Debunking Psychics, Mediums, etc... - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

Thor · 03-07-2009, 10:41 PM

So tonight at the pub, a few of the girls brought up Sylvia Brown. The laughter that ensued amongst 3 of my friends and me really upset them, and when we were trading points on why she's a horrible liar and evil person I realized something...

These girls didn't grow up with James Randi, they didn't see Johny Carson expose two of the biggest frauds of the 80's and early 90's in destroying Peter Popoff and Uri Gellar the infamous psychic who bends spoons. I remember as a kid trying to bend spoons with my mind seeing him on TV once.

Thankfully Johny Carson was a skeptic and brought on James Randi to completely destroy both of them. Too bad modern entertainment television is filled with scam artists claiming psychic abilities and almost no skeptics to give us the real answers.

Anyhow, so since I had to get home and send one of the girls some links about the stuff we brought up I thought I'd share my favorites, and I'd love to see if anyone has other great moments in time where these frauds were publicly humiliated.

Uri Geller debunked on the tonight show:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNKmh...eature=related

Peter Popoff (long but truly awesome)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUkCmkcuU4U

I saw this one as a kid, still sticks in my mind.

James Hydric (claimed to move things with his mind)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlfMs...eature=related

James Randi explaining the absurdity of Homeopathy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWE1tH93G9U

The crown jewel, Sylvia (Bitch) Brown gets fully busted.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUCECDBOOjw

If you have any other gems, please share

peter12 · 03-07-2009, 11:40 PM

The James Hydric one is excellent. Randi totally humiliates him.

EDIT: Wow, Sylvia Brown is truly a monster.

Hack&Lube · 03-08-2009, 12:00 AM

I for one am very disappointed in what I've read about Larry King supporting Browne or coming to her defense or trying to salvage her story but I didn't see these interviews for myself and this is simply what I've read from various sources online.

King often has a strangly disingenous touch that he plays across as straight to elicit responses from his guests or to prevent him from taking sides. He may have simply been trying to get more out of the interview.

Also, Peter Popoff is still on TV hocking various things from miracle holy water to mana bread that will magically deposit money from your heavenly account to your earthly bank account if you send him a seed gift.

metal_geek · 03-08-2009, 07:08 AM

Robert Lancaster who runs "stopsylvia.com" had an interesting run in with Browne in Vegas, it makes for a good read.

http://stopsylvia.com/articles/ispeakwithbrowne.shtml

Crispy's Critter · 03-08-2009, 08:23 AM

My mom was totally into John Edwards, and I repeatedly tried to tell her he just uses the technique called 'Cold Reading', but she would have none of it. She was totally convinced he was real. One day when I was down visiting, her and a friend of hers I'd never met were discussing how awesome he was, so I did a little demonstration on her friend of how it worked. (basically like Stan did on South Park

) Even though I got everything right according to the friend, while telling her exactly how I did it, both of them still thought edwards was legit. Guess some people just need to believe in these kinds of things :/

Vulcan · 03-08-2009, 08:31 AM

There used to be a lot of those physic hotlines with their info commercials on late night TV. I used to get a kick out of the French woman's story, who was just a normal housewife until she got run over by a truck. She looked it too.

Crispy's Critter · 03-08-2009, 08:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vulcan

There used to be a lot of those physic hotlines with their info commercials on late night TV. I used to get a kick out of the French woman's story, who was just a normal housewife until she got run over by a truck. She looked it too.

Forgot about these. Have a story about them too, although it's more of a testament to how monumentally stupid my cousin is. She basically got evicted, lost her car, and had to declare bankruptcy because of calling these lines constantly. One story she told me was that she was calling to try to see if some guy friend of her's she was hot for would fall in love with her, so they told her to put down the phone (not hang up), find a picture of them together, burn it in the sink until it was just ashes, staring at it the whole time while thinking of the 2 of them together, and then come back to the phone. Which she did. Said it took her about 30 minutes to do it, so at 4 or 5 bucks a minute wouldn't take long for her to spend a paycheck. I'm sure there are a lot more stories like this out there too, as for some reason there are a lot of people who never seem to realize it's all about the money.People are stupid.

