11 September 2014

An Analysis of a live Lisa Williams Reading - Is she a genuine psychic medium or just a cold hearted conwoman?

DISCLAIMER:
The following article is the opinion of the author and may not correspond with the opinions of BadPsychics.com

This article is for Entertainment purposes only, and/or for scientific experimentation

I am still getting people doubt me when I state quite clearly that self proclaimed psychic/medium Lisa Williams does not communicate with the dead, they insist she is legit and that it would be impossible for me to debunk her.

So I did a quick search on Youtube and found the following video, I chose this one as it is unedited, and no produced by herself or her company as far as I can tell, and you would hope the producers who had her on as a guest wouldn't have allowed her to research anyone or listen in on conversations with stooges, we know she does both, but it is unlikely in this example, although you should never rule it out unless you are in full control of the situation.

Also the crowd wont necessarily be fans of hers, so less likely to try and help her along out of embarrassment.

Firstly you can watch the video, readings start just before the 4 minute mark, watch first and ask yourself if she seems genuine or if it seems like she is cold reading (in other words faking it)

I will interject my opinions in BOLD type, please leave your own comments and opinions in the comments section.


Transcript Key:
Lisa Williams
Victim
Me


I do have a father figure and a mother figure that's standing right in the centre by this lady and the gentleman in the striped shirt so its in this section here.

So I'm not sure, the lady... I'm almost kind of thinking its the woman at the front actually.

May I ask my love is there a mother figure in spirit for you please? I'm sorry I've just been told there is a grandmother as well for you.

And so the cold reading begins, the audience is not huge, but it is large enough that you can throw something vague out and get a reaction.
Fake psychics will always use the "mother/father figure" routine, in this case the old mother figure. Now ask yourself how many people could that really refer too.

A mother, an older sister, an aunty, a grandmother, great aunty, older friend, old work colleague, and so on.

She also throws out Grandmother too, which is more specific, but we all have 2 Grandmothers, and then there are the Grandmothers of your partner and older relatives that are like a Grandmother, either way Lisa has already cast a pretty large net.


Are you speaking to me?

Yeah!

(What's your name... Amanda)

Hi Amanda

Would I be right is saying that there's a mother figure or your grandmother was like your mother in many respects?

Yeah.

On your mothers side?

Yes.

Ok so after throwing out a rather large and vague amount of possibilities, Lisa gets a hit on a vague Mother figure/Grandmother, now look at the woman, she is probably late 30s, so any Grandmother would potentially be 80+ years old if alive, so a pretty good chance purely by odds that there would be a dead Grandmother.

And she keeps showing me like baking I don't know whether she used to bake a lot of pastries or something because she keeps putting like a crust on a pie actually!

Are you asking if I'm a baker?

No I don't think you are actually because she is saying no no no you don't cook so do you not like cooking?

Ah slightly, its not my favourite thing to do.

So this ladies "mother figure" has managed to break the laws of physics and all she wants to talk about is baking. It is this kind of pap that convinces people you know!

This is pure cold reading, with a bit of body language reading thrown in.

Lisa actually stated that the "Mother figure" was the one who liked to Bake, but when the lady didn't react to that and instead asked if she was asking if she was a baker, Lisa turned the reading in a different direction. She actually ASKS the woman if she does not like cooking, she does NOT tell her, notice that. The woman replies it is not her favourite thing to do, which is pretty common in women that age that run a house, cooking is often not the favourite thing to do, so again we going on odds here.

Ah its not your favourite thing is it, right because she's just showing me no! 

Next trick of the psychic is to repeat back to the victim what the victim has actually just told the medium, now after the reading the victim will remember that the medium told them that they didn't like cooking, when the reality is the victim is the one who gave up that specific piece of information, this is how cold reading works.

Now also, she is actually coming through telling me there is some form of celebration! You wasn't expecting this I'm sorry my love! Umm but she is acknowledging the celebration that's either happening in the family - and your mother would still be with us isn't she!

She is, yes.

Now this is the bit where you have to go back to the beginning of the reading, 
Lisa clearly states "May I ask my love is there a mother figure in spirit for you please? I'm sorry I've just been told there is a grandmother as well for you."

