James Van Praagh
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James Van Praagh (b. August 23, 1958, Bayside, New York) is a best selling author, who describes himself as a medium with the ability to communicate with spirits of the dead. Van Praagh has written several books dealing with the subject of parapsychology. From 2002 to 2003, he hosted a syndicated daytime talk show entitled "Beyond With James Van Praagh." He subsequently partnered with CBS to produce several tv-movies and mini-series based on his books, including "Living With The Dead" and "The Dead Will Tell." He is currently the co-Executive Producer of the television series Ghost Whisperer on CBS.
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[edit] Early Life and Career
Van Praagh was raised as a Roman Catholic and at the age of fourteen began studying at a seminary; however he has described himself as experiencing spiritual phenomenon from a young age that eventually drew him away from conventional religious practice.
He graduated from San Francisco State University, majoring in Broadcasting and Communications and subsequently moved to Los Angeles; it was there that he first discovered an interest in working as a psychic and medium after another medium told him it was his destiny.
Van Praagh built his early career off of private readings, but quickly graduated to wider audiences with a series of audiotapes, books, and eventually the television appearances that gave him national exposure.
[edit] Career as a Medium
Van Praagh believes that through his abilities he receives messages from spirits and feelings about their presence that provide "detailed evidential proof that a loved one survived death."[1] He claims to believe that most people who die go to heaven and that all people are, to some degree, psychic enough to feel the "energy" of the spirits of loved ones watching over them, though only certain people are sensitive enough to act as mediums and convey messages back and forth.
He has been a regular guest on several televison and radio talk shows, most prominently Larry King's cable talk show on CNN, where he told the host that he could feel his dead parents in the studio with them and often does readings over the telephone or with audience members during these appearances.[citation needed] He also offers paid private readings and at one time suggested that he had a three year waiting list for his services.[citation needed]
[edit] Criticism
Critics of Van Praagh accuse him of using the mentalism technique of cold reading to simulate psychic powers. [2][3] They point to several incidents in which Van Praagh's claims have been spectacularly wrong, such as when he suggested to the parents of the abducted Shawn Hornbeck that the boy's body might be found in a railroad car.[4] Hornbeck was found alive four years later, having been abducted but not killed, and not by a railroad plant worker as Van Praagh had suggested.[5] Van Praagh has responded by asserting that his messages are often vague and hard to interpret and sometimes he mistakes their meaning, often re-interpreting them after the fact to fit new information.[citation needed]
[edit] Books by James Van Praagh
- Talking to Heaven: A Medium's Message of Life After Death
- Reaching to Heaven: A Spiritual Journey Through Life & Death
- Heaven & Earth: Making the Psychic Connection
- Healing Grief: Reclaiming Life After Any Loss
- Meditation with James Van Praagh
- Looking Beyond: A Teen's Guide to the Spiritual World
[edit] References
- ^ "Biography", vanpraagh.com, January 2007. Retrieved on 2007-01-31.
- ^ Review of Psychic Medium Van Praagh on CNN's Larry King Live
- ^ Salon.com:James Van Praagh's friendly ghosts
- ^ Randi, James. "SWIFT Newsletter January 19, 2007: Another Fabulous Failure", James Randi Educational Foundation, January 19, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-01-31.
- ^ "Living with Evil", Newsweek, 29 January 2007, pp. 48–55.
[edit] External links
[edit] Criticism
Categories: Articles lacking sources from February 2007 | All articles lacking sources | Articles with unsourced statements since February 2007 | All articles with unsourced statements | 1958 births | Living people | American Roman Catholics | American spiritual writers | Parapsychology | People from Queens | Pseudoscience | Purported psychics | San Francisco State University alumni | Purported spiritual mediums
