I’m curious to know about the science behind mediums.

These people seem to believe spirits are either “talking through” them, I imagine in a possession type of way, or in a clairaudient type of way, like how they can hear spirits.

I don’t believe this is possible. But I’m wondering if these people have something going wrong upstairs, like a schizophrenia / hearing-voices type of thing, or something similar? Besides hearing voices, they can generally seem like “normal” people.

I’m curious to know, as this random video I found on YouTube sparked my interest, and I’m also wondering what is happening to make it light up?

Erik communicates through RF detector

I think the brain of mediums is wired differently to “normal” people. I have no doubt that they really believe they can talk to the dead. When you hook up the nervous system to a particular electrical frequency, people believe God is in the room or they are being watched. Some people have religious experiences after a seizure or a blow to the head; the woman who founded Seventh Day Adventism had religious “visitations” after she was hit on the head with a rock.

That’s what I think anyway.

http://www.csicop.org/si/show/they_see_dead_people_-_or_do_they_an_investigation_of_television_mediums/

It’s old, but nothing has changed.

https://www.skeptic.org.uk/magazine/articles/120-from-psychic-to-sceptic

http://skepdic.com/skeptimedia/skeptimedia127.html

http://casa.colorado.edu/~dduncan/pseudoscience/howpsychicsandmediumswork-michaelshermer.pdf

That’s probably enough.

JTQ said:

I’m curious to know about the science behind mediums.

These people seem to believe spirits are either “talking through” them, I imagine in a possession type of way, or in a clairaudient type of way, like how they can hear spirits.

I don’t believe this is possible. But I’m wondering if these people have something going wrong upstairs, like a schizophrenia / hearing-voices type of thing, or something similar? Besides hearing voices, they can generally seem like “normal” people.

It is a form of fraud.

So, let’s see what you lot have been doing while I made potato salad and trifle for tomorrow.

sorry, wrong thread.

dv said:

JTQ said:

I’m curious to know about the science behind mediums.

These people seem to believe spirits are either “talking through” them, I imagine in a possession type of way, or in a clairaudient type of way, like how they can hear spirits.

I don’t believe this is possible. But I’m wondering if these people have something going wrong upstairs, like a schizophrenia / hearing-voices type of thing, or something similar? Besides hearing voices, they can generally seem like “normal” people.

It is a form of fraud.

Some people simply love to perform and have their efforts appreciated.

i see there is a midget psychic that escaped prison…

The old small medium at large…

When I had my palm and nipple reading tent on the Gold Coast it was surprising how people would relate to generic warnings.

I’d say very gravely “stay away from circular saws”
and they’d say “wow, one of my cousins friends used to work in a saw mill”

It wasn’t a bad little earner until a charlatan freckle reader with a fake certificate set up a tent next door.
He was from one of those eastern European countries, he had fakery written all over him, freckle reader my arse.

roughbarked said:

dv said:

JTQ said:

I’m curious to know about the science behind mediums.

These people seem to believe spirits are either “talking through” them, I imagine in a possession type of way, or in a clairaudient type of way, like how they can hear spirits.

I don’t believe this is possible. But I’m wondering if these people have something going wrong upstairs, like a schizophrenia / hearing-voices type of thing, or something similar? Besides hearing voices, they can generally seem like “normal” people.

It is a form of fraud.

Some people simply love to perform and have their efforts appreciated.

And others like to defraud grieving, desperate people.

i could do my joke about striking a happy medium but seeing as it is christmas i’ll spare you.

Peak Warming Man said:

When I had my palm and nipple reading tent on the Gold Coast it was surprising how people would relate to generic warnings.

I’d say very gravely “stay away from circular saws”
and they’d say “wow, one of my cousins friends used to work in a saw mill”

It wasn’t a bad little earner until a charlatan freckle reader with a fake certificate set up a tent next door.
He was from one of those eastern European countries, he had fakery written all over him, freckle reader my arse.

Take off every zig

dv said:

roughbarked said:

dv said:

It is a form of fraud.

Some people simply love to perform and have their efforts appreciated.

And others like to defraud grieving, desperate people.

It is still a performance.

