Talking to the dead is quite real, it happens all the time. However, what is truly tricky is getting them to talk back. It might sound weird, but there are indeed folks out there who have made a full-time career out of talking on behalf of the dead. This presents two options:-
- Its real, and the supernatural exists
- Its fake, and people are being conned by fraudsters
Now, what is interesting here is that we need not hang in suspense and wonder, but can instead test the claim. the JREF, James Randi Educational Foundation has a prize of one million dollars to anybody who can successfully demonstrate psychic ability … but surprise surprise, in decade after decade during which the test has been running, none of the famous psychics have ever turned up.
The latest news is that Daniel Loxton writes over on Skepticblog about how the JREF is going seasonal …
Just in time for Halloween, our colleagues over at the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF) have enlisted a (rather modest) zombie horde to carry a serious consumer protection message: if psychics who accept money for communicating with the dead cannot actually do so, then they are taking unfair advantage of the bereaved. Led by JREF President D.J. Grothe, these volunteers carried the JREF’s Million Dollar Challenge to alleged spirit medium James Van Praagh.
Uncouth as zombies are known to be, Grothe and JREF Communications Director Sadie Crabtree assured me that this particular group of undead Americans excelled in politeness. Van Praagh’s event was not disrupted, and the group left when requested to do so.
“All of our volunteers were determined not to disrupt the event; we just wanted to get James Van Praagh to come out and talk to us, or to capture on video the fact that he’s hiding from our Million Dollar Challenge,” Grothe told me. “We stuck to the publicly accessible area and we left when we were asked. We didn’t do the action to disrupt an event, but to highlight the offense to reason and conscience that these stage mediums cause when they take advantage of people suffering from loss.”
Its a good read, I encourage you to go read the rest.