mother been to a medium once
since then .. there is something very off about her
the degree of negativism she can have
and the 3 fallen angels statues she have near her bed
made a thread about that .. you can see my profile

but since she went to that medium so many yrs ago
she learned things that can be explained
those medium trick many people in the dark occultism
usualy fallen angels shapeshift themself to deceive you with knowledge

most medium are very real .. con artist are easy to debunk
people shouldnt seek answer via the paranormal .. trust in your heart is more powerfull
many are wrongly influenced because the knowledge can be to overwhelming

Please tell me its NOT Sylvia??!! You mentioned 4 yr waiting list.. and folks are sucked in by Sylvia and her notorious waiting lists.

Sure, there are real "mediums". I think they are truly few and far between though and even with successful mediums/psychics/whatever label.. they are nowhere near reliable just due to their rate of hits versus misses. We took a few psychics to a location and told them nothing. Had them write down their impressions.. these werent hacks, they were well known in the area. NOT ONE was correct 100%. Only1 got 7 points correct out of the 20 points we were looking for.. and she scored highest out of the group. She knew things she shouldn't have about the area that couldnt be gleaned from a cold read.. but still those odds arent anything Id bet my life on.. kwim?

Originally posted by OptimusSubprime
My wife's father passed away a few months ago, and my mother-in-law has been going to a medium. She claims that this medium is talking to him and that she says things that no one else would know except for him, etc... the usual story that everyone says after talking to a medium. I must admit that I find it intriguing, but I am very cynical, as I am with most things. I know that ATS is full of people who know much more about this topic than I ever will, and I would appreciate help understanding both sides of the argument. Are mediums fake... or not?

.

The 'help' I would offer you is that you should grab a brain. While there are many frauds in all walks of life, what evidence do you have that each and every single 'medium' is fake??? The human brain works in strange ways and you are very stupid to take the view that just because you yourself have no such abilities, that, that therefore proves that no one else has such abilities either.

If you were smart you would take the view that MOST mediums are fake but that there may be some who may be able to 'see' things others cant.

But if in the event that you are hamstrung by religeous beliefs then you will always be limited in what you are permitted to believe.

cheers

Originally posted by OptimusSubprime
My wife's father passed away a few months ago, and my mother-in-law has been going to a medium.

This particular medium is supposedly one of the best around. She is so good that she has a 4 year waiting list.

Something here does not add up.......

Also, why do you wish to convince anyone that mediums are not real?

Look up Derren Brown on youtube. He has exposed some of these psychics and mediums on his program in the UK.

I have had an experience with a medium that completely convinced me of HIS authenticity. So I can say from MY expereince that mediums are for real!! At least the one I am refering to. Of course a lot of them are fake, because if you make enough people beleive your are for real, you will get a fairly decent income. But in my case, this was free and bang on. Here is the short story:

We had a spirit/ghost in our old house that was scaring my wife and I (slamming doors, cold hands on body, other weird things..) So I went to a local spirituality shop to seek answers/help.

As I walked in (first time ever). This guy got up from the far end of the shop and walked straight toward me. He introduced himself and Said: "You seem to require assistance?!" of course he would right? So I said Yes I do! He invited me to sit with him at a table and started immediately with: "There are 2 spirits in your house....one is a child that only wants to play with your 3 kids, he is friendly and will not harm anyone. The other one is an adult male that has very negative energy and HAS TO GO ASAP!!! He is the one slamming doors and scaring you guys."

He showed me how to use incenses to send the spirit away for good and said that if it didn't work to call him and that he would come over to help. I asked how much he charges for that and he said nothing...he doesnt charge at all. It worked as he said at least untill we purchased our new home and moved out. Nothing since then anyways.

I had given him 0 information (not even my name) and he new exactly what was going on and also knew I had 3 kids. Could it be a lucky guess because I had a wedding ring on? Maybe. But I am a believer nonetheless.

I later found out that he was the owner of that shop in question and am now good friends with him. He has mentionned much much more at later visits and it never cost me a dime, and he was always on the dot.

Sorry if I can't help convince you that mediums are all fake but this was my experience, but I do beleive that a whole lot are indeed frauds.

Teye22

Help... I want to convince my wife that mediums are con artists

Some are. Some aren't.
Perhaps your wife can convince YOU that there are some real ones out there!

I have had two 'readings' in my life.
The first one .... it was obviously a cold reading. (not real).
The second one ... amazing. Very real.

It's hit or miss ...

The easiest way to know is the escalating cost associated with the readings. In an attempt to keep the money coming in the ones out to scam you will continually leave out little bits and pieces of info in attempt to get repeat visits, and the costs keep growing. A loved one especially a husband would not want his wife to be continually spending money to hear word from him on the otherside.

Been to a good one the only time I ever checked it out. Never had any desire to go back and I'm glad I didn't. I have to say this lady was highly accurate, reading Taro and ground tea. And you may want to watch trying to disprove your wife. Could cause a riff. I know there are good ones, so you're reasoning is wrong. But trying to dissuade her is not.

The four year waiting list sounds fishy.

It makes sense, combine cold and hot reads, make someone wait even a few months while you research them.
That way you can hide some nuggets of unexplained truth in the BS.

I believe in the supernatural, but I think 99% of mediums are BS con artists.

Most are probably fakes, but sorry mate some are in fact genuine.

John Edward was genuine. He was tested at a major university (University of Arizona I believe) before his TV days and was 95% accurate with information on deceased relatives. He passed objective tests with flying colors.

I've also had an experience with a genuine medium, sometimes this stuff cannot be faked, sorry.

Have you ever noticed that you can't get one of these people to commit to any kind of objective test of their abilities? I'd bet a million dollars that no psychic, medium, or remote viewer could tell me which random 5 digit number I just wrote down and memorized. I think it's very telling that they aren't open to being tested when the results would leave no room for interpretation.