i saw a show of his where he described that this person had a NY Mets pennant hanging in their laundry room--------and it among other "hits" he gave were true

that seems pretty amazing to me

now im not trying to say he has an open line with the other side

i just think he gets more then random coincidence
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Howdy, you say sceptics only want to see there side. It seems you only want to believe in the most unlikley explanation. I am not saying this type of thing is not possible, I just don't see him as proof. I would  sooner believe that Edwards had a limited form of physic ability to where he could skim surface thoughts then that he is contacting the other side.
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Et. Read my post. I don't believe in him(John Edwards). I said I would sooner believe the physic thing. It had nothing to do with you post. Thanks. We have to agree to disagree.
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eric did you even read my post ?

you believe that the man in the audience was thinking about the Mets Pennant at the time ?
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I tend not to believe that someone who would have such a gift and knowledge that would come with that..... Would use that gift to make himself rich, rather then help humanity as a whole.....

"Yes, he does claim to speak to the dead, and for that he charges $750 for a 30 minute private session and upwards to $100 for his convention style group sessions."
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It's called Cold Reading, like someone mentioned, and yes there are books on how to do it yourself!  They edit the shows to no stop, they would never air one of his misses, which i guarentee there are lots.

Please watch South Park's episode(615), "The Biggest Douche In The Universe" for more info!
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Oh, yes. South Park, a poorly animated propaganda mechanism concealed in trendy, vulgar humor, is an excellent source of information.  I question your logic.

Be that as it may, on Dateline Edward was actually caught in an attempt to pass off previously gained knowledge as spirit revelation. During the session he said of the spirits, "They're telling me to acknowledge Anthony," and when the cameraman signaled that was his name, Edward seemed surprised, asking "That's you? Really?" He further queried: "Had you not seen Dad before he passed? Had you either been away or been distanced?" Later, playing the taped segment for me, Dateline reporter John Hockenberry challenged me with Edward's apparent hit: "He got Anthony. That's pretty good." I agreed but added, "We've seen mediums who mill about before sessions and greet people and chat with them and pick up things."

Indeed, it turned out that that is just what Edward had done. Hours before the group reading, Tony had been the cameraman on another Edward shoot (recording him at his hobby, ballroom dancing). Significantly, the two men had chatted and Edward had obtained useful bits of information that he afterward pretended had come from the spirits. In a follow-up interview Hockenberry revealed the fact and grilled an evasive Edward:


HOCKENBERRY: So were you aware that his dad had died before you did his reading?
Mr. EDWARD: I think he-I think earlier in the-in the day, he had said something.

HOCKENBERRY: It makes me feel like, you know, that that's fairly significant. I mean, you knew that he had a dead relative and you knew it was the dad.

Mr. EDWARD: OK.

HOCKENBERRY: So that's not some energy coming through, that's something you knew going in. You knew his name was Tony and you knew that his dad had died and you knew that he was in the room, right? That gets you . . .

Mr. EDWARD: That's a whole lot of thinking you got me doing, then. Like I said, I react to what's coming through, what I see, hear and feel. I interpret what I'm seeing hearing and feeling, and I define it. He raised his hand, it made sense for him. Great.

HOCKENBERRY: But a cynic would look at that and go, 'Hey,' you know, 'He knows it's the cameraman, he knows it's DATELINE. You know, wouldn't that be impressive if he can get the cameraman to cry?'

Mr. EDWARD: Absolutely not. Absolutely not. Not at all.


But try to weasel out of it as he might, Edward had obviously been caught cheating: pretending that information he had gleaned earlier had just been revealed by spirits and feigning surprise that it applied to Tony the cameraman. (And that occurred long before Time had suggested that an Inside Edition program-February 27, 2001-was probably "the first nationally televised show to take a look at the Edward phenomenon." That honor instead goes to Dateline NBC.)

It's not much, but it's something.

BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "CROSSING OVER")

EDWARD: Is there anybody in your family that has a nickname "pig"?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Pig?

EDWARD: Pig.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Pig?

EDWARD: Or someone known as, like, "Aunt Pig" or "Miss Piggy" or...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Yes.

EDWARD: I said to myself there is no way this woman is going to acknowledge that. I said, there's like no way possible.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's so funny!

EDWARD: Funny that you are acknowledging it, or funny that I actually got that?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh my God! My -- I can't even say it...

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My nephew -- he used to call my mom "Miss Piggy."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Everyone in almost every family has someone they call "miss piggy" either to their face or behind their back...this is whats called an educated guess...someone will always bite on ...miss piggy (no pun intended)
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Heres a sample transcript from one of his episodes... with comments from someone explaining cold reading....

