Hardly does one talking-to-the-dead practitioner fade from view than another pops up, to the delight of the naifs who desperately need assurance that no one ever really dies but somehow instead just floats off to heaven, Valhalla, paradise or whatever Cloud Nine they fancy – to, um, "live" forever.

[#contributor: /contributors/5932fbe64cd5ce6f96c0bf28]||||||

John Edward is now holding court in Las Vegas, and James Van Praagh still coos to his eagerly paying public in hotel auditoriums, but the newest (and far more attractive) dead-talker is the Long Island Medium, featured on The Learning Channel. She's Theresa Caputo, a chatty blonde with impressive layers of eyeliner and lip gloss who does the old dependable "cold reading" act, and has rung their bell ...

The Learning Channel has, sadly, recognized – along with so many other such outlets – that pseudo-science attracts viewers. They've reached their own private nirvana with Ms. Caputo.

Caputo does what's known in my trade as "cold reading." The very best practitioners can pick up enough information in what seems like innocent, idle conversation to convince you that they know very specific things about you. The scientific phenomenon is called the Forer effect – giving credence to vague observations that seem personal.

It's called the Barnum effect, after that famous showman credited with coining the phrase, "There's a sucker born every minute."It's also called the Barnum effect, after that famous showman credited with coining the phrase: "There's a sucker born every minute."

That technique consists of simply tossing out initials, names and situations to the subject, asking casual questions while guessing, and a handful of other manipulative psychological techniques to appear to be demonstrating psychic powers.

"Is there an anniversary coming up?" "A birthday or something?" "He/she just said to me ..." "He's proud of you" and the ever-popular "Do you understand?" – to which the answer is always a nod of assent. What else is a beguiled believer to do when told: "She's happy in Heaven?"

All of those inquiries come from Caputo, I should add.

Why do these pseudo-psychic spectacles bother those of us at the James Randi Educational Foundation? First, and foremost: They are not true. TV psychics do not talk to the dead (nor do the dead talk back to them!). Mediums cannot show they do anything more than cold reading nor that what the TV audience sees is just selectively edited to show "hits" and ignore the "misses."

But much more importantly to us, such performances seem to prey on people at their most vulnerable moments – those who have suffered the loss of loved ones – and these mediums use such grief to make a buck. Psychologists tell us this keeps the grieving stuck in their grief, rather than going through the natural stages of acceptance that are healthy.

It is for this reason that JREF just last week gave Caputo the prized Pigasus Award in the performer category for 2012. (We named the awards after both the mythical flying horse Pegasus of Greek mythology and the highly improbable flying pig of popular cliché.) The official Pigasus Awards announcement is below.

For many years now, we have bestowed the Pigasus Award as an annual recognition of the most egregious examples of flim-flammery – the most deserving charlatans, swindlers, psychics, pseudoscientists and faith healers, along with their corporate enablers – and TLC also won the Pigasus this year in the media category, for its work promoting Caputo and her harmful act to such wide audiences.

Caputo is just one more of the myriad faux seers who have stepped into the TV spotlight for their turn, and though her exuberant shtick rather outdoes the others, she'll do her number along with Sylvia Browne, Van Praagh, John Edward and "Psychic Sally" until someone with a newer novelty elbows her offstage.

Thanks to "The Amazing Column" reader Deanne Richan for suggesting the topic of this post.

Opinion Editor: John C. Abell @johncabell

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAYG_cgqjWA