Dr. Prof. Gary Schwartz

The link below to Prof. Gary Schwartz, PhD article on a  Frontline 2011 TV Show,  where  I was the medium whom he conducted the “double-blind reading test”.  Prof. Schwartz is a frequent guest  on www.CoasttoCoastam.com radio show talking about Mediumship and Afterlife Communication. There were two subjects that night, afterward Dr. Schwartz complimented me on how accurate I had been.   Nancy

Unfortunately, I noticed that his site is no working .  I have copied and posted what was in his article toward bottom of page. 

My move from Roseville CA to Arizona and how I met Prof. Gary Schwartz.

I remarried in 2003 and in 2005 moved to Arizona with the intent of a different lifestyle and experiences.  I rented a space (for one year) to do readings in the famous frontier town of "Tombstone" AZ.  The town to tough to die, with numerous western movies telling the stories of the town peoples and that of "Boot Hill".  

I really loved working there, meeting the shop owners, restaurants and visiting Boot Hill and finding many old buildings and stories to discover.  

I had the pleasure of talking to many of the military people from the military base in Sierra Vista AZ..

One story stays in my mind since then, a blond lady walked in and with her a spirit man also in uniform, but sadly the man had bloody wounds all over his body.  He immediately said to me, "Tell her to remember me at breakfast before we left."   I told her the message as soon as she sat down, and she said, "Yes after our meal we left and in our vehicles we were hit and blew up." He said, "Don't remember me that way."  She then said, "I found his body parts and bagged them."  I asked her to remove that memory and replace with a happy breakfast before leaving.  As we talked, he became whole and without wounds and thanked me.  I welcome her to get back to me as well as the other unit to let me know how they are doing.

Father's Day June 2008 I decided to wear a T-Shirt of a Teddy Bear with an American Flag wrapped around him. 

I was talking to a young lady when a handsome mid-life couple open the door putting their heads in and asked to have a reading.  I was talking to this girl and told them to come back.   

The couple did come back and the man asked why I had this particular T-Shirt on.  "Well, I call my husband "teddy bear," I said. 

He said if I had had any other shirt on he would not come in.  He said his wife often called him the same pet name.  Prof. Schwartz believes there are no coincidences and my putting that shirt on meant for him to connect.

During their session Prof. Schwartz's deceased Father came presented himself allowing me to great detail on his outfit and his bending at the waist to kiss his daughter's hand.  

The Prof. ask any visitors for him to approach me.  A dark skin and hair younger adult male step forward and identified himself as the Prof's sports coach in high school.  He gave me great detail of what the coach looked like then so Prof would know by visual what he looked like then.  

The coach said to me, "Tell him I did not think he would mount to anything."  Prof. Schwartz remembers him saying that and said that he was not a sports jock and little of a non-conformance and the coach remembered him that way.

Prof. Schwartz admitted to me that I described the man with black hair low hairline and features correctly.

I asked how he came to find me (I often ask clients this) he said that a friend of his wife came to Tombstone had a reading and referred him to me. She suggested I be tested and be part of the "Medium Afterlife Project" that has been an interest for a decade.

Most of you may not be aware that Prof. Gary Schwartz had tested the woman of whom the TV Series the “Medium” had been based on.  The Prof. has, since that show, tested most of the big in-the-news psychic-Mediums as well. 

After our session together the Prof. gave me his full name and asked me if I had ever met or heard of him before. No, I had not met or seen him at any event or any TV Show. When he first asked me, I was honest that his name did not ‘stand out’ to me. But the next week or so, I realized his name was familiar hearing a show on CoasttoCoastam.com as you hear a new guest each night, not possible to remember each show interview and how many years earlier had he been on the show. Let alone know that Prof. Gary Schwartz lived in Tucson AZ.

We met up for a couple of dinners talked of coincidences earlier with a friend.  One of my favorite topics is Free Will and at one dinner I casually said the words UFO and Dinosaurs, turning I saw a man come in with a yellow hat on and I said, "As yellow as a Banana".  He caught his breath and stated that just that day visiting with a friend said those exact three words were said in conversation!  

He mentioned about "The Lab" and what he was doing with testing and if I would interested.  I am always willing to try anything once and agreed.

 We also have an unusual connection with a author Suzy Smith whom I had talked to in the early 90s for advice and to tell her how much I enjoyed her books.  Dr. Schwartz had a close personal friendship with her and at one of dinners he brought her up as we talked bringing in a spirit gentlemen she was fond of.

