# Is Tyler Henry, Hollywood Medium, a fraud? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 24, 2016, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tyler-henry-hollywood-medium-a-fraud/763797 "2016-08-24T10:24:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pianodave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e79b87/32.png) [@pianodave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pianodave)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tyler-henry-hollywood-medium-a-fraud/763797/1 "2016-08-24T10:24:14Z")
Hi SD, I’d like to know the straight dope on Tyler Henry, Hollywood Medium, who purportedly communicates with the dead and has celebrities as clients. I understand hot reading and cold reading, but I can’t wrap my mind around how he seems to know private details that “nobody else would know.”. The reactions from the celebrities on the show seem genuine. I could easily see him as a fraud if I weren’t still puzzled at how he seems to know these intimate details. It makes me believe, just for a little bit. If he is a fake, please explain to me how he manages to be such a humble and nice guy, not unctuous, at the same time. I need the truth! GF cried over it in my arms last night (she’s lost her dad). I cried with her too. I need to know if we had a sweet moment or if I am just another believer in his tricks. Like I said, I am perfectly willing to denounce him, but why would he be so eager to divulge private obscure and correct details if he wasn’t confident enough of their truth? These celebrities are genuinely moved. Why shouldn’t I be? Thanks for setting me straight. Dave ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tyler-henry-hollywood-medium-a-fraud/763797/2 "2016-08-24T10:37:07Z")
1. Would these celebrities happen to be actors? As in, people who fake emotion for a living? Yeah, I’m sure they were genuinely moved. 2. Even if they \*were \*surprised by the information, all it means is that the “medium” is good at cold reading, or that he has a crack investigation team. 3. Of course he’s a fraud. He’s a medium. 4. The fact that he’s humble and nice means that he’s a \*good \*fraud. You think successful con-men don’t seem trustworthy? It’s, like, their most important job skill. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tyler-henry-hollywood-medium-a-fraud/763797/3 "2016-08-24T11:29:48Z")
[You might want to read this analysis](http://www.csicop.org/specialarticles/show/tip_the_canoe_of_tyler_too) of one of his shows. He’s not even an exceptional cold reader. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tyler-henry-hollywood-medium-a-fraud/763797/4 "2016-08-24T12:21:33Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > [You might want to read this analysis](http://www.csicop.org/specialarticles/show/tip_the_canoe_of_tyler_too) of one of his shows. He’s not even an exceptional cold reader. Good analysis. > [@](#): > > In the after interviews with each of these sitters, they stated that Henry had gotten specific hits. After re-watching, it was clear he did not. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Lowry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Sam\_Lowry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Lowry)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tyler-henry-hollywood-medium-a-fraud/763797/5 "2016-08-24T14:24:35Z")
I’m not familiar with Tyler Henry, but my automatic reaction to being asked if a medium is a fraud is to say yes. If there was someone who could genuinely talk to the dead unlike the frauds who have come before, they would be major news, not just someone who has a TV show on basic cable. Reading Czarcasm’s link, he doesn’t even sound that convincing: > [@](#): > > Henry said that he was getting something about the Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, and hairy feet. Matthews made the connection by saying that in seventh grade, he had played Baggins in a school play, but when asked afterward said, “I was in shock when he said I starred as Bilbo Baggins.” > [@](#): > > Matthews, who during this reading is cuddled up with his male partner on the couch across from Henry, was assured that now on the other side Matthews’s father “always knew his son was gay.” Matthews responded with “well he had eyes and ears.” In other words, Tyler had wrongly assumed that his father died before Matthews came out, but Matthews said that he was openly gay when his father was alive. > [@](#): > > Henry asked if there were a recovering alcoholic in the family. When Sweetin reluctantly revealed it was herself, Henry told her that her grandmother was so proud of her for managing to stay off alcohol. So one minute Henry did not know that it is Sweetin and the next the grandmother is specifically talking to her granddaughter. Then Henry stated that he knows that Sweetin has dreamed of her grandmother since she died. Also, keep in mind that this is a TV show, and so is heavily edited. Henry could gotten some wild misses, like asking one of them about a beloved dog, but the person is actually allergic and doesn’t like dogs, and no one close to them has a dog either. But anything like that would be edited out. Or he could have visited plenty of other people but not gotten any good hits, just a lot of misses, and those segments wouldn’t be shown on TV. Since I haven’t seen the show, I can’t talk about his manner or how he seems to be humble and nice. Maybe he’s a good actor and good at seeming charming and nice, it’s obviously a good skill for a conman to have. Or maybe he is genuinely a nice guy, and honestly believes he’s helping people by cold reading them and making up stuff that their dead relatives are saying. I’m sure a lot of the people he has sessions with are grateful and seem like they’ve been helped. I’m not going to say that you shouldn’t watch or that you shouldn’t be moved. Tyler Henry isn’t genuine but a lot of the emotions that the celebrities are having are genuine, and I can understand watching and feeling those emotions with them. But in general I’m not a fan of TV psychics and the promotion of anti-science that goes with them. Psychics in general are similar to lottery tickets in my opinion; with lottery tickets a lot of people can just spend normal small amounts of money and enjoy the rush, but too many spend huge amounts of money that they just don’t have in hopes of winning big. It’s the same with psychics, where some people can spend small amounts of money occasionally and just do it for fun or get some comfort in a hard time, but too many people spend huge amounts of money that they can’t afford in hopes of getting satisfactory answers that will never come. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tyler-henry-hollywood-medium-a-fraud/763797/6 "2016-08-24T14:31:13Z")
