I have to admit, I like the John Edwards show. I want to believe him. I'd love to think if a loved one passed, that hey they might just be chilling among my household being nosey from another dimension. But knowing the fact that media can be downright vicious and wicked.

Using microphones in the seats where people discuss their loved ones and such. Just gives these mediums loads of information that they could use for the show. As well as research about deaths in peoples families and so forth.

Who thinks John Edwards is real and who thinks he's a complete fake. If he is a fake, then he is one talented person. He just looks so honest and so humble. But then again who can you trust in the world of today. What are you opinions about John Edwards and his crossing over tv show?

The answer for me is simple. They are all fakes who pray on the grief of others to make money. I think they are selfish fraudulent thieves who target those people when they are at their most vulnerable.

John Edwards:

He's intelligent, observant and emotive

He helps people reconcile their emotions

He makes a profit from it

His followers:

They're gullible

Emotionally needy

What it does:

Helps people find comfort

Lines Johnny boy's wallet

He is quite similar to a therapist really!

Yes, he's different to a therapist. Therapy is usually based on concepts that do not involve supposed supernatural abilities and are accepted by the wider scientific community.

John Edward is a clever confidence trickster whose ideas are not based on any recognised or testable techniques other than Cold and Hot (spying basically) reading.

I don't know if he's fake or not (unlike Sylvia Browne - I bet my house on her being a fraud). I don't watch him very often but whichever way you look at it, it's amazing TV... if he's speaking to the dead, it's incredible that he can do that and if he's not - it's incredible that he's got the bare faced nerve to do it and he'd be the scum of the earth in my opinion.

fake or not shouldn't be the question, it's if someone is making a profit or if he really does have those abilities, is he abusing it? then again, if he is really helping then maybe he's not making enough money. but if it is fake and it's just another television program, who do we blame, people for watching it or people believing in it. why talk to the dead when people have a hard enough time talking to them even before they died, or talking to people that are still living.

Really I do readings all the time for no charge to the person. I do readings even when the people AREN'T grieving, might I ask how THAT is praying on the grief of others? I've never stolen anything in my life.

He is a typical cold reader. Certain people need to beleive. He prays on that.

Doesn't mean you have a real ability. I have no problem if it is being done as a parlor trick for fun, but if people are basing decisions on a reading then it becomes a problem.No matter if you are charging or not.

Un-fortunatley , the people who believe this stuff do take it for granted , and do base life decisions on it...I would say I feel sorry for these people , but I feel if your are that ignorant , than maybe you deserve it....


I guess I should answer the topic.....John Edwards is a fraud , as I believe all "psychics" to be.....

I hope none of the "psychics' ,or Tarot readers here get do not get mad at my opinion , but again , they already new it was going to be posted , right?

I agree with both of the points above.

I left out the category of the self deluded. I appreciate the fact you do not charge and are not fraudulent. I have spoken to clairvoyants who genuinley believe they are getting messages from the dead. I do not call them frauds but simply deluded.

So we've got frauds and the self deluded categories of clairvoyants.

Both don't really talk to the dead but the self deluded are at least not wilfully conning people.

Out of interest (mainly because I am nosey), what would you do if you got a random message from someone who was not charging you and knew nothing about your life and the message they gave you was profound in that it helped you in a huge way? Would you still feel the same or not?

I would sure not take it if it supposedly came from a dead person.

*makes notes that Eric is cynical*

*scribbles furiously*

*runs off*

When his show first came on, just watching him, I was trying to get a feel for him, not in a sick way, but watching his body language, his eyes wander and the way he spoke. He speaks fast and speaks as though on a mission.

Now after watching this, and being on TV and being edited of course it was kind of hard to actually get a feel for his credibility. He speaks fast as though not to be interrupted, and would always look to the right when he is "getting something from the otherside".

I was in MPI, which is Military Police Investigations. Now, we are taught that when a person is lying, they look to the left. When a person is remembering, they look to the right. So, as someone stated in a different thread, he would have targets in the audience. If what I was taught and if you remember, he was looking to the right during the listening phase, was that him remembering what he was going to say? He is a fraud....

