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Usually I hate reviewing Most Haunted, I dread the thought of having to sit down and waste a couple of hours of my life watching the episode, taking screen grabs, repeating the words (that I invented) "OFF CAMERA" seemingly endless times, and that is why I never bothered to go back and review the Series 20 episodes that aired night after night around Halloween time. But after watching the first ever episode of Most Haunted a few days ago, it peaked my interest once again. And after checking and being impressed by how many people read that review, I find myself with sodall else to do, so why not review episode 2 and keep the momentum going. Most Haunted truly was so much better with Derek Acorah on the show, and because it was all so long ago, I know that I will be surprised to see the ridiculous things he gets up to. So with that said, I went and started digging in Yvette Fielding's lady garden, and deep beneath the thick bramble bushes, I found some blurb, dry, flaky blurb, but it was still readable, so here is the blurb for episode 2 of Most Haunted. "Most Haunted travels to Northumberland to reputedly the most haunted castle in England. Will they make contact with the famed Blue Boy? Derek contacts a former resident, a hissing noise frightens the crew and a box moves by itself." Yvette is all in black again and with leather trousers on, very sexy, although this is the start of her ridiculous hair cuts that seem to change every week. I prefer her hair last week.
Seeing how Yvette was the "hotty" of the early series, it then makes it easier to understand why in later series the likes of Mel Crump would get chased off the show. Yvette then introduces us to the crew, a mixture of family members and close friends.
NO! NO Jason Karl, it is NOT ever acceptable for a man to weather leather trousers. It is ok for Yvette, in 2002 she had smooth shaven legs, the trousers hug her figure, they improve her look. But for a man, you look ridiculous. You look like you should be in the Blue Oyster Bar. So I am docking you 15 internet points for this HUGE fashion faux par. Yvette announces that there is one last member of the team to join them. "A man who can talk to the dead" Wow that sounds impressive, we then get introduced to Derek Acorah, and again reminded that he does not know where he is investigating that evening. Yvette goes on a tour with some old posh geezer who is something to do with the Castle, sorry I didn't catch his title as I was fascinated by a dog that appears on the screen.
So in just two episodes we have now seen two dogs, this dog is called Billy. Chillingham Castle really is a beautiful location, and they also have some appartments that they rent out, and of course they are "haunted rooms", so we need to be aware that as is nearly always the case with these locations, they rely on tourism, so they NEED the place to be recognised as "Haunted"
Derek Acorah arrives and gives Yvette a HUGE hug! You wouldn't get that today. As Derek is looking around, Rick Fielding suddenly starts feeling faint. Now if you recall he had a funny turn in episode 1 as well, so we are already seeing a pattern develop here. So Rick is clearly putting this on as part of the show, now whether he is directed to do this by Karl or he is just doing this off his own back I don't know. But it does go to show that they were faking incidents right from the start.
Derek comforts Rick and all is fine after Derek asks the ghost to step away as she is affecting Rick. Jason Karl has his usual incredulous look. Where as in 2017 Glen constantly looks smug, Jason Karl is unable to hide his real thoughts. Good for you Jason, even with your stupid leather trousers on. Derek comes up with the name "Mary", Yvette asks Jason if he can confirm the name. Which he does. It is funny how serious they take this, as if Derek really is talking to some dead spirit. Derek really is quite a good actor, well if the character he is playing is that of a crazy psychic who is convinced they can talk to the dead. Ironically, in the business if you break character it is known as "corpsing", that being when you laugh when you are not supposed to etc, yet Derek never breaks character. Well not when he knows he is being filmed anyway, I remind you of the "Mary loves Dick" scene from a Most Haunted Live to see one of the very few examples of Derek "corpsing" when he assumes the camera feed has cut.
Remember last episode when we had everyone sat around the fire chatting, sharing ghost stories and then Derek got possessed by a monkey? Well this episode everyone is sat around a nice big table eating, and laughing.
People laughing, enjoying the experience, Derek sat next to his wife Gwen (a real life close personal friend of mine by the way). Now everyone hates each other.
As expected Yvette sees something walk past the window outside, and then Jason goes to investigate after they put the green filter on. They find nothing, so the show then moves on. We are told again that no one has told Derek about anything to do with Chillingham Castle. Suddenly there is a hissing noise that could be anyone, Yvette panics and everyone runs out of the hallway.
