Long Island Medium

Posted by Jessica Jewett No Comments »

OCTOBER 5, 2012 NOTE: I AM NO LONGER ACCEPTING COMMENTS ON THIS BLOG.

I originally posted this blog after the first couple of episodes of Long Island Medium in September of 2011 but I didn’t expect to receive over 2,000 readers every week. So I decided to rewrite the blog and clarify my opinions now that we have seen a lot more episodes of this show.

For me, the effect of Long Island Medium has shifted from, “Is Theresa Caputo fake?” to, “Are Theresa Caputo’s practices ethically acceptable?” That question arises in my mind whenever I see the show, although I don’t watch it very often because it elicits such a negative response in me. I have been doing various types of readings for many years (I was a child medium) but my instincts told me from a very early age not to read people without those people approaching me first. I just don’t do it. Observing Caputo go about her daily life on the show and approaching nearly everybody she meets with messages from their loved ones strikes me as so very wrong.

This is my problem with approaching strangers and trying to talk to them about their dead loved ones: a doctor or psychiatrist would never walk up to someone in a public setting and start talking about the health of the person or the health of their loved ones.  I personally believe that intuitives, psychics and mediums should hold themselves to the same ethical standards as doctors and psychiatrists.  There is a time and a place to talk about such personal things and it is not, in my opinion, in the middle of the produce section or in a dentist’s office.  The process of going through a reading with a medium is extremely personal when it’s done correctly.  It’s an exchange of energy.  It’s intimate.  Both parties have to open themselves to the exchange of energy, which means it should be done in a private setting, not because someone came up to you in the produce section and said something like, “I’m a medium and I have your Uncle Fred here.”  We only see people react positively to this on the show, for the most part, but I would like to know what happens when people don’t react well.  Not everybody wants to be read.  In fact, when I ask people about this, virtually everyone says they would never want to be read without their permission.  It’s an invasion of spiritual privacy.

Then the excuse becomes about Theresa not being able to control who comes through and when.  It’s just that – an excuse.  Mediums all over the world learn how to control the who, what, when, why and how of doing their work every single day and if she wanted to learn, she could.  There seems to be an enjoyment of the attention on her part that makes her reluctant to learn to control when and how she does her readings.  The vast majority of average mediums you will meet will tell you first and foremost that they are not in “medium mode” all the time.  If they were, they wouldn’t be able to function in their own daily life.  That’s exactly what’s happening here.  She does not appear to be in control of her daily life because she is always wandering off to read somebody new.  At least, that’s how the show portrays her.  When you are an intuitive, psychic or medium, you have to learn to control how and when and where you work, otherwise the work will control you.  There has to be work time and personal time.  In the way the show portrays Theresa, there are no lines dividing work from personal in her life and it does affect the rest of her family, not to mention herself.

At first I thought I was being a stickler about my own ethical practices, so I asked a few other intuitive colleagues who have many more years of experience on me. The responses were generally the same.

Me: What do you think of the way Theresa Caputo does things?
Colleagues: [exasperated sigh] Don’t get me started.

Discussions with other intuitives, psychics and mediums always lead to the same conclusion. It isn’t so much whether she has genuine abilities or not. The bigger issue is the way she conducts herself when she’s not “on the clock”, so to speak. Every intuitive, psychic and medium needs down time. The medium needs to learn as soon as possible after discovering such abilities to control them and develop a system of being in “normal mode” and “psychic mode” for lack of better terms. When you don’t learn to turn it on and off, the abilities begin to control your life. Before you know it, you can’t set foot outside of your home without being bombarded by psychic impressions and messages from the spirit world.  People who lived that way are on the fast track to forgetting to live for today and allowing their abilities to get in the way of personal relationships.  I see this happening with Theresa in the way that her family reacts when she starts reading people out of the blue.  When you can’t go to the dentist or go out to dinner with your family without approaching people to read them, you are letting the abilities control you too much, in my opinion.  Setting aside the emotional needs of your family and being largely absent even when you are physically present with them is a definite indicator that being a “medium” has completely taken over your life.  So my biggest concern about Theresa is that she’s not properly managing her abilities.  I’m playing devil’s advocate by assuming that her abilities are as genuine as she portrays, not saying that they actually are that genuine.

People coming to this blog do so largely because they have searched the phrase “Theresa Caputo fake” and that clearly means people are looking for me or anyone else to provide some magic answer as to whether she is genuine or fake.  I don’t have that answer.  I personally don’t believe in declaring someone fake or real when I have never met them.  I have friends in the paranormal television industry and the fact of the matter is the way the shows turn out are not in the control of the people in front of the camera unless they are directing or editing the particular episode.  A television show can be edited in a million different ways depending on who is in control and any television show can be edited to show a person as being genuine or dishonest.  This television show does portray Theresa as a genuine medium but I have seen enough shows edited to death that I can’t say for sure if she is real or not.  We are only seeing twenty-two minutes of Theresa’s life every week.  Nobody can accurately judge the reality of her world from twenty-two minutes of a seven day period, especially when there are production crews and editors in control of how she is portrayed.

