Skeptic and debunker Susan Gerbic speaks about celebrity psychics who prey on the grieving and vulnerable. Her team has spent years exposing these "grief vampires. www.abouttimepr...
I find it hard to be sympathetic when I was a child dragged around to be anointed with magical oils to be healed. I find that magical beliefs can be so incredibly harmful that we need to take of the kid gloves and fight full force and if people feel bad, so be it. It’s called learning the hard way. I think for far too long we give magical and religious beliefs a sympathetic ear and nothing changes.
@Baker Banking If that were true everyone would be Christian and there would be no other religions. No religion is founded on evidence, that's why the definition of faith is believing in something for which there is little to no evidence.
I was raised in a religious environment where magical thinking and emotionalism ruled. I am now finding that I'm having a difficult time navigating through certain situations. I paid a horrible price.
I work at a stately home which is now a museum. Yesterday the caretakers and a colleague were talking about the ghost they believe resides there. Several years ago the man discovered that a couple of doors were open, when he could have sworn he had closed them the night before. Obviously they are christians, and that caused them to be so gullible. I did like the fact that the wife had said that they were fire doors and the ghost should leave them closed, because it wouldn’t want it’s home to burn down, and the doors were never found to have opened spontaneously since.
@@kellydalstok8900 Atheists don't believe in ghosts, you are delusional and superstitious with woo woo and hocus pocus. Try science and atheism, then you can be a scientist like us.
Everybody can fall for magical thinking. Teleological thinking is common everywhere is just hard for us to imagine the world doesn't revolve around us. Scary but also liberating reminding yourself you're alone but also not on trial. I'm addicted to my phone which oddly makes me feel always connected but also watched judged and alone lol 🤷♂️
@Baker Banking Except that what we're discussing here is fake psychics ripping people off. Are you somehow trying to imply that gawd is in favor of fake psychics ripping people off?
I'm constantly amazed by how widely this scam is still accepted and tolerated. There was an extended ad for a "psychic hotline" on a podcast that I (used to) listen to the other day.
@Baker Banking🙄 So fake psychics ripping people off are a proof of gawd in the world according to you? Got it.👍 Because that's what we were talikng about.🙄
@Baker Banking Critical thinking and reading comprehension isn't your forte is it? That person was talking about the subject at hand which is how psychics and mediums con people, Jesus and Christianity are not what's being discussed. Also the bible is part of the claim for said deity not the evidence for it, please take your evangelising elsewhere.
I'd like to thank Susan and her Guerilla Skeptics for their Wikipedia work. I once had a therapist recommend something that sounded totally bogus, so the first thing I did was check the Wikipedia page on it, and there it was clearly labeled "pseudoscience", with all the details and references helpfully in one place. That therapist was immediately fired, of course.
@@sgerbic To clarify, by "fired" I mean "fired by me as my therapist" not "fired from being a therapist". I wish I had that kind of power, but alas, no.
its stuff like that wich makes me hoppe more people start donate to wikki , at least aslong its sticking to try be a transparent self fact cheeked archive to be easy accessed by working people , after all if any of the mega corps like google took over that service i bet 99% of all bs about products they make money or or dubious sources would be censured away over night.
This kind of hits home for me on a lesser scale. My dad died in November. One of my mother's friends claims to communicate with the dead, but her "messages" are so bland and generic.
Sorry to hear this - grief can make us look past the red flags we normally would have. Personally I would tell your mom's friend to F-off. But that's just me. :-)
I paid (not much) for a "reading" once purely for entertainment. I was in my late 20s but looked young and had just married my wife, but I removed my wedding ring. I gave the "psychic" no info at all, just smiled politely the whole time. She told me I was about to meet the man of my dreams and I needed to be careful when choosing my university subjects once I finished school. 😅
He comments about saying it is a trick just reminds me of the South Park episode where they made fun of John Edwards. LOL! Stan explains what he is doing and how it works as he does the cold readings, but people still think he is a psychic.
I keep thinking that society will wake up to what a scam psychics and mediumship is, no one warning us about Covid should have caused the business to dry up overnight. But no, it actually caused more business for these grief vampires. (This is Susan Gerbic BTW from my channel @PsychicsExplained)
My mother believed in mysticism; she held seances where she seemingly projected images of those that had long-since-gone in to a mirror (this was more a party piece, was heavily dependant on those involved also believing, and never a penny exchanged hands). She had an affection towards anything otherworldly or paranormal. I feel she desperately hoped for something more than she suspected (knew) was true, and yet never met a supposed psychic she believed was real. To feed off of another's loss is filth incarnate. To want to believe there is something waiting for someone you've lost is natural, but to indulge that desperation while expecting, demanding payment . . . not much difference between that person and a drug dealer.
Yes, preying on the vulnerable I wish there was a hell they could go to, in the meantime many of these people are living the highlife off of their victims (This is Susan Gerbic BTW from my channel @PsychicsExplained)
My grandmother was an astrologer at a controversial spiritualist camp known as Camp Chesterfield. She also claimed to have been one of the psychics who tried to call President Kennedy to warn him about going to Texas. She NEVER engaged in anything that would make her a grief vampire. But she let me know in so many words that all of it was bullshit, when we were at the Camp and we went to her trailer. She had a shingle hanging that had her name, with "Rev." in front. I asked her what Rev means. She said, "It means I don't pay taxes."
What a wonderful conversation! Spirituality, wellness, paganism, etc- are common stepping stones (or crutches) for those who have lost their religious or gods belief. They can be traps of magical beliefs and just as manipulative as religion can be. Definitely big business. For some of us, deconstruction is a many layered process examining multitudes of magical beliefs we had held and never examined.