So Lisa has already said that she picked up a mother and father figure, the father figure got dropped, and she added a grandmother, now the mother figure is gone and we are left with just a grandmother.

Do you see what she did there, she started with 3 people in spirit, and through asking questions, and watching facial reactions, body language and so on, she has now dismissed two of the three, because she didn't get the reaction at the beginning she can now ASK if the mother would still be alive, knowing there is a good chance of being right.

Because she is acknowledging your mother here and like there's a celebration around your mum but can you tell your mum she is going to be ok, so there may have been some health concerns around your mum recently is that right?

Now this is confusing, she starts by talking about a celebration, but gets no reaction, so quickly switches to health concerns with the mother, now it is safe to assume this womans mother would be late 50s, 60s etc, so pretty much everyone at that age has health issues, whether it is a poor joints, bad back, or more serious issues.

Umm there have been some family health concerns.

Notice the victim says FAMILY health concerns, and ignores the fact that Lisa was indicating her mother was the one with health concerns.

There's been family health concerns because I'm being told everything is going to be ok and that you need to just share that with the family ok and that's the reason she is coming through 

Quickly Lisa switches to FAMILY health concerns and ignores her own statement about it being the mother with health concerns. You tell me a single family that doesn't have someone with health concerns, I've never met one.

and she is also talking about someone who needs to have their hair dyed, I'm not sure whose been talking about it?

Ah me!

Seriously? Don't all women in their late 30s dye their hair when the grey hairs start coming through? You couldn't get an easier hit if you tried.

Ah right well there you go, she is laughing and saying just get it done, get it done, get it done, because either its been bothering or you keep talking about it but she loves you very much, anyway, I've got another gentleman coming through but we'll will wait!

And that's it for the first reading.

Lets have a quick summary of what Lisa actually said.
She started off with a dead father figure and mother figure, she added a grandmother.
The father was dismissed, and the mother suddenly came back to life.
The mother was ill, but then not ill, but a random unnamed family member was ill, There was a celebration that didn't exist, and a woman needed her hair done.

That was the entirety of the reading.

Would anyone class that as proof of mediumship?


~ ~ ~

Onto the second reading, this starts just after minute 6 on the video. Now go watch it first, and ask yourself if it seemed legit to you, then scroll back down and read my opinion.

I was chatting with Bill and he has got to get his knee sorted so just remember that.

Firstly this is really really dodgy, she has clearly been speaking to Bill off camera, so we have no idea what she has said or he has said to her, she could have picked up anything, but we will give the benefit of the doubt anyway.

Umm yeah, I wanted to throw this out actually because I wasn't sure but I've got a feeling that someone can relate to a younger adult that's in the audience like a younger daughter or someone who lost their daughter or a son. Can anyone relate to what I'm talking about please and it happened very quickly as an accident; it may not have been your child but it may be someone you can relate to. Now this is the time don't be shy.

This is where the whole psychic game starts to take a dark turn.
There is little in life worse than losing a child, and for anyone to use that as part of an act, to make money, well that is just a bit sick in my book.

If we can ignore the vile nature of the way this reading is going, I will try and look at it.
Ok so we have an audience of roughly 20 people near to her, then another 20 or so behind the panel, so a decent size. Now people will have been aware that a medium was appearing on this show, so there is a good chance people may have come along purely to see her, and even if not its a large enough sample size that there is a good chance that throwing out such a death would hit.

Notice how Lisa Williams says "younger adult" first instead of child, this then gets turned into daughter or son. Seeing no reaction she then expands it to any one, even not related.

So now ask yourself, as you read this, if not yourself, do you know of anyone under the age of 20 who has died in a sudden way? I know of quite a few unfortunately.

Ok, alright don't worry, I just kept feeling as though there was someone who passed in an accident. Can either of you relate to it? Someone passed in an accident with very sudden passing and I've got the feeling that they crossed quite quickly it was a very sudden... no? Can you understand this, who would this be for you please?

Really forcing it down peoples throats here, she is struggling and hoping someone can think of someone this would fit.

My brother.

And this would be passing of a sudden accident you understand that

No he died when I was actually born.

