Went to a Psychic Show

Well, I have done what a lot of believers have asked all of us sceptics to do, and went to a Psychic show.
I went on Friday night 20/11/09 and saw, Ezio De Angelis.
He is one of the Psychics from "The One".
Here is his interview with Ghost Radio
Ghost Radio interview

The evening started with me entering the building a little nervous. Not because of my first psychic
show, but I was hoping I did not meet someone who I knew, thankfully I did not. I then relaxed.

Inside the foyer there was a long queue waiting to enter the room. I joined the queue and listened
intently.I could not hear anyone talking of who they wanted to connect to if chosen. There did not
seem to be any collecting of information, no stooges etc. So no hot reading in the foyer.

We went into the room and paid our $20 at the door to a woman who I found out at the beginning of the show that she was the partner to the psychic.

There were about 120 to 150 people at the show. This was the estimate of the Psychic and
fairly accurate I would say.That is $2400 to $3000 for just over an hour show, plus some chit chat
after the show. You of course subtract their costs.
There were only two people in the show, the Psychic and his partner.

The women outnumbered the men by at least 10 to 1. Great for meeting chicks.

The show started at around 7.40pm with the women taking the stage and welcoming everyone.
She then introduced the Psychic and he entered, stage right.
He welcomed everyone, acknowledged some people he recognised. Mentioned some other people that are on his Facebook.
He then asked for everyone who is having their first visit to his show to put their hand up.
A lot did, less than half, but still a substantial number. He mentioned that there were an
exceptional number of first timers tonight.

The room was divided up into thirds. There was a centre, left and right block of chairs.

Just as he was about to start the readings he mentioned his, I think he said spirit guide, Marcus.
He said Marcus will be assisting him tonight.
He also mentioned that people being read need to be open to the spirit or it won't work.
He also said that if something that he said fitted you then please put your hand up.
In other words the Psychic process won't work. He mentioned the Psychic process.

His technique was to go to a particular part of the room, centre, left or right, the area that
the spirits apparently sent him then voice usually a persons name and wait for the response
in that particular area of the room.
He did not cast the net wide over the whole room. Sometimes he did stray into another part of the
room if he got no response from the area he initially tried.

Once a connection was made to a name he would ask the person being read who this person was.
The person was then expected to fit the name to him or herself and volunteer the information
on who this person is. Everyone that had a reading volunteered the information 100% of the time.
He would then say another name and wait for the response. The psychic would say this.
"Who is Mary", the person being read would fit the name and volunteer this information.
100% of the readings were like this, all questions, nothing else. it was the usual thing of I am
getting a T name or a John, James, Margaret, Maggie, Marge, the whole show was a series of
questions.The person being read is expected to say who this name fitted, father, mother,
grandmother, aunt, friend, daughter of friend. Some of the connections were obscure and the psychic would then ask the person to ask a third party about this.

Sometimes the Psychic would bring forward a place or thing. Example he was reading two women who were sisters of Italian origin and asked what the chickens were about. They apparently were their deceased fathers chickens. Duh, migrants that do not own chickens.

It got very boring after about 45 minutes of the name game and I found myself looking around the
room at walls, furnishings etc.

There were a couple of occasions when he said something fairly specific that drew a big hit.
The best was when he went to the centre block of chairs and towards the back and said,
"he is getting America and Colorado".
This drew no response whatsoever.
He then mentioned a suicide that elicited 2 responses from that area of the room.
He eventually settled on a woman who said that her sister had commited suicide.
He played this when he said he saw depression, anxiety and psychosis with her.
This elicited a negative from the woman being read.
He then went to the next possibility, a relationship problem, this finally elicited a hit.
The Psychic then asked about the America and Colorado connection.
The woman elicited the fact that she went on holidays with her deceased sister to Los Angeles,
and that they also went to Colorado. The psychic then asked what about Tinkerbell and asked
if she went to Disneyland, this elicited a response in the affirmative.
I don't know how he got the America and Colorado connection, but it was interesting.
I did not detect any great cold reading except the name calling game. I think his system works
well for him and his credulous audience.
The show finished around 9.10pm.

Well, the show was pretty much just throwing out names and getting a response then people
fitting the name to themselves. He said he was talking to the spirits and also giving them
some direction. So I don't know why the spirits would not say I am John, the father of the person
that you are reading. Instead the person getting the reading needed to fit it themselves.
The Psychic also often did not know the name that he presented was deceased or a person
still living.

He was convincing, a bit I suppose to a believer or someone not sure of how a psychic operates,
or not very sceptical.
What I saw on Friday night did not change my mind.
The information he elicited allegedly from the spirits were incredibly mundane and not the sort
of information that you could confirm. Such as, "He is happy now with his family, she is sorry
that she caused great angst in the family because of the suicide.
His stage technique is one of appearing to communicate with the spirits, hearing voices.

I would have loved an unedited video of the evening.
I could give a more informed version.
The memory is not perfect.
I remain extremely sceptical of psychics.