Best psychic in the world, or hoax?!

[Adeptus]

Since I couldn't find a "Raving Lunatic" forum here on itulip, I hope you'll forgive me for settling for the "rant and rave" section. I think many of you will find this amusing at minimum, and a little scary at most.

Synopsis:
There's a Youtube video going viral with over 690,000 hits supposedly featuring "Jacques Nietzermann" being interviewed in 1980. In the interview Nietzermann claims to be a psychic, and makes predictions for the next 30+ years. 85% of his predictions have since come true. Here's a brief list:
* Collapse of the USSR
* Nuclear disaster in Russia (Chernobyl)
* Middle East wars for Oil
* Attack on American soil in LA but mostly New York (9/11) after year 2000
* War on Terror
* Black man being elected president in the USA between 2005 and 2012

He also makes two incorrect predictions:
* By year 2000 all oil based cars will be gone, we'll have electric cars
* Around the same time we'll also start seeing magnetic and flying cars

Now here's the plot twist: (spoiler alert)
At the end of the video the interviewer asks him what he sees 100 years out, and Nietzermann stumbles and hums and haws, but eventually admits he can't see anything beyond 2012 because either that's the year that he dies or we experience an ET encounter, and I'm not sure if it's his assumption or prediction, but because the ETs are so much more advanced, they will easily anihalate human kind.

[Adeptus]

Re: Best psychic in the world, or hoax?!

Given countless psychics and people with supposed paranormal powers have been debunked over the last few decades, the first thing that may come to mind is that this is just another hoax, and indeed this may very well be the case; however, if it is a hoax, it may also be one of the best ones I've seen in a long time. If it is a hoax they've gone through a lot of effort to make the setup (room/background/hair cut/dress/furniture) look like it was really made in 1980.

Forums all over the internet are going nuts trying to debunk this video, and all kinds of plausible theories have already been concocted.
Here's some of the more prominent ones:

1) Video quality is too good to be from 1980 - First, the video is uploaded in HD on youtube; however, there's a lot of black space around the main video and the format of the video is actually 4:3. But still many enthusiasts argue the video quality is too good to be from 1980, therefore it must have been filmed after.

2) There's what looks like a plastic CD case near some records in the background - Since plastic CD cases were not made until 1983, this would debunk the idea that this was filmed in 1980; however, even if it was filmed in 1983, pretty much all his predictions still take place after 1983 so it really doesn't debunk him as a psychic - at most it just shows an error on behalf of whomever transposed the film into HD and posted it on youtube.

3) The clock on the shelf on the right side doesn't change time throughout interview - This may suggest that the set was made with old items that the hoaxers found or purchased, but forgot the detail of ensuring the clock was working while filming.

4) The email address at the end of the video with "hm2012 @ ymail.com" may be from a University Marketing student - If this were true it would suggest that this is really an exercise in a Canadian Marketing student attempting to make a video go viral as part of a classroom competition.

5) Then there are other less credible debunking theories that his clothes don't quite 100% fit the era primarily in reference to the tie he is wearing and the cut of the jacket, or that he is missing sideburns, or that there are about 3 or 4 other men that match his physical appearance (sorry i don't have the names handy) and none of them are psychics . One is a comedian, another a UFO researcher, and another appeared on some French political show "h'eure de verites" (hour of truth), but the latter already has been proven to be a photoshopped video. Other's argue his French is that of a Quebec guy attempting to speak Perisian french (although I would argue to the contrary his french accent is excellent). Anyway, lots of discussion and theories going on in forums right now.

Debunking the Debunkers:
As this gets more attention, a couple of not very intelligent sounding young guys have started their own Youtube investigation, but to their credit supposedly found "experts" who can validate that the various debunking theories so far, are not accurate. I.e. The video really does in fact resemble to have been made with a 1980's camera. The CD case on the shelf is not really a CD case at all, but likely a slide show case. They even supposedly called the University running the marketing compentition and they have reviewed the video and affirm none of their students were involved. Anyway, see for yourself:


The Nietzermann Case - Episode 1 (Debunking the theory: No Marketing competition students involved)

The Nietzermann Case - Episode 2 (Debunking the theory: Video not from 1980)

[Adeptus]

Re: Best psychic in the world, or hoax?!

The Nietzermann Case - Episode 3 (Questioning the original poster of the Youtube video)

The Nietzermann Case - Episode 4 (Debunking the CD case is not actually a CD case)

And that's all I have... Hope you found this entertaining, and if you find anything online that concretely proves this was a hoax (or otherwise), please let us know here :-D

Until then, (and just in case they are watching):
I for one, welcome our new alien overlords!