Committee for Skeptical Inquiry

[Barry Karr <SkeptInq@AOL.COM>]

 

 

 

Notes by Joe Nickell

‘Psychics’ Fail to Foresee Their Own Fortunes

Joe Nickell

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According to the Philadelphia Inquirer of April 27, 2007 (O’Reilly and Vitez 2007), Philadelphia’s fortune tellers failed to foresee the forced closure of their shops. Citing a state law that had been on the books for decades and that banned fortunetelling for profit, city inspectors began to force astrologers, psychics, and tarot-card readers to shut down. Having been alerted by police to the law, which makes fortunetelling “for gain or lucre” a misdemeanor, an official of the city’s Department of Licenses and Inspections said no arrests had been made or fines issued. However, he promised that inspectors would do so “if these people try to return to work” (O’Reilly and Vitez 2007).

A week later, however, the ban was rescinded after one psychic’s attorney filed a request for a preliminary injunction, claiming the anti-fortunetelling statute could only be invoked in instances of fraud. The City Solicitor’s Office agreed. A deputy solicitor stated, “we felt it was hard to say what kind of evidence might be needed to prove someone was pretending to tell fortunes” (O’Reilly 2007). Once again, the alleged psychics failed to foresee the turn of events.

Their ineptitude seemed—well, predictable: In May 1995, I helped Philadelphia’s WCAU-TV launch a “sting” against various “psychic” readers and advisors as well as 900-number clairvoyants. After consulting with me to devise a suitable strategy, Herb Denenberg and other members of his “Newscenter 10” unit went undercover to set up a test of the soothsayers’ abilities. The sting was inspired by Jody Himebaugh whose eleven-year-old son Mark had disappeared November 25, 1991. Himebaugh said more than one hundred self-claimed psychics had since offered their visions, typically seeing a “dark car,” “the number 5,” or similar “clues.” These were never any help, but they could later be matched to actual evidence once it became known—a clever technique called “retrofitting” (Nickell 2001).

 

To Read More of This Column Visit:  http://www.csicop.org/specialarticles/fortunes.html

 

About the Author

Joe Nickell, Ph.D., is author of Looking For A Miracle and dozens of other books exploring the paranormal world. His Web site is at www.joenickell.com.

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