Psychic confrontation

[blueshift]

Yesterday, while handing out flyers for Astronomy Day, I entered one of those "Spy Stores" where hidden cameras, etc. are sold. When asked if I believed that UFOs live inside bodies of many of us I responded with extreme doubt.

The man claimed he is a psychic and can tell many things about me without asking. He rambled on for 20 minutes, failing to hit anything on the head that matched how I looked at the world at all. Anyone here ever come across things like this? I am sure you all have and I don't mind listening to your story.

I think that it amounts to many prejudices many have about those of us who love science. each of us took many different paths into science and do not fit a stereotype that is casted upon us.

Post your comments and similar adventures.

[Argos]

Yesterday, while handing out flyers for Astronomy Day, I entered one of those "Spy Stores" where hidden cameras, etc. are sold. When asked if I believed that UFOs live inside bodies of many of us I responded with extreme doubt.

I would offer him an outright denial, considering the evidences at hand.

[KaiYeves]

There is a guy who sometimes is a substitute teacher in our district like that. He thinks he's been reincarnated and he carries around healing crystals and fortune-telling rods and stuff to show us when he subs. Apparently he's actually been in some trouble with the law, which doesn't really surprise me.

All of the smart teachers ask the principal to choose "Anybody but him" as their replacement when they have to leave.

[Graybeard6]

Poor Kai! You have to endure a crazy substitute for teachers who aren't smart.

[mugaliens]

I think that it amounts to many prejudices many have about those of us who love science. each of us took many different paths into science and do not fit a stereotype that is casted upon us.

Post your comments and similar adventures.

I rarely fit anyone's stereotype. In fact, one of my roommates in college gave me a birthday card entitled, "Birds of a feather," and there was lone bird off doing his own thing! He meant it well, but his observation was astute.

[geonuc]

There is a guy who sometimes is a substitute teacher in our district like that. He thinks he's been reincarnated and he carries around healing crystals and fortune-telling rods and stuff to show us when he subs. Apparently he's actually been in some trouble with the law, which doesn't really surprise me.

All of the smart teachers ask the principal to choose "Anybody but him" as their replacement when they have to leave.

I'm sure I don't want to get too far into this, and I'm sure the mods don't want it either, but belief in reincarnation and the power of crystals could very well describe someone of the Wiccan faith, which is nothing like believing in aliens and the like.

And I'm not saying anything further on that subject.

[Buttercup]

My first thought was "New Ager," geonuc. And that's as far as I'm trespassing into "that" territory.

[KaiYeves]

I'm sure I don't want to get too far into this, and I'm sure the mods don't want it either, but belief in reincarnation and the power of crystals could very well describe someone of the Wiccan faith, which is nothing like believing in aliens and the like.

And I'm not saying anything further on that subject.

He also believes in aliens and mole men.

Mole men.

I swear.

[TrAI]

He also believes in aliens and mole men.

Mole men.

I swear.

Molemen, aren't those the people that is said to have moved down in disused subway tunnels, service tunnels and other such places beneath cities, and ended up staying there as permanent occupants?

It doesn't seem impossible that some people would decide to do something like that, it is more plausible than that crystal magic stuff and such...

[Larry Jacks]

The man claimed he is a psychic and can tell many things about me without asking.

When the Psychic Friends Network (1-900 service where for several dollars a minute, people could talk to supposed psychics) went bankrupt, some wags suggested that "they should've seen it coming."

In the case of your "psychic", I would've stopped him by saying, "If you were really a psychic, you'd know my opinion of you."

[Tobin Dax]

He also believes in aliens and mole men.

Mole men.

I swear.

Somebody likes The Incredibles just a little too much.

[Demigrog]

I once listened to a woman for a half hour describing the "negative energy" of my hometown and how she used crystals to focus her energy or some such. I managed to not snicker, and I even told her I could feel her positive aura*! Of course she was really really cute... Skepticism must have its limits.


* Sadly not the most lame line I've ever tried. Equally sadly, one of the most successful.

[blueshift]

The man claimed he is a psychic and can tell many things about me without asking.

