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Sensing Murder
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In your "Sensing Murder" articles the allegedly rebuttals are technically ‘inadmissible’. They are not worth anything. They are ‘generalities.’ Rebuttals are when each issue, one by one is specifically isolated and dealt with showing that the psychic could not have identified it names and places and using psychic skills.
“Mostly they just cheat. It's a trick. The only difference between psychics and magicians is that the magician will tell you it's a trick.” That would be regarded as inadmissible, descriptive, lacking in specificities, lacking in substance.
You just cannot state words to the effect, well the crew could have related the information to the psychics. You will have to PROVE that. When a psychic specifically identifies names and Rebecca states that came from the psychic him/herself you just cannot state, oh well that’s fraud!
Your objection is technically inadmissible in professional debate. Instead, work out the probabilities of that coming by chance. Now, if you add all the correctly identified names, issues, localities and work out the probabilities AND failure by the debunker to show HOW fraud took place, then it would be impossible for the psychic to come up with those names by chance. Victor Zammit
We notice on your site Victor in your article regarding "Sensing Murder" you state the following:
And we love how you characterise those that don't accept your view:
Perhaps you could produce some of this empirical evidence, as legal maneuvers won't do it for us.
I read with interest your site. I myself had a reading with Deb Webber, she never told me anything, I told her everything and she give me a reading through that. So to prove that maybe she was faking I called her several months later and made out I was pregnant with triplets, owned a hairdressing salon and was with husband no 2, the 1st had passed away. She said one of the triplets would be smaller than the other 2, I would sell my business and invest the money and then work as a mobile h/dresser or for someone else and my dead 1st husband set me up with hubby no 2 and that money would be tight and I would have to get baby clothes from charity. This was all fictional, lies I gave her and yet she still managed to read for me. Says a lot doesn't it. I bet you I could ring her next month and say I'm a clown in a circus and she would be able to give me a reading from that. She's amazing isn't she. I would love to hear what you think.
Hi Melissa, thanks for your comments on Deb Webber. I couldn't agree with you more. The client provides all the information to these fake psychics and they then just feed it back to them, a method known as 'cold reading'. I guess that most psychics work on the assumptions that only believers consult them, that the believer will do their utmost to find some meaning in their vague pronouncements and that those of a skeptical nature wouldn't waste their money.
I've often thought of performing the experiment that you've tried but I wasn't sure I could fool the psychic into believing that I really thought he or she had real powers. I've also thought of writing some bogus letter to those psychic pages in the likes of the 'Woman's Weekly' magazine but what would it prove? Only I would know that she was talking rubbish, and I already believe that, but to all the readers it would be another example of her psychic powers.
I love that you were skeptical enough to question where the information from your first reading really came from and to go on and check out your theory by calling her again with a completely bogus persona. Brilliant.
Deb Webber was in New Zealand recently doing a few shows and one Wellington newspaper journalist ridiculed her and noted:
A number of years ago US skeptic and magician James Randi setup a scam to demonstrate that the media doesn't check its stories when it comes to the paranormal, supernatural etc. He got an actor to pretend that he could channel the spirit of some long dead person. The actor did public shows in Aussie and went on TV shows like 60 Minutes etc to demonstrate his skills. He was a big hit. Then Randi broke the news that it was all a hoax and everyone was very embarrassed. No one checked the claims that the channeller made, either regarding his descriptions of his past life or of his real claims to fame in the USA. It would have been simple to determine that this guy didn't exist in the US and that everything he claimed was a lie, but no one did. It proved that the media just pump this crap out as entertainment. They often don't take it seriously but unfortunately many viewers do.
However the really amazing thing was that even though Randi and the actor went on 60 Minutes, TV News etc to reveal that it was all a hoax, the actor later revealed that he met several people that refused to accept his confession. They came up to him on the street and apologised for those that attacked his channelling skills. He replied "But I am a fake. I'm just an actor", but they said that they still believed in him. Even the evidence of fraud and a confession is not enough for some believers. It's depressing to think that people this stupid are still allowed to vote and serve on juries.
I assume you've looked at our transcripts for "Sensing Murder" involving Deb Webber. We were going to write up a few more episodes but I'm not sure whether it would be worth our time. As the Randi bit above shows, a million transcripts wouldn't convince a true believer and our example episodes are probably sufficient to convince those of a skeptical nature.
Your site is great, keep up the good work!
Thanks for your positive comments on our site. We're just putting the finishing touches on an essay looking at Magnetic Therapy. Once that's finished we'll look at writing a bit on fundamentalists. Possibly starting with Ian Wishart. He's written quite a bit on Creationism, Intelligent Design, evil homosexuals etc in his Investigate magazine. Then there's the Destiny Church and the Seventh Day Adventists with their "the End is Nigh" cries, etc. There is just so many to pick on.
I hadn't seen that site you recommended (Extremeprophetic.com) and thought it must be a parody site when I read its homepage. But no, they were serious. Just how gullible, unintelligent or desperate do you have to be to believe this crap? I guess that's the advantage with religion, you don't need good reasons to believe something, just blind faith.
Hi, I just read your excellent expose of 'Sensing Murder'. I was wondering whether I could use it (with credits given) at badpsychics.com. We've done a little bit on Deb Webber and your article would help to reinforce her lack of psychic abilities.
Hi Roz, certainly you may use it. We're happy to play a small part in helping to expose these fake psychics and to encourage people to think critically about what they are seeing.
Thanks heaps John. Great to find a kindred spirit (if you'll pardon the expression) across the Tasman.
Hey there, I'm a member of the Australian Skeptics and wrote some articles here about the Australian version of "Sensing Murder". (I assume your version couldn't possibly be worse than the crap we had here)... I'd like to know a few things about the NZ version of "Sensing Murder"... How many seasons has it had? We only had one season (6 eps) in Australia and they only showed them at random non rating times. Is it still running? (I'm guessing so, though ours isn't) Are the cases honestly "low profile"? As I've said in my articles and on the Wikipedia entry, the Australian cases were all very high profile. Before I deleted it as "non-original content", someone had posted excepts from the NZ show's promotional material in which the producer claimed they were all low profile cases. Have any of the cases been solved since the show? (Regardless of whether the psychics did it)
Hi Christopher, it's good to hear that there are others out there that can see through the crap that is "Sensing Murder". Although we haven't heard anyone say they thought the program actually solved any murder, plenty have said that the police are following up positive leads from the show and most believe the psychics were amazing in what they revealed. Depressing really. I'm continually surprised at how easily some people are fooled. It's a great pity that we don't teach critical thinking in our schools. I just hope I never end up in a court of law. Imagine if people that can't see the flaws in programs like "Sensing Murder" made up your jury.
Thankfully we haven't had any hate mail regarding our article.
And now on to your questions:
How many seasons has it had?
Only one series I believe, made up of six episodes. Although they didn't mention it, I think the Aussie series and the NZ series were both run as one series here, with alternating countries each week. The format was identical. I'm sure that anything you wrote about the Aussie version would apply to ours as well. They were run in prime time, had quite a following among idiots and the NZ version even won an award at our annual TV awards show.
Is it still running?
No it's not, although according to the following info I discovered on the Net, we have a new series to look forward to this year: TV2's first run of Sensing Murder proved a hit with New Zealand audiences. Series II returns to our screens in 2007 with more chilling episodes...
Are the cases honestly "low profile"?
Difficult to say really. I'm sure they would have been big news at the time, but I personally couldn't remember any of the cases. That's not to say that others couldn't. They did happen one, two or nearly three decades ago, but then murders weren't so common back then, we are a small country and many people do tend to remember them, especially if you live in the city where they occurred as psychic Kelvin Cruickshank did for one of the cases.
Have any of the cases been solved since the show?
No, none have been solved to my knowledge. I'm sure the media would have made a big deal of it if any had been solved. I also guarantee they won't start the next series by recapping what real progress has been made on the cases from the previous series. If any claims are made, they will be as bogus and misleading as the show proper.
I noticed on the Wikipedia page for 'Sensing Murder' that it only mentions the names of three psychics. I have 8 episodes on DVD — 3 NZ and 5 Aussie. In these episodes, psychics Kelvin Cruickshank, Debbie Malone, Sue Nicholson and Deb Webber featured in the NZ series. Psychics Debbie Malone, Scott Russell Hill, Deb Webber, Ruth Wilson and Barbara Neilson featured in the Australian series. Debbie Malone and Deb Webber appeared in both the Australian and the NZ series. There may have been others in other episodes.
I am writing with reference to your comments regarding Sensing Murder. Why don't you just calm down a little and have some faith somethings can't be rationally explained. Leave some room in your heart for mystery.
Hi Jane, you say, "have some faith some things can't be rationally explained." I think you've missed the point of our essay. It was to show that what the psychics appeared to do on 'Sensing Murder' can most definitely be explained rationally. We don't need to have faith in their psychic abilities because we can hear the TV production crew giving them the answers. This is called cheating. We can watch them consistently fail to come up with the names of the victims, or their family and most importantly, the name of the murderer. We can hear the host of the show lying to us and misleading us. There is nothing on the show that can't be explained by reason and critical thinking. Admittedly there are times when the psychic appears to say something surprising but we are never shown what he or she says before or after this statement. The producers of shows like this blankly refuse to give skeptics access to the entire TV footage. We only get to see what was edited for TV. If the psychic abilities are real, then what are the producers hiding?
The most important thing that should be realised about the 'Sensing Murder' show, and numerous others like it, is that the psychics didn't solve one single murder. Not even one. Not even close. They didn't provide one single clue that the police could make use of.
So what has 'Sensing Murder' really achieved? Out of 12 murder cases, not one case has been solved in NZ or Australia. If their psychic abilities are real, why didn't they find at least one murderer? This is a 100% failure rate. There is not one well-documented case worldwide of a psychic solving any crime, and even if there was, there is no denying that none of the 'Sensing Murder' cases have been solved. Even if you do believe that psychic abilities exist, it is perfectly obvious that they weren't used on 'Sensing Murder'. Even if you do support the notion of psychics, there is no good reason to support those featured in 'Sensing Murder'.
You also say in your comment, "Leave some room in your heart for mystery."
If someone stole your life savings, would you be impressed if the police said they weren't going to try and find who did it, instead telling you to "leave some room in your heart for mystery". I suspect you would tell them that you don't want the thief's identity to be a mystery, you want to know who he is and to recover your money. Even with investigation the thief's identity may remain a mystery, but I'm sure you would at least try to resolve it, wanting to determine the cause of your loss if at all possible. Likewise when psychics say they can solve crimes I want to investigate the truth behind their claims. Just like your life savings would be important to you, the fact of whether psychics are scamming me is important to me. I assume that you also would not like to be scammed over some matter.
Today's mysteries remain as mysteries simply because we have not yet solved them, not because we have elected to ignore them, not because we have consciously decided to let them remain as mysteries. We would still be living in caves, afflicted by innumerable diseases and believing in untold superstitions if we had refused to challenge mysteries. And anyway, why are you happy for psychic abilities to remain a mystery, wouldn't you rather science investigate it and declare it real? If psychic abilities really exist they can only benefit from scientific investigation. Instead of being ridiculed, they would be respected. Thus I'm always suspicious of people's motives when they say we shouldn't investigate something. Are you afraid that if science shone it's light on psychics, not only would the mystery disappear, but psychics also?
