does the old psychic trick of just insisting he is right, and that the client is wrong!

Just think about that for a moment, Matthew has told someone that their dead father had kidney failure, and insisted it to be true, even after the client said no! If this man goes away believing the medium, he will forever believe that not only did his dad have kidney failure, but that he lied to his family about it! Matthew James right there has implanted a negative and false memory regarding this man's dead father! And people wonder why I get so angry at fake psychics and the damage they cause!

Right, he's actually very proud of you and is there children in the audience because I'm about to swear because you know he swore, it's just that he said he's very proud of you but you were an absolute s*it when you were younger.

 
I was always trouble yeh.

Wow, just think about that for a second. Matthew James is now telling this man, whose father has died, is telling him that he was a sh*t when he was younger! What a dispicably and nasty thing to say just to get a laugh, obviously this man is a light hearted, friendly man who likes a bit of banter, and from this you can guess when he was a kid he had confidence, and probably got in trouble, so hardly a giant leap, but to then claim his father is insulting him from beyond the grave, that is pretty pathetic in my eyes.

Ok you don't actually have any problems its not causing any problems its actually to prove, make you realize there there really is something in this. Do you understand me?

Yeh ok right.

Because he was open minded enough to actually be into this.

  
Righto, ok.

He might not have admitted to it but he was into it, I think.... was your mum into it?

With dad she was.

(lots of laughing from audience)

 
Sorry, sorry?

with dad she was.

  
Seriously she was into this wasn't she

Yeh, yeh, she did.

So Matthew James claims that the clients dad was into spiritualism, but gets a negative response from the man, so quickly switches it to his mother, again more females then men are into such things.

Right, where's your mum, because I think...

(4 Questions asked)

Wheres my mum? She's gone too.

Again Matthew James has no idea at this point if this man's mother is alive or dead, so what does he do, he just straight out asks him, and the client reveals that his mother is dead.

Remember the medium is ASKING THE QUESTION, that is because at this point the medium has no idea, he needs the information before it is safe to move on.

Ok, now she's munching on a bag of what I call crisps, you call chips, she's like munching and she's over there somewhere

 
She could be doing that yes.

Suddenly this mans dead mother, who Matthew didn't know was dead 10 seconds earlier which is why he had to ask him, is now eating crisps in the afterlife!

What a bizarre thing to do, eating crisps is such a physical thing to do, so why on earth would you do it in the afterlife, and even more so why would you do it when you living son is right there and you have the chance to pass on a message to him!

Its all about carbohydrates and again just eating, just eating what she liked to eat.

She's Italian so spaghetti all that sort of stuff shes a great cook.

So his mother liked to eat things she liked to eat! Wow that is me convinced, time to close down the site, I have never seen evidence quite like that before! Some who eats something, eats the very thing they like to eat! WOW!

Well she didn't really bother what she looked like or what her weight was or anything 

Well she was a big lady.

So the client has told the medium that his mother was Italian, was a great cook, and now the medium is presuming that the mother may have been over weight.

Again repeating back in a way what the client has told him. Have you ever seen a great cook from the Mediterranean who was slim? I live in the, and I have never see a middle aged cook/chef to be slim!

and your father used to complain all the time about her.

Umm, not really, dad was good with women so he never complained.

Right.

Matthew James gets this one 100% wrong, he took a chance that the dead father would moan about his fat wife, but he didn't! Again just think about what the medium is saying to this man about his dead parents!

He didn't complain about her weight no, I can tell you that he's Italian, Italians are lovers they don’t complain about their women, the lady next to us maybe he would take her.
(laughing)

Again to re-iterate, Matthew Smith insults the mans parents and gets it 100% wrong!

 
Right, I knew I had to come to you first! Right, have you had your son yet?

(5 Questions asked)

Yes I've got two boys.

Psychics will often do this, ask a question in a vague kind of style, it leaves them open to manipulating any further statements

Do you want a third one?

(6 Questions asked)

I've only just talked about that recently with Karen.

  

What's the betting that next the medium will claim to have known this, and just repeat back the info he has just learned, after he asked a direct question to the man.

I know one of you wants a girl but he's insisting it will be another boy.

I want a girl badly, she wants a boy, she only said that today.

Lol, I must be psychic, I saw that coming, again look at how he structures what he says. Matthew says that he "knew" that one of them wants a girl! He doesn't even say which one, the man or his wife, so its a 50/50 guess, in the first place, placed so vaguely, with an insistence it will be a boy, another 50% guess. By talking in this style, Matthew leaves himself very open for pretty much any reply by the man regarding any future kids. Remember just seconds ago Matthew had no idea if the man had kids, if one was on the way, he just asked a question, and all the info comes from the client.

It will be a boy.

She said that today, she only said that today! What did you say today? (Woman responds) If I had to pick one it would be a boy because I don't want to….. inaudible.

Again insisting something that is a 50% guess, and letting the client do the talking. If they do have a boy they will claim that the medium told them. Forgetting completely that he asked them a question, which the client replied to.

