How do psychic mediums know stuff about you - Page 3

AmyW · 24th August 2019, 03:02 AM

Susan, I am spiritual but I don't believe in the super natural. What I believe in is that when we die we die. We are merely flesh and blood and once gone very much gone. The irrationality of religion has only caused me confusion and a feeling of lack of control. I have been previously brain washed with talk of God and the devil, it's just madness and so I seek to follow my own path. Religion is madness in disguise in my opinion.

kayle · 24th August 2019, 03:37 AM

here (E-Europe, but surely elsewhere too) psychics often use this ''I was in coma when I was 7', 'I had NDE when 13' 'I was struck by lightning', and the like ---and after that I started hearing/seeing angels, spirits, god blah blah'. uh, and then there is always a granma who had abilities too (not sure whether all those granmas had had been struck by lightning too).

Bikewer · 24th August 2019, 05:28 AM

Peter Hurkos claimed to have gained his “powers” after falling off a roof.....

SusanB-M1 · 24th August 2019, 05:55 AM

Originally Posted by AmyW

Haha Axxman there are a few hits actually! Weirdly enough I have just been to buy a birthday present for someone, that's mad! I have also just had a birthday, last month and yes I like chocolate ice cream, it's so easy!
I too am trying to get out of religion, these mediums seem to believe in a god, what sort of god and how can their god allow such upset.
Susan, I was once a Christian and had been very previously brain washed, I am seeking a future which entails my own decisions and control.

And that's worth every minute of effort you put into it. You can like me enjoy the later parts of your life much more if you keep on reading and listening to those who are clear and understandable about their non-belief. I was lucky that my religious learning was fairly laid back, not intense.

Read 'Wonders of the solar system' and Wonders of the Universe' by Prof Brian Cox. Written in a clear straightforward and very interesting way, he does not go on about religious beliefs being ridiculous or anything. he simply sets out the facts and if after reading them. anyone still believes there is a God, any sort of god!, there is a need for further reading!!!

JesseCuster · 24th August 2019, 06:41 AM

Originally Posted by AmyW

Hello All,

I have been speaking with a medium who said she has a message to give me from my mum. I don't know how she knew my mum has passed away.
I am a skeptic but how can they know things about you when they haven't met you?
She also said that she is an evidential medium and can give me evidence by giving me a message that only me and my mum would know.... pretty freaked out.

What exactly is there to be freaked out about here?

She claims to have a message from your mum and claims that she can give you evidence only you and your mum would know. But what evidence has she actually provided that would cause you to freak out?

AmyW · 24th August 2019, 07:39 AM

Have psychics ever been scientifically tested and if so what were the results?

AmyW · 24th August 2019, 07:42 AM

None at all Jesse, just if my mum were on the 'otherside' and how she can claim to bring evidential evidence.... that's a very confident stance from her

AmyW · 24th August 2019, 07:43 AM

Thank you Susan, I have just purchased a book recommended from this forum, the rubber duck book:-)

8enotto · 24th August 2019, 08:21 AM

Originally Posted by AmyW

Haha Axxman there are a few hits actually! Weirdly enough I have just been to buy a birthday present for someone, that's mad! I have also just had a birthday, last month and yes I like chocolate ice cream, it's so easy!
I too am trying to get out of religion, these mediums seem to believe in a god, what sort of god and how can their god allow such upset.
Susan, I was once a Christian and had been very previously brain washed, I am seeking a future which entails my own decisions and control.

The last line is the most important. You decide your future as best possible.
No Madame Woo needs access to your bank account to live a full life.

Congratulations, you have seen the last hurdle to jump.

Pope130 · 24th August 2019, 08:24 AM

Originally Posted by AmyW

Have psychics ever been scientifically tested and if so what were the results?

Numerous times. They have never shown abilities that stand up to rigorous testing. You might look up Harry Houdini's work debunking mediums, it points up one of the problems with scientists testing psychics. Scientists tend to accept that, while witnesses may be mistaken in their observations, they are honest in reporting what they recall. A magician knows that people can intentionally deceive.

Nay_Sayer · 24th August 2019, 08:34 AM

Originally Posted by AmyW

No the psychic only knew my first name :-(

:

:
To answer the op as already done in a far more robust manner than I;

They Don't.

JesseCuster · 24th August 2019, 09:02 AM

Originally Posted by AmyW

None at all Jesse, just if my mum were on the 'otherside' and how she can claim to bring evidential evidence....

Easy. Anyone can claim to have evidence of anything they want.

I, for example, know what this weekend's Euromillions lottery numbers are going to be. How can I have confidence in such a claim?

Scorpion · 24th August 2019, 09:47 AM

Originally Posted by JesseCuster

Easy. Anyone can claim to have evidence of anything they want.

I, for example, know what this weekend's Euromillions lottery numbers are going to be. How can I have confidence in such a claim?

I try contacting angels that can see into the future and try to get them to give me the winning numbers by telepathy. They did this for me once in 1998 when I got five numbers, and once again some years later when I knew I had four numbers on the lotto before the draw.

As it happens I got two numbers and two lucky stars on yesterdays euro millions. But all I won was a crummy £9. I will have to try and concentrate harder when picking the numbers next week.

But in truth I don't think the angels will ever give me a big win because it would be bad karma. They gave me five numbers once, when I really needed the money, but now I don't.

JesseCuster · 24th August 2019, 10:45 AM

Originally Posted by Scorpion

I try contacting angels that can see into the future and try to get them to give me the winning numbers by telepathy. They did this for me once in 1998 when I got five numbers, and once again some years later when I knew I had four numbers on the lotto before the draw.

As it happens I got two numbers and two lucky stars on yesterdays euro millions. But all I won was a crummy £9. I will have to try and concentrate harder when picking the numbers next week.

But in truth I don't think the angels will ever give me a big win because it would be bad karma. They gave me five numbers once, when I really needed the money, but now I don't.

