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How do clairvoyants know things??

383 replies

Homer2 · 14/04/2026 13:45

I have never believed in this, I saw one once just for fun at my aunties house and she wasn’t great. She did say a few things that were accurate, but I put this down to being guesses or general vague things that would be relevant to the majority of people.

However, recently my friend went to one. She recently lost her dad and her partner. Without telling the clairvoyant anything, she knew how her partner died and what his name was. She mentioned my friends dad blowing kisses in a weird way, with the palm of his hand instead of his fingers, which is something he did used to do. How would she know these things??? I don’t honestly believe in it, but can’t understand how she’d know such specific things

OP posts:
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LittlestBoho · 14/04/2026 16:41

I've been to a few mediums (media?), I just think it's fun.

I'd say about 60% of them are just cold reading and making shit up. One told me my grandad was shining down on me from the afterlife - all my grandads were still alive at that point. That made the rest of the reading rather awkward!

However, others were so specific, with things they had no way of knowing. They couldn't have googled because my friend had booked for her and "a friend" so the psychic didnt even know my name before I walked in. As soon as I arrived she started talking about my (alive) grandma Barbara's health problems, my (dead) great grandma Jenny was there giving me polo mints (which she always used to do when she was alive). The psychic talked about a tragic death years earlier in my family (giving details and the name of someone who witnessed it), told me about an adoption regarding a named person in my family that I didn't even know about, but the details were verified by my (very freaked out) grandma later. It was uncanny. My family wasn't even from the same country as the psychic, there's no way she could have known these things.

So some are real and some are charlatans. You don't know until you go there because they all claim to have a direct line to the spirit world.

Rockchick01 · 14/04/2026 16:41

I went out of curiosity and was given a message from my paternal grandfather to say he was content that his suffering was over and was happy to see me settled and enjoying life. I was single and my grandfathers were both alive & well!

MrsOni · 14/04/2026 16:42

I'm not certain much in this world but the one thing I am certain of is that nobody is psychic. People claiming to be are either lying or deluded.

It's all explainable, whether it be down to cold reading, research on the target, confirmation bias etc. Some people are very good at it, but ultimately it's no more real than a magician sawing a person in half.

Bollihobs · 14/04/2026 16:47

Ithinkofawittyusernamethenforgetit · 14/04/2026 14:18

Clearly the medium was the other side of the fence and threw the guitar 😂But also they would've slung it back - so wouldn't have come into her possession as such?

What a weird comment to make on what was a lovely and fascinating post.

@Blondiebeachbabe Clearly you, your Mum and her sister were really atuned to each other and it was lovely to read how you've kept that bond going. This thread will mostly be posts from those who completely rubbish the whole "psychic" 'thing' and they'll never think otherwise.

ThatCyanCat · 14/04/2026 16:48

And yet they have doorbells.

ChrisTheBastard · 14/04/2026 16:52

I knew you were going to ask this

TicklishReader · 14/04/2026 17:01

CurlewKate · 14/04/2026 15:07

In mill towns, they ask for people with grandparents/great grandparents with a missing finger. And there was always at least one, because it was a common injury amongst weavers.

Now that is interesting.

LughLongArm · 14/04/2026 17:04

Troutbag · 14/04/2026 16:27

Cold reading. Researching where possible. They also usually play to a receptive audience,
people who want to believe it’s true and are willing to unconsciously collude in the illusion.

And people citing “yeah but” examples - it’s impossible to explain it on a forum without full, transparent disclosure of all the circumstances and being able to hear the actual conversation that took place.

Edited

And see what the person presenting looked and sounded like. You can tell an awful lot from appearance, clothes, speech etc.

BillieWiper · 14/04/2026 17:05

Some of the stage ones have someone feed info down an earpiece. They have people who mingle with the audience and talk and listen to them to get information about them. Then they pick the people they know stuff about.

This would be done by ones in the community by looking at SM, local news, talking to people. So yeah they basically do research about you or extract information about you without you realising.

