Psychics- Baloney, Right?

[+ Lucky]

So I have a very good friend, a successful businessman, who sees a psychic. He claims she can intuit all of this information, even the name and personal situation of the guy he is seeing. She tells him about his health and his family's health, without ever seeing the family! And he believes it. All of it. As for me, well, of course I think it is hokey. But how does she come up with the stuff that is verifiable?

I listen to him without putting it down, but I find it hard to believe that he puts so much stock in it. What would you do? Anybody here have positive psychic experiences? You can tell I am not psychic or I wouldn't have to ask!

[Guest]

There are a number of sources, such as from Penn & Teller, who explain how "cold readings" are done. If you ever go to their show in Vegas, you'll see an example.

[Romann]

Hello hello and thank you for the post.

 

Call me a nerd or but I believe that people (not saying the person who he is seeing is legit but possibly) are able to have this wonderful gift and share it with others. While some have faith in religion which brings them comfort and security in their life, psychics in many ways bring this same sense of feeling to those that seek their services and words of "wisdom". I also understand that there are complete fakes out there but there are those that really do posses this gift.

 

A couple years ago, I had an apartment in Uptown Dallas and just a few blocks away was a psychic's house where you could have a personal reading and ask questions that you wanted answered. By nature, I'm a skeptic and a man of science but I admit, having a reading done interested me and since I walked by this house several times a day when I would walk the dog (my beloved Buster, aka Boo Boo) I convinced a friend to be my guest and we would both have our readings done. We picked an afternoon and went but I wanted to go last just in case the entire event was a sham but also so that I could sit back and analyze the environment and witness this reader in action.

 

At first, the reading was very general and I quickly folded my arms across my chest and squinted my eyes are the Reader - almost writing off the entire experience already. But the information became more specific and very much tailored to my friend who asked the questions. Just as he was getting up and removed his hand from the Reader's palm and had his back to her, she told him that "Lucy" said to please retrieve the pendant from his boyfriend. My crossed arms dropped to my side and my jaw hit the floor because I was fully aware of Lucy and what was just referenced (the pendant) which was a very sentimental item given by a very special person in his life. That said, my friend whom I have never known show much emotion (he was facing me at this point) began to get tears in his eyes and he was staring at me with a blank look on his face which pretty much matched mine. He turned around and asked to repeat what she just said and she did... his building tears were then streaming down his face and at this point and I had already slumped over in a chair against the wall because I was in complete disbelief at what I had heard. He sat back down in the chair and the reader continued on with what "Lucy" (his grandmother who had taken care of him after his mother and father died in a car accident when he was a child) who had died just a couple years before. Needless to say he was very close to her and that was all the family that he had known so her death was very hard on him but he had moved past it though rarely spoke of his grandmother after her departure. I had met her a number of times and for the Reader to get the name, that she had died two years ago the day before Thanksgiving and then the pendant - the Reader had to be legit.

 

The entire conversation became too much for my friend that all the sudden he passed out and went right off the side of the chair like a bag of potatoes to the floor. It took me a good 15 seconds to process and understand what had just happened but when I did, both the Reader and I were at his side. I gave him a good slap on the side of his face (always wanted to do that and this seemed like a perfect opportunity) and he opened his eyes, reached into his back pocket and pulled out his ATM card, told me his PIN Passkey with instructions to go down the street to and withdraw 400 USD because he was going to be longer than he had originally thought.

 

Since then, both him and I are believers but I have yet to have my reading done because I was so spooked by his experience. It was the most dramatic thing that I have ever been part of and one that I will never forget, never.

 

I also realize that there are those who are fakes and prey on the emotions of those that seek their services but I have no doubt this woman had the gift. But again, while some turn to religion for faith, comfort, support and guidance in their life, others look to psychics for the answers that can't be answered by attending church or reading the bible as one example.

 

 

So I have a very good friend, a successful businessman, who sees a psychic. He claims she can intuit all of this information, even the name and personal situation of the guy he is seeing. She tells him about his health and his family's health, without ever seeing the family! And he believes it. All of it. As for me, well, of course I think it is hokey. But how does she come up with the stuff that is verifiable?

I listen to him without putting it down, but I find it hard to believe that he puts so much stock in it. What would you do? Anybody here have positive psychic experiences? You can tell I am not psychic or I wouldn't have to ask!

[seaboy4hire]

I believe in them but unfort like in this biz the few bad ones often out shine the good ones.

