A debunker of fraudulent mediums, Dunninger claimed to replicate through trickery all spiritualist phenomena. He is accompanied by Surly, a sceptic and debunker of the whole idea of alchemy. He was a debunker of astrology, pseudoscience, and the occult. John Edward is not related to psychic debunker Mark Edward. Dunninger was a debunker of fraudulent mediums. He describes himself as "a debunker by temperament". Debunker Johan Holvik thought they should be read as 1776.