Believe what a medium has said?

[wellhelloyou]

Has anyone had a reading from a psychic medium (or like) and had something exactly came true? Not something vague but something specific almost word for word?

“every once in awhile they get something right, but you have to go through the chaf to get to the wheat.”

But so could I. I mean- somebody on this thread has lost some keys. Somebody has a ginger cat. Somebody is worried about an elderly relation. Somebody will
be going abroad soon. Somebody will have twins in the next 3 years. Somebody has a ring with a missing stone. Somebody had a mother who liked apples and wore a purple cardigan......

It's a cold reading technique called shotgunning.

Also - Barnum statements.

Just Google cold reading techniques.

It's all bullshit. People are simply ready to believe it because they want to. I don't blame people for wanting comfort, but I despise these scammers who take money for it.

Ouiji board stories boil my piss. Everyone knows someone that’s known someone who had a bad experience then threw it out in horror.

I have used ouiji boards with a group of sceptical friends and absolutely nothing happened. Ever. You know why? None of us were pushing the planchette.

I was obssessed with psychics, mediums, tarot card readers when I was young. I was in awe of some of their readings but now I realise exactly how much I gave away. Such as:

“You have a brother...”
No reaction from me.
“No a sister..”
Me nodding in awe.
“Yes a sister”.

It was the stuff of an Oda Mae Brown reading.
“He’s wearing a black suit”
“A black suit?”
“Could be blue”

Patrick got it right. “What a crock of shit”

A good example of being able to manipulate the bereaved who are desperate to believe.

And I never would believe second hand stories in a million years. They usually the most fantastic.

Somebody has a ginger cat

OMG how did you know!! Bertrand I have someone here who tells me you once lived in a somewhat peculiar flat. There's something about kitchen and bathroom ...hmm, not clear...I might need some more cash to get the spirits to talk to me.. is it that you had a bath in the kitchen?

Ouiji board stories boil my piss. Everyone knows someone that’s known someone who had a bad experience then threw it out in horror.

Yes, and even if it wasn't some poster's friend's sister's hairdresser's dogwalker's brother who was actually there, it was the OP, but as a suggestible, tipsy teenager on a sleepover with a bunch of equally suggestible, tipsy, overexcited friends.

Usually the glass whizzes around and either correctly predicts the early death of one of the group (the punchline is usually 'And she died in a crash two years to the day afterwards...') or flies off the board and shatters, just as the bulb in the overhead light falls out onto the floor to the screams of all, who vow never to tamper with an ouija board again...

A friend of mine had the most terrible piles. Nothing would help. Another friend told her to spread tea leaves on them for a week. She did, but no improvement.

So she eventually went to the doctor. The doctor had a look and said, “I can’t do anything for the hemorrhoids, but I can tell you that you will travel over water and meet a tall, dark man.”

There's something about kitchen and bathroom ...hmm, not clear...I might need some more cash to get the spirits to talk to me.. is it that you had a bath in the kitchen?

Or it might be a leak in the living room? Or the fact that you bathed your babies in the kitchen sink? Or that there's a stream near your house? Or a water main?

Have not RTFT but OP, you seem to be hung up on "word for word", as in, has anyone known these predictions to come true "word for word".

Thing is, if you are vague enough in your wording, it's quite easy for things to come true "word for word".

That's how horoscopes work

shock, if you'd read the thread, you might be amused by the way in which one poster, having had a prediction she would enter a relationship with a man from London, claimed it had come true when she started seeing someone from Luton. And quite a few others needed a lot of tweaking to 'fit'.

I’m going to tell you what he says "word for word".

Oda Mae Brown in “Ghost”.

Strong Poison by Dorothy L Sayers
If anyone’s interested in a brilliant account of seances and psychic stuff from 1930- read chapters 16, 17 and 18. It’s in the middle of the story, but you don’t really need to know what’s going on. Miss Climpson is a detective looking for a missing will- she’s definitely in the side of the angels, despite the deception.....

I went to see one of Derek Accorah’s live shows once. It was fabulously entertaining. Due purely to how shit he was .

“I’ve got a Maureen, Maureen, anybody claim a Maureen?”

Silence

“Mavis, Mavis, it could be Mavis.”

“Now, I have someone whose daughter is here today. A man. He loved her very much. I can see you holidaying in a caravan as a child.”

“I have the spirit of a baby who passed before birth. They know you love them & miss them and want to tell you they will always be with you in spirit.”

In a theatre full of women, there’s a fairly high chance of finding somebody those scenarios apply to! 🤦‍♀️

Many years ago, I had my palm read on a pub night out in Liverpool, I do not live there so was not known locally. Now I am totally sceptical about this sort of thing but struggle to explain what she told me. I was told that I had a pet who would have a serious digestive tract emergency in the next few months but prompt treatment would sort it out.
I was told that my Dad has strong connections with the sea and would be going to sea shortly in a position of authority.
I was also asked if I knew a Tony Jacklin, I didn’t, but was told he would be involved with my family soon. I had no idea who he was.

Fast forward a few months, my elderly cat had a rectal prolapse after getting a blockage and had to have emergency vet treatment, she recovered beautifully.

My Dad provided emergency cover as Captain of a Merchant Navy vessel when it was stranded abroad because the skipper developed appendicitis. My Dad had retired from the sea and been working ashore for some years but was called on unexpectedly to help out a friend.