Cool story bro.

P.J. Denyer · 24th August 2019, 12:00 PM

Originally Posted by AmyW

Richardo can you stop posting please and stop trying to convert me to your irrational beliefs

Welcome to the forum. Sceptisim is about recognising the difference between facts and falsehoods, your post above is a good indication you won't have too much trouble with that!

P.J. Denyer · 24th August 2019, 12:06 PM

Originally Posted by wasapi

Welcome Amy! When I first read her communication to you, my initial focus was on the poor spelling, sentence structure, and other signs. At first I thought perhaps English isn't her first language, but then I realized it is.

To me, I hear the ignorance in her words. I would like to be more sympathetic, but she is stupid, and is trying to make a buck. Sometimes I look at believers sites, and found that to be common. They believe in "spells" and all of that crap, and they are simply dumber then dirt and ignorant beyond belief.

Glad you caught this one!

Some phishing emails have deliberate, sometimes quite glaring, mistakes. Weeding out people who pick up on them early saves time later and allows them to concentrate on the most likely victims.

JimOfAllTrades · 24th August 2019, 12:37 PM

Originally Posted by AmyW

Haha Axxman there are a few hits actually! Weirdly enough I have just been to buy a birthday present for someone, that's mad! I have also just had a birthday, last month and yes I like chocolate ice cream, it's so easy!

And there are simple ways to make this kind of thing seem even more impressive.

For example, you could send 100,000 emails (not at all hard to do these days) in ten groups of 10,000 each. Your email tells every person in each group that you know that they recently experienced one of the items from a list like Axxman300's, but you pick a different list item for each group. You tell everyone in group one you know they just lost their job, tell everyone in group two you know they have a brother named George, tell group three you know their mother died, etc.

With statements of these kinds they will be correct (or near enough to correct) for part of each group. Maybe only a tiny percentage, or more likely something like 5% to 20%, maybe more depending on the statement. Out of those people a few will be intrigued enough to respond.

Now you take the people who responded in each group and you break those up into subgroups and send each of these subgroups a second prediction from the list. Again a different prediction for each subgroup. There will be many fewer people in each subgroup than the 10,000 in the original group, but you now have two things going for you: You have a group a people who have shown that they're willing to respond, and to whom you've already given one accurate prediction. So even though you send many fewer emails, you will likely get a higher percentage of responses in this round of emails. In sales (and believe me this is sales) those people are called several things: high value leads, hot prospects, great potentials, and less charitably, marks.

Now you get some responses from each of your hundred subgroups, and you do the same thing again. You break the respondents up into smaller subgroups and send each of those 1000 subgroups a third prediction.

Continue doing the same thing with each batch of respondents. Start with enough emails and go through five or six rounds and you will have a handful of basically two types of respondents: those who will swear you are a true psychic because you've given them five or six perfectly correct predictions, and those who are just trying to screw with you because they know the gag.

But how impressed are those handful of true believers? And since they've already responded several times, how likely would they seem to be to go for an in person reading? You'll definitely be able to get some of them to spend some money.

And that's with no expertise, no cold or hot reading, no skill required at all, really. Just playing the numbers. Imagine what someone with skills
or experience in the "industry" could do in addition to that to make it even more impressive.

Ethan Thane Athen · 24th August 2019, 01:43 PM

Originally Posted by AmyW

Thanks Segnosaur, this is reassuring :-) I think I am naive to these 'mediums' and the tactics they use. I didn't think about public records

There was no need for public records. As others, and even you yourself, have pointed out, the email said 'if' your mother was dead - in a way that allowed you to rush to fill the blank (it's natural, don't feel bad about it, we're wired to make connections). The medium did not know! Had your mother been alive you would have seen nothing wrong either and may even have taken the statement as proof that the medium knew she was alive because the 'if' meant she was talking hypothetically. It's a classic tactic - infer something in an ambiguous way and the client leaps to confirm a hit because we're always interpreting things as they pertain to ourselves.

I used to read Tarot cards (for fun, always aware it was bollocks) and was amazed what people would tell you and claim astonishment that you knew - quick, and real example, after pointing at a card, I only got as far as saying 'This represents a male authority figure' before my friend immediately exclaimed 'That's my father, my god how did you know about my father?!' They carried on feeding me stuff about their father - who I didn't even know was dead until they referred to him in the past tense, and after the reading kept going on about how spooky it was that I knew so much and how I seemed to have a gift even though I didn't believe. It took me ages to talk them through what had happened and how I was just saying vague things that they leapt to interpret and add detail to and then I just fed it right back seconds later. I don't think they were convinced even then and this was someone who claimed not to believe before the reading. I stopped doing it shortly after that and have only brought the cards out since during a d&d game for a gypsy encounter - even then the players remarked how surprising it was how the cards seemed to fit what then happened... Of course they did, I'm the sodding Dungeon Master, I knew what was going to happen and the cards all have Barnum type meanings that were easy to fit!

Norman Alexander · 24th August 2019, 02:30 PM

How easy is it to get your info? VERY easy.

Does your FaceBook page show your first name and the town you live in? For example, you could be Amy who lives in Little Whinging. From there, it's pretty easy.

A quick check of the local town newspaper online (e.g. the Little Whinging Grumbler) may turn up a funeral notice for: "Agatha Smith, aged 92, departed 31st June, beloved mother of Amy and Beowulf." From that info alone (your maiden name was Amy Smith) she can find if you are married and thus your married name, date of marriage and your husband's name. She can also estimate your age (you were likely born when your mother was in her twenties, and married in your twenties), and so on. From there she can get a reasonable family tree compiled. You or any of your family on Ancestry.com? Even easier.

Now with your name and probably your address as well, a fairly complete personal history can be built up. Are you a member of any local groups or societies such as the parish council? Toastmasters? A political party? Chances are your home address and phone number(s) will be left in public among those lists. Bingo.

There are many ways to find out all about you without having to ask you or skulk around following you. THIS is what they teach in "Mediumship School".

But by far the easiest and fastest way to find out about you is to pay a medium online with a credit card. You are quite literally handing over your full name and billing address. And it takes only a few minutes and is all legal. Which is why mediums almost always say there is a long queue of people for their services and there will be a few days or weeks before they can talk to you. There isn't; they are doing a little digging to get a few pertinent facts so they sound convincing on the phone, like they already know something you didn't tell them.

So all you do is add this "background check" to cold reading and they can put on a VERY convincing act very easily. All you have to do is keep handing over the money!

Loss Leader · 24th August 2019, 02:51 PM

Originally Posted by AmyW

Hello All,

I have been speaking with a medium who said she has a message to give me from my mum. I don't know how she knew my mum has passed away.
I am a skeptic but how can they know things about you when they haven't met you?
She also said that she is an evidential medium and can give me evidence by giving me a message that only me and my mum would know.... pretty freaked out.

Within hours - hours - of my mother being moved to a nursing home (non-communicative, somnolent, advanced memory loss), my father and I were receiving emails from psychics with messages from my mother.

Disgusting criminals, the lot of them.

Scorpion · 24th August 2019, 03:19 PM

Originally Posted by Norman Alexander

There are many ways to find out all about you without having to ask you or skulk around following you. THIS is what they teach in "Mediumship School".

No, it isn't. I have sat in two separate developing circles in the 1970's, and they teach you how to open your aura to the spirit world, and how to tune yourself to receive spirit communication. I did not develop myself, but a friend of mine did, and I watched him become a medium in front of my eyes. His name was Trevor Williams, and as far as I know he is still giving messages in spiritualist churches to this day. He may still attend Dartford spiritualist church, but I don't know, as I moved away from there a long time ago.

EHocking · 24th August 2019, 04:24 PM

Originally Posted by Scorpion

I try contacting angels that can see into the future and try to get them to give me the winning numbers by telepathy. They did this for me once in 1998 when I got five numbers, and once again some years later when I knew I had four numbers on the lotto before the draw.

As it happens I got two numbers and two lucky stars on yesterdays euro millions. But all I won was a crummy £9. I will have to try and concentrate harder when picking the numbers next week.

But in truth I don't think the angels will ever give me a big win because it would be bad karma. They gave me five numbers once, when I really needed the money, but now I don't.

This is classic confirmation bias.

Any win is attributed to benevolent angels.
Any loss is attributed to benevolent angels teaching you about “karma”.

A win-win for believers and exactly the personality that self-proclaimed “spiritualists” and “spirit” centres prey upon.

Scorpion · 24th August 2019, 05:41 PM

Originally Posted by EHocking

This is classic confirmation bias.

Any win is attributed to benevolent angels.
Any loss is attributed to benevolent angels teaching you about “karma”.

A win-win for believers and exactly the personality that self-proclaimed “spiritualists” and “spirit” centres prey upon.

Maybe you have not read my story. A female voice in my head told me I would win on the lottery one hour before the draw. An hour later I got five numbers. I only ever heard that voice twice. First time was a couple of days earlier, when it told me "help is coming from an unexpected source ". Then before the draw it said " You won" I have done the lottery since it started, and that's the only time I ever heard a voice tell me I won.

I think it was an angel of karma, because the spirits of my dead relatives would not suddenly be able to see into the future just because they had entered the spirit world. Also they would not be allowed to interfere with my karma even if they could see the numbers. So it was probably an angel of karma who gave me a break when I really needed one.

welshdean · 24th August 2019, 05:47 PM

Hi Amy,
While reading this thread, I've had a few messages through from the other side...
You have a scar on your leg, knee or thereabouts, from a childhood accident.
You had a pet that was very special to you in the late 70s or early 80s.
You used to love it when your dad used to pinch his thumb through his first two fingers and say that he had got your nose.
And bizarrely, you used to rush home or make sure you were in and ready to watch 'Moonlighting'.
I don't mean to freak you out, but hope you had a happy 44th birthday recently.

All guesses, how did I do?

Btw, nobody can speak to the dead, well, we all can, but they will not talk back to us. Remember that and never give the bastards any money. My sister in law has been paying £100 a month for 12 years now to 'stay in touch' with her dead son. They are bastards, evil ******* bastards, every last one of them, stay well away.

I had a digital copy of Ian Rowlands book, I'll see if I can dig it out.

Nay_Sayer · 24th August 2019, 08:15 PM

Originally Posted by AmyW

Richardo can you stop posting please and stop trying to convert me to your irrational beliefs

This was what I meant to quote with the clapping emotes.

Pixel42 · 25th August 2019, 12:37 AM

Originally Posted by AmyW

Have psychics ever been scientifically tested and if so what were the results?

This forum was originally the JREF (James Randi Educational Foundation) forum, a member took it over when Randi retired. JREF offered a prize of a million dollars to anyone who could produce scientific evidence of any paranormal phenomenon. For a few years a member of JREF staff started a thread for each applicant and documented the progress of the claims, that subforum is still here:

http://www.internationalskeptics.com...splay.php?f=43

If you read the threads you'll find that most didn't get as far as actually taking a test, but there are few who did. This psychic, for example:

http://www.internationalskeptics.com...d.php?t=118952

The prize was available for decades and was still unclaimed when JREF was wound up.

AmyW · 25th August 2019, 12:46 AM

Thank you so much everyone for your comments, how do you quote what people have said to reply to?
What if you were to pay by PayPal can they then retrieve your information?
Welshdean none were right lol, try again :-)

Let's see, here is my reading....

You live in Wales and often the weather is cold hahaha!

AmyW · 25th August 2019, 12:52 AM

Oh wow Pixal, so no one ever claimed that prize?
So a psychic has never passed a scientific test? They are very cunning aren't they. All of your replies have been awesome, thank you so much.

Pixel42 · 25th August 2019, 12:53 AM

Originally Posted by AmyW

how do you quote what people have said to reply to?

To quote a post simply click on the 'Quote' button in its bottom right hand corner.

You can edit out the rest so you're only quoting the bit you want to reply to.

AmyW · 25th August 2019, 12:56 AM

Scorpion are you a spiritualist, I don't understand why you are on here? I am confused.

AmyW · 25th August 2019, 12:58 AM

Originally Posted by EHocking

This is classic confirmation bias.

Any win is attributed to benevolent angels.
Any loss is attributed to benevolent angels teaching you about “karma”.

A win-win for believers and exactly the personality that self-proclaimed “spiritualists” and “spirit” centres prey upon.

Awesome come back and so true :-)

AmyW · 25th August 2019, 12:59 AM

Originally Posted by Pixel42

To quote a post simply click on the 'Quote' button in its bottom right hand corner.

You can edit out the rest so you're only quoting the bit you want to reply to.

Thank you Pixel :-)

Pixel42 · 25th August 2019, 01:02 AM

Originally Posted by AmyW

So a psychic has never passed a scientific test?

There are some "scientists" who claim otherwise, but they need to ignore the scientific method to produce "positive" results. Probably the best known is Dean Radin:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_Radin

AmyW · 25th August 2019, 01:07 AM

Originally Posted by Pixel42

There are some "scientists" who claim otherwise, but they need to ignore the scientific method to produce "positive" results. Probably the best known is Dean Radin:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_Radin

I guess these people are already believers, like Christian 'scientist's. I wonder how they put forth their tests. If mediums were really true police forces would use them, they would tell the world of any impending doom (e.g an expendent earthquake)

Pixel42 · 25th August 2019, 01:08 AM

BTW there are plenty of other prizes still available, JREF isn't/wasn't the only organisation which offered one, though I believe it was the only one which offered that much.

AmyW · 25th August 2019, 02:10 AM

I have spoken with many mediums over the past few years, when my mum died in 2013 I went to one. I guess they are so convincing that they make you go back for more. Some of these mediums are genuinely nice and this does throw me, which is why I ask do some mediums truly believe they have a 'gift'?

Pixel42 · 25th August 2019, 02:24 AM

It's just as easy to fool yourself into thinking you have a gift as it is to fool other people. Easier, probably.

Cosmic Yak · 25th August 2019, 02:24 AM

Originally Posted by Scorpion

I try contacting angels that can see into the future and try to get them to give me the winning numbers by telepathy. They did this for me once in 1998 when I got five numbers, and once again some years later when I knew I had four numbers on the lotto before the draw.

As it happens I got two numbers and two lucky stars on yesterdays euro millions. But all I won was a crummy £9. I will have to try and concentrate harder when picking the numbers next week.

But in truth I don't think the angels will ever give me a big win because it would be bad karma. They gave me five numbers once, when I really needed the money, but now I don't.

Every time you repeat this story ( which is many, many times), it raises more questions than it answers.
You say this time that you don't need the money, but you play the lottery anyway.
You also say that angels (another embellishment, not AFAIK mentioned in the numerous previous tellings and retellings of this fable) wanted you to win, but now they don't, but you play anyway, even though you don't need the money, and you won't win a large sum.
Do you consider this to be a productive use of your time and money?

AmyW · 25th August 2019, 03:11 AM

Bad karma scorpion, you could ask the angels and give it to charity so how is that karma if you were to give it to those in need?

Dave Rogers · 25th August 2019, 03:35 AM

Originally Posted by JimOfAllTrades

And there are simple ways to make this kind of thing seem even more impressive.

For example, you could send 100,000 emails (not at all hard to do these days) in ten groups of 10,000 each [remainder of explanation snipped for brevity].

There's a science fiction story, "The Kingdom of O'Ryan," by Bob Shaw, that's based on exactly this idea as applied to racing tips.

Dave

24th August 2019, 03:02 AM	#81
AmyW Thinker Join Date: Aug 2019 Posts: 154	Susan, I am spiritual but I don't believe in the super natural. What I believe in is that when we die we die. We are merely flesh and blood and once gone very much gone. The irrationality of religion has only caused me confusion and a feeling of lack of control. I have been previously brain washed with talk of God and the devil, it's just madness and so I seek to follow my own path. Religion is madness in disguise in my opinion.
AmyW Thinker Join Date: Aug 2019 Posts: 154

24th August 2019, 03:37 AM	#82
kayle Critical Thinker Join Date: Aug 2016 Posts: 334	here (E-Europe, but surely elsewhere too) psychics often use this ''I was in coma when I was 7', 'I had NDE when 13' 'I was struck by lightning', and the like ---and after that I started hearing/seeing angels, spirits, god blah blah'. uh, and then there is always a granma who had abilities too (not sure whether all those granmas had had been struck by lightning too).
kayle Critical Thinker Join Date: Aug 2016 Posts: 334

24th August 2019, 05:55 AM	#84
SusanB-M1 Incurable Optimist Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 3,642	Originally Posted by AmyW Haha Axxman there are a few hits actually! Weirdly enough I have just been to buy a birthday present for someone, that's mad! I have also just had a birthday, last month and yes I like chocolate ice cream, it's so easy! I too am trying to get out of religion, these mediums seem to believe in a god, what sort of god and how can their god allow such upset. Susan, I was once a Christian and had been very previously brain washed, I am seeking a future which entails my own decisions and control. And that's worth every minute of effort you put into it. You can like me enjoy the later parts of your life much more if you keep on reading and listening to those who are clear and understandable about their non-belief. I was lucky that my religious learning was fairly laid back, not intense. Read 'Wonders of the solar system' and Wonders of the Universe' by Prof Brian Cox. Written in a clear straightforward and very interesting way, he does not go on about religious beliefs being ridiculous or anything. he simply sets out the facts and if after reading them. anyone still believes there is a God, any sort of god!, there is a need for further reading!!!
	Last edited by SusanB-M1; 24th August 2019 at 05:57 AM.

