Have you ever known or gone to a psychic who you believe had some real psychic ability?

[raccoon]

I did, once. She was well-known in my area.

When I saw her, she knew some things about me that I don't think a stranger could have known unless they knew me.

However, the things she said were going to happen in my future didn't happen.

If I were to go see someone like that now--I said if--I'd be more skeptical than I am now.

[hobbit709]

1. Never.

[ailsagirl]

2. I'm always skeptical

Besides, even if one of them could foretell the future, I'm not sure I'd want to know what's going to happen!
What if it's bad news??

[Ahpook]

3. Out of curiousity

What did she know about you?

My Grandmother visits one in Cassadaga quite often. The whole bit sounds like a money scam.

Some of them are really good at reading people emotionally. I give them that

[RKP5637]

5. Years ago, I was into this some. Attended group meetings, etc. Training sessions, etc.

mostly because I'm a very curious person. My education is in the sciences, by default I was skeptical, but I don't feel I was biased. I left with similar feelings; "Some of them are really good at reading people emotionally." I think for some people there can be a real catharsis, some hope, a friendly ear. I think some are very genuinely interested and interesting, and some are an outright scam. My conclusion on all of this is I remain highly skeptical.

[raccoon]

9. That I had a dark-complected boyfriend (Asian Indian). That I was about to trade cars.

(She might've just guessed at that one, it was kind of an old car.)

That I'd been grieving for a long time.

Given what I know now about cold reading, yeah, some of those things she could've guessed.

[oasis]

4. There was one on Dr. Phil's show today. He seemed to know his stuff.

A couple of folks in the audience teared up as he told them only things they knew about deceased loved ones. Subjects were picked at random and remained seated while the psychic conveyed their loved ones messages to them from the stage.

[DebJ]

7. That is specifically a medium. Not all psychics are mediums;

I don't know if it is true that a medium is also classified as a psychic.

[NobodyHere]

11. They're often classified as a douchebag

[seveneyes]

6. A psychic that sells you what you want

can not tell you what you need. There are people in search of someone who thinks they know it all, just so they have someone to argue with.

[cemaphonic]

8. "Knowing" things about you that a stranger couldn't know is a learnable skill

Lots of magicians and mentalists use it in their acts too. People that are good at reading body language and facial tells have an advantage, but it's basically something that anyone can learn how to do.

[onethatcares]

10. dammint, you stole a lyricof mine.

"that woman told me things about myself I didn't know"

I'm keeping the rest of it to myself.

[red dog 1]

12. Yes.

Back in the 1970s there was a psychic in San Francisco by the name of Peral Shannon.
She didn't predict the future.
She didn't charge hundreds of dollars. ($3 donation, or free if you couldn't afford the $3)
You came into her modest West Portal house, wrote down 3 questions for her to answer, and then put the questions into a sealed envelope, with only your initials or some other "code" you chose to use, so that after the "service" began, she would take each unopened envelope, one by one, call out the initials to make sure the person was "in the house", and then she just held the envelope for a few seconds,, and then she'd just say a few words about that person, before opening the envelope & answering the questions.

The amazing part for me, and for the others with me. wasn't her answers to our questions; but rather those "few words" she'd say about each of us...before she even opened the envelopes.

I was, and still am, very much a skeptic especially when it comes to so-called "psychics".

I believe 95 percent of them are complete frauds, (like Whoopie Goldberg in "Ghost&quot
or the ones who advertise in the Yellow Pages under the heading "Psychics"..

The other 5 percent or so are merely "extremely perceptive people" who can just talk to a person for a minute or two, and then tell them something about themselves, based on what they say.

Pearl Shannon was "the real deal"....The only one I ever met

(By the way, she didn't advertise at all, in any way...the only way people heard about her was through word of mouth)

I think she had services at her house once or twice a week, with maybe 20 or 25 people at the most who showed up....So, if it was a "scam"..she sure didn't make much money at it.

God Bless her beautiful spirit!

