I want to consult you about a proposed change in the law. But before I do, I’d
like to ask you a question or two. What would you do if you were genuinely
clairvoyant? If you could really tell the future? The possibilities are
endless.
You could make a fortune stock-picking and betting on sporting events. You
could win the Nobel Peace Prize (by anticipating world crises and advising
how they could be avoided), the various Nobel scientific prizes (by
demonstrating in a series of controlled experiments that what we thought we
knew about the natural world was wrong), and the Nobel Prize for Literature
(by copying future masterpieces and passing them off as your own). You could
save lives, avert catastrophes, only call restaurants when you knew that
there was a table available. What fun you could have.
And who would you speak to if you could genuinely commune with the dead? Your
own dearly loved relatives, of course. But perhaps also Jack Ruby, who might
clear up a thing or two about why he shot Lee Harvey Oswald. And given all
those nice things that Gordon Brown has to say about Adam Smith, I’d love to
find out if the feeling was mutual.
Here are some of the things you wouldn’t do: advertise on the internet, call
yourself a celebrity psychic, appear on daytime TV, rent a table at a
Psychic Fair just off Stanmore High Street, take a part-time job in Holland &
Barrett while receiving clients at home of an evening, live in a caravan
park in Totnes, sell your wares in the classified section of the local paper
and stand in front of a group in a half-full village hall saying that you’ve
had a message from someone called John and asking if anyone knows anybody
with that name.
I can’t help feeling that the slightly tatty nature of the “psychic” industry
is a bit of a giveaway. There was an outlet near my home that appears to
have gone out of business. Surely a well-organised clairvoyant would have
been able to avoid such a fate.
Claims to be able to speak to the dead and tell fortunes seem so obviously
ridiculous that they are easy to make fun of. At least they are to me. But
if you share my view, try expressing it to the next intelligent person you
meet. There is a good chance you will be rewarded with an anecdote. A friend
had a cousin who consulted a medium living in Watford. She was then able to
find his long-lost wedding ring. “There is no way the medium could have
known where it was. It was uncanny.” It is pointless telling your friend
that it is them who isn’t being canny. Trust me, I’ve tried this. It never
ends well.
Psychic readings, Tarot sessions, audiences with clairvoyants and telepathists
have all become big business. Last April Selfridges began offering sessions
with psychics in their basement (again, working in the basement of a
department store isn’t what I’d do with my special powers, but there’s no
accounting for taste). The shop wasn’t particularly amused when some
sceptics presented their receipts at the customer services desk and
attempted to get their money back because the future hadn’t turned out as
well as they’d hoped.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Defence spent £18,000 on an experiment to see if
psychics could identify the contents of a sealed envelope. They couldn’t.
Bang goes the chance of using them to find Osama bin Laden. The MoD simply
replicated the findings of American intelligence agencies, who spent more
than $10 million in a decade on psychics before concluding that their
guidance was not assisting the identification of targets or sources of
danger. We should have known Saddam Hussein had got rid of his WMD — typical
Taurus behaviour.
But if the idiocy of this mainstream toying with psychic nonsense doesn’t
bother you, consider this. Much of it is also, at least in this country,
illegal.
No, I didn’t know that either. But there is something called the Fradulent
Mediums Act 1951, apparently. This law was introduced to replace the
Witchcraft Act of 1735 and makes any person eligible for up to two years in
prison who “with intent to deceive, purports to act as a spiritualistic
medium or to exercise any powers of telepathy, clairvoyance or other similar
powers”. If you make it clear that you are just an entertainer you are fine,
but I looked in vain for such a disclaimer on psychic advertisements.
The reason neither of us has heard of this law is that it is hardly ever used.
Between 1980 and 1995, for instance, there were just five prosecutions, all
ending in conviction. I could find you five people offending against the Act
in five minutes, using that intrepid detective agency — Google.