 
I think you know whats coming next, he's volunteering come down and be the little s*it in your life. This is the sense of humor that this guy has sort of got.

 
Yeh. he was that way yeh he was I'm just as bad.

Not really anything specific here, just going back over what he has already learned from the client previously, to keep things light, while forgetting completely that Matthew had no idea this mans mother was dead, had no idea if he had kids, and also got the cause of death of the father completely wrong, as well as the claim his father complained about his wifes weight, which again was wrong.

It's just that I had to get his personality and I had to be absolutely insistent that I brought your dad here so all I can do is validate the last thing I actually got. Now I was asking a name and but I know its not his name but whose Mike or Michael? I know its not HIS name.

Michael, Michael is probably like a father to me he's my best mate and I've got a nephew named Michael and a brother in law name Michael so there you go that's 3, no you did hit 3 Michaels, meant a lot to me.

(7 Questions asked) Matthew asks the client who is Michael, the reason he asks is because he has no idea! He has just picked out a very very common name, and threw it at the client in the hope it sticks. Ask yourself how many Michaels you know. Today I have spoke to 2 people called Michael, one is a very very good friend of mine, and another is someone who works at a nearby hotel who I always chat with.

I thought I would check to see how popular Michael was as a name in the 1970s in Australia, which would roughly be the age of this guys friend if similar in age to him. And guess what, it was the second most popular name according too http://www.essentialbaby.com.au/pregnancy/baby-names/1970

Psychics often have a good knowledge of the popularity of names from certain years, it helps them make educated guesses.

Which is the one that he's concerned about?

No no if anything it would be my best mate, he watched us grow up together and so it would be Michael, he's been in trouble lately.

(8 Questions asked) So first Matthew James asks the client if he knows a Michael, (very common name) and now he is asking which one out of the 3 possible Michaels would this dead father be concerned about. Always asking questions. So now the client has revealed that his best mate Michael has been in trouble recently. Remember Matthew asked a question, he did not make a statement, all he asked was which Michael would this guys dead father be concerned about. A QUESTION!!

I'm putting this into my own terminology; he's not said this but that Michael has got cloth ears, hes not listening to anyone.

Correct, that's him, that's him completely.

  

Well the client just told Matthew that he had been in trouble, and generally when someone has been in trouble, they have not been listening to good advice, hence why they are in trouble.

So to recap, Matthew James, asks the client a question, the client gives him information, then Matthew just repeats back to him what he has just learned.

Got your mother again... shes got bad hips... her hips are playing up.

Yeh yeh she had bad legs/hips playing up
inaudible.

Why would she has bad hips in the afterlife? Matthew is stating this as a current problem for this guys dead mother. Just think about that, this guy has lost his mother, and would like to think of her back in full health and enjoying the afterlife, now Matthew is telling him that she is in pain! That's a bit of a dick move by anyone standards. Either way assuming that this guys mother died roughly the age of 60, it is quite a common ailment to have, made hips/legs, especially considering we already learned that she was overweight. Again it is all about using what you learned from the client and then repeating it back as if it has come from the afterlife.

She was angry when she passed, I'm not saying that you did anything wrong but she had anger when she passed because when she passed she didn’t want to pass when she passed and that’s whats she's angry about.

Well I think she was only 49, 59 sorry when she passed and she wanted to see my youngest boy grow up.

Firstly damn, I was only 1 year out on her age! And I dont even claim to be psychic!.

Next up most people who visit mediums do so because a dead relative died before their time. Rarely if ever will someone visit a medium in the hope of communicating with a dead relative who died from natural causes aged 95! So it is a safe guess that someone who dies at 60 will not want to die! So a really dumb thing for Matthew James to say to someone in my opinion. 

I'm actually going to say that she is actually very, the energy I've got with this lady is very aggressive but I'm not saying like nasty aggressive I just want to be aggressive at the minute. I want to drive, I want to push, I want to force. Its like you've got to rip those hands off that Micheal’s ears and he's going to start listening to you and he'll respect you.

  
Righto.

You got to rip, you got to do it.

If I can do it yeh that will be fantastic

You've got to do it you've go to do it you got to do it about to apparently make the biggest mistake of his life ….........

And that is it, the end of the reading.
Remember this video Matthew James put on his website and youtube channel as an example of his best work. Afterall you wouldn't put on a poor reading would you?

He is convinced that this is him at his best, yet I would say I have clearly shown step by step exactly how he did it, the methods he used, the fact he asked 8 very direct questions, and then used the answers he received as part of the reading.

Matthew James got a lot of important details wrong, and wrong in such a way they were in fact quite insulting not only to the client but also to the memory of the dead parents.

Matthew James you should be ashamed, and embarrassed.

Matthew James, I am officially calling you a BADPSYCHIC, and I dare you to say anything different.

By Jon Donnis

Transcript by forum member girlseeksghosts