Do you believe in psychics?

[EwwwwDavid]

I've been to a few psychics over the years and some things they've said have been weirdly accurate, some not so much.
I had a very tragic bereavement about 12 years ago and haven't seen one since but done things I was told almost predicted what would happen.
Does anyone have any similar stories?
Ps im very much atheist and not at all 'woo' but sometimes reflect on things that are weirdly accurate.

As long as no money is changing hands and no one is being exploited, can’t we sometimes shrug our shoulders and just revel in a bit of mystery?

Nothing at all wrong with that, but there seems no way of keeping it just to this
Obviously this kind of trickery isn't the only example, but if you give chaets the chance of making a fast buck from the gullible they'll take it - and that's without the harm which can result even if money's not involved

I didn’t believe, still don’t really. However I can’t explain how the psychic I saw knew I’d had a pregnancy I terminated and was internally distraught about it. Woman at work had one come to her house, went for a laugh. Went in thinking it was a load of shite, just curious, I hadn’t even spoke and it was the first thing she said. Obviously it could have been a guess but a VERY random and risky guess. I don’t know how she knew but she did. Some stuff was very basic and could relate to anyone of course but that…

@SpiceRat

I didn’t believe, still don’t really. However I can’t explain how the psychic I saw knew I’d had a pregnancy I terminated and was internally distraught about it. Woman at work had one come to her house, went for a laugh. Went in thinking it was a load of shite, just curious, I hadn’t even spoke and it was the first thing she said. Obviously it could have been a guess but a VERY random and risky guess. I don’t know how she knew but she did. Some stuff was very basic and could relate to anyone of course but that…

It’s hard to say without the exact wording but I’d guess similar to a pp - you were of child bearing age and/or when pregnancy was mentioned, she read regret in your facial expression and took it from there.

Another great piece (with examples) about the Mandela Effect, Pumper: www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/entertainment/g28438966/mandela-effect-examples/

And another one to practise just how good we'd be as witnesses: www.buzzfeed.com/sarahaspler/would-you-make-a-good-witness

I often think about sleight of hand magicians.

To see it done well is just incredible, it looks miraculous. You would swear blind that there was no physical way that what just happened right in front of your eyes could possibly have happened. And yet…part of the fun is knowing that it was a trick. The key to it was in there somewhere, but they applied their skill, they misdirected your attention at just the right moment and bang - they got you! It’s fun and frustrating at the same time.

They will be a key moment like that in these stories. A moment of misdirection, a clever twist of language, a bit of gaslighting that leaves you vividly recalling that they gave you an amazing fact they could never have known, but forgetting what you offered up to help them get there.

It really ought to be great fun, and leave you feeling the same way as a good magic act, if only it were performed with the same honesty!

But unlike magicians they dress it up as something else. And they very often are playing with people who are carrying grief, uncertainty, unhappiness in their lives.

Perhaps they think engaging in a little “magic” act with people like that is harmless, or helpful. Really though, if they do want to help I’d rather they train to become counsellors or coaches, not toy with people’s beliefs like this.

I am normally very non "woo". My Mum, however, really believed in the after life and mediums etc, and would sometimes visit Psychic Fayres. The last one she attended convinced me there is something to it. But if anyone can de-bunk it, I'd be surprised.

So, it was 2007. Backstory is that I was in a long term marriage but unhappy, as my H had cheated. I had decided to leave him, and was one night sat at my laptop looking at houses on-line, seeing what I could afford to move to. H was out with friends, kids were in bed. No-one on the entire planet knew what I was planning. I had not even confided in my parents.

The very same night, 350 miles away from where I live, my parents decided to drop in to a psychic fayre at a church hall. Several mediums were there. It was drop in, so no registration or booking and the Mediums don't even know your name. My Mum sat down with a Medium she'd never met before. The Medium said "I can hear someone calling out the name XXXX", you need to tell her that everything is going to be ok, a move of house is indicated, a good man and happiness". She said my name, and my name is SO unusual, I have only met one other person with this name in my life, and I'm in my 50's. I was the only person at my High School with this name. And yet she knew it, and she knew what was happening. Of course, my Mum rang me that night and relayed the reading, and said how silly it was, whereas I knew it was spot on.

Later in the reading, the Medium said that my Mum would come to own a guitar under very strange circumstances, and that my parents would win the lottery. About 2 years later, my parents were sitting in the garden at around midnight, having had a late BBQ, and a guitar came flying over the fence, landing squarely on the lawn. About a year after that, they won £20,000 on the Lottery.

I cannot explain this or even try! Everything she said would happen DID happen.

@JamaicaRocks

I am normally very non "woo". My Mum, however, really believed in the after life and mediums etc, and would sometimes visit Psychic Fayres. The last one she attended convinced me there is something to it. But if anyone can de-bunk it, I'd be surprised.

So, it was 2007. Backstory is that I was in a long term marriage but unhappy, as my H had cheated. I had decided to leave him, and was one night sat at my laptop looking at houses on-line, seeing what I could afford to move to. H was out with friends, kids were in bed. No-one on the entire planet knew what I was planning. I had not even confided in my parents.