My Uncle took up golf and either met or had lessons from Tony Jacklin.

Can’t explain any of that.🤪

I saw one a few weeks back, (20 people in a room watching this woman) everything as most have said was pretty vague bar one or two bits. She came to me,my mum and sister and suggested my grandma was here with us, she said 'she's showing me a cow, is something black and white? (We shrug) I can see a cow and a gate? '

I had a 3 month old baby on cow & gate milk. We said this and she said that means my grandma knows about the baby

Nice to think it's true and she does know, but I know it's very unlikely

I generally have no time for this kind of BS. So many PPs upthread have nailed the psychology of it - the cynical, money-grabbing nature of the 'psychics' and people's desire to 'believe' when they're at their most vulnerable. But ... but ...

There was a lady my grandmother worked with back in the 60s who, from time to time, would have 'dreams'. Never made a big deal of it and certainly never tried to gain financially from it, but came out with oddly specific predictions relating to people around her.

There were the usual pregnancy/marriage related things which could easily have been picked up in general conversation, but other stuff which is far more difficult to explain. For example, she predicted my career in an unusual, non-mainstream industry before I was born (I had no idea about this, btw, & ended up in that business entirely unintentionally and via a circuitous route, much to my DGM's amusement).

But the most 'woo' was when she came into work quite upset and told my DGM that there was going to be a family accident involving a 'bright green' car with a faulty wheel. Nobody in the family owned a car like that, so my GM thought she'd been mistaken (she took all this stuff with a pinch of salt). But she didn't know one of my uncles had just traded his car on a whim for, yep, a lime green one. The tyre blew on a motorway and my aunt, in the back with her kids & no seatbelt, was thrown out of the car. She was terribly injured and her recovery took years. My DGM was never sceptical about this lady's predictions again, though thankfully none were ever as grim as that one.

There’s a reason why James Randii’s million dollars remains unclaimed

I think there are people who are psychic but more in terms of future echos, dreams etc. I suspect the majority who make money have the least ability though. I've had two people in the former category tell me they see me with two children, one said both girls, the other said but only if I take good care of my health. I'd like them to be proved right though!

Someone’s grandma showing them a cow to let them know they’d had a baby? A bit of a stretch, surely!

“She’s showing a cow. Is something black and white?”

...yes, DB has become a journalist
...yes, there’s a new zebra crossing outside the house
...yes, we have a new black and white dog/cat/rabbit/guinea pig/goat
...yes, we’ve got a new black and white house
... yes, DSis is bonkers about penguins/zebras

But met with no suggestions, then moves on:

“She’s showing me a cow AND a gate”

... yes, DSis got into farming
... yes, I love going on country walks
... yes, DM has a painting in the kitchen like that
... yes, we’re going to a farm park tomorrow
...yes, I’ve become a vegetarian, so the cows must be happy!

So many possibilities.

Sorry, not having a go at you, because I know you’re not insisting it was true and real, Stargirl, but it just shows how things can be massaged to fit in these cases.

Seriously, why a cow rather than something more “baby”? 😁

Well, this is certainly an education. From the POV of a sceptic who nevertheless accepts I could be wrong and that there's a lot we don't know, I hoped to see at least something to make me think "hey, hang on a minute ..."

But it's just more examples of how determined folk can be to grasp at straws and "make it fit"

PLEASE somebody read the bit of book I linked to earlier!

Many years ago a colleague who was obsessed with these things roped another colleague and I to go with her to a psychic evening. She was told somebody she was close to, would meet a tragic end in a particular kind of accident. My other colleague and I were told our relationships were doomed and all sorts of other trivial stuff that was vague and universal. We laughed it off and saw it for what it was and have been with our partners now DH’s for 15 years plus. The first colleague, however was terrified and was worried about a number of friends and family and the potential of them having this accident. She ran up debt by phoning numerous psychic hotlines for more answers. I hate these things as they can have such a detrimental affect on very vulnerable people.

PLEASE somebody read the bit of book I linked to earlier!

I'm trying NOT to, Bertrand. I am a huge Miss Climpson fan, and I could easily see a day I had earmarked for editing and marking vanishing as I cheer her on as she raps her knees and wobbles tables, and searches for hiding places beginning with 'b'...

Hi op
Not all mediums are fakes.
It is the same in any self employed profession,there are those who know nothing and tell a load of rubbish,there are those who do have a gift and abuse it by charging a lot of money.
Then there are genuine mediums and healers who work tirelessly to bring comfort to those seeking help.
A visit to your local spiritualist church should point you in the right direction of a trusted medium.
It is a very complex subject,some are clairvoyant some just hear,some get impressions of are shown objects and then have to use their ability to put this across the right way.they do no always do this,not out of malice,they have interpreted the wrong way.
I have seen,felt and heard many experiences and stories over the years and am totally sure in my own beliefs.
💖

“, and searches for hiding places beginning with 'b'... grin”

And then Nurse Whatsit saying that if only the spirits hadn’t been so insistent on the B thing, she would have suggested looking in the safe........

Not all mediums are fakes.

No mediums are real, though. They might genuinely believe they are real, don't take money, only want to offer comfort etc. I have no problem with that, so long as you're not hurting anyone. But it isn't real.