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Going to see Gordon Smith

Spudrick68

Spudrick68

Justified & Ancient
Joined
Jun 8, 2008
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At Preston Guild Hall on March 10th. My wife bought me tickets to see both Derek Acorah and Sally Morgan. Although I greeted both with a 'thanks' and an internal sigh. But it was interesting for me to watch two people cold reading live. I am interested in Gordon Smith because I know that he is being tested by Edinburgh University's parapsychology department and he appears to have skills beyond most people. I respect him from what I have seen and am eager to see what he does live. Is it going to be cold reading? I will report back after the 'gig'.
 
Ah, the Psychic Barber! :lol:

Smith has a hard-selling website on which he pushes his drivelly books. I've read the first few. Perhaps you should too, to give you that edge! ;)
 
I must admit I always understood that if anyone had 'the gift' then they should not profit from it. He clearly is. However, I will try to suspend any judgements until we have seen him.
 
We'll expect a full report. :D

Have you seen the Bad Psychics site? I think you'd find it very interesting. ;)
 
Yes and I am reminded of the psychic in Phoenix Nights! I have also seen a few clips from Most Haunted that made me laugh- including the 'Mary loves Dick' episode.
 
My old laptop could rip stills from DVDs and I took loads of particularly unflattering ones from a MH DVD. They're still going round on the 'net. :lol:

Y'know, Degsy pretending to fart, Degsy having a sly fag, Degsy pulling the possessed face... great fun.
 
The funny thing is I keep telling people we're ging to see Gordon Brown!!!!! Like I'm going to pay money to see him.
 
Or the foul, vile product of an unholy coupling of Gordon Smith and Derren Brown.
 
Had a good night. I know that whatever I say, many peeps will be sceptical, that its all tricks and psychology. But all the same.

He came onto a bare stage, with a plain black curtain, no furniture or fancy backdrop or music. He spoke to the audience for a short while, he said he needed to do this to allow the 'spirits' to get close to him, and then started. Once he had identified an audience member, he offered information that the 'spirit' was telling him to pass on. He said the only reason they pass the messages on is to let the living know that they are still in existence. The thing is, it wasn't cold reading, nor did he mine for info, he just came out with it. For example, he said he had a Scottish woman, Catholic, showing me a crucifix. After a couple of other comments a woman near is put her hand up. He didn't ask her questions, he just came out with stuff and asked her to confirm it. He first said that Parkhead was special for her, for more than one reason. Beofre he had chance to go on she said, I was born on a road next to the ground. He said I have a man here (can't remember the name). He is showing me a photo of himself when he was younger, with slicked back hair. She replied that it was her favourite photo of him and it was in her handbag with her. he said that he is showing himself in a uniform, with a cap pushed down to one side. She replied that he was a Marine.

She was not the only one who had this type of experience with him. Either they are all 'plants' or he is getting the information from somewhere we don't yet know. His info to people was rather random, but it was specific and accurate, delivered without any prompts.

Although I expect a few to dismiss me as gullible, I was quietly impresssed. But I would love to be able to get a one to one sitting with him to see how good he is face to face.

Of course he is making a fortune too, with ticket sales and autographing bought books after the show! But hey ho.
 
I am not going to be so obnoxious as to put this forward as the way he "must" have gotten his information - I wasn't there and am no judge - but by way of information, an old psychic trick is to have confederates in various positions in the venue making observations for you. For instance, say when she paid for her ticket or for refreshments she put her handbag on the counter and had it open while she fished the money out - the cashier could have seen the photo. He could have eavesdroppers and shills working the lobby. I've even heard of people employed to pick pockets, take a quick look for clues, and replace the item.

Also, it sounds kind of like cold reading to me, dealing only with what you've told us. First he throws out a line (almost any Catholic in the audience will have a dead loved one who carried a crucifix, or had a particularly nice one, or a story connected to one) until he gets a fish. Then he gets feedback from her. He doesn't have to push her to respond. She's here looking for something, and her responses will tend to push him toward it.

A really organized, experienced fake with a smooth-working team could put on a killer show with a combination of lobby shills, pickpockets, and cold reading techniques.

All of which is easy for me to say from out here. Public displays are like photographs - there's always a way to fake them, so they won't prove anything definitively. That doesn't make them less interesting. Thank you for taking the trouble.
 
For me, I don't think he would have spent seven years, and as far as I'm aware still is, being tested be a science department of a university, if he was a fraud. Just a personal opinion.

It is like 'ghost' photographs. As on a previous thread, too good or not specific and folk will never be happy. Having watched the 'show', too much information, for my liking, was too specific to have been gained from pick pockets and over hearing conversations etc...

If he is for real, and for me it still is 'if', I would be tearing my hair out in frustration at people pointing out how he could have cheated. I said i would post afterwards what I thought and I have. I have no need for validation for my point of view and no need to argue with other people's point of view.

:D
 
There's always BadPsychics.

Cold reading, if done skilfully, is remarkably convincing, especially with a willing, paying subject! ;)

A few years ago I was 'read' by a 'medium' who seemed to know what a miserable old trout my late grandfather had been to me. :shock:

On reflection, she hadn't been all that specific - anyone my age probably had a dead 'grandfather figure' or two knocking about.

Also, the way the reprehensible behaviour was described was vague. If she'd been talking about physical or sexual abuse, which (say) I had suffered and never told anyone, which does happen, she'd have had a serious 'hit' on her hands. :lol:
 
There's always the question of: "If that's not good enough, what will you accept?" That psychics are all fakes is an unfalsifiable proposition for most people; for every individual with a fair standard of proof, there are probably 20 who would hold psychics to a standard so high that, if psychic ability behaves as other human abilities do, it is functionally impossible to measure up to. Imagine if we wouldn't believe sports records because it is possible to devise a means to fake them and the athlete can't perform consistently.

This is why I make it a point not to believe or disbelieve anything. Other questions engage my attention; like whether, in such and such a case, the possiblity of fakery or of truth is more useful, or (more often) more interesting.
 
Derren Brown does it brilliantly and he's not psychic. Or so he says...
 
Let's say for a moment a medium can contact friends and loved ones whose personalities survive death in some form - why is the information so banal? Either the afterlife is not the 'heaven' of scripture and our most intimate memories are reduced to 'the picture down the back of the sofa' and 'you still like Polo mints' or the spirit entity is battling with the complete lack of imagination of the medium, so any descriptions of immortality would be wasted.

From personal experience I'm persuaded that loved ones are keen to leave small reminders they're still around but I'd like to know why those hints are so mundane. Perhaps they have to outwit the spirit police first!
It would be good to know why mediums are generally working class, camp, overweight or a combination of the above. The cosmic joker at work?
 
I've read lots of books by self-proclaimed psychics. Most mention that the 'messages' are personal and trivial because their purpose is to prove to the recipient that the spirit of their loved one still goes on after death. This is the main official aim of the Spiritualist movement.

Spiritualist mediums - people trained by the Spiritualist Church - call their appearances at the Church 'demonstrations'. They are hoping to demonstrate the existence of the Afterlife.
The way to do this convincingly is to allow each of the Dear Departed to convey messages which are personal between them and the relevant member of the congregation.

So that's why we're stuck with the Polo mints and missing photos. :lol:
 
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