So now some of my fellow sceptics are petitioning Downing Street
(petitions.pm.gov.uk/mediums) for the Act to be revised so that it can be
used. I am deeply sympathetic to their cause. The activities of the pyschic
industry have victims. Grieving people are being exploited and the naive
enticed to part with cash. Falsely suggesting to the bereaved that you are
in communication with a dead relative seems to me a terrible thing to do.
But sympathetic as I am, I will not sign the petition. I am not happy seeing a
multimillion-pound fraud trundle on, picking the pockets of the vulnerable.
The alternative would be worse, I fear. The appetite among the public for
assiduous prosecution approaches zero. The sympathy for Helen Duncan, the
old con artist prosecuted under the Witchcraft Act back in the 1940s having
earlier been caught regurgitating a cheesecloth undervest and pretending it
was ectoplasm, was such that the law had to be changed. Use the new law more
frequently and you would have thousands of Duncans on your hands.
I had a friend at university who approached every political problem with the
phrase “a fool and his money are easily parted”. He is right; as I, rather
reluctantly, think that the Government is right. It proposes repealing the
Fraudulent Mediums Act as part of an EU tidying-up exercise. It claims that
a new, more general, commercial practices law will be available for use if
necessary. But I think without psychic powers we can foresee that this will
be the last we hear of the whole thing.
And probably that’s for the best. Probably.
So Kathy you think that if a person had a genuine gift they would not charge. Why not? after all you expect a doctor, a plumber a sportsperson (especially footballers) to charge for his/her gift so why not mediums?
A true medium is NOT a fortune teller so if that is what you are looking for don't approach a medium. Neither is a true medium the sort who gives out generalisations - they should be able to go directly to the person they have a message for either by singling them out from a crowd or giving express information that only that person would recognise.
Unfortunately the whole area of Psychics and mediumship has been turned into a money making business by TV & with shockingly bad performances by such as Most Haunted it is no wonder it has been brought into public disrepute. However there are some very genuine people out there going quietly about the task of proving that there is an existance of sorts after this life, who ask for little or no reward, not even recognition.
Cilla, Sheffield, UK
A couple of years ago, I went for a reading of a person who is clairvoyant but also uses cards at times for readings. My world had fallen apart; my partner was seeing other women for sex because I had been poorly. At the time I found out I was getting better. I loved my partner, I had met him after 12 years of being on my own. I live with him in his house which I love as if it is my own. I have a lovely life, lovely people I speak to .
I was on the verge of leaving him. He told me he didn't love me. I had been ill and he didnt' love me the same way. He loved me like a sister.
I had my reading and the lady said I could choose to stay or go. I didn't have to go right then. Her words gave me strength
I chose to stay. 18 months later or so I am still at home with him; he comes home and our relationship isn't ideal but it is a relationship. I am so glad I went for my reading.
happy person, Wirral, Cheshire
I have been to a few mediums in my time. Some were good and some where bad. Most were uncannily accurate in what they told me. Most professions in life have some people who are good at what they do and some who are bad at what they do and some who are just in it for the money. Abilities and motives are variable in all things.
I do not see the harm in any one spending their own hard earned money in any way they choose. I resent being told I need to be saved from myself with regards to seeing a medium by the law or any one else. If I wish to see a medium for what ever reason then I should be allowed to do so. After all it is my money to give to who ever I so choose. Not all mediums take money for what they do some do and some don’t.
It is true that the psychic industry has grown in recent years. Maybe it is because the general public are waking up to the fact that there are people out there in the world who have a genuine gift. There are mediums that have worked with the police on cases and have been very helpful as a tool to them I believe.
Most mediums can not explain this gift or why they have it. They also do not choose the information that comes it chooses to come to them in its own way. Sometimes it is words in their head, pictures, feelings, speech or a sense of just knowing a thing to be true. Good mediums are professional in their dealings with the public as they realise they can have an impact on peoples lives and feelings and sense of loss. A good medium will always give as much evidence as they can such as names in full, dates, shared experiences and descriptions of people and places the medium could just not have known. On a final note with regards to advertising for work and clients, there is nothing wrong with advertising it is a good way of finding clients and customers. Many professions use this acceptable method of gaining work however not all mediums advertise because they just do not need to.
