Brian Ladd
From SkepticWiki
Brian Ladd claims to have psychic dreams[1]. He states that some of his dreams have been "validated by dozens of major media outlets". He also claims to have found missing persons, predicted lottery numbers and natural disasters.
He claims to have applied for the Million Dollar Prize yet he has not actually taken it.
Contents |
[edit] Biography
Brian Thomas Ladd was born February 8, 1969. He has a younger sister named Christine. Ladd was born into an Air Force family and moved several times during his childhood. He spent 12 years in the US Army before retiring. He currently lives in West Virginia with his wife, Samantha, and their three children [2].
[edit] Terminology
Ladd does not consider himself a psychic, stating on his website that he does not speak with the dead. However, the definition of psychic is lying outside the sphere of physical science or knowledge [3] which is exactly the type of ability that Ladd claims to have. Ladd stated in an interview that he prefers the term "dreamer".
[edit] Payment
Ladd repeatedly claims that he has not made any money from his supposed abilities:
- -I would post an announcement when I first received payment for any public or private missing person RV, and I'm proud to say that as of today, I still have not charge a dime. (posted February 5, 2007) [4]
- So for the critics, I have not earned a single dime helping to locate anyone, anywhere at anytime...and you can put that in writing. (posted March 21, 2007) [5]
- Also, as of today, I have never charged a dime for any work I have done on missing persons cases, both private and public. (posted October 6, 2007) [6]
- As of today's date, I have not charged a dime for any missing person case or RV, both public or private...and I have given away more than 10,000 free memberships. (December 14, 2007) [7]
- So again, just to make it clear (to those who think I'm profiting from this), as of today's date, I have not made any money on any type of remote viewing, or missing person viewing...both public and private. [8]
Yet Ladd does charge for his services and access to members only pages of website:
- Private Rush Dream Reading: $299 USD
- One Month Site Membership: $8.95
- One Year Membership: $69.95 USD
- Lifetime Membership: $199.95 USD
- 20 Personal Subliminal CD Offer: $69.95 USD
- [9]
He also stated that he has made money from his readings "-I have profited about $300 in total..." [10] as well as earned funds from the BriansPrediction website "This months total site's revenue is less than $500, which is average... profits so far this month are around $300." [11]
Despite the money that he charges for memberships and readings Ladd constantly claims that his family has financial problems:
- -my family and I live happily and comfortably in a 900 square foot 1 bedroom one bath home worth no more than $40,000 and have a 1995 pickup. Our yearly family income is just above the poverty line- [12]
- Generally we have enough money to pay the bills, and go out once a week (commonly on Fridays). Sometimes things do get tough, and our power or phone service gets shut off (it's happened 3 times so far), but we always manage to pull through. [13]
- Again it seems that's our power is getting shut off on the 30th of this month, I called for an extension but it was denied. [14]
- -we have endured without power and water (well is electric) for over a month...in the winter. I'm also in debt for having children...and no medical insurance...currently I owe some $15,000 in medical bills, and the hospital is known for actually taking peoples cars and homes for not paying. [15]
- Lights will be out for the next four days, I have a small generator and might be able to get online for a little while. I have managed to get the power bill under control and within our budget now (about $300 a month), and long my wife and I can keep from seeing a doctor, we should be just fine. The power company will not grant a extension for any reason this time...I did try. [16]
[edit] Million Dollar Challenge
Ladd claims that he applied for the Million Dollar Prize eleven times[17]. He posted a copy of an application on his website page 1, page 2, page 3, and page 4. However, Ladd claims that he did not get any response from JREF.
- 3.11.2007
- As of today, I have not so much as received a email, phone call, or letter from this Foundation about my application. I have sent a total of 3 applications requesting to take this test, yet no response. [18]
- 3.19.2007
- Still nothing, even though I have mailed 3 applications to this foundation...I'm being to think they really do not have this test, or they just do not want me to take it. [19]
- 4.10.2007
- Have sent my last letter requesting to take this challenge today, if I do not get a response back this time, I will assume Mr. Randi does not want me to take his test. [20]
RemieV, a JREF research assistant, stated on the JREF Forum that Ladd attempted to apply to the challenge via e-mail, which is not an acceptable way to apply. When a JREF staff member tried to respond to him "he discovered that Brian was mailing from an address that cost money to reply to." [21] RemieV stated that they had not received a valid application from Ladd and pointed out that the application he posted was not notarized by JREF.
