Anybody believe that John Edwards really speaks to the dead?
 

I was thinking about going to one of his gallery sessions.

$150 a ticket.

I'm crazy, right?

yes..but it would be cool...justify it like I do with all luxuries: "If I went out one night I counld easily spend x amount of money on bullshit. If I do this I get to be sober for the whole thing!" ;)
If its not the money bothering you, just think of it as research into how suggestion can control peoples minds!
there-now book the tickets.

Okay. It's not the money really.

I guess my hesitation is due to my real reason for going. I lost someone last year. I never believed in that John Edwards guy before. But, now... I just want to believe I will see her again, or something.

Anyway, I don't expect to be bilked, I can go into it with and enjoy it just as a "show". But the thought that he might be for real, and I'll be there... is scary.

I would go, because I would be interested to see what would happen.

Deep down I tend to be skeptical that he communicates with the spirit world, and I think I would be a bit of a challenge for him....unless he can communicate with my dearly beloved and departed Rotti :(

That said, I would be a hypocrit if I said that I dont believe in the spirit world and that they can communicate in some ways. Considering I live in a well know haunted house and have seen some weird goings on over the past 2 years.

I agree with funkykule, if the money doesnt bother you....BOOK!! then you can tell me what it was like :)

Bugger Steve, you replied whilst I was typing (I got distracted by shoes on overstock).....

I get what you mean about being a tad scary if he is real...what a trip.

a.you obviously want to go..so go!
b.I dont know what bilked means
c. Honestly..I don't think you (or anyone) will find what you are looking for in a place/situation like that. But I think you could get something out of it.
I went to a fortune teller once. I didn't necessarily believe everything she said but it was calming for me to think there was something else there, that it wasn't all just down to us.

d. that probably is not the response required. let me know and I can rustle something up.

At least you wouldn't be kicking yourself later wondering, what if. :cool:

IMO, he's more full of shit than a latrine at a boyscout jamboree.

One of my pals from my gaffer days has worked on his show and has told be that the usual thing is to take 3 or 4 hours of taping cut out all the dead ends, false trails, etc and come up with an edited show that seems pin point accurate.

I think Penn Gilette did a story about him or his technique.

My sister and I were jsut talking about him today, vis a vis our dad who just passed away. I guess if it helps you deal with your grief, and it makes someone a millionaire in the process, then what harm could there be in it?

My dad was a big fan of his, he also loved the "silver bullet". (Not the beer, the magic)

Lemme see if I get this. A guy lies through his teeth and then charges you $150 for an opportunity to prove him wrong.

How does one win this game?

Invest in him.

He does nothing more than cold reading. In fact, something less, since he listens in on people in line when they're talking about the person they're hoping to contact.

He's a ghoul.

What do you call someone who uses understood questionning techniques to fool willing dupes into believing he has a connection with their most loved ones who are recently dead?

Douchebag is too light a term.

Rich?

Haha! Great answer. What did Bailey do? He partnered with P.T. Barnum.

"This way to the wonderous Egress!"

A sucker is born every minute.

Well, South Park used "Biggest Douche in the Universe". Aliens came down from space and personally gave him the award and everything.

I "accidently" got a brief psychic reading once. I had to get something notorized and the closest notary also doubled as a psychic. I live in a wierd town, I know. Anyhow, the psychic was behind her magic curtain when my friend and I arrived, so we had to sit around and wait on her. We chatted as we were waiting, and the psychic obviously overheard our conversation. She came out and notorized my document, asked me a couple of leading questions, and then proceeded to give me a brief cold reading to entice me back for the full $50.00 event. It sounded good, but it also was wrong about as many things as it was right.

I lost my beloved father over 10 years ago, and seldom does a day go by when I don't think of him. I think if he were going to communicate with me, he'd just do it without involving some stranger. In fact, I have had a couple of very interesting experiences in that regard, and I didn't pay $150.00 for them. Still, if it will help you to deal with your grief, I suppose its worth it for that reason, anyhow.

I like George Anderson. If I was gonna pay, it would be him.

Death sucks. That's the bottomline. I would do ANYTHING to change that day.

As with communicating with deity, one does not require an intercessionary. However, if you aren't quite sure how to go about such things, or indeed how you realize when it is happening (communicating with the dead rarely takes place in a manner similar to person to person communication amongst the living), then someone who is a bit more in tune with such matters can be valuable to you.

I don't know that John Edwards is that person. However, if you have $150 to blow, then go see him. Be cautious in what you say to him and give him to work with. Make it come from him, not you. The tricks of hucksters have certain tricks in common, some of which my estimable Cellar associates have already noted. Study up on cold readings and the like before you go. Learn how to avoid stepping into things, and then see how Mr. Edwards does.

It is perfectly valid for him to ask for you to visualize the person in question, or to ask you to picture some time spent together or conversations you might have had, or even to ask to hold something the departed owned. Again, don't give away anything extra, but have an open mind. Just because the guy got famous doesn't necessarily mean he doesn't have a knack. However, just because he *is* famous, doesn't mean he's any more able to commune with the Universe and all it holds than you are.