Lynette , ,
I went to a villiage hall hoping my x husband would come through .The first half was less than convincing The second half i was accussed by him of blocking his mind so he left saying he couldn't go on because of me! rather embarrissing as everyone including myself had paid £4 to get in .Not a bad night for him . Not so good for me . I;m even less convinced now I.m sure tthere are many people out there who want to help but i ask myself would they really charge if they had a gift to help people ??
kathyprice, gloucester,
I think that although many mediums or clairvoyants are fake, for every 200 fakes there is someone with a real gift. My mother went to see a local medium, the interview was taped, and she only knew my mothers first name before she went, no second name or address,so she couldnt have researched our family beforehand. She had messages from my mum's brothers and father, who was diagnosed as scizophrenic when dying in hospital.My Mum didn't tell the medium this, but the medium said that hewas sorry for how he acted when alive,and that now he was free from his physical body the afflictions in his mind had left him and he now watched over her to make up for his behaviour.As well as this the medium said she had a strong connection to the name "Linda" - not a common name,but it is that of my mums sister,who is also her best friend.She told my mum things about her father my mum didnt even know,and even mentioned our ghost cat we had all seen -apparently my mums first cat Tibbles!Explain that!..
Jenny, chichester,
I can say that it does make you wonder when a German au-pair girl goes to a Spiritualist Church, doesn't talk to anyone, just wants to know her future, and Mediums tell her her grannie's name (a rare German name) and that of her grannie' cousin, together with descriptions of looks and personalities. Or if she tries to imagine a scenery and people in a meditation, and the medium tells her afterwards what she had seen in her mind. There are many more amazing stories to tell. The German au-pair was me. Giving proof is very essential, but for a sceptic no proof is enough. By the way,only the tendencies of the future can be "predicted", due to the law of cause and effect. After all the future is what we make out of it with our free will and making decisions. Experience and Learning are two of life's purposes. Sceptics, please talk to people who have had "supernatural" experience, and who do not seek for money, fame and/or power over others, you might be fascinated what they have to tell!
Gabi, Bielefeld, Germany
I would love a medium to explain to me howcome when they make contact with the dead, they only ever seem to hear the first letter of the dead person's name. Imagine making all that effort to speak to someone you love from beyond the grave and shouting your name really loudly just to have a medium only hear that it begins with a J. They manage to hear that J wants to apologise for never having put the loo seat down - just not his full name.
Hayley , London,
Mr. Finkelstein shows his absolute ignorance of true mediumship/ & clairvoyance. In his answer to his own loaded question, "What would you do if you were genuinely clairvoyant?", he describes a mythical person who can choose what they see in the future, a medium who can choose who they talk to. Alas, it does not work that way. And for those who know mediums, it is sad to see such misleading statements regarding "genuine" psychics.
Mediums don't choose who they talk to. It is the dead that come to them, sometimes not very clearly. Psychics do not choose what they see, it is shown to them, and not always clearly. Sometimes it is "just a feeling" like gut instinct.
Of course, there are frauds out there who are more than willing to take advantage of anyone, and that should be governed by laws governing fraud. Clairvoyance and mediumship should be removed from the letter of the law, and keep only the parts that cover harmful, fraudulent activity.
Lee Thaubald, Duluth, Georgia/ USA
I'm always fascinatde that astrology, mediums etc appeal to our self interest by only dealing with relationships, money, job success and happiness. Never anything that might remotely challenge the individual about themselves, the way they behave towards others etc. Funny that...
Kevin Thompson, Readiing, UK
Putting aside the law issue for a moment, its fine to have an opinion, but nobody can say for sure what is wrong or right. A little open mindedness coupled with a pinch of healthy suspicion is the best approach.
Though I think it's slightly arrogant and one dimensional to assume there's nothing to it and its just about people misleading others, nothing is straightforward and grey areas exist.
If you want to give a fair and objective argument go to a medium and then see for yourself.
The psychic channels etc are ridiculous and are clearly for making money, a good psychic or clairvoyant will charge very little or perhaps not at all.