I love that you encourage more empathy toward theists...and anyone raised to believe differently than we do. My friend's wife recently died in a car crash, and he said, "I know where she is now, and those of us who are left behind have it much worse. She's in Heaven, and we're stuck here." I don't share his belief, but I'll be damned if I'm going to argue with him about it, when that belief is the only thing that keeps him going in a time of unimaginable loss. Similarly, my mom-in-law is a _devout_ Mormon, who...as happens with age...has lost many loved ones, including her husband and oldest son. I find her beliefs ridiculous, but...at this point in her life...deconstruction would be emotionally devastating to her, so I bite my tongue.
Agree - I didn't challenge my mother who was very religious either, it was near the end of her life and I didn't see any point in argueing with her about her life choices. But I did keep an eye out for anyone she might have decided to endow her money on because of undue influence. (This is Susan Gerbic BTW from my channel @PsychicsExplained)
@@PsychicsExplainedThat's an excellent point! I've actually noticed that my mom-in-law, due to the priming effect of her religious indoctrination, is highly susceptible to MLM recruitment. In fact, she's in one right now...even tried to sign me up for a waiting list _yesterday_ (to lock in my place, just in case I decide to join later). Since my wife will be the executor of her will, I'm not worried about bequests as a result of undue influence, _but_ I can confidently say that, over the course of her life, she has wasted _thousands_ of dollars on pyramid schemes...and far more on tithing payments. By the way, I really admire your work, and I consider it an honor to have you initiate discourse with me.
We have to put up with this because of our unscientific definition of mental disorders and the economic necessity for us to be mental, especially in the colonies.
I've met a few people who were so absorbed with the whole psychic thing and it's really strange. They spend a lot of effort trying to convince others about their whole worldview. Like, who are they trying to convince? When I say that im skeptical then they really go into high gear and the only reason I can think of is that they need others to reinforce their ideas. You'd think they would learn to expect skepticism. One girl introduced me to her friend and I asked her friend if she had any experience with the ballet. She replied that she had danced professionally for 4years! I tried to explain to my friend that there's only one way to develop calf muscles like her friend had, but she kept insisting that I must have psychic abilities. "Look at her legs!" I said. But she couldn't understand what I was saying. I couldn't even convince her that I WASN'T psychic. Craziest people I've ever met. And I've met some seriously crazy people.
@@andreask.2675 sweetheart, lol. 🤪 take it easy. we're just saying that once you know that etymology of the word "psych", the joke isn't funny. kind of reminds me of the "vegetarian is a native american word for bad hunter".. 😂 people who are disordered mentally really slap a knee over that stuff.. meanwhile people with understanding just cringe. just being honest. 😂😂
Using dead people as ventriloquist dummies to steal money from grieving people is despicable beyond believe. Great that you are out there, educating about their techniques.
"The two easiest people to fool are those who think they can't be fooled, and those who have been fooled once already"... If I am remembering/paraphrasing this quote, and where it came from correctly, this quote should have been something Maria Konnikava said during an interview about her book "The Confidence Game" for the Science Friday radio program.
LOL - yes my boyfriend Mark Edward names them all. They have to be funny and memorable. I want things that are easy to spell also. The idea is for someone to hear about Operation Onion Ring or Operation Tater Tot and then days later remember it and look it up. Our first sting was Operation Bumblebee on Chip Coffey, I didn't realize that I would be doing more stings later on so it didn't fit the pattern. Also I later learned that Operation Bumblebee was something that really happened with the US Navy. We now google our sting names. I'll keep Operation Squid Sauce in mind. (This is Susan Gerbic BTW from my channel @PsychicsExplained)
I scribed something similar to this on the desk I sat at during an exam. Though, rather than "Footwork" I used "Brilliance". And I think I scraped that into the wood because I'd read it at a previous desk an exam or two before. . . . Didn't work for me. ha ha
This is excellent. I am a complete skeptic when it comes to the supernatural, although I think there is a bit of wiggle room for aspects of the natural that are yet to be discovered or yet to be explained by scientific inquiry. I label myself a witch, despite not believing in magic, and I've spent a little time on reddit in witchcraft communities. I had to stop visiting all but one group, because I had such a hard time coping with people who fall for this type of thing. It was just really sad! There were people who tried to protect others from scammers, but more often than not they ignored the advice. It was disheartening. I do tarot for storytelling and oracle for self-reflection because it's fun and cathartic, but the though of someone using those tools to harm and manipulate people, literally makes me queasy. Credulity really seems to be an inherent aspect of human nature that more often than not leaves us open threat. Sadly, it has taken me nearly 40 years to figure that out.
I went through a bereavement a couple of years ago, I had loved the person for 25 years. I do not believe that there is anything after death, I think that people just stop to exist, but I was tempted to 'ask' the person to answer, I even heard their voice in the room once (I was aware it was my brain making it up), I looked for 'signs' (birds, rays of sunshine, ripples in the water, flowers). I spent a lot of time rereading poems that person loved and looking for music and movies they must have listened to and watched when they were young (in the 1960s and 1970s, before I was born). Sally Tisdale's book 'Advice for future corpses and those who love them' was really helpful.
I'm sorry for your loss - grief can be nasty - I hear from people all the time who tell me that they got involved with a medium during this time when they never would have before. (This is Susan Gerbic BTW from my channel @PsychicsExplained)
I don’t want to claim I’m special, but I don’t think I’ve ever been scammed. Perhaps it’s because I grew up without religion, but that doesn’t seem to work with everyone. Or it’s because I’m naturally a bit suspicious, especially when people are being too sweet and giving a lot of compliments. It doesn’t mean I never trust anyone, I’m willing to give most people the benefit of the doubt - to a certain extent. Even the death of my son nine years ago didn’t change any of this. A “friend” once told me she could feel his presence in my house. I told her I never did, and that he had not visited me in this house all that often. She then claimed it had to be because of my presence. She’s an ex catholic that thinks she’s an atheist, but she gushed over the statue of the saint her mother was named after when we visited the Sacré-Coeur in Paris together. I have unfriended her since, because she’s the kind of person I can do without.
