Sean David Morton – some commentary
I linked to this yesterday, but I had some comments that I just had to add.
News – INSIDE EDITION Investigates a Financial Psychic – InsideEdition.com
Carole Dunn saw Morton speak at a new age conference in New York City. The 64 year-old invested most of her life savings, 20,000 dollars, with Morton.
I don’t wish to make light of this situation, but the fact is, if this woman would have spent 1 minute searching the internet she probably wouldn’t have invested with Morton.
As I always say – the information is there. We don’t need more people to waste time writing and blogging about the same scams and hoaxes, what we need is for people to actually search and find out what is going on before they give these asshats money.
It is for this reason I get angry with those that think they are helping Ufology (or the paranormal) by once again exposing someone that has already been exposed many times because it just gives them attention that they don’t deserve and just attracts more people (who may not have paid any attention to your actual post) to them. That time is much better spent on real investigations into unknown things because most times the information about these frauds are already out there and easy to find by anyone that bothers to look. The problem is that 99% of these people that are taken in didn’t bother to look. Yes, I know that is considered to be (at least partly) blaming the victim, but does the victim have no blame?
Seriously, if you are willing to invest $20,000 with Sean David Morton and don’t even bother to google him (where you will find some really bad stuff), I don’t know what could have been done to help you. Yes, SDM is mostly to blame, but surely these investors deserve some blame, as mean as that might sound.
In general, I am someone that is considered to be somewhat woo-woo (probably an understatement), but I would never in a million years give someone my life’s savings or any substantial amount of money, without checking into them. Oh, I might spend $20 for a book by someone I am not sure about, but that is quite different and I am willing to take that loss.
So, when do we stop blaming Ufology and the fortean for these people’s losses? How can we stop people that want to believe so much that they are willing to put real money into it? We can’t and we shouldn’t be blamed (or blame ourselves) anymore than bridge builders are blamed for someone buying a bridge to nowhere.
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Mar 21 2010 
March 21st, 2010 at 8:40 am
I’m torn on this issue. On one hand I absolutely agree. By constantly “exposing” fakes and ignoring the sloppy research of the skeptics (read religious athiest)like Jimmy Randi the paranormal field plays right into the hands of those who would love to silence all discussion. However, to toatally ignore it is to also allow yourself to be painted into a corner with the fakes such as Morton and the way out there like Slyvia Brown. So, what’s the answer? Balance. I think (not to speak for Craig who has more experience and knowledge of this field than I ever will)But, I think this article is a call for balance. Instead of hopping on “another” charlatan lets focus on the real honest questions that need to be answered. Instead of doing jimmy randi’s work for him lets focus on his mess. Pedo..cough…phillia anyone? Still, that doesn’t mean he or other skeptics are right or wrong about their research. It just means the in-fighting and the “gotcha” stuff from people who claim to be “searching” for the “truth” can take away from honest discussion and research.
On second thought I wanted to come back and take the reference about randi out of here. After all that is hear say and rumors. But, then again he has made a career out of hear say and slander sooo…I just left it as I wrote it.
March 21st, 2010 at 9:27 am
I commented on a somewhat-related story on my blog recently. Long story short: the treasurer in a local state congress in Mexico handed over the equivalent of 35,000 dollars to a witch, in order to perform a ‘cleansing ritual’ that would supposedly double the amount of money —the end result was even more astounding mathematically, if not economically: it disappeared, along with the witch.
So who’s to blame: I would go as far as blaming those victims’ teachers, you know? To me it’s a problem of a lack of education; understanding ‘education’ not as only the learning of a plethora of facts and figures, but also learning how to perform an investigation and confirm facts.
In other words, learning to learn.
Trouble is, most schools don’t care about helping their students to be independent thinkers. Like the movie ‘Dead Poet Society’ showed, adolescents are not supposed to think for themselves until they go to college —and if they don’t go, well… you get the picture.
That’s one of the things I like about Ufology: it CAN help you learn to become an investigator of sorts; since all this stuff is not endorsed by any authority of institution, you have to decide for yourself whether what you find is crap or not. That is a blessing and a curse at the same time, of course —but it’s part of the fun.