As dv says, they’re fraudsters. But even while deliberately committing fraud, a few of them have probably convinced themselves they have real psychic powers. This odd sort of psychology is explored in the film Séance on a Wet Afternoon (1964) with Richard Attenborough & Kim Stanley.

Bubblecar said:

As dv says, they’re fraudsters. But even while deliberately committing fraud, a few of them have probably convinced themselves they have real psychic powers. This odd sort of psychology is explored in the film Séance on a Wet Afternoon (1964) with Richard Attenborough & Kim Stanley.

It is all about the performance. The believe that they are genuinely being paid for the performance. They don’t think they are committing fraud, they just go home and count the money.

Bubblecar said:

As dv says, they’re fraudsters. But even while deliberately committing fraud, a few of them have probably convinced themselves they have real psychic powers. This odd sort of psychology is explored in the film Séance on a Wet Afternoon (1964) with Richard Attenborough & Kim Stanley.

Sounds like it would be worth watching.

dv said:

Bubblecar said:

As dv says, they’re fraudsters. But even while deliberately committing fraud, a few of them have probably convinced themselves they have real psychic powers. This odd sort of psychology is explored in the film Séance on a Wet Afternoon (1964) with Richard Attenborough & Kim Stanley.

Sounds like it would be worth watching.

That is one movie I have seen. Well worth the effort.

dv said:

Bubblecar said:

As dv says, they’re fraudsters. But even while deliberately committing fraud, a few of them have probably convinced themselves they have real psychic powers. This odd sort of psychology is explored in the film Séance on a Wet Afternoon (1964) with Richard Attenborough & Kim Stanley.

Sounds like it would be worth watching.

It’s an enjoyable film with fine performances from both stars. But Richard Attenborough wears a rather obvious false nose, presumably to look more like the character in the original novel (by Mark McShane).

buffy said:

buffy said:

So, let’s see what you lot have been doing while I made potato salad and trifle for tomorrow.

Sorry, wrong thread.

That’s okay, I like trifle.

Bubblecar said:

As dv says, they’re fraudsters. But even while deliberately committing fraud, a few of them have probably convinced themselves they have real psychic powers. This odd sort of psychology is explored in the film Séance on a Wet Afternoon (1964) with Richard Attenborough & Kim Stanley.

That’s what I’m wondering. Are the more “genuine” ones aware they’re committing fraud, or do they seriously believe it’s happening, like they can hear things and see people. (I see this was sort of explained already earlier in this thread)

There was one of YouTube where she was channeling Jesus, and saw what he was wearing, then he changed to look more ‘hip’, and apparently she saw him dressed in a white turtle-neck long sleeve shirt, denim jeans, and sandals.

Even though it’s fraud and all full of shite, I still find it interesting anyway. I don’t believe it, but somehow still find it interesting, almost like it’d be nice if that sort of thing was possible.

> I’m wondering if these people have something going wrong upstairs

Consider the scientific method. Observe, develop a hypothesis, test hypothesis, if test works then accept hypothesis. Now people who believe in mediums follow that rule, up to a point, but they never test the hypothesis more than two or three times. Instead they accept as true what is mere coincidence coupled with wishful thinking.

mollwollfumble said:

> I’m wondering if these people have something going wrong upstairs

Consider the scientific method. Observe, develop a hypothesis, test hypothesis, if test works then accept hypothesis. Now people who believe in mediums follow that rule, up to a point, but they never test the hypothesis more than two or three times. Instead they accept as true what is mere coincidence coupled with wishful thinking.

An old ex dragged me along every year to the Canberra Psychic expo. She used to get a reading with both of us sitting there. Afterwards the medium gives you a tape recording of the session, and I used that tape recording to show her the initial conversation and the leading questions etc and explained how she could have made initial presumptions easily, but no matter, believers will believe.

AwesomeO said:

mollwollfumble said:

> I’m wondering if these people have something going wrong upstairs

Consider the scientific method. Observe, develop a hypothesis, test hypothesis, if test works then accept hypothesis. Now people who believe in mediums follow that rule, up to a point, but they never test the hypothesis more than two or three times. Instead they accept as true what is mere coincidence coupled with wishful thinking.

An old ex dragged me along every year to the Canberra Psychic expo. She used to get a reading with both of us sitting there. Afterwards the medium gives you a tape recording of the session, and I used that tape recording to show her the initial conversation and the leading questions etc and explained how she could have made initial presumptions easily, but no matter, believers will believe.

