The 5 most fraudulent psychics of all-time

Over the years, plenty of frauds have sought to prey on those desperate to connect with lost love ones. Regardless of your beliefs on psychic abilities, the case against mysticism is pretty easily made against these five famous psychics and mediums.

5 John Edward

John Edward rose to prominence as a psychic in the late 1990s. In 1999, he got his own show – Crossing Over with John Edward – in which he claimed to talk with the dead relatives of members in the audience. However, James Randi and other skeptics write Edward off as nothing more than a cold reader. Cold reading is a psychic technique used to gain knowledge about a person based on age, clothing, body language and other physical or verbal cues. For more on cold reading, go here.

Looking at one reading from Edward’s show, Randi reported that the psychic was only correct about three of 23 total claims. Reports from audience members suggest that the majority of these “misses” are edited out before the show airs. Here’s an example of John Edward’s fast-talking cold reading in action:

4 Sylvia Browne

While Sylvia Browne hasn’t been officially outed as a fraud, the evidence is pretty substantial to debunk her “psychic powers.” According to Robert S. Lancaster, creator of the website StopSylvia.com, her track record for correctly predicting events is no better than could be achieved through educated guesses. Additionally, she vehemently declines the use of scientific testing on her powers.

As an example of her fraudulence, there’s the well-known case of Shawn Hornbeck. This poor boy had been kidnapped in 2002. Searching for answers, his parents visited the Montel Williams Show, where Sylvia told them Shawn was dead and went into details about where his body could be found. In 2007, Shawn was found alive. Watch Anderson Cooper discuss the case ad take on Sylvia Browne in this video:

3 Miss Cleo

“Call me now for your free reading.” In the 1990s, it seemed you couldn’t turn on the TV without seeing a commercial for the Psychic Readers Network. The spokesperson for this Network was a Jamaican “shaman” and “psychic” named Miss Cleo. Following numerous lawsuits, the FTC began investigating the PRN on charges of deceptive advertising, billing and collection practices. During these investigations, it was revealed that Miss Cleo was actually a paid actress who didn’t even have a real Jamaican accent. Furthermore, the psychics hired to give readings via phone were found to largely be reading from a script.

Surprisingly (or perhaps not), Miss Cleo is currently working as a spiritual advisor in Ft. Lauderdale. Prices for a one-on-one tarot reading purportedly start around $200.

2 Mina Crandon

Decades before skeptic and magician James Randi, there was Harry Houdini. The most famous magician of all time was also one of the biggest critics and activists against psychics and mediums. After his mother died, Houdini devoted considerable efforts to expose frauds. He also set up a committee that would award a cash prize to anyone who could prove psychic abilities (no one could). Thanks to his knowledge of stage tricks, Houdini debunked numerous psychics and mediums. The most famous was Mina Crandon.

In the 1920s Mina Crandon rose to prominence for her accurate predictions and involved séances. She was so good, that she received endorsements from such notable people as Arthur Conan Doyle. However, Houdini showed how many of her “séance” tricks could be easily replicated. Scientific investigations from other skeptics also severely damage her credibility. Even so, Mina continued to profit from her trickery all the way up until her death in 1941.

1 Uri Geller

Uri Geller claims to have psychic powers (which were given to him by extraterrestrials), specifically psychokinesis and telepathy. For decades, he’s used these “abilities” to bend spoons and speed up or slow down watches. If it sounds like traditional magic tricks, that’s because it is. Professional stage magician and skeptic James Randi has shown how Geller’s feats can be easily replicated through stage magic. Randi has also shown that Geller’s predictions related to sporting events are more often wrong than correct.

In 2007, Geller seemed to own up to the evidence against him, saying “I’ll no longer say that I have supernatural powers. I am an entertainer.” A famous clip of Uri Geller being debunked on Johnny Carson”s Tonight Show is below:

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