Edgar Cayce was a most unusual man-he operated a “hospital” in Virginia Beach, VA, in the 1930’s-supposedly, he would go into a trance (of sorts), and “diagnose” a patient. T
He would then prescribe some kind of treatment.
Was this guy a proven fraud? He seems to be remembered today, for predictions about “Atlantis”-which of course never existed.
Anybody know the SD on this guy?
Of course he was a fraud.
Chorpler’s link is really all you need.
If you haven’t already read ‘Flim-Flam’ by James Randi, I can recommend it highly. The book contains a good chunk about Cayce, and about psychics who rely on similar scams.
Was Cayce an unusual man? Certainly. I think by any relevant criterion he led an unusual life.
Was he proved to be a fraud? No. This is because the claims that he made about his own ability, or the claims that were made on his behalf, were non-falsifiable. It would be impossible to prove that his diagnoses or cures were effective or were ineffective. Psychic claims don’t work like that. They are fashioned in such a way that all you can really say is: they are as real as you want them to be. Those who favour the belief system will select whatever evidence fits it and ignore anything else. The same applies to other ‘psychic’ claims and to most kinds of religious and superstitious belief.
The point is not that you can find some evidence to support the hypothesis. Of course you can. This is more or less always possible. I’m sure some people went to see Cayce and later considered themselves ‘cured’. The point is whether or not you have also tried to break the hypothesis, and have given equal weight to the contra-indications and the evidence that doesn’t fit. Good science tries to break the hypothesis and find the evidence that casts doubt on the theory. Psychic belief systems never do.
It sounds impressive when you read of Cayce’s so-called ‘successes’. But without a control group, these stories are meaningless. Self-assessment is no guide to anything, and even a random guess will be right some of the time.
If you want to set yourself up as a psychic, getting into the ‘healing’ scam is the easiest route of all. You can invent literally any treatment or therapy you want (although it makes sense not to do anything that’s actually illegal). People will come to see you because when it comes to cures for ill-health, demand will always outstrip supply. There are only three possible results: get better, stay the same, get worse (or die).
If they get better, you document these cases and slowly build up a folio of ‘proof’.
If they stay the same, you say you need to work with them over a longer period of time.
If they get worse or die, you can say (a) they didn’t do what you told them to do, (b) it was the conventional medicine/treatment wot killed them, © they didn’t come to you early enough, (d) their faith or belief wasn’t strong enough or was undermined by the skeptics, (e) you have never claimed to be 100% effective.
The nice point is that while your ‘successes’ are alive and can appear on chat shows to sing your praises, your ‘failures’ are of course dead silent, which is very convenient. Yes, there is the old saying that doctors bury their mistakes, but doctors - or at least most of the good ones - actually base their treatments on principles of medical science that are subject to independent proof and verification, and have to prove some sort of medical competence in order to receive and retain their licence to practise.
And I second this. It’s a great book. Very entertaining and informative.
A better question: Was he a fraud, or deluded?
You can be both.