Latest news with #medium
News.com.au
05-07-2025
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
Chilling confessions of celebrity psychic John Edward
He's one of the most successful psychic mediums of all time. A man who — during a career spanning more than 30 years — has captivated audiences globally, thanks to his hit TV show Crossing Over, numerous best-selling books and a string of sellout stage shows around the world. During this time John Edward has brought a fresh, honest and thought provoking attitude to the world of psychic phenomena, as well as becoming the go-to psychic for some of Hollywood's biggest names, from Oprah to Kim Kardashian. And while he's the poster boy for psychics now, when he was first told that he had these otherworldly abilities, John was the ultimate cynic. A reluctant teenage psychic Raised on Long Island, New York, signs of John's abilities were apparent from an early age with family members often remarking on his uncanny knowledge of past events and family history. 'When I had the reading that put me on my path I thought the woman was crazy,' he tells 'I didn't even have any interest in the subject, whatsoever. 'In fact, I was a cynic — the biggest! My dad was a military guy and this was not something that he was a fan of, so I adopted some of his condescending, sarcastic manner towards it. 'I was the one heckling and pulling apart the readings that I'd see at my grandma's house.' However, after accepting his gift and honing it, John soon realised that — in addition to being psychic — he could also talk to the dead. 'That part kicked in two years later around the age of 17,' he says of his medium abilities. 'I had a very vivid premonition about my uncle passing — he was only 52 at the time. I remember trying to stop it and I couldn't, which was my first experience of realising that I can't stop what I know is going to happen. 'Right before he passed, I started to get many names during readings and I gradually realised that these names belonged to people who were all dead. I didn't understand what was happening, but it was like a switch had been flicked on.' Working with the FBI John published his first book in 1998 and then, three short years later, he was catapulted to stardom via his Crossing Over TV show, which was broadcast to millions. But away from the bright lights of the TV studio and the glossy magazines that interviewed him, the psychic had a secret sideline: he was helping FBI agent, Bob Hilland, solve cold cases. 'In 1998 this FBI guy came to me under the guise of a case,' he recalls. 'In reality he had heard me on local radio, which I was on a lot. 'And it used to anger him that they were giving me airtime because he felt that I wasn't legitimate and that I was taking advantage of people. So he took it upon himself to take me down. 'He came with a real case and, very quickly within that session, I was able to give him accurate information on the case that I couldn't have possibly have known. 'I then I wound up reading for him and I gave him information that he didn't know about his own actual family.' What followed was a working relationship that spanned more than 25 years and numerous cases. 'Bob would call me up and say something like: 'I'm working on a case and there's a woman that's missing.'' he explains. 'And that's all he would give me. And then my spirit guides would come in and they would give me information.' Catching a killer While the pair collaborated across many cases it was the infamous 'John Smith' murders that would come to define their time together. Committed by John David Smith III — who was convicted in 2001 for the murder of his first wife whose dismembered remains were found in a box and later indicted for the murder of his second wife — he murders were unsolved for decades until John began to assist on the case. And it's this investigation that is being charted in a new book co-authored between John and Bob entitled, Chasing Evil. 'I'm only telling people now as enough time has passed that my life will no longer be threatened by some of the people connected to the cases,' says John. 'Those people are behind bars now.' Slated for release in September, the book reveals for the first time how a sceptical FBI agent reached out to a famous psychic for help on the baffling case. But, when it comes to his technique for psychic sleuthing, how does it work? 'When I'm in the zone I've already meditated, prayed and put myself in the position of protecting my energy psychically, then spirits will give me words, thoughts, images and feelings,' John explains of the process. 'It's kind of like a psychic sign language — I have to put the pieces together and figure out what the message is. 'Bob would call me and say, for example: 'okay, I'm going to be doing the polygraph on this case — give me the insights that's going to help break the guy,'' he says. 'I am very clear: I didn't solve anything. Bob solved his cases. All I did was give him insights and how he worked with those insights helped him to successfully gain outcomes. 'I hope that this book gives people the window into possibilities so that if there are other psychics or mediums or people out there that can utilise their abilities to help law enforcement, it'll be taken with credibility and serious and seriously.' The downsides of the gift As you might expect, being immersed in the disturbing world of crime and killers can take its toll. 'When you're navigating a serial killer case and you're being taken on a journey of a timeline of what's happened you get a window into the mind of someone that can do something so pathologically dark,' he admits. 'It shows you, or showed me, the malleability of the human personality when they're that twisted. I wouldn't say that it's a dark energy … I would say that it's more of a pathology. Like these are people that are broken. These are people that have psychologically or physiologically have something pathologically wrong with them to be able to do some of the things that they've done.' As the original 'celebrity psychic' John faced 'stress, accusations and death threats' during his small screen heyday. But, despite decades having passed since calling time on Crossing Over, the psychic says that he's still guarded in his personal life. 