This is a mystery. I know I posted this before, back in May 2018 when I conducted this experiment with Thomas John. But, it’s completely disappeared. So, here we go again. Thomas John graciously agreed to submit to a test reading. I set up the test protocol. Only two people in the world knew who both the sitter and the medium were- Tywana and I. Thomas was given a Zoom link. The sitter was given a Zoom link. Thomas had been working with Helping Parents Heal and had given several of us readings, including me. He absolutely blew us all away. I wanted to have even more strict conditions since when a medium does a reading they will often have a credit card charge and/or a telephone number to call. With this information, someone could do social media research on you and find information. To eliminate this possibility, this was not a paid reading (no credit card information) and we used my Zoom account to make the connection. No one had any phone numbers. When you’re doing scientific experiments, you use blinds to make the results as objective as possible. There are single-blind, double-blind, triple-blind etc. I’m not sure of the level here. Obviously, Thomas could see and hear Fran once the connection was made via Zoom. But, it’s not possible he could have researched her before or during.
The sitter, Fran, is a friend of Tywana’s. I had met Fran a couple of times. She has a daughter who has transitioned (as you’ll see when you watch the video). But, she is not affiliated with Helping Parents Heal. Besides, Thomas did not have even the first name of the sitter.
At the appropriate time, Fran and I got on the call. That’s when I told her the medium would be Thomas John. Thomas came on and the rest is recorded for you to see and judge for yourself. Afterward, I stayed on with Fran and did a short debrief. Fran was astounded by Thomas’ accuracy.
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Hi Brian,
You are aware Thomas John was caught by something called “Operation Pizza Roll” using Facebook. I won’t get into the details here, but basically people created fake Facebook profiles and pretended to be nonexistent people and somehow Thomas got names and all kinds of details about nonexistent people that were on Facebook (look up a video – it’s called something like Thomas John caught cheating).
In any case, Thomas knew your name and organization prior to this reading. While he didn’t know who the sitter was, he did know you. Now, when Fran came on he then learned her first name. I noticed that the first couple minutes he spent giving some general information.
If he had someone working for him in the background, that was more than enough time to search the Helping Parents Heal group and find Fran. They could quickly confirm it was the same person by profile picture, do a quick search of her profile (or a Google search for an obituary now that her full name was known).
I also noticed at several times during the reading, he glanced down, and then suddenly a name or fact would come through. I suspect there could have been someone working for him maybe sending him information on a chat or something that he could read.
I’m sorry, but after he was exposed using Facebook, I am very suspect of this. It seems too good – he got too many names right.
My suspicion is he works with a staff of people that research for him while he is wasting time at the beginning.
The other stuff (about the autopsy) which came much later in the reading (after they would have had enough time to do more research) could also have been obtained from online records, court docs, etc.
In sum, I don’t trust it.
Ryan
I am aware of the accusations by Susan Gerber and I have spoken to her about them.
I also, after this video was made, ended up working for Thomas for some time. I can tell you he does not have a staff of people doing research. Without divulging any information about his personal business, he runs a very lean staff that is quite busy just handling his bookings, etc.
At this point, I have known Thomas for several years. I have watched him give amazing readings. And, I have seen him bring through information that is not public and there is no way he could have researched. In the case of Fran, her information was kept private, due to reasons I can’t divulge here.
Thanks Brian.
I have incredible respect for what you do. I am sorry for your loss as well.
Personally, I lost my partner in January and it was incredibly painful for me. I want to believe so bad, but I see things like what Susan Gerbic did and it was actually quite painful for me – because I want it to be real.
I’m interested to know what Susan Gerbic spoke with you about. Whether we disagree or agree with her, I do actually believe her heart is in the right place. If a psychic is cheating and misleading people about their loved ones and bilking them for money, that is atrocious and evil.
I was very concerned also because Susan apparently joined one of Thomas’s teaching seminars and got screenshots of things where “Intelius” or something was shown (a site for researching people) as well as obituaries. I’d love to hear your perspectives on this. It seems you are a believer in Thomas, so I’d like to know why you dismissed that.
Personally, as people grieving, we want to believe but seeing things like that can be soul-crushing because it made me feel maybe I am being childish believing that this actually occurs.
In any case, I think we can agree there are frauds out there and finding someone who isn’t cheating is critical.
I truly support your work and good heart and I hope you have found peace in your loss – as I still am struggling.
I will respect Susan’s privacy like I respect Thomas’ and Fran’s. Whether Susan’s heart is in the right place or not, I cannot say. I will say some consider it unethical to feed false information to people (or at least attempt to) and to pretend to be the loved one of a deceased person invading what some consider to be a sacred space. There are ways to test mediums.
