Communicating With The Dead In Limerick City

limerick | arts and media | opinion/analysis

Thursday October 30, 2008 20:31

by Vincent Devine

Colin Fry will be appearing in the University of Limerick Concert Hall on the 3rd and 4th of November. Tickets are currently on sale for €35.

Colin Fry is a dull fink and documented fraud. His racket involves preying on both the unanswerable grief of the bereaved and the bottomless ignorance of the superstitious. He deserves contempt, or at least ridicule, and never our money.

By far the most famous medium in the U.K. he has a hugely successful daytime show; appears on ‘Psychic Detective’, ‘Psychic School’, and ‘Psychic Private Eyes’, is the author of several bestselling books, and heads the International College of Spiritual Science and Healing in Sweden. In addition to these not inconsiderable achievements he tours Britain, Ireland, and several other countries, performing in front of over two-hundred thousand paying fans, annually. He is praised by these same punters for a gentle manner, profound spirituality, and ability to inspire.

Having heard voices from a young age he began at some point during his teens to realise that communicating with the deceased "wasn't just a party piece", and presumably decided to begin exploiting it for money. Going by the name of Lincoln , Colin Fry would perform physical mediumship as a member of the Noah’s Ark Society (a comically portentous group).

It was during one such performance, in 1992, that the now infamous ‘trumpet incident’ occurred. Lincoln was tied to a chair, in the centre of a circle of punters, and the lights were turned off. So far so gezellig. What was supposed to happen next was that Lincoln would call up the dead, who would move various objects around the room whilst creating appropriately ethereal sound effects. For some unknown reason however the lights were accidentally switched back on to reveal our man Lincoln out of his chair and holding a glow in the dark trumpet over his head.

That venerable institution of sceptical inquiry ‘Psychic News’ reported the story, noting that ‘30 disillusioned people' were there that night . ITV also covered the cock-up and Lincoln ’s reputation was ruined. Mr. Fry later explained himself by claiming that a mischievous spirit named Daniel took possession of his body, and played this prank. Unbelievably (or should I say predictably?) such Orwellian revisionism satisfies many fans. If the retelling of this story convinces only one believer to re-think their faith in these charlatans then I will claim success. I won’t hold my breath however.

Why care you ask? Well, I consider such cynical manipulation of the stupid to be on the same disturbing continuum as nightmarish Dark Ages superstition, creationism, luddism, and other base reactionary instincts. It boils my blood that our innate common sense can be perverted so. Colin Fry's junk act, and the broader culture of which it is a part, is seeped in solipsism and moral stagnation. It is time for an awakening of global solidarity, built in part on a rejection of the retarding influence of mainstream TV culture.

‘It’s only entertainment!’ I respectfully disagree. As an aesthetic event it is a failure, dealing only in cliché. It is rife with jargon and empty language. Cold reading, the technique by which mediums operate, is the mastering of hackneyed generalisations – a sacrificing mum, a granddad in a vest, a favourite dog. These are the kinds of bait that the medium throws out in order to reel in with his other worldly connections. It is the opposite of literature, being both stultifying and platitudinous.

So where should we go to see the act? Birmingham, England , population one million, will be privileged to a single show by Mr. Fry; Glasgow , with an urban population of over one million, will also host one. Manchester - two million souls: only one performance. Colin Fry has, however, pencilled our riverside city in for two nights. How is one to interpret this incongruity? Is Limerick City disproportionately peopled with credulous slack-jaws? Suffice it to assume that the king's airways and priest's entrails will remain untouched for the moment.

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UCH Limerick "The "Gift of Life" Concert"

by ghoul

Sat Nov 01, 2008 04:07

Saturday 8th of November the 1000 seater hall will play host to the "Gift of Life" concert to raise awareness of Organ Donation. Considering the tickets are €25 /Sr. Citizens & Students €15 it will be cheaper to raise money to help take kidneys out of almost or freshly dead people then communicate with the spirit world.

But as we know life and death is a socio-economic concern & those whose means testing places them ahead of the global financial crises & beyond a post-Harney waiting list may prefer to go the middle ground beyond spiritualism & grave robbing.

so don't raise hopes of a decent kidney or raise the dead!

Elaine Page celebrates her 660th birthday at UCH Limerick on Wednesday with renditions of her finest Andrew Lloyd Webber ditties and the memorable easy listening anthem "I know him so well"

Tickets: €55 / €50.

it's all relative.

Who is being credulous here?

by Timgos

Sat Nov 01, 2008 02:38

The 1992 trumpet story is not credible.

Funny business with musical instruments happened in 19th century faux occult demonstrations.

The modus operandi of contemporary "new age" and occult practitioners is quite different. Thus we can tell the story is false. It also demonstrates the author's lack of familiarity with the spiritualist subculture.

Of course this is not to say what Mr Fry does has to be taken at face value. There are organisations and university departments which study the paranormal where various theories are advanced for what happens at a mediumship demonstration. Edinburgh University has a reputable department which studies paranormal phenomenon.

cancellation

by lulu

Fri Oct 31, 2008 12:52

Psychics' meeting cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances...

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Communicating With The Dead In Limerick City

Comments (3 of 3)