Now this poor bloke was so desperate he took the reading even though it was nowhere close to what he had happened, this is the desperation that mediums thrive and survive on.

Erm don't want to make it fit, it just feels like someone passed in a sudden accident it was like a head injury a trauma to the head, can anyone relate to this, its like a friendship, can you understand this?

You don't want to make it fit? That is all you do Lisa!

No. only the bombings

Oh right ok and it happened very very quickly and this would be a friend of yours is that right?

My sisters daughter.


Ok, and it happened quickly this happened, can I come to you please.... because this happened really really quickly, may I come.....

My sister's daughter.

Ok so this happened really quickly and what I am actually being shown is that this was like this massive impact ok and it had a massive impact on the family do you understand this?

Yes

Watching this really makes me feel uncomfortable, the way Lisa Williams keeps saying impact and pumping her fist into her hand, just imagine how difficult that is to listen too if your child had been run over.

Anyway she repeats impact a few times and gets nothing, so cleverly changes it to impact on the family. This is pretty despicable stuff.


And I kept being shown there that something still needs investigating or there was still some form of investigation that's gone on because I don't feel as though you have not had the full facts Do you understand this?

Sort of.

This poor bloke is doing his best here to help Lisa, but she is failing pretty miserably.

Ok. Its as though, I feel as though there are other things that need to come out ok?

She is jumping up and down and she's telling me she looks a lot like her mum or she looked a lot like her mum do you understand this?

Yes.

Remember this reading started off as a young adult, and now is a young girl jumping up and down. And what young girl doesn't look like their mom, that is their first role model in life. The man has answered positively to that, so now Lisa can expand on the appearance thing further, and make it seem like she knew all along.

And she is showing that me that the photos resemble her, she is actually saying can you say hello to the family and there is a connection to a teddy bear that they still have of hers all right, and this is really important she is just showing me socks for some reason, whether she always used to have socks in... there was a particular thing about socks and she is dancing and she's giving me the fact that she is dancing around and she is also showing me that she comes through in rainbows and there's a feeling of music that so you may find that music is very prominent ok has your sister ever mentioned any of this?

Ah no.

This part of the reading is known as shotgunning, whereby you throw out a lot of information very quickly in the hope that some of it sticks, unfortunately Lisa fails on the lot! Which is actually surprising as you would think if your kid died you would probably keep their favourite teddy bear about. No idea why she went on about the socks, that was an attempt to sound specific in the hope it would hit, of course if it doesn't the psychic can use the old "take that home with you" or "ask about it" and by doing that they make it seem like they know more than the person being read! Another classic fake psychic technique.

Ok well speak to your sister about it.

Now would she have a brother as well please

Yes

They say that a good psychic will never ask questions, yet that is all Lisa Williams has done the whole reading, ask a question and then expand on the answer as if you already knew.

Because she acknowledging the brother that she comes through in the brother's dreams as well ok, this was a massive... oh right ...

Again what a terrible thing to say and plant in the minds of people watching, she is forcing her nonsense on people who are not even there, really disgusting in my opinion.

is there a separation in the family now, maybe mum and dad have parted ways?

Ah no mum and dad have both passed.

So Lisa Williams here is 100% wrong, she took a chance at divorced parents and got it wrong, I wonder if she will try and twist this round? I think we both know the answer to that!


Your mum and dad have both passed ?

Yes.

Ok she is showing me that there was a separation n the family with a mother and a father so that would then be them coming through. Right ok, thank you, your father has crossed correct?

Yes.

So now suddenly the dead parents who Lisa thought were alive are now coming through from the spirit world! And remember that old trick of repeating back to the victim what they have already told the medium, she does it again by stating that his father had passed! Yet he was the one who told her that! Yet after the reading it would be quite easy for him to forget he gave that information, and only remember Lisa telling him! Again this is how cold reading works.

Oh right, You are very similar to him you look a lot like him would you understand that?

Ah no, my mum.

She really is having a nightmare with this guy, a pretty easy guess to say a big hefty bloke will look like his dad, yet she is wrong again and he reveals he looks like his mom! I wonder will Lisa repeat this back to him?


Or do you you look like your mum?

My mum!

He just told you that Lisa! lol. That was pretty blatant even by Lisa Williams awful standards!

