Jim Callahan, what is a Paranormalist?
Well, in the English language the suffix -ist means one who practices. So by his own words he is someone who practices the paranormal.
I think Jim elicits a potential and actual audience to invest themselves on the idea that he is creating and participating in paranormal events. As I pointed out before, the word paranormalist is linked to mentalism. I'll post again wiki's entry for mentalist:
The term mentalist refers to entertainers whose performance appears to be based on "psychic" abilities, featuring the ability to read minds, project the mind to alter the state of matter, foretell the future, and see distant and hidden objects. This branch of magic is referred to as "mentalism."[1]
There are analogues in the field of parapsychology, where a mentalist is defined as someone who is believed to read thoughts and place suggestions in people's minds. While a psychic may claim to observe a hidden spiritual reality and report on it, in a process known as "psychic reading" (see cold reading) a mentalist might claim the ability to manipulate and change that reality. The stage mentalist ostensibly mimics these supernatural behaviours by natural means.
And again a look at his websites section "Paranormalist?":
What is a Paranormalist?
The short answer is that I Create Reality.
(snip)
I create what could be called paranormal events in an entertainment venue.
The use of the word "could" in the last statement is important. Mr. Callahan wants to encourage the average person to follow his suggestions about the paranormal but has dealt enough with skepticism to leave escapes in the wording of his claims. Also, IMO, Callahan will not refer to himself as a mentalist for two reasons: one being that the word doesn't have the same mystique and gravitas that he is seeking to create, and the other being that he really isn't much of a mentalist. He has a very limited repetoire of skills in that light and can't be compared to others far more accomplished at the artform. He calls him self "The World's Greatest Paranormalist" and yet this is a title that is also claimed by Uri Geller, who arguably has a far better claim in that regard in terms of range of abilities, accomplishments, and recognition. As a known performer, Mr. Callhan is very small potatoes. It is not meant to be an insult but an acknowledgement of the situation and the condition which I believe is a dominant factor in the niche he tries to carve out for himself.
On Phenomenom Mr. Callahan at the end of his performance said that he hoped people would remember it for the rest of their lives. This is melodrama and maudlin appeal that he relies on, much as is the case with routine in the chair, the spill on the ground, asking the host to use his shoulder for support. It's all flourish to dress up a very basic routine that Angel mentioned playing with as a teenager. When one looks at his NBC performance and applies a little critical thinking and imagination, it really shouldn't be too hard to come up with solutions to his act. The one I have already suggested and will elaborate on a bit is that it is accomplished not by somehow being able to penetrate the sealed box but by simply having knowledge of the 100 objects chosen and the 99 that remain. I'm not saying that Callahan isn't clever but he certainly isn't original. I suggested that he or someone with him may have had a list to compare the remaining objects to. We can also imagine that Mr. Callahan, with an appreciation for numbers, devised away to simplify the memorization of the 100 objects from which Raven will select an object. The focus is to not allow him access to the box and not the pile of junk left over.
Raven chose an orange car. First one would want to know who chose the 100 objects but putting that aside for a moment, Callahan may have mentally divided the 100 objects into groups based on size, colour, etc. There could have been, say, 10 orange things or 7 things with wheels for example. He could instead of looking at a big random selection of object, be looking at something he could study and break down.
It is for that reason why on his website we see Callahan saying that he could easily take Angel's money and has accepted the challenge yet here saying that he never claimed he could divine what was in the envelope. It is why he became completely silent when I made the challenge about my father's name in an envelope with salt. he's caught and he knows it. He doesn't control the variables and he doesn't know how to get some control without it looking all too apparent.
Jim Callahan has no communication with the dead as he claims. Like he is now saying in contradiction to previous statements, he has no paranormal abilities. He is an entertainer. The situation arises from him being an enterainer of limited abilities in a field with far better. He seeks to compensate using melodrama and controversy. All he ever had to do was be honest about talking to dead people but the moment he does he becomes blase so he keeps up the BS.
His greatest frustration and cause for his activities now is people seeing his act for what it really is - smoke and mirrors.