The make up lady Marcella is absolutely petrified and doesn't want to continue.
You would think that being one half of the Wild Samoans the WWE Hall of Fame Tag Team, that she wouldn't be so scared of a few ghosts.
Things have calmed down and Derek is talking to Lady Mary Berkley. Some great acting by Derek here. Not great "possessed monkey" great, but still decent.
Look at the evil in Derek's eyes! Maybe the monkey has returned? Derek has started to get confused and disorientated, guessing he had a few whiskeys before he started and they have started to kick in. He also claims to be seeing "pink", he then says he is drawn to the pink!! Aren't we all Derek, Aren't we all..... Derek then gets possessed, and it is hilarious, I had forgot how he would just be mid sentence and then get possessed. After about 15 seconds, Sam helps him regain his composure. (But not his dignity, the ghost monkey still has that) Derek is telling stories, and Jason Karl is either confirming or denying them. Nothing of actual importance here sadly, as the episode hits a dull spot.
With Derek not playing, we cut to Karl who has gone off to "investigate" on his own. There is then a noise OFF CAMERA, which kinda sounds like Karl dropping something. We then see a basket that is right next to where Karl's left hand would be move a couple of inches, Karl panics and runs out of the room. Again people claim the show was honest in the first season, but knowing what you know now, especially about Karl and how he has been caught cheating so many times, it becomes very obvious he is behind this. He knows exactly what is being filmed, he is the only person present, so makes sense he just nudges something and then reacts. Back to Derek and he is talking about some ghost he been chatting to, Derek informs us that he has a 4 poster bed at home (lucky Gwen), and that the ghost is showing him a 4 poster bed.
Here is a photo of Derek Acorah in bed with Karthik, the monobrow star of The Apprentice. Yvette is feeling a strong cold draft. Jason Karl has a laser thermometer thingy, and he states that the temperature is normal and has not changed. Yvette tells him to stand where she is, he does and he feels nothing.
Look at the state of Karl here. Yvette in voice over talks about how some of their still photos when analysed showed a lot of orbs, she then said that "Independent Vision Engineers" had confirmed that this was NOT caused by dust or reflected light. Yes she has really claimed that.
I am curious as to who these "Independent Vision Engineers" actually were? Since clearly the orbs are in fact a mixture of dust, air particles and moisture that are too close to the camera and out of the focal range of the lens. Guess that makes me an "Expert Independent Vision Engineer".
With bold claims like this by Yvette, which are downright lies, you can understand why we ended up with an entire generation of idiotic ghost hunters claiming orbs were paranormal. If you have ever published a photo of an orb and claimed it was something paranormal, then hold your head in shame, now and forever. Yvette takes Derek to the dungeon. Something that in 2017 I know that Glen dreams of, being taken to Yvette's dungeon, tied up, and whipped while wearing his favourite gimp suit and a ball gag in his mouth. One day the photos will leak I am sure. Nothing happens in the dungeon and we move onto the end of episode summary clips. Again Jason Karl pours scorn on everything that happened, and Derek claims everything was paranormal, so a nice difference between beliefs and personalities there.
A final shot of the crew sat on some steps, and we are done.
I give this episode a decent 6/10.
Not as good as episode 1, but then hard to beat a ghost monkey possessing Derek Acorah.
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I asked before on social media if people would be interested in me reviewing Most Haunted from the very beginning. And overwhelmingly people said yes. So I managed to grab the episode from Youtube and my review is below.
Depending on how engaged people are with this review will depend on if I continue on. Hopefully my expertise and knowledge on Most Haunted will let me give you previously unknown insights on the show as I look back.
Lets start with how Most Haunted was conceived.
BBC1 Halloween night, 1992, a new type of TV show was born, never before seen, that show was called Ghostwatch. It was a show filmed like a documentary, but it was a spoof, there was a warning before the show explaining that, much like how today we get "For Entertainment Purposes only", the show was clearly advertised as a spoof. Unfortunately many people quickly forgot about that, and after the show aired there was reports of people with PTSD, and sadly Martin Denham, an eighteen-year-old factory worker with learning difficulties, committed suicide five days after Ghostwatch aired.
