UPDATE: Today on August 25th 2015 Colin Fry passed away after a short battle with terminal cancer. He was 53 and this is tragically too young an age for anybody to die at. Yet it is important, I think, to remember that in his life Fry did make claims without evidence to back them up and was caught up in controversy several times. Our deeds in life are not deleted upon our death. Some people have found this post after Googling Colin Fry following his death and have contacted me to say this post is mean spirited. Colin Fry was a psychic who welcomed skepticism and so I am sure that he would welcome criticisms of him made during his life to remain in place following his death.
It breaks my heart to hear about elderly people who have been targeted by con-men and con-women and cheated out of a large amount of their life savings, even more so when those who have conned them out of their money claim to be psychic and were preying on their targets grief or vulnerability.
I was sent this link by @4tis via twitter about a man called Cecil Kershaw who has been targeted by psychic scam merchants when he filled in just one letter that was sent to him by them, this was something that opened the floodgates to all sorts of contact being made with him from people who claimed they could put him in contact with his deceased wife, Maureen.
“It all started just after my wife died. They told me they could get in touch with her and also promised that I was going to ‘come in to money’ like winning the lottery.
Maureen did delve into one or two things like this. She’d been to a seance before and had been to see Colin Fry. I thought at first it could be legitimate, but it is a con. I’d just lost my wife, I was upset and vulnerable and they preyed on that.”
Mr Kershaw replied to the first letter with a cheque for £20 and received a good luck medallion charm.
But he said: “Seemingly, once I answered the first one, my details went everywhere and they all thought ‘here’s one, get into him’.
Colin Fry is a British medium of questionable integrity, that many will know from television shows such as ‘6th sense with Colin Fry’. I say ‘questionable integrity’ because of “the trumpet incident” in which he was reportedly caught faking activity during a seance. You can read more about it on the site of the wonderful Tony Youens here.
When I read that Colin Fry had been in contact with Cecil after hearing about his story it made me feel really uncomfortable because even though Fry has often been vocal about fraudulent mediums and psychics and has even said on Facebook that he wishes the ‘badpsychics’ website was back in operation because of the great work it did, I don’t view him as being any more reputable than those he speaks out against. I’ve watched television shows with him on numerous times and I see nothing more than cold reading and good editing.
The fact that Colin Fry contracted Cecil after reading about him in the newspaper even shows that Fry would have had prior knowledge to his situation and details. In fact, in the original article I linked to Cecil even says:
“One or two of the things he said could apply to anyone, but once I’d had time to reflect on it, I thought it was genuine.”
Which sadly, to me, sounds like somebody making the things said by the medium fit after they’ve left the reading. It’s a common tactic used by mediums who put the responsibility of making the reading accurate on the sitter who, in their sheer desperation (no matter how skeptical they may be) to contact their loved one, eventually make the vague statements fit.
Of the people who have sent letters to Cecil Colin Fry is quoted as saying
“These people are not mediums, they are not spiritualists. They operate a ruthless and heartless con. It is better to visit your local spiritualist church or centre where they will not only put you in touch with a local reputable medium, but they will also offer support to anyone who is bereaved.”
Although it is better to visit your local spiritualist church because the medium will be registered with them and will be operating in accordance with the SNU regulations, it’s important to remember that the burden of proof is still on them to prove that they can talk to the dead as they claim to. Simply because they’re associated with the SNU does nothing to prove authenticity.
I cannot help but view the contact Colin Fry made with Cecil as a tasteless publicity stunt. Poor taste.
I do believe that Colin Fry does have the gift but sometimes forgets. that the spirits that are communicating through him forget to mention, that the people are watching his TV shows and are not in the audience !
I asked my love one a question and Colin answered and believe it or not, at the end of his show, he said a person in the audience wanted to ask a question and the person had the same name as me! Strange but True !
Keep up the good work .