You also suggest that I calm down a little. I assure you that I am not in the slightest bit angry or agitated over psychics, but I am disappointed and dismayed that intelligent people believe in them, in the same way that intelligent people from past generations believed in fairies and leprechauns. Rather than use faith to reach conclusions as to what is real, as you suggest, we need to use reason.
We design our aircraft and our medicines using reason, not faith. We hope our juries reach decisions using reason, not faith. We hope doctors examine us using reason, not faith, so why should we believe a psychic when he demands we use faith rather than reason to accept his claims? Why the reversal? Shouldn't this make you deeply suspicious?
You may be right Jane, maybe psychics are real, but I'm afraid nothing that they have produced in support of their claims has convinced me, whereas there is a large amount of evidence that indicates psychic ability doesn't exist. I'm not saying that all psychics are cheats, a large proportion probably honestly believe they have some ability, but I believe that not only are they fooling some members of the public, they are fooling themselves as well.
I honestly wish psychics could solve crimes, then we wouldn't need detectives, we wouldn't have unsolved murders or missing children. And only real idiots would commit crimes, having forgotten that psychics would finger them immediately. Crime would be almost non-existent. What a wonderful society that would be. It's strange that psychics haven't already brought this about. After all, they have the power. Don't they?
Hi John, thank you for your comments. I believe that a certain number people of people do have the ability to see thing's, in fact I know they can. The reason I am so sure is that from the age of about 5 or 6, I have had visions that have been 100% correct each and every time. I am now 43 and only last year did I eventually build up the confidence to discuss this with religious people, one an Archbishop and the other a Monk/Priest, both distinguished men have dedicated their lives to God. Much to my relief both trusted me as being genuine and assured me that I was having visions (as I already knew) and the Church had known about such things for 2,000 years. They did warn me to take never to take money for it, not to feel special and in fact work all the harder in my relationship with God.
Hi Jane. I can't resist commenting on a couple of things you mentioned. My experience is that psychics and mediums love to say that skeptics have tested them and can't find any trickery, and that they've helped the police solve crimes, but these are all blatant lies I'm afraid. Most psychics refuse to be tested. The very few psychics that have submitted to real testing have either failed miserably or have been caught cheating. Likewise no psychic has ever provided evidence that they have assisted the police. There are many that can prove they have offered advice to the police, but none can prove that this helped solve a crime.
Yes, I agree that some police have used psychics, as have some governments. But no matter what belief someone may have, whether it be prayer, numerology, astrology, divination, reading tea leaves, palm reading, analysing chicken entrails, channelling aliens, voodoo etc, you will be able to find a policeman or government official somewhere in the world that has used this method to try and solve a problem. Chinese officials use Feng Shui. Just because someone is willing to try something different doesn't mean it works. For example someone in Africa could claim that: For many years Police have called on and used people who analyse chicken entrails, Governments even use them! Would you suggest that our police start using chickens just because police in some African villages used them? If they could prove chickens worked that would be different, and so likewise people must first prove that police find psychics effective, not just that they have used their services. I have read scientific surveys that show that psychics employed by police departments in the US are ineffective, disruptive and actually hinder the investigations.
I'm sure you "believe that a certain number of people do have the ability to see thing's". However I don't believe they do. Think of a Muslim that says their god Allah saved their child from some disaster, or a Hindu that says their god Shiva saved their child from another disaster. Would you believe them? This is no different from a psychic saying their advice saved a child from some disaster. Before you believed the Muslim or the Hindu you would demand some evidence that their god was involved, so why not demand evidence from the psychic as well, don't simply take their word for it. You may reply that you've personally seen evidence of psychic abilities, but the Muslim and Hindu would say they have also personally seen evidence of their god's action. You would then reply that they are mistaking certain natural events as god's actions when in fact their imaginary god wasn't involved at all. Their child survived for perfectly rational reasons that didn't involve Allah or Shiva. I would then add that you are also mistaking certain events as psychic when in fact psychic abilities weren't involved at all.
Where a Hindu would say he can see Shiva's handiwork, you would say you can see psychic ability and I would say I can see neither. Which one of us is correct? Which one presents the best case? I see no good evidence that either Shiva or psychic abilities exist, therefore I believe it is reasonable and logical to assume they don't. If new evidence is provided then I will revise my decision, but until then I must put Shiva and psychics in the box alongside fairies, ghosts, leprechauns, demons and healing crystals. I don't believe in Shiva, Allah or psychics for probably the same reasons that you don't believe in Shiva or Allah.
You say you eventually built up the confidence to discuss your psychic abilities with religious people. By all means ask for a religious interpretation, but why only religious people? Did you also ask a skeptic familiar with psychics and ESP (extrasensory perception) or a neuroscientist or a parapsychologist or a doctor or an ordinary psychologist if they could offer an explanation as to what might be happening? As you said, both religious men had dedicated their lives to God, and therefore not into research into the mind, science, ESP or even critical thinking. These are men that are so utterly convinced as to the truth of their belief that they have made a career of it. I have always been amazed when people who develop a doubt over God's existence attempt to resolve this by going to their priest and asking him if God really does exist. Why even bother? You should know that they are naturally going to answer yes. In a similar way they are naturally going to say that what is happening in your mind is to do with your 'relationship with God'. As they said, the Bible is full of people having visions that are caused by God. So they are not going to say there is a rational explanation for yours and risk having you conclude that maybe there was a rational explanation for theirs as well, that God wasn't really involved. You said 'They did warn me to never to take money for it', so how did they explain all the famous psychics and mediums making millions from their visions? Why isn't God punishing them? And if God isn't going to punish psychics, why aren't you making a few dollars? Did you know that James Randi is offering one million US dollars to anyone who can demonstrate psychic abilities? I also wonder why your religious advisors didn't tell you that God actually commands that believers in him have nothing to do with people having visions such as mediums and psychics. In the Bible Leviticus 19:31 commands:
"Do not turn to mediums or seek out spiritists, for you will be defiled by them". Even worse, they should have warned you of the penalty of using these abilities. Leviticus 20:27 commands:
"A man or woman who is a medium or spiritist among you must be put to death".
Why didn't these distinguished men tell you these things? Were these men that have dedicated their lives to God not familiar with these commandments or have they taken it upon themselves to decide that God couldn't really have meant these things, and have therefore hidden them from you? So are you having a relationship with God or the priest's version of God? Either way they have told you what was required to keep you in the Church. God forbid that you would go off and ask a skeptic or read a book like Carl Sagan's 'The Demon Haunted World'.
A few years ago an associate of mine thought he saw a UFO, but luckily I was there and I was able to explain that it was actually the planet Venus and its apparent erratic movement was caused by a perception problem called autokinesis. It is simply a visual illusion that can occur when you stare at a small, fixed light source for an extended period of time. Lacking my explanation there was a good chance that he would have formed the opinion that he had seen a flying saucer or at least something that couldn't be explained, a mystery. Another example is our ability to see patterns in all manner of things, like animal shapes in clouds. There are many ways the mind can fool us into thinking we have experienced something that is different to what really happened. Like the UFO and the clouds, we need to have access to the rational explanations otherwise we end up thinking we have seen flying saucers, faces in clouds and in case of ESP, visions. Maybe the priests are right, maybe not, but you'll never know until you listen to alternative theories and rationally decide which offers the best explanation. And as I've said, we need to use reason to reach conclusions and not faith, our head and not our heart. As important as our emotions and feelings are, they can lead us astray more often than not.
I'm not denying that many psychics etc really are trying to help. I don't doubt their sincerity and motivation, I just see the method that they use as useless. Think of every Hindu praying to their gods for world peace. Their goal is admirable, but I believe their method of achieving it will be ineffective, simply because I believe their gods don't exist to hear their prayers. You probably agree. Yet Hindus and psychics both swear by their beliefs, disappointed that others can't see that they're real. But until Hindus can show me that their gods exist, I won't be praying to them, and until psychics can show me that their abilities are real, I won't be using their services.
Sorry Jane, but I guess we're going to have to agree to disagree on this. Like ghosts, alien abduction and healing crystals, I have not seen any evidence that psychic ability is real. In some respect your religious advisors have told you to suppress your visions and concentrate on your relationship with God. My advice would be similar, treat your 'visions' the same way I treat mine, as your mind creating images of the future based on your experiences and knowledge, that sometimes will be correct and sometimes false, and concentrate on this life, not the next.
Sorry, but you sound like a conceited bore! Get a life and a real job!! Insulting others doesn't make you smart! Where did you get your education? What degrees of higher education to you have? Bet it's not from an ivy league university or even a real school? You sound like you have some kind of inferiority complex. Seek a real professional, such a psychologist or other mental health provider.
Ronda, you state that 'insulting others doesn't make you smart!', yet your email seems to be made up of insult after insult. You insult me regarding my life, my job, my intelligence. You call me a conceited bore. You insult my education, accuse me of not even going to a real school, of having an inferiority complex and suggest I seek professional help for mental problems. Does this string of baseless insults mean neither of us are smart?
As for your suggestion that education is worthless if it's not a degree granted by an 'ivy league university', a little research on your part will show that there are a multitude of reputable universities around the world other than the small handful that make up the 'ivy league universities' in the US northeast. Also I would have thought it pretty obvious that we don't even live in the US. For the record, we live in New Zealand. You have fallen for the fallacy known as the 'argument from authority', blindly assuming that those in authority, in this case those with degrees from your ivy league universities, are always right and everyone without these degrees are automatically wrong. A claim needs to stand up on the facts alone, not on who makes it.
You make no mention of what it was that has upset you, and so even if you do have a valid complaint, we have no idea what it is. If you wish us to reconsider some claim that we have made, you'll have to provide some good evidence that we've got something wrong. We'll listen to well reasoned arguments, but simply calling us names will not suffice.
I'm guessing that you haven't seen last weeks episode then? ['Sensing Murder - Insight'] Nigel Latta, renowned sceptic and clinical psychologist sat thru the whole thing, the taping, the communicating and the part where the psychic goes to the crime scene (or in this case, the death scene) and was impressed and couldnt fault the team or the medium. Also, how do you explain the names given and the apparent coincidences that the info given by the psychics was info the police kept secret from the public? It justs all seems a bit too correct to assume that its all shit. But i guess we are all entitled to our own opinion, but in this case i believe your opinion is wrong! Lol. Phew glad i got that off my chest!
Katy, me thinks you spoke too soon. We will soon finish and place online our article debunking the Nigel Latta episode. Perhaps you could read that and reconsider your opinion of your "renowned sceptic". At the end of the day however, opinion means little and it's evidence that counts. And at present the evidence indicates that the silly 'Sensing Murder' psychics are pathetic failures, and praise from your "renowned sceptic" has done nothing to change that.
Hi there, I just stumbled across your website, it's very good, well done. I have a question that you may know the answer to. I have a vague feeling that some NZ Act makes it illegal to profess to be a psychic. And that's the reason why the more savvy of them have a disclaimer "For entertainment only". Can you confirm that? And cite me a reference?
Hi Barry, I believe that you could be right, that psychics charging for their services may have to state 'For Entertainment Purposes Only'. They certainly wouldn't be putting it in if they didn't have to, as it's basically saying 'We're only having fun here, don't take us seriously', which of course is not the message they really what to portray. I'm not sure what the exact law is though, probably something to do with the 'Fair Trading Act' and falsely claiming something works when there is no evidence for such a claim. I'll do a little digging and if I find out anything specific I'll let you know.