Ghostwatch had become the most complained about show of all time, and was immediately banned. Terrestrial TV channels would take decades before aired any similar shows, no one dared even touch the subject in such a manner, but Living TV a satellite channel in 2002 finally agreed to give Most Haunted, a show that was basically a remake of Ghostwatch a chance, but aired with very strict disclaimers admitting it was just entertainment. Whereas Ghostwatch was written and scripted and then acted by professionals, Most Haunted was purely a vehicle for Yvette Fielding to relaunch her career and hopefully get her back on mainstream TV. Sadly as you know now Yvette quickly because typecast and has never broken away from the show or the genre. Her career never really getting back on track, and from being viewed by 10 million people on Blue Peter, she is still stuck on Most Haunted which rarely gets more than 300,000 viewers. And the odd appearance on reality TV shows with other Z List celebs.
So now you know the origins of the show, let us begin.
Back in 2002 Karl Beattie still had his original hair colour, his blurb was thick and strong, and luckily I managed to find the remnants of such blurbage and you can read that below.
"The Most Haunted crew travel Great Britain in a search into the paranormal. Experience the tears, laughter and fear of the Most Haunted team as the stay overnight at Haunted locations. Setting experiments and using some of the most up-to-date equipment Most Haunted captures some of the best paranormal activity ever seen."
As the show opens up, Yvette Fielding looks straight at the camera and says
"We guarantee no tricks, no camera illusions, and no practical jokes"
Many people often look back at the first series as a genuine investigation, but what they don't know is that the show was always "faked", just not to the obvious level it is today. She claimed no tricks, we see tricks every episode now, with items pulled by fishing wire or Karl being pulled up steps by a rope wrapped around his waste, no camera illusions, well we all remember the video overlay effect of ghost Stuart walking up stairs, or camera edits before beds are tipped upside down, and as for no practical jokes, well usually a practical joke is exposed as such right after, that is the joke bit, so I can give that to them, they don't do practical jokes do they.
Also worth noting that Yvette must be early to mid 30s here, and is looking quite hot. Leather skirt, hair typed up.
Hilariously Yvette says "If we find nothing, you will see nothing", if that was true, the show would have tanked after 2 or 3 episodes and forever cancelled.
Blimey as the titles roll, they have not changed the music in 15 years!
Also the production value was so much higher back then, who would have thought that 15 years later they would be making episodes on a shoe string budget.
We then get introduced to the "Parapsychologist" Jason Karl, now it is worth saying that back in 2002 no one was really familiar with this title, it sounds "sciency" so automatically makes you think that Jason Karl must be some kind of scientist who has decided to move into this field. In fact Jason Karl was just a jobbing ghost hunter employed to play the part of a parapsychologist, and his claim to fame at this point was an appearance on kids TV show Knightmare under his real name Julian Smith. (Source IMDB). Amazingly despite his lack of real knowledge or experience, I do remember him as being one of the best skeptics they ever had on the show, and he quickly became popular. (Which was also the reason he was eventually let go, remember the show is a launching pad for Yvette)
Jason introduces us to the EMF meter, and sadly this is the start of thousands of idiot ghost hunters buying these useless machines to wave about just because they have seen it used on TV.
Quite a few shots of Yvette sat on chairs with her legs crossed. The filming was so much better back in 2002, more atmospheric shots and really playing up to Yvette.
Derek Acorah has arrived, we are continually told he doesn't know the location, he didn't know he was coming here before hand and so on. It is funny looking back now how much they wanted to insist that Derek had no prior knowledge. Lots of stories would go around of his wife Gwen hidden away on a laptop looking up info that she would then pass to Derek. All very funny.
The crew are sat around the fire and discussing ghosts, this is great. Fantastic idea. Now I am watching the "unseen" version of this episode, so not sure what made the original airing or not.
Long before Watson was even born, we had this little fella, he is looking at something, and before you know it Derek proclaims that he is looking at an ape, a monkey, yes Derek Acorah is claiming that there is a ghost monkey present. And that the dog is looking at the ghost monkey.
Now surely if there was a ghost monkey there the dog would be barking or even run at the monkey.
Jason and Derek start bickering a bit about what the dog is seeing. All very bizarre.
Derek then gets possessed by the Monkey, I am not even joking.
Quick reminder of what Yvette said earlier. "We guarantee no tricks, no camera illusions, and no practical jokes"
After a break we are back, and Derek has been taken over by a spirit called Martin, I had forgotten how great Derek's possessions were. TV gold.