When I was still married, my husband lost his Dad very suddenly and unxepectedly. My husband was only about 24 or 25 at the time. His Dad was 54 when he abruptly fell dead of a heart attack. My husband was overwhelmed with grief. He had been very close to his Dad, and all of us were stunned by the entire thing. Shortly after his father passed, my husband recounted the following to me. He hadn't been able to sleep ( I was sleeping soundly - it was around 2:00am). He noticed a strange light in the corner of the room and saw his father standing there. His father smiled at him and then crumbled into a pile of ashes before his eyes. My husband swears that this was not a dream, but a real event. He said he did not feel afraid, but rather that he felt it was his father's way of coming to say goodbye to him and letting my husband know that he had to accept that his father had passed. He said that this visitation did much to help him accept that his father was truly gone. Maybe it was just a vivid dream. Or maybe it was a communication from beyond. I beleive my husband when he said that it was real.

spiritualist churches are free of charge

John Edwards, the Democratic candidate for Vice President in 2004, can speak to the dead!??!?!?

Not only can, he did. Unfortunately he should have been speaking to voters.:(

John Edwards definitely speaks to the dead. What is unclear is whether they answer back.

If you feel the entertainment is worth $150, go for it.

And think of the dumb sonsofbitches who pay $2K for a private session.

If what you want is to go to a medium, I may have a line on someone who trained with the same teacher as John Edwards, doesn't have a TV show, works much cheaper, and gets better results.

Gets results? :eyebrow:

James Randi has a large cash prize for them if they can prove it.

I think he is a gifted guesser. How would anyone want all that crap comming in twentyfour hours a day let along ask for it. I don't believe anyone can fine tune it like that. Filter somethings and not others. There would be no time to put on a show.

I dunno. I don't know if I even believe in talking to the departed. I'll have to put my hand in Jesus side first. That's right before he sends me to hell.

He'll say, "see I was real" Now off to hell with you . you simpleton.

Lots of info on the web about Edwards. He doesn't ring true. Google his name with keywords like "skeptic" and "fake" to see the other side of the argument.

I think he's a charlatan. He is skilled at misdirection and getting information from people. If one of his workers that's planted in the ticket line overhears "I hope Auntie Em speaks to us today," you'll suddenly be chosen from the audience...

"I'm getting an E. Do you have a female relative whose name starts with E? I'm feeling like she's either a grandmother type figure or an aunt. Is her name....Emma? Em? Emily? Okay. Have you had a dream about her? You have? Okay. This is her way of letting you know that she's here, that she's looking out for you. She says stop feeling guilty."

blah blah blah. General statements, leading questions, validation for those "I feel her presence" moments that everyone has when someone dies and they haven't finished dealing with it yet.

They're the new age version of TV preachers -- they just want your money andto attain some level of celebrity. Edwards doesn't hear from the dead anymore than Oral Roberts hears from God.

Are some people psychic? sure. But not John Edwards.

he may talk to the dead, but they don't talk to him.

The worst kind of predatory ghoul
 

Preying on the grief of the bereaved. The audience waits in a studio that is thoroughly rigged with microphones to pick up conversations. Guess what everyone is talking about. Yep, so when he comes out, he's already primed with information that makes him look like Edgar Cayce reborn. The karma for this kind of fraud is horrifying. And as noted before, the show is heavily edited so that only his "successes" make the airwaves.

He's no more talented than Professor Marvel is, reading for Dorothy in the beginning of the Wizard of Oz. In fact, it's almost exactly the same scam, minus the turban.

Here's a Randi analysis of a John Edward episode.

Put him on Springer and let two rednecks fight over the "ghost" he contacts. :rolleyes:

After my sister was murdered, we had more than enough "psychics" wanting to help us solve the case. When you are greiving like that, you will do whatever it takes, and you can't help but believe that your loved one will try to contact you.

"Psychics" are a bunch of f-in money sucking liars looking to cash in on someone during their most desperate moment.

Oh, Psychics are undertakers? :angel:

Undertakers provide a useful service once they've fleeced you and sold you a bunch of useless ones.

yikes seak. sorry to hear that. terrible stuff.

as far as j edwards- you can talk to a friggin rock, but i won't talk back. he can talk to the dead all day long, but they aren't listening, and they aren't talking back.

The ironic thing is that he is actually not very good at cold reading... that cracks me up.

its amazing how badly people want to believe that crap.

"Grasping is suffering"

far out. i like that one....

A very hip dude said it... I read all his books.

very buddhist

Yup... dat's da' dude! I always wait for em' to come out in paperback though...

cracking me up here.........

life is suffering. basic buddhist tennet.

But it can be ended.... the next one. The suffering, that is. Whew!

and it will.....the idea is to end the suffering by stopping desire.

i'm not saying i agree, or that i am some kind of expert.

Well, according to the tennents, if you take it to heart... that is all it takes to be an expert.

Mostly I'm sorry for your loss.....grieving takes and enormous amount of our energy. :sniff:

I wonder if you wrote John Edwards and said that you only had 1/2 of $150...could you just get through for like 10 minutes instead of 20. That way you could take the other $75.00 and get yourself something nice. :rolleyes: