PSYCHIC DETECTIVE

A 'psychic detective' is defined as a person who investigates crimes by using paranormal psychic abilities.
A number of people say they have psychic abilities that have allowed them to assist police in solving kidnapping and murder cases, or locating a corpse.
Many police departments claim that this never occurs.^[1]

Contents

Psychic Abilities

Official Police Responses

In Australia

In New Zealand

In England

Specific Techniques

Critical commentary

In fiction

See also

References

External links

Psychic Abilities

Frequently abilities claimed by psychic detectives include postcognition (the paranormal perception of the past), psychometry (information psychically gained from objects), and telepathy. Psychic detectives also use tarot reading, voodoo, numerology and dowsing. In murder cases, psychic detectives will often claim to communicate with the spirits of the murder victims.
^[2]

Official Police Responses

Many police departments around the world have released official statements saying that they do not regard psychics as credible or useful on cases.

In Australia

Australian police have said that they do not accept assistance from psychics. This was in response to an Australian TV show Sensing Murder in which self-professed psychics attempt to crack unsolved murders.
^[3]
Additionally, an unnamed Australian federal police officer was suspended following his seeking the aid of a "clairvoyant" in regards to death threats made against Prime Minister John Howard. A federal police spokesman said they do "''not condone the use of psychics in security matters.''"
^[4]

In New Zealand

New Zealand police have said "''spiritual communications were not considered a creditable foundation for investigation''"
^[5]

In England

Twenty-eight police forces responded to a query from the UK Skeptics to say that they did not use psychics.^[1] However, police in Britain do maintain a register of psychics "who in the past have proved helpful with unsolved cases"; and Scotland Yard has publicly acknowledged, on a number of occasions, that it approached psychics for assistance in murder and missing persons cases.

Specific Techniques

Scott Russell-Hill appeared on Australian TV show Sensing Murder, using numerology calculations to try to solve a mysterious murder.
^[7]

Critical commentary

No psychic detective has ever been praised or given official recognition by the F.B.I. or US national news for solving a crime, preventing a crime, or finding a kidnap victim or corpse.^[8][9]
The Australian Institute of Criminology, Australia's official crime research agency, advises parents of missing children not resort to psychics who approach them.^[10] Former FBI analyst and profiler Clint Van Zandt has criticized the notion of psychic detectives and has stated that "What happens many times is that professed psychics allow themselves the benefit of 20/20 hindsight. After the case is solved, they make their previously vague predictions somehow fit the crime and the criminal." ^[11]

In fiction

There is a long history of psychic detectives in horror and crime fiction, and in other genres as well. Examples include Jules de Grandin (created by Seabury Quinn), Dr. Occult (created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster) and Agent Jasi McLellan created by Cheryl Kaye Tardif. The USA Network show ''Psych'' is based on a Santa Barbara man (Shawn Spencer) pretending to be a psychic to avoid being arrested.

See also

★ Parapsychology

★ Psychic

★ Ganzfeld experiment

★ Scientific investigation of telepathy

★ Pseudoscience

★ Marcello Truzzi

★ Committee for Skeptical Inquiry

References

1. Do the police use psychics?
2. Sensing Murder television series
3. Yard hunt for clues on Sarah Carly Crawford
4. The police, the PM and the psychic Leo Shanahan
5. Police reject psychic advice
6. Do the police use psychics?
7.
8. ''The Blue Sense: Psychic Detectives and Crime'' by Arthur Lyons and Marcello Truzzi, Ph. D., Mysterious Press, 1991
9. ''Psychic Sleuths: ESP and Sensational Cases'' by Joe Nickell, Prometheus Press, 1994
10. Help for children and families
11. Shoe leather, not sixth sense, breaks cases open

External links

★ Lady Wonder (psychic horse) Solved Mystery of Missing Boy

★ Jeffry R. Palmer "The Psychic Detective"

★ Court TV series "Psychic Detectives"

★ ''Psychic Witness'' on TLC

★ Skeptic's Dictionary on psychic detectives

★ Fact Sheet on Psychic Detectives

★ The Skeptical Inquirer on psychic detectives

★ Feature from Crime Confidential about Psychic Detective investigation into the missing Lord Lucan

★ "Missing Children - Hazards: Psychics" - Klaas Kids Foundation

★ Richard Kocsis: "Criminal Psychological Profilers, Police Officers and Psychics: who are the best detectives?" (2000)[1]

★ UK-Skeptics' list of replies from UK police authorities concerning the use of psychics.

★ Project Jason-Voice for the Missing "Working to stop psychic frauds from harming families of the missing"

★ Phil Jordan a fraud

★ Karen Stollznow investigates an online/telephone psychic company