Barry, further to your question about psychics and the law, we haven't found anything specific to NZ but I did come across some overseas references which are no doubt similar.
The fraudulent mediums act (1951) in the UK
I've sent an email to Vicki Hyde, chair of the NZ Skeptics, to see if she can shed any light.
John, I believe it's buried in some quite obscure place in the Misc Offences Act or maybe even the Crimes Act. Of course, it's likely that they are close to breaching the FTA or CGA as well.
Barry, I received the following reply from Vicki at the NZ SKeptics:
Hi John,
Maybe Vicki is right. There are definite laws in places like the US, and most psychics copy their techniques from US psychics etc, so perhaps they've blindly copied their disclaimers as well, believing that they probably apply here in NZ as well. If that's the case it's best to let them continue with this fallacy.
Hi, I have written to you before as I have an interest in this stuff. I will declare that I am a skeptic and have no idea if there is life after death. I have thus far not found any evidence that there is life after death in some form. I have just finished watching the 2nd episode of the second season of the series. I feel your arguments debunking the program don't stack up. These psychics are getting every detail correct and conveying (independently) similar new information, I can only come to 2 possible conclusions;
We disagree, David. We've clearly shown that they are not getting " every detail correct and conveying (independently) similar new information". They make many mistakes, are fed information from the film crew and provide no new information that can be verified. Saying that the killer may have had a beard or driven a blue car is not new information, it's just worthless guessing.
Hi guys, just a quick note to let you know how much I enjoyed reading your site today! Such clarity! Such wit! Are you planning to do a story on the most recent Sensing Murder, featuring Nigel Latta? For some unaccountable reason, he seems taken by these people (who often are very pleasant and nice in real life). Keep up the good work!
Hi Nick, thanks for your positive comments. It always good to get feedback.
Good Site. Have a look at this site — www.prophet.co.nz, in particular the avatar course. These guys are out there! This kind of bullshit is unfortunately spreading like a cancer in this country, let's not make it too easy for them. Keep up the good work.
Bruce, I had a quick look at the site you mentioned, and I'll read more when I get time, but you're right, it's utter crap. They claim that "Avatar®... works on the principle that you create your own reality through the beliefs that you hold" and "your entire experience is a belief creation, and... you can... create the reality you'd prefer to be living". Does this mean that there are people on the street who for them the Iraq war isn't happening and others that have a reality where all the cute women are naked?
We're always amazed that intelligent people can fall for these scams. A friend of Rachel's, one of our team, actually believed that she also could create her own reality, and when she told Rachel this, her husband had just recently died of cancer at age 57. She wasn't that insensitive to ask her why she created a reality where her beloved husband suffered and died, but this is a perfect example of how people just don't think all that deeply about their silly beliefs.
Our website is just a very small contribution to critical inquiry, but as you say, we do need to start standing up to the spread of bullshit.
John, thanks for your reply, through my own personal experience allied with a casual glance at the TV1 Good Morning show I think it is time that the apologists for bullshit were called to face the sticky questions. I would love to initiate a programme of local interest along the lines of Penn & Teller. Working on it.
Just a quick comment on last nights episode. Debbie last night made a slip of the tongue that was not edited out. The ghost had not yet told her where it's body was found and Debbie let slip that the body was found in a pool, meaning water. She quickly stopped what she was saying and said "to where the body was located". My conclusion is that Debbie knew at that point that the body was found in a pool of water, how did she know this if the ghost had not told her. She was intermit with the case. Both psychics got absolutely everything correct about the case. Both also made predictions and named a suspect. If they both independently named the same person and that person confesses I will be scratching my head. But I doubt that will happen as that program is a complete fake and needs to be exposed.
Sorry didnt really enjoy your site!
Hello, I was on the net and stumbled on to your site. I watched Sensing Murder tonight and thoroughly enjoyed it.
As an adult of probably average intelligence, I get that this is an entertainment programme. Its a telly show. It sits alongside the likes of LOST or Desperate Housewives. Its on TVNZ. We know they are morons.
I take the psychics observations with a grain of salt and believe that if there was anything to this the Police would have arrested someone - but this never happens. I watch the show and think nothing more about it until next Tuesday , 8.30pm rolls around and I am sitting in front of the telly again.
Watching Sensing Murder is like reading a trashy novel, listening to the Spice Girls or going to a bad horror flick. It doesn't require any depth of thought or analysis. It sort of empties the brain. This is very relaxing and cheaper than beer or drugs.
I don't quite understand why you take a silly TV2 show so seriously. No one wants to be reminded that this is a load of arse. We just want to sit back and watch the circus.
You are a bunch of killjoy wowsers. Leave my silly beliefs alone. I like them.
Hi Danielle, you say 'I watched Sensing Murder tonight and thoroughly enjoyed it'. Good for you. I watch the cartoon 'Family Guy' and thoroughly enjoy it. The difference is I don't believe it's real. Most people that watch Sensing Murder, millions and millions of them, believe it is real. It is these people that our site is aimed towards.
To call it an 'entertainment program' alongside Lost or Desperate Housewives is false. Fictional shows like Medium and Ghost Whisperer are entertainment programs in this genre. 'Sensing Murder' isn't. It features real murder cases, real 'psychics', real policemen and real private investigators trying to find real murderers in real time. By your classification you would have to call 'Crimewatch' an 'entertainment program' as well. What about TV1 News? Is that just entertainment too? Shouldn't we take that seriously either? What about the likes of 'Piha Rescue' and 'Border Security'? Are they just actors reading a script like 'Shortland Street'? The fact is that 'Sensing Murder' sees itself as a psychic version of 'Crimewatch', and it desperately wants to solve these crimes. Remember it won an award for the best Reality TV show, not best comedy or drama. You are fortunate enough to realise it is only crap entertainment but an enormous number of people don't. Those that claim people only go to psychics for 'entertainment purposes' are deluding themselves. For example psychic Kelvin Cruickshank charges a minimum of $300 for a reading. Nobody throws away this sort of money knowing that the psychic is simply making things up to entertain them. Would you go to a fake doctor at $300 a pot just to be entertained with a fake diagnosis? Of course not, so those that say they are just going to psychics for a laugh are lying. They believe.
If you really accept that 'Sensing Murder' is 'a load of arse', then our site hasn't told you anything you didn't already know. It's not as though we're spoiling a movie by revealing the ending. I can't see how our article has ruined it for you since you already acknowledge the show is crap. Entertaining crap but crap nevertheless. Not once do we say people should boycott this program or stop watching entertainment programs.
Also I don't understand how you can believe we take this show seriously. It's just the opposite. We're trying to convince people NOT to take it seriously. You may understand that it's pure B-grade fantasy like Lost or Desperate Housewives but the majority of people that watch it don't. And unfortunately this psychic crap doesn't stop when 'Sensing Murder' finishes, it only begins. Both Deb Webber and Kelvin Cruickshank are doing shows around NZ at present and believers are forking out a fortune to attend. 'Sensing Murder' is just TV advertising for their careers. We couldn't give a stuff who watches 'Sensing Murder'. It's those that give psychics money because of the show that we want to reach. What would you do if a family member asked if you would lend them or even give them $300 plus to have a reading? Would you, like we have tried to do on our website, point out that it's all crap, or would you, like your comment suggests we do, turn a blind eye and say, 'Sure here's $300. Go and be entertained. I'm not a killjoy wowser like some'. Imagine if this family member was spending a fortune on psychics every month, money they could ill afford, would you try and change this frivolous spending or would you say 'I'm going to 'leave their silly beliefs alone'. I suspect, or at least hope, that you would speak out. But why should you be allowed to challenge someone's silly beliefs and not us?
PS. It's also disappointing that you willingly choose to watch programs picked by 'morons', that equate to trash novels and bad movies, those that don't require any depth of thought and that empty the brain. Life's short. Maybe you should look at lifting your game just a little bit.
Hi, I am doing an inquiry for school. The subject I have have chosen is 'Psychics', and my main question is 'Are they real?'
While doing some research I have found your website. I was wondering if you would help me by answering a few questions so I can include your input in my study. I have attached the four questions I would like you to consider and answer. I hope you can do this for me. Many thanks.
Sure Millie, we're happy to. [For those interested in the questions and our answers, we have printed them below.]
'Psychics - Are they real?'
1) Do you have any proof the show Sensing Murder is a set-up or is it just really likely?
There is definitely proof that parts of the show are set-up. There is evidence of the Sensing Murder production team telling the psychics that they are wrong and giving them the correct answer. For example in the episode 'A Bump in the Night' the psychic Kelvin claimed that Alicia had a dog. This was wrong and a member of the production team is heard telling him that she actually had a cat. Sensing Murder claims that the psychics provide all the information but this proves that Sensing Murder actually gives the psychics information, which they swear they never do. If you did this in an exam you would be accused of cheating. In the same episode psychic Deb is looking at and talking about the wrong window and a member of the production team comes over and turns her around to face the correct window and gives her a floor layout of the house. They told Kelvin what to say and now they're telling Deb where to look and what the house looks like inside, even though Deb is supposed to be telling them. In the 'Insight' episode the Sensing Murder production team faked video shots of the hotel psychic Deb pretended to find, of a photo being placed in front of her and of her walking into a house where a death occurred. The director of Sensing Murder admitted to me that they faked these shots and that they also played other shots of Deb in the wrong order, which misled the viewer.
While directors of shows like Shortland Street tell their actors what to say and where to stand and then edit the video footage to get the best effect, Shortland Street is recognised as fiction. The fact that Sensing Murder must also tell their psychics what to say and where to stand and then edit the video footage to get the best effect proves that the psychics are incapable of providing the information the production team needs. They have to fake it. For the Insight episode of Sensing Murder the psychic was filmed giving her reading for 6 hours, yet less than 12 minutes of this was shown on TV. This would indicate that nearly all of what she said had no relation to the case, and even in the 12 minutes we did see there was nothing that the police could use.
The fact that different versions of Sensing Murder screens in 11 countries and yet not one single murder has been solved proves that the psychics are not providing valuable new clues as they claim.
There is no conclusive proof that Sensing Murder is a hoax or deliberate set-up by the production team and psychics but the fact that they have been caught faking parts of the show makes it highly unlikely that psychic ability was involved. If the psychics are real why do they have to fake parts of the show? The production team and psychics may even be convinced that they are being honest in the way they edit the show, but remember that you can be truthful and still be wrong. Children aren't necessarily lying when they say they've seen the real Santa Claus. They just don't realise that adults are tricking them.
Imagine watching a really good magic show on TV. You can detect no evidence of cheating on the part of the magician. It all seems real. Yet when the magician is out on the street he can never perform the same magic. What's most likely — that it's all a trick aided by TV editing or that it's real magic? Why does his magic power disappear in real life? Now ask the same question of the psychics. It all seems real on TV yet they can never solve murders in the real world. What's most likely, that it's all a trick aided by TV editing or that it's real psychic power?
2) Have you ever met a person who says they are psychic? If yes, did they give you any good reason to believe them?
Yes, I've met several people who believed they had various levels of psychic ability and no, none could give me a good reason to believe them. For a start none could demonstrate their psychic ability. They either refused or if they did attempt to demonstrate their powers they failed miserably. Many believed they had limited psychic ability because sometimes they would think of something happening and then it did. This is merely coincidence and happens to everyone at various times. We sometimes get lucky. We also forget the many, many times we think of something happening and it doesn't.