[Crone1951]

20. Interesting

I am a skeptic in general, but I too saw Pearl Shannon in an individual session in 1983 ( when I was somewhat less skeptical). She was really intriguing. She tole me things about myself that she could not have know, including some things that were very specific . She was very impressive. She did, in fact, predict some future stuff, and, in fact, it all did come true. That's the part that has me searching her name on google today. I can wrap my head around someone being "telepathic" and picking up some images from me, as she did the night I saw her, but her future predictions were so odd, and so specific that it totally baffles me. They all came true and one was extremely odd indeed, and quite detailed. It was the oddest experience I have ever had and I think about her frequently. I will never understand it, it was fascinating. Hey, who knows ,maybe some day I will understand it! At any rate, she was a remarkable lady and a real sweetheart. When I saw her she was well into her 80s and going strong.

[red dog 1]

21. Very interesting!

I just wasted 30 minutes doing Google searches for Rev. Pearl Shannon; and, because of computer limitations, I was unable to pull up a page from the now-defunct "Yoga Journal"
January 1977 issue, page 14, which is about Rev, Shannon.

Perhaps you will have better luck downloading the info from the Jan. 1977 issue of
"Yoga Journal"

By the way, Welcome to EP!

[trof]

13. Yeah, I did once. Madame Ruth. I was troubled.

I took my troubles down to Madame Ruth
You know that gypsy with the gold-capped tooth
She's got a pad down on Thirty-Fourth and Vine
Sellin' little bottles of Love Potion Number Nine

I told her that I was a flop with chicks
I'd been this way since 1956
She took my palm and she made a magic sign
She said, "What you need is Love Potion Number Nine"

She bent down and turned around and gave me a wink
She said, "I'm gonna make it up right here in the sink"
It smelled like turpentine, it looked like India ink
I held my nose, I closed my eyes, I took a drink

I didn't know if it was day or night
I started kissin' everything in sight
But when I kissed a cop down on Thirty-Fourth and Vine
He took my little bottle of Love Potion Number Nine

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[red dog 1]

15. Great song!

Great lyrics too.

[Still Blue in PDX]

16. Thank you for that!

I always thought it was Madame Roo with a gold tattoo.

[red dog 1]

22. LOL...I thought it was "Madame Roo" too

I always thought it was:

"I took my troubles down to Madame Roo,
You know that gypsy with the skull cap too"

(I'm cracking up just thinking about it)

[orleans]

14. i went to a couple when i was a teenager

one said i would marry someone i already knew (i was 16 and thought: kill me now!)
(it didn't happen but i guess there is still time)

one said i was going to be injured in a skiing accident
(wrong again--never been skiing--but i guess there's still time to learn...)

barnum & bailey circus had a thing that their fortune tellers would tell people. i found it in a social psych text book in collage--that year i was a fortune teller, giving readings to my friends, quoting that paragraph & they were all amazed at how in depth i was able to read them! (at the end of the night i revealed my secret--& told them they had all gotten the same reading!)

this is not to say i don't believe in psychics or mediums. i do.
i just never found one worthy for me to believe in.

[Boomerproud]

17. The only one in my experience that came close was a palm reader in my 20's (many years ago)

who look at my palm and remarked "You have a fairly long lifeline but there is a significant break in it at the middle point." A few years later (when I was 30) I had a mastoid operation on both ears and lost a major portion of my hearing (especially in my right ear). Lucky prediction-who knows but I don't take the people or their "gift" seriously.

[LiberalElite]

18. I got a mailing once years ago - from a "famous" psychic

Inside were a lot of personal questions for me to answer before said "famous" psychic could help me fulfill all my dearest desires. I thought "you're the psychic - you tell ME."

[mulsh]

19. I'm waiting for a "psychic" to contact me out the blue with information. If that happened I

would probably believe they have actual abilities. Hell I might even pay them. Unfortunately in all these years (58) not one psychic has done so.

[gopiscrap]

24. welcome to DU