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.

Wait so how did she know the name of your son before he was conceived?

As in, she told you she could see you having a son called Tom and then when you had a boy you decided to call him Tom??

Most psychics are scammers. That said I give really good tarot readings (for friends not money, and I'm not offering). Part of it is just being able to read people, but the cards add a random element I can't explain that really gets to the people I'm doing readings for. I used to do them for anyone who asked in highschool and started a massive fight because I revealed some secrets, so now I'm really hesitant to do it for strangers lol

I don't believe in psychics. I've had two readings - one on a train which was bullshit, think she was just bored on a long journey. And one that was amazingly accurate, no idea how she did it and no one I've ever told about it can explain it but I don't believe she was psychic. She could rival derren brown though!

I once had a palm reading when in South America. Really randomly, a woman stopped me. She told me a few things that were specific (a bit chilling) & gave me a family name, like Hermione (pre Harry Potter). It was clever, cold reading I think. There are always signs & signifiers. Accents etc, jewellery (if in person) or lack thereof.

@Alymi

Most psychics are scammers. That said I give really good tarot readings (for friends not money, and I'm not offering). Part of it is just being able to read people, but the cards add a random element I can't explain that really gets to the people I'm doing readings for. I used to do them for anyone who asked in highschool and started a massive fight because I revealed some secrets, so now I'm really hesitant to do it for strangers lol

The ‘unexplained’ element is confirmation bias. People want to believe it, so they do.

I once guessed a boyfriends middle name.
He was a new boyfriend at university so I didn't know his family, he didn't live near my etc.
He told me I'd never guess it and I did first time.
It was his mothers maiden name.

I have no idea how I guessed it. It just came into my head.

He didnt use it, I hadn't seen it anywhere.
I'm not psychic. It's interesting to think about how I could have guessed it.

I saw one as a friend dropped out of a group event....it was very accurate....told me when i would change jobs..month and year..and move house....told me the door number,...that was hard to predict as it was a council flat offered to me !! told me the new staffroom door number also...she got info about my dad totally wrong tho.

25 years ago The James Randi Foundation offered a million dollars to anyone who could prove that they are psychic.

The bet is open to anyone in the world.

25 years on, nobody has ever proved it and the money remains unclaimed.

That tell you all you need to know about "psychics".

Here's a video about the challenge.

@GrimDamnFanjo

I once guessed a boyfriends middle name. He was a new boyfriend at university so I didn't know his family, he didn't live near my etc. He told me I'd never guess it and I did first time. It was his mothers maiden name.

I have no idea how I guessed it. It just came into my head.

He didnt use it, I hadn't seen it anywhere.
I'm not psychic. It's interesting to think about how I could have guessed it.

I once guessed the birthday of a random bloke in a pub. We both looked a bit taken aback at each other. No idea how or why, and it's not something I make a habit of

Called one once . First thing she said is ‘ I have a Jimmy / James and he’s asking for John.

John was my then husband and Jimmy was his dad who died when he was 17. Not sure how you can get that from a call and this was before Facebook times and people sharing everything on social media

Another time I saw a lady who told me I was always meant to have 4 kids but she saw me not going through with the third pregnancy. I was very anti abortion and couldn’t wrap my head around that I wouldn’t go through with it .. many years later pregnancy number 3 was a baby who couldn’t survive due to a extremely rare chromosome issue and I medically terminated at 18 weeks , baby 4 followed him 5 years after that pregnancy didn’t happen and he was my final baby.

[quote Maskless]25 years ago The James Randi Foundation offered a million dollars to anyone who could prove that they are psychic.

The bet is open to anyone in the world.

25 years on, nobody has ever proved it and the money remains unclaimed.

That tell you all you need to know about "psychics".

Here's a video about the challenge.

[/quote] The prize and challenge ended in 2015, just in case anyone was thinking of entering

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Million_Dollar_Paranormal_Challenge

Yes I believe

But not necessarily as fortune tellers and I think their are many who prey on the vulnerable and many who believe they are

Like I believe in ghosts or spirits not in the way of a white floating figure

Some things happen and we can’t explain them but we always are wanting to make sense

Reading I had and even more so my mum had was so exact on something that came to prominence a few years later

But like the belief in God it’s personal and I shall no doubt be asked to prove I can’t to those who don’t want to believe

We used to play the 'how much is the shopping' at the local supermarket. Perhaps I can actually guesstimate really accurately.

When I was a teenager I went shopping with my friend and her dad and it freaked him out a bit.

I used to dream conversations with friends too. Alcohol kills that though.

@Brighton5555

Called one once . First thing she said is ‘ I have a Jimmy / James and he’s asking for John.

John was my then husband and Jimmy was his dad who died when he was 17. Not sure how you can get that from a call and this was before Facebook times and people sharing everything on social media

Another time I saw a lady who told me I was always meant to have 4 kids but she saw me not going through with the third pregnancy. I was very anti abortion and couldn’t wrap my head around that I wouldn’t go through with it .. many years later pregnancy number 3 was a baby who couldn’t survive due to a extremely rare chromosome issue and I medically terminated at 18 weeks , baby 4 followed him 5 years after that pregnancy didn’t happen and he was my final baby.

It’s a guess, if she hadn’t got you with that it would have been something else. I’m Scottish so a family connection with James and John is a safe bet.