Every reason they gave that they thought pointed to psychic powers actually had simple rational answers that didn't involve spooky things happening. Many were completely unaware that science had good proven answers as to why some things appeared to happen in strange ways. In a similar way people hundreds of years ago thought lightning was caused by angry gods and even then mediums talked to dead people. Now we know there are natural explanations for lightning and what appear to be strange feelings and spooky hunches. Most people have learnt about the cause of lightning but many still need to learn about psychics.
In the USA there is a magician who will give you $1,000,000 if you can demonstrate any sort of paranormal power. Even in NZ, in Wanaka, there is a psychic challenge where you can earn $100,000 by demonstrating psychic ability. No one has passed the test and nearly all the psychics have refused to even take it. They don't have to do anything different to what they do on TV or in stage shows, just get information from spirits. The only difference is that they are not allowed to cheat, and just like in school exams, people take steps to ensure they can't cheat. Nearly all the psychics, even the really famous ones, the ones people say are the best, refuse to take the test. What are they afraid of? The fact that the famous psychics like those on Sensing Murder and the ones I've met all refuse to take these tests is a good reason not to believe them when they say they are psychic.
3) Could you find scientific proof against it?
Is there scientific proof that psychic ability doesn't exist? This is a difficult question because there are many different descriptions of what psychic ability actually is. Psychics are always very vague about what they can and cannot do. Some will say they can see dead people, others that they merely hear voices, others that they see dreamlike visions in their mind, others that they can read minds or predict the future. Others just have a feeling or hunch that they believe is being caused by the spirit of dead people. You can't test for something until psychics and mediums describe exactly what they can and cannot do.
To avoid this problem we have a concept called the Burden of Proof. It is the job of the person who makes a special claim to provide the proof. Since psychics claim they can get information from the spirits of dead people it is their responsibility to provide scientific proof that this is true. If someone claims something you should always ask 'What is your evidence for that?' If your friend says they can fly like Superman or do real magic like Harry Potter, it is their job to provide evidence that their claim is true. They can't just sit on the sofa and say 'You prove I can't fly or do magic'. You can provide what you believe are good reasons why they can't fly but you can't prove conclusively that your friend can't fly. They can merely answer that you have shown why most people can't fly but they are special and can fly. The only way the problem can be finally solved is if they get off the sofa and prove they can fly. It's the same with psychics, the only way is for them to stop hiding on TV shows and prove they can talk to spirits.
Unfortunately no matter what test scientists do which suggests psychic ability doesn't exist, psychics simply say that rule doesn't apply to them. Like your friend sitting on the sofa and refusing to fly, psychics generally refuse to let scientists test them. That's why you only see them on TV shows and stage shows for entertainment. The few psychics that have allowed themselves to be tested have failed miserably. They then say that this is because people that don't believe in them neutralise their powers. Their excuses never end. We can't prove conclusively that Sensing Murder is fake because they refuse to let scientists or skeptics observe their filming. What are they hiding?
Think of scientists and inventors and drug companies. When they make a new discovery they immediately do everything in their power to prove to the world that their discovery, invention or drug really does work. They don't sit back and say 'You prove it doesn't work'. The world correctly ignores people that say this, and yet this is exactly what psychics say, 'You prove we're not talking to spirits'. You should be very suspicious of people that refuse to prove their claims are true.
That said, there is good scientific evidence that souls do not exist and that people do not survive their death. In the past people believed that the brain and the mind were separate things. They believed that your mind — your thoughts, feelings and memories — would happily carry on even if your brain died. Science now knows that if your brain is damaged the mind is damaged as well, showing that the mind is caused by the brain. When your brain dies your mind ceases to exist, it doesn't wonder off to sit on a cloud somewhere. If you wonder what it might be like after you die, one way to think of it is that it's exactly the same as it was before you were born. Do you remember waiting around for millions and billions of years waiting to be born? No, that's because you didn't exist before you were born and you won't exist after you die. Since there is no spirit there is nothing for the psychics to talk to.
At the end the day you can never prove to everyone's satisfaction that psychics aren't real. Even most psychics admit that many psychics are fakes but they insist that they and one or two others are real. Even if you tested one million psychics and proved they were all fakes, you would still get people insisting there were still real psychics out there, we just haven't tested the real ones. One real psychic could prove science wrong, but like fairies and wizards, the real ones stay hidden.
4) Why do you think other people might believe in it?
It's like a small child believing in Santa Claus. It seems to make sense when you're young, but as they learn more about the world they realise that it just couldn't be true. As they grow up children discover that there are no flying reindeer in the world so come to the conclusion that their parents have been tricking them. Adults believing in psychics are like children continuing to believe in Santa even when they grow up. Unfortunately many people believe psychic abilities might be possible because they don't understand much about science, about the brain and the mind and about coincidences. As people learn about these things they realise that belief in psychics is just as silly as the belief in Santa was. But many people, while they may know a lot about their work or cars or rugby, remain childlike in their knowledge of how psychics might work.
TV can appear to make Superman fly and Harry Potter invisible. In the same way it can appear to make psychics talk with dead people. If we were allowed backstage we would see the tricks they use to make Superman fly and Harry Potter invisible, we would also see the tricks they use on Sensing Murder. It is very easy to fool gullible people if you tell them what they are seeing is real, which they do on Sensing Murder. People are convinced that people on TV wouldn't lie to them, yet they do it all the time. Just last week the TV sports quiz show 'Game of Two Halves' admitted that they cheated every week. We are lead to believe that it is a true quiz show between two teams, but they revealed that both teams are told many of the questions before the show. They said they didn't what the sports people to appear stupid by not knowing the answers. This is cheating and deliberate lying to the viewer.
It's easy to make people believe in TV psychics, but why might they believe that they are psychic themselves or their friends are? Mainly because they don't understand about coincidences, about lucky guesses, about educated guesses and body language.
A good example I read about coincidences was someone thinking of a person they hadn't heard from for years and then within five minutes they receive a phone call informing them that this person has died. When this happens to people they believe they must have received some form of psychic communication otherwise how would they have known? It's impossible to just be a coincidence they think. But it's not. Some scientists worked out that this spooky experience happens on average to 65 people in the USA every day. In the same way that you can work out the odds of a coin toss you can work out that by a mere fluke this will happen to 65 people in the USA every day or 23,728 every year. And no doubt many will be convinced that they now have psychic powers, when it was just a coincidence. Even if psychics were real you would still have this many extra people having spooky experiences just as a fluke. Too many people think that just because something is unusual then it must be paranormal. Not so. Lucky guesses are another reason people think something weird has happened when it hasn't. The other night I said to a friend of a friend, someone who believes in psychics, that "Psychics never say things like 'I know that your middle name is Anne'. They are always vague, saying your first name might begin with A or maybe M". She just stared at me and replied "How did you know my middle name is Anne?" The point is I didn't, it was just a lucky guess. Educated guesses and reading body language are more ways that people can give answers that turn out to be correct. Based on what we know about a sports team or someone's skill at maths we can make predictions on how well they'll perform in a match or exam. Based on how old people are, what they're wearing and how they talk we can make guesses on what sort of life they might lead. Unfortunately some people don't realise they're just working these things out in their head, they think that dead people must be giving them information.
Your main question is 'Are they real?' One thing you can do is look around you and ask what would the world be like if psychics were real?
Well for a start, hospitals wouldn't be fill of very expensive scanners for diagnosing illness. Psychics would simply diagnose all illness and disease as they are shown doing on TV and stage. They would phone you in plenty of time telling you that you need to go to hospital for treatment. Law enforcement and intelligence agencies such as the police, SIS, FBI, CIA etc would have replaced all detectives and investigators with psychics. Every crime would be solved. You couldn't hide anything from the psychics and their all-seeing spirits.
Recent history would have been very different. For example two very famous people, Princess Diana and Mother Teresa, both died in the same week yet not one psychic predicted this. Princess Diana had even visited her personal psychic a week before she died and yet nothing was foreseen. Two space shuttles exploded killing all the astronauts without any warning from psychics. No psychic predicted the Sept 11th attack on the World Trade Center or the terrorist attacks in London, Madrid or Bali. No psychic predicted the devastating Asian tsunami on Boxing Day, 2004. No psychic told President George W Bush that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq or that the war would not go well.
All these things would have been completely different if psychics were real. None of the terrorist attacks would have happened, there would be no war in Iraq or Afghanistan and thousands of lives and billions of dollars would have been saved. Princess Diana wouldn't have got into that car with a drunk driver and the astronauts would still be alive. Mother Teresa would still be dead but psychics would have saved hundreds of thousands of other lives. As it turned out, they saved none. I don't know about NZ, but in America it is a criminal offence to know that a crime is going to be committed and do nothing about it.
As far as your personal life goes, if psychics and spirits were real they would be spying on you every minute of the day. You would have no secrets. Your parents wouldn't need to ask you where you were going or whom you were meeting, they would merely ask a psychic.
We must also remember that psychics and mediums have been around for thousands of years. They're even mentioned in the Bible, where they were getting things wrong even then. Yet even though they have been practising their art for thousands of years they are just as ineffective as ever. Everything else we have to today that we know works has show massive improvement over the years. Think of medicine, science, technology (planes, cars, computers and cell phones), yet psychic predictions are no more reliable today than they were 2000 years ago. In other words, they are just as false now as they were then.
It's pretty obvious that psychics play no part in the world we live, so like witches and dragons and fairies, we have to assume they aren't real.
Hi. Thank you very much for the information you gave me. It has helped my inquiry lots.
Hi again, I have to congratulate you on your efforts at debunking sensing murder. I have stopped watching the series as it is the same thing over and over. But the fact that these people parade around "cheating" and preying on vulnerable people really annoys me. And either I believe in ghosts or the production team are complicit in some aspects of the cheating. This is fraudulent. And I see that fake Colin Fry is coming here.
The bottom line is, why can't a spirit provide a single piece of information that can be corroborated that could not have come from any other source. And as you point out on some occasions the spirit is very direct and precise with information, on other occasions it's "I get an M name" All of the information is either un testable or has already been reported in newspapers etc.
This may sound a bit dramatic but i really believe the problem humanity faces is the fact that most of the worlds population are lead by religions/beliefs that have about as much truth to them as Deb Webber's ravings. I am not dismissing that there may be phenomena unknown to science but I am yet to see a psychic demonstrate an irrefutable piece of information that would make me believe in an after life.
Sensing murder is just silly, it's pure entertainment, Deb is a cheat and only an intuitive cold reader and the production team have edited the show to make her performance look good.
then again, why not believe in an after life, if it make this life more palatable. i wish i really believed.
John deeply impressed with your site, and thank goodness someone is out their using their brain rather than swallowing the codswallap that passes for thinking these days. I was very impressed with your essay on Sensing Murder, surely one of the more horrendous examples of entertainment currently on air.
I did not see the Nigel Latta episode, but had watched an earlier one where during Deb's reading a photo fell off the motel room wall and was shown to the camera by the 'producer' (The murder victim in this case had been an amature photographer)
All the best to you all for your future work which I shall look forward to catching up with.
You people are clearly totally ingnorant to life. If you've got nothing better to do than to rubbish good people that are trying to make a differance then how sad are you. When was the last time you yourself tried to make a positve difference in the community. Very Very SAD you must be.