While all of this is going on Jason Karl is looking incredulous as he writes things down on his notepad.
It is interesting to see how much of the show was about Derek, and how he would become such a star through Most Haunted.
These 3 are pretty much all you see on screen from the crew, no Karl, no crew members with cameras pointed at themselves. So refreshing.
They hear a noise and a rocking cot is slightly moving. Derek says it must be one of the ghost women present.
20 minutes in an they are finally turning the lights off, they do this because stupid Jason Karl said that they are more likely to get paranormal activity in the dark. The irony being that historically the vast majority of ghost sightings are reported in the light.
Rick Fielding is Yvette's brother, and strangely he only worked on Most Haunted for a couple of years, he has since worked in America on a few TV shows as a cameraman. I do not know why he left, or anything more about him, but in his brief appearance in episode one, it is clear he is a big wuss and scared of everything, so you would think he would fit right in.
If anyone knows any more about him please let us know in the comments. Just curious.
As he is scared to go near a door, Derek and Jason investigate. Derek sees a spirit near a door, Jason does not pick up anything on his EMF meter. Derek is now talking to his spirit guide Sam, suddenly Derek has a name.
"de Lafontaine"
We get some info on screen that matches the name. This is an incredible piece of psychic evidence from Derek, such an unusual name, it could only possible come from the spirit world, there is no other possible explanation.
Just for fun here are a couple of non paranormal explanations.
1. The name is written on a plaque on a wall, in the gardens and so on.
2. In literature for the Hall this name could be written, maybe on leaflets near the entrance.
The point is that even back in 2002 there were many ways to get such information. You would not need to do massive amounts of research, such keep your eyes open as you walk around. And if in a big location like this, if you had been before, you would most likely remember such information, especially if it is part of your job.
So you have to ask yourself what is more likely, did Derek pluck the name out of the spirit realm, breaking the laws of physics, or did he just read it on a sign as he came in the building?
We get our first shot of Karl, full head of hair, and you can even see his jaw line.
You can also see how many people are present.
Derek has his eyes closed and comes up with another name.
"Ralph Bankes likes this room"
Hmmm another owner and likely person mentioned in any literature or signs around the location for visitors to see.
Another name given, incredibly specific here. Yet when you see Derek live he seems to be so vague.
Belief in Derek comes down to one thing, trust, the only way you can believe him, is if you trust that he is telling the truth, because clearly it would be very easy for him to cheat.
I can understand why Jason Karl became so popular on this show, his looks of pure incredulity towards Derek are brilliant.
We now start to understand why Derek was possessed by a Monkey earlier as we are told about the legend of Martin's Ape.
By the way for anyone wondering, yes from episode 1 they used green filters to fake night vision.
We now get a first shot of Stuart, full head of hair! He mumbles a bit about things and they quickly move on.
Jason Karl is up close and personal with Yvette, a position that Glen dreams of.
There is a lot of talk of a secret passage that a monkey would go down. They go into the passage.
Karl feels a breath on his ear, so must be a ghost.
Yvette has moved that rocking cot from earlier to a new position. Jason Karl is now asking the ghosts to give them a "flashing orb" this is the first mention of an orb in the show, so we now know we can blame Jason Karl for starting a generation of idiots who think that orbs are spirits and not just bits of out of focus fluff or insects.
The monkey ghost is breathing in Karl's ear.
Despite him sat by some stairs in an old house that is full of drafts.
As Yvette and Jason look at the cot, there are some digital artifacts that appear on the footage, remember this is 15 year old technology, but they are calling them orbs. This is easily debunked by anyone even vaguely familiar with digital photography.
The investigation ends, and we now get the summary interviews as various cast members talk about the show and what has happened.
I genuinely had forgotten how incredibly entertaining Derek Acorah was, and how he truly was the star of Most Haunted from the very first episode. It is sad to see the show today and how far they have fallen, and how it is the same old rubbish every week.
As much as I disliked Derek back at the time of this show first airing, I can better understand now that he was just playing a part, doing what he was employed to do, and he was making the most of his TV time to make a name for himself.
Of course now it seems ridiculous to even try to use facts to debunk Derek, back in the day we would spend ages looking things up as a way to prove he had researched things, and desperately tried to catch him out. Now I can watch these old episodes and just enjoy how ridiculous it all was.