Were there ever any predictions made that could confirm their accuracy?

JTQ said:

AwesomeO said:

mollwollfumble said:

> I’m wondering if these people have something going wrong upstairs

Consider the scientific method. Observe, develop a hypothesis, test hypothesis, if test works then accept hypothesis. Now people who believe in mediums follow that rule, up to a point, but they never test the hypothesis more than two or three times. Instead they accept as true what is mere coincidence coupled with wishful thinking.

An old ex dragged me along every year to the Canberra Psychic expo. She used to get a reading with both of us sitting there. Afterwards the medium gives you a tape recording of the session, and I used that tape recording to show her the initial conversation and the leading questions etc and explained how she could have made initial presumptions easily, but no matter, believers will believe.

Were there ever any predictions made that could confirm their accuracy?

No, just the usual generic with no time frames which can be confirmed by almost any circumstance of normal life.

AwesomeO said:

JTQ said:

AwesomeO said:

An old ex dragged me along every year to the Canberra Psychic expo. She used to get a reading with both of us sitting there. Afterwards the medium gives you a tape recording of the session, and I used that tape recording to show her the initial conversation and the leading questions etc and explained how she could have made initial presumptions easily, but no matter, believers will believe.

Were there ever any predictions made that could confirm their accuracy?

No, just the usual generic with no time frames which can be confirmed by almost any circumstance of normal life.

I’ve seen some very specific predictions but they are most likely to be setups I have to assume.

AwesomeO said:

mollwollfumble said:

> I’m wondering if these people have something going wrong upstairs

Consider the scientific method. Observe, develop a hypothesis, test hypothesis, if test works then accept hypothesis. Now people who believe in mediums follow that rule, up to a point, but they never test the hypothesis more than two or three times. Instead they accept as true what is mere coincidence coupled with wishful thinking.

An old ex dragged me along every year to the Canberra Psychic expo. She used to get a reading with both of us sitting there. Afterwards the medium gives you a tape recording of the session, and I used that tape recording to show her the initial conversation and the leading questions etc and explained how she could have made initial presumptions easily, but no matter, believers will believe.

Bet she didn’t talk to you after that – some people don’t like to be shown they were wrong

Neophyte said:

AwesomeO said:

mollwollfumble said:

> I’m wondering if these people have something going wrong upstairs

Consider the scientific method. Observe, develop a hypothesis, test hypothesis, if test works then accept hypothesis. Now people who believe in mediums follow that rule, up to a point, but they never test the hypothesis more than two or three times. Instead they accept as true what is mere coincidence coupled with wishful thinking.

An old ex dragged me along every year to the Canberra Psychic expo. She used to get a reading with both of us sitting there. Afterwards the medium gives you a tape recording of the session, and I used that tape recording to show her the initial conversation and the leading questions etc and explained how she could have made initial presumptions easily, but no matter, believers will believe.

Bet she didn’t talk to you after that – some people don’t like to be shown they were wrong

Nahhh, she knew I was rational minded, sceptical amd not religious and I knew she was Into auras, energy fields, crystal stuff and general accepting of hippy stuff. Oh and guardian angels, I still have a couple of little protective angels she gave me after we had broken up.

AwesomeO said:

Neophyte said:

AwesomeO said:

An old ex dragged me along every year to the Canberra Psychic expo. She used to get a reading with both of us sitting there. Afterwards the medium gives you a tape recording of the session, and I used that tape recording to show her the initial conversation and the leading questions etc and explained how she could have made initial presumptions easily, but no matter, believers will believe.

Bet she didn’t talk to you after that – some people don’t like to be shown they were wrong

Nahhh, she knew I was rational minded, sceptical amd not religious and I knew she was Into auras, energy fields, crystal stuff and general accepting of hippy stuff. Oh and guardian angels, I still have a couple of little protective angels she gave me after we had broken up.

Some girls will disdain you simply for liking cherries when they don’t……….

Mr Q,

Go look up Derren Brown http://derrenbrown.co.uk/ And some of his TV shows on youtube. (or SBS when he’s on).

Derren Brown is an English illusionist, mentalist, trickster, and states it’s a load of crock and how they do it.