Is It Illegal to Claim Special Powers?

It's one thing to claim you have special powers. It another thing to use that and manipulate money out of people. It's called fraud.

I agree. It was stupid he was in prison.

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Loneliness has followed me my whole life

It's not illegal to do what he was doing, no. This was merely a plot device not based in reality.

I think prison is probably more likely to be due to the fact that someone had been investigating these people's private lives and somehow accessing their personal information into order to defraud them. He wasn't just doing cold reading, they had evidence that they were finding out information about the audience, and perhaps the way they did that broke privacy laws etc. It's one thing to pretend to be p psychic and just use psychology and tricks to manipulate people into believing you know what's going on with them through suggestion, getting them to unconsciously drop hints or respond in certain ways that provides information, and it's another to take people's money and then go and investigate them - people certainly aren't paying for that kind of invasion of privacy - they want the 'entertainer/psychic' to ascertain that information on their own, and don't expect to be investigated.

There is a law in the UK called the Witchcraft Act which was passed in the eighteenth century and, was still on the statute book until well within living memory, which makes it illegal to falsely claim supernatural powers for the purposes of obtaining payment. Although I do not think that it has been used since the nineteen forties, and was finally repealed in the nineteen fifties.

Real life scenario:

Someone becomes sick. Goes to one of these televangelists or anyone claiming supernatural powers to heal. Gets "healed". Later on, the person decides not to seek out medical treatment since they are "healed". They die or suffer serious consequences all based on fiction when the problem could have been resolved with a hospital visit.

Unfortunately, people are gullible, especially when in times of need. They can act on impulse. And they can truly believe they were healed, simply because they want it badly enough.

Scum wishing to make a quick buck like to prey on the vulnerability of these types of individuals. It has serious consequences. And they need to be locked up and exposed for all of the harm they cause.

These people are no different than con-artists. It's deception to gain money.


I let you know me... see me. I gave you a rare gift, but you didn't want it - Hannibal Lecter

In Canada there is a law on the law books that actually makes claiming psychic powers or magical abilities illegal since it's usually accompanied with the asking of money for services. It's called "charlantanism" and is illegal. The number of cases that actually gets charged or convicted is basically zero though since people actually BELIEVE in these types of "abilities". Just look at any large city and you'll find psychics, hands-on-healers (reiki), large "wellness" and spirituality conferences, tarot readers, etc. It is illegal to claim special powers but the greatest power is making a living at it and never being charged.