That and guesswork. And explaining away their numerous mistakes in a million and one extremely unconvincing ways.

It's quite distressing that some people make money out of ripping off the bereaved and deeply troubled.

OctopusFriend · 14/04/2026 17:06

LughLongArm · 14/04/2026 17:04

And see what the person presenting looked and sounded like. You can tell an awful lot from appearance, clothes, speech etc.

You can, absolutely. Even from small details in clothing, hair and accessories.

OctopusFriend · 14/04/2026 17:07

ThatCyanCat · 14/04/2026 16:48

And yet they have doorbells.

😂😂😂
....and never win the lottery...

user1471538283 · 14/04/2026 17:08

They don't. I thought they did when one supposedly saw the future for one of my friends but I think she was misremembering in her grief.

One of my friend's had a family of psychics and he told me so many of their tricks.

It's a shame because it feels comforting. But I know if there was a way to send a message through someone my DF would and he hasn't.

TalulahJP · 14/04/2026 17:10

there are so many charlatans that it spoils it for people who genuinely have a gift.

i have no way to explain how a psychic knew the name i privately gave a baby i miscarried over 30 years prior.

nobody knew it. i didnt tell anyone as i was very young and thought it was nobody’s business but mine.

this was before the internet was invented.

she saw someone with me in spirit and guessed it was my sister as she looks like me, and that my mum hadn’t told me of her miscarriage and thats why i didn't know about it.

It was only when she said the name of this dead child that i realised that it was the name of my dead baby not any dead sister.

she said other things too. she didnt read my mind as it was the last thing id have thought of, it being so far distant.

sometimes when i’m around people i see things. or feel things. i dont know what it is but sometimes i tell them and ask if it rings a bell. im generally right. although weirdly it’s not happened in ages. dont know why. i keep meaning to go to spiritual church. maybe i should do that tomorrow night.

neversawmecoming · 14/04/2026 17:13

Over 3 decades ago a friend of mine was going 29 miles along the coast to see an "auld woman that was a seer" she was going with a 2 work pal of hers that i had never met as i had only lived in the area a couple of months. As they went to pick one of the friends up she had to cancel so drove to my house to ask if i wanted to take her place, i put my shoes on picked up my bag and left. When we arrived at the woman's house i got out of the car without saying a word but she knew which county i came from and that i was a mirror image of my mum, she knew when and how my mum had died, she knew so many things about me. She went on to tell me the year i would divorce, described my new Husband to a t even knew his trade and his Mothers nationality. She knew what would be wrong when my first Granddaughter was born. Knew so much more that all came true. No internet, no mobiles and i have no explanation how she could tell me these things but she did.

onpills4godsake · 14/04/2026 17:15

I went to a group session which was more about meditation but the medium was there at the end - I had not booked on and the people was with did no know me when I knew the person who contacted me- who was a colleague 10
years ago- it was so scary and completely convinced me

Catsarestillflumpy · 14/04/2026 17:28

onpills4godsake · 14/04/2026 17:15

I went to a group session which was more about meditation but the medium was there at the end - I had not booked on and the people was with did no know me when I knew the person who contacted me- who was a colleague 10
years ago- it was so scary and completely convinced me

Your colleague from 10yrs ago contacted you?! People believe such bizarre things.

Blondiebeachbabe · 14/04/2026 17:44

neversawmecoming · 14/04/2026 17:13

Over 3 decades ago a friend of mine was going 29 miles along the coast to see an "auld woman that was a seer" she was going with a 2 work pal of hers that i had never met as i had only lived in the area a couple of months. As they went to pick one of the friends up she had to cancel so drove to my house to ask if i wanted to take her place, i put my shoes on picked up my bag and left. When we arrived at the woman's house i got out of the car without saying a word but she knew which county i came from and that i was a mirror image of my mum, she knew when and how my mum had died, she knew so many things about me. She went on to tell me the year i would divorce, described my new Husband to a t even knew his trade and his Mothers nationality. She knew what would be wrong when my first Granddaughter was born. Knew so much more that all came true. No internet, no mobiles and i have no explanation how she could tell me these things but she did.

