Confessions of a Quackbuster: 'Psychic surgeon' a heel, not a healer, police say

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Chiropractors Are Upset With This...</a></li> <li><a href="http://quackfiles.blogspot.com/2005/06/h2o-system-pure-quackery.html">H2O system pure 'quackery'</a></li> <li><a href="http://quackfiles.blogspot.com/2005/06/fighting-polio-one-child-at-time.html">Fighting polio, one child at a time</a></li> </ul> <p><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" title="Powered by Blogger"><img src="http://buttons.blogger.com/bloggerbutton1.gif" alt="Powered by Blogger" /></a></p> <p id="blogfeeds">Subscribe to<br />Posts [<a target="_blank" href="http://quackfiles.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default" type="application/atom+xml">Atom</a>]</p>  </div>  <div id="main"> <h2 class="date-header">Friday, June 17, 2005</h2>  <div class="post"><a name="111898293358069485"></a> <h3 class="post-title"> <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20050616.wxfraud16/EmailBNStory/National/" title="external link"> 'Psychic surgeon' a heel, not a healer, police say </a> </h3> <div class="post-body"> <p><div style="clear:both;"></div><strong>'Psychic surgeon' a heel, not a healer, police say <br /><br />Once touted by Shirley MacLaine, man now accused of fraud in Toronto </strong><br /><br />By JEN GERSON <br />Thursday, June 16, 2005 Updated at 5:33 AM EDT<br /><br />From Thursday's Globe and Mail<br /><br /><br />Toronto — He calls himself one of the world's "top psychic surgeons" and was even included in actor Shirley MacLaine's self-help book on inner transformation.<br /><br />Yesterday, Toronto police called Alex Orbito, 65, "a fake" and announced he has been charged with fraud over $5,000 and possession of the proceeds of crime.<br /><br />"Our concern is that he is a fake and he is taking money away from people who are suffering from serious illnesses like cancer," Detective Doug Dunstan said. <br /><br />According to police, Mr. Orbito set up in a room at a Best Western Hotel in east-end Toronto on Saturday and charged his "patients" $135 a pop for one of his two-minute spiritual healing sessions.<br /><br />During the sessions, Mr. Orbito appeared to open patients' abdomens and pull out diseased tumours and "negativities" in the form of blood clots. After these "psychic surgeries," patients found only a few drops of blood on an unscarred body. <br /><br />Mr. Orbito also held magnetic-healing sessions in which he would have the patients lie down on the floor and offer healing touches to afflicted parts of the body. <br /><br />In three days, 600 people underwent "treatment" -- allegedly raising more than $80,000, police say.<br /><br />Police say the bloody tissue he is said to have pulled from desperate patients' abdomens were chicken parts. "Liver and similar type parts," Det. Dunstan said. <br /><br />Also charged is John Robert Wood, a 62-year-old man from Pickering, Ont., who, police say, is suspected of organizing the "healing sessions."<br /><br />Mr. Wood is accused of being an accomplice by setting up the customers and taking their money. <br /><br />Mr. Orbito is not a Canadian citizen and speaks only limited English, Det. Dunstan said. He was released on bail yesterday. <br /><br />The "psychic surgeon" became famous among the metaphysical set during the late 1980s when New Age author Ms. MacLaine included him in her book Going Within: A Guide for Inner Transformation.<br /><br />He is also a well-known faith healer in the Philippines, said Hermie Garcia, editor of the Philippine Reporter newspaper in Toronto. <br /><br />Like Mr. Orbito, many psychic surgeons and healers hail from that part of the world. <br /><br />Mr. Garcia says he witnessed one of Mr. Orbito's surgeries while working as a reporter in Manila in 1981. <br /><br />"I couldn't believe my eyes," he said. Mr. Orbito appeared to lift skin like paper and part flesh with his fingers. <br /><br />"His clients were mostly non-Filipino who lined up around the hotel room," Mr. Garcia said. <br /><br />In the Philippines, Mr. Orbito is hailed for his abilities to bring in tourists seeking psychic surgery. <br /><br />"Orbito has gone to 67 countries since his first outing in 1974. He travels out of the country four times a year in a prophetic move to entice foreigners to visit the Philippines," states a November, 2004, story in the Manila Bulletin, an English-language newspaper. <br /><br />Mr. Orbito also founded the "Pyramid of Asia," built in November of 2000. <br /><br />It's a healing centre in the Philippines made of timber and stone. <br /><br />According to the Manila Times, an English-language newspaper, the pyramid, which is more than 200 metres high, is claimed to have so much psychic energy that visitors can suffer a cardiac arrest if they stay in it for more than 20 minutes. <br /><br />It recently underwent repair due to termite infestation.<br /><br />Skeptics and psychic-myth debunkers have long relegated surgeries like the kind Mr. Orbito performs to the dustbin of fraudulent activity. <br /><br />They say these "healers" stage the illusion by hiding animal organs and a balloon filled with fake blood in their hands.<br /><br />Mr. Orbito's appearance in Canada was not highly publicized, Det. Dunstan said. <br /><br />Patients got wind of his presence through word of mouth.<div style="clear:both; padding-bottom:0.25em"></div></p> </div> <p class="post-footer">posted by Sitemaster | <a href="http://quackfiles.blogspot.com/2005/06/psychic-surgeon-heel-not-healer-police.html" title="permanent link">6:29 AM</a> <span class="item-action"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/email-post/7543007/111898293358069485" title="Email Post"><img class="icon-action" alt="" src="https://resources.blogblog.com/img/icon18_email.gif" height="13" width="18"/></a></span><span class="item-control blog-admin pid-1257643715"><a style="border:none;" href="https://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=7543007&postID=111898293358069485&from=pencil" title="Edit Post"><img class="icon-action" alt="" src="https://resources.blogblog.com/img/icon18_edit_allbkg.gif" height="18" width="18"></a></span> </p> </div>   <div id="comments"> <p class="comment-timestamp"> <a href="http://quackfiles.blogspot.com/"><< Home</a> </p> </div>  </div>  <div id="footer"> <p>   </p> </div> </div> </div>   <div id="main-bot"></div> </div> </body> </html>

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Confessions of a Quackbuster: 'Psychic surgeon' a heel, not a healer, police say