#218: Judy Zebra “JZ” Knight

A.k.a. Judith Darlene Hampton
A.k.a. Ramtha

Ramtha is, according to the press releases, a dead guy who led a huge army to conquer two thirds of the earth some 35,000 years ago. His main opponents were the Atlanteans, and the battle apparently led to huge, cataclysmic disasters. As a token of his goodwill, Ramtha is currently warning us about similar cataclysmic changes in the near future, so apparently we have to prepare. Ramtha also seems to have remarkable insights into various conspiracies, illuminati-type, ruling the world at the moment, and very up-to-date (read “trendy”) new age fads, including quantum woo and “the Secret”-style fluff and snowflakes magical thinking (“you are God” is one of Ramtha’s messages to mankind).

Being dead is no hindrance to spreading the word, and Ramtha is letting himself be channeled by JZ Knight (of Yelm, Washington), who makes a living selling books containing Ramtha’s advice and various healing trinkets (with her husband, James Flick). More here.

To help spread Ramtha’s important messages to mankind, Knight also opened Ramtha’s School of Enlightenment (rather a cult, really) which takes approximately 6000 students yearly and teaches them to utilize their inner wisdom and create their own reality (post-modernism is the best friend of stuff like this). Among the important courses offered is “breathing”, which seems less interesting than the various classes focusing on drug use (through which the students are sent on their to becoming as "enlightened" as other shamans, or even "real magicians" who can alter the world and reality at will). Among the powers good students will obtain are (seriously!) raising the dead, freezing a rocket in mid-air, make gold appear out of thin air, and predicting the future. It is unknown whether the school has produced any GPA above 2.0 yet. Eventually psychic progress will lead to "ascension" of the body into the "Void", what Knight calls the ultimate spiritual state (an uncanny version of “graduation” it seems). Students also learn psychokinesis, telepathy, clairvoyance, other ESP skills, and that HIV is nature’s way to get rid of homosexuality. To ensure obedience, the school teaches that “unless students remain faithful to Ramtha, they will become prey of the "lizard people", and that the ancient figure of Jehovah would return to earth accompanied by lizard people, in a spaceship” (no kidding!). The school’s official webpage is here; their newsletter is here. It’s a little difficult to find the school’s faculty and staff, but former teachers have included the Wayne Allen Geis, Ruth Beverly Martin, spiritual teacher Whitewind Weaver (whom Knight later sued), and school administrator Mike Wright.

Somewhat controversially, Knight has encouraged her students to engage in tax evasion (since the government is an illusion and the US will be invaded by Chinese communists right away).

Among the school’s more successful ventures was the creation of the movie “What the Bleep Do We Know”.

J.Z. Knight was previously heavily promoted by the clinically delusional Shirley MacLaine.

As an interesting aside, Don & Carol Croft (covered earlier) seem to think that she is some kind of front for alien lizard people, Tavistock and the Rothschild family, and (like many psychics) is secretly working to open some time tunnels or other. They talk about “Ramtha hives” of lizard people. It is not completely clear and has something to do with Montauk and Al Bielek (also covered earlier) – try to make sense of it yourself; also covered in this, uh, remarkable diary.

Diagnosis: The very queen of new age insanity, one step up from Deepak Chopra. Severely mentally challenged, and in fact rather dangerous.

#175: Esther Hicks

A.k.a. Abraham

For reasons that may be hard for ordinary, relatively sane people to fathom, Esther Hicks has become a famous spirit channeller (or "receiver"). She claims to channel an otherworldly being called “Abraham” by using a creepy voice (actually, she doesn’t change her voice when channeling; it is just creepy to begin with). The whole thing becomes especially interesting when you start noticing that Esther has a penchant for talking about herself in third person, even when she does not claim to channel Abraham.

According to Esther, what Abraham is here to tell us is that Rhonda Byrne’s new age drivel “The Secret” is true. In fact Esther has been in some conflicts with Rhonda (over money, of course), and her (well, Abraham’s) big argument in this conflict is here. The conflict is hilariously reported here. She has actually been quite successful financially, selling numerous self-help books and holding several seminars, even receiving honorable mention by that patron of all woo, Oprah Winfrey.

Of course she is way into quantum woo. Her total ignorance of physics is predictably enough no obstacle to talking about observer effects and how that means that people can define their own realities by using their emotions. The messages from Abraham are standard fluffy feel-good drivel of the “universe adores you” and “you are the creator of reality” kind.

Her partner and manager is her husband Jerry Hicks, a former acrobat and movie stunt man. If Esther’s not a huckster, then Jerry surely is.