Tracy , London, London
Let's say there is an extra sense that a lot of us don't have or "use". How can we define the scope of that sense unless we have it ourselves. For example, how could an unsighted person possibly understand or define sight? The law needs to be able to do this in order to be practical.
Jan, San Francisco, USA
First off I do belive there are plenty of frauds out there, and its a shame they make people with abilities look bad. There are plenty who dont show boat there talents, and do help others. Like help solving murder cases for one. I would also like to state that these abilities are given to these people by god and there intended to be used as a helpful purpose, and not for greed of ones self. Yes there are alot of people who abuse the fact that these abilities do exist. Just like anything man kind does, government, health, military ect... has its own kind of fraud. Because it doesn't have rock hard solid proof, we cant seem to except what we can't see or prove. Hopefully god will bless you with proof someday and make you a believer!
Jen, michigan , usa
I knew You wouldn't post my remarks...
Just like I know You read them...
Care to post these--my Brother-in-Spirit???
Peace and Love on the path of Your Choice...
Blessed be unfettered words and dreamed of worlds were (Everyone's) truths are honored...
Rev. Carroll, Houston, Texas
Just a thought, if the dead really spoke with the living, how many murders do you think would go unsloved?
Matthew, Rockmart, GA
As the skeptic who got the refund from Selfridges, I can safely say that the reading I got (which is on tape and transcript available on request), was pitiful and transparently cold reading at a very basic level.
Let's not forget, there's $1,000,000 up for grabs if anyone can show they have these powers - incentive enough?
Mark, London, UK
It's an interesting article, but the terminology is misleading. If the Fraudulent Mediums Act were brought into more active use, differences between the ways Mediums work compared to Clairvoyents and Psychics would have to be addressed. For example, mediums working within Spritualist churches (which is lawful) have to follow a set of guidelines regarding what they can and cannot say and how they say it. In either case, perhaps it would be wiser to create a set of guidelines re-enforcing correct practice so that both those giving readings and those recieving them are protected by regulation rather than just calling it illegal.
Kimberly, Bristol, Englad
I agree with ferguson. Religion is the biggest con job of all time and has extorted countless billions of pounds through history, more often than not, with threats of eternal torture. Some of the few recent successful prosecutions against mediums have involved exactly this scam - the psychic tells the gullible client he or she, or some family member, is cursed and they must pay them money to help lift the curse. In both cases there is a similar level of evidence that a curse/eternal damnation exists - namely none. Alas, I don't see religions being taken to court soon.
Heather, Edinburgh,
i could see all of this coming.
loucapetown, cape town, south africa
When dealing with pseudo-science, astrological absurdities or occultic nonsense, the best remedy is a sound dose of empiricism. As Hume put it, "the wise man proportions his belief to the evidence". As Daniel Finkelstein notes (echoing Hume again), the real problem lies in the human tendency towards credulity, particularly in matters relating to the afterlife. Hence a better way forward is education, not legislation.
John, Rugby, Warwickshire
Well, I suppose there are one hell of alot of frauds out there, but I reckon no smoke without fire eh.
There's also been 'genuine' psychics who have done good for little prophet (sic). Check out Peter Hurkos, yep, that polish fella who fell off a ladder then helped out the police.
Could be a pile of baloney but then there's a lot under heaven and earth we know nothing about
John, Cardiff, Wales
As the great Patrick Moore puts it: "Astrology proves that there is one born every minute".
Paddy Lester, Otley, UK
Mr Fink
Most of waht you have written can be applied to most of the world's religions who promise life after death if you join the club and pay your dues, would you support my proposal for a Fraudulent Faiths Act?
ferguson, leatherhead,
Could the Act be used to prosecute those who make inflated claims of prophetic accuracy for their computer models of catastrophic anthropogenic global warming?
Michael Nagle, London,
I saw this article a couple of days ago.......and it was as amusing as it is today........
