Gordon Smith: psychic demonstration or Cold Reading?

[Nasib]

She thinks something untoward may of happened because Gordon Smith said so ?

Not necessarily. It is clear now that there was indeed an Army inquiry/report carried out (see extract from TheTelegraph above). Whether Sally Perrin had full access to that report is not known, save for the resulting recommendation (which in itself provokes leading questions).

What is clear is that as of June 2008 (in a telephone interview with Swisster - link below), she was still expressing her frustration at the lack of communication conveyed to her from the relevant authorities.

http://www.swisster.ch/en/news/socie...her_117-368762

Geneva - 05 June 2008 | 17:01

Bodily remains recently found in the Arve River near Geneva may belong to a British army cadet officer who disappeared more than three years ago, his mother believes. In an interview with Swisster she expresses her frustration in trying to find out what really happened to her son.

>
But Sally Perrin said she is both puzzled and frustrated about not having been contacted by authorities about the find.
>
"I’m puzzled that they can’t put two and two together," said Perrin of the latest find. "It seemed obvious to me that it must have been Blake." It was only when she was contacted by Joseph Dancet *, a retired French engineer, that she learned of news reports that appeared last week about the skull.
>
The available evidence "just doesn’t stack up," she said.

*Joseph Dancet was the local who first reported seeing the body after 10 days.

[rainbows.]

[/SIZE]
It's hardly seeking out some hidden possibility, since the possibility was always quite obviously there, just rather unlikely.
It doesn't seem that there's actually any evidence which makes it significantly more likely to have happened than a first guess would suggest, except maybe to someone who is determined to read the evidence that way.

As an aside, I'd disagree that the most obvious is always the most likely. Sometimes the most likely explanation for something isn't the most obvious explanation to many people, maybe even to most people.
Indeed.
Where's would be the challenge for Gordon Smith in just trying to comfort a grieving parent, when instead he could drop hints as to other people's involvements in crimes despite a complete lack of evidence, while not having to take any responsibility for what he's saying.

Over to Tolman then -how do we know Gordon Smith dropped hints about other peoples involvement? Have i missed something?

[tolman]

Over to Tolman then -how do we know Gordon Smith dropped hints about other peoples involvement? Have i missed something?

He's supposedly claimed first that the son's spirit was avoiding saying things about what happened due to some code of honour (implying that there was something significant enough to be worth keeping quiet about), and then that there was an initial of someone who by implication, knows more than they're letting on.
See post #78

[rainbows.]

Ah yes- thankyou.Code of honour?I've never heard this mentioned by a medium until now.Perhaps there will be more detail about this code of honour in Gordons book which i take you won't be buying.

[tolman]

Perhaps there will be more detail about this code of honour in Gordons book which i take you won't be buying.

I thought it may have been some military code of honour Gordon was trying to allude to, to allow him to pretend he was in touch with a dead person, yet strangely unable to actually find anything out from them.

[rainbows.]

But perhaps Gordon did give Sally Perrin more information that we don't know about.

[bindeweede]

But perhaps Gordon did give Sally Perrin more information that we don't know about.

Thanks to KK for pointing this out. Gordon is on a cruise (possibly it has already happened) with other "psychic mediums" and "spiritual intuitives". [I wonder what the difference is.] I might have got this wrong, but one of the "intuitives" says, "... water amplifies intuition and psychic phenomena..."

I wonder how that works.



Still, a very pleasant way to take money from......er......the passengers.

Oh the sincerity.....isn't it just so "wholesome"?

[FarSideOfTheMoon]

Next she'll be telling them the word 'gullible' has been removed from the new version of the Oxford English Dictionary.

[skbuncks]

Thanks to KK for pointing this out. Gordon is on a cruise (possibly it has already happened) with other "psychic mediums" and "spiritual intuitives". [I wonder what the difference is.] I might have got this wrong, but one of the "intuitives" says, "... water amplifies intuition and psychic phenomena..."

I wonder how that works.



Still, a very pleasant way to take money from......er......the passengers.

Oh the sincerity.....isn't it just so "wholesome"?

Well, I managed 1min and 7 seconds before regurgitating my porridge.

skb

[NAMEandSHAME]

An independent source? Not really.

From that article:

www.ParanormalReview.com

is published by author and lecturer

ROY STEMMAN
who has written over 10 books on a variety of paranormal subjects

– from UFOs to parapsychology –

the most recent of which are:

SPIRIT COMMUNICATION (published 2005)

REINCARNATION: true stories of past lives (UK third edition, 2004)

also published in the US as ONE SOUL, MANY LIVES (2005)

and in Mexico as Reîncarnarea: povestea vietilor trecute (2005)

HEALERS AND HEALING (1999)


and whose journalistic associations have included

Psychic News, Alpha, Prediction and Life and Soul Magazine

That isn't exactly the most specific of descriptions. And it was already known that he went missing in the Chamonix area, a winter sports town, beside Mont Blanc.