In addition to doubting that there actually was a test at all Ladd also stated:
- As for the psychic test... it really does not make sense...how can someone test a person for psychic abilities when ability itself is in question. Just having a test for psychic abilities confirms that the ability exists, yet the ones administering the test are in no way qualified to grade this test. Just think about it for a second...if Mr. Randi claims so far he has not seen or test a psychic, how is the test itself validated. I do agree with Mr. Randi, that people have no reason not to take the test, but suggest he changes the tone of his million dollar application as it seems like he wants to see people fail the test, rather than a true, professional solicitation for psychic ability. [22]
- I certainly hope this [the MDC] is not a scam for him [Randi] to just make money. [23]
[edit] Lottery Predictions
Ladd offers members of his website lottery pick numbers and claims that several people have won using his numbers. He posts unverifiable testimonials from people who have allegedly won money using the numbers he selected for them[24]. In February 2007 Ladd claimed that he dreamed the correct numbers for National UK Lottery, including the bonus ball the night before the drawing.
However, Skeptics countered that Ladd created the webpage with the lottery numbers on it the night before the draw then replaced the image containing the actual digits two hours after the correct numbers had been revealed[25][26]. Skeptics were also able to duplicate the sequence of events[27].
[edit] Psychic detective work
Ladd is a self-proclaimed psychic detective and was a member of The Bodyhunter team which is headed by Gale St. John. He claimed that he helped solve cases such as Shawn Hornbeck and Ben Ownby. Ladd goes on to state that after he does a reading for the family of a missing person the person "just seem[s] to show up"[28].
On his website Ladd lists dozens of missing people as well as closed cases. The webpages contain Ladd's dream diaries, e-mails between himself, team members and others, maps and news stories.
[edit] Madeleine McCann
Ladd still has an open case file on the missing toddler, Madeleine McCann, who disappeared in 2007. Ladd claimed that he dreamed about McCann the day that she disappeared, claiming that it was two days before he was informed of it. He proceeded to post dream diaries and communicate with others regarding the case [29].
Ladd's dream diaries were passed onto authorities and deemed to be of no value to the case. The missing girl's aunt, Philomena McCann, stated "It's nonsense, there's nothing in it. We must have had hundreds of things like that sent to us." [30]
During his investigation Ladd stated that he was willing to break into a suspect's home in order to continue his work. Later, Ladd decided to actually go to Portugal and started raising money to fund his trip. However, a former detective alerted the British and Portuguese police to Ladd's intentions and Ladd was informed that he would be arrested for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice if he went to either country. Ladd stated that he refunded all of the money that had been donated towards his trip and added that he would never accept funds for traveling again [31].
[edit] Cures
Ladd's remote viewing also include theories for cures and causes of disease[32]. Ladd claims that he cannot take credit for the drawings, stating once "-it's not my idea, my hands just drew it." [33] Ladd theorized that filling a lung cancer patient's lungs with a saline solution and forcing them to breathe "-using the same method they did for 9 months as a fetus" that this will kill cancerous cells and cause new, healthy cells to grow.
Ladd also theorized that the cause of Alzheimer's is cannibalism and that the disease can be avoided by eating fish and poultry while avoiding animals that practice cannibalism [34]. He also stated that the basic cause is "cell damage due to protein unstability [sic]". In order to treat the disease he recommends that the patient sleep with their head toward the magnetic north and receive a spinal massage. Ladd states that after 2 months the patient will fully recover.
In order to cure cancer Ladd states that the body's immune cells must fight off the cancerous cells and that the body once knew how to do this, but "forgot" how 2,000 years ago. He adds that "-cancer only happens in angry animals", "-love will make the reproduction stop" and "-there is a way to live in harmony with cancer" [35].
[edit] Lawsuits
Samantha Ladd, Brian Ladd's wife, was named in two court cases. The first is a dispute over three internet domains. The case stated that the domains were acquired in bad faith and the final decision was that the domains would be relinquished to the complainant [36].
In the second Samantha Ladd was sued by Paramount Pictures Corporation and Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. The lawsuit alleged that Ladd and Aaron Rzadczynski had "misused their copyrighted material on digital versatile discs." [37] It goes on to state that "The Defendants have sold computer programs over the Internet which enable users to copy DVDs illegally." Ladd was fined $412,340.57, the estimated amount of money that was made from the sales, as well as lawyer fees.
