Crazy Psychic Powers

While certain parts of the ABC seem happy to promote psychics as real and scientific, others take a more cautious, if contradictory, view.

Back in August Can We Help? (EoR hasn't watched this but it seems to be a fairly lighthearted show) looked at a haunted hotel.

Anthony Grzelka - the only ghost whisperer in Australia endorsed by james Van Praagh, heads in to identify the ghost as none other than Thomas Jecks, the gentlemen who built the premises.

The program, however, recommends other methods to detect the dead, such as land titles, cemetery records and police records. They also clearly state:

Points to note:

• No murders in Australia have ever been solved by a psychic


• No clear historical evidence of untimely deaths at the pub, though some of the residents did die young


• Australian skeptics offers $100,000 to anyone who can prove extraordinary powers - to date no one has claimed the prize

So, if a light entertainment program can get it right, why is it so hard for the rest of the ABC TV hierarchy to admit that psychics do not solve crimes?

And a further Grzelka moment that EoR missed at the time:

UNLIKE the rest of the world, Australian ghost whisperer, Anthony Grzelka was "not at all" shocked when he heard of Steve Irwin’s death. "When I heard of Steve’s passing, I sort of almost felt him around," he said. "I know that’s crazy, it wasn’t a tangible connection, but it was as if, if his wife was sitting right there, we could have made a connection." It’s just a day in the life of Grzelka, a regular interviewee on Australian radio and television, who makes a living talking with the dead. "It never ever scares me," he said of his gift.

EoR must be psychic too. He "sort of felt" JFK around after his assassination, and John Lennon, and he recently "felt" James Brown, Philippa Pearce and Magnus Magnusson hovering around. In fact, check with EoR after any famous person dies. He'll guarantee he's had a really truly honest-to-god ectoplasmic "sort of" contact with him or her. Just don't ask him prior.

At least Mr Grzelka knows what he does is "crazy". The ABC could take guidance from that. Perhaps they could start each episode of Psychic Investigators with a disclaimer: "Talking to the dead is crazy"?