George Anderson and Allison Dubois-are they frauds?

Chronos

Many studies have been done, and many tax dollars spent seeking the 'men in black'. They all come up empty. Either the real psychics have an aversion to being rigorously tested, or they do not exist. Randi still has his million dollars laying on the table for the taking. Connect the dots.

Ivan Seeking

Or, if such things exist, psychic phenomena cannot be produced on demand.

To debunk obvious charlatans is not to discredit all claims.

SGT

How many of those prophetic dreams do you have every month? How many dreams do you have that are not prophetic?
You probably have a statistics for the former, but not for the latest. You naturally forget the dreams that don´t come true. This is called selective thinking.

SGT

Of course not. You can´t prove a universal negative. Even if you could debunk every alleged psychic phenomenon, this would not prove that psychic phenomena don´t exist.

Ivan Seeking

The point is that there are compelling claims that are completely separate from the TV psychics. They cannot all be lumped together.

I am impressed by some police cases where "psychics" found bodies.

setAI

a comment about selective biases: there is an obvious fallacy about selective bias that I never see discussed when you consider the detail of a precognitive event- looking at the body of anecdotal accounts- most precog events are not merely just another dream or random thought- when witnesses describe experiencing themselves a precog dream/vision or are present when someone else has one they usually describe a VERY INTENSE and UNIQUE sensation of alarm/anxiety/euphoria- and CERTAINTY that they saw something true- a feeling that overrides even the most rational thinkers with an overpowering sense of doom or importance- when one only considers these intense events/dreams one finds that an overwhelming majority of them were nontrivially accurate-

the error is in simply in thinking that a selection bias from all the normal experiences should be considered- the intensity of the feeling of such an event does not come into being AFTER it seems it was accurate- there simply isn't many cases of such a powerful mental event turning out to be false- it is only the random and forgettable experiences in which a selection bias could be observed- if ACTUAL precog events where prone to a selection bias there should be many cases where we experience profound life-changing visions that turn out false- but this doesn't happen really at all- except in diagnosed schizoid disorders- one simply does not see or hear about people who are rational educated and level-headed experiencing a singular intense precog event that turns out completely false- yet there are millions of reports of people having unique and powerful experiences like nothing they had ever experienced that turn out accurate

Burnsys

Volcano eruptions and tornados also can't be produced on demand, but we have plenty of documented evidence of their existence

SGT

Do you have a citation for those millions of reports? A simgle one in which the life changing vision has been reporter prior the event?

Ivan Seeking

Volcanos are tornados are a little hard to miss.

omamel

I can not provide a citation for millions of reports, but I can share with you 2 personal experiences which were not life changing, but were none the less profound.

The first occurred when I was a 7 year old living in Riverside California. One night I had a vivid dream about burning garbage in an incenerator including a comic book that I owned at the time. In my dream I did not recognize the house or neighborhood in which we lived, but when I woke up the next morning I told my parents about the dream describing all of the details I could recall including the house numbers. A few months later we moved to Fort Collins, Colorado. Our first house there was a nondescript box of a house. About 6 months later we moved to another house on the other side of town. My mother sent me across the street to the incenerator. As I emptied the bag of garbage into the flames out came the comic book I had first noticed in my dream. I looked up and saw the full front of our house for the first time. It was the house of my dream including the numbers and surrounding homes. I excitedly called to my dad in the front yard. I reminded him of the dream and he started pointing out details from the dream that he recalled such as the plants in the yard and my brother's tricycle in the front yard.

Several years later as a married mother of two small children I moved with my husband to Fort Meade Maryland. A few days after we moved in I had a dream about going to an apartment for an informal get together. I dreamed all of the details of the apartment and building inside and out, where we parked, the people and food at the party, and the conversation. I even dreamed about the host, a man I had never met, sitting on a plaid sofa and asking the names of our children and as he crossed his legs I could see his argyle socks. The dream was so detailed and so vivid that when I woke up I shared every detail with my husband.

That Sunday on the way home from church my husband said that he had run into a friend of his from California who was also stationed at Fort Meade. Kevin, my husband's friend who I had never met, had invited us to his apartment Monday evening for a small get together. As soon as we parked in front of the building we both knew it was the place I had seen in my dream. When Kevin opened the apartment door he looked exactly as I had described to my husband including glasses and a haircut which were new since my husband had seen him on Sunday and all of the other people and food and conversation were exactly what I had dreamed right down to the plaid sofa, conversation, crossed legs, and argyle socks.

