It's strange, but since I began investigating the Indigo Kid's claims I seem to have been transformed from a mild-mannered lady of mature years into a sort of James Bond supervillain(ess) - the Sceptical Madame Blofeld.
By Julia
If it wasn't for the fact that my non-white, non-fluffy cat Daisy would object I'd be tempted to get one of these:
You see, I've upset Gary again. A couple of days ago I e-mailed him to confirm that his spiritual guide "Abraham" is the Old Testament patriarch of that name (as he claimed at the St James' Church "demonstration of psychic surgery"). Here's his reply:
Quote:
Why do you ask!
Are you lot at bad psychics trying to do me for Blasphemy now?
Can I ask what is it exaclt you are trying to achieve?
Love and Light Always
Gary Mannion
Whatever you do, don't forget the love and light...
I replied that I'd had difficulty opening the recording made at his St James show and merely wanted to get the facts straight. I also asked for some more details about the House of Commons event at which he appeared - you'll remember that he claimed that it was in aid of "Helping Hands", that Tony McNulty MP was present and that the event was covered by the
Harrow Observer. I explained to Gary that several people had contacted McNulty and the
Observer to ask for further details but had not received answers. His reply:
Quote:
Are you refering to the recording that was recorded without my
permission.
You´ll have to keep looking or wait for them to get back to you then. I havn´t got time to be entertaining you when I have more important things to be getting on with. Where as you seem to have nothing better to do then to write to everywhere I work. Iäm afriad while you are on the offensive approach I won´t be willing to offer you anything.
What do you do for a living!
I am prepaired to back up with evidence but when you wrote to Northwick park 6 times you got my friend in trouble. That I see as harrassment.
Therefore I am not willing to provide anything to people like that.
I am still curious what is it you are trying to achieve? Why have I become your number 1 target? I am genuinly intrested and would love to
understand what it is exaclt you have against me. All Iäm trying to do at the end of the day is help people. Along side the medical profession.
Look forward to hearing from you. Keep well! I do support some of your work when you go after the actual cons and are not so biased.
Love and Light Always
Gary Mannion
Interesting use of the word
biased there - in Gary's personal dictionary it seems to mean "refusing to take everything I say at face value".
And you wouldn't think it was possible to bring the words
love and
light into disrepute, would you, but people like Gary and Nina Knowland (
http://badpsychics.com/thefraudfiles/modules/news/article.php?storyid=603) seem to be managing it...
Mannie is a physiotherapist at Northwick Park and a friend of Gary's who's fallen for his act. He isn't Head of Physiotherapy - that post is held by Sangita Patel, who has asked Mannie to pass on a message to Gary: if he continues to name Northwick Park in his false claims the hospital will take legal action.
I know I should be used to it by now, but I never cease to be amazed by Gary's total inability to accept that he's in the wrong.
"Matt" of UK-Skeptics posted a very funny response to Gary's outburst:
Quote:
Gary, I know you read here occasionally. I'd also like to see the quality of the evidence of your claims. Follow-up studies, that sort of thing. I mentioned as much earlier in this thread.
Julia's actions in this are of course despicable - she might claim that she was just searching for the truth, but clearly she was exploiting the lies on your site to make things uncomfortable for you because she hates everyone with the initials GM. People should be allowed to make whatever claims they like and pretend they're backed up by senior medical professionals without this sort of harassment. Its the same with the way police victimize criminals by catching and arresting them. Harassment plain and simple. Still I'm sure that the harassment victims feel, just like you must, some small responsibility for opening themselves up to such attacks.
It's a shame your friend Mannie has got into trouble. What trouble was that? As far as I can see he's been asked to pass on a message. You’re the one being threatened with legal action, after all. Whatever trouble it was, you must feel awful about your own small part in it. Who could have guessed that linking your controversial claims to an established medical institution without their permission might lead to this sort of problem?
Surely Mannie's employers don't think that he's responsible for the appearance of a fictional Manesh Naidoo on your site? Is your friendship with Mannie strong enough for you to take full responsibility for this minor fib to ensure that your harmless exaggerations don't get him into trouble?