Good luck with your blind one eyed view.
Hi Kelvin. Thanks for your comment but we are not ignorant. We are happy to look at any error or mistake that you think we may have made, regarding you or the show, but you don't mention any. You just insult us. You can't make us change our minds by calling us childish names. We challenge you to to prove us wrong. You could do it if you wanted to. Why don't you want to?
And you are wrong, as we are continually trying to make a positive difference, and not just in the community, but the whole world. That's the purpose of our website, exposing people who are trying to rip off others. Helping those that want to know how people are fooling them. And we help people for FREE. Do you help people for free or do you demand money?
Rather than being sad, we are very happy that we can help people, and we've received many comments thanking us for exposing those that push lies and delusions.
Merry Xmas John, have a fab summer and an awesome 08
Have just found your site... and its great to find there are still some sane people left in the world.
A topic I'm interested in is "Energy and Global Warming" ...the official lines are a hypocritical load of crap and need exposure. Keep up the good work.
Hi John, I have just read your critique of an episode of Sensing Murder. I have to confess, I happened upon your site because I was reading about the show (SM) because, in all honesty, I would love for it to be true.
You make some valid points and I was wondering, have you ever considered approaching the producers to ask if you could sit in on the taping of an episode (if they even make it any more)?
You seem to make no bones about the fact that you think it's all bullshit, and you may very well be right, but would you be prepared to do that (sit in and observe) and objectively report what you see?
I would find that very interesting reading indeed. As I say, I would love for all of that to be true, the suggestion that life goes on after death and so forth, but in reality, to have an objective and open-minded (would you describe yourself as open-minded though?) third party observe and state what they saw, without all of the edited, producer-filtered propaganda that the final product is no doubt subject to - would be great.
Your site certainly makes for interesting reading.
Hi Amanda, thanks for you comments regarding Sensing Murder. I'm not sure which critique of ours you read, there are three, but one does feature an allegedly "independent" observer sitting in on the filming of an episode — 'Sensing Murder - Insight' — with Nigel Latta. It didn't work in our view, and since they threatened us with legal action if we didn't remove a couple of screen shots showing them cheating, I doubt that they would welcome us onto their set. I believe they are hoping to make another NZ series, they certainly have plenty of fans. Strangely in Oz, your Sensing Murder series bombed. You're either not as gullible as Kiwis or you have even better things to watch on TV.
Unfortunately there is a lot more required than just being on set and observing the filming. Failing to observe any cheating proves nothing. I've observed magicians and couldn't for the life of me see where they were cheating, but I think you're agree that they were. To catch a magician, and a TV psychic, one would have to have control of the filming, being permitted to set up cameras from all angles, searching the magician/psychic for hidden props and having complete control of the film editing so that no inconvenient pieces were deleted. But a lot more would be required as well. If it was a complete scam between film crew and psychic, they could give the psychic ALL the information she needed before the observer turned up for the filming. The observer would detect NO cheating because all the cheating happened before he arrived. The observer would have to pick someone on his team to select what case the psychic would be doing a reading on. The observer would not be told what this case was, so that they couldn't unintentionally give away information. This is the only way that he would know that no one could past information to the psychic. And there would have to be lots of other safeguards put in place, like having to do several tests, because just by coincidence the psychic may be familiar with the case your colleague chooses.
The thing is, these tests under controlled conditions have already be performed several times on psychics and mediums and they have failed miserably every time. Psychics only appear to work when no one is allowed to watch too closely. And even then they don't really work. Remember that in all the countries where the Sensing Murder series has been produced, not one case has been solved.
Like you "I would love for it to be true". Well parts of it anyway. I'd love for them to be able to finger criminals and find missing people. Life would be much safer. But I would hate the invasion of privacy bit. I'd hate thinking that the psychic/medium across town or across the country could be watching me have sex or on the toilet. I mean we wouldn't stand for our neighbour peeking through our bedroom windows, why should we be happy for a psychic to do it remotely?
You ask "Would you describe yourself as open-minded though?" Most definitely. I've changed my mind on many things over the years when presented with good evidence and reasons to do so. A lot of science is indirectly investigating these areas but to date the evidence is pointing away from psychics being real. It is now up to psychics to prove their case, rather than continually saying "Well, you prove we can't do it." When the newspaper headlines change from "Police catch killer" to "Psychics solve yet another case", then I'll start taking them seriously.
Hi John, thanks for your response. Have you guys considered approaching any of the psychics who feature on the show to conduct your own controlled reading? You said that there has been this type of research already done, I'd really like to read something about this previous research, if you could point me in the right direction of some credible sources, that would be great.
Are you aware of any neuroimaging studies or anything along those lines that have been done while a psychic has been doing a reading, anything that might suggest a physiological explanation that may go some way toward enlightening us as to what might be happening (if anything) during a reading?
I agree that a double-blind experiment would absolutely go a long way toward eliminating many of the potential loopholes that could be used to cheat in these types of situations.
Overall, I think the jury is still out on these things (although, to be honest, I think it is, as you say, leaning away from the psychics at this point). I must admit that, as someone who really does want to believe this stuff, I probably don't watch Sensing Murder as objectively as someone who doesn't have quite so much invested might. It would be great viewing if you guys could convince one or more of the psychics to take part in a double-blind experiment - if you have not tried to do this, would you consider doing it? I'm sure there would be a production company out there willing to work with you on that and you'd certainly have an audience.
This is an absolutely fascinating area and I look forward to continued investigation into whether there really is something to it all. Thanks again.
Hi Amanda. Have we considered approaching any of the psychics? No. We've had a couple of emails from two of the psychics and we're not exactly their favourite people. Also we can't afford to do the type of testing that would satisfy the critics, mind you I don't think anything would convince some. And anyway, psychics just DON'T want to be tested. The last thing they want is the world to know that they failed a real test. And if they were going to risk it they would take one of the tests that have enormous rewards if they succeed. For example here are just a few that they could take, and yes, James Randi is offering ONE MILLION DOLLARS for one demonstration of psychic powers:
James Randi $1,000,000 paranormal challenge
No psychics are lining up to take these controlled tests, several of the famous ones in the States have point blankly reused to take them, and the handful of unknowns that have tried have all failed. It seems the famous psychics that you and I have heard of know perfectly well that they couldn't pass these tests. They won't even risk it for a million dollars but say they can do it every night on TV or stage.
Here are some links to articles that examine the claims of psychics. (At the bottom of our intro Sensing Murder page there are also other links to articles related to Psychics and the Police):
John Edward: Hustling the Bereaved
We're not aware of any neuroimaging studies of psychics. They may not have even been attempted since scientists would normally say, only once we are sure there is something strange going on in the brain, that can't be explained by more prosaic means, will we go to the expense of neuroimaging etc. Once we eliminate all other possibilities, then we'll look at the brain.
As for making a TV show that would test the psychics, as fascinating as it would be to you and I, unfortunately most people don't want to see this sort thing. They would rather have their mysteries remain mysteries. We've had people email us criticising us for exposing psychics and ruining their enjoyment of Sensing Murder, and others who say they even refuse to read our site in the fear that it would shake their belief in psychics. A few years ago Carl Sagan tried to get the US TV networks to make a show testing all this weird stuff and they said it just wouldn't rate. I don't know if you watch shows like "MythBusters" or "Penn and Teller: Bullshit!" that debunk a lot of this silly stuff, but no one I know outside our group watches them. Most people just aren't interested in reality, whereas we find the real universe far more fascinating than all the make-believe.
You're right, this is an absolutely fascinating area, and all I can suggest is to read not just about psychics, but about physics, biology, probability, philosophy, psychology and critical thinking etc. All subjects which lend themselves to what might be happening in a psychic reading and why science says it's not likely to be true psychic powers.
Hi John, thanks for the links, I've had a bit of a look at a couple of them - not a lot of time to do anything more than that.
You suggest I do some reading on areas such as, amongst other things, Psychology - I'm actually a Psych student so believe me, I'm doing plenty of that!
No, I don't watch Penn and Teller, only because in my opinion it is an edited program with a definite agenda, and so, it is as likely as any other, Sensing Murder included, to present its argument in the most favourable light. Those people featured on Penn and Teller might well argue that they were edited or taken out of context too, so I take any of those sorts of shows with a grain of salt.
I'd be interested in your thoughts about Scott Russell Hill, the Australian Psychic Numerologist sometimes included in a cameo type appearance on the NZ version of SM. He used to have a radio show in Adelaide in the 90s and predicted such events as September 11th and the death of Princess Diana (how, where etc). There are tapes of him making these predictions on air before they happened, rather than coming on after the fact and saying, "oh yeah, I knew that would happen." I think that is quite interesting given that his predictions were rather specific. For example, the suggestion that the city affected in the case of September 11th would be New York and that planes would be involved - its not as though he said, "I think there may be some kind of issue with a major American city..." that could mean anything. Anyway, what are your thoughts?
Also, do you believe that life after death may exist, or are you solidly of the opinion that it does not? You have been very clear on your opinion of self-proclaimed psychics who say they are able to speak to the dead, but do you believe that there may be something more for us after we die? Just because you are sceptical about psychics does not necessarily answer the question about your beliefs on life after death - simply on their ability to communicate with the dead.
Hi Amanda, some answers to your questions. It's interesting that you say you don't watch the likes of 'Penn and Teller', feeling that you can't really trust their conclusions. Especially since you suggested we make our own show on psychics. The outcome would be the same. Believers in psychics wouldn't trust our conclusions and wouldn't watch. This is a problem that all shows that are skeptical or critical of some specific claim have, whether it be psychics, the moon landing 'hoax' or Noah's Ark. Those that are partial to the claim either don't watch the show, or if they do, convince themselves that the producers were biased. They say that they're not really open minded to these things. And I would agree that many programs have an agenda and suppress information damaging to their claims. I've seen shows that support belief in alien autopsies, haunted houses, remote viewing, Noah's Ark and other religious topics etc that are embarrassing biased and deceptive. They often have the likes of 55 minutes of comments from believers and 5 minutes of comments from a skeptic or scientist, if any at all. And they almost never let the skeptic question the person making the claim. But I honestly can't say I've seen the same bias in shows made by reputable scientists, academics, skeptics and production companies. But of course you'll ask how do I know I'm not deluding myself, that I simply don't want these things to be true because they conflict with my natural view of the world?