Can that be justifiable, no...I mean people give off body language differently than others...just my take on it.

Also, I noticed that when he did hit or miss, which is basically him not having a target, just roaming the stage, saying a really really common name, like...john, or mary (in my terms). I noticed when he were to say this common name of sorts, usually one or two people would raise their hand, not even look at the 2nd person, go directly to the first. Ask really vague questions, or statements..."Im getting he died of natural causes" No? Ok, im getting someone else then, or simply move on to the other person that raised their hand.

It would be nice to have people with these gifts, but a lot of others have ruined the playground for the others.

I have to admit when John Edward came onto Sci-Fi I was excited. I enjoyed watching his show. My husband took me to see him in New York about 4 years ago and I was quite dissapointed. He seemed totally different in person and quite fake to be honest.

who is john edwards what does he do?

I think that is not possible to get a message across from the dead because I assume there is only oblivion after death. If someone managed to give me a message that I did not know the origin the last thing I would think is "Hey, they must have got that information from my dead relatives". I would assume they found the information some other way and pretended it had come from the dead.

My niece saw him last year in New York, and said that his show is very interesting, but there are too many flaws in it...After seeing him in person, her opinion was that he is a fake...

John Edwards is a medium, author and a talk show host...He claims to be able to predict future events and claims he can communicate with those who have passed away. His show is called "Crossing Over".

John Edwards ? I think he is nothing but a good cold reader. Better than Sylvia Brown to be sure , but still a cold reader.

a few that do leave me thinking are the rescue mediums since they actually write/draw out what they see before meeting you - no cold reading there. Then there is Lisa Williams. It may be a cold reading yet she goes further than most. although some of her meet on the street has to be set up. The biggest difference between these 3 ladies and others is you don't get alot of the hemming and hawwing , the starts with a B ,, C maybe D sort of response.

I also wonder about George Anderson.

Out of interest, have any of his predictions ever come true?

Hi Lotus...Sorry, I just saw this I don't know too much about the rate of his predictions...on other sites they compare him to Sylia Brown, so that in itself makes me wonder...

fake

awww so many unknown people who is Sylia Brown

You really don't get out much do you? You have access to the internet, why don't you just type the name into google
or wiki and read a bit on what you want to know about!

lol no probs.

Ahh right, I see.

I have been googling and trying to see if there was a list of his past predictions, unfortunately, I couldn't find anything

The Biggest Douche in the Universe!

A fraud. Google is a wonderful thing. Have you heard of that?

Ha! She is a bit of a fraud, I never bought that whole "cold reading" scene, but whatever. They spoofed on South Park, it was pretty funny.

Everytime I see Sylvia Brown on TV, its like a car wreck. You know you shouldn't watch but you cant look away. Only reason you can't look away is to see what kinda crockish future events she will say will happen. One year, troops will be out of Iraq by 06...As we can all see, nope

haha loved that ep, I'm gonna go watch it right now

Oh, and Edwards = fake. I've never actually seen him make some life-changing revelations, it's always just cold readings and then miniscule "messages" from the other side. If I died suddenly and had a chance to talk to my family from beyond the grave through some guy, man I would go on for hours, he wouldn't be able to shut me up.

Out of interest though, supposing it would take a hell of a lot of energy for a spirit to talk to a Medium - and for the Medium to listen to the spirit. Perhaps that energy is not everlasting and needs to be recharged, hence why it may suddenly stop.

Of course, I don't know if this is really the case, but it could be possible?

It's okay, I'm pretty inconsiderate now, it wouldn't change in the afterlife. I would just gather my energy and then try again - whether he's asleep, playing tennis, doing pilates, having a family dinner, etc but he does seem to have no trouble 'communicating' with numerous 'spirits' during his shows. I'm sure were he actually sensing spirits, there would be some determined spirit who wouldn't be content with passing along a simple message.