24th August 2019, 07:39 AM	#86
AmyW Thinker Join Date: Aug 2019 Posts: 154	Have psychics ever been scientifically tested and if so what were the results?
AmyW Thinker Join Date: Aug 2019 Posts: 154

24th August 2019, 07:42 AM	#87
AmyW Thinker Join Date: Aug 2019 Posts: 154	None at all Jesse, just if my mum were on the 'otherside' and how she can claim to bring evidential evidence.... that's a very confident stance from her
AmyW Thinker Join Date: Aug 2019 Posts: 154

24th August 2019, 05:28 AM	#83
Bikewer Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: St. Louis, Mo. Posts: 12,607	Peter Hurkos claimed to have gained his “powers” after falling off a roof.....

24th August 2019, 06:41 AM	#85
JesseCuster Graduate Poster Join Date: May 2016 Posts: 1,020	Originally Posted by AmyW Hello All, I have been speaking with a medium who said she has a message to give me from my mum. I don't know how she knew my mum has passed away. I am a skeptic but how can they know things about you when they haven't met you? She also said that she is an evidential medium and can give me evidence by giving me a message that only me and my mum would know.... pretty freaked out. What exactly is there to be freaked out about here? She claims to have a message from your mum and claims that she can give you evidence only you and your mum would know. But what evidence has she actually provided that would cause you to freak out?

24th August 2019, 07:43 AM	#88
AmyW Thinker Join Date: Aug 2019 Posts: 154	Thank you Susan, I have just purchased a book recommended from this forum, the rubber duck book:-)
AmyW Thinker Join Date: Aug 2019 Posts: 154

24th August 2019, 08:21 AM	#89
8enotto Graduate Poster Join Date: Dec 2018 Location: Mexico Posts: 1,405	Originally Posted by AmyW Haha Axxman there are a few hits actually! Weirdly enough I have just been to buy a birthday present for someone, that's mad! I have also just had a birthday, last month and yes I like chocolate ice cream, it's so easy! I too am trying to get out of religion, these mediums seem to believe in a god, what sort of god and how can their god allow such upset. Susan, I was once a Christian and had been very previously brain washed, I am seeking a future which entails my own decisions and control. The last line is the most important. You decide your future as best possible. No Madame Woo needs access to your bank account to live a full life. Congratulations, you have seen the last hurdle to jump.

24th August 2019, 08:24 AM	#90
Pope130 Illuminator Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Oregon Posts: 3,247	Originally Posted by AmyW Have psychics ever been scientifically tested and if so what were the results? Numerous times. They have never shown abilities that stand up to rigorous testing. You might look up Harry Houdini's work debunking mediums, it points up one of the problems with scientists testing psychics. Scientists tend to accept that, while witnesses may be mistaken in their observations, they are honest in reporting what they recall. A magician knows that people can intentionally deceive.

24th August 2019, 08:34 AM	#91
Nay_Sayer I say nay! Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Long Island Posts: 3,777	Originally Posted by AmyW No the psychic only knew my first name :-( : : : : : : : To answer the op as already done in a far more robust manner than I; They Don't.
	__________________ I am 100% confident all psychics and mediums are frauds. If you see a Nazi. Egg them Last edited by Nay_Sayer; 24th August 2019 at 08:39 AM.

24th August 2019, 09:02 AM	#92
JesseCuster Graduate Poster Join Date: May 2016 Posts: 1,020	Originally Posted by AmyW None at all Jesse, just if my mum were on the 'otherside' and how she can claim to bring evidential evidence.... Easy. Anyone can claim to have evidence of anything they want. I, for example, know what this weekend's Euromillions lottery numbers are going to be. How can I have confidence in such a claim?

24th August 2019, 09:47 AM	#93
Scorpion Master Poster Join Date: Feb 2013 Posts: 2,250	Originally Posted by JesseCuster Easy. Anyone can claim to have evidence of anything they want. I, for example, know what this weekend's Euromillions lottery numbers are going to be. How can I have confidence in such a claim? I try contacting angels that can see into the future and try to get them to give me the winning numbers by telepathy. They did this for me once in 1998 when I got five numbers, and once again some years later when I knew I had four numbers on the lotto before the draw. As it happens I got two numbers and two lucky stars on yesterdays euro millions. But all I won was a crummy £9. I will have to try and concentrate harder when picking the numbers next week. But in truth I don't think the angels will ever give me a big win because it would be bad karma. They gave me five numbers once, when I really needed the money, but now I don't.
Scorpion Master Poster Join Date: Feb 2013 Posts: 2,250	__________________ You see many stars in the sky at night, but not when the sun rises. Can you therefore say there are no stars in the heavens during the day? O man because you cannot find God in the days of your ignorance, say not that there is no God. Sri Ramakrishna Even in the valley of the shadow of death two and two do not make six. Leo Tolstoy

24th August 2019, 10:45 AM	#94
JesseCuster Graduate Poster Join Date: May 2016 Posts: 1,020	Originally Posted by Scorpion I try contacting angels that can see into the future and try to get them to give me the winning numbers by telepathy. They did this for me once in 1998 when I got five numbers, and once again some years later when I knew I had four numbers on the lotto before the draw. As it happens I got two numbers and two lucky stars on yesterdays euro millions. But all I won was a crummy £9. I will have to try and concentrate harder when picking the numbers next week. But in truth I don't think the angels will ever give me a big win because it would be bad karma. They gave me five numbers once, when I really needed the money, but now I don't. Cool story bro.