It's like when Christians accuse me of not believing in god because I HATE god. My emotions are blinding me. But this is false. Doctors can't cure everything and cost a fortune, so I'd love to be able to place a crystal on my forehead to cure any disease. I'd love to meet aliens and take a spin in their spaceship. As a teenager I'd have loved to be able to turn invisible and look in the girl's changing rooms. I'd love to be able to psychically find objects I misplace or foresee negative events in my future to avoid. Skeptics DON'T disbelieve these things because we don't want them to be true. We disbelieve them because not only is there no good evidence for them, there IS good evidence that says they are extremely unlikely or downright impossible. Emotion or wishes don't come into it. We simply look at where the evidence points. And when it comes to science, when these guys say something works in a certain way I believe them. Our modern world exists because when scientists say antibiotics work and planes will fly and MRIs will see inside me, they do. Yet when poorly trained or poorly educated people with a product to sell tell me magnetic underlays or prayer will cure disease, or aliens will turn up any day now or ghosts are causing the drafts in my home, they can never prove it. Scientists provide research evidence, quacks provide testimonials. Scientists have proven themselves trustworthy. Psychics, conspiracy theorists and those warning us of the Rapture haven't. The best way to judge any documentary type show is to use critical thinking. Question everything people say. Does it make sense? What aren't they telling us? Are they pushing a product or service that might bias their presentation? Does it match with what I know about science or history or medicine? Do they give their opponents a voice? Yes 'Penn and Teller' are edited and biased. They have a view and they push it. But I have yet to see an episode where they lie or cheat or prevent their opponents from putting their case. And I haven't agreed with their stance on every show, but they do give you enough info to make up your own mind and motivate you to find out more. And yes I did say 'Penn and Teller' was biased, but this doesn't mean it is deceptive. Think of when an astronomer discuses the formation of the solar system. He never mentions how god might have done it. Religious people might then claim that his talk was biased and unbalanced since it didn't give equal time to a religious explanation. They're right, it was biased and unbalanced in a sense, but only because they suggest that the two theories are EQUAL, that they deserve equal time and resources. But this is not the case. A debate would only be truly biased and unbalanced if there were two equally competing 'answers' to a question and only one was considered, the other suppressed. 'Penn and Teller' are 'biased' in the sense that they believe all this paranormal stuff is crap, in that they already have an opinion and haven't gone into it undecided, but not in the sense that they unfairly manipulate their opponents.
You asked for my thoughts on psychic Scott Russell Hill. It needs to be remembered that the week Princess Diana died, so did Mother Teresa, and skeptics had a field day pointing out that NOT ONE psychic worldwide predicted even one of their deaths. Yet the astral plane should have been screaming so much about this that even amateur psychics should have picked up on it. Princess Di even went to her personal psychic the previous week and… nothing! And did we hear Russell Hill claiming that he had predicted Di's death? No. Maybe you heard about it in Oz but the rest of the world didn't. I only heard about his claim late last year on Sensing Murder. I find it unbelievable that someone could predict not just Princess Di's death, but 9/11, the Bali bombings and John F Kennedy Jnr's death as well and that it was never widely publicised. Not on the TV news or in the papers, but only in passing on Sensing Murder 10 years later. What has he predicted since? In another 10 years will he claim that he predicted the 2004 Asian tsunami? And if his prediction was so precise and so clear, why did he do nothing about it? Why not warn Princess Di or President Bush? He obviously wasn't confident about it or even clear what it meant. If he was and did nothing, then this is despicable. He could have saved thousands of lives, plus the lives lost in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the billions of dollars that have been spent since, plus prevented the increased threat of terrorism for everyone. If he really knew, why did he do nothing? And why has he done nothing since?
But let's look at what he actually said on his radio show, well the snippets that he's released anyway:
"John F Kennedy Jnr, I have always felt disaster round him in a plane crash, it's like ahhhh… a light plane…"
Everyone knows that John F Kennedy Jnr was a pilot that was always flying his own light plane, and many people believe that the Kennedy family is the unluckiest family on the planet and so believe another tragedy is just a matter of time. Not if but when. Everyone said they weren't surprised when another Kennedy was struck down. Every psychic was predicting tragedy for the Kennedys. And rich people more often than not fly in their own small, light planes not big public jets. Thus if they're going to be in plane crash, the odds are overwhelming that it will be in a "light plane".
"There's either going to be an earthquake in Bali or a bomb's going to go off because all I see in Bali is buildings on fire and a lot of devastation."
This prediction merely says that at SOME UNSPECIFIED TIME in the future an earthquake OR a bomb might strike Bali. If you wait long enough it CAN'T FAIL but come true, especially the earthquake guess.
"Key times of danger for the World Trade Center and New York in particular is September, October and November of the year 2001. It's like a missile strike or something striking the building from the air."
In a Woman's Day article he acknowledges that terrorists have already tried to blow up the World Trade Center, and this is him simply wondering like everyone else, whether it might happen again. Blowing it up from beneath didn't work, so maybe a missile this time? You don't have to be a psychic to make this guess. People say he got the date right, but actually he only got one in three dates right. Nothing happened in NY in October or November. And these dates cover a full quarter of the year. That's a big window. Plus it was five years before the event would occur, long enough for everyone to have forgotten about it if nothing happened. The world of psychics if overflowing with failed predictions, which they happily ignore, and they concentrate on their one lucky guess. And why didn't he mention Washington and Pennsylvania, the sites of the other 9/11 attacks? Or warn Bush not to go into Iraq?
"With Princess Diana I just feel she is going to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and that she could be involved in an accident, I feel in a car… [cut]."
Note he does NOT say that she is going to be KILLED in a car accident, only that she COULD be INVOLVED in one. As could any of us. You may be aware that car accidents are not all that rare. The fact that the rest of his sentence is edited out may have even revealed him saying that it wasn't going to be fatal. And again he doesn't say when or where. If she was still alive today then this open-ended prediction would still be out there, waiting to be quoted if Di was involved in a minor fender bender.
The Woman's Day magazine, who employed Russell Hill, titled their article: "The world's most accurate psychic," and quoted the following as his 9/11 prediction:
"New York will be affected again in an attack… either through or from the air… in September, October and November 2001… The World Trade Center has been attacked once. It can be attacked again."
And yet the recording that Russell Hill quoted earlier is different:
"Key times of danger for the World Trade Center and New York in particular is September, October and November of the year 2001. It's like a missile strike or something striking the building from the air."
Which was his ACTUAL prediction? What were the ACTUAL words? Obviously one has been altered to better reflect what they want it to say. Have they both been altered perhaps? The edited recording was provided by Russell Hill, not an independent source. And what else did Russell Hill say that we don't get to hear. He made these predictions on a radio show called Psychic Saturday Night on the 28 Sep 1996. The readings we heard were only 35 seconds out of probably one, two or three hours of predictions. Out of possibly hours of predictions he could only find 35 seconds worth that he thought had come true!! That's a pathetic success rate. If you or I were given a couple of hours to make continuous educated guesses about what might happen somewhere in the world over the next 10 years, I am extremely confident that a handful, at the very least, would come true. Accidents will befall people, natural disasters will happen, leaders will be assassinated, marriages will spit up. And if we only trumpet the ones that came true, we would appear psychic. If you actually got to verify EVERY prediction that these silly psychics made, you'd find that you and I would have a MUCH BETTER record at predicting what will happen than they did. The Woman's Day article also said: "Aussie's amazing prediction that came true - and new predictions that will shock you." I don't know what his new predictions were, but since we've heard nothing on the news about 'psychic predicts such and such', I guess they were all wrong or he's still waiting for his vague guesses to match up with something. The question is, if he can accurately predict these things, why does he scratch out an existence helping housewives from his home in Adelaide, rather than working for world governments and corporations as an obscenely well-paid and famous consultant?
You ask "Do you believe that life after death may exist?" Of course there may be life after death (there may even be leprechauns), but I don't believe there is. Nearly everyone's conception of life after death and souls etc comes from religion. But I'm an atheist which means that this conveniently scraps this idea. Once you get rid of gods, there's nowhere for souls to go, no one to create and judge souls, no one to reincarnate them as grasshoppers. Without the idea of religion the whole idea of granny sitting around on clouds and keeping an eye on what colour you paint the kitchen collapses. Of course one could argue that souls aren't supernatural in origin, they are just a mysterious part of nature, an immaterial thing that forms the mind using the physical brain — the old idea called mind-brain duality which you've no doubt heard of. But few scientists or philosophers believe this anymore. And neither do I. The mind is created by the brain. When the brain is damaged, the mind suffers. When the brain dies, so does the mind. Someone asked me the other day what I believe it's like when one dies. I asked them to recall what their existence was like BEFORE they were born, and informed them that their existence AFTER their death will be exactly the same. (I can't remember where I first read that explanation but I like it.)
If you haven't already read them, some books I might recommend, as a bit of light relief from your psychology textbooks, would be the following. Your library might have copies. The books by Shermer and Sagan are especially good as an introduction to applying critical thinking, reason and science to weird claims.
"Why People Believe Weird Things ~ Pseudoscience, Superstition, and other confusions of our Time", Michael Shermer
If you haven't already done so get a copy of yesterday's Sunday Herald and read the first letter to the editor, written by a Fiona Allen of Papatoetoe. She admits the supposed information gathered by the Sensing Murder psychics is neither factual nor scientific and will never be used in court. Nevertheless the dead do still exist and sceptics will never understand the contact experienced by the psychics. The letter shows how difficult it is to get people to think and approach all subjects with scepticism. Their beliefs are paramount everything else going through deaf ears. With the aid of such people Deb Webber and co. will continue to run laughing to the bank.
Great web site. Back here in the USA we've updated the critical overview of TV's psychic detective Noreen Renier (a regular on the Psychic Detectives TV series and also Psychic Investigators, and the only psychic who lectured at the FBI). That critical review is now posted at www.amindformurder.com - Thanks for the solid work.
I think you should rename your site "septic skeptics" - I've never read such poisonous words. Why don't you try looking at why you're so angry before inflicting it onto the world. It's horrible.
The exchange between a medium and client is priceless. It's called closure. The wonderful thing about it is that the person who has lost someone is the one who is helped and that's the gift of being a medium - the ability to do that is very humbling. I feel sorry for you and your cynicism.
Kim, I suspect you haven't really watched Sensing Murder all that closely have you? The one thing the program never offers is "closure". Nothing is ever resolved. We are never any closer to discovering who the murderer was or where the body is buried. The only ability mediums have is the ability to delude both themselves and their clients. I am not humbled by mediums, I am embarrassed by them, embarrassed that in this enlightened age there are still people who choose superstition over reason. You also say that the "exchange between a medium and client is priceless", yet strangely enough I have never met a medium who couldn't put a quite considerable price on their services. As for me being angry, you confuse anger with contempt.
I'm a skeptic. What's with the "Contrary to some of her previous work, she didn't take her clothes off in 'Sensing Murder', which is a shame as it would have improved it considerably."? This kind of crap allows readers to readily dismiss your article(s).
That comment was a dig at Ninox Television, the producers of Sensing Murder, who threatened us with legal action if we didn't remove images of Gibney on Sensing Murder. It was to remind them and their viewers that their serious, straight-laced investigator, was the same woman that in other productions was just as happy to prance around naked. It was to remind fans of Sensing Murder that although she was portrayed as being intimately involved in every murder investigation, she was just a B-grade actress playing a part, reading her lines in an Australian studio. It was just another example of how Ninox Television tried to influence how gullible viewers would relate to the psychics on Sensing Murder. You'd be surprised at how many Sensing Murder supporters actually believe that Gibney was involved in the investigations. And quite frankly, a little nudity on Sensing Murder would have improved it considerably in my view, or perhaps some humour or even some explosions like on MythBusters. Or perhaps a miracle, like solving a murder! It would certainly need some such incentive to make me waste any more time on their fantasy show. And I suspect any reader that dismisses our articles over this little joke has probably already made up their mind and is just looking for an excuse to stop reading.
Get on the Sensing Murder website now if you can ... Kelvin's in BIG trouble!!!
This page may also give you some background information on what he has been getting up to.
Thanks for the heads up on Kelvin. These people are scum to deceive others the way they do with their paranormal crap so it doesn't surprise me if they are deceiving people in other ways as well.