You look a lot like one of the members of the parents because she just keeps coming through with the face, the face, and its a mirror, she is actually showing me that you're a good guy, you are such a good boy, you were a good boy and she wants to acknowledge that in that case, that are a good boy, and that she has the daughter so if you can just let them know that they have them, they are all together ok? 

This really is poor, she now repeats back to him again that he looks like one of the parents! Yes he looks like the mother and HE told you that after you got it wrong Lisa!

The good guy stuff is just filler and is nonsense, she finishes that off by saying the dead child is with his parents, the parents she thought were alive until he told her that they were dead!

And again she wants to acknowledge the ring, she wants everyone to look after her ring and dad's got something as well, all right but I want you know they are all together ok?

Ok.

She tries a classic line here about a ring, who doesn't keep a ring of a dead parent, he just says ok, probably past caring now and wants to go home.


Something about the shoe size, they're laughing about the shoes , have you got to get new shoes?

I buy shoes on line!

Again you break the laws of physics you come back from the dead, you speak to a medium and all you can do is talk about shoes, and Lisa gets it wrong again!

There you go, they're laughing about the shoes all the time, all right its just something she's doing ok so just watch out for that.

I'm going to leave you with that.

And that is the end of the reading, the first reading clearly came across better on camera as her cold reading techniques worked better the second reading was just painful to watch.

It is pretty clear to me Lisa Williams is a fraud, she is using clear and detectable techniques, there was not a single thing she said that proved any kind of real psychic or mediumistic ability, in parts it was truly painful to watch, she used some classic lines and characters.

So tell me, do you think Lisa Williams is really talking to these dead people? Or is she just earning a living by taking advantage of vunerable, grieving and desperate people.

As ever I will leave it up to you, please leave your comments below.

You can follow me on Twitter @JonDonnis

23 comments:

Terry said...

Good work Jon. I wish every journalist in the country was made to study this at college before being let loose in the World to report credulously on these sharks. Maybe you should offer your services to journalist departments in University on how to spot them and other fraudsters.

JD said...

Thanks Terry, I appreciate your kind words.
I wish journalism as a whole was more honest, unfortunately in this day and age true journalism is very rare, most are given a certain topic as well as an outcome by the editor, meaning independent journalism is a lost art, which is why so many people these days avoid the official news media outlets and rely on blogs like this one, and social media for their news.

BridgetE said...

I love that I found this. I was actually on the brink of booking an appointment with a psychic that was recommended to me and was trying to find more info on her. Low and behold she was certified under Lisa Williams and I came across your blog.

I also found the recommended psychic's YouTube page and saw the EXACT same techniques Lisa uses in her "readings." And then with more Googling I found that this "psychic" used y to be an actress (well in all aspects I guess she still is an actress) AND the name she goes by isn't her real name, but a variation of it AND she used to be a wrestler on a nationally televized show back in the early 2000s.

When I looked at her psychic videos it seemed like she was doing a bad impersonation of Lisa Williams with the hand gestures and all. No wonder she never made it big as an actress, as I said, it was a bad, nervous looking impersonation.

JD said...

It is messages like yours that makes this site worth all the hassle and abuse i get.

I hope now you will avoid psychics all together, they truly are a waste of money.

Unknown said...

She mentions her mother or grandmother baking and putting a crust on the pie.mostly everyone's grandmother baked ,you don't need to be psychic for that one that was embarrasing to watch what an arse hole

Sooz said...

I have just finished viewing another live episode of Lisa on this same show today.
I can't believe she has actually gone with the same scenario about the grandmother who was excellent at baking.

Sooz said...

I just finished watching Lisa doing another live reading on this same program today.
She actually used the same scenario about the grandmother that was excellent at baking again. I can't believe she did the same skit on the same show. She needs a new gig.

JD said...

Most if not all mediums have "characters" they regularly use.
I remember Colin Fry telling me in confidence (hes dead now so doesn't matter) that Tony Stockwell would always use "Young male, motorbike accident, loved speed, the rush"
And even moaned to Colin when at one show he used the character and no one picked it up, and he was amazed as it always got a hit.

kiki1108 said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
kiki1108 said...

