Might regret asking this but I received a message from someone last night who knew someone very close to me who died last year. I haven’t spoken to this person for months (she was a work colleague of my late partner) but she messaged me to ask if I wanted to see a reading she’d been given.

The things in it were very relevant and the girls swears she didn’t divulge any information to the spiritualist other than an e-mail address which is only used on ebay/paypal account so don’t think the woman could have found information on social media, etc.

I can’t really get my head round it. I am naturally cycnical but I don’t understand how this could be made up.

Has anyone had anything like this that has turned them from a cynic into thinking it might be possible?

I guess i’m setting myself up to have the piss taken here.

I trust the girl not to make this up. I don’t know what I expect asking this on here to be honest 😕

Oh I don’t doubt that the girl who contacted you is genuine enough, however the medium/spritualist is most certainly not. I’m by no means an expert on the methods that such people use but a combination of Barnum statements, confirmation bias, cold reading and bit of research will get you what appears to be an accurate reading.

Having been dragged around these shows by my mum a s a child and young adult i neve rmet anyone who i did not consider to be sincere in their powers and the ability to help people
I also never met one who actually had any power beyond cold reading and it was really amusing, and easy, to give them the wrong signals – nod at lies and look interested at things that are untrue and lead them to talk bollocks about you whilst thinking they are being accurate.

I am very sorry for your loss, We all have a loved one we wish we could still talk to and get messages from them but personally i dont think we can no matter how sincere the messenger is

Houdini had a code word for any seance as he said if anyone could escape death he could – no one ever said the code word when contacting him

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQ4uBqdLaXI[/video]

it wasn’t done face to face, that’s the strange thing

The things in it were very relevant and the girls swears she didn’t divulge any information to the spiritualist

Human fallibility is extremely well documented. When looking at evidence of any phenomenon, we first ask is there any concrete evidence, ‘someone said’ doesn’t make the grade.

I suspect I may have been taken in too easily

Ohhhh 11’es already.. Buscuits anyone?

I’m opening Choc Digestives, Plain, you’re all most welcome to dive right on in.. 😉

I suspect I may have been taken in too easily

I wouldn’t beat yourself up over it though. There’s a reason why these things tend to focus on matters which are closest to our heart – it’s around those which we are most likely to let our better judgment slip from time to time.

I think you are right Peter 🙁

instead of working this morning i’ve been thinking this over and over. The e-mail the girl used doesn’t give any results when typed into google or facebook however I suspect this psychic uses Spokeo (which i’d never heard of until I started trying to work out how she could have done it) to find social media activity by the sender and then make the reply from there. Seems obvious now.

I once had a friend of a friend tell me lots about myself that he couldn’t have known. It was intriguing. I have no idea how he did it, but I’m happy to accept that some are smarter than me, so I don’t loose any sleep over it. Cool trick.

Grantus – it’s a shame that you’ve been caught up in this and that it’s affected you so much. It’s a cruel deceit to play on people who have suffered a loss.

Indeed dont be too hard on yourself we all miss someone and wish/dream

wwaswas – Member
Grantus – it’s a shame that you’ve been caught up in this and that it’s affected you so much. It’s a cruel deceit to play on people who have suffered a loss.

This ^ I find the whole “industry” disgusting, preying on peoples emotions and vulnerabilities. A friend on FB has a BF who claims to be a ghost hunter/medium. As far as I am concerned the only thing he is likely to connect with related to me is a fist pie. Nasty lowlifes.

I’ve had great fun over the years from giving “psychics” false information. Especially when you tell them at the end, in front of an audience.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7pYHN9iC9I[/video]

I’m absolutely gobsmacked it’s legal, but I guess the answer is if you made it illegal, you’d also have to make religions illegal…no bad thing, but no one has the balls unfortunately.