We have heard about them in both popular culture and in real life: people who can allegedly guess what you're thinking, people who claim to have the capability to probe into the future, telling what's happening there, and those who can contact the dead.
When we listen to them, their words sound so convincing that we would almost think of them as super-powered beings who would rather be in sci-fi movies instead of being in this world. Do they really possess some sort of magical abilities? In this chapter, we will dig into this mystery.
Historical Bits
Fortune-tellers, (also known in other terms as soothsayers, seers, augurs) are known to have originated during the Renaissance era –a period of our world's history where knowledge was known to rekindle and grow abundantly. Out of folkloristic belief, such individuals began fabricating methods that can make them gain notoriety and some considerable financial gain.
Such methods include cold-reading, prestidigitation (sleight of hand), and some mental trickery in order to convince anyone that they have extra-sensory perception skills. During ancient times, fortune-tellers in some tribes and cultures are greatly respected as they are viewed as divinators or prophets. Their people believe that with their wisdom and divination, they can predict war outcomes and foretell famines and pestilences, thereby saving lives and resources.
Some kings and warlords respect oracles so much to the point that they would even order total abolition of war campaigns or order mass-executions just because a seer says so. In ancient Greece, their sources for divination come from oracles.
Alexander the Great, their greatest historical figure was known to have a personal seer, and a legion of soothsayers who can interpret natural events as signs that Zeus, their God is pleased or displeased resulting in either defeat or victory in his conquests. Because of Alexander's great accomplishments on the battlefield and within his own kingdom, people who might have heard of his exploits find it hard not to believe in the words of his oracles.
Though some of these fortune-tellers are often viewed as 'false prophets', their methods are still studied and passed on over the generations – making their way into occultist organizations, radical social groups, and even into popular culture.
Religion is one major aspect that embraced this thing that has already transcended into a great fad. Some preachers are known to use Biblical text as an aid to predict or calculate major global events, such as the exact date or year of the word's end.
Many of these religious leaders are labeled as “apocalyptic ministers,” having nothing but doomsday as the bread and butter of their sermons. Mediumship was mentioned in the Bible. The most notable of which was when Saul, Israel's first king consulted the Witch of Endor. Summoning the spirit of Samuel the prophet who anointed him as King, was the intent of this encounter.
Though some biblical scholars point out that it wasn't the real soul of Samuel who appeared but a demon taking the prophet's form, that event was referred to by many spiritualists as proof that it was in fact possible for gifted persons to contact spirits of the dead. (This will be discussed in later paragraphs)
19th-Century England was known as the hub from which mediumship gained popularity. With the rise of spiritualism as a religious movement, people began practicing spirit-channeling of dead loved ones, historical figures, and deceased murder victims in the hopes of unlocking the mysteries of unsolved crimes.
In spite of great ridicule from skeptics and of the general public in modern times, fortune-tellers, psychics and mediums still have countless followers who refuse to lay low even with the existence and breakthroughs of modern telecommunications technology, which is by far more reliable and accurate.
About mediums
There are also other people of this league who perform a different kind of showmanship, like mediums who claim to have the capability to contact the spirits of the dead from the afterlife. Their modus operandi may appear to be different from that of the psychics' but they work basically the same.
Take Mina Crandon, one of the most well-known mediums in history was proven to be a fraud by Harry Houdini, declared as the greatest magician and illusionist in history, and some members of the American Society for Psychical Research.
This woman, known by her codename “Margery” used some techniques in her seances (the act of contacting spirits) in order to convince people of her spiritual powers. These techniques include:
Ectoplasm rod – an energy rod which she used to pick up objects from a luminous checkerboard. In a dark room, Margery would make it appear that the ectoplasm rod, is channeled by spirits that she summoned from another dimension. However, Robert Williams Wood, a member of the American Society for Psychical Research, was able to deduce that it is actually a leather-covered rod which she would control with her teeth and mouth.
A teleplasmic hand – her 'spirit hand' that appears to move or vanish under her command. It was later proven to be carved and shaped from animal liver by biologists.
Sleight of hand and misdirection – Mina Crandon was known to be a very attractive woman. With the consent of her husband, she would throw herself on the laps of male participants on her seances in addition to her nude photographs displayed. This would add to the distraction she needs to make her acts less debunkable.
These and other antics used by Margery was documented in some books: “Houdini VS. The Blond Witch of Lime Street: A Historical Lesson in Skepticism”, by Massimo Polidoro, an Italian Skeptic investigator; and “A Magician Among the Spirits”, by Harry Houdini.
There was also Colin Evans, a Welsh spiritualist medium who claimed to have the ability to levitate.
He was also discovered to be a fraud because he couldn't give concrete proof of his claims about his special ability when a spirit descends upon him. He fooled people by showing his levitation photograph – in which he appears to hover through the air.
It was later deduced by experts both in photography and the scientific community to be a simple act of jumping and proper-timing as it was later discovered that Evans, was holding a cable with a switch – a mechanism that allows him to properly time his jump so that he can snap a convincing photograph of his levitating body as he is surrounded by onlookers.
This proves the statements of some magicians that their performances are mostly situational and location-dependent: there are tricks that they can't perform on live television or on a live audience.
Many people who find great comfort in the services of mediums for making them in contact with their deceased loved ones may find it hard to accept, but most mediums are just very talented actors.
Anyone could be pretty convinced outright when they show-off their well-practiced maneuvers like:
Appearing to be spiritually possessed – portraying involuntary convulsions, shrieking speeches, and 'possession-gazes' to give the impression some spirit descended upon them. To further this technique, some mediums use ventriloquism – a technique used by puppeteers, in which their mouth remains closed while vocalizing through their throats.
Writing something on a piece of paper – an alleged telegram from the other dimension, a message from a dead loved one to the living, something meaningful though typically predictable like “I'm missing you here”, or “be good my child, be happy because I'm always with you.”
Targeting clients' vulnerability – because the client is often a lonely, miserable soul, he or she would definitely accept and believe any comforting words. Any noble-sounding statements are highly welcomed into his thoughts and are therefore declared as true, believing firsthand that it was his dead loved-one trying to communicate.
Even Harry Houdini, the most adamant of all skeptics was believed to have been able to think of the possibility at some point in his life, that his dead mother would actually contact him. It was known that he gave a code to his wife– the words “Rosabelle believe”, should anyone try to contact him after his death.
Houdini said that unless any medium can give the exact words, his wife must never believe it's his real spirit. Out of desperation and the unquenchable desire to establish a connection to a departed loved-one, anyone would be willing to try anything, and mediums really exploit this.
Wow that's all I can say!