Not sure what's worse - psychics preying on the sick and injured looking for healing, or psychics offering their "assistance" to police or families of crime victims. There is one story of how police, in their desperation to solve a case, sent a key piece of evidence to a psychic, who subsequently lost it. Absolutely infuriating.
I have to assume the existence of the internet has put a serious dent on those grief vampires ability to screw people over, yes? Perhaps that's also why poor rural areas still do not have access to the internet as easily as larger urban areas?
No and what? The internet makes it much easier for these scammers to gain information about their targets. What has that got to do with psychic scammers? The reason rural areas don't get the same internet access is that it is not as profitable for an internet supplier to cover a rural area containing 500 households as the same size suburban area that might contain 5,000 households. As with most business decisions in a capitalist economy, it's all about the profit margin.
Great work, of course, but I think the idea that the best form of inoculation against the religious fraudsters is to surround yourself with "good people" is a bit superficial. Not everyone has the personal confidence or, indeed, the opportunity to do that. I suspect it's the very ones who are looking to find "good people" who are the easiest prey for the con artists.
I heard that with those 900 numbers another way they'd get your money was to keep you on hold for a few minutes, just to squeeze it out of your credit card. Never called them, but remember the ads
It's funny how TH-cam will put religious advertising in front of atheist videos. Like the algorithm is a Christian and trying to save you. Thank you, Seth. And thank you, Susan. I had family members who watched those "psychic" shows.
I just found one of your old podcasts from 2018 you said you might do one on the 7 day Adventist did you do it and is it on you tube and what is it called
This whole topic of psychics (mediums) irks me. My friend (we are both in our 60’s) is completely taken in by John Edward. Whenever he is in town, she buys tickets to see him. (With money she doesn’t have.) I am a practicing skeptic who despises con artists. As a defense lawyer I’ve met my share (& then some). I can pick up the mind games from across the room. I try to appeal to her critical thinking - to no avail. Since I am an atheist, I already lack credibility. The idea of meeting up with a bunch of dead relatives that never wanted me around while they were alive isn’t changing my perspective. Such people are parasites. We would be far better off if we weren’t hampered by superstition, Ignorance and bigotry. Anyone else have serious reservations that we will make it through this without wiping humanity from the earth?
I agree - but we don't live in that world sadly. I am trying to inoculate people before they fall under the spell of this nonsense. They know enough what to look for. Once they have bought into it, it's so much harder to get them to think clearly about it. I'm also in my 60s and people around me are starting to near the end of their lives and I think about it more also. I don't think I'm special and expect that others are doing the same, much harder to reason with people who badly want there to be something after death. (This is Susan Gerbic BTW from my channel @PsychicsExplained)
These "medium/psychics" just prey on so many people. Especially the people who are vulnerable. They are doing so much damage. Many, many years ago, when I still believed in some of these type things, my sister and I were at an event, like a home and garden type thing, and they have vendors for jewelry, foods, etc. Well there was an 'psychic'. So for 15 dollars i just kinda said, oh why not. So she did this and then at the end, she said I had some "spiritural areas" that needed some work and she could set up times for me and she would help me "work on them" , of course for some fee, and of course would take several of these sessions. I, of course said "sure there are" and walked away. It is so blatant!
I started doing Tarot card studies about 50 years ago. Usually when people ask me for a reading, I ask them to please, go get a life. However I have a psychic connection to a man in his 80's. He wanted a Tarot reading New Years. I pulled one card for the next 6 month. The 7 of Cups from the Waite deck. I've been spotting the different figures depicted in the cups as they surfaced, except for the snake. Due to the various meanings of the snake we let it ride until it surfaced. I was searching my friends family name and accidentally came across the heraldry flag of an Irish American celebrity. He rages on how Irish he is and we tend to get on each other's case. Turns out that his family flag sports a large snake. So when the question of the snakes in Ireland came up, that there never were any actual snakes for St. Patrick to get rid of... it was close enough! Exceedingly so, a random occurrence! So was the child in the first cup who turned out to be my friends' grandchild I knew nothing about and an x step daughter I had never talked to, telling me her father had died. I' m very much into random occurrences. They rule my life even though I do my best to ignore them. I am psychic, I can hear friends crying, I could hear the snow plow dude turning over his engine one April, but he did not hear me thinking, "Don't you dare mess up my driveway." After that disaster I got his phone number. I don't feel the need to market my talents. I took a vow of poverty, and it's worked out well enough.
@@Kyeudo Some people have psychic abilities, ask the US army. If you are getting some sort of thrill out of pretending you are better than me, perhaps it is you who needs help?
@@dianeneill499 _["Some people have psychic abilities, ask the US army. "]_ No evidence has ever been produced for genuine psychic abilities, nor any mechanism proposed for how such a thing could even be possible. _["If you are getting some sort of thrill out of pretending you are better than me, perhaps it is you who needs help?"]_ I am better off than you. I am aware that psychic powers are all hoaxes.
@@ldm8571 At least I didn't mention that the family of Jesus offered me the job of the next Messiah. I turned it down BTW. I don't have my own security guards...yet.
yep.. while 'wet ware' have the advantage over soft & hardware that it have some options to adapt in real time , the down side is that adaptability and the versatility it assist in providing makes it also suseptable for memory alteration or worse things. simple test.. take a memory of something confirmed something there is 'hardware' recording of ,and just alter one obvious detail in it say.. that bbq party with the relatives back in 2015 where you and x hade the exact same shirt just start pretend it was another colour you both hade and before you know it your brain will have 'repainted' that detail in the memories.
