Clairvoyants / Mediums: Legit Or Schitt ?

Mr_Lee_PHD

My friend is into it all. If someone so much as farts unexpectedly, she's ready to try and communicate with it.

I'd love to be convinced or see something I couldn't explain rationally, but thus far I haven't seen anything that has dropped my jaw.

Anyone a solid believer, or been blown away by some paranormal steez ?

Drop some stories y'all..

Junior

I know people who have been firm believers in years and seen both clairvoyants and mediums. I also know a few people who were very anti all this but since losing loved ones have started relating more to paranormal events (mainly along the lines of lights flickering and the like). Personally I don't buy into it for a second but as long as people aren't getting fleeced for every penny or being given guidance that will actually be harmful to how they live their lives I'm happy that it gives them some kind of consolation which is otherwise not on offer.

magpaul

Jimster

That Sally Morgan bird seems good if the show is not rigged. Only because she can be precise with detail, rather than saying "OOhh, I can see someone with a J in their name"... But I am happy not having someone dissect my mind-faeces.

The rest are blatant charlatans. Worse example being Deggsy Accorah. He's >this far from being sectioned.

Jimster

Paul said:

Reminds me of that Duder "Night-before-the-morning-after" photo that allegedly exists.

Mr_Lee_PHD

I remember my bud saying that he went to see this one dude in a hall and he knew things people could never have known having never met people and it was amazing how much detail he could tell people about themselves

.... except most of the people he was revealing all the details about weren't there for the first time... they kept coming back in the hopes of contacting their dead relative, and this guy would regurgitate previous hits he'd had with them (as if he'd never met them before) to wow the newcomers.

I appereciate the effect - thats what makes it so entertaining and mysterious - its just when it draws profit from baiting the false hopes and faiths of the bereaved whilst claiming to be genuine that it makes me wanna go all a-team on they ass.

Rishan

it's all a crock of shit. in hundreds and hundreds of years there is not a single bit of good evidence for any paranormal event. it can all be genuinely explained. i used to believe very strongly, but then i educated myself. check out james randi's website and foundation. skeptic's dictionary etc. shit, just for starters these should tell anyone all they need to know about the paranormal/supernatural. bunkum.

staxwax

Rishan said:

it's all a crock of shit.

Harry Houdini already knew this back in the 20's-

Harry Houdini (1874-1926), whose real name was Erik Weisz, was one of the most famous magicians and escapologists of all time. He was highly sceptical of the many claims made concerning psychic and paranormal phenomena, which were very popular in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He attended hundreds of s??ances for the purposes of his study, and never experienced one he believed genuine. In his book 'Houdini: A Magician Among the Spirits', published in 1924, he described the mediums and psychics whom he revealed as fraudulent, exposing the tricks which had convinced many notable scientists and academics. These included spirit writing, table rapping, spirit manifestations, and levitation. Among those he revealed as frauds was the famous medium Mina Crandon, and his exposures led to a public split with his former friend Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, a firm believer. The book is a fascinating account of superstition and gullibility.

Derren Brown did a whole show where he convinced a whole bunch of paranormal/psychic experts he had paranormal abilities, using trickery and cold reading.

Derren Brown the so-called Messiah

Flomotion

The writer Norman Lewis' nutty parents ran a spiritualist chapel and he sat through endless seances and sessions with mediums and even as a kid knew it was all bollocks. Because he could see through all their tricks they decided that he must have 'the gift', too. He had some fun with it though and scared the shit out of a couple of the bigger frauds.

Proof of the afterlife right here: http://rsw.cc/

Unknown

Total, absolute, unmitigated shit.

Mr_Lee_PHD

Most of the mediumistic stunts done today can be achieved using the knowledge dropped in these two:

Duderonomy

This one had me in LOLs, ROFFs, LMAOs etc.















"I'm getting the word... Nonce"

jjfad027

I used to wait tables at a soul food place in LA. One day a guy claiming to be psychic came in and offered to tell fortunes to us or customers. Bossman/chef came out and told the dude "If you really psychic you woulda known I don't want your damn ass up in here". Dude left.

