The Psychic Mafia

Rating:
Summary: Must reading for skeptics
Review: A classic!

For years, when it was out or print, those in the know had been searching for those few rare copies of this book. (My local used book store once had me third on the list of people to notify on the off chance one showed up!) Now its back in print. If you are interested in the subject of how fortune telling and spiritualist effects can be used to defraud, cheat and steal this is MUST reading.

Peter Huston, author of "Scams from the Great Beyond."

Rating:
Summary: A rollicking page-turner with a sorry ending
Review: A scream right until the last chapter, when Keene disappointingly reveals that he has now turned to God. As such, 'The Psychic Mafia' is strikingly similar to John Anderson's personal expose 'Psychic Phenomena Unveiled'; he too turned from ouija to Jesus, making one wonder just what is missing in these people's lives that they have to have something, anything, mystical to believe in. Nevertheless, Keene keeps the interest up by steadily revealing the secrets behind so-called spirit phenomena. The seance concept is rather dated now; perhaps before too long we will be treated to similar admissions by today's high priests of crackpotism, the channelers.

Rating:
Summary: Unbelievable!
Review: I have read thousands of books in my life. This one takes the cake. You'll find yourself engrossed in the macabe. Easy, light reading - but packed with a punch. I personally have an autographed copy of this book and wouldn't give it up for the world. Its sealed in plastic - airtight. I purchased this latest paperback for day-to-day reminders of what goes on in the seance room. Be prepared, you'll learn about the so-called "other-side."

Rating:
Summary: Why are all the mediums silent?
Review: I read this book many years ago and always wondered why Mr. Keene waited so long to indict so many legendary spiritualists. I recall his assasination of Mabel Riffle, long-time president of Indiana's Camp Chesterfield, a long and ugly section of the book making her out to be a greedy, cranky fraud. But Mabel Riffle died in 1960, and Keene waited until 1976 to write this book. I recall also Ethel Post-Parrish-Riley, Camp Silver Belle medium, also attacked as a complete fraud and confidance woman. Ethel too died in 1960. What chance do either of these women have to reply to Keene's charges? Why were the only identifiable people in his books already dead and unable to respond (unless through a spiritualist medium!) to his many charges? I remember trying to find reference to any living person in his book years ago and there were none. What was or is Keene afraid of?

Rating:
Summary: Why are all the mediums silent?
Review: I read this book many years ago and always wondered why Mr. Keene waited so long to indict so many legendary spiritualists. I recall his assasination of Mabel Riffle, long-time president of Indiana's Camp Chesterfield, a long and ugly section of the book making her out to be a greedy, cranky fraud. But Mabel Riffle died in 1960, and Keene waited until 1976 to write this book. I recall also Ethel Post-Parrish-Riley, Camp Silver Belle medium, also attacked as a complete fraud and confidance woman. Ethel too died in 1960. What chance do either of these women have to reply to Keene's charges? Why were the only identifiable people in his books already dead and unable to respond (unless through a spiritualist medium!) to his many charges? I remember trying to find reference to any living person in his book years ago and there were none. What was or is Keene afraid of?

Rating:
Summary: Wondering
Review: I was very interested in the observation at the beginning that psychic phenomena do exist on a much smaller, more personal scale, but that condemnation of same by the Christian churches was unwise. If psychic experiences were treated contextually as a natural part of religious experience (see William James), there wouldn't be such a fascination with the "forbidden", and Lamar's money-grubbing sideshows wouldn't be so enticing.

I also wonder if the National Spiritualist Association of Churches or any of its leading lights has ever published an official response to Lamar's book.

Rating:
Summary: anothersmith
Review: Interesting, but begs for confirmation by the end. Not very well written, but good enough to finish. An interesting consideration but unsatisfyingly unconfirmed. Examples, and bibliography much too old.

Rating:
Summary: Devastating Anti=Psychic Expose
Review: Lamar Keene was a midcentury American psychic who used trickery and deceit to finance his extravagant lifestyle. At one point, he gave it up, and found strength from a friend (a Mason!) to expose his former friends and colleagues as frauds. The writing is a bit sensationalistic, but it matches its subjects well. Learn about ectoplasm, spirit messages, rapping, and - God help us all - "spirit sex." If you're a believer, this should only entrench your belief; if you're a skeptic you won't learn much. For those of us paranormal fence-straddlers, though, The Psychic Mafia is as eye-opening as its subjects claim to be. Thanks, Lamar!

Rating:
Summary: Highly Entertaining
Review: Not only enlightening, but fun, too. The author's experience as a fake psychic are instructive to anyone interested in the supernatural -- and show just how easy it is to be taken in by a clever con man. The "Psychic Network" working across the nation to lend credence to psychic claims was a true revelation to me. How much easier it must be to perpetrate such frauds in the current computer age!