> [@pianodave](#): > > Is Tyler Henry, Hollywood Medium, a fraud? Having never heard of the guy, not reading the OP, and doing no research at all on the man, I would say, resoundingly and absolutely, yes, he is a fraud. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tyler-henry-hollywood-medium-a-fraud/763797/7 "2016-08-24T14:54:00Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Having never heard of the guy, not reading the OP, and doing no research at all on the man, I would say, resoundingly and absolutely, yes, he is a fraud. Well. Was it “Hollywood,” “medium” or the 19th-century name that tipped you? ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tyler-henry-hollywood-medium-a-fraud/763797/8 "2016-08-24T15:04:16Z")
Seems to me being a Hollywood medium where you are doing reads on people with Wikipedia pages would be a lot easier than with someone off the street. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tyler-henry-hollywood-medium-a-fraud/763797/9 "2016-08-24T15:04:51Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Well. > > Was it “Hollywood,” “medium” or the 19th-century name that tipped you? In my case, all three … like, automatically. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tyler-henry-hollywood-medium-a-fraud/763797/10 "2016-08-24T15:18:47Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Well. > > Was it “Hollywood,” “medium” or the 19th-century name that tipped you? “Medium”, and “Hollywood”, in that order. His name meant nothing to me. Seems just like any name. Does it have significance? ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tyler-henry-hollywood-medium-a-fraud/763797/11 "2016-08-24T15:20:17Z")
All mediums are frauds by definition. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tyler-henry-hollywood-medium-a-fraud/763797/12 "2016-08-24T15:21:11Z")
Yes, by definition. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tyler-henry-hollywood-medium-a-fraud/763797/13 "2016-08-24T15:23:32Z")
> [@RikWriter](#): > > All mediums are frauds by definition. Yeah, just pay for a small and keep refilling it. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tyler-henry-hollywood-medium-a-fraud/763797/14 "2016-08-24T15:28:16Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Seems just like any name. Does it have significance? Other than being vaguely reminiscent of the election of 1840, no. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tyler-henry-hollywood-medium-a-fraud/763797/15 "2016-08-24T15:29:25Z")
They’re not all necessarily frauds. It’s possible for an effective cold-reader to actually manage to convince themself, too, in which case they might even believe that they’re really doing what they claim. But between them, yes, “fraud” and “gullible naive fool” do completely cover the possibilities. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tyler-henry-hollywood-medium-a-fraud/763797/16 "2016-08-24T15:34:31Z")
> [@RikWriter](#): > > All mediums are frauds by definition. > [@kayaker](#): > > Yes, by definition. Seriously, you’re misusing the phrase “by definition.” In addition to **Chronos** ’s objection, someone who fit the definition of “medium” but was not a fraud could easily exist in a work of (speculative) fiction in which the “rules of reality” allowed communication with departed spirits. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tyler-henry-hollywood-medium-a-fraud/763797/17 "2016-08-24T15:40:14Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > They’re not all necessarily frauds. It’s possible for an effective cold-reader to actually manage to convince themself, too, in which case they might even believe that they’re really doing what they claim. > > But between them, yes, “fraud” and “gullible naive fool” do completely cover the possibilities. But once they get to the point of having to produce on demand, as in having a television or radio program or phone call-in, the _only_ way to keep up with the demand and seem to be successful is to introduce fraud into the routine, be it cold-reading, hot-reading or editing. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tyler-henry-hollywood-medium-a-fraud/763797/18 "2016-08-24T15:45:02Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Seriously, you’re misusing the phrase “by definition.” In addition to **Chronos** ’s objection, someone who fit the definition of “medium” but was not a fraud could easily exist in a work of (speculative) fiction in which the “rules of reality” allowed communication with departed spirits. It is pretty well understood what people mean when they ask if psychics are “real”-they aren’t asking if “psychic” is a real word, or if “people with psychic abilities” would be a really cool thing to write a fictional story about. Get real. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tyler-henry-hollywood-medium-a-fraud/763797/19 "2016-08-24T15:45:27Z")
An effective heuristic when evaluating any sort of incredible claim is “If this person could really do what they claimed to do, would they really be doing what they are doing?” Like, if David Copperfield could really fly and make Statues of Liberty disappear, he’d be a freaking superhero, not doing chintzy TV specials. So obviously, everything he’s doing is just tricks, er, I mean, illusions. Similarly, if Tyler Henry could really talk to the dead, he would be a hedge fund billionaire, not a medium. Since he’s not, he probably can’t. ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tyler-henry-hollywood-medium-a-fraud/763797/20 "2016-08-24T15:47:28Z")
Did you hear about the dwarf psychic that escaped from prison? Now the cops are looking for a small medium at large. 😃 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tyler-henry-hollywood-medium-a-fraud/763797.md?page=2)