James Van Praagh (born August 23, 1958 in Bayside, New
York) practices as a medium. Van Praagh is the author
of several books dealing with the subject of parapsychology,
and he is co-Executive Producer of the television series
Ghost Whisperer on CBS. Van Praagh might be described
as a "celebrity medium", in much the same vein as John
Edward and the British medium Derek Acorah.
The validity of such psychic abilities has often been
disputed, such as in Episode 1 of Penn & Teller: Bullshit!
- Where Van Praagh and Edward were accused of using cold
reading techniques and subterfuge to garner information
from studio audiences, and use this information in supposed
conversations with the dead.
Van Praagh was born in Bayside, New York, and is the youngest
of four children. An average child, he remembers having
a tremendous fascination with death. He was raised Catholic
and served as an altar boy, entering the seminary at the
age of fourteen. It was there that his interest in Catholicism
ended and his sense of spirituality began. There are no
schools or training that could prepare Van Praagh for
his unusual vocation. Indeed, his ability to communicate
with the dead arose out of his ... well ... life.