I don't really know what the case is either lol but it just seems a little convenient that these apparent spirits don't seem to stick very long, makes more sense that John isn't communicating with anyone in the afterlife and knows he shouldn't press his luck lest he constantly get information wrong and his cash flow stops.

I’ll add my thoughts to this discussion.

My husband is a big fan of John. I personally have never understood the fascination with contacting those who have departed. Not that I disbelieve, I just don’t understand the necessity. To each their own, I suppose. However, I did have some respect for John at one time, not so much anymore.

We attended one of John’s galleries (if that’s what it’s called) in Denver a year or so ago, which was not taped for Cross Country. Being a people watcher, I enjoyed watching and listening to folks while standing in line (for over an hour) waiting to enter a hotel conference room (which everyone was eventually tightly packed into). Some folks were joyful, anticipating the event; others were crying and consoling each other over the grief of losing a loved one. The grieving folks saddened me, mainly because they put so much of their faith in being read and achieving closure, validation, etc. I kept my eye on one grieving woman in particular, and continued watching her after we were seated and John entered the room.

The readings commenced much as what you see on Cross Country. The griever I elected to watch was claiming just about everything John had to say during this event, yet John dismissed her and the reading always went to someone else. She sat there crying the whole time, her distress increasing each and every time she was passed over. I wondered why someone so grief stricken self-inflicted yet more pain. Why did she absolutely need closure, validation, etc., from John? That, I don’t fully understand. To keep myself detached from this drama as much as I could, I did take a few quick breaks to count the seats and calculate how much money was generated by this event, out of curiosity.

That being said, I couldn’t say whether or not John Edward is a fake, but for sure, he’s into commercialism. We were packed into that Denver hotel conference room with little room to sneeze. Plus, Cross Country is no longer a true “cross country event” (this year filming is done in a New York studio, with John only taking trips to follow-up on a reading of particular interest). And then there’s his celebrity reading addition to the show. Commercialism. I had more respect for him whenever he actually went cross country. If you truly have a gift that will help others in their grieving process, take it to the people and focus on that, rather than dollar signs.

Just my opinion.

I’ll add my thoughts about Sylvia Browne, since she was mentioned in this discussion as well.

Okay, I stated that my husband was a John Edward fan; well I “was” a Sylvia Browne fan. In my opinion she too, as I stated about John, is into commercialism.

I really loved Sylvia’s early work…read all her early material. My introduction to her work (many years ago) ignited a spark within, prompting the exploration of many other spiritual authors as well as other religious and spiritual beliefs. For that, I am thankful. I find the diversity in this genre quite fascinating.

This past year I once again found myself exploring Sylvia Browne. I bought one of her newer books (Spiritual Connections) and was totally turned off. In my opinion, she was using a venue to get in a few men bashings...what’s spiritual about that? I then started watching the Montel show and found that she contradicted herself constantly. And, what's up with Montel? Is he hyperactive or what?! Anyway, I also took notice of how some of her newer books basically piggy-backed off the release of the DaVinci Code movie and all the controversy Dan Brown’s book had generated. Commercialism. It seems like whatever belief/interest is the “flavor of the time,” Sylvia is banking on it. Hey, I have to call it as I see it.

That said, the best thing Sylvia has ever said in any of her books that’s always stuck with me is this: Take with you what you like, and then leave the rest behind. I’m leaving you behind, my dear.

John Edwards? Well, he's just another politician in my opinion. He talks too much about his poor upbringing. I think he has good intentions but I disagree with him on a lot of things. Although I have to be fair, the haircut thing in the media was ridiculous!

John Edward, though, is who you mean

(Just thought I should clear up that point of confusion)

And yes, he's another garden variety cold reader.

I saw him here in OZ last year in november.I believed,until i saw him in action.He was very general in his comment's,and as most people who were there to see him had experienced some form of tragic event in their live's,he really couldn't go wrong.He not once talked about any real joyous occasion.

