Is 'Long Island Medium' Theresa Caputo Really Speaking to the Dead, or Is She Just a Good Faker?

For years, we've all been entranced by Long Island Medium Theresa Caputo. We've watched her on various shows not only raising a family but also connecting strangers with their deceased loved ones. She is a psychic medium, after all.

For years, Theresa has made money convincing audiences that she can communicate with the dead. But not everyone is convinced. Some find her "gift" to be a scam.

In 2012, Inside Edition sent a reporter to one of her live shows to investigate the accuracy of her readings. "On TV, she's almost always dead right, but at her live shows, we watched her strike out time and again," the report revealed.

The investigator for Inside Edition, Mark Edward, claimed that Theresa used classic psychic techniques to trick the audience. One technique is called cold reading, which means the medium is able to throw out generalized questions until someone can relate.

Another technique Theresa allegedly uses is that when she gets something wrong, she will blame the spirit, telling guests that the spirit meant to relay the message to another individual.

Though some are skeptical when it comes to the truth behind the Long Island medium, not everyone is convinced she's a fake. In a 2014 interview with Hello Beautiful, one client of Theresa's revealed that her session was very intimate, and she did not feel the reality star's reading was a scam.

“We got into the hour session and she was hitting on things she had no way of knowing and they weren’t like cold reading tactics," the client said. "There were things she predicted that I couldn’t match to my situation right away, but months went by and I’d be like holy s--t that’s what she meant."

Theresa herself has spoken out against her biggest critics and defended her supernatural talent. "I always say it is not my fault or spirit's fault that there are only so many ways that people can die and common burdens and guilt that we might carry,” she explained to Paper magazine. in 2018.

"During my sessions, I want the spirit to talk about things that not only no one would ever know about, but that you experienced. Because nobody can take away from you what you experienced or tell you what you experienced wasn't real."

Along with her readings, the personal drama audiences see on her shows is also very real. "From the day I signed up to do Long Island along with my entire family, we said that we were going to share our life," Theresa, 52, said of her separation and later divorce from her husband of 28 years, Larry. "It is [hard]. But again, what I am doing is helping people."

She continued, "A gentleman came up to me recently and said to me, 'I want to thank you for sharing what you are going through, because my wife and I were watching the show and we said that is us.' They put themselves in therapy."

Though there are skeptics and fans alike, Theresa is certainly still popular among TV audiences. After 14 seasons of Long Island Medium, Theresa returned to TV with a new series, Theresa Caputo: Raising Spirits. Catch new episodes on Thursdays at 9 p.m. EST on Lifetime.