That being said, I have seen some red flags in the way she does things on the show.

My primary concern is that she has a habit of asking a lot of questions of her clients.  In a lot of readings, she starts with broad topics and, depending on the answers provided by the client, she will narrow it down from there.  That is a classic example of a cold reading.  Anybody can do a cold reading if they know how to look at body language and understand the subtle responses by the other person.  This is an example from one of her early episodes.

Theresa: What’s going on with his head?
Client: He was shot in the head.
Theresa: Because I feel like bam right in the head.

Of course, playing devil’s advocate, I will have to say that it simply could be her reading style and the way she conducts conversations in other settings as well.  I don’t know.  I do know that asking so many questions during readings is a red flag for me that perhaps there is cold reading afoot.

My educated guess based on strictly watching the television show is that Theresa Caputo probably does have some kind of intuitive ability but I truthfully don’t think it’s as amazing as the show portrays.  Very few mediums have such an accuracy rate as what is being portrayed on her show.  I’m much more concerned about the fact that she’s approaching strangers in public places trying to talk to them about extremely personal things.  One day it’s not going to go very well for her and she could get hurt.  It’s also impossible to measure her accuracy rate when she is being edited by a production crew.  I have seen it happen before in paranormal television where the talent will feel so much pressure to provide results that the original reason why they began the work no longer exists and it all becomes about producing results that shock and stun their audiences.  The pressure will make otherwise intelligent, honest people do things that would ordinarily be called shady and greedy.  Alleged mediums who put themselves on television or in the public eye are under a lot of pressure to produce shocking results, which will inevitably push them to exaggerate their abilities.  Theresa may be headed down that road if she’s not careful.

In short, do I think Theresa Caputo is real?  I think she does care about the people who come to her and who she approaches.  I think she has some kind of intuition.  Do I think she’s a full-blown medium with shocking and amazing results every single time as portrayed on her show?  No.  I don’t believe that just because I know how the shows are edited and also because all of the mediums I work with every day don’t have such amazing and stunning results like that every single time.  Mediums, like anyone else, are fallible people who will misinterpret things.  Do I think television shows are an accurate portrayal of any paranormal subject?  Absolutely not.  Television shows should be rated as entertainment only and should never be something to teach people.

Whether or not you choose to get a reading from any person claiming to be an intuitive, psychic or medium really has to be up to you.  Use your best judgment.  If the person you’re considering getting a reading from makes you uncomfortable in any way, that’s probably your intuition telling you not to do it.  Also, consider why you want the reading in the first place before you go into it.  If the fees the reader charges seem excessive, listen to your instincts.  Don’t wait around for someone like me or anyone else with a blog to tell you if someone is real or not.  You are very capable of deciding that for yourselves.  My only cautionary reminder is that you can’t possibly reach an entirely complete conclusion about any person just based on watching them on television.  That’s why I’m not going to say whether Theresa is absolutely real or absolutely fake.  I’ve never met her, so I don’t know.  I only know what is being conveyed to me through her television show and that is the only evidence I have to go on at this point.  I have drawn my conclusions based on the television show but it is possible that if I met her in the future, my opinion could change.  I don’t know.  I do know that we are very different in our practices.  I also know that her television show has opened up a dialogue about standards and practices among other mediums.  I consider those to be good things.

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Ghosts of the Dakota building

Posted by Jessica Jewett 9 Comments »

Today, the Dakota building in New York City is famous for being the last home where John Lennon lived and for being the site of his horrible murder, but this building has a long and detailed history of paranormal activity. Even Lennon himself, who was open to the paranormal, witnessed a UFO from the window of his apartment and also encountered the apparition of a woman walking down the long halls of the building, who he named the Crying Lady Ghost. Other celebrities and notable figures who have lived in that building have also had very similar experienced. Maury Povich described the building as “very haunted”, for example.

Standing at Central Park West and 72nd Street, the Dakota was built across from Central Park by Edward Clark, who was head of the Singer Sewing Machine Company, between 1880 and 1884. In those days, the Dakota was so far removed from the city that there were no other buildings around it. The architecture was a mix of German Gothic, French Renaissance and English Victorian, with high gables, terracotta features, gargoyles and exotic decor, giving it an imposing appearance even for it’s time. The name “Dakota” in reference to this building first appeared in a 1933 newspaper and came about because of Edward Clark’s interest in the Western territories. The building contains 65 co-op apartments and no two are alike.

The Dakota in the 1880s from Central Park.
The Dakota in 1890.