 

Hugs,

Greg

[Guest greatness]

Hmm

 

Central Intelligence Agency started physic program beginning around 70s soviet and China was a bit ahead of United States. US government executed 20 million dollar 20 year program to utilize and evaluate paranormal spying technique. The peer reviewers of the government research agreed that the results were statistically significant but it was interpreted very differently ( Nature 1995 Sally Lehrman). At least it needed more studies to be conclusive. It has been 14 years since the test so I guess it is not so effective because I have not heard anything about it since. By 1995 after costing $20 million it was ended by then CIA director John Deutch. Funny thing is if this thing really worked then Osama and his friends would have been easily located by now and there is no necessity for a torture of suspects. Just bring in a psychic and read a person's mind or find someone remotely.

 

 

 

Call me a nerd or but I believe that people (not saying the person who he is seeing is legit but possibly) are able to have this wonderful gift and share it with others. While some have faith in religion which brings them comfort and security in their life, psychics in many ways bring this same sense of feeling to those that seek their services and words of "wisdom". I also understand that there are complete fakes out there but there are those that really do posses this gift.

 

A couple years ago, I had an apartment in Uptown Dallas and just a few blocks away was a psychic's house where you could have a personal reading and ask questions that you wanted answered. By nature, I'm a skeptic and a man of science but I admit, having a reading done interested me and since I walked by this house several times a day when I would walk the dog (my beloved Buster, aka Boo Boo) I convinced a friend to be my guest and we would both have our readings done. We picked an afternoon and went but I wanted to go last just in case the entire event was a sham but also so that I could sit back and analyze the environment and witness this reader in action.

 

At first, the reading was very general and I quickly folded my arms across my chest and squinted my eyes are the Reader - almost writing off the entire experience already. But the information became more specific and very much tailored to my friend who asked the questions. Just as he was getting up and removed his hand from the Reader's palm and had his back to her, she told him that "Lucy" said to please retrieve the pendant from his boyfriend. My crossed arms dropped to my side and my jaw hit the floor because I was fully aware of Lucy and what was just referenced (the pendant) which was a very sentimental item given by a very special person in his life. That said, my friend whom I have never known show much emotion (he was facing me at this point) began to get tears in his eyes and he was staring at me with a blank look on his face which pretty much matched mine. He turned around and asked to repeat what she just said and she did... his building tears were then streaming down his face and at this point and I had already slumped over in a chair against the wall because I was in complete disbelief at what I had heard. He sat back down in the chair and the reader continued on with what "Lucy" (his grandmother who had taken care of him after his mother and father died in a car accident when he was a child) who had died just a couple years before. Needless to say he was very close to her and that was all the family that he had known so her death was very hard on him but he had moved past it though rarely spoke of his grandmother after her departure. I had met her a number of times and for the Reader to get the name, that she had died two years ago the day before Thanksgiving and then the pendant - the Reader had to be legit.

 

The entire conversation became too much for my friend that all the sudden he passed out and went right off the side of the chair like a bag of potatoes to the floor. It took me a good 15 seconds to process and understand what had just happened but when I did, both the Reader and I were at his side. I gave him a good slap on the side of his face (always wanted to do that and this seemed like a perfect opportunity) and he opened his eyes, reached into his back pocket and pulled out his ATM card, told me his PIN Passkey with instructions to go down the street to and withdraw 400 USD because he was going to be longer than he had originally thought.

 

Since then, both him and I are believers but I have yet to have my reading done because I was so spooked by his experience. It was the most dramatic thing that I have ever been part of and one that I will never forget, never.

 

I also realize that there are those who are fakes and prey on the emotions of those that seek their services but I have no doubt this woman had the gift. But again, while some turn to religion for faith, comfort, support and guidance in their life, others look to psychics for the answers that can't be answered by attending church or reading the bible as one example.

[+ Lucky]

Good story, Romann. I think I will try to follow-up what my friend's psychic said to see if it pans out.