24th August 2019, 12:00 PM	#95
P.J. Denyer Philosopher Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 6,217	Originally Posted by AmyW Richardo can you stop posting please and stop trying to convert me to your irrational beliefs Welcome to the forum. Sceptisim is about recognising the difference between facts and falsehoods, your post above is a good indication you won't have too much trouble with that!
P.J. Denyer Philosopher Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 6,217	__________________ "I know my brain cannot tell me what to think." - Scorpion "Nebulous means Nebulous" - Adam Hills

24th August 2019, 12:06 PM	#96
P.J. Denyer Philosopher Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 6,217	Originally Posted by wasapi Welcome Amy! When I first read her communication to you, my initial focus was on the poor spelling, sentence structure, and other signs. At first I thought perhaps English isn't her first language, but then I realized it is. To me, I hear the ignorance in her words. I would like to be more sympathetic, but she is stupid, and is trying to make a buck. Sometimes I look at believers sites, and found that to be common. They believe in "spells" and all of that crap, and they are simply dumber then dirt and ignorant beyond belief. Glad you caught this one! Some phishing emails have deliberate, sometimes quite glaring, mistakes. Weeding out people who pick up on them early saves time later and allows them to concentrate on the most likely victims.
P.J. Denyer Philosopher Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 6,217	__________________ "I know my brain cannot tell me what to think." - Scorpion "Nebulous means Nebulous" - Adam Hills

24th August 2019, 12:37 PM	#97
JimOfAllTrades Muse Join Date: Aug 2011 Posts: 575	Originally Posted by AmyW Haha Axxman there are a few hits actually! Weirdly enough I have just been to buy a birthday present for someone, that's mad! I have also just had a birthday, last month and yes I like chocolate ice cream, it's so easy! And there are simple ways to make this kind of thing seem even more impressive. For example, you could send 100,000 emails (not at all hard to do these days) in ten groups of 10,000 each. Your email tells every person in each group that you know that they recently experienced one of the items from a list like Axxman300's, but you pick a different list item for each group. You tell everyone in group one you know they just lost their job, tell everyone in group two you know they have a brother named George, tell group three you know their mother died, etc. With statements of these kinds they will be correct (or near enough to correct) for part of each group. Maybe only a tiny percentage, or more likely something like 5% to 20%, maybe more depending on the statement. Out of those people a few will be intrigued enough to respond. Now you take the people who responded in each group and you break those up into subgroups and send each of these subgroups a second prediction from the list. Again a different prediction for each subgroup. There will be many fewer people in each subgroup than the 10,000 in the original group, but you now have two things going for you: You have a group a people who have shown that they're willing to respond, and to whom you've already given one accurate prediction. So even though you send many fewer emails, you will likely get a higher percentage of responses in this round of emails. In sales (and believe me this is sales) those people are called several things: high value leads, hot prospects, great potentials, and less charitably, marks. Now you get some responses from each of your hundred subgroups, and you do the same thing again. You break the respondents up into smaller subgroups and send each of those 1000 subgroups a third prediction. Continue doing the same thing with each batch of respondents. Start with enough emails and go through five or six rounds and you will have a handful of basically two types of respondents: those who will swear you are a true psychic because you've given them five or six perfectly correct predictions, and those who are just trying to screw with you because they know the gag. But how impressed are those handful of true believers? And since they've already responded several times, how likely would they seem to be to go for an in person reading? You'll definitely be able to get some of them to spend some money. And that's with no expertise, no cold or hot reading, no skill required at all, really. Just playing the numbers. Imagine what someone with skills or experience in the "industry" could do in addition to that to make it even more impressive.
JimOfAllTrades Muse Join Date: Aug 2011 Posts: 575

24th August 2019, 01:43 PM	#98
Ethan Thane Athen Master Poster Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 2,070	Originally Posted by AmyW Thanks Segnosaur, this is reassuring :-) I think I am naive to these 'mediums' and the tactics they use. I didn't think about public records There was no need for public records. As others, and even you yourself, have pointed out, the email said 'if' your mother was dead - in a way that allowed you to rush to fill the blank (it's natural, don't feel bad about it, we're wired to make connections). The medium did not know! Had your mother been alive you would have seen nothing wrong either and may even have taken the statement as proof that the medium knew she was alive because the 'if' meant she was talking hypothetically. It's a classic tactic - infer something in an ambiguous way and the client leaps to confirm a hit because we're always interpreting things as they pertain to ourselves. I used to read Tarot cards (for fun, always aware it was bollocks) and was amazed what people would tell you and claim astonishment that you knew - quick, and real example, after pointing at a card, I only got as far as saying 'This represents a male authority figure' before my friend immediately exclaimed 'That's my father, my god how did you know about my father?!' They carried on feeding me stuff about their father - who I didn't even know was dead until they referred to him in the past tense, and after the reading kept going on about how spooky it was that I knew so much and how I seemed to have a gift even though I didn't believe. It took me ages to talk them through what had happened and how I was just saying vague things that they leapt to interpret and add detail to and then I just fed it right back seconds later. I don't think they were convinced even then and this was someone who claimed not to believe before the reading. I stopped doing it shortly after that and have only brought the cards out since during a d&d game for a gypsy encounter - even then the players remarked how surprising it was how the cards seemed to fit what then happened... Of course they did, I'm the sodding Dungeon Master, I knew what was going to happen and the cards all have Barnum type meanings that were easy to fit!