The Dakota has had a long history of being haunted, going back to stories from the 1960s, if not earlier. In the 1960s, construction workers reported seeing the apparition of a young man’s body with a young boy’s face. Several years later, reports surfaced of a little girl in turn-of-the-century clothing appeared to painters working in the building as well. This little girl seems to be the most frequently witnessed apparition and is always quite friendly, often smiling at people and approaching them as if to greet them.

Some of the stories I have collected about the Dakota:

The Little Girl – Painters working in the hall saw a girl with long blonde hair and dress of an earlier time bouncing a ball. None of them saw her before and she didn’t fit descriptions of children who lived there or of guests. A woman, waiting for a friend in the foyer, saw the same apparition who walked into what she thought was an adjacent room. Later, she discovered it was a closet and she had seen the “ghost-in-residence” by others who sighted her.

Judy Holliday’s Dakota Apartment – In 1965, after her death, the Smiths bought the apartment. They hired three men to repaint walls and re-varnish woodwork. The workers felt they were being watched. One saw a ghost of a boy of about 10 dressed in a Buster Brown suit, a style of the early 1900s. A musty odor accompanied the apparition. The three saw a ghost that had the body of a male in his 20s and a face of a young child. After the job was done, one of the painters was doing some touch-up work in a large closet. Suddenly, the door slammed and the light went out. He groped his way off the ladder, propped the door open and turned the light back on. He felt something grab his arm and put it against the light bulb.

Third Floor Dakota Apartment – Frederick and Suzanne Weinstein have heard footsteps and other noises in their home. In the dining room, other paranormal phenomena happened. Rugs and chairs slid on their own. One day, when Weinstein was coming home, he saw, through his living room window, a large crystal chandelier, lights aglow, although none had been there. He thought Suzanne had it installed as a surprise. When he went into the living room, there was no chandelier, although bolts for one remained.

Basement in the Dakota – The porter summoned tenant Wilbur Ross to the cellar because a heavy snow shovel flew off the wall and nearly hit him. He showed him garbage that was thrown about, explaining the bags began to move of their own volition. Ross was skeptical until a metal bar flew across the room, landing by his feet. He tried to pick it up, but it was too heavy. Other tenants had similar experiences. An electrician, working in the basement, saw the ghost of a short, long-nosed man with a beard, no mustache, wire-framed glasses and a wig, wearing a frockcoat and high hat. Later, others sighted the same apparition. The description matched that of Edward Clark.

John Lennon – In 1983, Joey Harrow, a musician who lives near to the Dakota Building, claimed he saw John’s ghost in the Dakota entrance doorway, the spot where he’d been shot three years previously. “He was surrounded by an eerie light,” he claimed. At the time of the sighting he was accompanied by a writer called Amanda Moores, who confirmed that she had also seen the ghost. “I wanted to go up and talk to him, but something in the way he looked at me said ‘No’,” she said. John’s ghost had been reported by various other witnesses who claimed it had been haunting the Dakota. Psychic Shawn Robbins said she saw John’s ghost in the building and Yoko Ono herself was reported to have seen John sitting at his white piano. He turned to her and said, “Don’t be afraid. I am still with you.” According to several Spiritualists, John’s spirit lingered on Earth for a short time before a group of spirit Guides helped him to adjust to the ‘other’ world. A person who won’t ‘let go’ after they are dead becomes a ghost who haunts the area of the tragedy. The Guides convinced him to join them in the spirit world and various Mediums began receiving messages from him. Lennon periodically makes visits to the Dakota still.

Yoko Ono and John Lennon outside of the Dakota.
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Experiments in psychometry

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One form of extra sensory perception that does not receive as much attention as others is psychometry. In basic terms, psychometry is the ability to touch an object and read the energy left from those who previously owned or had special connections to that object in order to describe them. Many intuitives have this ability but they don’t necessarily know the word for it or they don’t know that it is its own classification of “extra” senses. It is instinctive for these people to walk into an old home, for example, and touch the walls, or touch a window, or a door frame. The instinct to touch but not truly knowing why is the intuitive ability trying to come to surface. Why do we touch things? Why do we hold certain objects in such reverence? Because the energy from people before soaks in and remains present long after they’re gone. Many of us feel that energy without quite knowing how to interpret it. Remember that energy cannot be created, nor destroyed, but simply changes form. Our energy is left in so many ways that we are truly immortal.

