Chip Coffey (born August 21, 1954) is an American self-proclaimed

psychic A psychic is a person who claims to use extrasensory perception (ESP) to identify information hidden from the normal senses, particularly involving telepathy or clairvoyance, or who performs acts that are apparently inexplicable by natural laws ...

from Elmira, New York, currently living in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. He appeared as a

medium Medium may refer to: Science and technology Aviation *Medium bomber, a class of war plane *Tecma Medium, a French hang glider design Communication * Media (communication), tools used to store and deliver information or data * Medium of ...

on various

paranormal television Paranormal television is a genre of reality television that purports to document factual investigations of the paranormal rather than fictional representations seen in traditional narrative films and tv. Over the years, the genre has grown to be ...

programs, primarily ''

Paranormal State ''Paranormal State'' is an American paranormal reality television series that premiered on the A&E Network on December 10, 2007. The program follows and stars the Pennsylvania State University Paranormal Research Society, a student-led college cl ...

'' and ''

Psychic Kids ''Psychic Kids: Children of the Paranormal'' is a paranormal television series broadcast on the A&E television network. Hosted by Chip Coffey, an American psychic investigator, with licensed therapist Edy Nathan, "sensitive" Chris Fleming, an ...

''. On ''Psychic Kids'' he acts as a mentor towards children who claim to have psychic abilities, primarily seeing ghosts. Coffey's claims of being able to communicate with the dead have been subject to criticism by

skeptics Skepticism, also spelled scepticism, is a questioning attitude or doubt toward knowledge claims that are seen as mere belief or dogma. For example, if a person is skeptical about claims made by their government about an ongoing war then the pe ...

. In 2019 it was announced that Coffey will be joining

Travel Channel Travel Channel (stylized as Trvl Channel since 2018) is an American pay television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, which had previously owned the channel from 1997 to 2007. The channel is headquartered in New York, New York, United S ...

's '' Kindred Spirits'' as the third official cast member alongside Adam Berry and Amy Bruni for the fourth season in 2020.

History

According to Coffey, when he was a child, he would tell his parents when the phone was about to ring and who was calling; referring to his ability to read the past, present and future as a "God given talent" Coffey said that when he reached adulthood, he began to see full-body apparitions. He also defines what he feels to be the difference between a ghost and a spirit, "the latter has completed the journey between the world of the living and the world of the dead. Ghosts, on the other hand, are souls that, for whatever reason, have chosen to stick around. They may not know they're dead, or they may fear judgment on the other side." In 2019, it was announced that Coffey would be joining the main cast of '' Kindred Spirits'' for the fourth season. This comes after Coffey appeared in the ''Haunted Salem'' 2019 live special with both Berry and Bruni from ''Kindred Spirits''.

Criticism

Mediumship is considered to be

pseudoscience Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or unfalsifiable clai ...

, and Coffey specifically has been roundly criticized by scientific skeptics. In 2009, the James Randi Education Foundation awarded Coffey a

Pigasus Award The Pigasus Award is the name of an annual tongue-in-cheek award that was presented by noted skeptic James Randi. The award seeks to expose parapsychological, paranormal or psychic frauds that Randi had noted over the previous year. Randi usua ...

"For the psychic who tricked the most people with the least effort". According to skeptical investigator

Joe Nickell Joe Nickell (born December 1, 1944) is an American skeptic and investigator of the paranormal. Nickell is senior research fellow for the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and writes regularly for their journal, ''Skeptical Inquirer''. He is also ...

, Coffey has been accused of hoaxing and "outright deception" involving the television series ''

''. In September 2014, members of the Bay Area Skeptics attended one of Coffey's seance sessions as part of what they termed a "sting operation" intended to reveal the falsity of his psychic claims. According to

Ohlone College Ohlone College (Ohlone or OC) is a public community college with its main campus in Fremont, California and a second campus in Newark. It is part of the California Community College System. The Ohlone Community College District serves the cit ...

professor Sheldon Helms, skeptics posing as fans planted stories of fictitious dead family members with Coffey's staff. According to organizer

Susan Gerbic Susan Gerbic (born 1962) is an American studio photographer who became known as a scientific skepticism activist, mostly for exposing people claiming to be mediums. A columnist for ''Skeptical Inquirer'', she is the co-founder of Monterey Cou ...

, "Coffey claimed to be clearly communicating with our nonexistent family members". In October 2013, while appearing on the

KFXN-FM KFXN-FM (100.3 MHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to Minneapolis, Minnesota, broadcasting a sports talk format. The station is owned by iHeartMedia, and serves the Twin Cities market. KFXN-FM's transmitter is located in the suburb ...

morning show ''The Power Trip'', Coffey was confronted by host Cory Cove, who voiced skepticism over Coffey's alleged psychic powers. Coffey reportedly "stormed out of the studio" following Cove's confrontation.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Coffey, Chip 1954 births Living people American psychics