Mark Edward Wilson

Salinas - Mark Edward Wilson, who was known by his stage name Mark Edward, died Sunday, August 4, 2024 at home after a year's long battle with prostate cancer. Mark was born May 19, 1951 in Los Angeles County to William Edward Wilson and Betty Jean Schaeffer. He was raised in Rancho Palos Verdes and lived in San Pedro until he moved to Salinas in 2019. Mark graduated from Palos Verdes High School in 1970 then earned a BA of Fine Arts in 1974 from California Institute of the Arts. In his teenage years Mark was in various Dada and Punk bands: Rat Salad, The Techno-Cats and ZaSu Pits and the Enema Dog Review. His grandfather George Schaeffer interested Mark in magic which led to a life-long career. Eventually after becoming bored with standard magic he gravitated to mentalism and educated animal acts and became a performer at Hollywood's Magic Castle in 1975. He worked the Houdini Séance room for 14 years and continued to perform mentalism at the Castle and elsewhere up until his death. In 1990 Mark began working for the Psychic Friends Network and became one of their top psychics; all these years he was also associated with the scientific skepticism community; he used his behind-the-scenes knowledge to write his 2009 book, Psychic Blues: Confessions of a Conflicted Medium, exposing the secrets of the psychic world. Over the years he was sought out for his expertise and appeared on Penn & Teller's Bullsh!t, The Con, Brain Games, Adam Ruins Everything and many more. Mark traveled the world, often with his partner Susan Gerbic lecturing about the psychic world, demonstrating cold and hot-reading to audiences and warning about the dangers of mediumship. He coined the phrase "Grief Vampire" to describe mediums who prey on vulnerable people. Also Mark wrote many books on séance theory and mentalism. Mark became involved in outing mediums in various ways, including Operation Pizza Roll which was featured in the New York Times in 2019. He was a member of the Monterey County Skeptics and AboutTimeProject.org. In 2022 he was honored as a fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry.

Mark also worked for the City of Los Angeles in Parks and Rec. Mark's cancer was diagnosed in 2018, but because of science and great medical care he was able to live a full and exciting life teaching and performing magic, lecturing, reading, traveling and spending quality time with friends. He died at home, surrounded by people and animals who loved him. His death was very peaceful. Mark is survived by his girlfriend of 15-years, Susan Gerbic and her sons Caspian (Jamie) and Stirling, plus his chosen family of hundreds who honored and respected him. There will be no services.