Media: An Audience with Sally Morgan: Star Psychic

Here in the U.S., we have plenty of "star psychics." Well, we're not alone, they have them in the UK too. In this article, Neil Hocking tells of witnessing a performance by the UK's famous television psychic, Sally Morgan.

When "star psychic" Sally Morgan, the UK's famous television medium, came to town I didn’t hesitate in booking my place. I relished a fantastic opportunity to enjoy, and of course critique, a live exhibition of mediumship.

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Sally Morgan - UK's "Star" Psychic

Mediums are controversial and are often accused of employing underhand tricks, if not downright fraud, in their work. On the other hand, those who have had personal experience often find these sorts of claims difficult to reconcile with their experiences. While the hard-line sceptics often try to portray "believers," such as myself, as being credulous victims of psychological trickery, it is common to hear tales of spookily accurate readings that have defied rational explanation.

Who is Sally Morgan? A brief bio

Sally explained how she grew up in a house in Fulham which was haunted by twelve ghosts. She also spoke to an entity that appeared in a cupboard at school. Consequently her psychic abilities were constantly engaged and formed the basis of her career as a professional medium. She appears on ITV’s Sally Morgan: Star Psychic program and the "star" part is not pure egocentrism, she has worked with famous personalities such as George Michael, Uma Thurman and, perhaps most impressively, Princess Diana.

A slick performance

I don’t know exactly what I expected but the show was certainly a lot more professional and engaging than I thought it would be, no mean feat when you’re asking people to sit for two hours on the off-chance that they might be one of the chosen few that Sally comes to.

There was a "psychic cam," pre-recorded in the foyer before the event, where spectator’s questions could be aired during the night; there were still photographs shown, seemingly used to inspire the spirits to contact the audience members, and "love letters," yellow slips of paper which people could fill-in and Sally would draw from a fish bowl (I ashamedly must confess I thought the fishbowl was an ostentatious crystal ball at first). There was also, of course, the time-honoured method of throwing a message out to the audience. Sally was entertaining throughout and came across as genuine and empathetic albeit with a flair for the dramatic.

"Does the name John mean anything..."

I have not used any real names in this article, but shortly after the show started there was a message of the sceptics’ favourite sort: "Does the name of ‘John’ mean anything to anyone?" Ten hands go up; Sally goes to one of the audience members and then what? Well, we are led to believe by deniers that the medium would now try to elicit information by means of clever psychic trickery, vague statements designed to extract rather than provide specific information. In reality, Sally came out with two consecutive specific names, one which happened to be John’s wife, sitting right next to him, and the other the name of a deceased relative, with an unusual, or at least uncommon, first name. In my opinion, this happened on so many occasions that guesswork and tricks seemed a very unlikely explanation. In terms of balance, I ought to reveal that there were a few occasions where messages were not taken or were very vague but these were the exception.

"I know of him."

It seems to me that if we accept there was no (or little) use of guesswork we have to choose whether we believe that a medium is genuine or is employing fraud (or both). Mediums have been accused of employing plants to boost a flagging performance and unfortunately for Sally, her record is not altogether flawless here.

In 2005, Big Brother winner Brian Dowling received a personal reading on Sally’s own website. Two years later, on ITV2, she was due to do another reading for him and when asked if she knew him, she replied "I know of him." Sally blamed this deceptive answer on advice from her director and we can probably allow her a moment of indiscretion, but when Sally assured us at the end that she didn’t know anybody in the audience, I couldn’t help but wonder if I should be accepting that at face value.

Tragedy and vice

Far from being a dreary procession of spectral "Alberts" and "Audreys" sending sentimental love back to their earthbound families, the evening was packed with dramatic stories of tragedy and vice. Here is a selection:

• Before the show we saw a video of Sally picking up on a fatal fight and urging the father of the killer to get rid of the carpet on which the death occurred.
• There were graphic details of a car crash, which claimed the lives of two of the sons of an audience member.
• Sally received details about a suicide whereby a man had hung himself from a roof. According to a well-positioned friend, Sally’s neck turned bright red at the point she received that message.
• We saw another video; this time an uncut version of Sally’s blindfolded encounter with a rape victim, during which she actually experienced her arms turning into the attacker’s arms.
• Sally gave a warning for a girl involved with an unconvicted murderer.

On the whole, the evening was extremely professional and entertaining with much fodder for sceptics and believers alike. However, as with much that pertains to the hidden side of life, nothing was proved or disproved that night, unless it was to the individuals who received their messages. Oh well, maybe Sally will come to me next time.

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