Acting like you know:
A very subtle way of starting to influence  how a person thinks about you and your “psychic” powers is to phrase very simple actions which the person is already naturally doing. If you ask someone to, “think of a name” or “think about someone” give them a moment and then say something to the effect of, “Now, as you finish thinking.”  The language is key in cold reading.  You would never say, “Tell me when you’re finished” because this would reveal that you don’t know when they are done. But, since you’ve given them a command, “Think about someone who is near to you.” and since you’ve waited a moment you can assume they have done the action and are nearing completion of the task. So, when you say, “Now, as you finish.” There is a subtle sense that you knew they were finishing the task. Using proper indirect comments like this allows the person to start believing that you know what is going on in their mind at every moment.

Demographics:
The basic standard of all cold readings is realizing that humans, for as much as we like to believe, are not very different. When speaking in generalities we are often times relating to others on a much deeper level because they have experienced similar experiences.  There are six key demographics that a cold reader must deal with these are young men, young women, mature men, mature women, senior men and senior women. These six types of individuals are “tendency oriented” which is very much like stereotyping. Again, we are not so different and it is this commonality that can be best exploited. Let’s look at some examples you can use on each of the types.
Young Men:  There is a lot of energy and desire to accomplish goals. They are deeply skeptical. They are starting to feel commitment pressures from lovers. They are looking for a “big break” and usually are wondering why everything is taking so long to happen.
Things to say during a cold read: Don’t call her…Progressing slowly… More Waiting… Big Opportunity.

Young Women: They are usually feeling undervalued at their job because of this there is a tendency to feel that they are smarter and harder working then the others at their job.There is a heavy focus on professional development. They are striving to stay independent and concerned with not making the mistakes of their Mothers. Social pressures are at their highest at this point for younger women.
Things to say during a cold read:  That guy… Love won’t hurt… it takes sacrifices… They will see… More attractive… Last Chance.

Mature Men:  They are mostly reaching material stability. Ther is an increase in wondering about investments of time and money. There is a decrease in self-esteem and health is becoming an issue.
Things to say during a cold read: Thinking of an adventure… It’s not too late…Call a doctor… Too risky?…Need more energy.

Typically the hardest to read are mature women. This is due to the changing nature and aspects of society. There are two general categories of mature women
1. Conventional
2. Modern.
There is some overlap and so it is up to the cold reader to make the leap using body posturing, and manner of speech/ dress to determine the best fit.

Mature Women:
Conventional: There is a tendency to be slightly more judgmental about younger women but celebratory about younger women’s courage. Thinking about traditional motherhood roles increases and there are concerns about health issues.
Modern: There is an increase in the feelings of mistreatment about their role in society. They are willing to explore new areas of thought. A growing concerned with partner fidelity and personal health issues.
Things to say during a cold reading: Right decision?…Hard Choices…Keeping it a secret…worrying too much…no one cares.

Senior Men: They are more cynical about the future. Health is vastly important. There is an increase in enjoying life without pressures of ambition. Small things are valued for their worth.
Things to say at a cold read: Too many places…They’ll see…How much more time?…They think they know.

Senior Women: They are demanding of themselves, and there is an increase in self-rediscovery. They have pride with the ability to deal with difficult situations. Embracing progress becomes important.
Things to say at a cold read: Unspoken pain…I’m proud of him (her)…He (she) doesn’t know how to take care of him (her)…living alone.

Although the above outlines are very brief they serve as examples of how and what people performing cold readings can say, or do, to influence how you feel about the “psychic” experience they are performing for you. The most important thing a cold reader can understand is that they already know all about you because they know people like you.

In the next post we’ll get specific about how cold readers can get specific.

CBS Radio Workshop: A Report on ESP

Here for you enjoyment is a lecture by John Keel recorded during a UFO convention in 1966.
John Keel, UFO Convention 1966

Now, although many people think that I am trying to be funny, which I am, I am also being serious. So, let’s try a little thought experiment.

If ghosts are what people generally believe them to be, the remaining energy/consciousness of a human being who has died, then each person could potentially become a ghost when they pass out of this realm.
I’m bad with math but I can make this easy on myself and you…so hold on.
Since human beings have been “human beings”, (we’ll just go with the genus Homo which will put us around 2 million years ago), estimates of population would show that approximately 75 to 105 billion have been born and died on planet Earth. Now, let’s say that some “ghosts” have passed on and or perhaps never became ghosts; I’ll be generous here and say that out of the 100 billion deaths 85% either never became ghosts or are ghosts that have moved into a different existence that doesn’t interact with us on Earth. That leaves us with approximately 15 billion ghosts still residing with us on this planet.
Now that we know we might have as many as 15 billion “ghostly” friends wandering around we need to look at where they could be. The total land surface area of Earth is about 57 million square miles, of which about 57% is uninhabitable leaving us with about 15 billion acres of land.