Whether you are religious or not, desperately wanting that last moment with a lost loved one is not foolish, idiotic or proof that you're intellectually deficit. Merely means you're in pain. I was brought up on "true" ghost stories and the belief that the paranormal was a real thing. No one truly "worshipped" a god but no one said there wasn't one. I was sent to church, and Sunday school regardless. By the time I was in my early teens I had shaken off all these beliefs. I saw some of the same things others interpreted as supernatural and didn't understand how they reached that conclusion. (Read the bible and wanted none of that either). I don't feel "need" is the right word when it comes to belief. Much the same as an alcoholic needs a drink. A drink is the last thing they "Need". They want, badly. It sometimes feels like they need it more than their next breath but, they do not "need" it, they want it. I want my parents to be around now to help and advise, to console and provide me with comfort. To enjoy and celebrate. I don't need it. I've now been alive longer without them than I had been with them. So, as much as I sympathise with those who have lost someone close, to say they "need" this empty trash is desperately incorrect. The coverall that "people need to believe in something" is equally enabling. No one "needs" to believe in anything that is untrue. They "want" to believe, but what they truly "need" is protection from these predators.
I don't watch atheist stuff because I hate believers but everyone including myself at times just tends to go overboard so easily then the blame games and the violence etc. Nothing wrong with missing people. Take a second and just remember uh maybe it's not real folks.
Psychics can only prey on people who haven't learn to detach their feelings from events they have no control over. Zen Buddhism and exposure to atheist arguments on You Tube cured me of the suffering I was experiencing from 20 years of Catholic indoctrination. Seth Andrews, Matt Dillahunty, and Ken Humphries (Jesus Never Existed) have been especially helpful.
Nope. I'm in Texas. My wife's bodily autonomy and our familial rights have been taken away by government based in a god belief. Should I have sympathy for Nazis? Nope. Disagree with both of you and would say the exact same thing to your faces. I'm 53. Online vitriolic discourse is a cover for mostly the younger generation. I like to confront in person head on. Seth your forum and platform is made for sympathy and discourse. At some point things need to change in the real world. Your fantasy TH-cam channel is inadequate in so many ways. Love your show but strongly disagree with your 'roll over and take it ' technique.
Really not sure what you're arguing here. Is the Randi approach too indirect (attempting to educate the public while not confronting the perp enough)? Or is it bad to interfere with someone's grief journey?
" Online vitriolic discourse is a cover for mostly the younger generation. I like to confront in person head on. " do you really think we don't *also* tell people what's up in person? uh, we do. lol. so take it easy on the WHY IN MYyyDAYYyy". lol. the reason we mur de r by words online is because you cannot meet most people in person. they are around the word. plus, when you PUBLISH a comment or post, it has a chance of helping all who read it.
Who wants to defend the spiritualist community and the subsequent spiritualist religion that exists and has existed for generations? Who would like to stand on every street corner and scream at the top of their lungs that there are better therapy systems for dealing with grief, then that exists within the spiritualist religion? Where are the accountants who said $400 is a lot of money and worth creating publications websites, sting operations, while crimes totaling in the billions exist every day in the newspaper? Who would like to do the real research concerning the outcomes of severe loss and grief therapy provided by the highest level of scientific minds on earth? Real skepticism, questions power, and fact checks its assertions with the intent of sharing your discovered reality with the tribe to improve collective action and planning.
As an atheist I totally think scamming is acceptable to our beliefs as there is no text to tell us it's wrong. Maybe psychic atheists are just one step ahead of regular atheists like me.
@@Kyeudo NO. Atheists don't need to be human, as atheism is the lack of belief in Gods. All dogs, rhino's, snakes and lizards are atheists too as they lack a belief in god. Trees and horse manure are atheists too.
Romans 10:9 9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Romans 5:8 - But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us
I find it hard to be sympathetic when I was a child dragged around to be anointed with magical oils to be healed. I find that magical beliefs can be so incredibly harmful that we need to take of the kid gloves and fight full force and if people feel bad, so be it. It’s called learning the hard way. I think for far too long we give magical and religious beliefs a sympathetic ear and nothing changes.
You're right. Somehow the religious loonies have latched onto Young Living essential oils as a healing tool. Dang, they are oils.
@Baker Banking LoL. People die for lies all the time.
@Baker Banking LoL. Funny. No. I saw grey aliens. Do you believe me they are real?
0:28 0:32
@Baker Banking If that were true everyone would be Christian and there would be no other religions. No religion is founded on evidence, that's why the definition of faith is believing in something for which there is little to no evidence.
I was raised in a religious environment where magical thinking and emotionalism ruled. I am now finding that I'm having a difficult time navigating through certain situations. I paid a horrible price.
Sounds to me like you're trying to get your head on straight. Keep at it. You can get there.
Host the movie was a fun horror flick!
I work at a stately home which is now a museum. Yesterday the caretakers and a colleague were talking about the ghost they believe resides there. Several years ago the man discovered that a couple of doors were open, when he could have sworn he had closed them the night before. Obviously they are christians, and that caused them to be so gullible. I did like the fact that the wife had said that they were fire doors and the ghost should leave them closed, because it wouldn’t want it’s home to burn down, and the doors were never found to have opened spontaneously since.
@@kellydalstok8900 Atheists don't believe in ghosts, you are delusional and superstitious with woo woo and hocus pocus. Try science and atheism, then you can be a scientist like us.
Everybody can fall for magical thinking. Teleological thinking is common everywhere is just hard for us to imagine the world doesn't revolve around us. Scary but also liberating reminding yourself you're alone but also not on trial. I'm addicted to my phone which oddly makes me feel always connected but also watched judged and alone lol 🤷♂️
It's a lot easier to fool someone than it is to convince them that they've been fooled.
Oh that is so true.
Mark Twain 👍👍
@Baker Banking Your father made your mother pregnant, as did their parents and so on. That's how we got here. It's not that difficult to understand.
@Baker Banking Except that what we're discussing here is fake psychics ripping people off. Are you somehow trying to imply that gawd is in favor of fake psychics ripping people off?
@Baker Banking That's fine, but again we were discussing psychics ripping people off and not your opinion of religion.
I'm constantly amazed by how widely this scam is still accepted and tolerated. There was an extended ad for a "psychic hotline" on a podcast that I (used to) listen to the other day.
