Theresa Caputo is a 51 year old, self proclaimed psychic who became famous through her television show The Long Island Medium (on TLC)in 2011. She has two children and is recently separated from her former husband Larry. She claims she channels what she calls "Spirit" through her chakras and can control who and what type of information / spirits / energies connect with her.
The Live Experience:
According to various sources, phones are not allowed to be on or out during the live shows. Multiple people have said they are vigilant about keeping peoples phones away. Another thing that left fans disappointed is Caputo's decision to push subscriptions for her "fan club" ($19.99) before beginning the live readings. During these "live experiences", she spouts general information and vague feelers until someone shows a visual or auditory response. She has not been seen walking up to anyone and relaying specific, detailed information. She asks questions and looks for objects in peoples hands / jewelry, etc and waits for a response from someone in the audience, especially if multiple people react to her vague starters.
The generalized starters and feelers only turn more specific when she gets a clear reaction. An example from an article on Phillymag.com below:
"Did he write you a note shortly before he died saying IM SORRY?"
When there is no positive or affirming response, she will begin to back track, like so;
"The next time youre in a card store and you see a card that says IM SORRY, know that this is from him."
Some former fans even say that the live experience "was like pulling teeth" to make a genuine connection with an audience member. There was another alleged incident of the TLC crew grilling a guest on Long Island Medium about her deceased husband before she could film with Caputo and now thinks Theresa is a phony.
Her Methods and Excuses:
Caputo claims that she channels "Spirit" through her chakras and her "brain goes blank so I'm clearly channeling". She also claims to have been "brain tested", so her abilities MUST be true!
One thing I and others have noticed is that she all too often acts like a therapist or grief counselor to her clients, when really she is giving nothing more than general, cliche comfort.
"I always say it is not my fault or spirits fault that there are only so many ways that people can die and common burdens and guilt that we might carry." - Caputo
This seems like a huge cop-out to me. She is contradicting herself, saying on one hand she can completely control what and who connects with her and only allowing positive information to come through. Then back tracking again, saying she cannot help that she can only give general info and spews the same things to all her clients. Pick one and stick with it! As many actual mediums or people with abilities will tell you they cannot control who or what connects with them or what type of info comes out.
A former psychic has also claimed that Caputo is a "piggy backer", which means she back tracks and reconstructs her readings after she is told she missed the mark.
Though she claims to make a difference in peoples lives and claims to truly help them, giving them false information and cliche comfort may not be truly helpful in the long run. If anyone was truly touched and helped by her, by all means, that's wonderful. But she isn't accurate or consistent enough for me.
So, to sum this section up, Caputo is cold reader and may also be utilizing hot reading techniques (gaining info before meetings).
What others are saying:
Some guests that appeared on the show claim that Caputo is cold and ignores her fans off camera. Pushing past guests and making them re-do scenes to her liking.
Howard Stern even claims that Caputo made outlandish demands in regard to her would-have-been appearance on his show. He also claims she demanded 45 minutes to an hour alone with the audience before filming could begin.
"The Long Island psychic is not a psychic!" - Howard Stern
Conclusion and Rating: (rating based on a 5 star system one * = 1 star)
Truthfulness: **
Transparency: **
Accuracy: *
Specificity: *
Client Interaction: **
Price: *
Consistency: *
Ability to help people: **
Average/Overall rating: 1.5 stars
Do I endorse or recommend her? NO
(The only information I could find on her prices were that private readings were between $50 and $175. Ticket prices vary as do group reading rates. However I have read elsewhere that she may charge by the hour and / or go up to $500 per reading)
