S2 Ep3: Spiritualism, Gypsy Curses & Psychic Stings

Haunt Jaunts

You expect sting operations with certain criminal activities like gambling, prostitution, and illegal drugs. And then there’s Chris Hansen’s appropriately named To Catch a Predator. It uses modern-day technology employed by some of the vilest forms of criminals ever --pedophiles and child molesters-- to catch them red-handed.

But what about psychics? Would it surprise you to know that police have performed stings over the years to catch psychic cons and swindlers too?

That’s not to say all psychics are frauds --or are they?

I’ll leave that up to you to decide as we examine cases of Spiritualism, Spirit Crimes, and Psychic Stings in this episode of Haunting American True Crimes.
We start with the Fox Sisters, a.k.a. the Rochester Rappers, and the birth of American spiritualism --which was a hoax in its own right. Then we examine cases of psychic swindlers who have perpetrated gypsy curse scams over the years, from the early 1900s up until the present day.
And you can't have an episode about psychic frauds without including those who set out to catch them in the act, including Harry Houdini, Houdini's ghostbusting undercover agent, Rose Mackenberg, James Randi, and Bob Nygaard.
Perhaps Rose Mackenberg put it best: it wasn’t that she was a nonbeliever in spiritualism or unwilling to be convinced in the existence of the afterlife...she just had yet to see any proof of it.
That's not to say it doesn't exist. I couldn't help but reference two psychics, Louis Rader and Jane Coates, who both predicted President Warren G. Harding’s death before it happened.
Not that in either case it was part of a gypsy curse or scam, but Rader was arrested for his prophecy. Perhaps wrongly so?
Whether you believe in psychics or not, I hope you enjoy this jaunt into another episode of Haunting American True Crimes.
Sources Referenced in This Episode
The Encyclopedia of American Crime by Carl Sifakis
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/06/obituaries/rose-mackenberg-overlooked.html

https://www.historynet.com/the-fox-sisters-spiritualisms-unlikely-founders.htm

https://abc7news.com/news/private-investigator-recovered-over-$2m-for-psychic-fraud-victims/29673/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Nygaard

https://www.historynet.com/mina-crandon-harry-houdini-the-medium-and-the-magician.htm

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/26/magazine/psychics-skeptics-facebook.html

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Host & Guide: Courtney Mroch

Music
Jazzi by Frank Schröter

Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/6469-jazzi-

License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

SCP-x7x (6th Floor) by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/6737-scp-x7x-6th-floor-

License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

From https://filmmusic.io

"Some Amount of Evil" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)

License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)