The Conjurer’s Conundrum: My Life in Magic & Skepticism

BY JAMY IAN SWISS

Jamy Ian Swiss

Photo by Michael Bulbenko

In 2003 I received a phone call from a U.S. Attorney who had undertaken a criminal investigation of a “talkto-the-dead” medium. It is difficult to legally charge psychics and their ilk, because fortune-telling is often considered at best an exercise of free speech, and at worst a minor infraction, typically deemed a misdemeanor in communities that have attempted to outlaw it. However, as some law enforcement offices have become better educated about the nature of psychic fraud, they have begun to prosecute more criminal cases. This attorney understood cold reading versus hot reading, and believed that if he could prove a medium was using hot readings in his or her public performances, that would constitute fraud and hence justify criminal prosecution. And so, here is the story—one I am now recounting publicly for the very first time.

The U.S. Attorney’s office, having checked my resumé and background, retained me as an expert witness. When I first met with the team of investigators, they explained the initial steps they had taken: They had attended and recorded the target’s live performances, and produced the full transcripts. They had reviewed the transcripts in detail, highlighting instances when the psychic produced a sufficiently accurate “hit” so as to consider whether the possibility that inside information had been used. The investigators were also searching for evidence that might turn up connections between the psychic and the subjects of the readings.