Char Margolis
Char | |
---|---|
Born |
Detroit, Michigan, U.S. | August 21, 1951
Occupation | Psychic |
Known for | Television medium on Dutch tv |
Char Margolis (born August 21, 1951) is a self-proclaimed American psychic medium. She stars in her own show, Char, on Dutch television, in which she claims to utilize her intuition to contact the spirits of deceased relatives of guests in her show. Char has come under public scrutiny in the Netherlands after several media outlets suggested she was a fraud using several self-taught tricks, including cold reading, to perform her readings.
Early life
Margolis was born in Detroit, Michigan, on August 21, 1951. At the age of 5 her family moved to Oak Park, Michigan where she attended public school from K-12. She attended Oakland Community College and transferred to Wayne State University with a teaching degree in secondary education.
Career
She was a volunteer for the Easter Seal Society in Michigan and while fundraising she was asked to be on a radio show as a psychic. She then was a regular on local TV in Michigan and in the 1980s was discovered by Regis Philbin, who at the time was hosting A.M.L.A., Char became a regular guest on the show. An appearance on Live with Regis in 2001 gave her national acclaim when she predicted Kelly Ripa's pregnancy (on live TV) when Kelly was auditioning for the host position. A stunned Ripa had to acknowledge the accuracy of this prediction by Char and in her own words, "I haven't even told my bosses yet!"
She played herself in a 2013 episode of the U.S. cable drama Royal Pains.
Controversy
In March 2008 Dutch television show Zembla claimed she was a fraud.[1]
This programme alleges that she uses a guessing technique called 'cold reading' instead of actually communicating with spirits. Moreover, her claim that she located the missing pilot Dean Paul Martin was shown to be false. The search team that located the plane was contacted by the programme and denied ever having heard of Char Margolis or having received her help in locating the pilot.
However, Dean-Paul’s brother, Ricci Martin claims in his book that Char did, in fact, locate the plane's wreckage.[2]
See also
- Arthur Ford
- Clever Hans
- Forer effect
- Hot reading
- Hoax
- James Pike
- James Van Praagh
- John Edward
- Jomanda
- Mirin Dajo
- Peter Hurkos
- Sylvia Browne
References
- ↑ Player omroep.nl
- ↑ That’s Amore. ISBN 1-58979-140-1