After all I know your concern is the trouble Julia made for Mannie and not the lawsuit you've been threatened with.
Of course I understand your desire to punish Julia for this. However I'll point out that the rest of us never called or emailed Northwick Park Hospital. I never checked up on any of your other claims from some sort of independent witness. I simply asked you for the evidence.
As such I feel a little bit disappointed in Julia, spoiling it for the rest of us, who are eager to hear more evidence for your amazing world shattering discoveries.
Just as you were about to back everything up with proper evidence too. Ooh that pesky woman has appalling timing.
I wonder if instead of keeping your evidence secret from all of us just to punish Julia you might just PM the evidence to me. You see I don't want to have these doubts about you. You know, little doubts like - if you were mistaken that Northwick Park Hospital were alright with you claiming their tacit approval of your techniques, then maybe your appraisal of your own abilities might also be a little suspect. I'm probably wrong but it's in my nature to want to check these things out. If you really can cure cancer I want to know about it.
I promise, Scout's Honour, never to tell Julia anything about it. I'll let her go on thinking you're a liar if that's what you want.
Serve her bloody well right too. She probably thinks that the evidence never even existed and you only mentioned it because you now have a water tight excuse for never letting her see any of it. Sour grapes or what?
Incidentally, when I last updated this article (17th March) the words
Quote:
A friend of mine called Mannie (who is the lead Physiotherapist at Northwick park hospital
...STILL appear on
www.abehealing.org You'd think a group with a "Legal Department" would be a bit more careful.
Well, why
do I think it's worth expending time and effort to get to the bottom of Gary's claims?
Firstly, Gary is my "number one target" for the fairly obvious reason that his is the case I'm currently working on. No doubt I'll turn my attention elsewhere when I've done as much as I can to educate people about his claims and activities. Britain is infested with fake psychics, New Age crackpots and psuedo-scientists so I have
lots of potential targets.
Secondly, Gary advertises his services in leaflets and on the internet. Anyone who places themselves in the public eye has to accept that they are leaving themselves wide open to criticism and, if necessary, investigation. It isn't my fault that Gary has been economical with the truth and has been found out.
Thirdly, Gary doesn't confine himself to "psychic surgery" - he's got a finger in every woo pie in the shop. Who could resist wanting to find out more about such a multi-talented individual? And since
Samskara (the Harrow health and beauty salon in which Gary is a partner) is also linked to
www.garymannion.com it would be remiss of me not to look into the silly "Holistic Massage and Healing" treatments it offers.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Gary is still only 20 - old enough to know the difference between right and wrong, fact and fantasy, but young enough to put this ego-massaging nonsense behind him.
You know, it's a damn shame I don't earn £45 per hour for exposing Gary's lies and evasions. That's how much
Samskara charges for stroking customers with hot and cold stones. And before Gary's show at St James' Church Tom Roberts had an interesting conversation with a woman in the audience:
Quote:
While I was waiting for the demo to start, the woman sitting next to me started talking at me - I'd given her no encouragement! She said a friend of hers had visited Gary, and was a bit miffed at paying £40 for about 10 minutes of "healing".
As Gary so frequently points out, he charges for his time,
not his services. His treatments via the "Abraham Body Energy Society" are dispensed on an "as much as the patient can afford" basis - free, or a donation of up to £40. Until December last year the ABES used the Oval Community Centre in Stevenage for a mere two hours a week, so Gary's non-profit healing activities must have been a minor part of his career. He also publishes a price list for his private practice:
Quote:
Psychic Surgery: £35
Angelic Reiki: £35
Chat room: £20
Email Question £1 per question (Can be purchased in sets of 5 and 10)
Phone: £20 (Plus £4 if I call you)
Person: (Single) £20 (Plus travel expenses) Group (Discounted price can be arranged)
Hypnosis (Sessions range between £20-£40)
No, I'm afraid I'll have to accept the fact that not only will I never be able to afford a private island in the Caribbean, even the "starter" underground lair is way beyond my humble means. Still, at least I have the consolation of knowing that I'm not making a living by exploiting the desperation and credulity of others.