About a month later I received a call from Dr. Schwartz asking if I would like now to go to "The Lab" as he had been asked to participate in a TV Show called Frontline.  

After getting directions, we met and he set up the area for the show.

Of course I was nervous... can't help but realize that the 'subject' will be sitting behind a partition out of sight and client will not talk. The Prof. just says, tell me anything you pick up.  After talking for about 15 minutes the Prof. will ask me questions for the client and then 15 minutes client can ask questions.  We did this twice with two clients while Frontline recorded.

The first client was a young college student Eric Carr, not having any idea what I was to pick up a larger darker skin middle-age lady show up smiling a foot from my face. Eyebrows raised in surprised I described her broad smooth with her big smile.  She lifted her chin and I could see whiskers growing there!  She then lowered her head and took off her hat putting it on my head. After a few questions, I sat quickly when another subject came in then and I talked about 'Diane' how she died where in the house she shared with client and that she died in the NE corner of the house and of the strange order she knew everyone could smell.

Prof. said the Eric was raised by his Hawaii Grandmother who got cancer and had to wear a hat and had whiskers on her chin.  Second lady was the daughter of Connie whom died in the NE corner of the house from smelly cancer.

There many more details, this is not a 'read' the client body language trick nor an I that clever enough to pick up large cancer lady with whiskers.  

Frontline did edit the show to reflect a non-belief and to 'slam' the good intention and character of both the generous Dr. Schwartz and myself.  I cannot express my disappointment yet with understanding of the general public disbelief and distrust of the unseen paranormal and those of us who have the ability and not necessarily ask for the ability.

I was told by several friends to not watch the clip as I would be disappointed.  

My validation came from Dr. Schwartz directly that I was 95% accurate plus.  

In addition to talking to spirit Connie the second subject Aunt moved from East Coast to Tucson and recreated the same backyard vegetation as she had by east.  Describing her to details and her yard.   After the show was over the second subject surprised told the Prof. I had been exactly correct and Prof. promptly told the camera crew.  This never was shown on the air.  

Prof. Schwartz has written many books and is currently investigating spirit communication still in Tucson AZ.

The following to Dr. Schwartz' page regarding the testing process the show Frontline and a detail of events questions answers and results or you can scroll down and read the same page below.

DEMONSTRATIONS FOR THE MEDIA

       Beginning in 1998, as featured in the HBO Documentary LIFE AFTERLIFE  (see RESEARCH - VIDEOS), I have made it possible for the public to  witness examples of how controlled mediumship research can be conducted  in the laboratory.

       By 2011 I had  conducted more than a dozen of such demonstrations for local and  national media (both television and radio).  A subset of the more than  dozen mediums who have voluntarily participated in these demonstrations  over the years are listed chronologically below:

       John Edward

       Suzanne Northrop

       George Anderson

       Mary Ann Morgan

       Debbie Martin

       Mary Occhino

       Catherine Yunt

       Nancy Matz   

       Every medium I  have invited to participate in such demonstrations were previously  determined to be (1) genuine (i.e. not frauds), (2) skilled, (3)  ethical, and (4) brave.  

       The earliest  demonstrations were conducted "single-blind" - meaning that the medium  was not told who the sitter was, nor given any details about the  deceased. 

       The medium was  not allowed to see the sitter.  However, the medium was allowed to ask  the sitter questions, and the sitter was allowed to answer yes or no.

        Later  demonstrations were more rigidly controlled, complex, and artificial -  meaning, they were not like normal readings.  They were "sitter-silent  double-blind" experimental paradigms.  

        For these  demonstration readings, the sitters were not allowed to speak with the  medium.  The medium could only speak with the experimenter.  Hence the  term "sitter-silent."

        Moreover, the  experimenter was purposely blind to details regarding the sitter's  deceased loved ones.  Since the experimenter was blind to this  information, the experimenter could not provide unintentional cues to  the medium.

        And in some  demonstrations, the experimenter was not told the identity of the sitter  until she or he arrived at the laboratory (i.e. the sitter was selected  by the media). 

        These  controls, properly implemented, effectively eliminate all possibility of  both "hot" and "cold" reading techniques as used by psychic  entertainers and fraudulent mediums.

        FYI, in 1998 I  purposely learned how to become a fake medium.  I read secret books  about the tricks of the trade, and also took a course with a  professional mental magician.   It was essential that I know how to  design experiments to rule out fraud.