The Sensing Murder forum link was dead, but this doesn't surprise me either. The administrator would have no doubt deleted it as soon as she realised the damage it was doing to one of their chosen ones. The truth is not a value that is embraced on their forum. It's all about stroking fantasies populated by angels and hugs. No doubt someone will be contacting the Vatican to see how they hid their indiscretions from the public gaze.
Your joking? Kelvin Cruickshank cheating? lol I wonder if they'll call him "Cheatah" like ole' TW?
I believe Kelvin Cruickshank is more of a ‘mentalist’... (unfortunately nowhere near as good looking as Simon Baker J). If you spend time with him you may see that he reads people’s body language and listens for clues. Assumptions can be made by looking at people. I wonder how many people that have attended or will be attending his shows have emailed the office unwittingly giving details about their loved one ‘in spirit’. I know I have been sucked in the very same way!! When someone books into another show, workshop or trip... all he’d have to do would be to view all the emails from that person and gather the information that he has been GIVEN by the grieving. Funny how he can’t supply the information that WASN’T in the emails... (and in my case... when he tried to it was WRONG!!) and he talks a heck of a lot about our loved one’s ‘love for us’... well of course!... you can’t be wrong there – who wouldn’t want to hear it!! You see examples of these emails from people who have attended his shows on the bottom of his newsletters. Information Technology: the secret friend of the ‘psychics’... people don’t even seem to register that he has access to these emails and they forget they send them, I’m sure!
And he talks... and talks... and talks... about HIMSELF! - The long suffering psychic who puts up with so much to help others – how much he’s been through in his life. Anyone ever stopped to ask... is it true? Is it? Step back and think for yourselves. Don’t believe something because someone has said it... or it’s been written in a book.
Psychics who make money from other people’s misfortune... who get others to pay for their workshops and trips around the globe... ‘meeting’ lots of people (mostly younger women) along the way have a lot to answer for. Perhaps it would be interesting to go back and interview those who have been on his trips... what DID they get out of it? Are they still in contact with him? Why? Why not?
I used to believe this stuff... I was raised on it - After my experiences with him I think it’s all a load of shit. And unfortunately people fall for it... over and over.
Another trick for these ‘psychics’... play on the hearts of people... present yourself as a person with a big heart who wants to help – and who receives a lot of flak for helping others ... that really pulls at the heart-string of the good-hearted women out there... (Hey... doesn’t matter what you do or say off stage when the general public don’t see... the ground work’s been done!)... people believe what they ‘see’ with their own eyes, right?
What he says and does on stage is very different to what he says and does off stage - And his language! He’d make a truckie blush! Where’s the ‘spirituality’ in that? Where’s the “Keeping it real”? Is he a caring, spiritual person with a desire to help others - or isn’t he? What’s the truth... what he says on stage or what he does off stage?
People who make money from those who are desperate for messages from loved ones are parasites.
Thanks Susan for your revealing insight into Kelvin Cruickshank and psychic mediums in general. You're right in that most people just aren't aware just how much information they are giving to these people through body language, age, dress and apparently innocent comments, and if you can add to this with information from previous meetings, letters and emails, then these psychic mediums can make it appear as if they have some mysterious power, when they are doing nothing but cheating.
It's a shame that Cruickshank isn't as willing to demonstrate his powers to skeptics as he is to give messages to believers and run workshops etc. But then skeptics aren't willing to pay him to con us. The refusal of psychics and mediums to be tested by skeptics, although they are happy to be 'tested' by believers, should suggest to any intelligent person that they are hiding something. They continually complain to their followers that skeptics and scientists refuse to take them seriously, and yet they actively hide from anyone that might critically evaluate their claims.
I agree with you, these mediums are nothing but parasites, taking advantage of people's grief. However, since most parasites in the natural world don't know what they're doing, there is no thought or reason involved, then to be fair on ordinary parasites, psychic mediums should be labeled devious, shameless, conniving parasites instead.
Hi John, I just saw the thread on Kelvin and can't resist contributing.
I'm not sure if you've seen the articles in the NZ Herald or the Western Leader (or online), but I have been contacted by someone in NZ who says that she knows who killed my sister Tracey. She says she is willing to swear an affadavit that everything she has told the police and me is true.
She says she went to Kelvin Cruikshank a few years ago, about something completely unrelated to my sister's murder, but he started saying the names of the two men she says were involved in my sister's murder (she says she already knew that they had killed Tracey), as well as the name of the mother/wife and their address. He told her he had had the same 'visions' (not sure if that's what he calls them) while he was working on Sensing Murder. He told my contact that he was going to go to see the producers, to tell them about what he had 'seen'. And he didn't charge her for the reading, even though he apparently usually charges a few hundred dollars (How much??!!).
Seems strange then, that they went with Deb/Sue's 'murderer'....
I tried to contact Kelvin — several times. Assuming, as you do, that he would want to help me in my grief and my search for the truth. Strangely enough, he never replied to me :).
His PA did, and so did Cinna (Smith — Associate Producer of SM), but he was always abroad, or having babies, or something. I wasn't too fussed, and gave up and forgot about him. Until yesterday, when I received an email from his website. Here's what it said:
It's funny how when I contacted Kelvin (on several occasions) asking for help he ignored me — yet I get contacted when he wants to sell a tour date.
The press would love this!
By the way — I don't need to discover myself. I need the police to discover who murdered my sister.
Please remove my details from your mailing list. I have no time for people like Kelvin Cruikshank.
I hope you are well. Sorry for the delay in replying to you — I have only just returned from holiday (where I had no internet access).
The situation with Kelvin, as I recall it was this...
Prior to being filmed, Sensing Murder tested approximately 70 psychics. The psychics were tested to see if they could pick up information about solved cases. During Kelvin's test, (which involved a solved case), he also picked up a young woman with long blonde hair around the woman who was testing him (the associate producer Yvonne Grace). He kept returning to this spirit. At the end of the test reading, the producer pulled out the photo of Tracey, which she had with her in a folder (at that stage the cases for the series had not been selected and Yvonne had a lot of potential case file notes with her). Kelvin believed the girl he was picking up was the girl in the photo — Tracey. I saw this when I reviewed his testing tape. However, he did not go into any details (that I saw) about who may have been responsible. He just gave very general information that she had been murdered. Because his test case involved a totally different case, he was not asked to elaborate on Tracey's case. When it was later decided to feature Tracey's case on Sensing Murder, Kelvin was not selected to investigate because a) he had already seen Tracey's photo and b) he lived in Auckland and we tried as much as possible to select psychics that lived out of the area where a murder happened (to avoid the chance that they would have prior knowledge of a case). When I asked Kelvin recently about his initial test reading, he could recall very little and certainly did not provide any names or detail. I know your contact means well, but I am not sure that she is correct when she says Kelvin named a different person to Deb. He has no memory of this, and I didn't see him mention any names on the test tape.
I totally understand why you refuse to give up hope. There are far too many unanswered questions.
Best wishes,
Hi Debbie, thanks for your comments. No, I haven't seen the articles you mentioned.
[Note: The case Debbie is referring to was screened on Sensing Murder (January 10, 2006) Episode 1: The Patient Killer — Tracey Ann Patient]
To me, and you as well it seems, the most revealing aspect of your contact with Cruickshank is his greedy and insensitive attempt to get you to attend one of his shows, while at the same time refusing to reveal what he knows about your sister's murder.
Cruickshank supposedly claimed to your contact that he knew details of Tracey's murder, and he is on video tape claiming to the Sensing Murder producers that he knew details of Tracey's murder. But he has evidently not taken this information to the police, and nor is he at all interested in passing this information on to you, even though you have made several attempts to contact him for help. The most humane, caring, sympathetic and ethical action that Cruickshank could make would be to bring Tracey's murderers to justice, using the information and skills he claims to possess. This amazing deed would indirectly also bring him fame, wealth and validation in the eyes of his critics, which he desperately seeks. And yet he refuses to expose the murderers and completely ignores your requests for help. And then he has the arrogance to ask you to attend one of his tours in Fiji, which is nothing other than a thinly veiled request for money. I mean, 5 nights in a 5 star resort, what's that going to cost?
As for your other comments regarding what Cruickshank supposedly knows, like most things involving mediums and psychics, they usually raise more questions than answers.
Evidently your contact has been to the police with what she knows. But how did she know these names? Was she somehow involved in the investigation or were these names of suspects reasonably common knowledge in the community? I suspect that she would most likely have more plausible and believable reasons for accusing two men of murder than simply claiming that a ghost told her or that she saw them in a dream. If so, then the police have no doubt investigated the names given to them and dismissed them or found her accusations to be lacking any real support. If they are not going to take her accusations any further, they are certainly unlikely to take any notice of a medium who merely repeats the same names. For the police to instigate new investigations Cruickshank would have to provide new claims, not simply parrot names that they had already investigated and dismissed.
And if Cruickshank actually believed he knew the names of two murderers, plus the name of the mother/wife and their address, then why didn't he actually go to the police? If you have real, solid information about a murder, you don't talk to your TV producers (or your boss or your neighbour), you talk to the police. Obviously Cruickshank knew that his information was worthless and no better than a guess. With every murder that happens, there are always those in the community that suspect certain people of the crime, but often this is based on nothing more than a gut feeling or distrust of certain people. Thankfully our justice system doesn't allow the police to arrest people simply because someone thinks they 'look' guilty, otherwise our jails would be full of innocent people who were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. The fact is that Cruickshank (and other mediums) insist that they are getting their information from the murder victims themselves. These victims naturally know far more about the crime than just the names of their murderers, since they were there when the murder happened, and they evidently got to watch the events that followed from the spirit world. They know where their body was buried, they know where the murder weapon was hidden, they know what cars were used in the crime and they know where any stolen property can now be found. They know who is helping the murderers cover up their actions and they know what false alibis need to be exposed. And yet these murder victims consistently refuse to divulge any of this vital information which could solve their murder. And in fact in nearly all cases they even refuse to name their murderer, even if they knew who they were. Mediums almost never provide a murderer's surname, and if they do suggest a name, they usually only suggest several common Christian names like John or Jim or Jack or something beginning with J, or perhaps S. On the very, very rare occasion that they do provide a name that is linked to the investigation, it is usually because, like the rest of us, they have simply read it in the media or heard it from those close to the investigation. And like the rest of us, they can provide no details other than what they have heard from ordinary sources. And remember that even the Sensing Murder producers refused to use Cruickshank because they feared he was familiar with the murder simply through the media. All these mediums like Cruickshank are desperate to prove their powers and continually complain that the police and skeptics won't take them seriously, and yet they never provide the police or skeptics or even the grieving family with information that could solve the case and provide closure. Even if the police did ignore him, then Cruickshank could simply tell the family or even a skeptic where the body can be found. The police will soon take him seriously if the family finds the body. It's like if I said I could fly like Superman then the world would call me deluded, but one simple demonstration on my part and the world would believe. Likewise all we need from mediums is one simple demonstration that they know things that could only have come from the murder victim rather than the TV News. Why are they not interested in proving their claims? Do they like being called nutcases and con-artists?
As you noted, Cruickshank was not at all interested in solving your sister's murder, nor it seems were the Sensing Murder producers. Cruickshank supposedly had information that could solve a murder, but the producers went with mediums who knew nothing about it. They were simply trying to produce a program that skeptics wouldn't criticise, rather than trying to solve a murder. They were simply out to entertain. They knew that neither Deb, Sue nor Kelvin could produce any real leads, and omitted Kelvin to prevent any complaints that he might have already known of the case. If they believed Kelvin had a real connection with the victim and could have solved the case, they would have used him and made headlines worldwide.
