I used to love readings as a gullible teenager.
Since growing old up I don't believe.
However, I went with a relative to see a lady when I was 18. This woman took bookings once a year and it was almost impossible to get an appointment with her if you didn't call her on the day/week once a year that she took bookings. She charged but it was £10 or something and she said that all the money went to the local cat and dog home. She had cats and dogs and was obviously an animal lover so no reason not to believe she was donating the money.
We went to her house. The readings were in this lady's kitchen.
The first thing she did was spread some pebbles in a circle on the table (or ask me to do it, I can't remember). She then spelled out my brother's name, as if she could see letters on the pebbles and told me he was in the Navy. This was corrrect. My brother has a relatively unusual name with a few different spellings and she got his spelling right.
She said a few other things about me that although now I cannot remember what they were I did think at the time she was good.
Then she told me that in the next week a friend who was learning to drive would ask me to sit with them while they drove. The woman was quite clear with me that the person would not ask for a driving lesson but for me to sit with them. She said the person would take a wrong turning, would be driving too fast and there would be an accident and that it was important that I didn't go when asked. I was a bit spooked but didn't think much more of it and couldn't at the time think of anyone who would actually ask me to sit with them as they drove as I think that in order to do this you have to have been driving for more than a few months yourself (?).
Less than a week later my neighbour across the road who was my learning to drive chum knocked on my door and asked me very clearly to sit with her while she drove (not for a driving lesson). I made excuses and didn't go. My pal was pissed off at me, I could tell. I didn't tell her why I wasn't going as (1) I didn't 100% believe that a little old lady could predict the future and (2) I thought my mate would think I was a bam.
Anyway the next day my pal's mum came to the door to say she'd been in an accident and although she hadn't been seriously injured she was being kept in overnight for observation.
What had happened was my mate had got her boyfriend to sit with her while she drove, instead of me. She went on to a roundabout and he was asking her to turn right or left but she went straight on. The road took them out of town but was a narrow B road. She was driving too fast (as she did) and clipped the side and the car ended up on its roof in a field. Both of them got out with just cuts and bruises. My pal had a few stitches to the top of her head.
I told my pal when I saw her about what the lady had said to me. She said it gave her the shivers...especially because when the policeman spoke to her he said he couldn't understand why they'd got away with just minor injuries as the roof of the car was so crushed it was level with the steering wheel.
This woman didn't claim to be talking to dead relatives or anything she just concentrated on the pebbles.
I think the Derek Acorahs of this world are con artists. I think that as an 18 year old, yes it would be obvious that I might be a new driver but the woman gave me details that weren't easily guessable is that a word?