When the Psychic Friends Network (1-900 service where for several dollars a minute, people could talk to supposed psychics) went bankrupt, some wags suggested that "they should've seen it coming."

In the case of your "psychic", I would've stopped him by saying, "If you were really a psychic, you'd know my opinion of you."

I did have a series of exchanges with him. He is also a firm believer in astrology. When I told him that the constellation associated with the astrological sign that he has is not really behind the sun on his birthday due to the precession of the earth over the years, he became defensive and said I was too analytical, expressing negativity. I responded that I was showing an interest in him and was listening closely to what he was saying, showing him more respect than I would if I just sat there and nodded with a blank smile of fake admiration. Secondly, I asked him to look at the death notices in the newspaper, which can list the birthdates of the departed, and to show me if there is a pattern to what astrological sign was due to meet up with disaster that day. If the birthdates do not mostly fall within one or two signs of the zodiac and are spread out instead, then astrology is falsified. We could extend the number of days to cover the whole year to gather a better sampling. And, of course, I asked him why he doesn't send out warnings to all those who are about to die or be mugged?

[Moose]

"Negativity" is the last refuge of people who "got nothin".

[mike alexander]

Nowadays we call molemen 'chemists'.

[rigel]

No wonder I get funnylooks. I'm a moleman.

[KaiYeves]

One of my mom's artist friends who came to a gallery once was going on and on about how she could see my aura. She asked me to look at her hand and tell her what I saw. I wanted to be polite, so I said that I saw lots of pink on her hand. (She was Caucasian.)

[closetgeek]

One of my mom's artist friends who came to a gallery once was going on and on about how she could see my aura. She asked me to look at her hand and tell her what I saw. I wanted to be polite, so I said that I saw lots of pink on her hand. (She was Caucasian.)

Back in my senior year, we had a girl that claimed to see aura's. I found it absolutely amazing that she was able to see my aura and tell me that I was an introvert and a loner; you would never have guessed that by the fact that I had no friends and sat alone. Seeing aura's, IMHO, are exactly like cold readings, you look at the way a person presents themselves then you pick the color that matches what their personality most likely is.

[Moose]

Seeing aura's, IMHO, are exactly like cold readings, you look at the way a person presents themselves then you pick the color that matches what their personality most likely is.

Heh, I'd rephrase that to "... you pick a random color, then claim it matches while rephrasing what has now become a circular argument."

Ex: "You're a quiet, sensitive person who has a hard time making friends. And sure enough, your aura is a soft violet with a hint of magenta, a very common trait among folks with anti-social tendencies."

[Noclevername]

I believe in Hans Moleman. He's the one who fought the Fantastic Four, right?

[Tobin Dax]

Nowadays we call molemen 'chemists'.

I took way too long to get that one.

[KaiYeves]

I believe in Hans Moleman. He's the one who fought the Fantastic Four, right?

That guy's just called The Mole Man.

[Moose]

I believe in Hans Moleman.

Ah. The Gremlin on the Side of the Bus.

[eugenek]

He also believes in aliens and mole men.

Mole men.

I thought Underdog took care of them. Oh where has he gone!

I swear.

I do too. I try not to make it a habit though.

[laurele]

I once listened to a woman for a half hour describing the "negative energy" of my hometown and how she used crystals to focus her energy or some such. I managed to not snicker, and I even told her I could feel her positive aura*! Of course she was really really cute... Skepticism must have its limits.


* Sadly not the most lame line I've ever tried. Equally sadly, one of the most successful.

From personal experience, I can say definitively that there are towns with negative energy, especially here in NJ. Most towns' negative energy is centered on their town halls, but any details would require venturing into political discussion, which is not permitted in this forum.

[Tog]

Rambling story time.

I worked with a guy that not only believed in the psychic world. He lived it. He told me about being able to see energies crossing the earth and how he could heal. He was also a firm believer in astrology. I worked with him for several years, and we talked a lot.

Now, I'm skeptical but open to the idea of most psychic things. That is, I think it's possible, but I don't believe anyone that claims they have abilities actually does.

I've got several anecdotal stories about him.