Duderonomy

Junior said:

as long as people aren't getting fleeced for every penny or being given guidance that will actually be harmful to how they live their lives I'm happy that it gives them some kind of consolation which is otherwise not on offer.

Religion has so much to answer for.

Duderonomy

J i m s t e r said:

Paul said:

Reminds me of that Duder "Night-before-the-morning-after" photo that allegedly exists.

Cross me palm with gold and I'll look into the cristal for you:

I see blue. Sky blue. It's going... going downwards? I see numbers. 8, and a 0, and a tall Frenchman waiving his arms in delight.

It's blurring over now. Did that mean anything for you?

Duderonomy

Mr_Lee_PHD said:

13 steps? Try 3.

1, move to Manchester.
2, drop a pill.
3, listen to Oasis.




FOOKIN' MENTAL!

Mr_Lee_PHD

Rishan said:

James Randi

Dude is a legend.

I find it crazy how he has very publicly exposed punks like Uri Geller and Peter Popoff beyond all shadow of a doubt and yet they are still in business making a killing flossing their fake-ass schitt.

He has had an award of $1m on offer to anyone willing to demonstrate genuine paranormal ability under controlled conditions for years and nobody has ever won the money.

Junior

Duderonomy said:

Junior said:

as long as people aren't getting fleeced for every penny or being given guidance that will actually be harmful to how they live their lives I'm happy that it gives them some kind of consolation which is otherwise not on offer.

Religion has so much to answer for.

You might well think that; I couldn't possibly comment.

batmon

Your votes count.

DJ_Enki

Mr_Lee_PHD said:

Peter Popoff

This would've been my MC name if I were in a third-string Wu-Tang affiliate group.

LaserWolf

Before I tell my story let me suggest that proof of contact with the other world is all around us everyday.

Have you ever seen a cat just starring at the wall or somewhere where there is nothing there? Cats can see spirits.

Has your dog ever started barking like crazy when there is nothing there? Dogs can hear spirits.

Has your phone ever rung, but when you answered there was no one there? Spirits.

Ever put a slice of cake in the fridge for later, but when you went to eat it it was gone? Spirits.

I could go on and on.

grandpa_shig

i had a friend in college that was a witch and a clairvoyant. i cant really say i believe any of it, but i can attest to my friends magic.

normally i would make fun of someone like her. white chick with dreads, earrings all up in her face, tattoos, worked at the co-op, heavy set and overly sincere to a fault. kind of the archetypical mid 90s alt-rock chick. she even followed a band, crash worship, which, for those of you that dont know, achieved cult status among the weirdo witch/warlock set in san diego. in any case, i was completely enamored with her and her beliefs. mainly because no amount of jokes or wisecracks could break her faith, and because her attitude towards it all was as if it was totally normal. not like she was some scenester witch. she was just living life and just happened to be a witch. i dont even know how to explain it, anyways, some shit i learned.

1. you cant will yourself a witch or warlock. a "mentor" will find you and begin to train you in the ways of wicken or some such.

2. there are indeed spells and potion, mostly in the form of herbal bubble baths of some sort.

3. its not a prerequisite, but being an ex-acid eater seems to be the norm.

yes my friend claimed she could read minds. NO she could never prove this to me. but she was more into telecommunicating(or whatever speaking with each other with just your minds is called) and i think astral projection (or whatever its called when you spiritually teleport to another location). she had a boyfriend from portland (SHOCKER!) whom she met at a crash worship witch orgy thing. she would speak to and visit him nightly. they would also have mental sex or what i like to call MASTURBATION. no but really she claimed that they could have sex on that mental spiritual level every night. anyways, at some point they broke up and one day she came in to class crying cuz her ex-bf had mentally mind-raped her spirit or whatevers. now heres the weird part. the way they have mind sex is to take your spirit hand and shove it into the back of your partners head where the skull and the neckbone meet. she kept making everyone feel that part of her head and it was indeed kind of soft. like softer than usual. not that i believed it, but she was hysterical. anyways, i believe her mentor saved her by making some sort of bubble batch concoction.

so fast forward about 3 years, and im out of college, and nowhere near san diego. one night i have this sex dream about my witch friend. mind you, i hadnt thought of her in as many years nor did i find her sexy. but there it was in my head. a sex dream. and i got hella freaked out that she did some sort of vulcan mind meld thing and sexed me in my dreams.

