How do clairvoyants know things??

[Homer2]

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

@frostseal I actually believe in telepathy somewhat! But I think it could just be familiarity for me lol

Couldn't agree more with this & @Pugglywuggly

My (now deceased sister) was a wagon for going to readings & events & used to try to get me to go too, we had a few very close bereavements & would get all huffy when I said I had no interest & that they were shams & ghouls for exploiting people at their most vulnerable time

I know the arguments "oh but if it gives theem comfort what's the harm?" but I just think it's disgusting & I always feel sad for the people desperately looking & hoping for some sign from beyond

my mam was another one too 🙈

James Randi offered a $1m prize for verifiable proof of the paranormal. It was never won.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Randi

I can see how mediums offer comfort, or to be more accurate the vulnerable take it, but then the mediums only do it for money. There's the clue: follow the money.

If someone truly had psychic powers don't you think they would have better things to do than get hired for parties?

That's so wrong isn't it? They all really make my blood boil & I'm not being snide or looking down my nose at all at people who go to these events or readings, it just makes me so sad for them, I know how hard grief is & I can understand that need to "connect" but this nothing but fraud & deceit on such a hurtful level

Humans have had millions upon millions of years to evolve to pick up non verbal clues. Language is fairly recent in our evolutionary line so those that weren't able to pick it up died out and those who survived did. Humans lost their brow bridges likely because it made non verbal communication easiwr.

My friend fell for one of these charlatans when her marriage ended due to her husbands infidelity (he was a met officer who had an affair with a woman he met as a witness in a crime....yes it really is a bad as they say). She wanted reassurance that there was light at the end of the tunnel I think. Our friendship ended (by her) when I didnt agree that this was good for her, they dont "know" anything. They are just good at seeing what people want to hear and working out how to to give them that.

The lady across the road went to a Doris Stokes evening. The people in the audience were asked to stand if Doris named a loved one recently deceased they related to themselves.

She was able to name that person and in some cases what had caused their loved ones death. When our neighbour got home she was perusing the obituary section of the newspaper and a great many of those that were deceased had loved ones attend Doris Stokes demo that night.

I have had a 'horse whisperer' to my previous horse. She was able to pass on that my horse had severe toothache and was begging me to call the dentist. I initially said I wouldn't as I'd only recently had the dentist out for his 6 month called checkup but I relented and told ger I would. Dentist duly called upon, and the following week he attended and confirmed my horse had a large fracture of a back tooth that there was no way the clairvoyant would have been able to detect from watching my horse.

She was also highly accurate about a number of other, some mundane day to day stuff that would never have made it to my Facebook feed they were so mundane along with something she said that I had no idea about but was later confirmed to be true! In fact every visit to my horse spanning several years she was never incorrect in what she said, with my horse complaining I'd stopped his favourite feed, to the colour of the lid of the bottle of supplement I'd been giving him, to the fact he was bored as I'd not been riding him much to his foot hurting which he actually ended up lame on, costing him his life in the end after several treatment avenues/pain relief failed to address the issue and he was acutely lame and sadly pts. So she was totally spot on. She usually attends and does five or six readings in one day of different horses and every horse owners is stunned by her accuracy.

I have experienced clairvoyant moments, or maybe just very strong intuition. Things spotting a problem from its very seed which might be experience I suppose or knowing when people are pregnant.

I used to be infallible at knowing when someone was pregnant - even before they did. I thought there was a difference in their skin, but I guess it might have been a slight change in their 'smell'. It wore off some time in my late twenties, which was no bad thing as you can't blunder around letting on that you think colleagues & clients are pregnant!

It sounds like you're very perceptive. You could probably make a good living from fortune telling if your ethics are weak enough ...

My mam used to go say on a Saturday when we'd be in town, I was probably about 4 or 5 & my sister was off somewhere else, my mam would have her wedding ring on etc & very obviosuly gave off cues, probably not that even hard to read & so the "medium" after a few questions would be able to tell her she'd been recently widowed etc... which of course my mam would lap up, I only know this as it was brought up over the years when my mam & sister would be talking about their experiences, I used to roll my eyes & all the rest but looking back it boiled down to my mam being in the throes of grief & desperately looking/hoping for something

Years later my sister was the same, I think it's really upsetting & exploitative

I'm really not shitting on anyone who has been given some comfort from any of their experiences, I just find it all very sad

The people who are pretty sure the psychic WAS genuine: when you were being read, are you sure you did not give any verbal clues? Did the psychics give information fluently, or keep guessing until they hit on the right answer?