I have no explanation for what I experienced and I did not have dreams that I needed to act on or had any significance in any way. There is no scientific evidence for what I dreamed, only my word and the words of my dad and husband. I would be interested in others' ideas regarding those types of experiences.

Zeckery

I had a reading with George Anderson in 2004 after I lost a loved one to suicide. He immediately told me my grandmother had come through and said how close we had been (true). He knew she was Hispanic, though I look totally caucasion. He then said the "loved one I was hoping ot hear from was present" and had taken their own life (true), and that we had shared pets together that were also on the other side (true).

He then said my loved one said thank you for the tree memorial (true - it was a poem read at the memorial using a tree as a metaphor)... There were many, many more incredible details including names of other people I knew that had passed and I recorded the session on audio tape.

I was encouraged when booking to use a fake name, and I provided no details beforehand. Anderson was pretty much on-target about everything - including the little details that only myself and my departed loved ones shared. This man is the real thing, without any doubt whatsoever in my mind, but everyone has to decide for themselves.

Mech_Engineer

Cold readings are never that specific. I'm quite sure the "psychic" mined data about you before beginning the "reading," whether you were aware of it or not.

russ_watters

...or perhaps holes were filled-in by Zeckery during the reading. As we've discussed, the key to a good cold reading is to lead the subject to providing the answers without realizing they are doing it. Since we don't get to see/hear what exactly happened, though, it is tough to evaluate the claim.

annie100

Still not sure what I believe. Want to believe that my dog and others are waiting for me--but just not sure. Have never had a reading, but not sure about that either.

VFrost

I realize that this thread was started years ago, but if you google "Medium George Anderson" it shows right up at the top, so I felt compelled to sign up, sign in and comment. I have NEVER seen George Anderson on any t.v. program, or in person. In actuality I have only finished 3/4 of his book Lessons From Light and I am moved beyond belief. Before you go calling him a fake or a fraud, try reading his story. His messages of hope to the bereaved, and to anyone else who is just curious, are AMAZING. I actually wrote to his web site to tell them I learned so much about "Life" in reading his book that I feel it is life changing. Don't be skeptical until you read at least one of his books, and then tell me you are still skeptical. We all miss so many signs from the hereafter. This is your chance to get a small glimpse of peace through his eyes.

hokie1

Holy guacamole! My dad always told me that just because it was in print did not make it true. Looking for a book such as you mention and finding someone who vindicates your point of view is doing what comes naturally to all people. Finding what you believe is supporting evidence and avoiding contrary evidence is being human.

I have no doubt that George Anderson is a great entertainer. That's what he is.

People have been swayed since at least Rhine's time at Duke. The experiments and testing were intoxicating to say the least. Then again the results were never duplicated. Was Rhine duped? Probably.

Messages of hope, messages of amazement, messages of courage, life, healing, personal bravery, messages of trust and good feelings are the essence of all this since well before words could be written.

Is it wrong if it makes us feel good? Is it wrong if it makes us happy? No, not at all. Is it wrong to call it science or factual? Probably. So why go there.

VFrost

I absolutely agree with the above statement. I have always told my children not to believe everything they hear on television, print, or out of someone's mouth, but sometimes the things you DO believe, must come only from FAITH! Unfortunately, I realize this forum is dedicated to science, but even scientists can't explain everything. But if you want to add some science here, I have since finished reading Lessons From the Light and am now on to George Anderson's book Walking In the Garden of Souls.

There are several times that Mr. Anderson has allowed himself to be challenged or "experimented" on when he is "discerning" or reading someone. At one university they hooked him up to all kinds of things that could read brain waves. They found that when he was speaking to a soul in the hereafter that his brain waves were registering a "sleep state" even though he was completely awake.

Another thing that Mr. Anderson says about skeptics is that generally they will remain skeptics even if given proof, that is a message from a loved one passed on that might be information only they would know. I believe that some people don't want to believe anything and that is their choice in this life. Again, I suggest anyone who wants to criticize or be skeptical of Mr. Anderson should read one of his books first. I wasn't "looking" for this book, or any type of book like this, but it came my way and I read it. I am blessed for that, but that is another "faith" issue so I will finish up on that note. The funny thing that he says that the souls say about skeptics is that "they will all have to come to the hereafter someday, and then they will have their proof".