Spirited Argument: Van Praagh’s abilities debated as Vegas appearance approaches

Kirk Baird

Wednesday, June 25, 2003 | 8:31 a.m.

James Van Praagh calls his ability a "gift." Others label it a "fraud."

Visitors can decide for themselves with Van Praagh's noon appearance Sunday in ballrooms A and B of the Las Vegas Hilton.

Van Praagh claims he is a spiritual medium, which means he is in communication with the spirit world, both visually and aurally. Just as with Haley Joel Osment's character in the film, "The Sixth Sense," Van Praagh said he discovered his ability while very young.

"I used to see lights and spirits around people," the 44-year-old said in a recent phone interview from his home near San Diego. "I didn't know what they were I thought everyone could see them. My mom told me they were 'God's angels.'"

After that, Van Praagh said he chose to ignore these so-called visions. Eventually they all but disappeared.

That is, until nearly 20 years later, when he went to see a medium one who claims to be in contact with the dead at the urging of a friend.

"The medium said, 'You have the gift. You're a medium and in two years the spirit world wants to use you,'" Van Praagh recalled her telling him.

But he was skeptical at what the medium said.

"You're crazy," he remembers telling her.

What he couldn't dismiss, though, was how he said the medium was able to recall the names of several of Van Praagh's deceased family members along with their addresses.

The more he thought about this, the more his curiosity in the paranormal was piqued. So he read up on clairvoyants and began to meditate to get in touch with the spirit world.

"I felt more relaxed, more calm and more centered," Van Praagh said. "After a few months I began to see things again lights and colors. The more meditation I did, the stronger I became."

He began performing readings for friends and co-workers until word of mouth of his gift had him booked up to a year or more.

That was two decades ago.

Since then Van Praagh has published several books, including two New York Times best sellers, "Talking to Heaven" and "Reaching to Heaven"; had a nationally syndicated TV show, "Beyond with James Van Praagh"; and even a miniseries based on his life, "Living With the Dead," starring Ted Danson as Van Praagh, which aired in April 2002 on CBS. The four-hour drama drew 17 million viewers, making it the highest-rated CBS miniseries in two years.

While in the past he has occasionally provided readings for celebrities including Cher, who hired him to communicate with her ex-husband, Sonny Bono Van Praagh no longer offers private readings, no matter how much money he is offered.

"That's not what I'm about," he said. "I'm not in this to make money. I'm not a millionaire, but I'm (financially) comfortable with the books (sales). I'm here to help people, that's really what it comes down to."

Many critics, including Penn Jillette of Penn & Teller, say self-proclaimed clairvoyants including Van Praagh and John Edward can do more harm than good.

Jillette who, along with his partner, hosts a series on Showtime, "Bull----," a show dedicated to debunking would-be miracles and supernatural claims, said for years he dismissed the spiritualists' claims as simply con artists having fun at minimal expense.

That was before his parents passed away three years ago. Now, he said, his feelings have changed.

"It is no longer bad like the Nigerian scam (e-mail) letters; it is now bad like the worst kind of LSD, because it is taking my definition of my love of my mother and distorting it," Jillette said. "I would rather lose both my arms and my legs, I would rather lose my life, than to have the memory of my mom distorted."

Still, Jillette was willing to play devil's advocate with Van Praagh's claims.

"Just for fun, let's say that he does have these powers. There's nobody, not Van Praagh, not Edward ... none of those people claim to be 100 percent right; they all make mistakes," he said. "My mom died horribly, painfully, slowly, but she stayed very bright and clear. I don't know why she would stumble over her middle name now that she's dead. If she is in the beyond and intact with her mind and soul intact, I don't know why she would have trouble remembering my sister's middle name.

"If (Van Praagh) is -- and I can't put a a strong enough emphasis on that -- but if he's able to do that and if he's wrong once out of a hundred times, I think that price is too high. Because when a loved one dies, all you have is the memories of that person."

Van Praagh maintains he's not a fraud and that Jillette is launching personal attacks when the magician doesn't know him or anything about him.

"If you don't know me personally, why make an attack? That's infuriating to me," Van Praagh said. "He's making an ignorant comment based on no real experience with me.

"I can't control how people behave, but I don't go around putting people down, either. That's his choice and one day he'll wake up to it."

While Van Praagh acknowledges there are those con artists posing as clairvoyants, he said there are ways to minimize the risk of being duped:

Use a referral by a trusted friend or family member.

Make sure the medium isn't asking too much for their services, Van Praagh, for example, charges $65.

Pay attention to the information the medium is providing. Is this knowledge they could have researched beforehand?

Ultimately, though, Van Praagh said he is not alone in his ability.

"I believe everybody has a sense of sixth sense, an intuition. If we used it, we'd be able to choose things easier," he said. "I've learned to become more developed. I've opened myself up to receptivity. It's like turning the radio on and then tuning into the stations. When I opened myself up, I became very acutely aware of people's energy fields around them.

"I see people from the inside-out. One of the hardest things is to see the potential of people and how no one lives up to their potential.""

Penn Jillette

COMIC MAGICIAN