Never been to one but run a small business myself and had an extremely wealthy client. We got to talking about women running businesses etc she said she was going to have to start using her gift. She had had it since she was a child. She was a lovely warm intelligent woman and was not doing it for payment. She seemed to feel obliged to do it to help others.

Shortly afterwards I had another event that has zero explanation except that a deceased relative was warning me about something. No one not even my utter sceptic DH can explain it. So my lack of faith has been shaken.

Yes, it's like Oscar, the cat in Rhode Island who knew when nursing home patients were going to die. He probably could smell particular chemicals that would be undetectable to humans, it's thought, and something about it drew him to them.

A friend of mine was pushing me to see one that she saw all the time, she even said she would pay for it.

To shut her up, I went along with it.

The medium phoned me to book in the appointment and was quite pushy in wanting me to follow her on social media, she said she would follow me back on Facebook.

That told me all I needed to know. I don’t have any social media and she got annoyed about that.

She also wanted my full name and DOB so she could “tune in” to me before the reading. Oh, you mean Google me? Good luck love, fuck all comes up.

she cancilled on me as I was too difficult to tune into. Yeah, I had no Facebook profile to scour through for info.

who would fall for one wanting to follow you on social media before a reading?

"The lady across the road went to a Doris Stokes evening. The people in the audience were asked to stand if Doris named a loved one recently deceased they related to themselves.
She was able to name that person and in some cases what had caused their loved ones death. When our neighbour got home she was perusing the obituary section of the newspaper and a great many of those that were deceased had loved ones attend Doris Stokes demo that night."

I really hope that the point you are making is that DS had checked the local paper before her event and so took advantage, rather than her being insightful!

I don't believe in this stuff at all but...I once went to a medium to make up numbers. It was all pretty general apart from the fact they mentioned that my boyfriend at the time he had a shoulder injury and an issue with his big toe. Which he did have. I honestly can't think what I did to give that away because it was quite specific... But even so, I still don't believe in it.

Just to add... The shoulder injury was an old one but the toe issue was current.

The other weird one was -not the same person and it was at a local fair - was my mum was told she had 5 children. There were four of us at the time. And then years later there was a fifth. But even so, I still don't believe that she really 'saw' that but still curious.

The thing that really gets me about people who believe in clairvoyants and mediums being able to predict the future is that these people must believe that there is no such thing as free will, and all our lives run completely on rails. I don't know why that concept doesn't scare them at all.

I prefer to live in a world where I have freedom of will and the ability to make the kind of decisions that affect the outcomes I am looking for. Of course, no one has complete control over anything. But if we subscribe to the notion that every event in the future is fixed and inevitable, why bother to make sensible and informed decisions or even to make much effort about anything? These things are apparently set in stone and going to happen anyway.

I understand why people find it a comfort to think their loved ones are able to contact them from beyond the grave. I wouldn't ever argue with someone who believes they have had a specific experience because that wouldn't be kind. My own father is very woo as well as being very religious and believes in all kinds of supernatural things. For instance, he is always talking about the fact that when you unexpectedly find a white feather, it is sent as a message to you by a deceased person and can mean that you are going to join them soon.

My mother died ten years ago, and he is always seeing white feathers and saying it means he will be joining her soon. At some point, this will become true. But it doesn't mean I'm going to believe that particular white feather was a portent. But neither am I going to contradict him on the subject while he is alive and finds comfort in it.

There are some very gifted mediums / clairvoyants. I was sat at a bus stop in another part of the country years ago when a total stranger waiting next to me sais she hoped I didn’t mind but she was being asked by spirit to give me a message. The message was in relation to where I lived which the woman described in detail down to the very unusual layout of the house, my partner at the time and his job (definitely not a job you would guess easily) and where I would be moving to in the future. This was described in so much detail including the (unusual) colour of the walls, curtains, location and neighbours. I had no plans to move house at that time but a dramatic change in circumstances led to a move to a different town. I went into a rental agent’s office and they agreed to show me round a house that had just come available. It was exactly as the woman had described. So precise that as soon as I walked in I knew this was the house - there could be no mistaking it: there was a red wall and a yellow wall in the lounge with a picture of a woman standing by a lake with a deer in the distance kind of accuracy. She has referred to the house being opposite a tiny church which it was and how the bells would be repaired after I moved in which they were (after many years of being in disrepair). And as I left I met the neighbours who 100% met the description I had been given down to their unusual pets and jobs.