'I'm still very guarded,' he admits. 'My family circle is very tight knit, which tends to lead to anxiety about this book coming out because I don't want any retaliatory stuff coming at me. So that's exactly where the core anxiety is coming from. You know, I've seen too much. I know too much.' Gearing up for an Australian tour Away from the limelight and fanfare, John's real life mission is helping grieving people across the world by bringing messages of comfort and hope from their departed loved ones through his global tours. And at the top of his list is Australia. 'My love of Australia is no secret,' he says. 'It's my favourite destination and I can't wait to get back there. I almost felt like I'm cheating on my country,' he chuckles. 'Because I have such a feeling of being connected here. The intersection with the audience is amazing in Australia — the energy here and the community vibe is so unique.' His most terrifying encounter As John's tour of Australia is in the midst of spooky season our chat turns to Halloween — and the related ghosts, ghouls and things that go bump in the night. Turns out, despite the fact that the celebrity psychic has made a career out of talking to the dead, it doesn't mean that he isn't scared of spooks. 'In my 30 years of doing this, I've only had one experience where I truly believe the house as haunted,' he says. 'In 1987, my cousin moved from the city to the same suburb as me. I remember the first time I went to his new house, I arrived needing the bathroom and my cousin told me to use one downstairs as there was construction going on elsewhere. 'I went into the room and literally had performance anxiety — I couldn't pee! I felt like I had four people watching me, all of whom wanted me to leave. 'That was just the beginning. Weird stuff started to happen in the house: noises at night, glass breaking, things moving. You could write a book on our experiences. During my last visit, I was alone and I remember sitting down near the fireplace and looking at a battery-operated musical clown ornament. I picked it up and saw that there were no batteries in it. Anyway, seconds after putting it down, the clown started to play music. I ran out of there and told my cousin that I wouldn't be coming back!'
Daily Mail
29-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
I'm a professional exorcist - this is what the movies get wrong and the people who are most likely to get possessed
A professional exorcist has debunked movie myths and revealed the people who are most likely to get possessed by 'demons'. Ralph Keeton, a medium and exorcist from Hull with more than 25 years of experience under his belt, went on the People Are Deep podcast to share his stories of apparently communicating with spirits. The interviewer on the show spoke about the 1973 supernatural film The Exorcist which follows a young girl who has become possessed after playing with an Ouija board. In one scene, she is filmed sitting up as her head spins around and she is also seen throwing up green vomit while having a violent fit - but this is an inaccurate depiction of a possession, according to Ralph. He said: 'It's much more of a natural phenomenon. On a very rare case is someone lifted or moved around a property. 'Most of the time, it's more physical things happening to a person. So it's like an object hitting you or a lesion coming onto your skin or mental breakdowns. 'It's things that are more common. That case with the film, I've never witnessed anything like that.' Ralph gave an example of one of his rarer cases where he dealt with a woman who had 'a sexual ghost attacking her'. He said: 'When you see fingerprints on skin, legs being pulled apart and lifted up and dragged, you can't tell me that's her doing it because we couldn't physically stop it. It was a case of me getting a hold of her and then deciding what we were going to do. 'It's a hard concept for anyone to get their head around because this type of stuff exists in CGI and films and things like that. When it's happening in real life, it's a whole new ball game.' During the chat, Ralph revealed that 'weak' individuals are the most likely to apparently get possessed as they will likely allow the spirit to take over their bodies. He said: 'You've got to be quite weak-willed for it to happen because you need to let someone take control of you. In most cases in life as a human being, you naturally go against that. 'I don't know about you, but when someone says "No" to me, I say "What do you mean, no?" But they will try and take over you.' The experienced medium said that it can be challenging to get rid of an energy once it has taken over someone's body. 'Once an energy is gone, it's like a bereavement. In half the cases I've dealt with, a lot of people are half expecting it to come back,' he added. 'Well if you're half expecting it back, you're half bringing it back again. So I've got to literally deal with this and tell people once it's gone, it's not coming back.' He spoke about how much attitudes towards 'demons' and 'spirits' have changed over the years admitting that possessed individuals would be seen as 'mentally ill in the old days'. 'Today, there are thankfully processes in place to see if that person is anguished or not,' he added. Ralph said it can usually take months or even years to heal someone from a 'demon', adding that his longest client has been seeing him for 25 years. He claimed: 'There's a young lady up in Edinburgh who can't have a working life because her bones go floppy. 'Hard concept but you've got a very strong bone in your arm, but when it turns to rubber and it flops and you're moved into different angles, you're looking at a different kind of energy and this energy won't leave her alone, it torments her. 'It doesn't do it every day, but when it comes in, it's devastating for her. I certainly can't get to the bottom of it, there's a fair few of us dealing with it and we've got professors of medicine with her trying to find out what this is.' Despite several people attempting to assess this woman to help her live a normal life, Ralph said she is still experiencing the problem and cannot control it. 'It's an energy form that will, in time, dissipate but it's 25 years on and it's still playing,' he added.
