Sensing Murder - once again?

[Garvarn]

I've been told you've been through this already, but I'm new and haven't been able to find anything by searching the site or this forum.

I'm interested in facts and circumstances regarding the Sensing Murder TV-show, especially the claim from the production company that a medium in the Romanian edition has pointed out the site of a victims body. Now, I know it's all a hoax but I'm still interested in details.

In Sweden, the largest tabloid contacted all of the police officers in charge of the cases presented in the show. Everybody stated that no vital information had been put forth as a result of the series and none of the cases had been brought closer to being solved. Still, the TV company, Kanal 5, claims on their web site that important, new facts has been presented to the police but - of course - they cannot tell us what facts. So the channel adapts the ethics of the medium. Truth is a matter of opinion, I guess...

/Chateaubriand

[Hannibal]

Open ye not the pandora's box that is psychics and police......:eek: ;)

[Garvarn]

I know, it's a mess... Nevertheless, it's a popular show and better do some shouting than leave it be. But I guess silence of the lambs is your preference? Thanks anyway!

[Hannibal]

Actually I had a particularly long "debate" with Luci about this very subject some time ago. I won't bore you with the exact details or what happened but if I state that I am a Police Officer and Luci is not I think you can probably imagine where the argument went.

[Garvarn]

Well, I've been called every name in the book, and being accused of "paying to much attention to details" in my opponent's texts - rather than looking at the text as a whole and considering the intended meaning of the text...

But Hannibal, was the debate here on the forum? Where do I find it?

And thanks again!
/Chateaubriand

[The Don]

One of the most effective ways of preventing your evidence being disproved is to fail to provide it. One of the best ways of doing so is to say that someone else is preventing you from doing so.

The quality of anecdotal evidence is variable, on a relatively recent TV programme called The Ultimate Psychic Challenge, the Psychic Detective Keith Charles claimed to have provided significant leads regarding a case.

He claimed that he had got the message that "Sleepy" was invloved. Local law enforcement knew of a criminal named Sleepy and so were very impressed with this information.

Unfortunately, Sleepy has disappeared so cannot be brought to justice.

A skeptic would say "Sleepy's involvement has not been proven and so the Psychic Detective is a load of organic fertilizer"
A supporter would say "Sleepy's involvement has not been disproved and so the Psychic Detective is the very finest thing"
The law says "innocent until proven guilty"

A lot of Psychic involvement in detective work is like this. They also "forget" when they've got it wrong, make enough vague predictions and eventually you'll get one right

[Hannibal]

Exactly! There is not one case where any information provided by a psychic was of viable use in an investigation. Or provide information already known just dressed up a bit.

Chateaubriand, it was quite a long time ago. I think thethread was called "Police and Psychics" but unless someone has archived it you will have problems locating it. If you do read it I apologise in advance for the profanity from my camp:D

[Vitnir]

Oh they provide information all right, it's just not verifiable. I tortured myself seeing a few episodes of "Förnimmelse av mord", they provided information such as licence plates and detailed information as where the murderer lives. The police, I imagine just think "what a nutjob" and files it. They won't tell what they think about it since they understandably want to keep information confidential. You have to pay attention to the absence of headlines saying "New breakthrough in X murder" to tell it's not working.

[Richard]

I'm interested in facts and circumstances regarding the Sensing Murder TV-show, especially the claim from the production company that a medium in the Romanian edition has pointed out the site of a victims body. Now, I know it's all a hoax but I'm still interested in details.

In Sweden, the largest tabloid contacted all of the police officers in charge of the cases presented in the show

------------------------------

This silly show was here in Australia some months back. I'd love to know more details about the tabloid in Sweden. I wish for the impossible, for the network here to admit it was a hoax, fake, con, etc.

[Hannibal]

Think "Chandra Levy" and then think "Psychic predictions on where she was".

Then think "how many got it right?" - answer :ZERO

Take any high profile case and look at how many were solved or assisted by psychics. Answer : NONE

It is pure tabloid crap to suggest otherwise

[The Don]

Originally posted by Richard
I'm interested in facts and circumstances regarding the Sensing Murder TV-show, especially the claim from the production company that a medium in the Romanian edition has pointed out the site of a victims body

If someone can regularly identify body sites, I would be more inclined to think serial killer than psychic

[Garvarn]

Richard, I'm hoping for the same regarding the channel in Sweden - I've even suggested what kind of lay up, contracts and so on that probably came to use in the production on the channel website forum.

Anyway, I'm thinking of doing a piece on the show and if I translate into English, I'll let you know. I gotta get hold of all the "cases" on VHS or DVD first.

But I think they're pulling the same old phrases here as they did in Aussie. Though I heard that your producer chose to be anonymous. An embarrasing fact for the network...

/Chateaubriand

[Vitnir]

I bet this has been done somewhere and I would like to know if/where comparisons have been made between these mediums and techniques by mediums on tv-shows, card readers, palm readers etc in literature.

It would seem to me that the same tricks and techniques is used everywhere. It is implied that the medium is blinded of the identity of the victim but how effective it is we don't know. Is the cameraman unconsiously leading the medium to the murder scene?

One of the shows mediums has, suprise! his own webpage promoting "mountain meditation"

http://www.mountainmeditation.com/site/start.htm

The other mediums might have webpages also, I just checked this one. This one is english speaking though and so is his webpage.

[Garvarn]

Well, add to it the fact that no production company would put out a show with intentions like 'Sensing Murder' - or 'Förnimmelse av mord' as we call it - if they were not able to give the viewers something astonishing. Or at least create the illusion that we are witnessing something astonishing. It would be bad entertainment and that would be non-profiting. It's as simple as that.

They only deal with old cases, i. e. cases that has been out of general interest for years. So it's been long since the press and media paid any attention to them - it is likely that the public has 'forgotten' about them. That doesn't mean that they are not known - on the contrary, when the crimes occured they were hot news and well-known. So it's fairly easy for alleged mediums to do their own research, if they are not fed with info by the production team.

I think it's important to keep in mind that when they stand there, shivering, shaking, crying and sobbing, they are telling us known facts - don't be fooled by the drama, their ability to display strong emotion at will. They are telling us what we already know. There's nothing astonishing about that.

Regarding Terry Evans, the medium used in the Swedish series, and the others - they all gain a lot by keeping up appearances. The show gives them an exposure they would have to pay a lot of ad-money for. They won't 'spit in the glass', as we say here. They are making big bucks on lectures, tours and consulting, as a direct result of the show. But remember, that is the only result Sensing Murder can be accounted for.

[Vitnir]

Can't disagree with you there Chateaubriand, as I ranted about this spring. They could solve the murder of Olof Palme and rake in the cool 50 million swedish crowns reward, ~6 million US dollars. That would be something to boast about instead of crying on TV saying something terrible happened here.

The people behind the show, Pontus Gårdinger, seems like a genuine believer according to his statement on the Kanal 5 webpage. Otherwise he's more cynical than I would have thought possible.

[Garvarn]

I don't know if he's cynical, I mean the guy is doing his job! Do you really think the host of the show would declare: "Gee, guys, I don't know about this - I think it's all a hoax!"? And he is deliberatly manipulative when he headlines his declaration with "Sensing Murder has produced results!" And in the body of the text - no results accounted for whatsoever! Of course the public has phoned in tips - they always do when a case is brought to their attention on television, regardless of what show it is. But the mediums haven't brought the police anything, which they are supposed to.

S**t, let's be brave - from now on I'll regard him as cynical... ;o)