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Thomas John
Born	Thomas John Flanagan (1984-07-08) July 8, 1984 (age 40) Boston, Massachusetts
Nationality	American
Occupation	Self-described Psychic medium
Website	www.mediumthomas.com

Thomas John Flanagan, known professionally as Thomas John, is a former Chicago drag queen, who claims to be a psychic medium with paranormal abilities. He has been called the "Manhattan Medium" and stars in the reality TV show, Seatbelt Psychic. An investigation by Susan Gerbic determined that the riders in this show were hired actors, and in 2019 it was revealed that a sting operation involving Gerbic and Mark Edward found John was using hot reading techniques during group readings.

In 2009, John was arrested and pleaded guilty to felony fraud for posting fake apartment ads on Craigslist and stealing the security deposits from renters.

Drag queen career

Prior to becoming a medium, John performed in drag around Chicago under the name Lady Vera Parker.

John is an official promoter of the 2019 Miss Gay New York America pageant, which uses the slogan "Where Boys Are Boys and Female Impersonation is an Art", and is scheduled to be held on March 19, 2019.

Mediumship

John first started working professionally as a medium in his mid-20s, and now divides his work between New York City and Los Angeles. He counts among his clients Julianne Moore, Jennifer Lopez, Stevie Nicks, Goldie Hawn, and Courteney Cox. Despite the scientific skeptic consensus that mediumship is a con, John has convinced some mass media reporters that he has paranormal powers:

• Vogue magazine published an article titled "How a Celebrity Psychic Turned One Proud Skeptic Into a Believer"
• The Hollywood Reporter asked John "When did you first realize you had a gift?"
• SF Weekly asked John "A lot of us are curious about the afterlife. What can you tell us about it?"
• WJBK said "Every time psychic medium Thomas John is on The Nine, he blows us away and makes everyone cry."
• WPIX said "Thomas John has made a career blowing minds with his gift for communicating with those who have passed. Honing in on his unique skill at an early age, the celebrity medium has become the go-to psychic with a track record that has even stunned skeptics."

Seatbelt Psychic

Lifetime produced a reality TV show starring John called Seatbelt Psychic. This show began its run on July 11, 2018, and stars John as a ride-share driver who surprises “unsuspecting” passengers when he delivers messages from their deceased relatives. It is produced by Zeb Newman, Ryan Simpkins, Sarah Happel, Emma Conway, Brie Miranda Bryant, and Ben Winston.

John's alleged psychic abilities in the context of the show have been challenged by Susan Gerbic, a skeptical activist and fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, who discovered that John's passengers are actually actors, several of which are documented in IMDb. Gerbic concluded that the riders were likely hired to ride with John, but were probably not acting when talking with him. She concluded that the details about their lives mentioned by John were easily found on social media sources, and likely fed to John, making the readings actually hot readings. One rider, Wendy Westmoreland, played a character on Stalked by a Doctor, a TV show also produced by Lifetime.

In a 2019 television segment on Last Week Tonight, John Oliver criticized the media for producing shows such as this, because they convince viewers that psychic powers are real, and so enable neighborhood psychics to prey on grieving families. Oliver said "...when psychic abilities are presented as authentic, it emboldens a vast underworld of unscrupulous vultures, more than happy to make money by offering an open line to the afterlife, as well as many other bullshit services."

Operation Pizza Roll

In March 2017, John was caught doing a hot reading in a sting operation named "Operation Pizza Roll" which was planned and implemented by Susan Gerbic and mentalist Mark Edward. The unmarried couple Gerbic and Edward attended John's show using aliases, and were "read" as a married couple Susanna and Mark Wilson by John. During the entire reading, John failed to determine the actual identities of Gerbic and Edward, or that they were being deceptive during his reading. All personal information he gave them matched what was on their falsified Facebook accounts, rather than being about their actual lives, and John pretended he was getting this information from Gerbic and Edward's supposedly dead—but actually nonexistent—relatives. The details in the falsified Facebook accounts for the pair were prepared by a group of skeptics in advance of the reading, and Gerbic and Edward were not aware of the specific information in these accounts. This blinding was done in order to avoid John later being able to claim he obtained the false information by reading Gerbic and Edward's minds.

Also, Gerbic revealed that during a private event after the show, John disclosed that at least one of the people he did a reading for in the audience on that day was his own student.

Felony fraud conviction and challenges to veracity

On June 30, 2009 John was arrested and charged with two offences, of theft and theft by deception. It was alleged that he advertised and collected rent on properties that he did not own. He was found guilty on both counts, and sentenced to probation on July 2, 2009.

The Daily News article reported that John was being sued by a California-based public relations firm, ZTPR, because he hadn't paid their bill. John had hired ZTPR to repair his public relations image after the Daily News uncovered and reported on his fraud conviction. According to court papers, ZTPR "completed all the services of helping him build and exaggerate in the press his public profile as a believable psychic medium". Slattery reported that John "told The News he's worked out a settlement with ZTPR, but... ZTPR president Zack Teperman said the matter was still being reviewed by the company's lawyers."

