A Test for Ghost Whisperers

I have a good test for ghost whisperers (gw)--ie people who talk to spirits that have not "crossed over" to the other side--to see if they can actually talk to spirits or not. What you do is this: Take a card from a full shuffled deck of playing cards and have them have the spirit tell the gw what the suit and value of the card is. Now, obviously the spirit should be able to see the front of the selected card and the gw should not be able to see the front of the card. If the gw is able to name the card this a real good indication that the person can talk to spirits. The probability of the gw just guessing the card is 1/52 or 1.92%. Of course, you can do this test more than once and see if the person can tell you the card to rule out chance. And of course this test can be done by different testers with the same gw.

It is probably a good idea for the experimenter not to see the front of card until the gw tells him what the card is. This is called a double-blind test. That way the gw cannot see the reflection of the card in the persons eyes or glasses. I suppose though that the experimenter could wear dark shades to eliminate that possibility.

My way is a good way to test the gw because it does not rely on having the spirit relay personal information to the gw about the experimenters life. If the gw tells a researcher that (s)he is acrophobic from the spirit who knows the researcher and (s)he is acrophobic that could just be a good guess. After all acrophobia (the fear of heights) is one of the most common fears of all. Plus you don't know if the gw had previous knowledge about the experimenters life or not to give answers about his/her life. The deck of cards method is independent of any knowledge about the experimenter.

What does it prove if the gw passes the test? Obviously it proves that the gw is authentic and there might be more like the testee. More than that it proves there is life after physical death. Of course to religious people (like myself--although I think it would be good to know if there are authentic gws) you don't need this test. Atheists might discredit the test. Agnostics might pause and even be persuaded. It's hard to say.

And if the gw fails the test? Well, it is a lot harder to prove a negative result. The gw could be fake. This does not prove however life after physical death does not exist. It only proves the gw claim is false that (s)he is a gw or for some reason that the spirit is not cooperating with the gw, but there is no way for a non-gw experimenter to know that.