I have limited ability with psychometry, not because the intuitive ability isn’t there, but because my quadriplegia disallows me from touching things much of the time. However, when I went to Maine to visit the Chamberlain house where I made my home in a previous life, I was determined to touch things and see what I could feel. The house is still filled with many of our things. When I was left unattended by the house curators in Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain’s library, I could not resist the urge to touch furniture and books. The chair photographed on the right was one of the pieces I touched with the help of a friend. Some of the books did not actually belong to the family, however, and the sensation was completely different between things that belonged to the family and things that did not. The only way I know how to describe it is to employ the example of immediately knowing the scent of your mother’s home or your grandmother’s home verses all other homes. It is like that, except instead of a unique scent, it is a unique vibration, a unique energy, when you encounter different objects with palpable energy. Touching an object with leftover energy from a previous owner may feel like static electricity, a heavy sensation in the chest or the stomach, and any varying degree of involuntary reaction up to but not always including visual, emotional, or audio glimpses into the life of the person who owned it.

I went to Maine for a second time a few years later and experienced the accidental encounter with the floorboards in the Longfellow room at the Chamberlain house. Pictured at left, the floorboards to the right of the table are where I laid when my brother needed a break from carrying me to that second level. People who spend decades walking the same floors will often leave trails of energy behind and when one is sensitive to such things, it can be quite easy to track movements of long departed people by touching the floorboards. In my case, I compare it to a hound picking up the scent of a person or animal to track their movements. However, it is not a scent in the nose. It’s a vibration elsewhere in the senses that, when sitting on those old floorboards, translated into visual tracking of energy trails in the third eye or intuitive portion of the brain. This does not mean I’m tracking intelligent, or interactive, ghosts but it does mean I’m tracking the imprints of previous people who spent significant energy there. It was not all Chamberlain energy either. There was child energy from rental tenants after he died. And there was female energy belonging to someone outside of the Chamberlain family as well.

In the last year or so, I have begun guiding a friend of mine along in her pursuit to develop her intuitive abilities. Every person has the ability to develop some sort of intuitive ability. The trick is to find which one is the individual’s special gift. We have been working on her empathic skills primarily. Empaths have the ability to feel and soak up what other people or spirits are feeling, whether it’s physical, mental or emotional. Often, being an empath is not easily controlled. It can become overwhelming and crippling if there is a raw sensitivity for it at all and it isn’t managed right away. That’s why I started there with her. We have been working on meditation and developing a sensitivity to spiritual presences as well.

Psychometry was something I tested on her one day on a whim. Sometimes we go to antique stores in order to practice using her intuitive skills. She was doing quite well with detecting leftover energy in objects on sight and sense but she, like all developing intuitives, continued to struggle with interpreting the energy and doubted herself whenever she delivered intuitive information. We came across the table on the right and my impressions of it were very strong without touching it. I asked her what she felt about that table and she looked at it for a long moment before somewhat hesitantly describing the female that I had seen. I didn’t tell her if she was right or wrong. Instead, on a whim, I said, “Touch the table and tell me what happens.” She did as I suggested and described the sensation of electricity traveling up her arm. Aha! I thought to myself. She has the gift of psychometry. At that point, my teaching shifted to that skill and she became far more confident each time she delivered information. Her accuracy significantly improved as well.

If you suspect you might have the gift of psychometry as well, I will share my teaching method. Find an object with old history (any object has the potential to contain people’s energies but older objects are better for learning purposes). Touch it. Rub it. Turn it over in your hands if you can. Let it sink in with you. Pay attention to how things feel when you touch them. Is there a feeling of static electricity? Where is it – your hand, chest, stomach or somewhere else? It’s important to recognize the physical experiences you have when there is intuitive energy present because once you learn how your body reacts to it, the faster you will recognize the signs when they happen and not question them. Once you are certain that you are experiencing someone else’s energy, begin concentrating on broad questions first. Is the energy of a person or an event? If it’s a person, is the energy male or female? Can you detect an age – infant, toddler, child, teen, young adult, middle-aged, or elderly? Then you may begin concentrating on deeper questions. Why is the energy attached to the object? What happened to the person who affected the object? What are the emotions associated with it? Concentration on such specific questions will allow you to not only strengthen your ability but also to deliver information detailed enough to be researched and checked for accuracy.

Every intuitive needs confirmation in order to develop confidence. Don’t feel bad if you need it. Don’t feel like you’re reaching. Doctors need to see their patience heal in order to develop confidence in their practices. Lawyers need to win cases to develop confidence in their practices. It’s no different for we intuitives. When you practice developing your skills, have an outside party research your impressions to have them confirmed or unconfirmed as correct. When you are correct more than 70% of the time, you have found your special gift, whether it’s psychometry, clairvoyance, reading energy in photos (I’m not sure if there’s a word for that), auras, healing, etc. Practice, practice, practice. Meditate, meditate, meditate. This sort of thing requires a lot of discipline on a daily basis but the rewards are astonishing. The ability to help people and give them peace in the troubles that bring them to you is quite liberating. Thinking of others before yourself is the biggest high anyone can hope to achieve. Intuitives understand this better than anyone.

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