        It is  important to understand that no one - at least in the physical - has  control over who (i.e. from the "other side") will show up. Genuine  mediums can sometimes be overwhelmed by the number of hypothesized  spirits that may show up - either in a private reading or in a media  demonstration of mediumship research. The medium will sometimes get accurate and detailed information about the cameraman or other crew.

         Not  surprisingly, using a "sitter-silent double-blind" paradigm, when the  medium is simply asked to describe who she is seeing and what they are  saying - without any guidance or feedback from the sitter - the  information is often choppy and complex. 

         This  artificial paradigm does not sound like a conversation or dialogue and  can be confusing to everyone - including the medium, the sitter, the  media people (e.g. producers and cameramen), and the experimenter.   

         Though the  experimenter can ask general questions such as "what the deceased look  like," he does not have any idea if the information matches one or more  persons who the sitter was hoping to hear from.

         To assist the  medium, the experimenter will typically ask the sitter to write down  the name of a specific deceased person which he will tell the medium.   This appears to help the medium focus in on a specific hypothesized  spirit and receive information from her or him.

       It is only  after the information has been collected and then carefully reviewed  with the sitter, item by item, is it possible to obtain a valid estimate  of accuracy of a given reading for a specific deceased individual.

          Many  sitters, skeptics, and media professionals do not fully appreciate this  experimental fact until they experience it firsthand. Sadly, many  genuine mediums have been falsely accused of doing "cold readings" on  television because the information was not carefully reviewed and  analyzed.

A Media Demonstration for Nightline

          On August  11, 2011 I conducted two sitter-silent double blind demonstration  readings for Nightline.  I selected one of the sitters; a person I had  met only once, and I knew virtually nothing about his deceased loved  ones.  ABC selected the second sitter; hence I was blind to both the  identity of this person as well as any information about her deceased  loved ones.

          The first  reading, which happened to be the sitter I had selected, was witnessed  only by the cameraman; the producer's connecting flight had been delayed  and she was only able to witness the second reading.             

          As you can  probably imagine, sitter-silent double-blind demonstration readings are  typically stressful for everyone concerned - especially the mediums and  the sitters.  However, the second reading was even more stressful  because the producer had less than an hour to set up her two extra  cameras, record a brief reading, allow us to go through the specific  information item by item, and then record quick debriefings with the  sitter, medium, and experimenter.

         It always  amazes me when genuine mediums can obtain accurate information under  these conditions.  I will briefly highlight the primary pieces of  information which the medium - Nancy Matz - received regarding a  deceased person named Connie for the ABC selected sitter. 

         It was only  as we reviewed the information, item by item, that the sitter realized  that the profile strikingly fit her deceased loved one.  

Fact 1.  The medium  saw a house with a large property which had many trees and greenery.   This is not a typical house in the desert.  The sitter later explained  that Connie was not fond of the desert; Connie had a large backyard  where she had planted many trees and other greenery.

Fact 2.  The medium  mentioned money was important right at the outset.  We later learned  that Connie's family had been feuding over her estate and this had  caused breaks in the family.   Money is sometimes a problem in families  after someone dies.

Fact 3.  The medium  said that Connie had died from a long standing illness. This turned out  to be true.  People can die from many causes, including accidents,  murder, suicide, old age, and illnesses.

Fact 4.  The medium  said that she experienced a "smell" associated with the deceased.  This  initially meant nothing to the sitter; we presumed it was an error.   However, later we discovered that this was a surprising and important  piece of confirmatory evidence (described below).

Fact 5.  The medium  described what Connie looked like.  The information generally matched  Connie (e.g. it did not fit my mother or grandmothers, for example).

Fact 6.  The medium  described Connie's personality as especially nice and caring.  The  sitter later confirmed this.  Not everyone who dies fits this  description.

Fact 7.  The medium  claimed that the deceased felt "cheated" in life.  The sitter said this  applied to Connie in potentially two ways: (1) financially and (2)  personally (the sitter claimed that Connie was not ready to leave her  family).

         None of this  information, by itself, is especially unique.  However, it is the  pattern or profile of this information, taken as a whole - what  statistician's term the "conditional probability" -  which reveals the  apparent accuracy of this brief reading.

         As the medium  was reporting this information, since I was blind to the details, and  the sitter was silent, I had no idea which, if any, of this information  fit Connie.  Out of curiosity, I decided to do something novel.  I  invited the sitter to write a question she would like me to ask of the  medium.

