# Can John Edward talk back to the dead or is he just a receiver? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 24, 2003, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-john-edward-talk-back-to-the-dead-or-is-he-just-a-receiver/157136 "2003-02-24T09:24:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dobso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e19b73/32.png) [@Dobso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dobso)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2003, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-john-edward-talk-back-to-the-dead-or-is-he-just-a-receiver/157136/1 "2003-02-24T09:24:13Z")
Can John Edward talk back to the dead or is he just a receiver? The reason I ask is, I’m wondering if he can ask my dearly departed father what he did with his Superannuation accounts. ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@MonkeyMensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMensch)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2003, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-john-edward-talk-back-to-the-dead-or-is-he-just-a-receiver/157136/2 "2003-02-24T09:26:31Z")
As far as I can tell he only talks to the dearly arrived. That is, the folks in the audience have all the info he has. ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2003, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-john-edward-talk-back-to-the-dead-or-is-he-just-a-receiver/157136/3 "2003-02-24T10:27:49Z")
The prevailing view is that he is an accomplished showman, expert conman and good amateur psychologist. You’re unlikely to get the answer you’re looking for here. Ask him instead, but don’t give him any money. Trust me on this. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2003, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-john-edward-talk-back-to-the-dead-or-is-he-just-a-receiver/157136/4 "2003-02-24T11:03:00Z")
Quite aside from the distinct possibility that (as others have implied) he’s probably ‘cold reading’ the clients and that there is no real conversation with the dead taking place… …How would it work if he was only a receiver? - how would the dearly departed know that a) there was anyone listening and b) what to say. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2003, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-john-edward-talk-back-to-the-dead-or-is-he-just-a-receiver/157136/5 "2003-02-24T11:59:30Z")
Don’t forget, he is :- **THE BIGGEST DOUCHE IN THE UNIVERSE!** ---
**Author:** ![Urban\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Urban\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urban_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2003, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-john-edward-talk-back-to-the-dead-or-is-he-just-a-receiver/157136/6 "2003-02-24T12:11:16Z")
The Amazing Randi wrote about him recently. Check the archives on the [James Randi Educational Foundation Website](http://www.randi.org/) He’s just a crook. ---
**Author:** ![newcrasher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b3f665/32.png) [@newcrasher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/newcrasher)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2003, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-john-edward-talk-back-to-the-dead-or-is-he-just-a-receiver/157136/7 "2003-02-24T12:17:58Z")
Dont you think it is interesting that virtually EVERY deceased communicates with him by telling him “There is a letter R connection here (or N or L or whatever letter)”… …pop psyche drivel mixed with charlatainism at its worse. These people are grieving and are desperate for answers…he preys on that. ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2003, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-john-edward-talk-back-to-the-dead-or-is-he-just-a-receiver/157136/8 "2003-02-24T12:23:50Z")
That’s my Rhonda!!! How did you know newcrasher? You must be a psychic ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2003, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-john-edward-talk-back-to-the-dead-or-is-he-just-a-receiver/157136/9 "2003-02-24T12:43:09Z")
I have heard he’s just a tool. Aren’t you worried that he might get the information about the accounts on the _Deceased-o-Fone®_ in his head, and steal it for his own devious means? You’d then have to get a psychic who does living people to read his mind and copy down the information for you. But in turn, how do you know you could you trust _them_? What a terrible conundrum… ---
**Author:** ![Rie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a6a055/32.png) [@Rie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rie)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2003, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-john-edward-talk-back-to-the-dead-or-is-he-just-a-receiver/157136/10 "2003-02-24T13:43:56Z")
He’s an ass. The willingness of the general public to buy into what is basically a carny trick is truly frightening to me. Almost as frightening as people who seek out Oprah and Dr. Phil for advice. ---
**Author:** ![Meatros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2003, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-john-edward-talk-back-to-the-dead-or-is-he-just-a-receiver/157136/11 "2003-02-24T14:01:23Z")
As others have said, Edward is a cold-reader and not a _real_ psychic. This is because, IMO, psychics do not _really_ exist. I think **jjimm** brings up a good point, if Edward was a _real_ psychic, I’d be afraid of Edward stealing from me. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jjimm \* > \*\*Aren’t you worried that he might get the information about the accounts on the _Deceased-o-Fone®_ in his head, and steal it for his own devious means? You’d then have to get a psychic who does living people to read his mind and copy down the information for you. But in turn, how do you know you could you trust _them_? What a terrible conundrum… \*\* ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2003, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-john-edward-talk-back-to-the-dead-or-is-he-just-a-receiver/157136/12 "2003-02-24T14:33:28Z")
In the context of his act, it appears to me that he is just a receiver. Asking the dead questions would add a VERY difficult level of complexity to the act. I suppose someone very skilled at the cold reading might be able to pull it off though. ---