Episode 1 and Derek got possessed by a ghost monkey, how did anyone ever think that was real?
For a first episode, I have to give this a really decent score, I was entertained, I never got bored, even Yvette was fun to watch as she wasn't screaming, or running around like an idiot, or having blatantly staged arguments with Karl, it was just her being herself, and she came across quite genuine.
If you take Derek out of the equation, nothing really happened, there was a cot that started rocking OFF CAMERA (I had to throw at least one of them in), and a few digital artifacts on some camera footage that they claimed were orbs, and other than the Ghost Monkey breathing in Karl's ear, nothing really happened.
And Yvette looked rather hot in her leather skirt and knee high boots.
Derek was the star by a mile, or should that be the Ghost Monkey?
I give this episode a strong 7/10.
Light years ahead of what they produce 15 years later.
If you enjoyed this review and would like me to continue to review the old episodes let me know in the comments. If you don't then I wont.
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Sometimes what is missing from a psychic reading is more interesting and more important than what was actually said.
Case in point: In the summer of 2016, as a promo for the third season of E! Network’s Hollywood Medium, psychic Tyler Henry sat down with American television host of The Today Show, Matt Lauer. They recorded for an hour, and The Today Show released a 6:35 segment on YouTube. This video has been watched 1,025,162 times, and has more than 4,000 likes, and 890 comments.
As I write this, Lauer has just been fired from his job as the host of The Today Show. The media is reporting that Lauer was accused of many cases of inappropriate sexual behavior with women. Lauer released a statement soon after, and apologized for his actions, admitting that some of the allegations were true. I remembered that Tyler Henry had done a psychic reading for Lauer and I wondered if there was any foreboding of this scandal. Most people would say that this has been the worst week of Lauer’s life, surely Tyler Henry must have seen it coming and warned him?
I’m going to give a brief overview of the reading, with my explications of what is on the video. Then I will describe what is missing. The video, if you want to follow along, can be watched below.
Let’s set the scene first. Tyler Henry is sitting with cameras and lights on a set, and Lauer walks in with ease and confidence. He shakes Henry’s hand and says he really doesn’t know how this works. There is voice-over from Lauer telling us that Henry has been on The Today Show doing readings before and that Henry did not want to know who he was going to read in advance. This is typical of all of Henry’s videos; there is strong stress on this point: Henry does not know who he is going to read. This is a reaction to skeptics claiming that Henry Googles people in advance. I’ve written about Henry many times, here, here, and here stating that, from my investigations, it appears that Henry does not need to do research. By using cold-reading techniques, he can produce the same effect as what we see happening during a reading.
In this case, Henry does know Lauer, and they greet each other with Lauer saying, “Good to see you again Tyler, how have you been?” Henry knew that he was shooting a promo for Hollywood Medium, so it seems probable that he knew he would be reading Lauer.
Henry uses psychometry (holding a personal object) in order for him to focus on who the sitter would like to “come through” during the reading. Lauer (this is explained by a voice-over) brought a pocketknife that was given to him by his maternal grandfather. Lauer gave it to Henry, who then said that many people want to come through. This is a statement that mediums use as a way to transition between “stories”; if they aren’t getting good hits with someone, they just move to the next person, saying things like, “so now an older woman is pushing her way forward and wants to acknowledge a dog. Does that connect to you?”
Henry then mentioned a “fatherly kind of essence” who did not want to die in a hospital surrounded by doctors. I’m not sure how many people would be happy to die in a hospital, but Henry goes on to acknowledge that this person was grateful that he did not die “in a traditional kind of facility.” At first, I wondered about this statement, as it does seem a bit of a risk to state it with certainty at the beginning of the sitting. So, I went back and watched this exchange a few more times, paying attention to the body language of Lauer. And sure enough, you can watch him agreeing with Henry, nodding his head, making eye contact and reassuring Henry he was on the right track. Henry is young, but he has done over a thousand readings and is no fool when it comes to body language feedback.
I also want to point out that as soon as Henry starts talking about this “fatherly kind of essence,” Lauer’s demeanor completely changes. His head drops and his voice softens. During a voice-over, Lauer says that Henry is talking about his father who died in 1997.
At this point, Lauer in his mind has claimed the “fatherly kind of essence” as his father. But for Henry, he still does not know if this is a father, grandfather, father-in-law, a mentor, uncle, brother, or a close male friend. Henry plays it safe and continues saying “he” or “this person” but nothing else to describe him.
