Confessions of a Conflicted Medium

A professional mentalist whose book describes how he duped people into believing he contacted their deceased relatives and performed other phony psychic feats will talk about human belief and those who would exploit it at a forum in Newbury Park on Friday, Nov. 16.

 Mark Edward will discuss and sign his book, “Psychic Blues: Confessions of a Conflicted Medium,” at 7:30 p.m. at the Conejo Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship.

 Edward has performed at the Magic Castle in Hollywood for more than 30 years.  He is also on the board of Skeptic magazine,where he has worked with other critical thinkers to reveal the methods of psychic scamsters. For 10 years, he fielded calls on the Psychic Friends Network and similar phone lines, dispensing readings that, according to his book, relied on a combination of imagination and nerve. He makes it clear that he believes most practitioners of the psychic business are scam artists.

At the forum, Edward will reveal tricks of his craft and explore avenues of belief and emotion that are vulnerable to exploitation.