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Missing Madeleine: a psychic perspective
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Location: Blogs Roy Stemman's blog |
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| Posted by: Roy Stemman |
6/1/2007 4:20 PM |
Nothing generates more controversy and emotion than the use of psychics in solving crimes as the tragic case of Madeleine McCann, snatched from her bed in a Portuguese holiday complex, reminds us (see also my Blog, Rights and wrongs of psychic detection, 1/15/2007).
On the one hand, those who accept the existence of paranormal powers argue strongly that it would be a crime not to make use of such abilities, particularly as in this case where child abduction is involved.
On the other, the sceptics ridicule the psychic clues provided by clairvoyants and mediums, dismissing their involvement as nothing more than cynical, self-serving promotion to attract more clients.
And somewhere in the middle are the police, under pressure to produce results despite the absence of much in the way of incriminating evidence, and needing to follow up every clue, whether from this or the next world.
As the Portuguese police have made clear (see Psychics in hunt for Madeleine), they have no option but to do so, for there is always the possibility that the kidnapper or kidnappers will try to make contact under the guise of a psychic impression or dream.
As we report, three British mediums have flown out to Portugal in the hope of assisting the search for 4-year-old Maddy. I have no doubt that they are doing so with the best of intentions, but I also sympathise with the sceptics who question their motives, though some of their views are extreme.
One website critic (www.badpsychics.co.uk) says of mediums Amanda Hart and Ben Murphy: “These two non-entities in the psychic world have stooped lower than I thought possible”, adding, “If Hell exists then it will have a separate wing just for psychics like this”.
Even the journalists’ trade magazine UK Press Gazette was damning in its criticism – not of their psychic abilities but of the way they were promoting themselves (despite claiming to be interested only in helping Madeleine and her parents). In its 18 May issue, columnist “The Grey Cardigan” confesses that he doesn’t have a lot of time for public relations (PR) people. After describing one type of PR person he despises, he adds:
“And then there are the simply shameless. Enter, stage left, someone called Kizzi Nkwocha, who emailed me last week with a breathless announcement (I've corrected some of the punctuation and spelling): “Hi, We've just had this great story come about a couple of our clients and thought that it may be of interest to you. Two UK psychic detectives have arrived in Portugal in a bid to help track down missing toddler Madeleine McCann.”
After quoting the rest of the “press release”, his only comment is an echo of that which was often heard coming from the lips of Sir John Junor, who edited the Sunday Express for 31 years: “Pass the sick bag, Alice”.
The other psychic involved in the Madeleine case, Diane Lazarus, doesn’t fare any better at the hands of John Jackson, a regular commentator on the UK-Skeptics website (http://skeptics.org/uk). He writes: “It will be interesting to see what she comes out with but I suspect that she, along with the other 'psychics' in this case, are just there for the publicity that claiming a share of the police's results will generate.”
That view is inspired, in part, by the fact the Diane Lazarus spoke to two national newspapers before her departure, one of which illustrated the piece with the front cover of her new book.
However good these psychics may be – and as far as the Madeleine case is concerned only time will tell – they have no one but themselves to blame for such cutting criticism. If they choose to talk to newspapers about their intention to help the McCanns, and even employ a public relations person to make sure the world knows about it, they can hardly complain if the more cynical members of the public (in other words, most of them) come to the conclusion that publicity is more important to them than actually finding the missing child.
But every cloud has a silver lining. In this particular case, the statements they have made to the newspapers or their publicist (quoted in full in our News report) provide us with a detailed statement of their psychic impressions in advance of the case’s outcome.
We must also temper our optimism about their potential success with the realisation that most high profile cases of this kind in the past did not result in psychic help playing a significant role. However, the success rate is not non-existent and the police are not totally disinterested in co-operating with psychics, as the sceptics would have us believe.
Danny Penman, writing in the Daily Mail (Police turn to psychics to solve crimes, 1 May 2007), reveals that the UK’s National Crime and Operations Centre Faculty in Hampshire is steadily building up “a database of officially approved psychics”.
He adds: “Even the National Criminal Intelligence Service has begun to use psychics. One source told the Daily Mail:‘You see these big tough detectives with years of service behind them and occasionally, when you’ve got them alone they will admit that they use psychics. It’s not something they wish to promote.’”
However, only when Maddy is found can we judge the accuracy of the three mediums who have announced their involvement. In the meantime, the focus for many people, understandably, will be on their intentions rather than their paranormal powers.
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