Diagnosis: Might be a fraud, but more likely stark raving crazy, clinically unable to recognize that wishful thinking is a fallacy. She has lots of followers, the most dangerous of whom are the more cynical ones who realize that there may be a lot of money in it (e.g. Mari Tierney).

#169: Robert Hansen

Robert Hansen is a well-known psychic medium certified by the Forever Family Foundation. You can follow his facebook blog here (his homepage is here). He is most famous, however, for being the host of TLC’s show Paranormal Court in which he “mediate[s] disputes between family members squabbling over possessions left behind by the deceased.”

A recipe for disaster, one assumes. From their press release: “Paranormal Court demonstrates Robert's psychic abilities in solving disputes when two parties come together and agree to be bound by the ruling enlisted from the other side”, and “Paranormal Court is about helping families in their time of need”. Hardly. But I am sure it “presses emotional buttons”. This author for Technorati is skeptical of the program, but for exactly the wrong reasons.

Diagnosis: Not as despicably influential as Sylvia Browne, but there are enough people out there who think being open-minded means being gullible (and that being non-gullible is wrong) and are as a consequence prevented from talking sense into people who are actually gullible enough to let Robert ruin their lives. Tragic.

#118: John Edward

John Edward is an alleged mentalist who tricks, consciously or not, people into thinking he is talking to the dead, and is most famous for tricking money out of desperate people by offering them to communicate with the spirits of his audience members' deceased relatives.

To appear convincing, the John Edward shows are heavily edited and uses plants (people in on the deal placed at random in the audience; their job is to speak to the audience members whose relatives Edward is supposed to communicate with then relay that information to Edward - see here, and here). Chances are, in other words, that he's a fraud, but since he might still believe that he has some sort of supernatural powers, and I think his inclusion in our encyclopedia is justifiable.

His technique (apart from the obvious cheats) is mostly cold reading.

It seems that he is able to fool Sean Hannity, but I don’t think convincing Hannity is evidence that there is something worth considering in your claims. He has actually been considered one of the five greatest psychic frauds of all time (entering right after Sylvia Browne). Apparently Oprah likes him as well (which does to your credibility approximately what “endorsed by the Discovery Institute” would do).

More here.

Diagnosis: Might be a fraud, but likely believes in the stuff he is doing. In that case he would have to have utterly succumbed to confirmation bias – but he has displayed no affinity for critical thinking anyway. Must be considered vile for his ability to pressure money out of people in difficult situations. Seems to be relatively popular, although the efforts of people like James Randi and Derren Brown have helped make people like Edward seem like the fringe loons they are.

#59: Lee Carroll and Kryon

After a couple of stock loons from the anti-vaccinationist and creationist movements, it’s time to take another plunge into the more outré and downright weird recesses of the looniverse. This is where we find this gem.

Take some time to savor the delectable whiff of Timecube, the exquisite pastel shadings and the breathtakingly amateurish first-time-powerpoint-user-style animations. This is solid stuff.

So, what are they up to? You’ll get a taste of it here.

Here is their most recent announcement: “When many heard the magic of what happened in Sedona in 2009 when Jan [Tober – a member of the Kryon team] took the stage with bowl master William Jones, they wanted more. Jan is now offering a DNA activation using her voice, channelling and simultaneously playing up to seven crystal bowls... all offered as a custom ten minute CD "reading" of your life essence. She takes personal information, then creates a custom CD in her studio! Very well received, many are lining up to have this DNA activation process done.”

You might ask, so what is a DNA activation process? Well, who knows, really – the explanations are mostly word-salad, asserting things such as “Someday your science is going to show that DNA actually sings!” and “[your DNA] is magnetic, and therefore it responds to the grid! […] Now, suddenly in this new energy, your science begins to understand that there are at least 11 dimensions at the heart of every atom of matter. (We have told you that there are 12.) And suddenly you are beginning to understand that even time is variable”

You can also subscribe to their “Marshmallow messages”, daily e-mail messages of love, positive thought, and light, at no cost, sent by E-mail only to the Kryon family worldwide.

Mostly, however, it is about channeling and our relationship to Gaia; the channelings are apparently published in their monthly journal, the Sedona Journal of Emergence. Apparently Carroll and Tober channeled the “original subject of the Indigo children”. You can also click a button to see the DNA names, sounds, paintings and descriptions of the teachings that Lee has channelled on the Twelve Interdimensional Layers of DNA (I admit that I frankly didn’t dare to click that button).

Lee Carroll is the main character, apparently. A biography can be found here. Apparently he’s held meetings almost next to the UN General Assembly. Impressive.