@Baker Banking🙄 So fake psychics ripping people off are a proof of gawd in the world according to you? Got it.👍 Because that's what we were talikng about.🙄
@Baker Banking Critical thinking and reading comprehension isn't your forte is it? That person was talking about the subject at hand which is how psychics and mediums con people, Jesus and Christianity are not what's being discussed. Also the bible is part of the claim for said deity not the evidence for it, please take your evangelising elsewhere.
I'd like to thank Susan and her Guerilla Skeptics for their Wikipedia work. I once had a therapist recommend something that sounded totally bogus, so the first thing I did was check the Wikipedia page on it, and there it was clearly labeled "pseudoscience", with all the details and references helpfully in one place. That therapist was immediately fired, of course.
WoW
@@sgerbic To clarify, by "fired" I mean "fired by me as my therapist" not "fired from being a therapist". I wish I had that kind of power, but alas, no.
Law enforcement use this tactic, to go after sexual predators.
its stuff like that wich makes me hoppe more people start donate to wikki , at least aslong its sticking to try be a transparent self fact cheeked archive to be easy accessed by working people , after all if any of the mega corps like google took over that service i bet 99% of all bs about products they make money or or dubious sources would be censured away over night.
@Baker Banking serious or jesting ?
Listening to this, I am reminiscing about the film "Ghost" starring Patrick Swayze and Whoopy Goldberg!😂. Oh! The reading sessions by Oda Mae Brown!🤣
Yes ! I remember that.
“It's Easier to Fool People Than It Is to Convince Them That They Have Been Fooled.” - Mark Twain.
This kind of hits home for me on a lesser scale. My dad died in November. One of my mother's friends claims to communicate with the dead, but her "messages" are so bland and generic.
Sorry to hear this - grief can make us look past the red flags we normally would have. Personally I would tell your mom's friend to F-off. But that's just me. :-)
I paid (not much) for a "reading" once purely for entertainment. I was in my late 20s but looked young and had just married my wife, but I removed my wedding ring. I gave the "psychic" no info at all, just smiled politely the whole time. She told me I was about to meet the man of my dreams and I needed to be careful when choosing my university subjects once I finished school. 😅
If a little person psychic is arrested and escapes would tjhe headline be small medium at large?
tip your waitress
He comments about saying it is a trick just reminds me of the South Park episode where they made fun of John Edwards. LOL! Stan explains what he is doing and how it works as he does the cold readings, but people still think he is a psychic.
That was really good. Went by fast. I wanted more!
I don't care how sincere some of these people may be, they are all scammers none the less.
intention matters, none of em are helping but scamming isnt universally applicable
@@fritzhaselnuss7852 anytime you're being fed false hope, you're being scammed.
Thinking Atheist, Seth, this was good. I think people are going to be easily duped for a very long time. It hits a desperate want in many. 👍💙💖🥰✌
I keep thinking that society will wake up to what a scam psychics and mediumship is, no one warning us about Covid should have caused the business to dry up overnight. But no, it actually caused more business for these grief vampires. (This is Susan Gerbic BTW from my channel @PsychicsExplained)
My mother believed in mysticism; she held seances where she seemingly projected images of those that had long-since-gone in to a mirror (this was more a party piece, was heavily dependant on those involved also believing, and never a penny exchanged hands). She had an affection towards anything otherworldly or paranormal. I feel she desperately hoped for something more than she suspected (knew) was true, and yet never met a supposed psychic she believed was real.
To feed off of another's loss is filth incarnate. To want to believe there is something waiting for someone you've lost is natural, but to indulge that desperation while expecting, demanding payment . . . not much difference between that person and a drug dealer.
Yes, preying on the vulnerable I wish there was a hell they could go to, in the meantime many of these people are living the highlife off of their victims (This is Susan Gerbic BTW from my channel @PsychicsExplained)
My grandmother was an astrologer at a controversial spiritualist camp known as Camp Chesterfield. She also claimed to have been one of the psychics who tried to call President Kennedy to warn him about going to Texas. She NEVER engaged in anything that would make her a grief vampire.
But she let me know in so many words that all of it was bullshit, when we were at the Camp and we went to her trailer. She had a shingle hanging that had her name, with "Rev." in front. I asked her what Rev means.
She said, "It means I don't pay taxes."
Oh you should write a book, I bet she was amazing.
What a wonderful conversation! Spirituality, wellness, paganism, etc- are common stepping stones (or crutches) for those who have lost their religious or gods belief. They can be traps of magical beliefs and just as manipulative as religion can be. Definitely big business. For some of us, deconstruction is a many layered process examining multitudes of magical beliefs we had held and never examined.
Which is why rationality should not be sacrificed when exploring any of these other paths.
Thank you to Susan for her hard work in finding and debunking these claims of greedy nonsense.👍🤑
I wish Susan Gerbic had a channel. She is Awesome.
@PsychicsExplained is my new channel - thank you for asking
Law enforcement use this tactic, to go after sexual predators.
I love that you encourage more empathy toward theists...and anyone raised to believe differently than we do. My friend's wife recently died in a car crash, and he said, "I know where she is now, and those of us who are left behind have it much worse. She's in Heaven, and we're stuck here." I don't share his belief, but I'll be damned if I'm going to argue with him about it, when that belief is the only thing that keeps him going in a time of unimaginable loss. Similarly, my mom-in-law is a _devout_ Mormon, who...as happens with age...has lost many loved ones, including her husband and oldest son. I find her beliefs ridiculous, but...at this point in her life...deconstruction would be emotionally devastating to her, so I bite my tongue.
