Medium Allison DuBois Is Tested—and Fails—in the Real World

[Ian David]

Medium Allison DuBois Is Tested—and Fails—in the Real World

Psychic Allison DuBois has built an industry around her claims of helping law enforcement. A primetime network television show was based on her. She has three best-selling books and an army of devoted fans. But despite DuBois’s celebrity power, the evidence for her supposedly accurate predictions is less robust than her profits. She has made several claims that are hard to accept—even for those who believe in psychic abilities. Even still, DuBois has walked a careful line in order not to reveal too much information. That strategy, until recently, has worked for her. In 2010, DuBois was asked by KPHO-TV, a Phoenix, Arizona, CBS affiliate, about a missing baby. The case marks the first publicly reported event in which DuBois has been specific in her predictions and offered a timeline for a criminal case. As it turns out, DuBois’s predictions not only failed to solve the crime but were completely wrong.

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Then in February, Bravo aired the now infamous dinner party in a much longer format and made clips of the show, including “Allison’s Full Rant,” available online. The longer video was more revealing but probably not in the way DuBois wanted. During one part of the “full rant,” DuBois angrily told the women at the table about Richards, “I don’t give a what she thinks about me. She can off. I can tell you when she’s going to die and what’s going to happen to her family. I love that about me.”

In another clip, appropriately titled “Lisa Takes on the Psychic,” Lisa Vanderpump asked DuBois about Vanderpump’s deceased grandmother. As DuBois started giving Vanderpump a reading, the video cut to Taylor Armstrong, who pointed out that what DuBois was saying “didn’t make any sense.” The show then cut back to Vanderpump saying to DuBois, “you don’t know if she’s with me.” In response DuBois told Vanderpump, “You’re thinking, I’m feeling; that’s how we are different.” DuBois then followed with “She was the mother that raised you or that was the mother you needed and so do you.” The segment cut to Vanderpump telling the camera, “As soon as she said my grandmother raised me I lost interest because she didn’t.” Vanderpump disputed other claims DuBois made by bluntly saying “no” to her assertions, causing DuBois to look down and nervously laugh at one point. In reflection, Adrienne Maloof said the “reading sounds like a canned statement.” Clearly, a reading with DuBois convinced neither Vanderpump nor Maloof that DuBois is psychic.

Viewing Allison DuBois as a case study in psychic ability, we can see that her paranormal claims are not backed by evidence. When an incorrect prediction is made, even considering its likelihood, the psychic fails. Not only have her claims about working with law enforcement been denied, but third-party evidence supporting the assertion that she has psychic powers is lacking. This scenario should be construed as a lesson to the public: claims should be supported with evidence if they are to be accepted. In response to questions about skeptics, DuBois told the Sacramento Bee: “I’m very proud of what I do.” Perhaps DuBois is proud of what she does, but that doesn’t change the lack of proof for her claims and her incorrect prediction in baby Gabriel’s case. The evidence, not pride, speaks for itself. Although the character of Allison DuBois on CBS’s Medium solves crimes by using psychic ability, evidence for DuBois’s ability in the real world is sorely lacking. CBS cancelled Medium, but there is little doubt that the real-life Allison DuBois will continue to claim that she helps law enforcement even if she can’t supply evidence for her claims.

More:
http://www.csicop.org/si/show/medium_allison_dubois_is_testedand_failsin_the_real_world


Allison DuBois (KH1 WENN Photos/Newscom)