Diagnosis: Kryon seems to be a prime example of unhinged, new-agey, fluffy woo with a post-modernist twist to it, and Carroll must surely rank among the most purebred crackpots out there. I seriously doubt that they have any extensive or detrimental impact, however.

#44: Tom and Lisa Butler

If there is a lesson to be learned from engaging with the looniverse, it must be that there exists nary a phenomenon that has not been the subject matter for a conspiracy theory (no wonder, really, given the human psychological proclivity towards confirmation bias, and the self-affirming nature of conspiracy theories). Among the more outré subject matters is death. Yes, that’s right. The claim that humans die is a conspiracy, or so say believers in transcommunication (they do claim, however, that “research suggests …”). They are here represented by the reliably delusional Tom & Lisa Butler who run the website “Association TransCommunication”.

The main phenomenon is EVP, or “electronic voice phenomenon”, the belief that spirits can communicate from "beyond" on electronic audio recording equipment. Practitioners often set up a recording device in a room where it is thought that ghosts reside. The practitioner then asks various questions while recording. Later the tape is analyzed both forward and backwards, searching the "white noise" for anything that might sound like a sentence or word.

Uh-oh.

So, electronic noise is really ghosts trying to communicate with the living. Sort of similar to seeing God when perceiving a face in the clouds – and this serves as “objective evidence” for survival after death. In fact, ATransc actually recommends mucking up sound systems to better hear the voices. A short intro to the phenomenon is here.

A (hilarious) instruction guide (this is serious) is here.

The Butlers have also written the book “There is No Death and there are No Dead”, which details the history of EVP, gives ample examples, explains how to experiment with both EVP and Video ITC, and explains the Death conspiracy (see also their attempt at defining “objective evidence”). The Butlers are apparently currently the leading experts on the phenomenon after the, uh, death of the founder, the clinically delusional Sarah Estep (the Butlers also set up the Sarah Estep Research Fund). ATransC Publishing has also published Martha Copeland's book, “I'm Still Here”, as an important illustration of how contact with a love done via transcommunication can help with grief [not recommended in general, I think]. This book represents the formation and purpose of The Big Circle, which began when members gathered around Martha and Karen Mossey to record for EVP on a regular basis so that they could use the group energy to continue their relationship with loved ones now on the other side.

They have also released the video “White Noise”.
Diagnosis: Pure, unmitigated crankery runs rampant with the delusional Butlers. They seem to have a solid fan-base, but are probably not very dangerous.

This entry also indicts their associates Becky Estep and Karen Mossey.

It also indicts Martha Copeland who got drawn into the mess after the tragic death of her daughter, who she still claims to have contact with (she needs psychiatric help, in other words).

#39: Sylvia Browne

No encyclopedia of loons, cranks, crackpots and morons will be complete without including the legendary Sylvia Browne. Browne is a psychic and leads the Society of Novus Spiritus, based around the teachings of her channeled "spiritual guide" Francine. She’s also a devout Christian, and advocates both reincarnation and the afterlife (and, obviously, the possibility of talking to the dead).

Brought to fame through multiple television appearances - notably including regular appearances on the Montel Williams Show, where she notoriously failed to pass even a single half-serious test of her abilities (in other words, she employs the old conjuring trick of cold reading). A video of one of her blunders on Montel's show can be seen here. She has managed to build a decent following and pretty widespread fame. She has also attempted to claim James Randi’s million-dollar challenge, but after having made the initial testing arrangements nothing came of the attempt.

A brief biography can be found here.

A much more thorough exposé here (in particular here).

Browne doesn’t like these sites.

Claims, among other things, to have had a chat with the late Michael Jackson, but her specialty seems to be telling suffering parents where their lost children are, usually being dead wrong (several bad scandals here).
Diagnosis: Endlessly moronic kook; fraudster, but presumably unaware of it. Has a large group of followers.

This entry also indicts her son, Christopher Dufresne, who is a psychic "of powers equal to his mom's" (a claim which is surely correct).

#7: William Arntz

Our seventh loon is the unfortunately influential filmmaker William Arntz.

Arntz is the Producer, Director, and Screenwriter of the movie “What the Bleep Do We Know”, perhaps the most influential piece of dreadfully cranky quantum-woo ever produced. It's complete gibberish; confirmation bias, lunacy and wishful thinking dressed up in pseudo-scientific language. Arntz is a graduate of Ramtha’s School of Enlightenment (yes: channeling, pyramidology, numerology, tinfoil hats, you name it), and a radical, utterly flaky New-Ager whose dishonesty is presumably a consequence of solid confirmation bias and gullibility rather than malice.

Diagnosis: Flapdoodler with a clinical lack of critical thinking skills, complete idiot; currently enjoys rather large influence through his work, however.