Agree - I didn't challenge my mother who was very religious either, it was near the end of her life and I didn't see any point in argueing with her about her life choices. But I did keep an eye out for anyone she might have decided to endow her money on because of undue influence. (This is Susan Gerbic BTW from my channel @PsychicsExplained)
@@PsychicsExplainedThat's an excellent point! I've actually noticed that my mom-in-law, due to the priming effect of her religious indoctrination, is highly susceptible to MLM recruitment. In fact, she's in one right now...even tried to sign me up for a waiting list _yesterday_ (to lock in my place, just in case I decide to join later). Since my wife will be the executor of her will, I'm not worried about bequests as a result of undue influence, _but_ I can confidently say that, over the course of her life, she has wasted _thousands_ of dollars on pyramid schemes...and far more on tithing payments. By the way, I really admire your work, and I consider it an honor to have you initiate discourse with me.
thank you very much! Please feel welcome to comment. @@OmniphonProductions
Remembering the hits and forgetting the misses...thank you for putting it so succinctly.
Thank you (This is Susan Gerbic BTW from my channel @PsychicsExplained)
We have to put up with this because of our unscientific definition of mental disorders and the economic necessity for us to be mental, especially in the colonies.
The worst Greif Vampires are Autism Speaks.
Agreed, but AS doesn't claim to have super powers. They're more of a "support" group for parents who can't accept their children's autism.
Sadily that is true many people on the autism spectrum including myself do not support autism speaks calling autism a disease is cruel
I've met a few people who were so absorbed with the whole psychic thing and it's really strange.
They spend a lot of effort trying to convince others about their whole worldview. Like, who are they trying to convince? When I say that im skeptical then they really go into high gear and the only reason I can think of is that they need others to reinforce their ideas.
You'd think they would learn to expect skepticism. One girl introduced me to her friend and I asked her friend if she had any experience with the ballet.
She replied that she had danced professionally for 4years!
I tried to explain to my friend that there's only one way to develop calf muscles like her friend had, but she kept insisting that I must have psychic abilities.
"Look at her legs!" I said. But she couldn't understand what I was saying.
I couldn't even convince her that I WASN'T psychic.
Craziest people I've ever met.
And I've met some seriously crazy people.
There must be a reason why the words "psychic" and "psycho" are SO closely related. 😂
The root word is Greek and means soul.
@@legalfictionnaturalfact3969 No offense, but you seem to have problems understanding jokes. 🤪
Law enforcement use this tactic, to go after sexual predators.
@@andreask.2675 sweetheart, lol. 🤪
take it easy. we're just saying that once you know that etymology of the word "psych", the joke isn't funny. kind of reminds me of the "vegetarian is a native american word for bad hunter".. 😂
people who are disordered mentally really slap a knee over that stuff.. meanwhile people with understanding just cringe. just being honest.
😂😂
@@dianahill5116 usually it's the cops/filth doing most of the se x ua l predation.
Using dead people as ventriloquist dummies to steal money from grieving people is despicable beyond believe.
Great that you are out there, educating about their techniques.
"The two easiest people to fool are those who think they can't be fooled, and those who have been fooled once already"... If I am remembering/paraphrasing this quote, and where it came from correctly, this quote should have been something Maria Konnikava said during an interview about her book "The Confidence Game" for the Science Friday radio program.
My favorite part of this serious in depth episode is the fact they named their operations after tasty foods 😂
Operation squid sauce next 👊
LOL - yes my boyfriend Mark Edward names them all. They have to be funny and memorable. I want things that are easy to spell also. The idea is for someone to hear about Operation Onion Ring or Operation Tater Tot and then days later remember it and look it up. Our first sting was Operation Bumblebee on Chip Coffey, I didn't realize that I would be doing more stings later on so it didn't fit the pattern. Also I later learned that Operation Bumblebee was something that really happened with the US Navy. We now google our sting names. I'll keep Operation Squid Sauce in mind. (This is Susan Gerbic BTW from my channel @PsychicsExplained)
If you can't dazzle them with your footwork, baffle them with your bullshit.😉😜
I scribed something similar to this on the desk I sat at during an exam. Though, rather than "Footwork" I used "Brilliance". And I think I scraped that into the wood because I'd read it at a previous desk an exam or two before. . . . Didn't work for me. ha ha
In the awesome tradition of Harry Houdini and James Randi. Hats off to you Ms. Gerbic.
This is excellent. I am a complete skeptic when it comes to the supernatural, although I think there is a bit of wiggle room for aspects of the natural that are yet to be discovered or yet to be explained by scientific inquiry. I label myself a witch, despite not believing in magic, and I've spent a little time on reddit in witchcraft communities. I had to stop visiting all but one group, because I had such a hard time coping with people who fall for this type of thing. It was just really sad! There were people who tried to protect others from scammers, but more often than not they ignored the advice. It was disheartening. I do tarot for storytelling and oracle for self-reflection because it's fun and cathartic, but the though of someone using those tools to harm and manipulate people, literally makes me queasy. Credulity really seems to be an inherent aspect of human nature that more often than not leaves us open threat. Sadly, it has taken me nearly 40 years to figure that out.
I went through a bereavement a couple of years ago, I had loved the person for 25 years. I do not believe that there is anything after death, I think that people just stop to exist, but I was tempted to 'ask' the person to answer, I even heard their voice in the room once (I was aware it was my brain making it up), I looked for 'signs' (birds, rays of sunshine, ripples in the water, flowers). I spent a lot of time rereading poems that person loved and looking for music and movies they must have listened to and watched when they were young (in the 1960s and 1970s, before I was born).
Sally Tisdale's book 'Advice for future corpses and those who love them' was really helpful.
I'm sorry for your loss - grief can be nasty - I hear from people all the time who tell me that they got involved with a medium during this time when they never would have before. (This is Susan Gerbic BTW from my channel @PsychicsExplained)
I don’t want to claim I’m special, but I don’t think I’ve ever been scammed. Perhaps it’s because I grew up without religion, but that doesn’t seem to work with everyone. Or it’s because I’m naturally a bit suspicious, especially when people are being too sweet and giving a lot of compliments. It doesn’t mean I never trust anyone, I’m willing to give most people the benefit of the doubt - to a certain extent. Even the death of my son nine years ago didn’t change any of this. A “friend” once told me she could feel his presence in my house. I told her I never did, and that he had not visited me in this house all that often. She then claimed it had to be because of my presence. She’s an ex catholic that thinks she’s an atheist, but she gushed over the statue of the saint her mother was named after when we visited the Sacré-Coeur in Paris together. I have unfriended her since, because she’s the kind of person I can do without.
