From beyond the grave

Ghost?

There has been some media coverage in Perth recently concerning the so-called “Psychic Taskforce”, a show put on at the Burswood Ballroom in September, promising audience readings and messages from beyond the grave. Consisting of three members Anthony Grezlka, Scott Russell Hill and Deb Malone the “Psychic Taskforce” claimed, among other things, completely unsupported by any form of evidence, to know the identity of the Claremont Serial Killer. It would be impossible to describe this group as anything other than fraudulent and irresponsible.

Were Grezkla, Hill and Malone content to limit their actions to the entertainment of an audience with cold reading and other such tricks then there performance be considered harmless fun. However, to claim that they have identified the Claremont Serial Killer is reckless and damaging.

The deaths of three young women, Sarah Spiers, Jane Rimmer and Ciara Glennon between January 1996 and March 1997, in the Perth suburb of Claremont led to high-profile, comprehensive, but ultimately fruitless police investigation. While a number of suspects were identified no arrests were made.

For the “Psychic Taskforce” to make such spurious assertions is obviously nothing more than a stunt to raise the profiles of the members of the group. Unless they have information that has not been made available to the police, by which I mean information not received from “beyond”, there is absolutely no way that they can have established the information that they claim to have, including a drawing of the killer, the make and colour of his car and his name.

Their claims create the very real possibility that the police may spend time and energy searching for a person who doesn’t exist. It is dangerous too as, by creating in the public mind an image of the killer, it could potentially remove suspicion from the real murderer. It is irresponsible in another way too. Such wild assertions can cause the families of the victims to have a false hope.  Sarah Spier’s father, having previously been the victim of people purporting to have psychic powers, refuses to even consider the spurious claims and dismisses psychics as powerless. Good for him. The police have apparently refused to comment. What they should have done is said, outright, that they do not accept information from psychics or mediums without some form of verifiable evidence.

There is absolutely no empirical, verifiable  evidence of the claims of psychics. The main reasons for the continued belief in something so obviously dubious is the seeming accuracy of psychic predictions and readings and the apparently tiny odds of such predictions being correct by chance. If enough predictions are made then it is likely that some will be accurate. The accuracy of psychic predictions is also over stated, often predictions are so vague that when interpreted in light of subsequent events they can be moulded to fit. In many cases the “prediction” is revealed subsequent to events, with little or no evidence that the prediction actually preceded the event.

With regard to the accuracy of psychic readings many people don’t realise of understand the psychic’s practice of cold reading. According to the The Skeptic’s Dictionary cold reading “refers to the set of techniques used by professional manipulators to get a subject to behave in a certain way or to think that the cold reader has some sort of special ability that allows him to ‘mysteriously’ know things about the subject.” Cold reading relies upon the subject’s normal human weaknesses of searching for meaning, general self-centredness and the unrealistic views that people tend to hold of themselves.

In a psychic reading the psychic will make vague statements about the subject. Positive responses by the subject are reinforced while negative responses are glossed over used to plant seeds in the subject’s mind. For example the psychic may say something like “I’m getting a strong feeling about an elderly female.” Combined with the subject’s tendency to recall the hits and forget or set aside the misses they are likely to be left with the feeling of amazement that the psychic knew a range of information that they couldn’t possibly have known.

The brand of chicanery practised by Grzelka and his ilk is aided by the desperate desire of the client to contact a relative who has passed to “the other side”. The odds are in the medium’s favour that the client will find some meaning in the medium’s broad statements. The onus is on the client to piece together the vague information provided. Medium’s may also use hot reading. In this technique they use prior knowledge of the client to inform their reading. If a psychic is aware that, for example, a couple has lost a son through suicide, then it is fairly easy to imagine who the psychic will “contact”. It is quite to easy to imagine that prior to a reading the psychic or one of their associates may have conversations with the subject(s) and glean information.

Psychics often make use of a sound knowledge of statistical facts as relate to people’s age, sex, religion, race and use this combined with information about the client to make educated guesses.

On his website Anthony Grzelka touts himself as “Australia’s Own Medium”. He apparently uses his gift to “heal the living with messages of hope from loved ones who have passed”. Anthony is endorsed by James Van Praagh a Californian who also claims to have psychic powers. With endorsements like this it is hard to dispute Anthony’s amazing powers.

According to the biography on his website Grzelka began to hear voices at the age of five but understood that to tell anyone as his Catholic family might cause him to be dragged him off to a priest. Amazing reasoning for a 5 year old. Perhaps, had he told his family, he might have been taken to a psychiatrist as is normal when people hear voices.  In his description of his later life, including boasts of being “King” on the sporting field and a foray into politics, Grzelka seems to have a lack of direction. It was not until he met his wife Vikii that he apparently hit upon the idea of using his “powers” to make money.

A search for the his company, Opalmoon Nominees Pty Ltd, reveals that until 2005 it traded as The Kebab Company Bunbury Forum. Obviously tiring of the food trade Grzelka, who omits this information from his biography, must have decided that the paranormal was an easier way to make a living.

The other members of the “Psychic Taskforce”, Scott Russell Hill and Deb Malone, make similar claims to Grzelka.

Hill features on the commercial radio station, Nova, with puerile radio hosts, Nathan Morris and Natalie Locke. On Hill’s website he claims to have predicted, in 1996, the terror attacks on America on 11 September, 2001, the Concord crash in France in 2000 and the death of Princess Diana. Unfortunately there seems to be no evidence that he actually made any such predictions. It seems that Hill uses his “powers” for personal gain and celebrity rather than helping people.

Hill has appeared on the television program “Sensing Murder” in addition to doing the rounds of the commercial networks’ “current affairs” programs. It seems that he is no stranger to the media having worked in radio since the late 1970s.

Debbie Malone (NSW Psychic of the Year, 2005) claims to be a spirit medium and photographer. Like her male counterparts she preys on human gullibility to line her pockets. In addition to nonsensical and spurious claims on her website Malone also uses her “powers” to gain celebrity. The spirit photography section of her website features a lot of photos, obviously taken on a long or bulb exposure with moving lights, and supposed to be images of spirit guides. Malone’s are poor examples of the type. For better quality fakes check out the ghosts pool on Flickr.  Debbie also appeared on the television program “Sensing Murder”

Psychics do not possess powers that enable them to communicate with the dead, predict the future, read your mind or any other paranormal talents. They are able to make educated guesses and use this information in combination with a variety of techniques to make people, often vulnerable and at difficult stages in their life (otherwise why consult a psychic), believe them. Psychics are allowed to enter casinos and play the lottery. Psychics can’t avoid accidents and avoid calamities. Psychics, were they actually in possession of knowledge of the future, would be taken seriously and their knowledge used for good. At best they are harmless entertainment, such as tarot readings (although I don’t consider it entertaining or harmless), at worst they are irresponsible, preying on people’s desperation and human gullibility.

The James Randi Educational Foundation, a leading skeptic body, has a US$1,000,000 prize on offer to anybody “who can show, under proper observing conditions, evidence of any paranormal, supernatural, or occult power or event”. Further The Australian Skeptics offer a AU$100,000 prize and “challenge people who claim to have extraordinary powers to demonstrate their ability under test conditions” in order to claim it. Perhaps the “Skeptic Taskforce” should claim the money.