Skepticblog

This includes but is not limited to Big Foot researchers, pyramid freaks, dowsers, Elvis sighters, UFO nuts and various conspiracy theorists. The line stretches as far as the eye can see in today’s tabloid reality market. Without the shut-eyes and the psychic junkies out there, a mentalist’s job would be a tiresome affair. With their unending willingness to not only make the most tenuous connections to anything a psychic might utter, they also provide a safety net at live performances and radio appearances. When things that might ordinarily be cause for serious skepticism arise and there’s a shut-eye or a psychic junkie in the audience, it only takes one breathless moan or tearful validation from these adoring folks to smooth over any bumpy reading and make everything right again. Their input and enthusiasm allows for the most egregious batsqueeze to slide on by most group minds.

Are You One of the Frightened?

Why am I concerned? I’m in the process of researching to find three very distnict and identifiable personalities that spring from this new age demographic:

1) Psychic Junkies: Or those who cannot control an overwhelming desire to talk with a psychic a least once or twice a day. I know this may sound unlikly to those used to reading about a one off sitting with a tarot reader, but I can assure you like any other addiction to alchohol, gambling, food or sex, these fanatics do exist. In my book “Confessions of a 900 Psychic,” I detail stories of anxious callers who called me every day, sometimes as many a three times a day!  This idolatry was utterly astonishing to me at the time – but a job was a job…  The really sad part was that usually each time I talked to them, I told them the same thing over and over.  The words might have changed slightly out of boredom on my part after awhile, but these callers often remained fixated on the same problem for weeks at a time. Thousands were spent on getting the same answer to the same question. Private readings were no different. I had one woman named Beverly who sat with me every weekend for nearly eight months. When I recently revisted the venue where I once worked giving readings to her and a legion of others to ask around researching this project, I heard that she’s still around – over ten years later. The psychic I asked about her says she still asks the same questions and seeks the same information. Most of these lonely people merely need someone to talk to and validation for what they already knew they need to do. Back in the 90’s, I was there to pump them up. It was like a pep rally for losers. “…Now go on out there and get’um!” I would admonish.

Often in my attempts to provide quick answers and get them on their way, I purposely kept my readings short and to the point. It was hard for me to hold people on the telephone or just prattle on in private readings once I had got a handle on their problem. My conscsience told me to tell them what they needed to know (not what they might want to know) and send them on their way. It didn’t matter. On the 900 line, this brevity and succinctness was usually not enough to satisfy them (or my greedy bosses in their suits and ties) and call backs sometimes continued for months.

People have lost millions of dollars this way.

Hey, people should be able to spend their money on whatever they want to, …right Chip?

Yeah right. But remember: I was usually only on the telephone.Imagine what would have happened if I had a huge lecture circuit or a nationally syndicated televsion show? Or what hat if I lived close by and needed to get my claw hooks in deeper? What if the sitters I might have attached myself to were elderly, alone or terminally ill? It’s going on right now. I’m not talking about the one-off palm reader at the company picnic. Where it goes terribly wrong is somewhere between free will initial contact and manipulated obsession.

These poor folks are the hardest to find because they are usually in the midst of their voyage into darkness and like the alcoholic, will usually not voluntarily step forward for help until they are ready to admit they have a problem …or it is too late and they suffer a huge loss of money, family and personal property.

2) The Recovering Psychic Junkie:This might be someone who has been to the levels previously described and has come out of their self-imposed trance. They may still be in touch with the woo, but having been burned by the worst of the psychic lot or taken in by a confidence operator, have learned a heartfelt lesson. These people are in a powerful position to guide others and tell their stories to the betterment of all. Like ex-con gang members who lecture to kids on the dangers of falling into a life of crime, recovering psychic junkies could potentially become lightning rods to the skeptic movement if we can get them to step forward and tell their tales.  Tough love never got tougher than when someone who has lost everything to a master con artist talks to a person considering turning over their life savings to another Sylvia Browne. Recovering Psychic Junkies are somewhat easier to locate, but may suffer such guilt and self-loathing for what they might consider their humiliating experience, they spend their later life with such low self esteem for their losses they might never return to a normal life. Self- pity may keep them on a perpetual search for something better to guide them. What was yesterday’s psychic guru may transform into a more socially accepted “life coach” or “spiritual advisor.” Getting advice from a certified marriage and family counselor, therapist or psychologist may eventually be substituted for what was once a nomadic palmist. There’s no guarantee that they may not spend a lifetime on the therapist’s couch either, but that’s another story.

If it starts with the talons of a Sylvia Browne digging into their gut, they may be scarred for life. It’s as if some people’s brains are hardwired to be caught up in these situations, cults or movements. Some people possess a “filtering system” that pops up a red flag when promises of easy answers are offered, while others will stand in line for hours to hear a psychic spew generalities from a sideshow tent.  

3) Victims of “Gypsy Switches” or “Curses:” Far rarer than either of the above, but still an ongoing bunco racket in major cities throughout the world is the conning of people through the subtle intimidation and manipulation of the “curse” mentality. In these cases “evil” must be removed, but unlike the Catholic Church’s sanctioned exorcisms, this backroom ritual is usually done on a smaller scale, with the inevitable outcome of financial loss for the victim. We can’t go after the Big Boys in the Vatican just yet, that would be dangerous. But if you don’t believe this silliness is going on in the real world, Google around a bit and you can see with your own eyes the video showing Sarah Palin, the one-time Republican vice-presidential candidate, standing before Bishop Thomas Muthee in the pulpit of the Wasilla Assembly of God church, holding her hands open as he asked Jesus Christ to keep her safe from “every form of witchcraft”. Yep. And you know some money changed hands bigtime over that little bit of gypsy switheroo. If I have offended anyone by sounding political or anti Catholic here, I appologize in advance. It’s just the idea of the whole “curse taking off” thing, okay? Same con, …bigger nut.

These cases continue for the little guys too, but once again the humiliation and the guilt generated by such an incident makes these victims hard to get into an interview mode. When and if they can be brought into the spotlight, the power of their declarations would be a win/win situation for everybody.

Bring on the woo!

If you can help me contact any of the three personality types described above, please get in touch with me here on the blog or directly at MarkMindreader@gmail.com  I’m working on a documentary film project that may turn out to be a guiding light to skeptics, victims of “psychical abuse” and the millions of curious who may be considering taking that walk through the neon doorway to “magical insights.”