Few people provoke as varied a reaction as John Edward, known as "the guy who talks to dead people." When I told people about my assignment to interview the psychic medium-turned-TV host, I was met with an array of responses, all of which surprised me in their extremity. One woman called Edward "bril-liant" and said her family in Australia had just gotten tickets to see him there. But a guy who overheard our discussion interjected: "John Edward should be locked in prison. He's dangerous." His adherents think he's amazing; his critics consider him a fraud.
Whether you believe in Edward's abilities or not, one thing is undeniable: He's a hit.
I've watched his show, "Crossing Over With John Edward," and gotten sucked in. Turns out I fit the demographic profile of his audience: Since its debut in July 2000 on cable's Sci Fi channel, ratings have soared, particularly among women. Although women make up just 45% of Sci Fi's overall audience, "Crossing Over's" audience is 60% female. The show has been such a success on cable that fans now can see it in syndication.
During a typical half-hour episode, Edward stands among a studio audience of about 200, randomly channeling their deceased friends and relatives. He says he does so by identifying energy, which pulls him to a particular person or group of people. He then asks questions about or communicates messages from those who have passed on. When connections are made, audience members may become overwhelmed by emotion, but Edward does not. There is no sentimentality in his delivery; his intention is solely to relay "facts." He suggests to those who receive readings that they seek the help of a grief counselor, because the trauma is sometimes too difficult to handle alone. Sometimes people who seek him out don't connect with their loved ones, and their disappointment makes Edward's job difficult, especially, he says, when parents whose children have died come to him and he isn't able to communicate with them. "Many people are looking for closure," Edward says of his role.
Just a regular guy
Ability aside, Edward describes himself as a regular guy who lives a normal life with his wife, Sandra, a professional ballroom dancer (Edward also enjoys dancing). His definition of "normal," however, is about to change: At press time, the couple was expecting their first child within weeks. Naturally, he claimed to have predicted the sex: "Sandra was convinced it was a girl -- mother's instinct. One night I had a vision of changing the baby's diaper, and sure enough, it was a boy."
When Edward, who will be 33 next Saturday, was a boy, his mother and grandmother used to host "psychic parties" at home. Like his father, a former New York City police officer, Edward wanted nothing to do with what he considered "girl stuff." Then, at 15, he met a psychic who read his energy and told him of his own psychic capacity.
"She told me I would one day become internationally known for my psychic abilities through lectures, books, radio and TV," Edward says. "I thought she was full of it until she started to tell me things no one in my life knew about. Like about an older woman I had been involved with that nobody knew about. The details were unbelievable."
Feeling violated and wanting to debunk her assertions, Edward went to the local library in Glen Cove, N.Y., on Long Island, and read every book he could about paranormal behavior and activities. In the process he redefined his own beliefs, and things he predicted started to come true. After losing his mother to lung cancer in 1989, he devoted his efforts to communicating with those who have passed. He says he wanted to make sure his mom was OK in the afterlife.
Maintaining that he does not have a gift, Edward says he has just gotten very good at sensing and interpreting energy, especially when people have unresolved issues after the death of a loved one. "I look at death as the transition of energy outside the body," he says. "I have the ability to sense that energy."
Or is it just good television? Critics say the questions Edward poses are so vague, chances are someone in the crowd will respond affirmatively. People want to feel their loved ones are watching over them. So does Edward exploit the vulnerabilities of the grieving? "No one ever asks if an oncologist exploits cancer," Edward says. "To me, what I do is not exploitative. People just don't understand it."
Deepak Chopra on psychic studies
Deepak Chopra, the spiritual guru and authority on mind-body medicine, says studies have been conducted that suggest people shouldn't be so quick to dismiss the validity of psychic mediums like Edward. "There is increasing evidence that consciousness survives the death of the physical body and that communication may be possible," Chopra says.
Edward, who was brought up Roman Catholic, tries to lead a spiritual life. He doesn't view what he does as religious but says that some people's faith in religion has been strengthened as a result of his readings. Edward views his work more from a scientific standpoint, and Chopra agrees. "As we get a better understanding scientifically of the future of consciousness after physical death," Chopra says, "John will be recognized as a pioneer in this field."
Before doing a show or reading, Edward follows a ritual: For 45 minutes he says the rosary and meditates, usually in the bathroom, because TV studios get loud and distracting. At first, the cameras made him very uncomfortable. Eventually he began to view what he was trying to do as an event -- like a group reading that just happens to be televised.
Skeptics accuse him of editing his show to include mostly his "hits." He responds: "We have 200 people in every gallery [audience], and what I do doesn't happen instantly. People are in the studio for eight hours, and we have to edit the show for time, not content. We don't try to hide the 'misses.' "
Edward makes a living interacting with the dead, but he sees himself solely as the vehicle through which people make contact. And he says he doesn't know what it's like on the other side. "I don't believe in a fiery hell," he says, but he can't say it doesn't exist. "I believe in the other side, but I don't live there, so I can't describe it."
Although he feels the energy people emit all the time, Edward makes an effort not to allow it to disrupt his personal life. He says he has to "turn it on and off" or he might get distracted. Years ago, as he and his wife were dining in a restaurant, he began staring at a couple sitting opposite them. After 10 minutes Edward mentioned that the couple was on their first date. Asked by his wife how he knew, he said, "Because her husband's dead, and I'm getting it from him."
Edward has become a success from having had otherworldly experiences for most of his life. But will his newborn son inherit his abilities?
"I hope not," he says. "I want my son to be aware, but I wouldn't want him to do what I do. I want him to be normal. It gets old being called a freak or fraud all the time."