**Author:** ![Indefatigable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9d8465/32.png) [@Indefatigable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indefatigable)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2003, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-john-edward-talk-back-to-the-dead-or-is-he-just-a-receiver/157136/13 "2003-02-24T14:57:15Z")
The one I thought was funny was the Pet Psychic (on Animal Planet)… People come to her with pets that have behavioural problems, and she supposedly talks to the animals and gets them to tell her exactly what’s wrong. The tricks she uses are smooth, and on the show I saw there were two different ones: 1. Working with impossibly stupid people so that she looks like she knows things she couldn’t possibly know. A woman’s cat was peeing in shoes and being generally destructive around the house. The psychic’s first question was, ‘Do you have a boyfriend, and if so, how long have you been together?’ Turns out there was a new boyfriend, who had been visiting and sleeping over for as long as the cat had been acting up. If the owner had bothered to read anything at all about cat behaviour problems, that would have been in the first chapter of any book. I guessed myself that there was a new person in the house even before the psychic asked her. 1. Acting as a psychiatrist for the owners, working with their minds (that is, the minds of the people who _can_ talk to her) instead of their pets’. She had people with disabled dogs, animals who had had a limb amputated or whose hind legs were paralysed so that they had to use those doggie wheelchairs. Their concern was their dogs’ ability to be happy and recover the best that they could from their injuries, even if the disabilities were permanent. The psychic’s advice was to not baby or coddle the dogs any more than they would an uninjured animal; treat them like normal dogs, and they’ll be back to their old bouncy active selves as much as possible. Again, many pet owners know that spoiling an animal while it’s sick can make it malinger a little, especially if it isn’t used to getting so much attention when it’s well, although this was a bit less obvious of a problem. I have to say that explaining the problem from the dogs’ point of view (even if it was clever imagination as opposed to telepathy) was a good way to get it across to the owners. Anyone who knows how animals communicate, and who has spent a lot of time watching their behaviour and body language, will look like a genius if they hang around people who have no observational skills or just less experience with animals in general. A lot of so-called animal telepaths work that way. ---
**Author:** ![jonpluc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/fbc32d/32.png) [@jonpluc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jonpluc)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2003, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-john-edward-talk-back-to-the-dead-or-is-he-just-a-receiver/157136/14 "2003-02-24T15:11:49Z")
One thing im 100% sure of is that he is a reciever alright… He is a reciever of a boatload of money from a bunch of \ umm suckers. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2003, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-john-edward-talk-back-to-the-dead-or-is-he-just-a-receiver/157136/15 "2003-02-24T15:15:44Z")
We have been discussing Edward, VanPraagh, and other cold-readers in [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=156629) for quite a while now. If you read it from start to finish(!), you will find out more than you wanted to know about this topic, I’m sure. ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2003, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-john-edward-talk-back-to-the-dead-or-is-he-just-a-receiver/157136/16 "2003-02-24T15:25:45Z")
[Michael Schermer](http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=0006488B-4B4B-1C6F-84A9809EC588EF21&pageNumber=1&catID=2) quoted one of Edward’s guests in a recent Scientific American article: > [@](#): > > “[O]nce 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.” …Which seems to indicate that Edward may be relying on “hot reading,” the use of pre-supplied information, in addition to the more traditional practice of [cold reading](http://www.randi.org/library/coldreading/). Perhaps the best way to combat this [unscrupulous](http://www.ncahf.org/digest/01-31.html) preying upon the bereaved is to [turn it back](http://www.skeptics.com.au/journal/coldread.htm) into a [parlor trick](http://www.skeptics.com.au/journal/coldread.htm). ---
**Author:** ![Futile\_Gesture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f05b48/32.png) [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2003, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-john-edward-talk-back-to-the-dead-or-is-he-just-a-receiver/157136/17 "2003-02-24T16:08:42Z")
I’m sensing a word beginning with **R**. **R** anyone? **P**? No, hang on, it’s really a **D**. Yes, it’s definitely **D**. A word beginning with **D** , not **R**. The spirits have spoken to me and they say you should contact one of the moderators here and ask them to correct the mistake in the last word of your subject header. P.S. Welcome to the SDBM **Dobso**. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2003, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-john-edward-talk-back-to-the-dead-or-is-he-just-a-receiver/157136/18 "2003-02-24T16:24:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Futile Gesture \* > **A word beginning with D, not R.** Oh my God, I’ve got a friend called Dave, not Rupert! _weeps_ ---
**Author:** ![beajerry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@beajerry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beajerry)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2003, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-john-edward-talk-back-to-the-dead-or-is-he-just-a-receiver/157136/19 "2003-02-24T16:39:05Z")
No offense, Dobso, but I can’t believe you’ve joined the SDMB and have actually asked that question. John Edward, and all ‘psychics’, are con-artists who use hot and cold reading techniques. (see [http://www.scientificamerican.com/2001/0801issue/0801skeptic.html](http://www.scientificamerican.com/2001/0801issue/0801skeptic.html) ) If you want to read how it all started, I’d suggest Peter Washington’s book Madame Blavatsky’s Baboon. And since you did ask that question, I’ll have to assign Carl Sagan’s The Demon-Haunted World to you. I want a book report by Friday. ---
**Author:** ![beajerry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@beajerry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beajerry)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2003, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-john-edward-talk-back-to-the-dead-or-is-he-just-a-receiver/157136/20 "2003-02-24T16:42:40Z")
Sorry, the Scientific American link is dead now. Try this one: [http://www.skepdic.com/coldread.html](http://www.skepdic.com/coldread.html) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-john-edward-talk-back-to-the-dead-or-is-he-just-a-receiver/157136.md?page=2)