        The question was, and I paraphrase slightly "Connie - have you been hanging around the house with us?"  

        I assumed, as  it turned out mistakenly, that such a question would be non-evidential.   In other words, if the medium said yes, how could we potentially verify  this in the brief span of the reading?

        However, when I  asked the medium where in the house Connie was, the medium said, and  again I paraphrase, "In the North-East, on the East side of the house." 

        Since I had  never asked such a question before, I asked the medium how she came to  this conclusion.  She pointed her hands and said she saw Connie over  there (pointing toward the right), and said that was her East direction.

       To everyone's  surprise, we later learned from the sitter that Connie spent most of her  last days on the East side of the house, in her room and family room. 

        Of course, Nancy had a one in four chance of getting this right by guessing. 

        However, when I  subsequently asked the sitter how she inferred that Connie's spirit was  still present in the house, she replied that sometimes she smelled  her!  When I reminded the sitter that this was something that Nancy had  mentioned early in the reading, the sitter realized that she had not  made this potentially important connection.

        Of course, we  cannot determine if this was simply the imagination of the sitter or a  genuine perception of the presence of Connie's spirit.  What matters  here is that the information fit and adds to the pattern / profile of  information.

        After this  informal scoring was completed, the medium and the sitter had a chance  to chat.  The medium soon began speaking with the sitter about her three  daughters, providing substantial details, all of which could have been  wrong.  According to the sitter, the medium had described each of her  daughters surprisingly accurately.

        Interestingly,  probably because I have carefully selected genuine, skilled, and brave  mediums for these kinds of media demonstrations, the demonstrations have  almost always been successful in the sense of not only demonstrating  how research on mediumship can be conducted, but also how at least some  mediums are the real deal.

        If you are  interested in even more complex designs, I invite you to go to the  SAMPLE PULBICATIONS section of the website and read our published paper  using a Triple-Blind Design.

A Note about the Nightline Segment and its Misrepresentation

        For some  reason, Nightline decided not to air the actual demonstration readings.   Instead, after briefly introducing the demonstration (with no  explanation), they implied that the reading was a failure (they did not  mention that two readings were performed). 

        Moreover, they  only showed one incidental observation by the medium (the appearance of  a dog) which did not fit the sitter but could have fit me. They did not  mention that this occurred during the post-reading debriefing period,  and that this was not a formal scoring session.  They implied that the  experimenter was naive, sloppy, or worse.

       One wonders, why did ABC News chose to minimize (and misrepresent) the truth about these two demonstration readings? 

        Is this an instance of what I term "Truth Abuse"?

        As the first sitter explained after seeing the segment, "I just can't believe they would do that."

         The sitter of  the first reading sent an unsolicited email to Nancy.  He has given  permission to share his full name and email below.  

         What do you think?

******  EMAIL FROM ERIC CARR

Hi Nancy,

This is Eric Carr, who  did the reading with you and Dr. Schwartz last week for the Nightline  piece. I just watched it and am so disappointed that they only showed  what seemed to be inaccuracies even after such a phenomenally accurate  reading with me. Mine was so accurate I have been losing sleep over it,  since it raises sooooooo many questions. I just can't believe they would  do that.

Anyway, if you want me  to give you an endorsement or something to let people know that you  were incredibly accurate with my reading on the same day and under the  same conditions, let me know. I really feel like Nightline wasn't fair  and neglected to tell a huge part of the story.

Thank you again for what you did for me. I'll never forget it.

Eric

******

Postscript:  An Example of Truth Abuse?

         Despite  repeated requests, ABC News refused to provide the laboratory with the  actual transcripts of the readings and the debriefings.  Hence the  scoring of the readings was limited to the sitters' and experimenter's  written notes.

        Also, despite  repeated requests,  ABC News refused to comment on their reasons for  selectively editing the demonstration readings to make it look like the  readings had failed and that the experimenter was sloppy in his analysis  and interpretation of the data.

        This kind of  biased / deceptive editing practice was employed in other segments of  the show.  Sadly the general public is unaware of these facts. 

         Even sadder  is the rampant evidence  of truth abuse in contemporary media and  politics.  A lawyer, Alan Bourey, and I are publishing a book in 2017  titled RESPONSIBILITY TO TRUTH.  This  book documents how accuracy of information is essential for optimal and  health and well being in all systems - be they physical, psychological,  social, institutional, and / or spiritual.  We illustrate how the most  effective procedures from the law and science can be combined to foster  enhanced truth seeking and enlightened understanding.