Firstly I’d like to send my condolences for the loss which you’re trying to stay in communication with…….but unfortunately from an atheist/secular person I will make the bold statement that I will not believe anything untill it has been proven. That goes for everything…Unicorns, God, Fairys, Gnomes, Ghosts, Monsters or Earth visiting aliens etc. I will not take the claim of other people or scriptures written by people because people lie, get things wrong, can be tricked and their senses can be confused. I will not waste my life believing anything that is not proven (by scientific method) because I only want to spend my time believing something that is completely true regardless of what I’d like or someone says. And before that proof the best they can claim is that it is possible……..the thing is anything is possible, but what is most probable. This should be how everyone looks at any claim.
Everyone who gets a reading or a contact on Colin’s show seem to be very pleased with what they hear and if he is helping someone get through a bad time he is doing no harm ….I,be been very impressed by his show and feel that people who don’t believe just want to put others down .keep going Colin I thoroughly enjoy your show
Sandra McLennan
I have had a private reading with Colin and I can guarantee he could not have found anything out about me beforehand. He told me things which were so personal that only I and my deceased relative knew about. Believe me, I was stunned by his accuracy. I think that he is a truly caring and genuine person, who has a true gift and believes sincerely in what he does.
Anne B
There are many people truly and caring.Listen to your own spiritual voice and you will receive a answer.Don’t pay any charlatan for it.
See when I read anything about Colin Lincoln, sorry, I mean Colin Fry since the whole Trumpet incident, I find my anger boiling at this smug little dwarf man setting out night after night to take advantage of, then exploit the grieving for his own financial gain. I wish I was the head psychiatrist at Broadmoor Hospital because I instantly have Fry-up sectioned under the mental health act for psychotic delusions. If he can hear voices, fine, here is your new padded home and straight jacket. I absolutely detest what he does, and he probably tells himself he’s actually helping the mother who has just lost her son by making her feel better. Who the hell does he think he is! I am going to have to get tickets if Fry-up comes to my area so I can sit in the front row just so every time he starts acting and does the “Ok, alright my love I will tell him don’t worry” speech ill piss myself laughing and shout “Colin, there’s nobody there! Isn’t it about time you stopped having imaginary friends and tried to look a bit less like a disregarded garden gnome?
I’ve worked in media since i was nineteen, sadly everything you watch on television is edited. For anyone who has never worked in Media, whenever you talk to them about working with celebrities. They immediately glaze over like a deer struck by headlights. This unfortunately is what happens when people who do not work in Media go to a television show. There mesmerized generally by the whole experience. If you think of ratios eventually one or two stories that you concoct will turn out to be real because after years of listening to people a lot of stories start to sound very similar. Eventually you’ll pull a few out of the hat that measure up bingo! Why people seem so surprised about their individual story is they never think at the time how similar other peoples stories are they never seem to be able to spot many similarities because their too consumed with their own self importance that their particular life story is so unique compared to everyone else’s another delusion. Nine times out of ten you’ll find dozens of similarities in peoples stories. It’s just that generally people are too caught up in their own lives to realise.
colin fry gave me a reading and got loads of information wrong and said I can only say what they put in my head
I had a reading from Colin Fry a couple of month ago and it was so so bad. That bad that I didn’t pay the £150.00 that he was charging. I was embarrassed for him to say the least. He offered to do another reading for me when he was going to be in my home town but whats the point as the amount of questions he asked me at my last reading he know everything about me now, Don’t waste your money
I am 77 and at a very low ebb and after watching Colin Fry on 6th Sense this morning would like to believe in him but fear I am one of the vulnerables.
I read some of the positives and negatives about his performances and I therefore am not convinced. The price that he charges for a one to one reading are for me extortionate.
£150.00 peer ‘reading’ is sheer extortion. An absolute con. Disgusting.
I am a medium, please understand that in a reading you pass on whatever information you are given regardless of how generic it is because it increases the link with the vocal contact (vibrational connection) and is a necessary part of allowing more information to come through, it increases the strength of the link it is just as hard for spirit to contact us as it is for us to contact them, sometimes the link can be a difficult one and the information is not easily translated, we are human beings deciphering messages from another realm, when you have tried it yourself then you will be in a position to judge.
