Thursday, April 20, 2000 | 11:21 a.m.
The psychics set out green grapes and a hunk of bread to lure him.
They held hands and prayed. They lit candles and flipped Tarot cards. And primarily, the men and women who beckoned the spirit of dead casino heir Ted Binion to a red-curtained retail store last night courted a pack of media.
"Mr. Binion we are calling you to come to us tonight," seance leader Robert Leysen said in the incense-choked back room of the Psychic Eye Book Shop. Eleven psychics squeezed their eyes closed, and curious shoppers peeked in from amid shelves of Virgin Mary figurines and books about black helicopters and tantric sex.
Binion, who died from an overdose of heroin and the prescription sedative Xanax in September 1998, was a no-show at his seance.
But the psychics took a poll and determined, 8-3, that murder defendants Sandy Murphy and Rick Tabish will not be convicted in court even though they may actually be guilty. The seance was sponsored by Psychic Eye and publicized by Jackie Gladfelter, who works with defense team ad man Tom Letizia. Coincidentally Gladfelter also served as one of the psychics -- "I'm an astrologer by night -- this is my shadow side," she said.
Gladfelter communed with her invisible spiritual guide during the seance and announced that she, too, believed the defendants were guilty but would not be convicted.
"It's ironic that I would say they are guilty because my colleagues -- my connections -- bias me the other way," Gladfelter said later.
"I'm disappointed though. I was hoping (Binion) would say something and this would be taped, and it would be a great record of paranormal experience. I'm still hoping that one of the photographers will see him in their film or something," she said.
Psychic Cheryl Johnson apparently channeled some sort of angry spirit during the brief seance. Clad in a neat blue suit, Johnson shook and yelled, "The son of a bitch is guilty!" but said later that she had no idea who was speaking through her.
Psychic Zarin, who worked as a visual artist prior to becoming a professional psychic three months ago, said that the media's presence may have scared off Binion's spirit.
"There's too much external energy here," said Zarin, who wore an alien-head pendant necklace and a quilted cap.
The mike-boom toting media pack included the three-person team from "Inside Edition" who at one point directed the psychics to stay seated and the crowd to move back in order to accommodate a wide shot.
Leysen, who owns Psychic Eye, led the ceremony amid flashing cameras, pausing occasionally from his spiritual trance to explain to the press what exactly was going on -- "This bell will ring automatically if the spirit is in the room," he said. It never rang.
Later Leysen mysteriously shed a tear ("Excuse the emotion") just before announcing that Binion apparently would not respond to their invitation to set the record straight.
He said he will likely host another seance this spring without the media and seal the results until after the trial is finished.
Stacy J. Willis is a Sun reporter. She can be reached at (702) 259-4011 or by e-mail at [email protected]
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