5 Feet of Fury

Con men call them ‘cold readings’

My mother in law sometimes watches Anderson Cooper’s show. Today his guest was “psychic” John Edward, who you’ve probably seen on TV before. He specializes in allegedly communicating with the dead.

Edward came out and interrupted Cooper’s introductory niceties by saying, “I’m getting someone who was murdered…”

“I sense” (I’m paraphrasing) “that someone here has a relative who was murdered, and, I hate to say this, the murder may have occurred because of some illegal activities on his part.

“Are you the relative?”

Edward turned and asked this of Cooper’s co-host for the day, black comedian (and annoying liberal) DL Hughley.

Hughley was stunned, to put it mildly. After some awkwardness, he said yes.

He didn’t want to elaborate, and I can’t say I blame him. If this wasn’t a set up, then it would startle anyone and leave them pretty speechless.

However, I don’t believe it was a set up.

I just think Edward performed an expert con man’s “cold reading,” because the odds of someone in Hughley’s cohort being related to a murder victim with a criminal record of his own are, alas, quite good.

And of course, there’s the internet.