Your contact said that Cruickshank told her the names relating to Tracey's murder after he began working on Sensing Murder, and yet Smith mentions Cruickshank talking about Tracey's murder before he was hired to work on Sensing Murder, during his test. If your contact is correct and Cruickshank came up with these 'visions' while working on Sensing Murder, then it doesn't matter what he said or didn't say on his earlier test tape. The point is, did Cruickshank later go to the producers with this new information and if he did, what was their response then? Or since Cruickshank wasn't going to be involved in this Sensing Murder episode, did the producers naively let him know what the case was and failed to hide case details from him since he wasn't going to be involved? Remember that your contact said that she didn't go to Cruickshank about Tracey's murder, yet she did somehow know the murderer's names. Did she let it be known to Cruickshank that she knew about Tracey, and had the producers innocently mentioned suspect names to Cruickshank which he then passed on to your contact just to impress her?
The Sensing Murder producers continually insist that the mediums were never told what cases they would be investigating. And yet here associate producer Cinna Smith admits in her email that another associate producer revealed to Cruickshank that one of the cases that they were considering for the show concerned Tracey, and showed him a photograph of her. Even though in the end Cruickshank wasn't chosen for this specific case, there was nothing stopping him telling Deb or Sue or other mediums that he knew would be on the show that Tracey's murder was a potential case. Forewarned they could then easily research the case on the chance that it was featured.
Also the Sensing Murder producers seemingly believe that these mediums can peak at face down photographs and into closed, remote places, so why would you take a folder of the potential Sensing Murder cases to a meeting with a prospective medium? Remember that the producers were trying to hide these cases from their prospective mediums. Or were they? Did she have the folder of unsolved cases with which to quiz the mediums as to their knowledge of each case, or maybe even to give them advanced warning of what cases might be worth researching if they got the job? The presence of the folder of unsolved cases and the mediums in the same room is as suspicious as an exam student having a copy of the exam questions under his desk. While you might insist that the case files would be quite secure in a closed folder, this is not the case if the medium really has paranormal powers, and the producers claim that they truly do. And remember that Cruickshank didn't even need these powers, as the producer admits taking out one of these secret murder cases and discussing it with Cruickshank. How many other secret cases were also revealed and discussed?
I had to laugh when Sensing Murder's Cinna Smith ended her email with, 'There are far too many unanswered questions'. When you have a crack team of psychic mediums at your disposal there shouldn't be any unanswered questions. That's what they're there for, it's what they claim to be able to do, to use their paranormal powers to get answers. Smith admits that they aren't getting the required answers, and knows that not one case has been solved by a psychic anywhere in the world, and yet she keeps defending them. Smith and her production team are no different from her team of fraudulent mediums, they are all just exploiting the gullibility of others to make money. Their driving force is greed, not justice.
Hi John — Good response to Debbie.
So Kelvin is apparently happy to tell a person important details of Tracey’s murder when that person didn’t even ask for the information but when Tracey’s distraught sister proactively requests the same information he ignores her and asks her to buy an expensive trip to Fiji instead. This must be what Kelvin means by “Keep it real”.
Re Cinna Smith’s comments . .
Why take a folder containing “a lot of potential case file notes” (including photos) of unsolved cases to testing that only involved solved cases? Doesn’t she realise that genuine psychics have x-ray vision?
Sensing Murder producers claim they use psychics on the show to help investigate unsolved murders because they claim they believe psychics are genuine. Yet when a person that claims to be a psychic (and later becomes one of their stars) claims he has information regarding a particular unsolved case they not only don’t ask him for details of that information they also don’t use him to investigate that case on the show — AMAZING! Obviously the “integrity” of the show is more important to them than helping to solve the case.
Smith’s excuses why Kelvin wasn’t used on the case are pathetic at best . . .
“a) he had already seen Tracey's photo”
So what? They don’t get to see the face side of the photo before they identify and sex, age and name the victim on the show so how could seeing the photo anytime earlier be of any help? How would he know it was the same photo? If he has genuine psychic abilities (as they claim they believe he has) then he could have “seen” the photo in the folder even if it wasn’t actually shown to him. He (and other “genuine psychics“) would have also been able to “see” all the other files and photos in the folder as well.
“and b) he lived in Auckland and we tried as much as possible to select psychics that lived out of the area where a murder happened (to avoid the chance that they would have prior knowledge of a case).”
Details of all murder and missing people cases are well documented in the national media (usually including photos). A person living in the general area of a crime doesn’t necessarily have any better or worse knowledge of that crime than anyone else living anywhere in the country. Besides, unsolved murder and missing persons cases are the “bread and butter” of psychics and it’s a safe bet that they keep themselves fully informed on the details of such cases. That they have “no prior knowledge” of any case is a ridiculous claim.
Hi Tony, all good points. It quite obvious to you and I and fellow skeptics that Cinna Smith and the rest of the Ninox Television Sensing Murder production team are only in business to make money and really bad reality TV programs. You only have to think of other public events, such as discovering a new medical cure, inventing a new energy source, finding the remains of a Spanish galleon, or even discovering a dead body in your garage as recently happened. These people don't all suddenly suppress their discoveries and rush off to a TV production company to make a reality program that publicises their new found discovery a year or so later. New cures and energy sources are immediately marketed, sunken galleons are immediately researched and the police are immediately informed of dead bodies. These fraudulent TV producers and their compliant mediums know that they have nothing of worth or of merit to go public with, to take to the police or to reveal on the TV News. They know that the only way that they can get money from the public is to deviously wrap up lies and fantasies and have them tearfully delivered by mentally challenged losers in a scam masquerading as fact.
If these mediums could solve murders, or solve anything in fact, then they don't need to wait until a greedy TV producer agrees to employ them before they do so. Why do they only investigate murders during the production of a Sensing Murder episode and not in the months and years between shows? They continually say they are in the business of helping people and of giving grieving families closure, and yet if Sensing Murder doesn't pay them to comment on a murder then they seemingly couldn't care less. They spend their time between Sensing Murder episodes charging a gullible public for the great privilege of simply being in their presence. If Sensing Murder isn't paying them, then all thought of their crime-fighting career is forgotten.
With a new Sensing Murder series due shortly on our screens, it's worth noting once again to readers that Tony has offered the Sensing Murder psychics Kelvin Cruickshank, Sue Nicholson and Deb Webber a psychic challenge. Demonstrate their ability, the same as they are willing to do on every Sensing Murder episode and earn $20,000 each. They have refused. He then offered them $20,000 just to participate, theirs to keep win or lose. None have responded. All they have to do is exactly what they so effortlessly do each week on Sensing Murder and they would walk away with $40,000, or $20,000 if they're having a bad week. Why won't they take the challenge, and why don't their producers who speak so highly of their abilities encourage them to participate? If they feel guilty about making such easy money, then donate it all to a worthy charity of their choice. They obviously have the same confidence in their abilities as we do. They know they would fail and that even $20,000 in their bank account wouldn't make up for their abject failure before their dewy-eyed minions.
I wouldn't even be surprised if Sensing Murder hasn't written it into their employment contract that they are expressly forbidden to take any and all psychic challenges. They know the tricks they have to perform and the lies they have to tell to make their mediums look good on TV. Thus they are perfectly placed to know without doubt that their trained seals would fail any real test miserably, and that this public humiliation would impact badly on the viewer rating of their show. The Sensing Murder producers may be greedy, devious, unethical, exploitive, uncaring and even gullible to various degrees, but they're not completely stupid when it comes to knowing what things they need to hide from their viewers. It will be interesting to see what public interest their new series generates. Like their TV production company that has been placed in receivership, has the show also finally failed in the eyes of the general public?
Hi Debbie, I just want to say I am so sorry for all that you've been through.
Anyone with a heart who had knowledge of your sister's death would do all they could to help out.
Take care, and take comfort from those who love you. xxx
Hi John, [my last attempt at a post disappeared.] I can't remember everything I wrote but the gist of it was that it's the things that my contact tells me she was a witness to in 1976, rather than the things that Kelvin said to her, which interest me. I only wrote to you about Kelvin because I thought it would interest you — and be further proof, if any was needed, that sensing murder is purely 'light entertainment' and should not be taken seriously — although I didn't find it very entertaining to watch an actress portraying Tracey being abducted, murdered and dumped.
We stumbled across the programme by sheer fluke — my husband was channel hopping and he saw my sister's name on the TV. The programme was just starting. It was a case of not wanting to watch but not being able to stop. The producers say they speak to relatives first but they did not speak to, or have approval from, anyone in my family. They tried to contact my parents via the police but my parents did not want to get involved. They have been through enough; they don't need c**p like that. I have advised them not to watch the programme if it ever rears its head on TV again.
By the way, the 'so many unanswered questions' that Cinna refers to are the questions I am waiting for the police to answer, not any questions raised by SM. Unfortunately it appears that the police are trying to discredit my contact (and they are not telling the full truth in the articles I have seen so far, either) — but she has raised many pertinent questions that, for some reason, they seem reluctant to answer.
Anyway, I am aware that this thread is about SM, not my sister's murder.
You may be amused to hear that I received a reply from Kelvin today. He apologised for sending me the invite to Fiji — apparently that was his PA's fault. He also apologised for not replying to my emails. He said they hadn't been passed on to him — apparently that was his (ex) manager's fault.
I haven't replied.
Hi Debbie. So psychic medium Kelvin Criuckshank is blaming his PA and manager for making mistakes that he didn't know about. Why is it that these psychics can never detect or be warned about problems happening in their own lives? Shouldn't he have felt a vibe that something wasn't right, or maybe one of his millions of spirits could have dropped a hint?
And now that he has been made aware of your emails and request for the information he has about your sister, I'm assuming he still hasn't offered to provide you with the details? Wouldn't the best apology he could offer be to solve Tracey's murder?
You got a reply because all he cares about is his reputation and how your exposure of his methods might affect ticket sales.
Hi John, re your last post — No, he hasn't offered to help. Funny, that....
This is what he wrote to me:
I just wanted to apologise for the fact that you received a mass email regarding my Fiji retreat. Several people received this email in error. My new PA accidentally sent it to everyone instead of just those who had requested newsletters and notifications. I am also sorry that none of your emails to me have ever been answered. I have never personally seen or been made aware of them. For the past three years I had a manager who was dealing with my website and all incoming emails. She was instructed to forward emails such as yours onto me. Late last year I discovered this had not been happening. This is one of the reasons I terminated our working relationship. I have slowly been working through the list of emails that have never been responded to.
Many years ago, when I first tested for Sensing Murder, I believe your sister's spirit came to me briefly. I was actually doing a reading on another case as a test but a vision of someone who I believe was Tracey kept coming through. In the end the person who was testing me pulled out a photo of Tracey and asked if this was the girl I was seeing. I picked up a connection with West Auckland and the fact that she had been murdered — I believe by someone she did not know. We did not go into any detail after that (as I was supposed to be doing a reading on another case). I saw the programme, and believe Sue and Deb came up with many interesting leads, which I hope will continue to be followed up.
Kind regards,
Kelvin Cruickshank
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Last Updated Feb 2010 |