- (Reuters) -- A controversial television
seance airing on Monday will claim it has reached the spirit of John Lennon,
but viewers will have to pay $9.95 (5.58 pounds) to find out what the peace-loving
Beatle has to say.
-
- The special, being carried on pay-TV
service In Demand, was organised by the producers of a 2003 attempt to
channel the late Princess Diana. That show failed to find Diana and received
reviews that could have sunk the Titanic but it is estimated to have grossed
close to $8 million.
-
- Sight unseen, the Lennon effort has been
attacked by the late Beatle's friends and fans as a tasteless effort to
profit from his assassination 25 years ago. But producers say they are
hoping to lure an audience that now loves such prime-time network TV shows
as "Ghost Whisperer" and "Medium."
-
- The program features what is described
as an Electronic Voice Phenomenon, or EVP, that a psychic on the show claims
is the disembodied voice of Lennon speaking at a seance in one of his favourite
New York restaurants, La Fortuna.
-
- EVP is based on a belief that spirit
voices communicate through radio and TV broadcast signals.
-
- On the television show, filming at La
Fortuna suddenly stops and a narrator says something odd has happened.
They then claim that a mysterious voice can be heard on the voice feed
of one of the psychics.
-
- The producers then call in "EVP
specialist" Sandra Belanger to examine the voice and she proclaims
it the real deal.
-
- "That's very consistent with a Class
A EVP," she said, regarding the level and clarity of the voice. She
also says the voice sounds like how Lennon would have talked.
-
- Reuters was given a preview of the program,
"The Spirit of John Lennon," on condition that it not reveal
what the "voice" said during the taped seance.
-
- Producer Paul Sharratt, who heads Starcast
Productions and who calls himself a sceptic, said hearing the voice has
made him a believer.
-
- "The Spirit of John Lennon"
is being done without the knowledge or consent of Lennon's estate or his
widow Yoko Ono, who declined comment. Her long-time friend and spokesman
Elliot Mintz has called the entire exercise "tacky, exploitative and
far removed" from the icon's way of life.
-
- "A pay-per-view seance was never
his style," said Mintz.
|
