Don’t Give Theresa Caputo Your Money
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The “Long Island Medium” brings her live show to the area this month. Here’s why you shouldn’t go.
She sees dead people. To paraphrase the great Philly-shot movie The Sixth Sense, this is the premise of supposed psychic Theresa Caputo. The “Long Island Medium” claims to be capable of communicating with your deceased loved ones. She brings you personal messages from the Great Beyond. She purportedly did so in Atlantic City over the winter. She’ll attempt to do so on June 7th at Parx Casino in Bensalem. And she’s returning to the region twice later this year. Theresa Caputo has the Philly area in her cash-stuffed pocket.
I’ve seen Caputo’s live show twice now. And I’m here to tell you my verdict: Theresa Caputo is a fraud. The likely reason that recording devices aren’t allowed at her shows is that a recording would make this clear to the world. Pause, rewind, and watch again, and she’s suddenly exposed.
As she walks around the large audience, Caputo says vague things that she’s “getting” from “beyond”. Maybe an older woman just passed. Perhaps a young man died a violent death. Oh, and, what about the number 21? Invariably, people raise their hands — that is, she doesn’t walk up to a specific person and say, “Your son died three weeks ago from cancer.”
Sometimes, multiple people stand in response to a vague prompt. She narrows them down by asking a few questions and looking at what they might be holding in their hands (photos, perhaps, or a piece of jewelry), and then she goes in for the attack on the one she feels she can nail down best. A staffer brings a mic; the other would-be targets sit down.
Caputo gets the person to say a bit; she tosses out more vagueness. It all happens very fast and can be very convincing if you’re not paying close attention. How could she possibly know that? you might wonder of her eventual “reveal.” She doesn’t. She’s making very crafty guesses. And not infrequently, she gets it wrong.
“Did he write you a note shortly before he died saying ‘I’m sorry’?” she asked one widow at a show I attended. The woman didn’t respond. Caputo asked again. The woman quietly said “no” and shook her head. But this didn’t stop Caputo. No. She was quick to recover with “The next time you’re in a card store and see a card that says, ‘I’m sorry,’ know that this is from him to you.” And then she promptly walked away.
That’s how the whole show goes. Vague questions and comments get more specific based on Caputo’s reading of body language or on verbal cues. She deflects mistakes. It’s so fast and loose and she’s such a ball of energy that you can’t really keep track. Her personality itself makes for strong misdirection. There’s no way to keep score.
My father was a professional magician, and I know many magicians. And magicians know exactly what Caputo is doing: cold reading (as opposed to hot reading, in which a performer has secretly obtained information about you in advance; see: Peter Popoff). If Caputo actually had psychic abilities — or if she were a hot reader — her statements would be specific and clear, and she would rarely, if ever, be wrong.
The problem with all of this is that while magicians trick people who want to be tricked, Caputo is duping her trusting crowds, which are filled with the grief-stricken. She should be ashamed of herself. Instead, she’s laughing all the way to the bank.
Content retrieved from: https://www.phillymag.com/news/2025/06/03/theresa-caputo-fraud-exposed-medium/.
