TV Seance Claims To Have Reached John Lennon
A controversial television seance airing on Monday will claim
it has reached the spirit of John Lennon, but viewers will
have to pay $9.95 (5.58 pounds) to find out what the peace-loving
Beatle has to say.
The special, being carried on pay-TV service In Demand, was
organised by the producers of a 2003 attempt to channel the
late Princess Diana. That show failed to find Diana and received
reviews that could have sunk the Titanic but it is estimated
to have grossed close to $8 million.
Sight unseen, the Lennon effort has been attacked by the
late Beatle's friends and fans as a tasteless effort to profit
from his assassination 25 years ago. But producers say they
are hoping to lure an audience that now loves such prime-time
network TV shows as "Ghost Whisperer" and "Medium."
The program features what is described as an Electronic Voice
Phenomenon, or EVP, that a psychic on the show claims is the
disembodied voice of Lennon speaking at a seance in one of
his favourite New York restaurants, La Fortuna.
EVP is based on a belief that spirit voices communicate through
radio and TV broadcast signals.
On the television show, filming at La Fortuna suddenly stops
and a narrator says something odd has happened. They then
claim that a mysterious voice can be heard on the voice feed
of one of the psychics.
The producers then call in "EVP specialist" Sandra
Belanger to examine the voice and she proclaims it the real
deal.
"That's very consistent with a Class A EVP," she
said, regarding the level and clarity of the voice. She also
says the voice sounds like how Lennon would have talked.
Reuters was given a preview of the program, "The Spirit
of John Lennon," on condition that it not reveal what
the "voice" said during the taped seance.
Producer Paul Sharratt, who heads Starcast Productions and
who calls himself a sceptic, said hearing the voice has made
him a believer.
"The Spirit of John Lennon" is being done without
the knowledge or consent of Lennon's estate or his widow Yoko
Ono, who declined comment. Her long-time friend and spokesman
Elliot Mintz has called the entire exercise "tacky, exploitative
and far removed" from the icon's way of life.
"A pay-per-view seance was never his style," said
Mintz.
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