John Edward makes money from supposedly contacting the dead. And his cable show “Crossing Over” has helped the spirit medium considerably to cash in on that claim.

Now he is marketing his supposed spiritualist skills in Australia through a promotional tour. Edward recently sold 4,000 tickets for a Sydney show at $75 each, that’s $300,000 Australian dollars for just one performance, reports The Sun-Herald.

Edward claims that an “Indian chief” became his “spirit guide” when he was a teenager. But the chief didn’t seem to get the “brave” full-time spiritualist status until years later, when Edward quit his day job at a hospital. It is unclear if he conversed with recently departed there.

Some say Edward is merely a “huckster” and the cable star hasn’t objectively proven otherwise. Instead, he stokes his popularity by doing what is called “cold readings.” That is, a process that combines him questioning, guessing and generalizing, which is hardly supernatural.

An example of cold reading was reported through the following spoof. Edward says, “Anyone? Someone who ate food, and slept in a bed … possibly a man or a woman. Someone who had hair. Long or maybe short.” At this point someone jumps up and replies; “My dad had short hair and ate food.”

It’s sad to see a “huckster” like Edward making money through the exploitation of the bereaved, but this type of business has been going on for a long time and no doubt will continue for the foreseeable future.

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