John Edward
From The Red Pill
John Edward (born John Edward McGee Jr., on October 19th, 1969 in Glen Cove, New York) is among the world's best-known mediums. Creator of the hit television series Crossing Over, Edward has become the public face of television mediumship, and also the main target of skeptical attacks.
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Life
John Edward's official website has this to say about his life:
Born and raised on Long Island, NY, John exhibited psychic abilities from an extremely early age, and was deemed "special" by many in his family. The fact that he would uncannily know family history and events that took place prior to his birth solidified that fact. Because no fuss was made over these early experiences, he maintained as normal a childhood as possible. Since Psychic Phenomena was so accepted by his family, it was easy for his abilities to flourish. John embarked on developing his own abilities after an encounter with famed psychic Lydia Clar. Lydia made him aware of his abilities and told him his life’s work would be teaching people about it. That mission has been channeled into his work as a medium which enables him to bring comfort and hope to people by reuniting them with those who they loved, lost...and crossed over.
John Edward was one of the mediums who took part in scientific research into mediumship at the University of Arizona, conducted by Dr Gary Schwartz. Dr Schwartz came to the conclusion that John Edward - and other psychics such as Allison DuBois - truly had psychic abilities: "Anyone who's looked closely at the evidence can't help but come to the conclusion that there is something very real going on here."
Medium
Edward's show Crossing Over became a worldwide hit. In the show, Edward talks to a live television audience, picking certain audience members out and allegedly relaying messages to them from deceased relatives and friends. Most participants genuinely feel that the contact came from the 'spirit' of their loved ones. However, skeptics dismiss Edward's ability as a parlour trick known as cold reading, in which the 'performer' teases bits of information out of their target via ambiguous questions - in a sense, the target actually provides the information. Dr Schwartz and others have hit back by saying the testing shows that Edward's ability is not cold reading, and also that no skeptic has been able to perform to a similar level.
Skepticism
Skeptics such as James Randi have been critical of the claims of both Dr Gary Schwartz and John Edward.
Books
- One Last Time
- What if God Were the Sun
- Crossing Over: The Stories Behind the Stories
- After Life: Answers from the Other Side
- Final Beginnings
- Practical Praying: Using the Rosary to Enhance Your Life
External Links
- Official website of John Edward
- Skeptical Salon article about John Edward
- After Life on Amazon
- Crossing Over: The Stories Behind the Stories on Amazon
