Page 8 | Do you believe in psychics?

EwwwwDavid · 2021-11-20T00:47:33+00:00

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.

Pumperthepumper · 20/11/2021 20:25

@OhWhyNot

Well I would have said the same but there were other details

But I’m not here to convince anyone

But you said you wanted it debunked?

Furzebush · 20/11/2021 20:28

@OhWhyNot

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

I’m quoting your first post about this incident, which you say you’d like debunked. Several posters have debunked it, but you seem curiously reluctant to let it go…

2bazookas · 20/11/2021 20:28

" I predict you will have a son called Bob"
"Its a boy! lets call him Bob like the psychic predicted".

OhWhyNot · 20/11/2021 20:29

I described his coat and suit in detail

His name

Probably the most unsettling was that he was wringing his hands, he appeared to be in pain and holding his hands out looks showing me (or whoever)

He had dementia and this is what he would do and make his hands very sore

Debunk all you want to. Didn’t just unsettle/shock me but her whole family

But certainly more than just a vivid dream

Pumperthepumper · 20/11/2021 20:33

@OhWhyNot

I described his coat and suit in detail

His name

Probably the most unsettling was that he was wringing his hands, he appeared to be in pain and holding his hands out looks showing me (or whoever)

He had dementia and this is what he would do and make his hands very sore

Debunk all you want to. Didn’t just unsettle/shock me but her whole family

But certainly more than just a vivid dream

You wanted me to debunk it, you specifically said you wanted it to be debunked.

His name was the same as your great grandad, so hardly an unusual one! And if they were the same age, which you said they were, your subconscious will already have painted a picture of him from your mum. And the shuffling his hands thing is only important because your friend’s gran - who up until this point never, ever spoke about her dad - had confirmation bias with the name. If you had said he had dark hair when your grandad was fair, it would have been the same thing.

Case closed!

Furzebush · 20/11/2021 20:38

I agree with @Pumperthepumper. I don’t think there’s any reason at all to view this as paranormal. I mean, your friend and her mother wouldn’t even have taken any notice of your dream if it hadn’t been for the coincidence of the two men sharing a name, and the confirmation bias extended from there.

OhWhyNot · 20/11/2021 20:42

Maybe I should have said I would like it to make more sense

But some things don’t

Like if he wanting to come to someone why me I’m not a relation.

I wasn’t a non believer in ghosts/spirts just not had an experience

I had not met my friends grandmother until the night before (I had met her mum a few times) so I could have heard at some point they have the same names and friends mum and my mum are a similar age it’s likely (though not sure) their granddads are a similar age

Helendee · 20/11/2021 20:42

I don’t know what to think but I went to a spiritualist church a couple of years ago and received messages from a medium who told me things he couldn’t have known. I gave him no feedback at all but he told me names of my family, both living and dead, the names of childhood neighbours and their pets and occupations, the hymns and songs sung at my uncle’s recent funeral which were quite unusual and the name of my next door neighbour and her recently deceased husband.
I was just someone in the room off the street, no one there knew me.

Pumperthepumper · 20/11/2021 20:45

@OhWhyNot

Maybe I should have said I would like it to make more sense

But some things don’t

Like if he wanting to come to someone why me I’m not a relation.

I wasn’t a non believer in ghosts/spirts just not had an experience

I had not met my friends grandmother until the night before (I had met her mum a few times) so I could have heard at some point they have the same names and friends mum and my mum are a similar age it’s likely (though not sure) their granddads are a similar age

How much more sense could it possibly make?

It wasn’t a ghost, it was a dream that you built a story around with the help of your friend’s gran. It’s nothing.

Pumperthepumper · 20/11/2021 20:48

@Helendee

I don’t know what to think but I went to a spiritualist church a couple of years ago and received messages from a medium who told me things he couldn’t have known. I gave him no feedback at all but he told me names of my family, both living and dead, the names of childhood neighbours and their pets and occupations, the hymns and songs sung at my uncle’s recent funeral which were quite unusual and the name of my next door neighbour and her recently deceased husband. I was just someone in the room off the street, no one there knew me.

If he really was a psychic, why did he spend so much time describing your neighbours? Why didn’t he tell you anything that might enrich your own life, like the lottery numbers for the next week?

BettyOBarley · 20/11/2021 20:51

I went to a few when I was younger with friends just for a laugh. They were pretty much all rubbish. I did listen back to one which was taped a few years ago and she said I'd marry a man in the army with name beginning with S, which I did, but still not enough to convince me! I am a big Derren Brown fan though. I never went to see a psychic again after watching his shows..Not that I really believed in it anyway.
Have to say I'd forgotten that she'd also said that there was a black & white picture above my front door of my dad in the army - which was very specific and was actually true. Right above the front door frame at my parents house where I lived at the time. Always thought that was quite strange really, although not necessarily psychic!

OhWhyNot · 20/11/2021 21:08

No my friends grandmother said nothing while I described him apart from saying sounded like her father

I not trying to convince you.