Bibliography

• Never Argue with a Dead Person: True and Unbelievable Stories from the Other Side

See also

• Ann O'Delia Diss Debar ("One of the most extraordinary fake mediums... the world has ever known" -Houdini)
• Flim-Flam! (Psychics, ESP, Unicorns and other Delusions)
• Fortune telling fraud
• Houdini's debunking of psychics and mediums
• John Edward
• Long Island Medium
• Mark Edward
• Monica the Medium
• Psychic Blues: Confessions of a Conflicted Medium
• Rose Mackenberg (Historic investigator of psychic mediums)
• Sylvia Browne
• Tyler Henry

References

1. ^ Shaff, Jay (6 July 2009). "Lady Vera Parker arrested and jailed". chicago.gopride.com. Go Pride. Archived from the original on 2 July 2018. Retrieved 2 July 2018. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)}
2. "Famous psychic, John Thomas,scandal that rocked the media world and Paranormal world". Paranormal Herald Magazine. 11 September 2015. Archived from the original on 30 June 2018. Retrieved 30 June 2018. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
3. ^ Slattery, Denis (25 July 2015). "'Manhattan Medium' Thomas John has celeb clientele — and shady past as scammer and drag queen". NYdailynews.com. NY Daily News. Archived from the original on 29 June 2018. Retrieved 29 June 2018. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
4. ^ Gerbic, Susan (February 21, 2019). "Buckle Up - Seatbelt Psychic". Center for Inquiry. Archived from the original on February 23, 2019. Retrieved February 23, 2019. {{cite web}}: |archive-date= / |archive-url= timestamp mismatch; February 24, 2019 suggested (help); Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
5. ^ Gerbic, Susan (February 21, 2019). "Operation Pizza Roll- Thomas John". Archived from the original on February 23, 2019. Retrieved February 23, 2019. {{cite news}}: |archive-date= / |archive-url= timestamp mismatch; February 24, 2019 suggested (help); Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
6. ^ Mehta, Hemant (23 February 2019). "Skeptics Set a Trap and a So-Called "Celebrity Medium" Fell for the Hoax". Friendlyatheist.patheos.com. Patheos. Archived from the original on 24 February 2019. Retrieved 24 February 2019. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
7. ^ Slattery, Denis (23 March 2016). "Manhattan psychic who ran Craigslist scam sued for owing money to PR firm hired to fix his image". nydailynews.com. NY Daily News. Archived from the original on 29 June 2018. Retrieved 29 June 2018. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
8. "Miss Gay New York America (A Standard Regional Preliminary)". Missgayamerica.com. Archived from the original on 16 January 2019. Retrieved 16 January 2019. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
9. ^ Anderson, Kristin (15 October 2016). "How a Celebrity Psychic Turned One Proud Skeptic Into a Believer". Vogue.com. Vogue. Retrieved 29 June 2018.
10. Propatier, Stephen. "Susan Gerbic: Vampire Slayer". Skeptoid.com. Skeptoid Media. Retrieved 9 September 2017.
11. Swiss, Jamy Ian. "Jamy Ian Swiss - In Pursuit of Psychics: For Good Reason". Youtube.com. James Randi Foundation. Retrieved 9 September 2017.
12. Pevos, Edward (16 November 2017). "We can't explain our encounter with psychic medium Thomas John: See for yourself". Mlive.com. Michigan Live. Archived from the original on 30 June 2018. Retrieved 30 June 2018. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
13. ^ Gardner, Chris (22 June 2018). "'Seatbelt Psychic' Thomas John on New Lifetime Show: "Skeptics are Definitely Welcome"". hollywoodreporter.com. Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 30 June 2018. Retrieved 30 June 2018. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
14. Quick, Quentin (29 June 2018). "Celebrity Medium Thomas John Breaks on Through (To the Other Side)". SFweekly.com. SF Weekly. Archived from the original on 29 June 2018. Retrieved 29 June 2018. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
15. "Psychic medium Thomas John returns for show in West Bloomfield April 12". Fox2detroit.com. Fox News. 12 April 2018. Archived from the original on 30 June 2018. Retrieved 30 June 2018. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
16. ^ Ramos, Andrew (28 June 2018). "Renowned medium Thomas John spooks ride-share passengers in 'Seatbelt Psychic'". pix11.com/. PIX 11. Retrieved 29 June 2018. {{cite web}}: |archive-date= requires |archive-url= (help)
17. Blanton, Kayla (July 11, 2019). "How Do You Get On 'Seatbelt Psychic'? The Contestants On Lifetime's Reality Series Get A Reading In Addition To Their Ride". Bustle. Archived from the original on January 23, 2019. Retrieved January 23, 2019. {{cite web}}: |archive-date= / |archive-url= timestamp mismatch; February 24, 2019 suggested (help); Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
18. Horton, Adrian (February 25, 2019). "John Oliver on psychics: 'A vast underworld of unscrupulous vultures'". The Guardian. Archived from the original on February 25, 2019. Retrieved February 25, 2019.
19. Mehta, Hemant (25 February 2019). "John Oliver Exposed the Media's Complicity in Promoting Psychic "Mediums"". Friendlyatheist.patheos.com. Patheos. Retrieved 25 February 2019. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
20. "Psychics: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)". Youtube. LastWeekTonight. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
21. Hitt, Jack (February 26, 2019). "Inside the Secret Sting Operations to Expose Celebrity Psychics". New York Times. Archived from the original on February 26, 2019. Retrieved February 26, 2019. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
22. Shaff, Jay (July 9, 2009). "Drag Queen Lady Vera Parker Arrested In Chicago". On Top Magazine. Retrieved 24 January 2019.
23. John, Thomas (25 February 2015). Never Argue with a Dead Person: True and Unbelievable Stories from the Other Side. Hampton Roads Publishing. ISBN 978-1571747242. Retrieved 2 July 2018. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)}

External links

• Psychic Methods Revealed: Hot Reading
• Psychic Methods Exposed - Cold Reading Tricks
• John Oliver's analysis of the problem with TV psychics

• 1984 births
• Living people
• American spiritual mediums
• American psychics
• American drag queens
• People from Boston