Not sure what's worse - psychics preying on the sick and injured looking for healing, or psychics offering their "assistance" to police or families of crime victims. There is one story of how police, in their desperation to solve a case, sent a key piece of evidence to a psychic, who subsequently lost it. Absolutely infuriating.
I have to assume the existence of the internet has put a serious dent on those grief vampires ability to screw people over, yes? Perhaps that's also why poor rural areas still do not have access to the internet as easily as larger urban areas?
No and what?
The internet makes it much easier for these scammers to gain information about their targets.
What has that got to do with psychic scammers? The reason rural areas don't get the same internet access is that it is not as profitable for an internet supplier to cover a rural area containing 500 households as the same size suburban area that might contain 5,000 households. As with most business decisions in a capitalist economy, it's all about the profit margin.
oh the business of mediumship is bigger than ever.
Great work, of course, but I think the idea that the best form of inoculation against the religious fraudsters is to surround yourself with "good people" is a bit superficial. Not everyone has the personal confidence or, indeed, the opportunity to do that. I suspect it's the very ones who are looking to find "good people" who are the easiest prey for the con artists.
I've always thought psychics were scam artists.
I heard that with those 900 numbers another way they'd get your money was to keep you on hold for a few minutes, just to squeeze it out of your credit card. Never called them, but remember the ads
By the time its half and half is when a un fathomable fight of what is truth.
The bicycle's in the basement of the Alamo 😉
It's funny how TH-cam will put religious advertising in front of atheist videos. Like the algorithm is a Christian and trying to save you.
Thank you, Seth. And thank you, Susan. I had family members who watched those "psychic" shows.
I just found one of your old podcasts from 2018 you said you might do one on the 7 day Adventist did you do it and is it on you tube and what is it called
I thought that cash app services would have to start reporting transaction totals and user incomes to the IRS soon if not already.
This whole topic of psychics (mediums) irks me. My friend (we are both in our 60’s) is completely taken in by John Edward. Whenever he is in town, she buys tickets to see him. (With money she doesn’t have.)
I am a practicing skeptic who despises con artists. As a defense lawyer I’ve met my share (& then some). I can pick up the mind games from across the room.
I try to appeal to her critical thinking - to no avail. Since I am an atheist, I already lack credibility. The idea of meeting up with a bunch of dead relatives that never wanted me around while they were alive isn’t changing my perspective.
Such people are parasites. We would be far better off if we weren’t hampered by superstition, Ignorance and bigotry. Anyone else have serious reservations that we will make it through this without wiping humanity from the earth?
I agree - but we don't live in that world sadly. I am trying to inoculate people before they fall under the spell of this nonsense. They know enough what to look for. Once they have bought into it, it's so much harder to get them to think clearly about it. I'm also in my 60s and people around me are starting to near the end of their lives and I think about it more also. I don't think I'm special and expect that others are doing the same, much harder to reason with people who badly want there to be something after death. (This is Susan Gerbic BTW from my channel @PsychicsExplained)
These "medium/psychics" just prey on so many people. Especially the people who are vulnerable. They are doing so much damage. Many, many years ago, when I still believed in some of these type things, my sister and I were at an event, like a home and garden type thing, and they have vendors for jewelry, foods, etc. Well there was an 'psychic'. So for 15 dollars i just kinda said, oh why not. So she did this and then at the end, she said I had some "spiritural areas" that needed some work and she could set up times for me and she would help me "work on them" , of course for some fee, and of course would take several of these sessions. I, of course said "sure there are" and walked away. It is so blatant!
I started doing Tarot card studies about 50 years ago. Usually when people ask me for a reading, I ask them to please, go get a life. However I have a psychic connection to a man in his 80's. He wanted a Tarot reading New Years. I pulled one card for the next 6 month. The 7 of Cups from the Waite deck. I've been spotting the different figures depicted in the cups as they surfaced, except for the snake. Due to the various meanings of the snake we let it ride until it surfaced.
I was searching my friends family name and accidentally came across the heraldry flag of an Irish American celebrity. He rages on how Irish he is and we tend to get on each other's case. Turns out that his family flag sports a large snake. So when the question of the snakes in Ireland came up, that there never were any actual snakes for St. Patrick to get rid of... it was close enough!
Exceedingly so, a random occurrence! So was the child in the first cup who turned out to be my friends' grandchild I knew nothing about and an x step daughter I had never talked to, telling me her father had died.
I' m very much into random occurrences. They rule my life even though I do my best to ignore them.
I am psychic, I can hear friends crying, I could hear the snow plow dude turning over his engine one April, but he did not hear me thinking, "Don't you dare mess up my driveway."
After that disaster I got his phone number.
I don't feel the need to market my talents. I took a vow of poverty, and it's worked out well enough.
So, you've fooled yourself into believing that the vague symbols associated with painted pieces of cardboard mean something. Go get help.
@@Kyeudo Some people have psychic abilities, ask the US army.
If you are getting some sort of thrill out of pretending you are better than me, perhaps it is you who needs help?
@@dianeneill499
_["Some people have psychic abilities, ask the US army. "]_
No evidence has ever been produced for genuine psychic abilities, nor any mechanism proposed for how such a thing could even be possible.
_["If you are getting some sort of thrill out of pretending you are better than me, perhaps it is you who needs help?"]_
I am better off than you. I am aware that psychic powers are all hoaxes.
