S5 E13 TRANSCRIPT
THE TELEPATHY TAPES
INTRODUCTION
Hello everyone and welcome to Spirit-Led Hope. My name is Glenn Erichsen, and in this episode, we are looking at
THE TELEPATHY TAPES PODCAST
At the start of this season, I knew that eventually we would get to this topic. You may recall that in Episode 1 I talked about the ground rules for this season. In that episode I said that we would be kind to people like Ky Dickens, who is the architect and driver of “The Telepathy Tapes Podcast.”
WHAT IS THE TELEPATHY TAPES PODCAST ABOUT?
In case you have never heard of The Telepathy Tapes Podcast, the first episode dropped in September of 2024. And it rapidly became a sensation. For a while, depending on how you rank these things, it was the number one podcast and was more popular than shows like “The Joe Rogan Experience,” or “Crime Junkie.” Since then, it has dropped in popularity, and my theory is that people became less interested once Season 2 was released. We will get into that later.
In Season 1, Ky Dickens presents to the listener the world of non-speaking autistic children. And this is where my compassion enters full swing. I have met and know parents who have children with autism and, depending on the type of autism, communicating with these children can be very challenging. What “The Telepathy Tapes” presents, is that some non-speaking autistic children can communicate telepathically with specific individuals. It might be a parent, another autistic child, or it might be a person trained to work with an autistic child.
According to the Cambridge dictionary, telepathy is the ability to know what is in someone else’s mind, or to communicate mentally, without words or physical signals. It is communicating mind to mind.
I think this alone explains a big part of the explosion in popularity of Season 1. If telepathic communication is real, then how great would it be for these families? Can you imagine being able to speak unhindered to your loved ones for the first time? I mean, how could you not cheer and be excited for these families?
Something that fascinated me about the show was the claim that telepathy had been demonstrated with some testing. If that is true, then this show has the potential to destroy a belief in materialism. If telepathy is true, this would be one of the greatest scientific discoveries ever made. Almost every science book would be affected.
I listened to the first season as fast as I could and I began to develop my own thoughts on the topic. Along the way I learned that a pastor, Joe Infranco, was interviewed for the show and mentioned in Episode 7. I found that Joe Infranco has a lot to say about non-speaking autistic children and even wrote a book about his experiences in a book called “Decoding Cody.” I have not read the book, but I did listen to several interviews with Joe Infranco, and I appreciate his perspective. We will talk more about that in the next episode.
The more I listened to Season 1, the more convinced I became that “The Telepathy Tapes” was headed in the direction of universal consciousness and some non-Christian practices. And this was confirmed after Season 1 when Ky Dickens released some bonus “Talk Tracks.” And when Season 2 was launched, the podcast openly promoted the practices of mediums and showcased beliefs of universal consciousness. I believe this was a very strategic move by Ky Dickens and the reason why Season 2 dropped some in popularity. The first season had the appeal of helping children, sounding scientific, and avoided topics like mediums, which have the potential to turn off many people. The second season has turned into a show more geared to metaphysics where more controversial topics are discussed. And that is potentially a very different audience from Season 1.
Before we get into a deeper discussion about the podcast material, I want to say that the show is very well produced and contains useful information. I appreciate how Season 1 elevates the children and highlights their personalities, intelligence, and skills, which are often overlooked by society. I believe that Ky Dickens does care about the autistic children and their families, although the skeptic in me does realize that the show is monetized, and seems to have an unspoken agenda…although what that agenda is would be a question for Ky Dickens.
In this episode I have no desire to sound like I am bashing Ky Dickens. She seems like a nice person, intelligent, and the type of person who would be a very interesting neighbor. The difficulty with a podcast like “The Telepathy Tapes” is that as the producer, director, and narrator of the show, it would be almost impossible to talk about the show without her. Her thoughts and the direction the show goes are deeply rooted in her. The same could probably be said about “Spirit-Led Hope” and any other shows of this type. I thought about taking Ky’s name totally out of this episode, but I do not think that would be fair to her. She has put a lot of effort, and a lot of herself, into the show.
LETTERBOARDS
Let us now do a little analysis about the telepathy presented on the show. I will tell you up front that I do not know what to think about everything, but as I have said in other episodes, it is okay to have mystery in our spiritual life.