Somethings can’t be explained is what I believe.

To you it’s all so simply explainable

To myself who experienced it I know what I saw but I just don’t understand why that makes no sense to me

User2638483 · 20/11/2021 21:10

No

ClareBlue · 20/11/2021 21:10

Is it any differ

ClareBlue · 20/11/2021 21:11

Is it any different to having a religious belief. If you believe for whatever reason, you believe. If you don't, you don't

Pumperthepumper · 20/11/2021 21:14

@OhWhyNot

No my friends grandmother said nothing while I described him apart from saying sounded like her father

I not trying to convince you.

Somethings can’t be explained is what I believe.

To you it’s all so simply explainable

To myself who experienced it I know what I saw but I just don’t understand why that makes no sense to me

You said you wanted it explained to you. But you’ve absolutely closed your mind to the most reasonable explanation because you want to believe it was something paranormal.

If your friends grandmother said nothing, how did you know about the dementia tick? How did you know she never spoke about him? How did you know they had the same name?

OhWhyNot · 20/11/2021 21:16

Yes I think you are right Clare

Many will dismiss religious beliefs on here even comparing believing to having a mental illness (similar to Richard Dawkins)

Pumperthepumper · 20/11/2021 21:17

@OhWhyNot

Yes I think you are right Clare

Many will dismiss religious beliefs on here even comparing believing to having a mental illness (similar to Richard Dawkins)

Except most people with religious beliefs don’t ask for those beliefs to be debunked.

Alwaysgoldtome · 20/11/2021 21:19

@Brighton5555

People seem to have not understood

I called a physic

She said immediately I have a Jimmy / James .

And he’s asking after John.

John was my husband
His dead father was Jimmy

I don’t see how she could come up so accurately within 15 seconds of a call.

Are the common names yes

But to have Jimmy asking for John
And that he his son

Yes but I’d that was me on the phone I’d actually have two scenarios - my great uncle Jimmy looking to speak to my grandfather John who lived with us. My DH would say it’s his grandfather James looking to speak to his nephew John…hook line and sinker @Brighton5555

OhWhyNot · 20/11/2021 21:21

Because I described what I saw

Like when you are asked to describe a person more details come to you this is what happened

It makes no sense to me why I saw him. Why not my friend.

I do believe in spirits/ghosts as I said before not necessarily in the white floating figure.

What I struggle with is why is there a reason at times I’m sure it’s information we have collected and then our minds get jumbled and we believe we have seen a ghost/spirit

I would rather not have experienced this

Nesbo · 20/11/2021 21:22

When you see a magician do something on stage, like tell someone exactly what they’ve drawn and placed into a still sealed envelope, you know from the context that you are watching a trick. It can be marvellous and baffling, they can’t possibly have known what they appeared to know, and you might never find out how they did it, but you know that beyond it’s miraculous appearance there is a rational explanation.

The really clever thing about psychics is that instead of leaving people thinking “that was incredible, I wish I knew what the trick was”, they leave people thinking “that was incredible, I just witnessed actual “ magic” “ (for want of a better word).

The point Derren Brown has demonstrated so well is that a magician and a “psychic” can literally perform the same routine on someone, but because the contexts of those performances is different, people will leave one of them thinking that there is a rational explanation they just haven’t been able to figure out yet, and will leave the other believing that they just witnessed an actual miracle.

That’s the true genius - change the context of the performance and you completely change the response from the audience.

Pumperthepumper · 20/11/2021 21:24

@OhWhyNot

Because I described what I saw

Like when you are asked to describe a person more details come to you this is what happened

It makes no sense to me why I saw him. Why not my friend.

I do believe in spirits/ghosts as I said before not necessarily in the white floating figure.

What I struggle with is why is there a reason at times I’m sure it’s information we have collected and then our minds get jumbled and we believe we have seen a ghost/spirit

I would rather not have experienced this

But you didn’t see him.

You had a dream.

Your friend’s gran put the idea in your mind.

If she hadn’t said anything, you wouldn’t have thought anything of it. You would have forgotten immediately.

BonesInTheOcean · 20/11/2021 21:25

[quote EwwwwDavid]@WorraLiberty yeah you're right and I agree with you completely. Just wondered if anyone had some fun or weird stories. The psychic I went to see told me the name of my husband and son (before he was even conceived) and it's just a bit spooky I guess?![/quote]
son (before he was even conceived)
how is that spooky, she told you a name and you used it!

Ileflottante · 20/11/2021 21:33

I feel so very sorry for anyone who believes in this absolutely nonsense, or who are preyed on by the amoral crooks who peddle it.

OhWhyNot · 20/11/2021 21:35

No I wouldn’t

As I said I was freaked out it just didn’t make sense

Many people question their beliefs being religious is testing for many people especially when their faith is tested people are looking for truths all the time how we find them is different

Believing in something or an experience that can’t be proved to others, makes no logical sense can be unsettling