Psychics

[DearBunny]

I was wondering what everyone here thinks of the psychics that have been profiled on UM. I'm not sure if I believe that people like James Van Praagh or Sylvia Browne can talk to dead people, but some of the psychics they've featured seemed genuine. Take for instance the woman (once again I'm terrible with names) who helped police catch a rapist and then something like twenty years later UM went along with her and the authorities as she helped them search for clues in the disappearance of a young girl. I can't remember the girl's name either but the woman said that they would find a strap from a clarinet case or something that the girl had been carrying with her that day. She didn't seem to be in it for any sort of financial gain or to get her name in the headlines; it just seemed like she really wanted to help.

I'm not going to come right out and say that she has a psychic ability, but there are a lot of things that happen in the world that can't be explained, and maybe some people really do have a gift to see things that most people can't. There could be a completely logical or even scientific explanation for these so-called "psychic abilities." I'm sure we've all had an experience in which some dream we had came true, or we had a "bad feeling" that turned out to be right on the money. But there could be some people out there who have the ability to tap into this other side that is elusive to most others.

I'll probably turn into the crank of the board for saying this, but I have had personal experiences in which I had feelings about certain things, and I guess you could say I had "visions" ... I didn't go into a trance or anything weird like that but I did see certain pictures in my mind and in each of these instances, I turned out to be right. It was as if someone showed me a photo and told me exactly what happened. I'm not going to open up shop in my apartment and start doing readings and predicting the future in a crystal ball because of it, but it is interesting that I knew these things and I really have no way to explain how I did know them. Most of them were very high-profile missing persons cases, and who's to say I didn't read something or hear something somewhere and then somehow I created these "visions" in my brain. I'm as willing as the next person to look for a simpler explanation. There are other examples I could list here, but I'm already bracing myself for some ridicule over what I've already revealed.

Having read many of the threads over the last few weeks, it seems like most of you are skeptics, but I'd be interested in hearing your opinions.

[Thiussat]

Psychic ability is quite possible. I say that because monozygotic twins have exhibited, in many cases, documented ability to feel the pain of the other, to even know the location of the other intuitively etc. What else could this be besides some sort of "psychic ability?" Twins, of course, share the exact same DNA sequencing and the same genetic profile. It is interesting that this intuitive ability may be linked to genetics somehow. It appears that two brains from the same genetic mold may have an "invisible" link.

It is possible that some people can exhibit this same ability without being related to the subject. However, I remain skeptical and I know for a fact that many "cold readers" like Van Pragh, Browne, and Edwards have all been caught in chicanery in many of their sessions. There was a great website I ran across a couple of months ago that broke down various cold reading sessions (verbatim) and discussed how cold reading is in the same vein as a magician -- it is trickery, plain and simple. I have seen Browne, Edwards and others, caught in embarrassing situations numerous times, and these are just the sessions that are public. They rarely air those where they had no "luck."

As I like to say: if they were really psychics, why do they have to say things like "I have a name that starts with a J." Why can't they just say "James Smith is sitting here and he wants to talk to Sally Smith?" I am dissapointed that so many fools are so easily parted with their money.

[leafygreens]

I think these so-called psychics are very talented at "reading" people, if you know what I mean. Finding out clues about their lives and then making an educated guess which has a good chance of being right.

As for the things that can't be explained, I believe those are miracles or rare things that God lets happen. I don't believe that anyone has a gift to see the future whenever they feel like it.

[Titan826]

How about that woman (forgot her name) who could draw accurate pictures of dead people she never met before? That one was pretty creepy. She seemed pretty genuine too.

[nohwheregirl]

Originally Posted by DearBunny

I'll probably turn into the crank of the board for saying this, but I have had personal experiences in which I had feelings about certain things, and I guess you could say I had "visions"
....There are other examples I could list here, but I'm already bracing myself for some ridicule over what I've already revealed.

I wouldn't ridicule you for that. I believe that psychic phenomena are within the realm of possibility. And while I consider myself a skeptic, I have seen enough amazing "coincidences" in my life that I can't rule it out.