3 Justin 3 · 03-08-2009, 08:57 AM

The Sylvia Browne one is awesome, "A psychic didn't know how to reach me? She couldn't use a telephone book?" LOL times a million.

tussery · 03-08-2009, 08:58 AM

There should also be a test by Randi on numerous dowsers. I will see if I can find it.

It is in 5 parts:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpcFl...eature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hw4EP...eature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUtA7...eature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53ngw...eature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWkz-...eature=related

Crispy's Critter · 03-08-2009, 09:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3 Justin 3

The Sylvia Browne one is awesome, "A psychic didn't know how to reach me? She couldn't use a telephone book?" LOL times a million.

yea, I just read the article and subsequent emails from people regarding the show that Lancaster attended, very good reading. This site is going to replace tomcruiseisnuts.com as casual time wasting reading for me

3 Justin 3 · 03-08-2009, 10:16 AM

I just watched more of the video's with James Randi and have concluded that he is one of the most awesome guys ever.

Thor · 03-08-2009, 11:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

I for one am very disappointed in what I've read about Larry King supporting Browne or coming to her defense or trying to salvage her story but I didn't see these interviews for myself and this is simply what I've read from various sources online.

King often has a strangly disingenous touch that he plays across as straight to elicit responses from his guests or to prevent him from taking sides. He may have simply been trying to get more out of the interview.

Also, Peter Popoff is still on TV hocking various things from miracle holy water to mana bread that will magically deposit money from your heavenly account to your earthly bank account if you send him a seed gift.

Yeah I really hoped one of these years someone like King would stop giving Edwards, Van prick and bitch Brown a spot on such a major show in order to help legitimize and promote their lies.

I also saw that Popoff is still going strong after filing for bankrupts back in the late 80s. Like the famous saying, "Easier to fool people than it is to convince them they are being fooled." Think it was Mark Twain who said that.

As much as I hate King for his letting those crackheads on national prime time TV, I can't stand Montel Williams who fully buys Syliva's BS.

Thor · 03-08-2009, 11:10 AM

Oh I forgot about this one, the infamous Carlos hoax in Australia created by Randi and a few friends.

Totally emberassed Australian TV and the people who fell for this faker.

http://skepdic.com/carlos.html

I'd recommend checking it out, it shows how easy it is to fool masses of people, especially when the media helps fuel the fire.

photon · 03-08-2009, 11:33 AM

Lol I forgot about Carlos!

LGA · 03-08-2009, 12:01 PM

Criss Angel also exposed a fraud on Phenomenon (which hilariously enough had Uri Geller as a judge), the guy started backpedalling, then tried to start a fight, was more or less hilarious.

The Goon · 03-08-2009, 12:33 PM

It's obvious the only legitimate psychic was Miss Cleo.

PsYcNeT · 03-08-2009, 04:08 PM

Good link:

http://forums.randi.org/forumdisplay...ort=replycount

Correspondence to all of the James Randi Million Dollar Challenge people. Some of the stuff they claim is unreal.

jar_e · 03-08-2009, 04:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PsYcNeT

Good link:

http://forums.randi.org/forumdisplay...ort=replycount

Correspondence to all of the James Randi Million Dollar Challenge people. Some of the stuff they claim is unreal.

That link has provided me with hours of entertainment...thank you

Finny61 · 03-08-2009, 05:52 PM

It's not so much debunking psychics that interests me in this thread, it's that people in a bar are talking about psychics... now that has me wondering what is happening to society.

jammies · 03-08-2009, 06:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PsYcNeT

Good link:

http://forums.randi.org/forumdisplay...ort=replycount

Correspondence to all of the James Randi Million Dollar Challenge people. Some of the stuff they claim is unreal.

Haha this one is the best:

Quote:

Rosemary Hunter has applied for the Challenge, media presence requirement included, with the extraordinary claim that she can make people urinate themselves with the power of her mind.