There is no way any of this could have been guesswork. I was living 200 miles away from where I met this woman. I had no plans to move anywhere let alone to a different town. There was nothing at all which would have given her any clues. She just told me she had been told by spirit to pass on the message and that was that. No money changed hands.

Whether you choose to believe or not, there is some stuff that simply can’t be explained.

My mum went to one with her sister a couple of years ago, and both only have sea views or trees as their Facebook pictures and no details besides married, and never post unless they accidentally share something random lol.

My mum came back saying "omg, no-one ever knew my dad wanted to talk to me before he passed, I've never told my sister or brother he said that" she was really emotional.

Mums told me a few times over the years, my grandad was very ill and said "mums name, come here a minute" he wanted to say something to her, but she was too upset to go in as it was the end, and she always said she wishes now she had.

Noone knows still what he wanted to say, but to them, just hearing "your dad had/ has a message" was enough that they didn't even ask what the message was 🤣 as she went to something else as soon as my mum looked at her sister and said yes.

But what I think, is she could see two women in their sixties and assumed correctly their parents are dead or ill. They need some guidance, or are having a difficult time or are desperate to hear something from their loved ones,no matter what channel.
Saying your dad wanted to tell you something even though my mum was a bit sceptical and only went to support my aunty, she filled in the blanks herself.
If she'd said it to my aunty instead, she would have believed there was a message, without knowing what it was.

@Itwasallyellow2, perhaps she tells loads of strangers about the house so, when she needs a new tenant, there's a good chance someone will be along who 'just knows' it's the house for them 😂

The two times I’ve been present when something like this happened the most striking things were the subject cooperation and the confirmation bias. My mum, unsurprisingly, was an ideal mark because she was very forthcoming and chatty so she stepped in to fill the missing information from the broadest Barnum style statements and feelers and like many of us she was very responsive to flattery; there was the usual - You’re a very strong lady and a giver everyone thinks Oh! Pat’s fine, she just cracks on but sometimes you just need a little bit of appreciation…

I’ve yet to hear of a clairvoyant telling anyone they are basically quite lazy with the hide of a rhinoceros. Any faults mentioned are always virtues taken too far; too generous for your own good, a perfectionist, sensitive and emotional etc.

The other person I was with who had a reading would describe themselves as sceptical so what was astonishing was their level of confirmation bias. I was fairly confident she knew the reading was bollocks but lo and behold she was “pretty shocked” at some of the things he got right. Luckily another friend was also there and she bluntly pointed out what had happened and the friend who had the reading admitted she was surprised by how swayed she’d been but like most people who have a reading, she was vulnerable due to a bereavement so very susceptible.

I have always been a sceptic but agreed to go to a “brilliant” woman my mum’s friends raved about when I was 17 when my mum was going for a session herself. I consciously tried to give nothing away and she was beyond shit. She threw out the predictable dazzling insight of seeing exams in my life but unfortunately for her she risked venturing driving lessons and test which were nowhere on the horizon. She got absolutely nothing. My mums session was reportedly amazing.

Most people have a strong impulse to fill gaps and avoid awkward lacunas so will volunteer specifics that fit the vaguest enquiry: “I’ve got a man, not an old man, he went too soon, not a boyfriend or husband I think, perhaps family … or like family…” Mum leapt in with a step brother who died in his early twenties in the late 1940s without the clairvoyant having to do any more work. The clairvoyants typically leave quite long gaps between each addition and look for recognition and emotional reaction. If someone is clearly having to think hard and isn’t obviously emotional it’s not likely to be a recent or traumatic bereavement. It’s easy to adapt their approach when they see they haven’t hit the mark: “ - you weren’t expecting it … - of course it was a long illness but the end was still a shock when it came.”

The ones with my mum were pre internet and the latest was impromptu so no internet searching. I understand prior to the internet stage mediums would employ researchers to go through the death announcements in the local newspapers in the library of towns they were visiting. The recently bereaved are the most likely to clutch at the straws offered by a medium.

Maybe they're like vampires and don't show up on camera. 👻