Psychic 101: How to be the Best Psychic in the World

This is a student-made video, created for Dr. Michael Shermer's course, "Skepticism 101: How to Think Like a Scientist (Without Being a Geek)" at Chapman University during the fall 2011 semester. This video serves to educate the audience on how to become the best psychic in the world. Students draw from Dr. Richard Wiseman's book, "Paranormality: Why We See What Isn't There".


Written and Directed by: David Ruby &; Hollie Hooper
Starring: Luis Chavez, David Ruby, Hollie Hooper &; Allison Orr

Colin Fry was nearly on Derren Browns Experiments show about Luck!

Remember the TV show that Derren Brown did The Secret of Luck? You will remember a brief appearance of Sally Morgan on the show where she was totally humiliated after claiming she could pick up psychic feelings from the so called Lucky Dog in the village. Well what she didn't know (despite claiming to be psychic) was that the dog was not lucky, and instead was a gimmick set up by Derren Brown. As usual Sally ended up making a fool of herself and further cementing her reputation as one of the worst psychics in the country.


Well did you know that Channel 4 and Derren Brown had originally put psychic Colin Fry in the position to be setup!


I recently sat down to speak with Colin Fry about a number of topics and Sally Morgan came up. Colin told me

"Last year I was approached by channel 4 to appear in a program about luck , I booked two days to cover filming they sent confirmation day before I was due to go up a researcher called me to ask me my angle on this, I explained I did not believe that luck was a force or power but people create their own luck by thinking positive , they asked me if I would do my "thing " over a supposed lucky bronze dog in a park up north!"

Colin goes on to tell me...

I burst out laughing and said if there was any luck it was only because people had convinced themselves their good fortune was down to the bronze dog and it was bullshit, but harmless if it gave them the feel good factor, the researcher said she was surprised and I had not given her the respounce she had expected. 

Later that evening she phoned back and cancelled me - I was f*cking furious as I had cancelled two days bookings to accommodate them, we invoiced them for 50% of the agreed fee for wasting my time! 

However in my fury I told them they had played the typical channel 4 tactic of trying to stitch up a medium and the only reason they had cancelled me was that I was too clever to be made a fool of and if they wanted a someone they should call Sally Morgan, which is what they did.

Colin finished by making a very astute observation

I dispair we idiot mediums will do anything to be on TV.

And there you have it. Colin Fry was the original person chosen to be stitched up by Ch4 and Derren Brown, but "luckily" he didn't play along and instead Sally Morgan ended up being humiliated.



Funny how Colin Fry ended up being quite lucky with regards to a show about luck!

ipadio: Skeptically Irish

ipadio: Cognitive and Dissonant

The Randi Show - Episode 1

The Randi Show is a biweekly video podcast produced by the James Randi Educational Foundation. James Randi himself discusses news from the world of science, pseudoscience, and the paranormal. Plus, he shares some stories from his amazing life. In this episode, Randi explores the latest news in cold fusion. Has it finally been achieved?