[+ purplekow]

I have had many psychic experiences in my life, unexplainable foreknowledge that defies chance. I have had some interest in the occult and palmistry and numerology and astrology, enough to learn the basics of the theory of the art and some of the techniques. I will give the most startling example which one might attribute to coincidence but which I think speaks of something more. After learning the basics of palmistry, I was on vacation and mentioned that I read palms to someone sitting next to me. Before you knew it, I had a line of people wanting the free reading. (There are a lot more believers when the reading is free.) I started to do the readings at first with some references to what I was examining and its meaning. Soon, I was putting it together smoothly. After about 6 or 7 readings, a cook from the bar came out and wanted a reading. I took his hand and without thinking just started. I told him several basic things and then without really thinking I just said that he had 14 children had been married 6 times and that at one time he was married to two women at the same time. I said that he had recently been in an auto accident in which someone else was killed and that he felt guilt over this but there was no reason for it as it was not his fault. After saying all that, I just sat back and said out loud, I don't know from whence all that came. The cook, got up and left without a word. He came back about an hour later to tell me that each of those strange statements were indeed true except that he had 15 children not 14. I was taken aback and then, out of the blue, I said, Louis is not yours. He left and did not return.

I have had many other experiences in which one might question whether there was something extrasensory or not, but this one is one I cannot refute. By the way, when I have these episodes, there is an overwhelming sense of knowledge. These events happen and I can not cause them nor control them. Perhaps if I worked on it.

[Romann]

It's one of those moments in time that is engraved in my mind forever - very odd yet powerful thing that really baffled me and in many ways, shook me at my core.

 

Good story, Romann. I think I will try to follow-up what my friend's psychic said to see if it pans out.

[OneFinger]

I tend to be a "born again skeptic" and am usually very leery of psychic-type experiences. However, a few years ago after I relocated to Michigan from Utah, a local community college hosted a weekly "Meet a Psychic" series.

 

I decided to go and see what it was like. I knew no one in the room, didn't have to sign-in or provide my name, and I did not disclose any type of information about myself. When it was my turn for a personal 5-minute reading, I went to the front of the room and sat across the table from the female psychic. She asked to hold a personal object in her hands and I gave her the watch off my wrist.

 

She then proceeded to tell me that I had recently relocated to Michigan from a state in the West. She also told me that I would receive an offer on my old house and the deal would close within a month. (I received an offer on the house by the end of the week and it did close within 30 days.)

 

She then went on to tell me that my mother would die within the next 6 months. (My mother had been diagnosed 6 months earlier with terminal cancer and died about 4 months after the psychic reading.)

 

The next week they brought in a card reader. That person told me I would change jobs in about a year and move to another city in Michigan. (I totally discounted that forecast. However, about 10 months later, I was offered a much better job in Western Michigan and ended changing jobs and moving.)

 

I've actually gone to a couple other psychics in the last few years. Their readings were very generic and so broadly worded that it could apply to most common life experiences. I even had one describe my future wife! (Boy, was he wrong!!) Those readings were nothing like what happened to me in Michigan.

 

In short, I believe there are some people that have true psychic gifts and I was lucky enough to stumble on a couple of them. But, I still remain very skeptical about most psychics and don't expect to waste my time or money trying to have someone predict my future or try to describe my past.

[Guest greatness]

Link

 

Here is a link from the journal Nature that has parapsychology references (Nature 383, 382 -383 (1996)).

 

http://www.tcm.phy.cam.ac.uk/~bdj10/psi/

 

You will be able to find some scientific view points on paranormal phenomena.

 

Now I have seen a lot of people exaggerate their experiences so I tend not to believe it. Most of psychics I knew were fakes. One told my brother will be happy with my ex sister in law but they got divorced within a year. If you have some money then either help others or do something nice for yourself. Yes they might predict and tell your past. It could be interesting but they will not do anything that you would help your life. You are in control of your life I believe. Be positive and enjoy life.

[+ purplekow]

So now that they are divorced, is you brother happy with his ex wife?

[Guest greatness]

nope they don't even talk and it was a ugly divorce. It was a disaster and I don't want to experience that again. However, I believe in extraordinary human ability. There are a lot of things we don't know about human body, mind and ability. I can't believe after government investing 20 million for 20 years, it is still not conclusive. How about helping poor people or investing in a real education? It could have changed a lot of people's life!

[+ Charlie]

My only personal experience with a psychic was unintentional. I was having sex with a complete stranger (yes, I used to do that sort of thing when I was younger), when he suddenly slipped into a kind of trance state, and started to tell me all sorts of things about myself, family and friends that he could not possibly have known. The eeriest was when he said my late father was trying to contact me with a message for my mother--he had no way of knowing that my father was dead and my mother was alive at the time, and the message was so accurate (and typical of my father) that even if the guy was somehow picking up unconscious signals from my own brain, it was a remarkable occurrence. Needless to say, I totally lost interest in sex that night.