John Edward:  They're either trying to tell me someone has a name like Celine [no immediate bites from the audience] ... or they want me to acknowledge a name like Celina [still no bites] ... but they're telling me to say Celine [as he motions the letter "C" with his index finger].

Female Guest:  I have an Aunt Zia Lina.

Finally! Someone bites. An Aunt Zia Lina's name is volunteered by a female guest who appears to be in her 40's, attractive with auburn hair, wide open brown eyes, and dressed conservatively. Well ... Celina and Zia Lina sound close enough don't they? But what about John's rather adamant spelling of the letter "C" with his fingers? Maybe this was an illiterate spirit.

John Edward:  Ok. Has she passed?

Female Guest:  Yeah.

John Edward:  Ok. We're going to start there.

At this point, ask yourself "What does John know so far?" He knows that this particular guest is willing to go that extra mile to help him connect his guesses with her answers. He gathered as much from the stretch from Celina and Zia Lina. John also knows this guest has an aunt who has passed away. Based upon the age of the guest (40'ish) and that the average life span of people in the U.S. is their mid-70's, John can assume that both her parents have also passed. Also, based upon the aunt's name John can determine that the family is of either a Latin or Greek descent.

Time to get the ball rolling. This next part is done at such speed, that the guest doesn't have time to respond, and that's the way it's suppose to be. Who would dare be rude enough to interrupt John while on TV. He knows this, you don't. Now, with lightning fast speed, John delivers the following:

John Edward:  They're telling me to acknowledge November or the 11th of the month having some type of meaning because there's some kind of connection. They're making me feel like there's some type of mom vibration that's has passed because there's an older female coming through and I feel like [pause] ... is it your mom that's passed?

Female Guest:  Yeah.

Ahhh! As expected, John is dipping into some of that information derived from what he gathered above. Based upon her age, odds are that the guest's mother has also passed but even if this guess is wrong, John can fall back on Aunt Zia Lina as the older female coming through. John continues with the following:

John Edward:  Ok. She's making me feel like ...

She, as in the "mother," is making him feel? If John is already in touch with the mother, why did he previously have to ask if she had passed? As you noticed above, John did the same thing with the aunt, asking if she had already passed.

John Edward:  She's telling me to say "R" ... there's an "R" connection so I don't know who the "R" is. [The maternal side isn't getting any positive response from the guest, so John switches to the paternal side] I think it's like on dad's side of the family ...

Female Guest:  [The female guest is seen thinking hard, then appearing dumbfounded she finally shrugs her shoulders to signal John that she hasn't a clue what he's talking about].

John Edward:  ... and I actually think it's a name like Reginald ... Regina ... there's like an "RG" sound or a last name "RG." I don't know what this means but they're telling me "R" and it sounds like with a "G" connected to it.

This is the second time is as many minutes that John has said, "I don't know what this means." John likes to use this statement when the guest isn't reponding well (or is that when his guesses are so far off?). He most often uses it in heated exchanges where the guest isn't given the opportunity to respond. If he's wrong, no one ever says anything. If he's right, when he finishes the exchange, the guest will most often pick out a single statement and comment on it. This gives John the opportunity to spit out dozens of guesses and the guest will only comment on the one which is right, making him look like he's actually communicating with a spirit. John continues guessing names:

John Edward:  ... like Reg ... Raj  [pause]  ... sounds like Reg ...
Female Guest:  [The guest just shrugs her shoulders to show a negative response].

John Edward:  ... Reggie ... Roger ... there's an "R" sound ... Regina ... but there's something about ... like the name Regina they want me to acknowledge.

Thank the spirits it's only a half-hour show! We'd all hate to see John guess every name beginning with the letter "R" just to finally get it right. Frustrated, the guest herself voluteers a name, any name.

Female Guest:  Virginia?

John Edward:  Who is this?
   
Hey John? You're the psychic. You tell us!

Female Guest:  My father's aunt who passed on.

In this particular instance, John just decides he's had enough and quickly moves on to another subject with no further explanation for the people behind the "C" and "R" names. Wrong guesses? You bet!
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no one said john had an open line connection with all the dead of the last century

It's called Cold Reading, like someone mentioned, and yes there are books on how to do it yourself!  They edit the shows to no stop, they would never air one of his misses, which i guarentee there are lots.

Please watch South Park's episode(615), "The Biggest Douche In The Universe" for more info!
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