The Confession of James Hydrick

Yesterday, as part of our impromptu bout of Randimania, I posted this video of James Randi and Bob Barker utterly destroying fraud psychic James Hydrick on That's My Line. Clad only in his pajamas, a wispy mustache and a Thurston Moore haircut, Hydrick claimed to be able to turn pages with his mind. Randi exposed him as a fraud by sprinkling styrofoam around the pages of the book. That was pretty much the end of Hydrick's career.

I was curious to know what had happened to Hydrick and doing some Googling discovered some excerpts from a television interview where Hydrick confesses to being a fraud and explains why he did it. It's really pitiful stuff: essentially, Hydrick did it because he felt ignored, explaining that no one ever really thought he was very special or paid much attention to him until he started claiming to be psychic. His little trick was just that — a trick — until he stopped saying it was. Then he was suddenly a phenomenon.

It's actually a great interview. You can't help but like the guy a little. Here's Hydrick's explanation on how he applied his skill in prison:

So many ways. I could make deputiesthink someone touched them on their neck because I could breathin a certain way on their neck. They would feel something and say"That's a ghost!" They would piss on the floor and go running outof there! It was something that was fascinating to me and it gotme recognition. I mean every deputy in that jail was sofrightened of me. "That guy is possessed!" I remember when I wasin the Chaplin's office. He taught me how to read and write. AndI would convert people from bad to good. He told me that you hadto turn them onto Jesus, the Lord. And he gave me a Bible and I'dread it. Then I got an idea! Now, I've never told Brother Joethis, and I've never told anyone this, but I would convert twentyinmates a day. That was my limit. I would have to convert twentyinmates a day. I'd get up there and start telling them aboutJesus and stuff. And when I'd see that they were beginning to getturned off - I'd stop and say "You don't believe that it exists?"

• I'd take a Bible and open it up and say "If the Lord is herewith me make these pages move!" or I'd open the Bible and say"Hold the Bible. Father in the name of Jesus Christ make thesepages move." And the pages would move! And the guys are going "Ohmy God!!!" Everytime it worked. Then I would say "It's in you."

You know, Hydrick was a scumbag for trying to scam people into believing in his powers, but he's got a moral leg up on the likes of Uri Geller: at least Hydrick admitted that he was a fraud.

Transcript of Hydrick's Confession [Unexplainable.net]