When it comes to calling a spade a spade, I see no cause for reticence. A hard nosed sceptic, frustrated by what seems to be an ever protracted and insoluble debate between the credulous and the rational, my conclusion, that never has so much been said by so many for so long with so little to show, strengthens my desire to call a ratbag a ratbag when I smell one. No matter how strong that proclivity however, one must bear in mind that even ratbaggery is entitled to protection in the eyes of the law.

The following saga involved the Lighthouse Spiritual Centre and Australian Skeptics, and had its genesis in an article which appeared in the Sydney Sun-Herald, December 28, 1986, under the heading 'Voices from the past in new spirit craze.' In part it read:

What I considered to be fair comment was evidently not viewed as such by the firm of solicitors representing the LSC, as I and the Skeptics' National Committee received letters from them maintaining that their client had been defamed; that financial loss could occur; that a written apology should be forwarded to their client; that a letter retracting any implication of fraud be submitted to the Sun-Herald  for publication; and to undertake not to make any statements oral or in writing implying fraud, dishonesty or unacceptable conduct on the part of their client in the future.

After due consideration by the Australian Skeptics National Committee, advice was solicited from our legal representatives who suggested an official response which was duly forwarded to the Lighthouse Centre's solicitors.

'It is clear,' the letter said, 'that your client is unaware of investigations by sceptics into spiritualism and clairvoyants."'

A list of book references followed, together with numerous examples of the Skeptics' investigations which have resulted in the rapid demise of proponents of the paranormal.

Following a brief period of hysteria during which the LSC mistakenly accused me of attending their centre, having a reading and then demanding my money back, they challenged Australian Skeptics to prove them fraudulent.

Barry Williams, the president of Australian Skeptics, was confronted by Cliff Dorian on Clive Robertson's Newsworld and on the Ray Martin Midday Show, and challenged for ten thousand dollars to prove the LSC fraudulent. Mr Williams declined to attempt the impossible -- you can't prove a negative and it's up to the claimants to substantiate their claim.

Later on the Midday Show, the LSC's 'inspirational medium' Ms Joy Atkinson (a former hairdresser) gave what must go down in both psychic and sceptic annals as one of the most unconvincing demonstrations of a cold reading ever witnessed, destroying any credibility that she may have had as a clairvoyant. One would have thought that after such an embarrassing exhibition, Mr Dorian, who was later to be described by People magazine as the dribbling psychic (he dribbles profusely while supposedly in a trance) would have dried up, but pride evidently had priority over discretion, and crying 'foul' he complained to People magazine making certain allegations to which I was asked to respond.

On September 28, an article 'Psychics v Skeptics' appeared in that magazine, covering some of the points that had been raised.

Among other things, Mr Dorian seemed to have trouble in comprehending the English language. For example, he quotes the following from the Australian Skeptics' letter to his solicitor:

'... in the event of the LSD proceeding with a defamation suit, the legal techniques used by Australian Skeptics will be similar to the 1980 UK Moonies v The Daily Mail newspaper libel case.'

Mr Dorian misconstrued this as equating the LSC with the Moonies, when it obviously refers only to the methods the AS might adopt should litigation ensue.

The AS's promise to issue the results of investigations into the activities of the LSC at a news conference was seen by Mr Dorian as blackmail, whereas the LSC's demand for a retraction and an apology or else, was not.

Mr Dorian's reason for not proceeding with a law suit was given as 'lack of funds', yet in front of a highly rated TV show audience he displayed an open suitcase allegedly containing ten thousand dollars. During the Newsworld interview he claimed to have 'ALL the answers to ALL the questions in the universe' and to be privy to the infinite knowledge of the spirit world, enabling him to provide clients with 'spiritually inspired stock market predictions'.

If there was ever an opportunity to cash in on the latter ability it would have been just prior to the greatest stock market crash in history in the closing weeks of October, yet we have seen no evidence of Mr Dorian having predicted that event.

Mr Dorian tended to contradict himself at frequent intervals possibly a by-product of talking to oneself in a trance. He claimed that Australian Skeptics have sent spies posing as clients to his centre to cause trouble, and then asked 'how can they possibly say things about us without doing an investigation?'