Claire Voyant, Moscow, Russia
I have every sympathy with Daniel Finkelstein's wish to discourage fraudsters (and with the wishes of another poster to include homoeopaths and similar 'therapists' ) but surely if the Fraudulent Mediums Act makes it a crime “with intent to deceive, purports to act as a spiritualistic medium or to exercise any powers of telepathy, clairvoyance or other similar powers”, then those accused can always make the defence that they sincerely believe they have the powers they claim to have?
Graham, Sheffield,
Daniel---try Hilary Mantel's 'Beyond Black' for an outstanding account of 'tatty' mediumship; the novel is both hilarious and sinister, a remarkable combination.
deirdre, London, UK
Just remind me again: why are religions allowed to promise life (or Paradise) after death?
Bob Doney, Camberley,
Prosecution for all those charletans who tell us they have the power to change things, promise to make it all better and then take your money and run??? Oh well, there goes the House of Professional Mediums otherwise known as the Houses of Parliament, it is stuffed full of chancers delux. We can also pettition to change the name to the UK Politburo to reflect it's EU rubberstamping duties.
Charles Otway, Andover, Hampshire
Surely they could be prosectued under other legislation, such as obtaining money by deception? Essentially, that's all they are after is your money. Further, if has they puport they can see into the future why does one have to make an appointment and tell them what your problems are?
Chris, Cornwall, UK
Dan
WE in Tanzania live with the voddooo and wizardry. You see we have to, because we are poor and illetrate and ignorant at the lowest level. The medicine men and the Mullahs make lots of money chanting the songs dancing with the skull and cutting the chicken(that they take home later), then they tell you, GO, " Your problems will be solved".
In Britiain you too have the medicine man like ours. Good. Ours have more charms. Practice you see practice.
Firozali A Mulla MBA PhD, Dar-Es-Salaam, Tanzania
Absolute fraudsters! however who knows there may well be some psychics out there, but am pretty damn sure they are not on Satelite TV ! .. I don't know if i feel sad or angry for the individuals receiving this information? why you ask?well perhaps these people feel the need to know that loved ones are ok, perhaps need so called mediums to inject confidence and lives back on track, Or are these simply VICTIMS being depleted of hard earned money by some salesman or woman? i don't know who to be angry with? The insecure gullible victim who cannot take control of there own affairs and life , or simply the wicked conartist using the victims in time of need to relieve individuals of cash £££! ps Mr or Mrs Pshycic can you let me know tonights lottery results? email supplied ! .... thought not ! oh i forgot it doesnt work like that does it ! :-)
lee harrison , Northampton, uk
Petition should also include prosecution for so called practitioner of homeopathy and other nonsense treatments preying on the desperate.
Out of interest, doesn't the times/sunday times publish horoscopes and pyschic readings?
Graeme, Dublin,
Dear Daniel, come down to a strange and mystic land of India and you will find clairvoyants , medium-searchers, psychic healers, crystal-ball gazers , faqirs and voodoo men at dime a dozen. They can mystify, mesmerize and baffle the gullible folks by their mumbo-jumbo and gibberish talks. Decked up in their loincloth , with odd and strange appurtenances like some bone and a skull, vermillion and ash smeared on their forehead , such men claim to talk to the dead spirits, can control the vagarant and evil spookies . Unfortunately in India, laws to handle and keep a check on such witchcraft and cryptic acts are weak and nebulous. They easily hoodwink the commonors and get away with it, with out any harsh penalties. The write up is a real spot on!! an eye opener for everyone who fall a prey to their shenanigans. We should act and think in a rational manner , at best keep such persons at bay from intruding our lives. They play on our emotional psyche and earn moolahs through their trickery.
Sandy, New Delhi, India
Any chance of tonights lottery results?
didn't think so , " look it doesn't work like that"
I don't know who to be angry or sad with? the gullible victim listening to a con artist or the con artist for praying on a poor insecure victim who cannot cotrols ones life and is just a very needy person clinging to things that are no longer with them ... and for the believers " i meant not with us in this life " ;-) must be PC in todays Blairified Britain !
lee harrison , Northampton, uk
"This evenings performance by the guest clairvoyant has been cancelled due to unforseen circumstances"
Michael Albinson, Poole, England
It’s surprising that this industry has never attracted a perception of a need for regulation – other than in the negative sense of the existing law, which relies on the concept of intent to deceive.