If you have not listened to “The Telepathy Tapes Podcast,” you may wonder how we would ever know if a non-speaking person can communicate telepathically. Unless we were telepathic, how would they tell us what they know? And the answer lies in something called a letterboard. A letterboard is a rigid sheet of material which contains a series of letters that allow a non-speaking individual to communicate by spelling. Because of this, I have even heard the letterboard, called a spelling board. And sometimes, you might hear the non-speakers called spellers.
The letters on the letterboard are large and allow individuals without fine motor skills to select one letter at a time. The user might point at a letter on the board with their finger or use a stylus. In some cases, the user simply looks at the letter and a helper, or a camera, determines which letter is being selected. Letterboards have been life-changing for many non-speakers, although the use of letterboards is not without controversy.
The controversy comes with the way that letterboards are often used. Because many non-speaking autistic children have a hard time controlling their body, they often lack the skills necessary to point out a letter. Not only do they need muscle skills, but they also need to link what they are thinking with their muscles. And this takes training. It takes time to help them build reliable brain-motor pathways.
Some of the methods for training and use of the letterboard require that another person touches the arm, or hand, or shoulder, of the non-speaker. Often, the letterboard itself is held by the trainer or facilitator. And this is where the controversy comes in. If the trainer or facilitator helps guide the non-speaker’s hand or move the letterboard in any way, how can we know for sure that the facilitator is not affecting the spelling? In other words, how do we know that we are not talking to the facilitator instead of the child? It is this fact that makes many of the claims of telepathy controversial.
Because of this controversy, rigorous scientific testing for telepathy will only consider cases where the non-speaker can use a fixed keyboard or some other method which removes any possibility of third-party interference. And this will limit telepathic testing to only those individuals who can use a spelling device unaided.
What I found interesting is that Pastor Joe Infranco was less concerned about the possible interference from a facilitator. If I understand him correctly, he believes most facilitators do a good job and that studies have proven that the non-speaker’s eyes are going to the desired letter before they move their hand. This means that it is possible to detect when a facilitator is interfering. That said, I just cannot see any researcher accepting data if there is any possibility of facilitator interference.
The key point about letterboards is that they now allow the non-speaker a way to communicate. And, if possible, the child will use more advanced systems like iPads or computer keyboards. Any device which helps the non-speaker communicate through spelling and writing opens the door to a deeper relationship which was not possible before. And this is how apparent telepathy was discovered.
As some parents share on the show, once they could communicate with their child, they were shocked to discover that their child could read their minds.
DID THE TELEPATHY TAPES PROVE TELEPATHY IS REAL?
In Season 1, Episode 1 of “The Telepathy Tapes,” Ky Dickens introduces us to the world of non-speakers and immediately attempts to give credibility to the episode by interviewing a telepathy-friendly neuropsychiatrist to help bolster the claims of the show.
At one point in the episode, Ky Dickens brings in a video and sound crew and, along with the neuropsychiatrist, puts Hailey, a non-speaking autistic child, to the telepathy test. And this involves having Hailey identify words and numbers viewed by a person in another room. Hailey nails it and never misses.
Ky Dickens narrates the show, and she does a convincing job of capturing the shock and awe of the initially skeptical film crew as they become convinced that Hailey is demonstrating a genuine gift of telepathy. Personally, I found this episode engaging and I wanted to know more about the tests and the people involved. If you decide you want to listen to that first episode to hear it for yourself, it runs for about 50 minutes.
The rest of the first season builds on this episode and introduces the listener to more children and their families. And it also begins to expand on what the children can do, which includes hearing from the dead, and meeting telepathically with other children at a place called “the hill.”
So how should we evaluate this claim of telepathy? Are the children reading minds? What I want to do in the time we have remaining, is do a first pass discussion from a scientific and Biblical perspective. And in the next episode we will look at telepathy from the perspectives of universal consciousness, materialism, and Christianity.
You may recall from Episode 12 that I said when evaluating the paranormal and supernatural, we should use our intellect along with help from the Holy Spirit. So that is what we are going to do now. Because with all the background I just gave, you are most likely asking the most basic question of all. Did “The Telepathy Tapes Podcast” prove that telepathy is real?
Because of the compelling way that Ky Dickens spoke of the testing, the first thing I wanted to do from a scientific perspective is see the video. If everything was recorded, and as compelling as Ky Dickens said it was, then let us see it. And that is where I hit my first problem. Because what I found was that to see the video meant that I had to become a paying member.