Daily Mail
15-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Celebrity psychic John Edward reveals how abortion confession led to him NEVER doing readings live on air
Celebrity psychic John Edward is in Australia for a series of his famous live medium events in the coming weeks. But the American mystic left the stars of The Project less than impressed when he refused to do a reading live on air on Sunday night. The 55-year-old was asked by host Sam Taunton, 'are you feeling anything from anyone at the desk right now?' 'Not at the moment, not at the moment' Edwards admitted, to which co-host Waleed Aly replied, 'Well I could have done that!' The mockery sparked laughter from the show's panel of hosts, leaving a red-faced Edward to explain why he won't do readings live on television. From A-list scandals and red carpet mishaps to exclusive pictures and viral moments, subscribe to the DailyMail's new showbiz newsletter to stay in the loop. 'I tell you why. If I read for a host of a show and I get something private, this is not taped, it's live, and it's not something that someone wants to discuss publicly, you're going to say no' he said. 'I've had a bad experience. On radio, many, many years ago. I was reading for a Christian conservative host of a radio show. 'He said, "I have legacy in the marketplace, my audience knows everything about me". I said, "okay." 'He was being very difficult. In the commercial break, I said, does your audience know you decided not to to have a fifth child and terminate the pregnancy? 'He was like, "no". I asked him, "If I would have said that on the air, what would you have said? [he replied] "I would have had to lie because my mother-in-law listens to the show."' John recently has issued a strong message to his non-believers. Speaking to The Daily Telegraph, the medium said he has no qualms about people questioning his abilities - as they have done for decades - but only if they are willing to open their mind. 'I think we're living at a time on the planet where people's critical thinking skills need to be really sharpened and addressed because of whatever the latest AI thing that's happening or just social media – so I think it's really important for people to go, "hey, wait, I'm not sure, let me see what kind of validation is there"' he said. 'So I welcome it [scepticism] – it's important – as long as we can have a conversation about it. 'But when somebody pushes a little bit too much more, then I have to push back, and I have to be like 'woah – you can't define me, you don't know me'. The New York native also said that he can't wait to return to Australia, as he has always loved the country's 'energy'. He praised the nation's strong sense of community and said Australians always make him feel welcome when he visits. Edward rose to fame in 2001 with his controversial Crossing Over program, in which he claimed to speak to the deceased relatives of audience members. His supposed psychic abilities have been dismissed by many, with critics claiming the reality star is merely practicing a form of cold reading. He has been married to Sandra McGee since 1995 and the couple share two children: son Justin and daughter Olivia. Back in 2017, Edward told that he never set out to be a celebrity and that it simply happened as a result of his psychic abilities. 'I never woke up and decided, 'I'm going to be a world famous medium',' John said.
Daily Mail
08-06-2025
- General
- Daily Mail
The day my dead daughter visited me from the spirit world and gave me irrefutable evidence to prove it. Military chief SUZANNE GIESMANN'S family tragedy changed her life. Now she tells how our loved ones never really leave
When I became a medium, the messages I was given by the spirits sounded so much like my own thoughts that it was often hard to distinguish them as coming from a separate entity. But the voice I heard one morning in 2009 was unmistakable. Although it had been three years since I had heard my stepdaughter Susan speak, the tone and inflection brought her back to me as vividly as if she had never been struck by the lightning bolt that killed her and her unborn baby.