See why I was so generous by saying 85% of the ghosts are “gone”? I makes it easy for me to do the math.

So, 15 billion ghosts divided by 15 billion acres of land equals 1 ghost per acre… at least.
So why are people traveling all over to investigate ghosts?
Isn’t there at least one right next to you?

Side One: Develop Your ESP

Side Two: Facts about Witchcraft

Dry Ice:
Believe it or not dry ice not only makes cool looking fog and smoke but it is also used to help create the illusion of spectral denizens. In my original Haunted Hooey post I wrote about people using a mouth full of beans to spit out to create “rapping” sounds; well dry ice, which should not be put in your mouth, can create bumps and bangs in a much more sneaky manner. A person can carry around small chips of dry ice in their coat pocket and whenever they feel so inclined can throw or flick those chips around a room. Now after the “taps” have been heard the only thing they have to do is keep people away from the chip of dry ice until it evaporates. In some cases the evaporation of the dry ice chip will even catch the flash from a vigilant camera-person and create a spooky “mist” which, since coming from the same direction as the “tapping,” must have been the ghost! Another trick utilizing dry ice is performed by slightly compressing a plastic water bottle and placing a small chip inside. Tighten the cap and place the bottle somewhere; as the dry ice evaporates the bottle will start to inflate causing the plastic to snap and pop. In a dark location the sources of the sounds will almost never be found, especially since once the bottle fully expands the sounds will stop and if the bottle is discovered, well, it’s just an empty water bottle.

Invisible Thread:
For those of you, who have ever seen a magician “float” a small object or dollar bill the illusion is created by the use of a monofilament thread, usually made of nylon called “invisible thread”. Even up close and in a well-lit area invisible thread is difficult to see which makes it perfect for close-up illusions. In cases of “haunted” locations the string can be pre-attached to small objects, like a ball or a sheet of paper, to make them move. Once the string is broken or dis-attached from the item it almost completely undetectable. Although invisible thread tends to be very “breakable” if multiple threads are used they can move much larger objects, although only slightly, but sometimes slightly is enough to convince those looking to be convinced. I have also seen a person attach a long strand onto their fingers so that it will, when the arm is raised, brush against the face of someone standing near them creating the feeling of “cobwebs” touching their face.

Pre-recorded EVPS:
Believe it or not strange voices can sometimes be recorded on a digital recorder before they are recorded on a digital recorder! If that sounds confusing…it is. There have been two instances in which I found “investigators” faking EVPS, but playing EVPS. What?

The trick goes something like this. An “investigator” records weird whispering words into their recorder before anyone arrives then after others get to the location and during the EVP sessions the hoaxer plays their recordings while pretending to make recordings along with everyone else! Of course the sounds are sometimes heard as they are being played so people will check their devices and guess what? Some people will have recorded them! Boom! EVPs! Of course EVPS don’t show up on everyone’s recorders, including the person who originally recorded the voices which were played to hoax the EVP in the first place.

More to come in part 3: Cold Readings

The original séances:
Beginning the late 1800’s séances and mediumistic parlor sittings were becoming a common experience in Europe and America. Traditionally these séances were held in rooms which, at some point of the séance, could be made totally dark. The stage magician F. Shields wrote:

“A dark room is necessary, and I do mean dark, dim or dusky will not do. If the séance is to succeed you must not be able to see the hand in front of the face.”

When it comes time for the “spirit” to make itself known it will be an absolute necessity to have a free hand. But how is this to be accomplished when hands are all on the table? Mentalist William Larson explains how to free your hand.

“Have each guest place his hands on the table in front of him. The fingers should be outstretched. The thumbs should be about three inches apart. The fourth, little finger of each hand should touch the fourth finger of the person next to them”.

By doing so a “psychic -circle” will be formed. Larson continues:

“If anyone of us tries to move a hand or hands, those next to him will know. When you are ready to “black out” the room you should request the guest at your right to do so. Have only one light in the room and make sure it is slightly behind you and to your right. The light is placed so that naturally when you make the request of your guest he will use his left hand. Now, however, instead of placing your right fourth finger on his left fourth finger, you span your left hand so that the left thumb is touching the left fourth finger of the guest at your right.”