24th August 2019, 02:30 PM	#99
Norman Alexander Philosopher Join Date: Nov 2014 Posts: 6,705	How easy is it to get your info? VERY easy. Does your FaceBook page show your first name and the town you live in? For example, you could be Amy who lives in Little Whinging. From there, it's pretty easy. A quick check of the local town newspaper online (e.g. the Little Whinging Grumbler) may turn up a funeral notice for: "Agatha Smith, aged 92, departed 31st June, beloved mother of Amy and Beowulf." From that info alone (your maiden name was Amy Smith) she can find if you are married and thus your married name, date of marriage and your husband's name. She can also estimate your age (you were likely born when your mother was in her twenties, and married in your twenties), and so on. From there she can get a reasonable family tree compiled. You or any of your family on Ancestry.com? Even easier. Now with your name and probably your address as well, a fairly complete personal history can be built up. Are you a member of any local groups or societies such as the parish council? Toastmasters? A political party? Chances are your home address and phone number(s) will be left in public among those lists. Bingo. There are many ways to find out all about you without having to ask you or skulk around following you. THIS is what they teach in "Mediumship School". But by far the easiest and fastest way to find out about you is to pay a medium online with a credit card. You are quite literally handing over your full name and billing address. And it takes only a few minutes and is all legal. Which is why mediums almost always say there is a long queue of people for their services and there will be a few days or weeks before they can talk to you. There isn't; they are doing a little digging to get a few pertinent facts so they sound convincing on the phone, like they already know something you didn't tell them. So all you do is add this "background check" to cold reading and they can put on a VERY convincing act very easily. All you have to do is keep handing over the money!
	__________________ _{...our governments are just trying to protect us from terror. In the same way that someone banging a hornets’ nest with a stick is trying to protect us from hornets. Frankie Boyle, Guardian, July 2015}

24th August 2019, 02:51 PM	#100
Loss Leader I would save the receptionist. Moderator Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Florida Posts: 27,142	Originally Posted by AmyW Hello All, I have been speaking with a medium who said she has a message to give me from my mum. I don't know how she knew my mum has passed away. I am a skeptic but how can they know things about you when they haven't met you? She also said that she is an evidential medium and can give me evidence by giving me a message that only me and my mum would know.... pretty freaked out. Within hours - hours - of my mother being moved to a nursing home (non-communicative, somnolent, advanced memory loss), my father and I were receiving emails from psychics with messages from my mother. Disgusting criminals, the lot of them.
	__________________ I have the honor to be Your Obdt. S^t L. Leader

24th August 2019, 03:19 PM	#101
Scorpion Master Poster Join Date: Feb 2013 Posts: 2,250	Originally Posted by Norman Alexander There are many ways to find out all about you without having to ask you or skulk around following you. THIS is what they teach in "Mediumship School". No, it isn't. I have sat in two separate developing circles in the 1970's, and they teach you how to open your aura to the spirit world, and how to tune yourself to receive spirit communication. I did not develop myself, but a friend of mine did, and I watched him become a medium in front of my eyes. His name was Trevor Williams, and as far as I know he is still giving messages in spiritualist churches to this day. He may still attend Dartford spiritualist church, but I don't know, as I moved away from there a long time ago.
Scorpion Master Poster Join Date: Feb 2013 Posts: 2,250	__________________ You see many stars in the sky at night, but not when the sun rises. Can you therefore say there are no stars in the heavens during the day? O man because you cannot find God in the days of your ignorance, say not that there is no God. Sri Ramakrishna Even in the valley of the shadow of death two and two do not make six. Leo Tolstoy

24th August 2019, 04:24 PM	#102
EHocking Philosopher Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 7,159	Originally Posted by Scorpion I try contacting angels that can see into the future and try to get them to give me the winning numbers by telepathy. They did this for me once in 1998 when I got five numbers, and once again some years later when I knew I had four numbers on the lotto before the draw. As it happens I got two numbers and two lucky stars on yesterdays euro millions. But all I won was a crummy £9. I will have to try and concentrate harder when picking the numbers next week. But in truth I don't think the angels will ever give me a big win because it would be bad karma. They gave me five numbers once, when I really needed the money, but now I don't. This is classic confirmation bias. Any win is attributed to benevolent angels. Any loss is attributed to benevolent angels teaching you about “karma”. A win-win for believers and exactly the personality that self-proclaimed “spiritualists” and “spirit” centres prey upon.
EHocking Philosopher Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 7,159	__________________ "A closed mouth gathers no feet" "Ignorance is a renewable resource" P.J.O'Rourke "It's all god's handiwork, there's little quality control applied", Fox26 reporter on Texas granite You can't make up anything anymore. The world itself is a satire. All you're doing is recording it. Art Buchwald

24th August 2019, 05:41 PM	#103
Scorpion Master Poster Join Date: Feb 2013 Posts: 2,250	Originally Posted by EHocking This is classic confirmation bias. Any win is attributed to benevolent angels. Any loss is attributed to benevolent angels teaching you about “karma”. A win-win for believers and exactly the personality that self-proclaimed “spiritualists” and “spirit” centres prey upon. Maybe you have not read my story. A female voice in my head told me I would win on the lottery one hour before the draw. An hour later I got five numbers. I only ever heard that voice twice. First time was a couple of days earlier, when it told me "help is coming from an unexpected source ". Then before the draw it said " You won" I have done the lottery since it started, and that's the only time I ever heard a voice tell me I won. I think it was an angel of karma, because the spirits of my dead relatives would not suddenly be able to see into the future just because they had entered the spirit world. Also they would not be allowed to interfere with my karma even if they could see the numbers. So it was probably an angel of karma who gave me a break when I really needed one.
Scorpion Master Poster Join Date: Feb 2013 Posts: 2,250	__________________ You see many stars in the sky at night, but not when the sun rises. Can you therefore say there are no stars in the heavens during the day? O man because you cannot find God in the days of your ignorance, say not that there is no God. Sri Ramakrishna Even in the valley of the shadow of death two and two do not make six. Leo Tolstoy