There is a whole page of information here about his possible last movements, posted 11 days after he went missing. But he wasn't found until 3 years after that.

http://www.blakehartley.com/story.html

Pictures of a river he might have gone missing in:

http://www.blakehartley.com/Photosof...okslikenow.htm

Details of the searches carried out for him:

http://www.blakehartley.com/SearchDo...-April2005.htm

But anyway, back to Smith:



I'm no expert on recovering bodies from rivers, but it doesn't need a huge amount of knowledge about what fast flowing rivers do to imagine that the body was carried beyond the areas already searched.

We also only have Sally Perrin's recollection of what she was told. We aren't told if there were things he said that weren't true, and she may not remember things she was told exactly.

Smith was too busy to actually go and find the body though, wonders never cease with this man. What was he busy with? Workshops? Book signings? Too busy to put a family out of their misery?

I have my own views why he didn't go and didn't ask for publicity. Because he didn't have a clue where the body actually was, and he knew if the body was actually found the family would give him positive publicity anyway. And if it wasn't no one would know he played 20 questions with them.



What code of honour? I have never heard anything more ridiculous in my life. Nothing but excuses. He can't go because he's busy. He can't tell us what happened because of a 'code of honour'. Jesus Christ! Does Gordon run a workshop in making up excuses by any chance?

Dennis McKenzie is the lowlife who has tried to claim he 'solved' the Soham murders and promotes himself as the 'Soham Psychic. And he has a book called "Being The Soham Psychic" coming out later this year. A truly remarkable man indeed.

A past review of McKenzie's claims: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Being-Soham-...7710646&sr=8-9

Far from being remotely impressive, this article just proves further the lengths that psychics will go to to promote themselves of the back of other people's misery.

If you are reading anything by Roy Stemman you are seriously wasting your time. NEVER has there been such a nimble minded doufess with absolutely NO practical experience in the fields he pens his name to. He can write a tiny bit, and dips his pen in stupidity to ink utter BS. Get your information from those that actually have academic experience in your psychic and spiritual realms of interest, research experience that is FACTUAL (not his personal and shamefully limited comic book exposures) and have genuine demonstrable experience DOING the work. This guy is an utter fool. It is senseless that the UK hasn't run him out of the country ... there must be genuinely qualified and experienced people over there. This guy makes his money ONLY by dissing others, ... he has absolutely NO CREDIBILITY, WHATSOEVER. He is useless because he understands nothing about the realms of consciousness, and has less than zero practical experience. He can only denounce those that the qualities he admires so greatly, but lacks completely.
Please find someome knowledgeable to help you with these subjects, this is scraping the bottom of the barrel in the worst way.

[Nasib]

If you are reading anything by Roy Stemman you are seriously wasting your time. NEVER has there been such a nimble minded doufess with absolutely NO practical experience in the fields he pens his name to. He can write a tiny bit, and dips his pen in stupidity to ink utter BS. Get your information from those that actually have academic experience in your psychic and spiritual realms of interest, research experience that is FACTUAL (not his personal and shamefully limited comic book exposures) and have genuine demonstrable experience DOING the work. This guy is an utter fool. It is senseless that the UK hasn't run him out of the country ... there must be genuinely qualified and experienced people over there. This guy makes his money ONLY by dissing others, ... he has absolutely NO CREDIBILITY, WHATSOEVER. He is useless because he understands nothing about the realms of consciousness, and has less than zero practical experience. He can only denounce those that the qualities he admires so greatly, but lacks completely.
Please find someome knowledgeable to help you with these subjects, this is scraping the bottom of the barrel in the worst way.

Interesting choice of username, considering this is precisely what Roy Stemman has done here:

Time to name and shame?
http://www.paranormalreview.com/medi...ame-and-shame/

I said it was time to name and shame – and that is what I have done. But given the preposterous nature of their claims, I doubt that shame is a word that exists in their joint vocabulary. And if it does, it presumably translates immediately to “fame”.

Incidentally, this 'anonymous' comment review to to one of Roy Stemman's publications looks familiar - word for word the comments of NAMEandSHAME here:

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/One.../9781569754696


I wonder if poster NAMEandSHAME might have a particular personal beef to chew over ...

[polomint38]

I wonder if poster NAMEandSHAME might have a particular personal beef to chew over ...

You are possibly (although very close to definitely) right about that.

P.S.
If you are ever in my area, pop in for some of my stroganoff, that will give you some beef to chew over.

[Nasib]

If you are ever in my area, pop in for some of my stroganoff, that will give you some beef to chew over.

Thanks, polomint - but I quite like your cute little avatar where it is.

[dandelion]

[QUOTE=Dubious Dick;56617]Cold reading but of a relatively high standard. Makes his excuses at the outset. Usual heart problems. The woman then says respiratory and Smith then talks about an oxygen mask. Most of the rest seems to be easy stuff. Just good odds guessing.

Would be good to transcribe and go through line by line, but in absence of that would also point out the references to Police/missing persons work in the interview. He looks down and briefly touches his nose which are classic signs of lying.


the sign of a tv medium lying is when their lips are moving.

[Nasib]

the sign of a tv medium lying is when their lips are moving.

Really, dandelion? Is that a proven fact then?
Did you know that the French translation of dandelion is piss-taker? Or is it .. um ..
pissenlit -yes, that's it ... 'wet the bed'. I knew it was something connected ... (Just another useless piece of info.)