Next Henry moves onto something that seems specific but really is a common general statement made by mediums doing readings. The “fatherly kind of essence” is showing Henry, “a coin, coins, or a coin collection.” Henry follows up with, “that is a really odd thing.” Henry does this all the time; he makes a very general statement and acts like it was specific. Lauer says that he has a couple of silver dollars from him but not a lot. Henry replies that there is a third coin somewhere.
Next Henry lightens the mood a bit and throws out another general “vision.” The “fatherly kind of essence” is showing him a bird that was in the house and someone had to trap the bird and it was really funny. Lauer said that this had actually happened.
How risky was that statement for Henry? Birds fly into homes, and businesses, and all kinds of places; it’s not that unusual. And they often will not leave on their own and need to be removed. I’m sure it is pretty comical when it happens. (One of the people who commented on the video said that while watching, a bird flew into her house.) The odds of Lauer connecting to this story are pretty high, a quick YouTube search and you will find endless videos of birds flying inside homes. If Lauer had not connected, then Henry had several options. He could have said, “this happened before you were born, ask someone else in the family” or maybe it was on a TV show they could have watched together, or it could have happened to someone else in the family. Henry does not say to whom this happened or when. That leaves the door wide open for Lauer to make the connection. Or the final out, if Lauer had not connected to the story, Henry could just move on to something else knowing that only the best parts of the reading will actually air. And Lauer (like most humans) will remember the hits and forget the misses.
And once again, Henry makes a statement claiming that what he just said was really specific, “It’s random details like that that proves someone is coming through.”
Next, Henry says that the “fatherly kind of essence” has just told him that Lauer has sleep apnea; something that Lauer confirms. Sounds like a specific hit. Well … what are the odds that a man would have it? A Google search tells me that about 4 percent of men have it, so that does look like a hit. Well done “fatherly kind of essence.” Oh wait … a Google search for “Matt Lauer” and “sleep apnea” returns a 2014 article, How early does Matt wake up? In this article, Lauer says that he “sometimes” has sleep apnea. Very possibly Lauer has discussed this on The Today Show; maybe when Henry was present. When Henry was getting his makeup and hair done before the taping, he could have innocently asked the stylists something like, “Matt must get up really early in the morning; he probably has sleeping problems?” With that little question mark at the end of the sentence and a pause, they easily could have told him all kinds of things. Not so difficult for a personable Tyler Henry to glean a bit of information. It’s not as if this was a test for the JREF million-dollar challenge. So the sleep apnea was not so much of a hit as I first thought.
The “fatherly kind of essence” now acknowledges a lone individual in a boat with a fishing pole. Lauer is nodding in agreement. The video cues the emotional music, so viewers know we need to start getting misty eyed. Lauer clearly emotional, tells Henry that this “fatherly kind of essence” is his father. Which leads Henry to smoothly say, “Your father is SO immensely proud of you, you didn’t have to get to where you are today for him to be proud of you … or successful in his eyes. He views you as successful regardless.” Very smooth Henry! He added that tidbit as if he had known all along they had been talking about Lauer’s father.
Next, Lauer asks if there is something his father wants to know. Which is a rather odd question, but Lauer is probably a bit emotional as he has been convinced that he is speaking to his father who died nineteen years ago. Henry says, “He just wants to know if you are happy.” “Yes,” Lauer says, “I am.”
Then the video cuts to Lauer on the beach wearing sunglasses and talking to the other hosts who are back in the newsroom. Lauer is telling them that after that reading, he cried and cried. He said his hands were shaking the whole time and Henry was “spot on.”
Remember that what we were shown was only five minutes of an hour long reading. So, a lot is missing; editing pulls together the best bits for the video promo. Anything that was a miss would not make the cut. Only the best parts would be shown. If there were a lot of great hits, they would have cut the part about the coins or the sleep apnea. They could have run a longer video; so I assume these were the best hits: A “fatherly kind of essence” who did not want to die in a hospital and who gave Lauer silver dollars and wants him to go find the third one. Then there was a bird was loose in someone’s house, and he also wanted to tell Lauer something that he already knew, that he has sleep apnea. Oh, and about the boat: it looks like another hit. Or does it? A Google search for “Matt Lauer” and “father” gives me this article, Today’s Anchor Chat: Matt Lauer’s Fish Tale from 2007 where he says, “One thing you have to understand about me is that outside of my family and my work, I have two passions, both instilled in me by my father: golf and fishing … We also used to do a lot of freshwater fishing, which we both loved … .”
