Some Recent News Articles about Psychic Phenomena

STV Dundee photo

Last year on June 20, UK media reported that representatives of The Daily Mail newspaper agreed to pay psychic Sally Morgan £125,000 in damages and legal costs in relation to a 2011 news article that accused her of cheating by using an earpiece.  A Daily Mail article regarding the agreement included the statement "Associated Newspapers accepted the allegation was untrue and apologised unreservedly."

The Press Gazette headline was "Daily Mail pays £125k damages plus costs to TV psychic Sally Morgan over 'charlatan' report" while a BBC News report on the payout quoted from Sally Morgan's statement at her website:

"There will always be sceptics who attack my work and I understand and accept that. However, to libel me and falsely accuse me of a con trick does not constitute rational commentary or debate.  I hope now this settlement and apology will repair the damage that has been done."

The Guardian article on the libel damages explained:

The article, by the magician Paul Zenon, claimed that Morgan had used a hidden earpiece during her performance in order to receive instructions and relay them on stage as if they were messages from the spiritual world.

Magicians and illusionists expressing antipathy concerning 'paranormal phenomena' is a trend that may have originated with Harry Houdini, who waged a publicity-garnering campaign against mediums during the final years of his life.  Arthur Conan Doyle wrote in The Edge of the Unknown (1930) about Houdini: "His anti-Spiritualist agitation became more and more unreasoning until it bordered upon a mania . . . he proclaimed that he wished only to attack dishonest mediums, but as in the same breath he would assert that there were no honest ones . . . ."

In 2014 it remains usual to find mainstream news reports expressing and/or influenced by a social consciousness of skepticism in relation to 'paranormal' or metaphysical topics.  One example of this is an odd January 15, 2014 article in the Belfast Telegraph centering on trivial circumstances in relation to blind psychic Sharon Neill's participation in a 'paranormal challenge programme' in Russia: "Psychic fails to predict passport hiccup ahead of Russian TV trip".  Sharon Neill is the subject of a 2009 blog post.

 
What follows is a selection of quotations from some 2014 and 2013 news articles about psychics and mediums (with links).  Among these, the reader will notice that a recent article in The Daily Mail also exhibits statements expressing a skeptical social consciousness.  Last year, a Daily Mail article asked "Are we all PSYCHIC?" and presented scientific evidence of a 'Collective Consciousness'; however, the article concluded with a portion expressing alternate opinions.  In contrast, there was no skepticism expressed in the 2013 Daily Mail article "Teenager charged with murder of his autistic half-brother as police reveal that PSYCHIC led them to the 11-year-old body in a shallow grave dug in the family's yard".  The variation in reporters' sensibilities concerning psychic phenomena shows that individual discrimination is consequential to the presentation of news encompassing metaphysical subjects.

August 25, 2014     The Northern Times    

"Psychic medium Tony's mission to awaken spirituality"

On his website, Tony shares stories and his own experiences along a spiritual path that few others will follow – even the way communications come to him isn’t fixed and he is happy to explore that.

 

August 21, 2014     The Gazette

"Morton hero dad 'spoke' to psychic son from afterlife"

"It's hard to explain but when I started to lose my sight four years ago, I noticed I was connecting with spirits more.

"I can see other people's relatives clearly, their tattoos, the day they died.  They give me messages which I pass on to help other people be comforted in their grief."

August 17, 2014     The Daily Mail

"Psychic surgeons: they claim to channel spirits who can shrink cancers and end chronic pain without ever picking up a scalpel.  But are they just preying on the desperate?"

 

Cynthia went to see Ray, one of Britain’s most popular psychic surgeons, on the recommendation of a friend.  "I'd never been interested in anything New Age previously — I'm a born sceptic," she says.  "But, by that stage, I was willing to try anything.  I'd had years of anti-rheumatic drugs on the NHS with no success.

 

"The pain in my neck and back was excruciating.  I had nothing to lose."

Ray holds regular clinics around the country — including at a Leicestershire caravan park, a village hall in Surrey and a community centre in Suffolk — so Cynthia travelled to see him in a Brighton block of flats for her first £33 session.

