Kelvin Cruickshank, one of our famous local psychics who has appeared on Sensing Murder, has "helped" a family (opens new window) to locate the body of "Curly" - an elderly gentleman called Raymond Stirling who went missing in Hamilton in January. A police search had been halted after 11 days with no luck, and then Curly's daughter in law ended up at one of Kelvin's paid shows (at $65 a ticket).

Kelvin used google maps (opens new window) to select a local park that was partially overgrown, but unfortunately the family couldn't find a body there. He then picked another park, and this time the family found their loved one's body in dense bush.

It's likely to be a boost for Kelvin that, after many attempts to help people with cases like this, he's finally managed to have some success. Of course, it's likely that this is just dumb luck mixed with a little common sense.

My worry is that people are going to take this piece of news in isolation, ignoring all the times that Kelvin has taken people's money and given them nothing of worth in return. Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.

As a result of this, more people are likely going to waste their money on useless psychics. Unfortunately, psychics aren't normally cheap - and quite often they can keep people coming back for more and more "readings", feeding off people's grief. I'm sure this news will be good for Kelvin's pocket, but probably not so good for the families of missing people who may end up paying to be given false hope.