I’m not saying that Henry did a Google search as I did; I’m saying that Lauer’s love for fishing came from his dad, and this was not a well-guarded secret. In that same article, Lauer mentions his favorite photo of his son is one he took on the boat with a striped bass that they had caught minutes before. Perhaps that photo is framed on Lauer’s desk. What is more likely? That a dead person communicated to Tyler Henry a vision of Matt Lauer sitting in a boat with a fishing pole? Or, Henry saw a photo, or heard a story from Lauer’s co-workers, about how much he likes to fish on his boat?
It’s possible, even likely, that Lauer really did think Henry was “spot on.” This was an hour sitting, and a very emotional hour. Lauer is not asking the questions, he is not in control as he is used to. The psychic was throwing a lot at him very quickly, and his brain tried to make sense of it all. That’s how human brains work; we look for connections. Even if something is a bit of a stretch, we will try to make sense of it all. Plus, we want the psychic to be accurate. Henry is very personable and charming, and Lauer likely wanted to make a really good promo. Henry claimed to be speaking to his father, and Lauer really wanted that to be true. And, as we tend to remember the hits and forget the misses, I can’t blame Lauer for thinking the reading was accurate. I’m at home, able to rewind, over and over, rewatch whatever I want, and think about what happened. Lauer wasn’t even taking notes during the reading. I have a notebook with many pages full of notes.
As I said at the beginning, sometimes what is missing is more important than what was said.
What happened to the maternal grandfather who gave the pocketknife to Lauer? We don’t hear from him at all. If it had been a hit, then it would have been included in the segment. In this review of the reading, you might have become annoyed with me continuality using the phrase, “fatherly kind of essence” instead of just saying “father” as we knew that Lauer thought his dad was coming through. We know this is supposed to be dad. But until Lauer said it, Henry didn’t know. And Henry carefully guarded his words with just “he” or “this person” until just seconds after Lauer admitted it was his dad.
Henry, never mentioned a name, not initials, not even one letter. No places, no dates, no mention of a wife, other children, siblings, his parents, grandchildren. Nothing. He mentioned he died, but nothing about the illness or the room. What about pets or family friends, anniversaries or … well … anything?
Lauer had the chance to talk to his father and never asked him any questions? He didn’t ask for advice or even about what the future has in store for him and his family. Dad just wanted him to find the third coin! Really?
Let’s talk about the elephant in the room. As I write this, Matt Lauer has just been fired from The Today Show. This is all over the news; it is a very big deal. It is possibly the most important thing that could have happened to him outside of him becoming a star journalist. The allegations against him, if true, are disgusting. Coworkers are coming forward saying that they all knew he was unfaithful to his wife, but they didn’t know that he was having non-consensual relations with other women. Lauer’s father said he is “immensely proud” of Matt. Really? If these claims of infidelity and or sexual harassment are true, you are immensely proud of your son?
And if they are not true, or only partly true, then why was dad spending his precious, limited time communicating through Henry about sleep apnea? Dad just wanted his son to “be happy.” How about a head’s up dad? This week has been earth-shatteringly difficult for Lauer and his family; for the next few years, Matt Lauer will be the butt of many jokes. He is likely to lose his wife and children; he has already lost his career, and dad just wants to talk about a bird that flew into the house?
I’ve read through the comments on this video. Some are believers, hoping they will be able to get a reading from Tyler Henry. Others are slamming psychics as frauds. Almost no one is commenting on the actual statements from the reading or noticing what is missing. As I noted at the beginning of this article, sometimes what is missing from a psychic reading is more important than what was actually said.
I would like to thank Rob Palmer for suggesting I write this article and Stuart Jones and Rob Palmer for reviewing my writing.
By Susan Gerbic Affectionately called the Wikipediatrician, Susan Gerbic is the cofounder of Monterey County Skeptics and a self-proclaimed skeptical junkie. Susan is also founder of the Guerrilla Skepticism on Wikipedia (GSoW) project. You can contact her at SusanGerbic@yahoo.com
Originally published on csicop.org and republished here with full permission.
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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