I am not sure why that bothered me so much, but it did. As a technical person, I understand that sometimes technical material needs to be purchased. But here we are, potentially talking about one of the greatest discoveries in the history of the world and we are being asked to pay for a reason to believe it. And I found that I just could not do that, even for a few bucks. I know that may sound silly, but if I did purchase the right to see the video for evaluation, I did not want to ask you to do the same.
So, what I did is to try and find any peer-reviewed material freely available to the public that proves telepathy is real. Because, interestingly, there have been plenty of studies looking at telepathy. And what we find, from controlled scientific studies and not just something put together by a producer and film crew, is that the evidence is not always clear, with most believing that telepathy has not been statistically proven.
However, there are organizations like the Rhine Research Center who claim that telepathy has been statistically proven. The neat part about the Rhine Research Center is that they do have peer-reviewed studies that have been published in the Journal of Psychology. Unfortunately, guess what? You need to pay for access to these documents. Because this material is peer reviewed, I considered paying for access, but I have not done it yet.
So, if there have been studies which do not verify telepathy, how can “The Telepathy Tapes” have children scoring 100% with informal testing? It would be amazing if we could get those children into an environment where they shock the world. And that is the problem. Ky Dickens and the neuropsychiatrist will point out that many of these children have sensitivity to their environment which makes it difficult for them to be anywhere they do not perceive as safe. A place that might be considered safe might not be viewed favorably by the scientific community.
That leaves Ky Dickens in a tough spot. Until she can show in a scientifically valid test that these children have telepathy, it is all hearsay.
I have sympathy for the situation in which Ky Dickens and the families find themselves. You know why? Because Christians are in the same position when it comes to spiritual gifts like prophesy and words of knowledge. These things cannot be proved in a laboratory setting. And we will discuss that more in the next episode.
The main point I am making is that “The Telepathy Tapes Podcast” makes incredible claims about telepathy but has yet to prove these claims in a scientifically verifiable manner. Now you may wonder where Pastor Joe Infranco fits into this. We will talk about that also in the next episode.
Now that we know that science does not yet fully support telepathy, what about the Bible? Does Scripture give us any indicator on whether someone can read the mind of another? And the answer is, yes it does.
The first thing we want to see is that Jesus was able to read the thoughts of others. In the book of Mark there is the account of the friends who lowered the paralytic down through the roof to meet Jesus. When Jesus forgave the man’s sins, the scribes took offense to this. We read about this in Mark 2:6-9.
But some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts: “Why does he speak like this? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Right away Jesus perceived in his spirit that they were thinking like this within themselves and said to them, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts?
Mark 2:6-9 CSB
So here we see that Jesus could read the very thoughts of the scribes. Since Jesus is fully human, does that mean that humans can telepathically read other human’s minds? No, it does not. Because Jesus is fully God, he has ability beyond us. This is what David said to Solomon before he died:
“As for you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father, and serve him wholeheartedly and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands the intention of every thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you abandon him, he will reject you forever.
1 Chronicles 28:9 CSB
David made sure that Solomon knew his thoughts were not hidden from God. Later, when Solomon dedicated the temple, we can see that he learned from his father, because this is what Solomon prayed to God…
…may you hear in heaven, your dwelling place, and may you forgive, act, and give to everyone according to all their ways, since you know each heart, for you alone know every human heart…
1 Kings 8:39 CSB
From a Christian perspective, humans cannot telepathically read another person’s mind. That ability is reserved for God.
CLOSING
So where does that leave us? When you listen to “The Telepathy Tapes,” you will find a large group of people who confidently declare that telepathy is real. And when you listen to the stories, it sure seems that something out of the ordinary is going on. It is hard to picture so many people lying or making up the same story.
In the next episode, we are going to discuss some possible explanations for what looks like telepathy. We will look at both demons and spiritual gifts.
As always, you can send me comments, suggestions, or questions, by email at glenn@spiritledhope.com. You can also send me a one-way text message by going to the episode show notes and clicking on the link with your smart phone. If you find these episodes useful, please spread the word and share them with your friends.
As your mind is searched by the God who loves you…
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope, by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Until the next episode, take care.
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