LaserWolf

Truth now.

When I was 19 I lived with some people who were much older than me. Like 26.
This one couple in the house went to see a psychic in West Virgina on a regular basis.
They would talk to her about any decision they were planning, problems, life's questions...

Eventually they talked me into going to see her because she was so amazing.
She had taken over the family visit from her mother, who still told fortunes on occasions.
She, her mother and her sons all lived on some trailers in the mountains about a mile past Harpers Ferry.
To get your fortune told you had to get there by 7am. The cars would be lined up in the driveway, and she only saw a limited number of people a day, starting at 8am.
I might not have the times exactly right, but me and another roommate started driving out there in the middle of the night so we could get in line to see this woman who had the gift.

After the sun came up she walk out to all the cars and say good morning, where are from, how are you, blah blah blah, and let you know you are number 7 today and she will see you about 10:30.

So I get to see her, she is friendly, asks basic getting to know you questions, looks at my palm, asks about my roommates who are her regulars, blah blah blah.

She told me all kinds of accurate stuff. Stuff about me being like my dad (at 19 I didn't believe it) told me not to ride motorcycles (always good advice) told me I wasn't going to get a job I had just applied for in Boston (at Rounder Records) and told me I was going to move out West (I told her my siblings were in Santa Fe) and more stuff, that either was true, or turned out to be true.

I found it very creepy. Did not like being told my future.
Bottom line, she had very good people skills and powers of observation and good common sense that she shared with people. In Appalachia it is called The Gift.

As for contact with the dead. Many people, including myself, have been visited in various ways by loved ones who have died. There is no way prove, or replicate, these events. If you have not experienced one and someone described one to you, you would discount it.

walter_chron

LaserWolf said:

Before I tell my story let me suggest that proof of contact with the other world is all around us everyday.

Have you ever seen a cat just starring at the wall or somewhere where there is nothing there? Cats can see spirits.

Has your dog ever started barking like crazy when there is nothing there? Dogs can hear spirits.

Has your phone ever rung, but when you answered there was no one there? Spirits.

Ever put a slice of cake in the fridge for later, but when you went to eat it it was gone? Spirits.

I could go on and on.

Mr_Lee_PHD

Anyone ever f'ed with one of these ?

Kinetic

Rishan said:

it's all a crock of shit.

Couldn't have put it better myself

DuttyBabylon

Mr_Lee_PHD said:

Most of the mediumistic stunts done today can be achieved using the knowledge dropped in these two:

the_dL

i think as with most things the majority of those that practice this are nothing more than frauds/scammers/scenesters, but i also wont completely rule out the possibility that there are people that genuinely are able to preform some of these acts. My dad (the biggest skeptic you would ever meet) once told me a story about a clairvoyant that lived next door to my mum when they first met, when introduced to this lady one evening the lady offered to tell my father his future, my dad obliged thinking it was all a big joke. The lady told my father that she could sense he was not taking her seriously, and my father confessed that he didnt believe in clairvoyants. The lady then whispered in my dads ear 2 words that sent chills down his spine, Jan 56. At this stage my dad had only been dating my mother for a few months and they had never discussed the death of my fathers youngest sister, Jan, who had died in 1956. This same lady also told my Aunt that her daughter would be saved from death in a foreign country by a stranger which came true, that the family's great, great grandmother had been killed in a fire (also true) and a bunch of other stuff that came true.

cove

is this the "do you believe in God" thread?

hauntingly similar.

Mr_Lee_PHD

cove said:

is this the "do you believe in God" thread?

hauntingly similar.

Quoting your good self in the "Do You Believe In God" thread:

cove said:

Of course not.
Gimme a break.

cove

I'm sorry if that's offensive...(the question is borderline offensive to me).
i just answered as best as i could.