Mediums - what do you think?

Personaly, I am not a believer. I did watch a documentry or some such explaining that you have 'hot reading' and 'cold reading'. I can't quite remember the difference, but basically, they are taking clues from your body language asking leading questions and so on and so forth. Very clever at what they do, but I really don't believe they are in touch with any such thing as the spirit world.

I believe some people do have a gift. I have seen shonky ones who do cold reading quite blatantly, and at the same event had a really good reading that was spookily accurate and told me things I don't believe could have been gauged through cold reading.

Logically, I know it's a load of old twaddle.

But my MIL's next door neighbour had one round to her house and they have H and MIL a reading. I know for a fact that there was no way he could have guessed one of the things that he told my H. He didn't even know about it himself until it came out a few years later.

I tend to agree!

I am totally cynical and simply don't believe in it. I am certain that the majority of mediums are on artists. That said, I have never had a reading personally. I would be open to changing my mind if the opportunity for a reading presented itself and I heard something that couldn't be guessed / worked out, but I wouldn't pay for it myself.

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This.

Having said that, a friend of mine had a reading thingy done and was told that she would end up marrying a man in a white coat. Everyone thought she'd end up marrying a doctor or dentist or something equally as exciting, but she married a fishmonger! A white coat nonetheless.

I, personally, think it was just coincidence.

I think the likes of Tony Stockwell, Colin Fry, Sally Morgan et al are the lowest of the low. Absolute pond life. They prey on the vulnerable and the whole industry is just plain ugly. They cannot speak to the dead and one by one they eke getting "outed" as frauds. The problem is that people want to believe it so much, they continue to line the pockets of these conmen/women. they make me sick. Can you tell I feel quite strongly about this subject? ha ha.

Here's one about Sally:

http://blog.newhumanist.org.uk/2011/11/refusing-to-take-test-tv-medium-sally.html

Here's one about Derek Acorah:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/isil.telemnar/Doublexposure/Kreed_Kafer.htm

Read Tricks of the Mind by Derren Brown. Invaluable IMO.

I'm a believer, but i don't always believe the people i see on TV. Derek Acorah always seemed like a fraud because he was so flamboyant in his interaction with the spirits. I think he probably could on some level see them and perhaps pick up some things, but i don't think he was ever strong enough to be fully possessed by a spirit....something which i don't think is even possible, because if it was, it would probably happen a lot more often to children, who are more suceptable to spirits.

My friend's aunt says she is in touch with the spirits, but she subscribes to the belief that some mediums do, which is that it's a gift and it shouldn't be exploited for monetary gain.

She has a 'proper' job and does readings outside of working hours, but doesn't charge anything, and won't take money even if people offer it to her.

I've never been, so I can't make judgement on her validity, or indeed of the validity of any medium.

However, another friend went to see a medium in Norwich, where she's originally from. The medium was called Anna Grant and apparently she's highly respected. Anyway, I've listened to the recording of her reading, and parts of it are rather spooky. For example, my friend's grandmother had a distinctive nickname for my friend, it was not related to her name, and nor was it one of the 'typical' nicknames a grandmother might perhaps call her granddaughter i.e. angel or sweet pea (what my own grandmother still calls me). I didn't even what this nickname was, until I heard the tape, and she told me. I was surprised that the medium had managed to get this name spot on, it really is quite distinctive. Another example is, that one of the first things the medium said was, "your grandmother's introduction to me, was 'hello, we meet again, I just just here last week' and she's telling that her son was here. She said he's your uncle." My friend didn't know about that, but she checked with her uncle later, and he confirmed he had been. He was quite embarrassed as he didn't want anyone to know he had gone. There are other things I'm quiet amazed she got, but I won't bore you, but mentioning them all.

Anyway, as I said, having never been myself I cannot make any personal judgments. Yet there was something about my friend's reading that, for the first time, got me thinking there could be something in it.

NB: My friend went in quite skeptical, and she had read how not to play the game, i.e. she didn't volunteer up information unwittingly.

Like Panj said, I think that DA, SM and CF are frauds. IMO, they prey on people who have lost loved ones to make money.

I believe that some people have the 'gift' but i also realise there are a lot of frauds out there. I have been to a couple but always from word of mouth recommendations. The first time i went was amazing, she basically told my life story and then went on to explain all about my H who i hadnt even met at that point. She described in detail my nan who had passed and there is just no-way on this earth she would know those things without being me.

