Probably the most famous psychic today is John Edward who is the star of the amazingly popular show seen on the Sci Fi channel, "Crossing Over With John Edward."

The show premiered in July of 2000. It's a half hour program that has Edward appearing in a dark theater surrounded by risers that are packed with audience members, all of which would pay enormous amounts of money just to be in the same room with this man. The typical show features Edward walking around the risers making comments like, "I am getting very strong vibrations about a guy named Dave over here. I don't know what it means. Maybe Dave is someone who has recently left this world..." And the spiel goes on and on. Ultimately there will be someone in the audience who nods in response to these statements, possibly signifying that Edward is right on the mark about something. Sometimes they will even shout or break down in tears. It's great television but many sceptics feel that's all it is.

The truth is, Edward's show is nothing new. He is just one in a long line of many who have done this sort of thing, from the Fox sisters in the 1800's to current celebrates like Rosemary Altea, Sylvia Browne, and James Van Praagh. What is unique about Edward however is that he seems to be the right kind of psychic, who just happens to be in the right place at the right time.

Part of his success probably has a lot to do with the public's fascination with the occult. A recent Gallop pole indicates that 20% of Americans believe in one form of the occult or another, many believing that you can communicate with the dead, which just happens to be John Edward's specialty. Oddly, 24% of women believe in communicating with the dead while only 16% of men believe this can be done. This may or may not be a comment on the gullibility of women and men. As for religions, 27% of Catholics believe in talking to the dead as opposed to only 16% of Protestants and 9% of Jews.

Whatever the reasons are for these numbers, Edward has cashed in on them. His show is on 5 days a week and the money that he makes from this can only be guessed at. His show is said to be responsible for a 33% increase in the Sci Fi channel's ratings to a daily average of about 533,000 households. More importantly, the program is attracting more female viewers to a station that previously was male dominated viewing. The audience for Crossing Over is over 60% female.

Between his TV show and national exposure from appearances on The Today Show, This Morning, and Dateline, this has made his book "One Last Time" a national best seller.

And of course with all of this the question most asked is, "Is he the real thing?" Critics who have charted his predictions have estimated that his accuracy is only about 10 to 20%. Of course they also noted that the volume of his predictions far exceeds any modern day psychic. Whether John Edward is legit or just another great entertainer there is no denying that he has become one of the most popular psychics of all time.