@@dianeneill499 "I took a vow of poverty, and it's worked out well enough". Obviously, you are better than all of us. 😀 Humble brag 🙄🙄🙄
@@ldm8571 At least I didn't mention that the family of Jesus offered me the job of the next Messiah. I turned it down BTW. I don't have my own security guards...yet.
yep.. while 'wet ware' have the advantage over soft & hardware that it have some options to adapt in real time , the down side is that adaptability and the versatility it assist in providing makes it also suseptable for memory alteration or worse things.
simple test.. take a memory of something confirmed something there is 'hardware' recording of ,and just alter one obvious detail in it say.. that bbq party with the relatives back in 2015 where you and x hade the exact same shirt just start pretend it was another colour you both hade and before you know it your brain will have 'repainted' that detail in the memories.
anyone familiar with the A&E show "Dead Files"?...is the "medium" on that show happen to be on her radar?
Whether you are religious or not, desperately wanting that last moment with a lost loved one is not foolish, idiotic or proof that you're intellectually deficit. Merely means you're in pain.
I was brought up on "true" ghost stories and the belief that the paranormal was a real thing. No one truly "worshipped" a god but no one said there wasn't one. I was sent to church, and Sunday school regardless.
By the time I was in my early teens I had shaken off all these beliefs. I saw some of the same things others interpreted as supernatural and didn't understand how they reached that conclusion. (Read the bible and wanted none of that either). I don't feel "need" is the right word when it comes to belief. Much the same as an alcoholic needs a drink. A drink is the last thing they "Need". They want, badly. It sometimes feels like they need it more than their next breath but, they do not "need" it, they want it.
I want my parents to be around now to help and advise, to console and provide me with comfort. To enjoy and celebrate. I don't need it. I've now been alive longer without them than I had been with them.
So, as much as I sympathise with those who have lost someone close, to say they "need" this empty trash is desperately incorrect. The coverall that "people need to believe in something" is equally enabling. No one "needs" to believe in anything that is untrue. They "want" to believe, but what they truly "need" is protection from these predators.
I don't watch atheist stuff because I hate believers but everyone including myself at times just tends to go overboard so easily then the blame games and the violence etc. Nothing wrong with missing people. Take a second and just remember uh maybe it's not real folks.
I really need to have Naomi the Grotesque.
Law enforcement use this tactic, to go after sexual predators.
You're awesome, Seth.
For a millisecond there, I thought Brett Butler was the guest.
I don't have a connection to fishing in New York.
Psychics can only prey on people who haven't learn to detach their feelings from events they have no control over.
Zen Buddhism and exposure to atheist arguments on You Tube cured me of the suffering I was experiencing from 20 years of Catholic indoctrination.
Seth Andrews, Matt Dillahunty, and Ken Humphries (Jesus Never Existed) have been especially helpful.
Nope. I'm in Texas. My wife's bodily autonomy and our familial rights have been taken away by government based in a god belief. Should I have sympathy for Nazis? Nope. Disagree with both of you and would say the exact same thing to your faces. I'm 53. Online vitriolic discourse is a cover for mostly the younger generation. I like to confront in person head on.
Seth your forum and platform is made for sympathy and discourse. At some point things need to change in the real world. Your fantasy TH-cam channel is inadequate in so many ways. Love your show but strongly disagree with your 'roll over and take it ' technique.
Really not sure what you're arguing here. Is the Randi approach too indirect (attempting to educate the public while not confronting the perp enough)? Or is it bad to interfere with someone's grief journey?
" Online vitriolic discourse is a cover for mostly the younger generation. I like to confront in person head on. " do you really think we don't *also* tell people what's up in person? uh, we do. lol.
so take it easy on the WHY IN MYyyDAYYyy". lol. the reason we mur de r by words online is because you cannot meet most people in person. they are around the word. plus, when you PUBLISH a comment or post, it has a chance of helping all who read it.
Just my opinion but if a person really has a spiritual gift you probably won’t ever know it they don’t go out advertising it
It's quite simple: evidence or it doesn't exist.
my kinda show thanks
Who wants to defend the spiritualist community and the subsequent spiritualist religion that exists and has existed for generations? Who would like to stand on every street corner and scream at the top of their lungs that there are better therapy systems for dealing with grief, then that exists within the spiritualist religion? Where are the accountants who said $400 is a lot of money and worth creating publications websites, sting operations, while crimes totaling in the billions exist every day in the newspaper? Who would like to do the real research concerning the outcomes of severe loss and grief therapy provided by the highest level of scientific minds on earth? Real skepticism, questions power, and fact checks its assertions with the intent of sharing your discovered reality with the tribe to improve collective action and planning.
1:26 Very gothic.
Not due to your content...I am a bored again Christian. I have no attention span.
Law enforcement use this tactic, to go after sexual predators.
The FBI and Polk County Sheriff's should investigate sexual misconduct within the catholic church.
@Diana Hill Ok...WHat does my lack of focus have to do with law enforcement, sexual depravity, pederasts or Polk County?
@@fumanpoo4725
Nothing.
@@fumanpoo4725
Bringing your attention to the necessity of arresting sexual predators, might give you something to consider.
DarkMatter 2525 did a great video on manipulation.
Which video are you referencing?
🤨
As an atheist I totally think scamming is acceptable to our beliefs as there is no text to tell us it's wrong. Maybe psychic atheists are just one step ahead of regular atheists like me.
Hey, fake atheist. Christians like you should learn a bit about atheists before you try to masquerade as us.
Scamming is not acceptable, ever. Go troll elsewhere
@@Anne--Marie There is no atheist rule to say scamming is wrong, you obviously don't know what atheism is.
@@ministryofarguments5257 You forgot the rule that atheists are humans.
@@Kyeudo NO. Atheists don't need to be human, as atheism is the lack of belief in Gods. All dogs, rhino's, snakes and lizards are atheists too as they lack a belief in god. Trees and horse manure are atheists too.
Romans 10:9
9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
Romans 5:8 - But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us
I once knew a woman who claimed to be a medium. She looked more like an extra large!!!
so condescending sometimes...... logic!
The tinder swindler