There have been some people in my family, especially on my Dad's side, that I am convinced had some kind of...well...I don't know what to call it. All I know is that these were people who knew stuff that they shouldn't have been able to know. I doubt that they could conjure up any kind of special powers at will, and I'm not sure if anyone can.

I think that people who make money off of their "psychic powers" are obviously the most suspect. Sylvia Browne is a laugh. I'm not sure if you ever watch "The Soup" but they do a great job making fun of her appearances on Montell Williams. James van Praagh...well, I seriously doubt he's for real, but at the same time I'm disappointed because he SEEMS like such a sweet guy. Ugh. Even people who don't make money could be faking it just for attention from law enforcement, the media, etc. But I do think that in some cases these people are the genuine article.

[wiseguy182]

To answer a few questions, Nancy Myers was the psychic who helped catch the rapist and had the vision of a musical instrument in the disappearance of a little girl. Coral Polge was the psychic who could draw pics of the dead/people she had never met.

While I'm definitely skeptical on some of these cold readers like James Van Praagh and Sylvia Browne, I think there are some genuine psychics out there, many of whom have been profiled on UM. The fact that law enforcement have went to these psychics for help tells me that they must be the real deal.

I have the psychics box set, (as well as all the others), and most of the stuff on there is fairly convincing. I'm not totally sold on Coral Polge though. She's a great artist, but I'm not sure if she's psychic. There have been billions upon billions of people born in the world, so if I draw a random picture of someone, odds are it's going to look like somebody that existed.

The cold readers like to use probability, and it works to their advantage sometime, but not always. In the James Van Praagh segment, he's doing a reading of a couple's deceased son, and believes that his names was Kevin or Kenny, and it was one of the two. The skeptic pointed out that the mother had a 'K' neckchain or something, and that the most common names for boys that start with K are Kevin and Kenny, so it wasn't too much of a reach for Van Praagh there. The cold readers take into accounts statistics and probability and when they get something right they build off of that, and when they're wrong they'll gloss over it.

[DearBunny]

(Sorry for the delay in replying, I was out of town dog-sitting all weekend)

Thanks to everyone for their input. You guys made a lot of good points, especially when it comes to people like Van Praagh, Browne and Edwards (whom I had forgotten about. He's a very forgettable person). Another I can think of is Derek Acora who appears on the U.K. program "Most Haunted," which is shown on the Travel Channel here in the U.S. He goes along with the crew to these old castles, private homes, manor houses, pubs, etc. and claims that he can communicate with the spirits of these long-dead people. In one episode he claimed that the spirit of Branwell Bronte had remained at this pub he liked to frequent nearly two hundred years ago. Seeing as how Branwell was brother to three quite famous writers, it couldn't have been hard for Acora to find out this information before the crew went to this pub to film the episode.

I think that I agree too that the people who are trying to make a profit from their so-called "abilities" aren't the real thing. If someone could really speak with a person's deceased relative, surely they would know more than a first initial or something vague like, "This is a family member who has passed to the other side." If they could be specific then I could see a reason to pay them money for what they do.

Anyway, thanks for not making fun of me. I don't claim to talk to dead people or predict the future, I just sometimes know things before they happen, or before other people are aware of them. I know what people are going to say before they say it. I believe that I have seen ghosts. I spent my formative years living in a spooky old house right next door to an equally old and spooky Catholic cemetery, so that might have something to do with it.

[aisha hashmi]

[aisha hashmi]

[aisha hashmi]

[suzannec4444]

I do not have any money but If there are any psychics or free detectives to look into tammy that feel they might know what happened to tammy or anyone thinks they might know what happened to her please email me at

findtammylynnleppert@yahoo.com

I have a sister who came up missing on July 6th 1983 from Cocoa Beach Florida.her name is Tammy Lynn Leppert.here is her pictures if it will help ok?I have been looking for a long time for her.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../TLeppert1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...4/TLeppert.jpg

I am also checking for her as an unidentified Jane doe or skeletal remains found over the years.Please contact me if you know something.Please help me find her.I care very much of what became of her.I have been looking for her myself for a long time.I just want to know something.Is she alive or dead.I just want to know.
suzanne