24th August 2019, 05:47 PM	#104
welshdean BESTEST RUGBY TEAM IN THE NORTHEN HEMISPHERE Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 3,379	Hi Amy, While reading this thread, I've had a few messages through from the other side... You have a scar on your leg, knee or thereabouts, from a childhood accident. You had a pet that was very special to you in the late 70s or early 80s. You used to love it when your dad used to pinch his thumb through his first two fingers and say that he had got your nose. And bizarrely, you used to rush home or make sure you were in and ready to watch 'Moonlighting'. I don't mean to freak you out, but hope you had a happy 44th birthday recently. All guesses, how did I do? Btw, nobody can speak to the dead, well, we all can, but they will not talk back to us. Remember that and never give the bastards any money. My sister in law has been paying £100 a month for 12 years now to 'stay in touch' with her dead son. They are bastards, evil ******* bastards, every last one of them, stay well away. I had a digital copy of Ian Rowlands book, I'll see if I can dig it out.
	__________________ "In science it often happens that scientists say, "You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken," and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion." Carl Sagan 1934 - 1996 RIP

24th August 2019, 08:15 PM	#105
Nay_Sayer I say nay! Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Long Island Posts: 3,777	Originally Posted by AmyW Richardo can you stop posting please and stop trying to convert me to your irrational beliefs This was what I meant to quote with the clapping emotes.
	__________________ I am 100% confident all psychics and mediums are frauds. If you see a Nazi. Egg them

25th August 2019, 12:37 AM	#106
Pixel42 Schrödinger's cat Join Date: May 2004 Location: Malmesbury, UK Posts: 11,475	Originally Posted by AmyW Have psychics ever been scientifically tested and if so what were the results? This forum was originally the JREF (James Randi Educational Foundation) forum, a member took it over when Randi retired. JREF offered a prize of a million dollars to anyone who could produce scientific evidence of any paranormal phenomenon. For a few years a member of JREF staff started a thread for each applicant and documented the progress of the claims, that subforum is still here: http://www.internationalskeptics.com...splay.php?f=43 If you read the threads you'll find that most didn't get as far as actually taking a test, but there are few who did. This psychic, for example: http://www.internationalskeptics.com...d.php?t=118952 The prize was available for decades and was still unclaimed when JREF was wound up.
	__________________ "If you trust in yourself ... and believe in your dreams ... and follow your star ... you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things" - Terry Pratchett

25th August 2019, 12:46 AM	#107
AmyW Thinker Join Date: Aug 2019 Posts: 154	Thank you so much everyone for your comments, how do you quote what people have said to reply to? What if you were to pay by PayPal can they then retrieve your information? Welshdean none were right lol, try again :-) Let's see, here is my reading.... You live in Wales and often the weather is cold hahaha!
AmyW Thinker Join Date: Aug 2019 Posts: 154

25th August 2019, 12:52 AM	#108
AmyW Thinker Join Date: Aug 2019 Posts: 154	Oh wow Pixal, so no one ever claimed that prize? So a psychic has never passed a scientific test? They are very cunning aren't they. All of your replies have been awesome, thank you so much.
AmyW Thinker Join Date: Aug 2019 Posts: 154

25th August 2019, 12:53 AM	#109
Pixel42 Schrödinger's cat Join Date: May 2004 Location: Malmesbury, UK Posts: 11,475	Originally Posted by AmyW how do you quote what people have said to reply to? To quote a post simply click on the 'Quote' button in its bottom right hand corner. You can edit out the rest so you're only quoting the bit you want to reply to.
	__________________ "If you trust in yourself ... and believe in your dreams ... and follow your star ... you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things" - Terry Pratchett

25th August 2019, 12:56 AM	#110
AmyW Thinker Join Date: Aug 2019 Posts: 154	Scorpion are you a spiritualist, I don't understand why you are on here? I am confused.
AmyW Thinker Join Date: Aug 2019 Posts: 154

25th August 2019, 12:58 AM	#111
AmyW Thinker Join Date: Aug 2019 Posts: 154	Originally Posted by EHocking This is classic confirmation bias. Any win is attributed to benevolent angels. Any loss is attributed to benevolent angels teaching you about “karma”. A win-win for believers and exactly the personality that self-proclaimed “spiritualists” and “spirit” centres prey upon. Awesome come back and so true :-)
AmyW Thinker Join Date: Aug 2019 Posts: 154

25th August 2019, 12:59 AM	#112
AmyW Thinker Join Date: Aug 2019 Posts: 154	Originally Posted by Pixel42 To quote a post simply click on the 'Quote' button in its bottom right hand corner. You can edit out the rest so you're only quoting the bit you want to reply to. Thank you Pixel :-)
AmyW Thinker Join Date: Aug 2019 Posts: 154

25th August 2019, 01:02 AM	#113
Pixel42 Schrödinger's cat Join Date: May 2004 Location: Malmesbury, UK Posts: 11,475	Originally Posted by AmyW So a psychic has never passed a scientific test? There are some "scientists" who claim otherwise, but they need to ignore the scientific method to produce "positive" results. Probably the best known is Dean Radin: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_Radin
	__________________ "If you trust in yourself ... and believe in your dreams ... and follow your star ... you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things" - Terry Pratchett

25th August 2019, 01:07 AM	#114
AmyW Thinker Join Date: Aug 2019 Posts: 154	Originally Posted by Pixel42 There are some "scientists" who claim otherwise, but they need to ignore the scientific method to produce "positive" results. Probably the best known is Dean Radin: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_Radin I guess these people are already believers, like Christian 'scientist's. I wonder how they put forth their tests. If mediums were really true police forces would use them, they would tell the world of any impending doom (e.g an expendent earthquake)
AmyW Thinker Join Date: Aug 2019 Posts: 154

25th August 2019, 01:08 AM	#115
Pixel42 Schrödinger's cat Join Date: May 2004 Location: Malmesbury, UK Posts: 11,475	BTW there are plenty of other prizes still available, JREF isn't/wasn't the only organisation which offered one, though I believe it was the only one which offered that much.
	__________________ "If you trust in yourself ... and believe in your dreams ... and follow your star ... you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things" - Terry Pratchett