Sally Morgan (psychic) - Criticisms and Libel Suits

Criticisms and Libel Suits

During a show in Dublin, Ireland, in September 2011, Sally Morgan was accused of receiving information about her audience members from an off stage confederate, which she then repeated in her "psychic readings". Following a show at the Grand Canal Theatre, several callers to radio network RTE reported that they had overheard a male voice relaying information to Sally from the control room at the rear of the theatre. A caller said, "The first half of the show went really well but when the second half started, we could clearly hear a man's voice coming from the window behind us. Everything he said, the psychic would say 10 seconds later. It was as if she was having the information relayed to her." On her website, Sally Morgan responded to The Guardian's report by denying the involvement of all Grand Canal Theatre employees and stating that her head microphone was a one-way device. The Daily Mail was later forced to pay £125,000 in damages after accepting that the earpiece claim was "untrue", and that the staff who had been overheard had been subcontracted by the theatre and were not members of Morgan's team.

The Merseyside Sceptics Society and Simon Singh promoted a test of Sally's psychic abilities, set for 31 October 2011. Morgan did not attend.

Mentalist Derren Brown states that it is possible that Morgan is being honest and not receiving hot-readings from her staff. He believes that psychics, just like your plumber and doctor, should be checked to see if they have passed their exams and their credentials examined. He hopes that Morgan will agree to be tested and that if she passes, she will work with scientists to "advance our race, help us find peace amongst ourselves and understand the nature of eternity, rather than merely pass on bland condolences or upsetting revelations from the 'Other Side'".

Magician Paul Zenon writing for the Mail Online states that stage psychics use cold reading and Internet tools like Google maps to fool audiences into parting with their money. He writes "if ... performers like Sally Morgan aren't actually talking to the dead, then I think the public has a right to know". Citing "substantial damage to her reputation, as well as hurt, distress and embarrassment" Morgan sued Associated Newspapers for £150,000 over Zenon's September 22, 2011 article. JREF President, D.J. Grothe, writing for The Huffington Post, states that he wonders why she would sue for £150,000 when she can prove her ability by winning JREF's "Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge"? "It makes one wonder if even Sally Morgan believes that Sally Morgan's powers are real."

In a Guardian article, Simon Singh describes an incident in which Sally Morgan gave a reading to two members of the audience, Drew McAdam and his wife Elizabeth. The reading described a man called Toby who had died in an explosion. However, prior to the show, Drew and his wife say they fed Sally this information by emailing her website and leaving notes in a box provided in the foyer for so-called "love-letters". Toby was also a fictional character who died in an explosion in the 1970s BBC drama, Doomwatch.

Morgan performed a psychic reading for Big Brother winner Brian Dowling on ITV2 in 2007. Asked on camera whether she knew him, she said "well, I know of him". She had actually given a similar reading for him in 2005. She later explained that she said this "because the director told me to".