Live on TV, when asked by a reporter 'What do you say to people who call you a fraud, quack or charlatan?', Mr Dorian laughingly replied 'If that makes them feel good, it's up to them.' With such a flippant attitude why threaten a defamation suit?

Explaining his work in the People article, Mr Dorian said 'I supposedly bring a spirit through me and it takes over and I talk--I don't consciously bung it on, the information comes out of my mouth, which I am not consciously aware of, and it helps somebody, that's the base line, if it helps somebody I'll stand on my head. We change our approach to help people--even if it means lying to them.'

Note the absence of an absolute with the use of the word 'supposedly', contrary to the claim made in the Sun-Herald interview of December 28 where he said that, '... he (Joseph, the spirit) becomes such a reality that other clairvoyants can see him'

This positive claim that Mr Dorian's entity has been seen by others, is tantamount to his being a human movie projector. The mind boggles!

Mr Dorian's astonishing admission that he lies to his clients is bad enough, but it also raises the question, that if he is prepared to lie to those who put their trust in him, what credence can be had in anything else he says? Further, as he also said that while in a trance he has no knowledge of what he is saying, perhaps he can explain how he can consciously change his approach and lie to his clients, and why, when his omniscient spirit makes itself available for consultation, he presumes to substitute mortal deception for infinite wisdom. Personally I find it difficult to accept that such an approach is suited to advising anyone about anything.

During the Clive Robertson interview, Mr Dorian espoused the New Age tenet 'that we have all the answers to all the questions in the universe in our heads.' As Mr Dorian (modestly) claimed to be able to teach others to tap this knowledge, I cannot help but wonder why, with such an encyclopaedic memory chip for a brain, he wastes his talent performing B grade thespian charades.

While the psychic duo (trio?) have no formal medical, psychiatric or counselling qualifications, and the closest thing to examining a head appears to have been under a hair dryer, Mr Dorian claimed to be involved in researching schizophrenia. His most profound observation in this field to date, and one unlikely to be written up in medical journals, is that schizophrenics are simply psychics out of control. After reading my comments later in this chapter, most readers would probably agree that the reverse is closer to the truth.

Although I would concede that the non-paranormal claim by Mr Dorian, that his Lighthouse venue is a drop-in centre offering spiritual comfort to dropouts, I see no valid reason for cloaking such benevolence in mysticism.

Finally, I took umbrage at the clairvoyant's comment in People in which she said: 'The Skeptics seem to think that members of the public are fools and need protecting.' While I repudiate that generalisation, I have no hesitation in stating that a large section of the public is  prone to believe to a lesser or greater degree in the irrational, and if, pro bono publico, I can help to alert and enlighten those inclined to succumb to the influence of those who would exploit their vulnerability, then I am proud to bear arms as a protector.

Should the proprietors of the Lighthouse Spiritual Centre wish to submit specific claims of paranormal abilities to controlled tests by the Australian Skeptics for a prize of thirty thousand dollars or the equivalent in babies' bibs, we would be happy to oblige. In the meantime, those who claim to channel strange voices from the other side should reflect on this: Many psychotic killers have murdered at the behest of unseen voices--are these to be considered 'channels?' While those who would emulate the phenomenon may be concerned only with financial gain or notoriety, their deceptive charades encourage irrational beliefs with an alarming potential to regress society to an age when many a life was dispatched in the most hideous
manner on the strength of baseless accusations.

Strange as it may seem, over the intervening years I have come into contact with Cliff Dorian and Joy Atkinson on several occasions, and there has been an amelioration of our attitude towards each other. The Lighthouse Spiritual Centre does perform some useful counselling work, but in my opinion, the methods employed still appear to be irrationally based.

Schizophrenia?

To suggest that channels are frauds, hoaxers or charlatans would not be considered unreasonable by any rational person; but to imply that they may be victims of a mental aberration may be seen to be going a little too far.

Channeling is a contemporary word to describe the manifestation of spirit voices through a medium, and is probably better known as spiritualism. Although its origin dates back to the days when priests and shamans projected their voices from behind oracles and idols to fool most of the people most of the time, the phenomenon (if one presumes to legitimize what I consider to be blatant tomfoolery as genuine) achieved much respect and patronage in the second half of the last century, when serious research was begun to seek evidence of a life hereafter. The motivation behind the search was to find a counter to Darwin's theory of the origin of species which had caused a dichotomy in religious beliefs.