I am familiar with these claims of how difficult it is as I’ve worked with mediums in the past, but you are wrong that I’ll only be in a position to judge if I try it myself. I’ve just written about this. I’m very much in a position to judge right now.
http://hayleyisaghost.co.uk/try-ghost-methods-dismiss/
I am very interested in the spirit world and things that we cannot explain. I have an open mind on everything, choosing to not to cast ridicule or doubt until something has been proved beyond a shadow of a doubt. I’m am not into UFO’s or aliens, however I would not mock people who do believe, because who knows science has not proven one way or another wheather aliens exist. The same for the existence of God or a greater being. I am not religious in any shape or form. However I respect the religions and beliefs of other people. There is more evidence to dispprove the theory of God than there is the Spirit world or Aliens. However I say live and let live, and allow people to continue believing in what they feel is right, as long is no-one is hurt in the process. If it helps people to cope with life and to live their lives in a more constructive way then leave them be. I believe there are frauds out, like there are frauds in the religious world. Look at some American Ministers as an example. However I believe the majority of mediums to be genuine and are caring people trying to put their talents to good use. Some use their talents to make a living, what is the harm in that. If it makes people happy then I say Keep up the good work Colin Fry.
That’s nice and all, Kevin, but I choose to not ignore the fact that you cannot prove a negative and I always remember with whom the burden of proof sits and that way I can “cast doubt” even if something hasn’t been disproven. For me the fact that it hasn’t been proven is enough to make me doubt the validity of a claim… and that’s reasonable doubt.
If you choose to irrationally not doubt anything until it has been proven to be untrue then perhaps you’d like to meet the leprechaun that lives in my garden shed? You can’t see him… but you can’t prove he isn’t there.
I hate to see all these negative comments about Colin Fry. I first met him when he was just starting out, long before he agonised on whether to “go public”. For ten years or so I sat with Colin listening to the wisdom that came through Magnus when in trance. This wasn’t Colin’s wisdom, and as we sat weekly at physical seances and just trance, we had plenty of time to know if he was genuine or not. Yes, he is genuine, without a doubt. He is also a human being who can make mistakes, but the knowledge that I gained over those many years changed not only my life but the lives of many others and for that I shall always be grateful. Do I think £150 too much to charge for a private sitting? Yes I do, but I shall ever be thankful that I met and learned so much in his company.
Brenda, that’s your personal opinion and you’re free to share it, just as others are free to share their negative opinions of Colin. What you experienced personally may be enough evidence for you, but that doesn’t mean others should just accept your word that he is real. With this in mind, it’s easy to see why many people would find it difficult to accept that Colin Fry is a “genuine” medium.
There is loads of evidence from ordinary people that there is an after life but not one shred of evidence from anyone that there isn’t.
Hi Patricia,
I don’t think you understand how the scientific method works and what evidence actually is. You cannot prove a negative and by your reasoning we should accept that their might be smurfs at the bottom of the garden. You can’t prove there aren’t. You might be happy to live life assuming that anything might be true because nobody has disproven it, but frankly I think that is intellectually dishonest.
Theres a million dollers available to colin fry the fraud but guess what he runs a mile him and the rest of the low life so people wise up.all he has to do is what he does every night in front off scientists but guess what u guessed.
There are other ways of being tested other than the Million Dollar Challenge which many people shy away from because of the controversy that surrounds it.
how would colin know personal things,if he wasnt real,i believe in him.
It isn’t difficult to provide people with personal details through the use of psychological trickery. Many, many magicians have been able to achieve these very tricks.
You might be shocked if you went to see Derren Brown.This man openly states that he is absolutely in no way Psychic but he would run rings around Colin “the fraud” Fry.Derren has the ability to mimic everything that Fry can do plus a lot more and all without Psychic abilities.Derren has also exposed no end of fraudsters time and time again.It will also work out a lot cheaper to see one of his shows,as Derren’s shows cost app £40 for a ticket and last 2 hours.A “Psychic” once told my wife something years ago and at the time it sounded really astounding but as the years go by you realize that this particular statement would probably apply to 40-50% of women.If there is an afterlife,I think you are only going to find it after you die,and not by listening to fraudsters that get rich from your money.
Saw Colin Fry at a show years ago and he was truly awful.