I would have to lean towards him being a fake. A few years ago, when Crossing Over was very popular, Dateline NBC did a story on him, and they showed 'behind the scenes' footage of him giving readings and totally missing the mark. In some instances he actually looked like a complete idiot because he was so far off base, but he would keep trying and trying.....you could tell it was a cold reading. They even put forth the possibility that he used plants before the show would air; essentially his staff would go out and talk to people "Oh, why are you here?" and then report the info. back to Edwards, so he knew who to 'read'.


To his credit, however, believe it or not, he admitted to being a fake....at one time. On a recent interview, he said that he used to give fake readings, that is until a deceased family member started appearing to him, who was herself, a psychic. This he claims is what sparked his real psychic ability. Now that is an interesting story.

I can't say either way, in the end. There's evidence for and against his legitimacy, as is the case with most mediums. Its just like the spiritualist movement in the 1800s, frankly. You have your adamant believers, and the harshest skeptics. Where's Houdini when you need him?

FAKE!

I've also heard allot about how he misses allot and when it's edited and broadcasted you just get to see the main highlights that worked great for him that day. No matter what though, a medium is very difficult to prove, it's known that skilled cold readers can really fool just about anyone. Just the statement above on how he used to give out fake readings just shows how he was already talented in cold readings and probably just refined it into a nice craft.

Someone that is just a supiorior master at manipulating people and doing cold readings is Derren Brown. Just check out how he messes with your head and just plays on peoples weakness for being subjected to information.

Derren Brown - Cold Reading

As for psychics I think that they are very few that are credited to be people with real talent. One that is just simply amazing is Edgar Cayce

As for psychics I think that they are very few that are credited to be people with real talent. One that is just simply amazing is Edgar Cayce

I couldn't agree with you more on that point, in fact, he is without a doubt the greatest american psychic who ever lived. I myself am a member of his orginization, the Association For Research and Enlightenment, and while on vacation at Virginia Beach, I had the oppurtunity to visit their headquarters. It was incredible just standing in the building where he once did his works. The Cayce readings have had a serious impact on my life, and books about him line my shelves.

For those of you who may not be familiar with him, Edgar Cayce was a man, who while in a sleeping trance state diagnosed the illnesses of people from all over the country, many of whom he never even met in person. His readings resulted in the cure of countless ailments, some even reported to be untreatable.....and he had not even the slightest medical training. He also conducted life readings....which gives powerful insight on topics such as God, reincarnation, karma, etc.

Sure, some of his readings are out in left field. They never did find a hall of records underneath the sphinx (at least yet), and the Bimini Road probably isn't ruins of lost Atlantis.........but, the fact is, he helped thousands of people over the course of his lifetime, and for that, his credibility, at least in my view is irrefutable.

Anyone interested in the life of a real psychic should pick up the book There Is A River. It may very well change your life as it did mine!

I haven read "There is a River" yet, but I have red the book "Edgar Cayce -- The Sleeping Prophet" which was a good read.

There is another book as well, but I can't remember the name and couldn't find it online, I will have to check on the name when I get home.

There is no doubt in my mind that he is ABSOLUTELY a phoney! Sylvia Browne is one of "those" also! What about Madam Cleo ... LMAO! There are lots of them out there, unfortunately. A TRUE psychic helps others regardless of compensation ... it isn't about money. Con artists discovered centuries ago that "soothsaying" and fortune-telling were PRIMO ways to rip-off the unsuspecting and today, thay have turned it into a criminal art form.

There are indeed true Psychics out there who truly are gifted but you will not see them on Montel Williams or any other cheesy talk show nor will you find them in phone books or internet listings. Psychic power is a gift that ALL OF US possess but only few ever learn how to truly tap into it. Want a Psychic??? My advice is; get some books, learn about it, seek TRUE Psychics for counseling and become your own Psychic.