The very same night, 350 miles away from where I live, my parents decided to drop in to a psychic fayre at a church hall. Several mediums were there. It was drop in, so no registration or booking and the Mediums don't even know your name. My Mum sat down with a Medium she'd never met before. The Medium said "I can hear someone calling out the name XXXX", you need to tell her that everything is going to be ok, a move of house is indicated, a good man and happiness". She said my name, and my name is SO unusual, I have only met one other person with this name in my life, and I'm in my 50's. I was the only person at my High School with this name. And yet she knew it, and she knew what was happening. Of course, my Mum rang me that night and relayed the reading, and said how silly it was, whereas I knew it was spot on.

Later in the reading, the Medium said that my Mum would come to own a guitar under very strange circumstances, and that my parents would win the lottery. About 2 years later, my parents were sitting in the garden at around midnight, having had a late BBQ, and a guitar came flying over the fence, landing squarely on the lawn. About a year after that, they won £20,000 on the Lottery.

I cannot explain this or even try! Everything she said would happen DID happen.

I can explain it, but I need to ask some questions first.

Did the psychic immediately say the name Aoife ie didn’t start with ‘I’m getting an A name’ or anything like that?

Did she say specifically how much your parents would win on the lottery?

Also, did they keep the guitar?

@Pumperthepumper

I don’t understand what this means. What exact wording do you want me to use? If you tell me, I’ll rewrite it for you.

I think we’re getting our wires crossed! I just meant that what you came up with contradicted one of the key things that pp said. She said the woman literally opened with a line about a young man who was surprised to be dead, which runs counter to your explanation.

Anyway, I know we’re all fallible etc but at some point we do believe the evidence of our eyes and ears, and when something strikes us as genuinely odd and out of kilter, we usually do run through all the rational explanations first, don’t we? So it can be frustrating for a random poster to, for example, bark the single word ‘Facebook’ as an explanation to something that you have puzzled over at length.

I’ve said before that I don’t think there is much benefit in analysing everyone’s stories - any more than if I tried to relate to you a sleight of hand trick - I’d certainly not be able to tell you the most important details of the trick as that is exactly what I would have missed (and if you told me I just wasn’t observant enough I might just get cross and defensive!).

A couple of observations though. Not long ago I acquired a guitar under slightly unusual circumstances (not as odd as being thrown over a fence but odder than going and buying one!).

It made me think, if a psychic had said that same thing to me, I reckon I would make a connection with my circumstances - so I would tell you it was a hit for me as well.

Weird coincidence? Maybe, but if you are willing to wait a year or two, perhaps even longer for a “prediction” to happen then it might be surprising just how many people would say it had come true for them in some way.

Some of the stories would be more interesting then others (and yours is a good one), but everyone with a story would consider it a pretty remarkable guess.

Now if the “psychic” had said “in two years time you’ll be in the garden and a guitar will be thrown over your fence” that would be much more specific, and much more incredible - but they left enough room for you to find your own connection over the following years and still be amazed at the “pinpoint” accuracy.

Another point to note is that people only really pay attention to the hits. How many predictions were made during the session in total and how do you keep score of the misses?

[quote EarlyModernEnglish]@Pumperthepumper

I don’t understand what this means. What exact wording do you want me to use? If you tell me, I’ll rewrite it for you.

I think we’re getting our wires crossed! I just meant that what you came up with contradicted one of the key things that pp said. She said the woman literally opened with a line about a young man who was surprised to be dead, which runs counter to your explanation.

Anyway, I know we’re all fallible etc but at some point we do believe the evidence of our eyes and ears, and when something strikes us as genuinely odd and out of kilter, we usually do run through all the rational explanations first, don’t we? So it can be frustrating for a random poster to, for example, bark the single word ‘Facebook’ as an explanation to something that you have puzzled over at length.[/quote]
I’m not really sure what you want from me, and to be honest, I’m getting a bit tired of being told off by you when you nitpick without providing any answers yourself.

Just reread the post with any wording you like - it’s cold reading, and that’s the end of it.

And Facebook is the most likely explanation. Unless you have another one?

@Nesbo

I’ve said before that I don’t think there is much benefit in analysing everyone’s stories - any more than if I tried to relate to you a sleight of hand trick - I’d certainly not be able to tell you the most important details of the trick as that is exactly what I would have missed (and if you told me I just wasn’t observant enough I might just get cross and defensive!).

A couple of observations though. Not long ago I acquired a guitar under slightly unusual circumstances (not as odd as being thrown over a fence but odder than going and buying one!).

It made me think, if a psychic had said that same thing to me, I reckon I would make a connection with my circumstances - so I would tell you it was a hit for me as well.

Weird coincidence? Maybe, but if you are willing to wait a year or two, perhaps even longer for a “prediction” to happen then it might be surprising just how many people would say it had come true for them in some way.

Some of the stories would be more interesting then others (and yours is a good one), but everyone with a story would consider it a pretty remarkable guess.

Now if the “psychic” had said “in two years time you’ll be in the garden and a guitar will be thrown over your fence” that would be much more specific, and much more incredible - but they left enough room for you to find your own connection over the following years and still be amazed at the “pinpoint” accuracy.