Yeah, like there's just no way that's coincidence or a lucky guess!! The chances of her just guessing all those things is slim to none. Fascinating!

JackJarvisEsq · 14/04/2026 17:48

I went to a fairly well known one about 20 years ago, just to keep my friend company

a woman whose children had been killed by their father was there and, of course, the “psychic” homed in on her. It was horrible to witness: that poor heartbroken woman desperate to hear from her children and being preyed upon by this guy who knew as much as any of us who’d read the Daily Record

LughLongArm · 14/04/2026 17:54

neversawmecoming · 14/04/2026 17:13

Over 3 decades ago a friend of mine was going 29 miles along the coast to see an "auld woman that was a seer" she was going with a 2 work pal of hers that i had never met as i had only lived in the area a couple of months. As they went to pick one of the friends up she had to cancel so drove to my house to ask if i wanted to take her place, i put my shoes on picked up my bag and left. When we arrived at the woman's house i got out of the car without saying a word but she knew which county i came from and that i was a mirror image of my mum, she knew when and how my mum had died, she knew so many things about me. She went on to tell me the year i would divorce, described my new Husband to a t even knew his trade and his Mothers nationality. She knew what would be wrong when my first Granddaughter was born. Knew so much more that all came true. No internet, no mobiles and i have no explanation how she could tell me these things but she did.

Gently, it’s 30 years ago, and unless you have an audio recording of the whole thing, the chances are you’re misremembering, and in the process minimising the wild or incorrect guesses and augmenting the correct ones, entirely unconsciously.

My mother claimed that a locally famous ‘psychic’ had, in the early 70s, predicted the number, sexes and birth years of her children, told her what her husband’s name was and what he did for a living etc etc, what her father had died of and where etc etc. Within the last five years, clearing a cupboard, she found a very old handbag with the notes my aunt had taken at the ‘reading’. It was the usual mishmash of guesswork and cold reading — the uncannily accurate stuff was all in my mother’s head.

bumptybum · 14/04/2026 17:57

Pugglywuggly · 14/04/2026 13:46

Googling the person who makes a booking probably and Facebook stalking them. It's creepy and exploitative.

Edited

But they existed way before social media

LughLongArm · 14/04/2026 17:59

bumptybum · 14/04/2026 17:57

But they existed way before social media

And someone remembering a ‘reading’ from that long ago in 2026 is probably not remembering it accurately, and is inflating the correct guesses and minimising the misses.

Boomboomi · 14/04/2026 18:04

MrsOni

So how do you explain that the medium I saw knew the exact gift I bought my dad to take with him into hospital.
??
It was not a book or anything usual- it was a very unusual wooden object.
the reading was in a different county, and no one knew about the gift and it was 100% never on face book or ever discussed with anyone.
it was the last gift I gave my df .

Boomboomi · 14/04/2026 18:05

Plus it was recorded on a tape. I played it tomy husband who is very sceptical and he was astonished.

Troutbag · 14/04/2026 18:05

I have a friend who to this day swears a medium told her something she could not have possibly known. If she was to explain it to you, the you’d also be perplexed as to how the medium knew.

Yet that’s not what actually happened at all. I was there and the medium made a very general remark that could apply to lots of people, my friend replied with the detail, the medium then repeated that detail back to her. My friend gave them the info but she’s convinced it’s the other way around.

I’ve never said this to her because I think it gave her a lot of comfort, and I don’t want to get into a disagreement about it. But that’s what happened.

Gardenquestion22 · 14/04/2026 18:05

bumptybum · 14/04/2026 17:57

But they existed way before social media

Yes and so have charlatans and cold readers, they can be really good at reading people and seeing tells and you just remember the bits they get right. Honestly do some reading on it….https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/nov/06/i-was-an-astrologer-how-it-works-psychics

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