Daily Mail
07-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
I paid a psychic £130 to try and communicate with my dead mother... this is what happened
I don't know what I was expecting… but to be left crying and filled with regret at how much I'd paid wasn't it. A few weeks earlier, I decided to book an appointment to have a one-hour tarot card reading with a woman who describes herself as a psychic and medium. A friend had recently tried it and said how uplifting it was, and a year earlier I'd watched a woman on TikTok discuss her 'eerily accurate' reading. It just so happened they both went to the same place in London - I took it as a sign. Around 40 minutes before my appointment, the psychic - who I shall called Harriet - calls me to apologise that she's running late as there is an issue with the Tubes. Cue my friend's 'she didn't see that coming' text… Alas, another reason I'd wanted to give this a go was down to Michael McIntyre. In his autobiography, the comedian tells how on a whim his then-19-year-old mother goes to a tarot card reading with a psychic who tells her she's pregnant, it will be a son and he will be 'word-famous'. When we finally start, Harriet tells me how honoured she is to be giving me my first reading. Gentle music plays in the background and the room is full of crystals. 'The spirit brings me the right person at the right time.' Harriet assures me she won't deliver 'scary' or ominous news but that 'every message that comes through is what you need to hear' although 'sometimes not what you want to hear.' 'I see you looking out a bus window, wistfully,' she begins. Harriet wasn't kidding about it not always being what you want to hear. 'Most people come in when they are at a crossroads in their life. But you feel like you've got it. You've got an underlying sense of what is going to change and what's coming in. We need some reassurance.' Harriet begins with my career. 'I just get changes,' she says. 'But sometimes not in the way you want - and not in a good way.' Hang on, Harriet. I thought you weren't meant to deliver bad news… 'There's a feeling of 'I need to change'. Maybe relocation.' Hmm, I ponder, I am quite happy in London and have no desire to move from my lovely flat. So where did she have in mind? A cottage in the countryside? A villa in the sunnier climes of Portugal? 'Manchester,' Harriet signals her spirit guide is telling her. Oh. I've never thought twice about that part of the country. I am from the south originally, so Manchester seems quite a rogue choice but you never know in the distant future… 'Two months. End of August,' Harriet confirms. Crikey. I'm locked into a contract on my flat until next year so that could be problematic. 'You're about to jump on that train,' she continues. Note, I have upgraded from a bus. 'I feel like it's the same field, same kind of work but it's just broader. More of a place you can get to the top, that you can spread your wings and develop.' Ok, well this sounds more promising. 'It feels like you have a bit of a coach around you,' Harriet continues as she 'tunes in with my energy and her team of spirits'. 'This spirit pushing you and giving you all these wonderful words: 'that's the name of the game', 'we're going to go for it'. It feels like they've been with you for quite a while. It feels like a female spirit that's around you. Do you feel like that.' Er.. no I don't. 'Sometimes you might be given a message that this isn't the right time and you have to wait six months or so. But opportunities are coming sooner rather than later.' So what are the spirit guides telling Harriet my next career move could be? 'Behind the scenes, I see scripts,' she says. 'Have you ever worked in the theatrical arts? I'm seeing theatre and dialogue. It does feel like it's something unexpected. And colourful, I see a lot of colour around what you're writing. Explosions of colours around it.' I continue to listen, puzzled, I have never worked in theatre and it's never appealed to me. 'I'm also getting the message keep some mystery and secrecy around what you're doing. You've got some really good ideas that are not quite ready to be revealed.' I must already be doing such a good job of keeping some mystery, I'm leaving myself in the dark. 'I'm getting your mum,' Harriet then says. A lump forms in my throat. 'Feels like you have support there.' Now might be the time to confess another reason I found myself sitting in front of the psychic was because of my mum. She died last year from cancer and I have been bereft without her ever since and desperate to somehow feel close to her again. 'She steadies you,' Harriet says. 'Feels like a steady relationship. You can confide in her. And that will be stabilising. 'She feels like she can be an ally through this process. If nothing else really giving you some encouragement. But also she'll catch you if you fall is what I hear. You don't have a lot to lose by taking a leap of faith here. She's got your back.' At this point I'm feeling both emotional and awkward. My mum was all of those things, but I can't bring myself to say anything to Harriet. But then it gets worse… 'I'm seeing your mum again,' she says. 'Have you ever travelled with your mum? Maybe it would be a nice time for you two to go do something nice together, even if it's a long weekend. Because when you're around your mum's energy it does change your reality.' Ah the real kick in the teeth. I'm too polite to say anything. Could it get any worse? Yes. Harriet pulls out the death card… supposedly it doesn't represent death, but the end of something, it follows the marriage card. Reassuring. The card showing people being stabbed in the back also makes an appearance, plus the one showing a man barely able to walk and 'left outside in the cold'. I make a mental note to quiz my friend again who found her reading 'uplifting'. It dawns on me how foolish I was to think my mum would send a message to me via a random woman in a rented room in London, or how she could actually predict my future. I message my brother in tears feeling silly. He swiftly brings me down to earth. 'How much did you pay for that b*******?,' he replies. 'Everything she said is complete chance and guess work. It means nothing.' He's right. Sigh, what a waste of £130 - but a lesson learned*. *Unless in August I am working at a theatre in Manchester after going on holiday with my mum who has returned from the dead…