 

He was already 'channelling' Paul when she arrived . . .

 

Cynthia is in no doubt that when Ray ‘channels’ St Paul, he becomes an entirely different person.  "Ray has a gravelly voice, whereas Paul is more refined," she says.  "Their expressions and mannerisms are different, too.

"After the first session, I felt sore for a couple of days, but then the pain in my neck and back disappeared.  It was absolutely wonderful.  Now, I go every month for a top-up session to keep me mobile and energetic."

 

January 21, 2014     STV Dundee

"Meet the only crime-solving mystic in Dundee"

Once a week for three hours, over the space of 12 weeks, June appeared on Ukrainian TV show "International Battle Of The Psychics" and it was here that she inadvertently aided the local police in an ongoing murder investigation.

"During one of the tasks we were asked to hold onto a necklace that belonged to a dead girl and her father was sitting opposite me," explains June.

"All we were told was that she was dead. I held onto the necklace and described the murder scene I saw. The police asked to see me afterwards because I described it so well but hadn’t been there."

"I described her murderer and said he had a tattoo on his shoulder, a scar on his hand, that he drove a yellow car and smelt of oil."

"This all aired as one of the shows and I was back home for about nine months before the news that he’d murdered again came out.  He was caught and it was discovered that he did in fact have a shoulder tattoo, a scar on his finger and that he drove a yellow taxi too — so he even smelled like oil."

 

(Note: An earlier Daily Mail article about June Field from February 2013 is an exercise in overt sarcasm.)

July 22, 2013     The Daily Mail

"Princess Di's psychic Sally Morgan stuns Aussie TV presenter by correctly revealing live on air that his wife is pregnant"
 

Sally went on to predict that the couple's baby will be born on the 9th day of the month and will be a little girl. 

 
(Note: Storm Eve Napier Williams—the baby daughter of Tom Williams and his wife—was born on January 8, 2014 via Caesarean section: Daily Mail article.)

May 6, 2013     The Blaze

"Heaven, Hell and Talking With the Dead: Psychic John Edward Describes Discovering His Alleged Abilities and His 'Spirit Mafia'"

Not everything is guaranteed, meaning: Just because he allegedly has heightened sensibilities, doesn’t mean he can win the lottery or have full control over what he sees or which fan’s deceased family member he has the ability to connect with.

After saying that he simply wanted to be normal, he recalls allegedly losing his abilities; these "highly-evolved beings" took him at his word and revoked it, Edward claims.  He asked for it back and it was returned and the psychic said he never complained again about his abilities, noting that the lesson taught him that you really don’t know what you have until it’s gone.

Certainly, this may seem odd to some, but for Edward, interacting with these beings is apparently a daily reality.

October 31, 2013     67 Not Out blog

"The Psychic Who Predicted The Wrawby Junction Train Crash"

The prediction was not mentioned at the official inspectorate hearing of the accident.  A BR spokesman said: "We regard the whole thing as an amazing coincidence." source

 

June 23, 2013     Fox News

"Myanmar mystics give supernatural help to Asia elite"

Tiny, frail and barely able to speak, Myanmar's most famous fortune teller — known as ET — has for years whispered predictions to Asia's rich and powerful, from generals to foreign politicians.

 

May 14, 2013     Philippine Daily Inquirer

"The reluctant faith healer"

. . . Bro. Jun says he became a psychic surgeon instantaneously, without any preparation and without even knowing who his spirit guide was, unlike other faith healers I’ve met here and in Brazil.

February 4, 2013     PRWeb

"10 Tips To Develop Your Psychic Ability"

"We all have dormant psychic abilities waiting to be exercised," says Phoenix AZ. based Psychic Medium, Jamie Clark.  Psychic abilities and intuition become astute with exercise and use, just like any other muscle or organ in our bodies.

 

Many of the articles and links mentioned in this post were presented in the "Psychics" column of the website SupernaturalUFO.com  [defunct].