I would say 'never say never' I've experienced sudden thoughts that have proved correct. I've visited mediums that on the whole are very vague but one was so accurate to the point that she knew my shoe had broken that morning on the school run and I'd gone straight online to order a pair recommended to me. She also knew that one of my sons collected elastic bands left from post people and he made them into a ball. She knew I'd had an influx of flowers delivered and the rank and division of my grandfather in WWII. No one knew I was considering a reading so there was no suggestions made by potential mutual friends. Actually there were no mutual connections. She didn't ask for a surname, phone number or address when booking my appointment. She gave me a taped recording of the session afterwards and that was ten years ago and bloody hell was she spot on. I'm not on any social media whatsoever so there could be no information grabbing. Don't knock it tbh. It's easy these days to pick information from social media so trust your judgement and keep yourself to yourself.

@Nesbo

If only one of the “real” ones would accept the challenge to demonstrate their powers under test conditions.

Not only would they become a millionaire by claiming the prize on offer, but proving genuine psychic power under those conditions would literally be the most incredible event in human history. It would be world changing. Imagine the good they could do.

And it’s not like these people aren’t happy to profit from their skill by charging people for it, so why not claim a million for actually proving they can do it? Even if they’re not motivated by personal wealth, think of giving that amount away to good causes!

And yet…not a single one will take that step. A world changing gift, but they are happy to merely charge a succession of often distressed and vulnerable people for the privilege of being told some insignificant details about their lives or when they’ll be getting married.

On the other hand there are other people who are able to demonstrate time and time again how it is possible to use various techniques that will utterly convince otherwise intelligent people into believing that you must be genuinely psychic.

Indeed.

@Brighton5555 such a common name. I’m afraid you were taken in. In my own family - my DH grandad was James/Jimmy and died when MIL was very young, my grandad was John, my great uncle was Jimmy, my uncle is James, my DH has cousins called James and John!

@Brighton5555

Called one once . First thing she said is ‘ I have a Jimmy / James and he’s asking for John.

John was my then husband and Jimmy was his dad who died when he was 17. Not sure how you can get that from a call and this was before Facebook times and people sharing everything on social media

Another time I saw a lady who told me I was always meant to have 4 kids but she saw me not going through with the third pregnancy. I was very anti abortion and couldn’t wrap my head around that I wouldn’t go through with it .. many years later pregnancy number 3 was a baby who couldn’t survive due to a extremely rare chromosome issue and I medically terminated at 18 weeks , baby 4 followed him 5 years after that pregnancy didn’t happen and he was my final baby.

At the Spiritualist meeting I mentioned, the leader mentioned so many common male names.

My grandad was James, husband, uncle John etc.

@OldTinHat

I would say 'never say never' I've experienced sudden thoughts that have proved correct. I've visited mediums that on the whole are very vague but one was so accurate to the point that she knew my shoe had broken that morning on the school run and I'd gone straight online to order a pair recommended to me. She also knew that one of my sons collected elastic bands left from post people and he made them into a ball. She knew I'd had an influx of flowers delivered and the rank and division of my grandfather in WWII. No one knew I was considering a reading so there was no suggestions made by potential mutual friends. Actually there were no mutual connections. She didn't ask for a surname, phone number or address when booking my appointment. She gave me a taped recording of the session afterwards and that was ten years ago and bloody hell was she spot on. I'm not on any social media whatsoever so there could be no information grabbing. Don't knock it tbh. It's easy these days to pick information from social media so trust your judgement and keep yourself to yourself.

So how did she book the appointment?

“I have a Jimmy/James asking for John”.

So why did this psychic believe they were getting messages from your, presumably still alive husband?

And how many people would have been able to make a connection to 3 very common male names?

And if you hadn’t made a connection you’d have been offered something else until you did, and then that connection would be the thing you remembered and would recount here.

Or another way of thinking about it - the first 9 people they tried those names on came up with nothing, the 10th person was you and you’ve remembered it ever since.

Collecting elastic bands to make a ball? One of my sons does that, I think it’s quite common with kids, worth a stab at using it as you only need to score a few hits for people to believe you have a gift, they will forget everything else you said that was wrong.

The difficulty with some stories though is that you’re just not getting all the information you need to make an educated guess as to what really happened. One thing that is certain though is that our subjective recollection of events is very unreliable. Just ask someone who practises slight of hand how easy it is to distract and confuse people. The difference is, with a magician you are in on the joke, you know it is a trick, no matter how impossible it is to work out how they did it.

A relative used to swear they were physic and could "see" feel the presence of their dead siblings. Impressed several other relatives. It turned out they had early onset dementia and that is why they were seeing such things. The impressed relatives were in denial and therefore didn't seek treatment for the person. It was so upsetting to realise this. Can't see a discussion of such things without this upsetting memory.

*psychic

I can see why people don’t want their stories debunked though. It’s fun to have a “spooky” story, to feel like you’ve brushed up against some eternal mystery, you briefly felt the veil pushed aside and glimpsed something beyond mundane reality.

Who really wants a story like that to be punctured by reality (especially if you paid good money and you thought they seemed so lovely and caring and honest).

I don't, as a rule, believe in psychics, but I keep my mind open.

This sounds beyond woo, but I had a weird experience once where I was completely absorbed in an activity - let's say something like marking worksheets - when I suddenly went into what I can only describe as a vivid daydream where I saw my old friend, who'd been in hospital with cancer for 2 months (definitely wasn't thinking about her at the time), pull a hospital mask off her face and said 'shit...oh no...oh right...I'm..oh no...' and then she realise she was gone, and felt utter sadness about leaving her daughter behind before feeling resigned to it happening. Then, I was straight back to what I was doing.
No lie - two days later, her mum called me and she had passed away at the time I had that feeling. So, I don't as a rule, think people talk to the dead, but it would be very odd to have had an experience like mine and say there was nothing to it.

I would happily have my personal spooky story debunked

It was an experience that unsettled me and years later I still can’t make sense of it

I would certainly like sense made of it