Healing: He went into massage therapy. I knew him on the freight crew of a grocery store. We worked nights stocking shelves. If I ever woke up with a pinched nerve or anything, he was able to get it sorted out pretty quickly. The one time that really stands out was when I said that I slept funny and couldn't lift my right arm above my shoulder. He passed his hands over my back without actually touching me, then told me to breathe "cause this is gonna suck" and drove his fingertip into a spot under my shoulder blade. It hurt a lot for a few seconds then it all went away and everything was back to normal.

The other times I had had pain on waking up, there was a knot in my back, this time it was a pinched nerve. I don't know how he knew that from my description. Possibly from watching the way I moved, but the effect was definitely memorable.

Another time, he decided that my tendency to have minor accidents was due to a misalignment of my Chakra points. He offered to do "Energy work to see if he could balance them out. He worked on me for about 30 minutes and for the next three weeks I didn't suffer any of my daily minor injuries.

A second treatment was odd because at some point I saw (in my mind) a layout of my body's nervous system with all nerves in blue. All except for the back of my right arm. That one was flashing red. About 5 seconds after I saw this in my head, he moved to that exact spot and started working on it. It's possible that I had a twitch I was not aware of, but I didn't think I did anything to indicate an issue with my arm.

Precognition: This was actually from is daughter who was four at the time. We were having inventory so this guy had to go in early to help get ready. His daughter asked why he had to go in early and he explained that inventory was when people come in to count stuff to see if the store made any money. Her face went completely blank and she said "Tell Dave, he's getting an eleven." He related this story to us all before the inventory crews arrived. When the numbers came back, Dave's department came back 11.12%. It's standard to round to the nearest 0.5 when taling about the numbers, so he got an 11.

Auras: One day we started talking about auras. He tried to teach me to see them. I wanted to make it as unbiased as possible so I told him not to tell me anything specific. He explained how I should relax my eyes and we found a guy in the back room willing to just stand there for a minute. I honestly saw a vivid purple glow around the guy. It was dim, but the color was intense. I thought it might be a color effect from my glasses, since I do get red and blue halos at times., but no change in angles of my glasses made a difference. Oddly, his distance from me didn't affect the size of the glow. If he was far away it seemed to extend further from him than when he was close, to the degree that the glow maintained a constant angular size. That points more to it being in my head.

In addition to the purple glow, there was a bright yellow spike going into the right shoulder of the person. Without saying whay I saw, I asked what each color meant. As I recall, purple was contentment and yellow was change. I then asked about shapes. Smooth was more pleasant and sharp was more painful. I asked what a yellow spike might mean, and he said that it would be a painful change, like a pulled muscle or an emotional loss, depending on where it was. Turns out the guy I was looking at hurt that same shoulder at the gym.

As a follow-up, I asked if the guy showing me all this stuff could make his aura do anything. He said he could and we tried a demonstration. After he was done, I told the third person what I saw, and the first guy told him what I should have seen. The two were not even close. I saw a few light green flickers that turned cyan, I should have seen huge flaming lights in a 6 foot radius.

Finally, on auras, I've watched him as he did massage work on my GF. I see nothing from her at all, but he gives off a deep, vivid blue that only exists over his skin. It stops at his shirt. The same color is not present on my GF skin and the two have similar tones. That first day, he said that blue is a healing color.

In the end, my opinion is unchanged. I won't dismiss something just because it's psychic, but I'll look for as many mundane explanations as I can, before agreeing that it might be something else. After all, I don't expect to ever be able to know all of the mundane possibilities.

Side note: This same guy moved his family to Oregon just before 2000 because he bought into the internet stories about Martial Law in London in August of 1999. He was a chemtrail believer. His wife went to a psychic that told her her true love's name was Jim (or something). A few months later a "Jim" showed up to do some work on their house and she left her family in a matter of weeks. He accepted this completely because it all "fit". A few months later, she came back.

He was an intelligent, and very likable person. All his treatments ever cost me were some lessons with the bo staff, it wasn't a financial interest as far as our conversations went. He knew I didn't accept what he said at face value and was fine with it. neither of us tried to change the other's mind, but we did have some really good talks.