That might be because the benefits of regulation – protection of the public, codes of practice, job creation for the regulatory apparatus and continuing professional development – might be offset by implied credibility and litigation consequences should dissatisfied customers looking for redress include lack of a common law duty of care – of the regulator as well as the practitioner!
Jesse Livermore said ‘with ease, men believe what it pleases them to believe’ and maybe we should just leave it at that.
dr venables preller, Warminster, UK
The simple reason for the lack of convictions/charges is the first clause "with intent to deceive". Prove the intent, and you have the conviction. If you as a medium turn around and say "I believed I was right and just said what I thought", end of case. Who's to prove you didn't believe? Of course, continual conning of people eventually leads to conviction, but to prove that needs many complaints etc, and who's going to admit they were conned?
C.G, Toronto, Canada
I have a friend who lost 2 Grandchildren to a fire caused by the father leaving a chip pan on while he was drunk.The childrens Grear grandfather was known for his love for his children.Are these people trying to tell me that he sat in the spirit world without trying to contact his family.After all it just needed a small contact to turn the heat off or nudge the father awake.Just think of the number of times close relatives would have to watch their loved ones suffer if the spiritualist claims were true.
j cox, preston, england
Dig a little deeper and it turns out that the MOD remote viewing experiment failed through lack of support from experienced remote viewers. They were termed psychics only by the MSM. In any case, the exercise proved nothing. Chatterato logic dictates, however, that all such experiments are futile.
Bien pensant logic also dictates that because there are fraudulent mediums, therefore all mediums are fraudulent.
Apply this logic to say, chatterati. Because there are bad chatterati, therefore all chatterati are bad.
Mark Lyndon, London, UK
I quote an early part of your article:
'Claims to be able to speak to the dead and tell fortunes seem so obviously ridiculous that they are easy to make fun of. At least they are to me. But if you share my view, try expressing it to the next intelligent person you meet.'
Having read Neil Rutter's contribution (the first of the blogs) I can see what you mean. But why restrict it to 'intelligent' persons. There is another category. Remember the old saying - 'there is one born every minute.'
Anthony Back, Wellington, Telford, England
I'm sorry,but I don't have any sympathy for people who are stupid enough to throw their money away on psychics.I suppose these people deserve the protection that prosecution and conviction of charlatans would give them,but they will just go and throw their money away someplace else.Slot machines.telephone scams,bingo games,charismatic preachers,lottery tickets,raffles,panhandlers,are just a few of the places that come to mind.The phychic might just as well get their share too.
ron, toronto,
Curiously, my New SOED doesn’t say anything about the psychic under it’s definition of clairvoyant. It only mentions the clear-sighted aspect. I don’t need to ask Jack Ruby why he shot Lee Harvey Oswald. That is one of the more obvious incidents in the Kennedy affair. I gather Reagan turned to the tea leaves for advice, which maybe helps account for his peculiar success as US President, but if the CIA did a study on clairvoyance it was most likely to examine the best way to exploit it. It is absolute grist to the mill of any intelligence agency. It is the stuff of endless B movies, so I am not in the least surprised that present law is being updated to fall in line with the new Lottery age. After all, all you really need to know today is whether or not you are going to win the Lottery.
Henry Percy, London, UK
I agree with finkelstein, in that there are many charlatans purporting to be mediums. The true ability of a medium is to use their gift given to them by Spirit for the benefit of all. As reported by Finkelstein, thereis nowa huge market for psychic
work, that charges a lot of money . The people who need the help of a medium do so because they are desperate for contact that their loved ones are fine or they need guidance for a given situation, unfortunately these people fall prey to such market forces.
But there are places to help, such as the Sprirtualist Churchs and mediums who use their gift for no financial gain what so ever, other than to help the person in need.
Is this a crime.
Neil Rutter, dawlish, great britain