I’ve read all these comment’s and have to say I find most to be truly distasteful when after all Colin Fry is very unwell at this time. We are all human and are fully capable of making mistakes or human error. Not one of us have not made s mistake once or twice in our lives. Thout shall not judge. First thoseewhose truly believe any have had the most accurate readings hold onto you’re belief. For those who had a bad experience that is truly unfortunate. It seems that for any positive response that’s been posted on those thread they have been greeted with negative response. Each to their own.
If you cared to check you would see that this post was written long before Colin Fry became ill. I also think it’s quite pointless writing bible quotes on the blog of an atheist.
I didn’t realise Colin Fry was ill and I’ve only just heard of his death and it brought back memories of his flounce when I mentioned that trumpet incident. I hope he sincerely believed in what he did and was comfortable with the inevitable. Not a good way to go.
He was only diagnosed in April. It was very sudden.
Now really isn’t the time to call. I didn’t know he was ill until mentioned on here the other day. RIP
Anne-Marie is referring to other commenters, not you.
Very sorry to hear of Colin’s passing.I often met him at the N.A.S.weekends in Glasgow several years ago, and found him to be a very approachable and genuine medium, as well as a lovely human being!
Hmm interesting viewpoints and comments, as a sceptical medium myself (yes really) its best not to accept everything at face value where mediumship is concerned. Its subject to outright fraud, self delusion, big egos. I met Colin at his house two years ago after waiting two years for a private sitting. My reason was not to contact the dead but, to see if he worked the same way as I did, my association with him goes back a long way prior to this. He charged £100! which I was happy to pay to answer MY own questions, but I do think its an exorbitant amount from someone that professes to be so “spiritual”. I don’t want to blacken the name of a dead man, but lets look at the facts and not the fantasy. He used to be known as “Lincoln” and worked in Brighton as a PM (physical medium) he found “fame” and as Freddy mercury said “everything that goes with it ” through TV. These shows are heavily edited so a 30 minute show may take half a day to film, the purpose is to entertain, so only the good bits i.e. the hits are shown, not the numerous misses when he gets nothing right. The end result is in the public perception he is an amazingly accurate “medium” Then there was the infamous Scole incident where he was caught by his peers red handed standing on a chair waving a trumpet about when he was supposed to be restrained in a chair!. – IT WAS FRAUD PURE AND SIMPLE and the BS explanation was laughable. In my “reading” he got absolutely nothing right about my mum or dad and it was abysmal, he’s psychic at best, a true medium? – no!, of questionable integrity – definitely
This is in very bad taste !!! Considering Colin fry has passed and is not here to defend himself !! Shocking you have no respect
You’re right. I do not respect Colin Fry.
You need to examine the facts. For example the ‘trumpet’ incident – how did Fry actually get loose? Have you read any report about this? If so (and you should have done), what is your view of what was found about the severed ties? To keep repeating the same things over and over again does your case no good. How is it that Fry demonstated before large audiences when his ties were thoroughly checked? Also the phenomena that occurred would have been impossible by ‘normal means’ even if Fry had loosened himself. Why don’t you read some of these seance reports and offer an analysis of these?
Let’s have some detailed analysis rather than this boring repetition and subjective thinking.
All this negativity and I, for one, have only good to say about the man. I have seen him demonstrate in a very small – perhaps 100 people – venue and he was uncannily accurate. To the smallest details. This was not cold reading, or fishing, or people filling in the gaps. Nor indeed was it wishful thinking. The people in the audience were not plants as I knew them all – they were local people.
Colin never shied away from the fact that all mediums have their off days, and hostility towards the medium even before he starts a reading will inevitably affect the outcome. Everyone knows of the infamous trumpet incident and I can only recall what another very famous Spiritualist medium, a physical medium, called Eusapia Palladino, felt about this. The pressure to succeed, and to produce results, was often considerable. Palladino said she would cheat if feeling too pressured. And she did. That does not negate all the good work she did, and neither, in my mind, does this incident detract from all the wonderful readings I have seen Colin give. No editing involved, no highlights.
For all those quick to judge, and to condemn, I volunteer that you have no qualifications for doing so unless you have first-hand experience of the man in action. Sadly, it is now too late to achieve that.