An experiment in mediumship

On 27 May 2008 I received an interesting proposition from someone named James. He had recently met up with a medium, and was planning on becoming his manager, with the aim of getting him in front of larger audiences.

James asked if I knew people who would be prepared to critique a written reading by his medium. He said he regarded it as a bit of a test, and that the only information the medium would require would be the full name, including middle names, of the people he would be reading. Subsequently James discovered that the medium did not require this information, and I believe him when he assures me that the names were not passed to the medium.

It was very important to me that I make the experiment as objective as I possibly could, so approached three people as diverse as I could manage:

#1 An American lady who crossed the Atlantic to see Derek Acorah perform, and who I met once for three hours.
#2 A retired lady from Wales, who has no interest whatsoever in the paranormal.
#3 A retired gentleman living in England, who I have met on several occasions, and is a non-believer.

The three people do not know each other, have never encountered each other on any forum, and the only connection between them is me. All three agreed to take part in the experiment.

The medium produced three tapes - numbered 1 to 3 - and James transcribed them, and sent the texts to me.

At this point I put my own test in place. I sent all three readings to all three people, and asked them to identify their own reading. These are their initial reactions:

#1 "Before I write the critique, can you please confirm that mine is number 2?" On being told that hers was actually number 1, she wrote, "Oh, crap! I really wanted 2 to be mine!!! I didn't identify with 1 at all! Are you SURE 2 isn't mine?"

#2 "NONE of them fit me or anything to do with me as far as I can see"

#3 "Sorry, did my best, but couldnt remotely connect with any of
them"

The following entries give the details provided by the medium, together with the comments of the people receiving the readings once they had been identified.