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Anyone been to see John Edward?

Daryl17

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If so what did he get right (if anything), what did he get wrong and what was the experience like?
 
I saw him at a local bookstore about eight years ago. He spent most of the time talking about his history, including having been told by a doctor that his powers existed because he used 15 percent of his brain, more than the 10 percent other people use.
During his brief reading, I counted 6 hits out of 26 guesses. He repeated a lot of his hits and some of his guesses were very broad ("Just had, or had in the last year").
Afterward, I asked some of the people how accurate his guesses were. Their evaluations ranged from "most of them" to "all".
I guess this is an example of observer bias. Either on their part or mine.
 
Jeff Corey said:
I saw him at a local bookstore about eight years ago. He spent most of the time talking about his history, including having been told by a doctor that his powers existed because he used 15 percent of his brain, more than the 10 percent other people use.
During his brief reading, I counted 6 hits out of 26 guesses. He repeated a lot of his hits and some of his guesses were very broad ("Just had, or had in the last year").
Afterward, I asked some of the people how accurate his guesses were. Their evaluations ranged from "most of them" to "all".
I guess this is an example of observer bias. Either on their part or mine.
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I'm not ruling out that he only uses 15% of his brain.
 
The whole 10% thing is a myth.

Dr.Shermer and his group did a visit with John Edwards I think. It's hard to get in to a taping of his show (when he had his show). You have to sign this LONG disclaimer! You would not believe it!
 
I decided never to see John Edward after he channeled my grandpa for a total stranger. :mad:
 
I went to see Van Praagh when I was involved with the IIG. Every audience member had to sign a 4 (count 'em, FOUR) page disclaimer. One part that I remember was that you could not discuss your experience with anyone in the media.

It was typical cold reading stuff, with the audience providing most of the information. One part I remember was during a break he was talking to a family right down front and it turned out they were visiting the US from Australia (?) (anyway, some foreign country). When the cameras were back on he said he was sensing someone from afar!! Wow! And this family went right along with it.

I went home and took a shower.
 
Jeff Corey said:
He spent most of the time talking about his history, including having been told by a doctor that his powers existed because he used 15 percent of his brain, more than the 10 percent other people use.
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Well, seeing how he's lying about having special psychic powers, why not make up a lie about a non-existant doctor supposedly confirming those powers?
It's not like anyone sycophant enough to go to one of his book signings would actually care to check out facts, or even be deterred if a skeptic managed to show that no doctor would make that statement since it's a blatant lie.
 
The other night on Family Guy they did a short skit where Peter was at a taping of 'Crossing Over'. Not word for word, but it went something like this:

JE speaking to Peter:

JE: I'm sensing your name begins with an A.
Peter: Nope.
JE: A 'B'.
Peter: Nope.
JE: A 'C'.
Peter: Nope.
JE: A 'D'.
Peter: Nope.
JE: An 'E'.
Peter: Nope.
JE: "F G H I J K L M N O P -"
Peter: "- Oh My God that freakin amazing your a wizard I can't believe it!"
 
Daryl17 said:
What do you mean by that?
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I mean that the game John Edward plays is so generic that even my own grandpa matched some of his phony readings. The nerve of grandpa, showing up at other people's seances...he was never so dishonest when he was alive...must have lost some human decency after he croaked.
 
SezMe said:
One part that I remember was that you could not discuss your experience with anyone in the media.
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How would they stop someone. I mean what if you just sent an anonymous letter to the media. Assuming they would care.
 
Tamazon said:
How would they stop someone. I mean what if you just sent an anonymous letter to the media. Assuming they would care.
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An anonymous letter detailing how John Edward is a fraud? Yeah, like they would really care. Like they would even take it seriously.
And I suppose the sad part is that with those signed disclaimers, JE can probably sue you if he's botched up badly during one of his shows and you spill it all to the press.
 
exarch is close. Of course, it won't stop an anonymous letter but if someone goes public (such as on TV) with damning evidence, the sharks have a basis for making life uncomfortable.
 
[FONT=Courier New, Courier, MS Sans Serif] Here is a letter sent to the JREF by an anonymous audience member.

[/FONT]
I was on the John Edward show. He even had a multiple guess "hit" on me that was featured on the show. However, it was edited so that my answer to another question was edited in after one of his questions. In other words, his question and my answer were deliberately mismatched. Only a fraction of what went on in the studio was actually seen in the final 30 minute show. He was wrong about a lot and was very aggressive when somebody failed to acknowledge something he said.

Also, his "production assistants" were always around while we waited to get into the studio. They told us to keep very quiet, and they overheard a lot. I think that the whole place is bugged somehow. Also, once in the studio we had to wait around for almost two hours before the show began. Throughout that time everybody was talking about what dead relative of theirs might pop up.

Remember that all this occurred under microphones and with cameras already set up. My guess is that he was backstage listening and looking at us all and noting certain readings. When he finally appeared, he looked at the audience as if he were trying to spot people he recognized.

He also had ringers in the audience. I can tell because about fifteen people arrived in a chartered van, and once inside they did not sit together.
Click to expand...
 
Tamazon said:
[FONT=Courier New, Courier, MS Sans Serif] Here is a letter sent to the JREF by an anonymous audience member.[/FONT]
Click to expand...

I think even sadder is the fact that many of the women (very few men apparently) who've been to one of his shows aren't even wondering whether he might be a fraud. They were there, they've seen him screw up, fail time after time, then later on see on TV how it all got edited to make it look much, much better than it really was, and soothe their conscience by telling themselves that "well, he can't be in top shape every night, so sometimes he has to resort to cheating when he's having a bad night". But for some reason, it seems impossible to convince them that he is in fact having a bad night every night.
 
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