Legend in psychic annals are the names of Margaret and Kate Fox, Madam Blavatsky, Eusapia Palladino, Leonore Piper and Florence Cook; today, most would recognise the names of Edgar Cayce, Doris Stokes and Oral Roberts, the latter claiming access to the almighty himself.

Although not claiming psychic powers herself, Shirley Maclaine has done much to promote paranormal beliefs. An article in the Sydney Sun (July 10, 1987) reported that psychologists, psychiatrists, bankers and senators were among those who had attended some of her eighteen seminars conducted over a period of twelve months at three hundred dollars a pop, and that 'she is a highly intelligent woman'--a parsimonious compliment in my opinion to pay one who has,  based on the figures quoted above, turned over nearly five and one half million dollars on a part-time lecture circuit pro-pounding untenable beliefs.

Despite the fact that all spiritualists who have been subjected to controlled tests over the past one hundred and thirty years have been shown up as frauds, the 1980s have seen a resurgence of interest and belief particularly in Los Angeles, where there are currently more than one thousand channelers operating.

The modus operandi has remained basically the same. The medium supposedly goes into a trance, then speaks in a sometimes comically altered voice, the utterances varying from the apocalyptical to simplistic philosophies cloaked in verbose, and more often than not, obscure jargon.

Despite the claim of most, that the revelations come from the spirit world or super intelligences, the information never transcends that which is freely available from a variety of Earthly sources.

Any analysis of the phraseology used discloses the same ambiguity and generalisation employed in cold readings. No information of interest about 'the other side' is ever forthcoming, and the medium always claims to be totally ignorant of what was said during the trance--a convenient pseudo-amnesic ploy exonerating one from responsibility.

As in cold readings, a purpose is served however--the devotees are told what they want to hear. For some, it reinforces religious convictions; and for those who have lost faith in mainstream religion, it provides a substitute. Others find comfort in simple answers to the age old questions of the purpose and meaning of life, satisfying the need that many people have to believe in something, even something irrational.

Gone are the days when mediums produced disembodied spirit heads and hands, amorphous bodies and musical instruments that played themselves; modern channels are only too aware that ectoplasm made of cheesecloth, papier mache and luminous paint, are readily detectable by anyone with half an eye. The diversity of 'controls' (spirits) is limited only by the imagination of the medium, yet strangely, few if any have taken the trouble to invent plausible characters capable of answering even the most elementary questions regarding their authenticity.

All mediums exhibit a blasé acceptance of their alleged powers to communicate with the dead, yet curiously it never seems to occur to them that this faculty is a pipeline to altruistic fame and fortune. Many do, however, take the opportunity to cash in on their acts quite handsomely. Oral Roberts, for instance, demonstrated this when, through him, his control (supposedly God) asked for and got eight million dollars!

How times change--a couple of centuries ago anyone claiming to be possessed by spirits would have been burned at the stake.

Immediately apparent to even the least sceptical must be the absence of any evidence offered by channels to corroborate the authenticity of their alleged controls, surely a prerequisite if any credence is to be had in their existence.

A most remarkable feature, however, and one which must intrigue all those who have at some time struggled with mastering a second language, is the apparent ease with which the spirits converse in tongues other than their own, and in some cases languages and dialects non-existent at the time of their demise. Leonore Piper's control, for example, was a Frenchman called Mr Phinuit, who spoke no French, and could not answer the simplest of questions when directed to him in his native tongue.

For between two and three hundred dollars a session, channeler  Rhea Powers will transform herself into a 'higher consciousness' by the name of Sanat Kumara, whose universal knowledge obtained many millennia ago will be relayed in Americanese.

Ms J.Z. Knight, for the discount price of one hundred and fifty dollars, will spiritually metamorphose into Ramtha, a thirty-five thousand  year old warrior from mythical Atlantis, who will advise clients on Wall Street investments. A 'psychic pin' for punters would produce greater profits, I'm sure. Personally I would be intrigued to know how Ramtha gained his knowledge of the New York Stock Exchange or New York city thousands of years before they came into being, and where he learned to speak a non-existent language with an equally non-existent accent.

