Fields: Two Scumbags Get Different Treatment
BY SAM FIELDS
Bridgette Evans and John Edward are both liars and cheats selling variations of the same scam. Both are on the front page of the local section of the May 10, 2011 Sun-Sentinel.
Evans is subject to a story about her arrest. Edward is loudly and proudly advertising his version of the Evans scam.
Evans was arrested for fraud when she told her customers that she could get the evil spirits out of their money and a Rolex.
She returned neither.
Edward is boldly advertising his coming appearance in Fort Lauderdale. And so long as he pays the financially strapped Sun-Sentinel they will take his bucks to promote his fraud.
At $175 a pop on June 4, Edward can expect to take way a whole lot more moolah than Evans. He will be selling his Crossing Over crap which boldly proclaims that he can converse with your dead Aunt Mabel.
If you wants a private session–aka “reading“–that will cost $750. Groups of 75 are a mere $350 per person. In all cases, according to his ad, “Reading Not Guaranteed.â€
While the Feds arrested Evans, I am pretty sure that the BSO and Fort Lauderdale PD will take a different tack with Edward. They will be more than happy to let him hire Rent-A-Cops to control the suckers…oops, I mean crowd.
Evans and Edward are scumbags who take advantage of slowwitted people at a vulnerable moment in their lives.
Edward uses an old scam called “cold readingâ€. Here is how it works:
He will ask a series of questions and suggestions, each shaped by the sucker’s last response. The questions are so general that they it is statically probably that the sucker will answer affirmatively.
For instance, “I sense an older figure here” or some variation is a common question. Almost everybody knows someone older in their family that has died.
This leads to the next question: “The death resulted from a chest problem?” That symptom covers a wide range of disorders, from cancer to heart problems.
If the sucker answers, “No,†Edward quickly asks more questions until he hits paydirt.
In 2001 Edward stepped over the line when he told the families of 9/11 victims that he was talking to their dead relatives.
Following that scam, South Park did an episode where aliens came to Earth to declare Edward “The Biggest Douche In The Universe.†They understated his evil.
Why one is in jail and one is in show business is hard to fathom.
The best I can figure is that if you defraud fifty grand from one person it is a crime. But if you do it to thousands at $175 a pop it is something somewhat akin to showbiz/religion.
May 18th, 2011 at 5:03 pm
Great post.
May 18th, 2011 at 7:06 pm
Sam, I usually agree with most of what you write, but, I believe that there are “mediums” who are able to communicate with those who have passed. I cannot comment on the methods that John Edwards uses, but I can understand him being paid for his services. He is not a “Rolex Rip Off artist,” and does not belong in the same category as Bridgette Evans.
May 18th, 2011 at 9:19 pm
Patty Lynn,
Sam doesn’t believe in life after death. He doesn’t believe in God, Heaven or Hell. He only believes in what he can see or touch. How sad.
May 19th, 2011 at 10:27 am
Some these posts prove what P.T. Barnum said about suckers. But, hey, it’s your money. And I don’t know what is so sad about living by the principal that it’s healthier to form opinions based on reason and evidence. The “God” thing and “mediums” don’t meet these standards. But, it’s a free country. Believe what you wish, just don’t force your mindset on the rest of us. I am also sometimes amused that “believers” ask people such as myself to “keep an open mind.” In response I’d ask – “who has the open mind?” Most non-believers have started, via family, from a position of “belief,” and then went on a journey of seriously exploring and questioning those beliefs. We have come to reject the supernatural, but we are open to new evidence. This, to me, is being “open minded.”
May 19th, 2011 at 11:14 am
I believe John Edward, like the rest of us. does talk to the dead.
I often go to my parents graves and talk to them
It’s getting them to talk back that is the hard part.
People who have lost someone are often vulnerable to grifters and that is what Edward is.
With little training and a good line of bullshit anyone can do it.. provided they do not have a conscience.
Also like Edward
May 19th, 2011 at 11:24 am
While I don’t believe that Edward can talk to the dead and agree that he is a charlatan, Sam’s disbelief is rooted in his atheism. He doesn’t believe in God or the afterlife. No afterlife, means no Heaven and no life after death.