I was wondering if the Author of this blog is a Non-Believer of "ALL" Psychic/Mediums? Or is just trying to Debunk the more Famous of them, LW in particular? Forgive me for my lack of knowledge, but I have just come across this Blog.

JD said...

I say this a lot, so why not say it again, my own personal belief really doesn't matter, all that does matter is what is real and what is false.
And history tells us that 10-0% of psychics/mediums fail 100% of the time in credible scientific tests when the chance to cheat is removed.

100% failure rate in over 150 years of serious scientific study, Just consider that for a moment, no anomolies, no surprises, every single one fails in CREDIBLE scientific tests (Notice the word credible)

The claims of psychics/mediums are statistically improbable.

I am a skeptic of any and all such claims, however as a skeptic, if I am shown evidence that proves the claims as real, I will change my opinion.

Lola said...

Thank you for writing the truth. These medium are all like that and they think that we are stupid to believe them. I tried 4 medium just the fraud none of them was truthful. They do not see any spirit. They just practiced how to talk fast and get the information from grieving people like myself who lost my son to suicide and make up the story around it. Shame on them

JD said...

I am so sorry to hear about your son.
I am glad that you have been able to see through these frauds.
If you ever want to talk about things more, you can do so on the forum with like minded people who have gone through similar things.

http://moh2005.proboards.com

pinki said...

I love your way of explaining! You are so right, and this psychic Lisa is so full of it I can't help but feel sorry for the ppl she's reading because she's making a fool of them. No one should be able to do this to ppl.

JD said...

Glad you enjoy my way of explaining, i do try.
And yes I feel sorry for the victims of psychics which is the very reason I try to expose the people conning them

MJKane said...

How go you explain when the person getting the reading offers no information to the psychic at all. And the psychic knows the names of those in spirit and scenarios that are very specific that you only know and couldn't be found out( you didn't register using you name, etc) I've been to very reputable mediums and to a couple of fakes so I've had experience.

JD said...

Very very easily, show me an example of what you describe and I 100% guarantee you I can show you how it is done.
Cold reading is often used as a catch all term, but in reality there are many many methods psychics use.

Remember just because you dont know how a trick is done, does not make it real magic.

I look forward to hearing back from you with a recording or video of the example you mention.

Unknown said...

I was hoping she was real. Like Lola I too lost my son and feel lost. I watched her program living with the dead and she seemed more genuine than the rest. I am so disappointed.

JD said...

It is that vulnerability and grief you feel right now that is used by psychics and mediums to get your money.
Lisa Williams is no different.

When you take any reading from any medium, and you analyse it in a critical way like has been done in this article, you always find the same thing, that being a lie, a con, a game.

It is sad, but this is my experience with regards to 250 face to face readings from mediums, and over 2500 readings given to others that I have analysed over 14 years.

There is simply no evidence that anyone can communicate with the dead, as much as I want that to be a real thing, the evidence is otherwise.

Therefore how I deal with grief is to keep those lost in my mind, sometimes I even talk to them in my head, I am an atheist, but it does give me comfort to just talk to them, if they hear me or not I dont know. But it is a hell of a lot more real than paying a stranger to pretend to give me messages from them.

Your son will forever be with you in your mind, in your memories and in your experiences with him. Dont pay a fake medium a penny to abuse these real memories you have of him, because if you do a time will come when you wont be able to tell the difference between the real memories and the lies told to you by these frauds.

Unknown said...

This was amazing to read. I used to love watching her back in the day, but then one time I watched a interview of hers and it seemed like the biggest load of crap and I felt like she was a fake from then on.

JD said...

Glad to hear you opened your eyes to her scam

Pietra Chandler said...

I had a very funny medium reading. It was at a restaurant and you got a ticket and went into a room, in a group, and each chose a medium. Mine described some old lady she said was my mother - to say that this woman was the exact opposite in every way as my own mom is an understatement. Anyway, then she moved on to this man - again, not someone I recognized, but I wanted to end it so I made him fit by agreeing whomever had gray hair. I don't remember the rest but when I got back to the table, everyone of course had had really good experiences. All I said was, I didn't like mine. I got tired of talking to strangers.

JD said...

I hope you never paid for it?

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