In Sydney, the previously mentioned channeler, Cliff Dorian, of the Lighthouse Spiritual Centre, speaks with the voice of an entity not even of this world, an act which could be enhanced with a touch of glossolalia.

While amateur theatrics are understandably entertainment and can fool those who wish to be fooled, professional interviewers seem no less credulous. Richard Neville (Extra Dimensions, Channel 10) interviewed an American channeler, Jac Pursel, who claims among others as his controls, a contemporary of Jesus, a 16th century Irishman, and Lazaris, described as an entity who has never been a physical being. Neville evidently didn't think it necessary to first establish the legitimacy of the spirit's claimed identity, and accepted without question, the remarkable aptitude of a first century Jew for contemporary English. Likewise he saw nothing surprising about a l6th century lrishman's ability to converse in the American idiom despite the fact that at the time he is supposed to have lived America had yet to be settled by Europeans.

This naive proclivity to believe without addressing a basic premise was amply demonstrated when I was interviewed by the Sydney Sun and People magazine after I had claimed to be a psychic and in touch with the spirits of some famous dead personalities. Neither reporter asked me whether I had spoken to Plato in ancient Greek or how Plato had acquired his knowledge of English.

The secret of this ability to transcend the language barrier would surely be the greatest gift the spirit world has to offer mankind, yet this valuable contribution to better world understanding, peace and happiness never rates a mention by the medium, the control or the credulous. Not only do these 'spirits' speak modern languages but they also appear to have forgotten their native tongues-why is that so?

Spirit voices as we have seen are not a new phenomenon, and require little imagination on the part of a medium. They can be traced back through the ages, particularly in Biblical writings, the most  publicised being God dictating the commandments to Moses.

In recent times, the most popular exponent was the late Doris Stokes, whose entertainment career spanned some forty-four years. While she claimed never to have been exposed as a fraud, it should be noted that this was probably because she persistently refused to take up the challenge to demonstrate her claimed powers under controlled test conditions. Despite this, sceptics have demonstrated time and again the techniques used, showing that her amazing gift was nothing more than a convincing exhibition of cold reading. Furthermore, it has been established that her act was fraudulent in that some of her performances were rigged. The evidence can be read in Ian Wilson's 1987 book, The After Death Experience.

Can a correlation be established between so-called psychic  practices and a mental condition? Suffice to say at this point, that if a person experiences auditory sensations without external stimulus, it is a condition caused by mental derangement, intoxication or fever, otherwise known as an hallucination. Likewise, the psychic visions claimed by clairvoyants are, in fact, mental representations of the external, an apparent perception without any corresponding stimulus ... an hallucination. Similarly, psychics who claim to see future events flashing on a TV screen or with their 'third eye' are simply imposing their imagination on a visual stimulus and projecting it on the basis of probability. To claim supernatural powers is self-delusion, a belief in oneself often present in dementia. On a par with those who receive disembodied visual and auditory messages are those zapped by invisible rays from a variety of sources, and who claim that they are being persecuted.

During an interview on the Ray Martin Midday Show, requested by Cliff Dorian of the Lighthouse Spiritual Centre, ostensibly to challenge and discredit the Australian Skeptics, his partner, 'inspirational medium' Joy Atkinson, in an unprovoked outburst, asked Barry Williams, 'Why are you crucifying us?' In view of the fact that at no time have Barry, I or Australian Skeptics done any more than described the proprietors of the LSC as being no better or worse than any other spiritualists in the past one hundred and thirty years, the implication inherent in the protest is characteristic of systematised delusions of persecution, otherwise known as paranoia.

Finally, astrology, tarot cards, palmistry, and all the other weird and wonderful divinologies ... what do they have in common? They are all based on the questionable premise that invisible and undetectable forces act upon us to influence, control and determine our being and destiny, a belief associated with the irrational. So where does this brief resume of paranormal beliefs lead us, and is there any correlation between those beliefs and a mental aberration?

The temptation is very difficult to resist--hallucinations, self-delusion, dementia, paranoia and irrationality are all symptoms of the same disease ... schizophrenia!

Investigator Magazine