May 19th, 2011 at 8:25 pm
This case is very much a religous one but for different reasons than listed.
Ms. Evans is a Gypsy. Those of you who know the Gypsy lore know that gypsies are taught to believe they have the divine right to steal (because a gypsy kid stole the fourth nail that was to go through Jesus’s heart at the crucifixion). I do not know if John Edward is a gypsy although there is an Edwards gypsy clan in Lighthouse Point.
Now I’ll throw a little civics/political science lesson at you. Religion is the basis for our system of laws and our form of government. Prior to religion the power of the king was absolute. Religion provided the basis of thought there was a power greater than the king.
Read Francis Fukuyama, The Origins of Political Order.
May 20th, 2011 at 8:15 am
Dear Death Frog,
I have not read Fukyama’s latest book although I have read some lengthy reviews.
As far as modern government and the Bible are concerned they could not be farther apart.
We are a representative democracy which protects the rights of dissenting minorities and individuals.
I defy you to show me a anything in the Old or New Testament that advocates that.
The Old Testament is government after government based on the Divine Right of Kings– not so co-incidentally supported by those same kings.
The New Testament says nothing about government because Jesus said it was all coming to a quick end when he returns which he said would occur in the lives of those still living. Big oops on that one.
Don’t get me started on books like Leviticus which advocate killing you for working on the Sabbath or eating a lobster.
Gorilla families have a more humane set of social rules than religion and they did it without believing in the supernatural.
May 20th, 2011 at 8:18 am
P.S. The only thing Fukyama got right was in high school when he had a major crush on my late wife.
May 21st, 2011 at 12:07 am
Fantastic article. I couldn’t believe when Edwards got his own TV show a few years back. From what I heard, it was seriously edited, so when there were no’s in the audience, they weren’t heard, or that when he was getting nowhere with someone, he’d head over to someone where he could make some progress. Another charlatan is that woman who was the inspiration behind “Medium”. What bullsh*t. I honestly do not believe any of this and feel sorry for the feeble-minded who do.
May 21st, 2011 at 9:59 pm
Sam, Sam,Sam……you are an educated man, why do you insist on reading the Bible as if it is a literal history or transcript of God’s conversations with mankind? It is neither. The Old Testament is a collection of folks’ reflections on the activities and actions of God in their lives. The New Testamant, the memories of those who heard the stories from actual eyewitnesses. The Bible shares basic stories of faith,it is not history, science, or news reports.
May 22nd, 2011 at 4:40 pm
Doc, doc doc,
Leaving aside that tens of millions in this country think the Bible is word for word truth, as an atheist I don’t happen to be one of them.
What the reference was whether the rules of society endorsed in the Bible are or should be the rules that we live by.
I am simply pointing out that the Bible has nothing to say in support of democracy and promotes kings with the power to whack those who disagree.
It promotes the kind of society rules that are by today’s standards evil unless of course you believe in things like killing a woman for loosing her virginity prior to marriage is a swell idea. If so there is a spot for you in the Taliban which pretty much parallels the Bible in its Koranic inspired rules.
May 22nd, 2011 at 10:05 pm
Sammy baby,
Tens of millions? I doubt that. The fundamentalists are loud and noisy,but they do not speak for all of us. Although admittedly the old testament spoke of kings and concentrated power, it is only because it was written within a social political order that reflected it’s own reality. Jesus, son of mary,advocated an abolishment of the old order, and preached equality and democracy. Unfortunately, mankind has yet to perfect Jesus’ teachings into full implementation.
May 23rd, 2011 at 5:17 pm
I rely on facts and not wishful thinking. The attached link is a Gallup poll from 2007 showing that 1/3 of all Americans believe the Bible is the literal truth. http://www.gallup.com/poll/27682/OneThird-Americans-Believe-Bible-Literally-True.aspx
May 23rd, 2011 at 9:37 pm
I guess then I can always count on being employed…..