{"podcast":{"title":"Proof Positive","slug":"proof-positive-7769387","podcast_index_feed_id":7769387,"rss_url":"https://feeds.megaphone.fm/PODAGEN1376325340","website_url":null,"image_url":"https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/888b1f84-0357-11f1-befc-ab71d1d198c5/image/70b2158e31ae217cacd060fb38c52caa.png?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&max-w=3000&max-h=3000&fit=crop&auto=format,compress","author":"Daniel Torres","episode_count":108,"summary":"What happens when the official story doesn't add up? Join Daniel Torres as he picks apart the cases, scandals, and mysteries that everyone else stopped asking questions about. This isn't your typical true crime podcast — it's investigative documentary work that digs into current events, historical cover-ups, and social issues that deserve a second look. Daniel spent eight years as a freelance journalist chasing down everything from small-town corruption to corporate whistleblowers. He started this podcast because the best stories always had too many layers for a newspaper article. Now he's using that same dogged reporting to unpack the investigations that matter, the ones that got buried, and the ones that are still happening right now. Each episode is a deep dive into real documentation — court filings, leaked memos, forgotten archives. You'll hear the actual evidence, not just opinions about it. Daniel breaks down complex cases so you can understand what really went down and why it matters today. Sometimes he even convinces his neighbors to share their weird hobbies, which honestly makes for surprisingly good radio. Ready to question everything you thought you knew? Follow Proof…","last_synced_at":"2026-07-27T18:19:49.347648+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/proof-positive-7769387"},"episode":{"title":"How TV Psychics Use Cold Reading to Fake Contact with the Dead","slug":"how-tv-psychics-use-cold-reading-to-fake-contact-with-the-dead","published_at":"2026-07-26T04:42:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/proof-positive-7769387/how-tv-psychics-use-cold-reading-to-fake-contact-with-the-dead","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/proof-positive-7769387","url":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/PODAGEN5263645927.mp3?updated=1776260345","audio_url":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/PODAGEN5263645927.mp3?updated=1776260345","summary":"Ever wonder how TV psychics convince millions of people they're actually talking to the dead? Daniel Torres pulls back the curtain on a $2 billion industry built on clever tricks and psychological manipulation. Spoiler alert: it's not magic - it's just really good performance art. On Proof Positive, we break down the cold reading techniques that make these performances look supernatural, examine how pre-show research and selective editing create the illusion of accuracy, and reveal why James Randi's million-dollar challenge went unclaimed for decades. You'll learn the specific psychological tactics psychics use to hook grieving families, understand how a 30% accuracy rate gets edited to look like 90%, and discover the real science behind why these tricks work so well on normal people. 📍 Chapters: [00:00] Introduction with Daniel Torres [01:30] The $2 billion psychic industry exposed [04:00] Cold reading techniques and psychology tricks [07:00] How TV production amplifies the illusion [10:00] James Randi's challenge and scientific testing [12:00] Why smart people still fall for it 🔍 Topics: TV psychics, cold reading techniques, James Randi, psychic fraud, psychological manipulation, grief exploitation ⭐ Think your friends need to hear this? Follow Proof Positive and leave us a 5-star review - it seriously helps other skeptics find us. New episodes drop daily, so we'll see you tomorrow for another deep dive into the stories that matter! Get new episodes at Proof Positive --------- Keywords: historical mysteries, unsolved mysteries, government cover ups, undercover operations, surveillance state Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices","meta_description":"Ever wonder how TV psychics convince millions of people they're actually talking to the dead? Daniel Torres pulls back the curtain on a $2 billion industr…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":792,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/proof-positive-7769387/episodes/how-tv-psychics-use-cold-reading-to-fake-contact-with-the-dead/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/proof-positive-7769387/how-tv-psychics-use-cold-reading-to-fake-contact-with-the-dead.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}