Now, obviously all manner of trickery can happen in the dark since you have a free hand.

As early as 1900 “Tapping” had become all the rage at séances and it was commonly known throughout circles of practicing magicians that, as magician Stephen Trulow said, “five to six small beans placed in the mouth and blown one at a time to act as a response to a questioner can provide a variety of “taps” unequaled by spirits.”

Another “strange happening would be the appearance of small luminescent lights while the room was dark. The mentalist Dunninger talked about creating these spirit lights in his “Mystic Series” pamphlets.

“A piece of piece of black cardboard with a good daubing of luminous paint is placed under the medium’s shoe along the instep. Naturally this is kept towards the floor until the lights are turned off. The leg is then lifted and swung to and fro. The glowing object appears and responds to the mediums desires. The foot is of course returned to the floor when the lights are snapped back on.”

Now these are simply a few of the tricks that magicians, and some mediums, used in the deception of others. There are literally thousands more with many being very elaborate. The goal in revealing these “tricks” is so that a casual observer or even a well-versed researcher of the supernatural understands that in many instances deception is more easily created than you may think it is.

In part two of Haunted Hooey we’ll look at Dry Ice and Cold Readings. Stay Tuned.

5. Lil’ S.C.R.E.A.M.E.R.S
Follow the adventures of Supernatural Coalition Researching Eerie Anomalous Matters Everyday Really Seriously as they run around in the dark, scream and run away from the things they don’t understand. This dark gritty reality show takes viewers inside the real world of children who are basically just afraid of the dark. No one on the team is over the age of eight.

4. The House
In an effort to document the strange phenomena occurring on one of America’s most haunted houses a camera will be set up in the living room to broadcast 24 hours a day for 2 years. Viewers are invited to spend hours of their lives staring at the live-feed in the hopes that something will happen. Will it happen? What will happen? Watch and wait and watch…and wait.

3. Paranormal Beach
All of the best looking paranormal investigators in the country descend on one of the world’s most exotic beaches to exchange the information they’ve uncovered… while uncovering each other. Night-Vision has never before revealed images so startling…and sexy.

2. ParaPets
Every week viewers will watch clips of dogs, cats, birds and other pets freaking out at what might be paranormal phenomena but in many cases will be fireworks and loud trucks.

1. X-Treme Ghost Fighting
It looks like only one person is in the ring but wait for the battles to begin! No really, it’s mostly just one guy in a ring yelling at nothing and swinging his arms around, but maybe something will eventually happen!

I very rarely allow my lectures to be filmed.
It has much to do with the ever-changing and fluid nature of the ideas that are discussed during one of my talks. But, it also has to do with my respect and caring for the people who attend one of my lectures.

If you have ever seen me speak you know that I say,
“I know how this lecture starts and I know how it ends, but the middle is going to be brand new.”

This is because, I feel, people who take the time out of their lives to come and see me speak deserve something more than a stock PowerPoint presentation. People who want to come and help me build new ideas deserve to hear something no other crowd has ever heard before. Were I to stand in front of every crowd and mouth the same words, show the same photos, play the same recordings over and over again, I would expect no one to show up and I might as well just record the video of that lecture, post it, and never do a lecture again. Also, many times I don’t use a microphone or a podium; I like to wander about the audience and be close to everyone. It’s important to me that we actually see and hear each other. I let people interrupt me, correct me, question me and together we build ideas that perhaps we couldn’t have done alone. If I were dependant on PowerPoint or note cards, or if the projector was working, or not, I feel that I would be shackled and that my words were simply a script. People deserve more than that. On more than one occasion I have seen well-known persons in this field stumble through their presentations because a laptop crashed or notes were forgotten and I can’t help but think, can’t they talk openly, honestly, and informatively without notes?

I’m sure over time my memory will start to fail and long awkward pauses will find their way into my “lectures,” but when that happens I will be all too happy to stop, sit down in the crowd, and let someone else do the talking.
I just hope it isn’t something I’ve heard before.

The Expanding Case for the UFO – Morris Jessup
They Knew too much about Flying Saucers – Gray Barker
The Threat – David Jacobs
The UFO Evidence – Richard Hall
Passport to Magonia – Jacques & Janine Vallee
Operation Trojan Horse – John Keel
The Hynek UFO Report – J. Allen Hynek
Flying Saucer Occupants – Jim and Carol Lorenzen
Flying Saucers Top Secret – Donald Keyhoe
The Abduction Enigma – Kevin Randle, Russ Estes and William Cone