I think there is a definite difference between those who claim to have messages from the dead and those that claim they can see into the future. I find the "Fortune Tellers" far less offensive than "Mediums" but I believe them all to be fraudulent whether they have convinced themselves it's real or not.

The strange thing about this thread is that I'm currently rehearsing Blithe Spirit. I'm playing Elvira, a ghost that's been conjured up from the dead!!

I don’t really have an opinion on them as such. I’ve never seen one but my sister goes a lot and it always happy at what she hears, when she tells me what they’ve ended up saying it is always accurate, on the flip side I’ve had friends see them who have been really disappointed. So I’m on the fence.

I used to be so into all this stuff, bought my own tarot cards and everything. I saw a few fortune tellers and they were always SO vague in what they told me but when my friends had been they were always so accurate. I know now that they were just as vague with my friends but they just made what they were told "fit" to their circumstances and remembered the reading differently to how it actually was. Made vague comments more accurate they actually were if that makes sense?

An example, the FT told my friend she was at a crossroads in her life and she should take the long route. She told me this as soon as she came out. As the days went on I heard her change the story each time until she finally said that the FT had told her she should go travelling!?

I am definitely a believer, but I do totally agree that their are frauds out there.

I have had a lot of readings over the years and some have been very vague and a load of rubbish. However I went to see one about 3 months after my dad passed away 4 years ago and the amount of detail she went in to surrounding his illness (which was a very rare form of cancer, he was only the 2nd person in the UK to have ever had it) and the circumstances of his death were amazing, nothing vague about it, and there is no way she could have just guessed at it !

I have to admit i am a believer in the afterlife, my family have been into it since i was a teenager and i remember listening to a reading my Aunty had and was blown away with the details. I've attended Spiritulised Churches and i always found them to be a calm and peacful place granted there are many people out there who are do make a mockery of it but i think that some people genuinely have a gift. My favourite TV programme is Sensing Murder in New Zealand ?

My mum always has sensing murder recorded on her sky box

Unless I am presented with evidence personally, i will continue with the assumption that they are all frauds.

My friend went to see Sally Morgan and the friend she went with had her Dad come through. She was amazed and cried etc but then my friend found out that her friend had actually written a detailed letter to her Dad and sent it to Sally Morgan prior to the show... co-incidence?

I'll get off this thread now because I think i've made my feelings clear! lol.

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Why would you do this ????? Why bother going to the show (and being amazed !!!) if you know full well you have told her all about the person concerned ? I don't get that at all !

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I think she encourages it and people want to believe soooo bad that they will do whatever it takes to have the spirit of their lost loved ones to come through. Once they have had their "reading" or whatever you would call it, the letter they wrote or the video they sent is conveniently forgotten.

They make me mad.

I stumbled on Hitched.co.uk while searching for Anna Grant's contact details. I know this thread is old, but I just feel obliged to defend mediums. So, for anyone who comes across this thread, here goes.

I've always been a believer and i've seen quite a few mediums over the years. I've never met one who fished for clues, but I have met ones who actually told me not to provide information. I have been told many things that simply could not have been gleaned by reading body language or by subtle questioning. In any case, a good medium doesn't ask questions. They have too much confidence and self-respect for that.

I've met ones who wouldn't accept payment, but I have no problem with the ones who do. If you have a gift like that why waste eight hours a day on some nine to five job to pay the bills when you could be helping people? But you still have bills to pay..

Lastly, I'm lucky enough to have direct contact from a loved one who is back in spirit. I joined a group of training mediums for a while, until I realised I'm simply not good enough. Some of the other trainees were brilliant and at no point did the excellent medium in charge tell us anything that would indicate that fakery was involved. I'm sure there are fakes out there - the ones who want to be on television spring to mind. But they just give genuine mediumship a bad name.

View quoted message Anna grant is 100% real! She only asks for your first name when booking, doesn’t use social media, doesn’t ask who your hoping will come through! Because of this she can’t check you out first to know what to say! Myself and my partner went to see her! It was my partners booking I just went along for support so she didn’t even know I was going! During the reading there were thing that she said that only myself and my partner knew! Sadly there are a lot of fakes out there who prey on peoples grief but Anna definitely isn’t one of those people!