Thomas has been tested by the way. https://www.mediumthomas.com/thomasjohnblog/611-scientific-results-of-double-blind-test-of-thomas-john-s-mediumship-abilities
Yes. There are fraudulent mediums. I encourage people to be skeptical. However, Susan believes mediumship is impossible and that all mediums are frauds. That is NOT a scientific or objective point of view.
If you’re interested in more on this, please check out the work of Dr. Julie Beischel at the Windbridge Research Center or the book by Dr. Gary Schwartz, The Afterlife Experiments.
I will tell you this, Ryan. I am friends with many mediums. Some I have known for years. They have called me up out of the blue and told me things about what is going on IN MY HOUSE they could not possibly know. One described objects in my daughter’s bedroom. Others have told me what my wife had for lunch the day before. One told me a private thought my wife had when our daughter passed, a thought my wife had not even shared with me until I asked her to verify it.
I cannot say that any particular medium is real or accurate. I know Thomas and I’m familiar with his operation. It is my belief he’s legit. I can say that I have no doubt mediumship is real and extremely beneficial. I know too many people who have this ability and I know them too well to believe they are faking.
I am so very sorry for your loss. Please keep an open mind, while remaining skeptical.
Susan believes she is helping grieving people by exposing frauds. But, since she sees mediumship as impossible, she sees everyone as a fraud. Susan may be exposing frauds. But, she is also robbing people of hope.
I sent a skeptic to a medium. She wanted to know the best medium I knew because she was going to prove her wrong. She gave a fake name and paid with someone else’s card. Long story short, she came away convinced. This happens time and time again. There was recently an article in Huffington Post about a reporter having the same experience.
Examine the evidence for yourself. Don’t take any one person’s word.
Thanks so much for your kind words. Of course, respecting a private conversation is fine. I wasn’t sure if you had done a post or public broadcast about it.
I agree it really hurt to see that, because I was considering booking a session – and then I felt foolish after I saw that video (I think it’s by a channel Holy koolaid or something). It also caused me to experience more grief – like I had been lying to myself. In any case, I do trust your integrity though – I could tell in the video you are someone who is serious and also perhaps skeptical yourself (there was a comment at the end) where you said something like “I didn’t know about that guy” or something.
In any case, you’ve been very generous with your time and don’t feel the need to respond to this comment again. I do feel better after this conversation. I just don’t want to be suckered by someone.
I also agree with you that Susan’s methods could have been considered unethical – but I also don’t get how names from Facebook were coming through by Thomas, and especially since they were double blind. To me, yes it was unethical, but it’s also unethical if someone is cheating. As much as some in the spiritual community seem to hate on people like Susan, we are all humans struggling towards truth. If indeed this does really go on, hopefully Susan will someday see that and find peace for any loved ones she has lost.
I really do believe there are psychic mediums with good hearts – Suzanne Giesemann comes across as someone who is very credible to me and I believe she is the type of person who would never do something like cheat. I worry more when we get into the “celebrity / TV psychic” types – and especially the people with neon signs.
I will continue reading your site and materials and I thank you so much for your time and effort to help others experiencing loss in this unique way.
Ryan
Ryan,
I’m happy to continue the conversation. That’s why I’m here. 😉
I don’t question Susan’s heart. I believe she is sincere. But, she is what I would classify as a cynic, not a skeptic. A skeptic is slow to make a conclusion but open to evidence. A cynic says, “That’s impossible.” You will see what you look for. If you believe all mediums are frauds because mediumship is impossible, even if you see a medium performing in a double-blind study, you will conclude they are cheating somehow or the researcher has been duped.
I do not recommend people go to celebrity mediums for a number of reasons. They are not necessarily any better than anyone else. Price and popularity don’t make a medium good. Second, they are unavailable. Thomas is almost impossible to get to. Third, because of their popularity and fame, they have a greater incentive to deliver spectacular results and might even be tempted to take short cuts/cheat. Regardless of the medium’s ability, what you see on TV is heavily edited and cannot possibly be blind because the people know they are being filmed, have to fill out waivers, etc. Even if you got a great reading from the medium, you’d end up questioning it.
When I filmed the experiment with Thomas, he had no incentive to cheat or to even participate. Because of accusations against him, I asked him through a third party if he’d be open to my experiment. I never claimed it was a controlled study. I didn’t do it to promote him. I did it to see if a.) he would be willing to be examined and b.) how he would do. The fact he even did it was to me a testament to his integrity because he had absolutely nothing to gain.
But, again, I’d like to broaden this from a discussion about one particular medium to the fact that I am convinced mediumship is real for a number of reasons both via data and personal experience. My goal is to help people KNOW their loved ones are still with them.
Be well…
Brian