STOP Sylvia Browne

Sylvia Browne - A Staffer responds With truth

John Edwards - Satans Puppet

About.com -John Edwards A Phoney

John Edwards and every other TV psychic is a fake. It's called cold reading and it's easy to do.

your point is? I can easily lie and act humble, even when staring into someone's eyes.

I agree that most people that seek large compensation for their "Gift" are usually pushing a false sense of reality to people. Now to debunk a cold read from a honest read is sometimes very difficult, it's all about the small details that are given to you on specific aspects of the read that can help you understand if this is just a real or fake read.

There is only one lady that I've personally meet that I strongly feel is a honest and gifted person. She has no advertisement, no flyer's, no commercials, just works from word of mouth and referrals. She works out of a very small room she has that doesn't have any sign or name on the door, just a number. She does charge only because it's all she does for a living is sit and talk to people. She charges only $50 for a hour to hour and a half long reading and also records the session for you to take home and listen to later.

The thing about her that really struck me hard is the details she gives, it's not like she is fishing for ideas, or asking you all kinds of poking questions, all she does is plays with a deck of normal cards and has you cut them and just lays it out and start to talk. She named off names and specific dates for events that I didn't believe could happen. She even go to tell me that I will attending a funeral for my grandfather in the next month...at that time my grandfather was in good health, there was no indication that he would pass away at all. Other details were specific individuals I will work with.

I revisited her about 3 months later, my grandfather sadly did pass away, he tripped and fell in his backyard and caused him to fall into a comma and he ultimately passed away. I just couldn't believe that this old, quiet lady nailed down these details without me stating anything about myself to her. (the details not mentioned here are what he will be gardening, how he will hurt his head, go into a comma state and that she then saw me at his funeral, other details she stated I can't remember at this time, it's been more than 3 years ago)

I visit her one every year, I find it utterly fascinating and do it allot for the excitement it bring for me. Last time I saw her though I turned the read into an interview and asked her questions about how she conducts reads, when she stared and how does she see what I don't it had to one of the most interesting hour I've ever had talking with her.

In summary of what she said to me, she started talking with someone that she realized when she was very young that others couldn't see. This didn't scare her because she felt comfortable around this person or entity. When she started to get older (around her teens) this other person would start to tell her about events that haven't taken place yet, then it started to talk about other people around her as well. It wasn't until the information spoke to her started to become real. After about 10 years of keeping it to herself for at that time she didn't feel comfortable talking about it to anyone, she started to control the frequency of what she was getting from this other person.

In her early 30s she started to read for her family, this quickly had them telling their friends, then they started getting reading from her, then she realized that the amount of people she started to help made her do it more and more. It wasn't until her 40s did she start to charge people for her time since it started to become a business. She never had to promote herself, nor did she want to, she kept it quiet and only for people that open enough to talk with her and ones she felt comfortable around.

She is one of the sweeties ladies I've meet, she is very humble and just loves to talk to people. She stated that Everyone has a designed path in their life, specific events that are going to happen, you can prolong them, but you can't avoid them. The path between these events in your life are you to decide, all she does is see the main things that you will encounter and what path your on to get to them. She looks at the influences around you and gets her read from that, all you need to do is sit, cut the deck and listen. (these are her views and not mine about the question of destiny and what we are here to do and encounter in our life, this could be a separate thread in itself which I'm more than happen to elaborate more on on what she specifically stated during my interview).

I know that there is always a possibility that she has no gift, but her remarkable sense of detail fascinates me and I find it personally very interesting. She is also very humble and sweet person, someone that you go see and before anything she give you a hug. So far I do have to admit, the only errors on her read is sometimes she mixes up names, like Jennifer was Jessica, but for the majority of each ready, she nails it dead on.

I've meet many other people that called themselves gifted or psycic, but I felt all of them were either really bad con artist or cold readers and sadly they are the ones that overrun this field.

I have always thought that Edwards and Sylvia were fake. They just seem to know where to go in the audience to get the people, and I don't know-- I could pick you till you gave me enough information to give you a reading.

Fake. Have you ever watched the South Park episode about him? Very funny.