Another point to note is that people only really pay attention to the hits. How many predictions were made during the session in total and how do you keep score of the misses?

And ‘winning the lottery’ is also massively open-ended; is it the national lottery? Is it the sweekstake at work? Is it the raffle at the PTA spring Fayre? How much counts as a win, does it have to be millions, or will thousands do? And if thousands counts, how about a tenner? And did they already play the lottery or did they start having heard this, and already having a belief in psychics? So that one detail can be extrapolated very far anyway, then confirmation bias kicks when any one of those scenarios happens.

Misread thread title as “do you believe in physics.”

I’m like “Nope; gravity’s a fucking fabrication. I believe tiny but very strong magnets sewn into the soles of everyone’s feet shortly after birth keep us all on the ground”.

No I don't believe. I believe that target people at their most vulnerable. I believe they are very clever people. For all the things they may have guessed correctly, there is a lot more said that's not even relevant. People focus on the relevant stuff and not the wrong stuff.

Also derren brown has a very interesting documentary on it all. I believe it's on YouTube. Don't know the name of it but I found it very fascinating how physics actually work. It has made me even more of a skeptic 😅

*I’m not really sure what you want from me, and to be honest, I’m getting a bit tired of being told off by you when you nitpick without providing any answers yourself.

Just reread the post with any wording you like - it’s cold reading, and that’s the end of it.

And Facebook is the most likely explanation. Unless you have another one?*

Woah! I’m not telling you off, and I don’t want anything from you!

I’m not nitpicking- I’m literally saying that your explanation ran counter to what the pp in question said! So you can’t offer it as an explanation, surely, if it do fit?

I can’t re-read your post in other words

Surely picking holes is precisely your thing

*if it doesn’t fit

@EarlyModernEnglish

*I’m not really sure what you want from me, and to be honest, I’m getting a bit tired of being told off by you when you nitpick without providing any answers yourself.

Just reread the post with any wording you like - it’s cold reading, and that’s the end of it.

And Facebook is the most likely explanation. Unless you have another one?*

Woah! I’m not telling you off, and I don’t want anything from you!

I’m not nitpicking- I’m literally saying that your explanation ran counter to what the pp in question said! So you can’t offer it as an explanation, surely, if it do fit?

I can’t re-read your post in other words

Surely picking holes is precisely your thing

Ok:

The old lady came out of her house, saw a shocked, upset woman and took a guess that she’d suffered a bereavement. Instead of being specific immediately (ie saying ‘I know your husband who was called Bill Michael Colin Waterstone and was 32 years old) she instead said:

‘I’m psychic. I’ve got a young man here who’s very surprised to be dead’.

Is that better?

@EarlyModernEnglish

*I’m not really sure what you want from me, and to be honest, I’m getting a bit tired of being told off by you when you nitpick without providing any answers yourself.

Just reread the post with any wording you like - it’s cold reading, and that’s the end of it.

And Facebook is the most likely explanation. Unless you have another one?*

Woah! I’m not telling you off, and I don’t want anything from you!

I’m not nitpicking- I’m literally saying that your explanation ran counter to what the pp in question said! So you can’t offer it as an explanation, surely, if it do fit?

I can’t re-read your post in other words

Surely picking holes is precisely your thing

I’ve specifically said husband in that case, because that would have been an incorrect guess, and as such, would not have landed the same with that PP.

@Pumperthepumper

Ah ok. Well, I think I see where you’re coming from.

You did get very annoyed with me for not just falling into line and agreeing you were right though! I find that odd - I am allowed a different view, surely??

[quote EarlyModernEnglish]@Pumperthepumper

Ah ok. Well, I think I see where you’re coming from.

You did get very annoyed with me for not just falling into line and agreeing you were right though! I find that odd - I am allowed a different view, surely??[/quote]
And what is your view? What’s your opinion of that story?

And my different view is that sometimes things remain unexplained.

Cross post

@EarlyModernEnglish

And my different view is that sometimes things remain unexplained.

Right. So your answer to ‘please try to explain this story’ like that pp asked, is ‘I don’t have anything to offer at all’.

@Puzzledandpissedoff

Many of the theories on here to prove that psychics are frauds are more far-fetched than psychic abilities themselves!

Some of them, maybe, but it all tends to fall apart when you've seen actual proof of trickery and watched the whole thing done by someone who's quite frank about having no psychic abilities at all

All it really leaves is the wish to believe it - in other words confirmation bias - though it was hilarious when someone said that Derren Brown does what he does because he's actually a brilliant psychic himself

That would actually be the best cover though. Like the mentalist in reverse - this guy is actually psychic but has to devise complex routines that explain how he just ‘knows’ your grandma’s name was Mary.

Right. So your answer to ‘please try to explain this story’ like that pp asked, is ‘I don’t have anything to offer at all’.

What?

I’m participating in this discussion on my own terms - which, initially, were to remark that some of the explanations were a bit of a stretch. That’s it

I don’t have to solve anything. My main point is that not everything can be solved, certainly not on the internet by a random stranger anyway.

Really not sure why you’re so cross with me.

You want to solve all mysteries; I don’t.