March 21st, 2010 at 10:08 am
I just realized Lesley wrote this one, not Craig. Sorry bout that, but Lesley also knows more about the esoteric than I ever will so that statement still stands. I tried to edit my post because I thought one thing I put in it might take away from the subject. But it looks like it’s been submitted and can’t be edited. Anyway, good article.
March 21st, 2010 at 11:01 am
For the complete story, see the UFO Watchdog Hall of Shame.
March 21st, 2010 at 1:24 pm
Education has zip to do with being a fool with your money. Just ask the thousands(?) of supposedly well educated professionals who were duped by Madoff. I’m pretty sure that more than one potential victim resisted SDM or Madoff get richer quicker schemes by following the old sage saying: ‘if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is not true’. SDM is going to prison for his crime of ripping off folks’ money. Too bad that he couldn’t have been sent earlier for being such a ‘bad’ fraud about his other activities.
March 21st, 2010 at 3:13 pm
Maybe when esoterica takes itself seriously others can take esoterica seriously.
You’re talking about a “field” that does no validation or self checking. I’m always surprised that people acted surprised when they get called on their foibles when they didn’t do any fact checking on their own. While you may be blaming the victims, the truly sad thing is that this event plays itself out over and over and over again in the field.
You’ve got “researchers” using vague or even downright dangerous techniques to produce their results. You’ve got hundreds of SDM’s producing claims every day, and no one calls them on it. No one asks the hard questions of researchers and so the researchers get more and more outlandish with their claims. They produce more and more junk, and the field accepts the claims at face value. Heck, the “gold standard” might even put you on the Hall of Fame.
Until esoterica grows up and cleans its own house, why be surprised when the junk continues to be piled on our doorstep?
March 21st, 2010 at 5:25 pm
There really isn’t an esoteric field to be taken seriously. I suppose we could call Ufology a field (though that would be stretching it), but there is no way to ban someone from saying they are a Ufologist, writing books, going on radio shows and whatever else. Even things that are true fields, lets say medical – people can have their license to practice taken away, but if they still want to practice they just move somewhere else and do so. It is still up to people that are the would be victims to check into them. Seriously if someone is willing to give someone $20,000 without even googling them, those same people would not check to see if they had been banned from some organization either. Really that could be said of any field. The investment field itself is full of crooks and not all of them claim to be actual psychics, but they do claim special knowledge that can make people lots of money.
So I don’t understand how esoterica would clean it’s own house and even if such a thing could be done it is unlikely to stop people like SDM or people that want to give them money.
March 21st, 2010 at 7:13 pm
I agree with you, Lesley. Even when you go to a doctor is because you ask for references given by people YOU know. Why can’t people do the same with appointed psychics.
Then again, my rule would be to be very wary of people who claim to have psychic powers and charge for them. I’m sorry, but I don’t believe psychic powers can be called on command the moment someone sends you a check. They seem to be unpredictable.
March 21st, 2010 at 7:58 pm
So there is a predator element to the paranormal like the Blue Dog of Texas or the Blue States? Anyway the financial sector has ballooned with the U.S. imploding…. voodoo economics? Or is that not p.c. anymore. UFOlogy is something of an oxymoron — a “field” or fertile ground for disinformation. Considering the military gets $60 billion a year in black ops — it seems that UFOs will remain safely underground, metaphorically and literally.
March 21st, 2010 at 10:33 pm
@RPJ That is pretty much how I feel. I think we are all probably psychic in some way, but I have yet to see anyone that can consistently demonstrate being able to access those powers whenever they want.
October 19th, 2010 at 3:26 pm
I would not automatically assume that an older person, e.g., Carol Dunn would know how to use a computer, never mind google Sean David Morton prior to investing money with him. I’ve seen Morton in NYC at the New Life Expo and found him to be an entertaining, impressive, and brilliant speaker. If the SEC allegations are correct, I’m sure the man is a psychopath. He has an excellent presentation and I can see how a good number would be duped/conned.