Alana
Member
Hi, I just joined Skeptiko and I was hoping I could bounce ideas off of some people for testing a medium. I’ve only done one reading so far, but this is my current procedure:
I showed up without notice on a day where they did mini readings for a $20 donation (to me, it seems reasonable, they need to keep the lights on somehow). I gave them a fake first name and no last name and paid in cash. No person there knew me.
Then, before the actual reading, I asked if it was okay if I wrote down what was said. If the medium had said no, I would have been suspicious, but she didn’t. She held my hands and said a quick prayer before closing her eyes. She kept them closed the entire time, and I kept my head down as I wrote. It would have been very hard for her to see my reactions and even then I did my best to keep a blank face.
She asked no questions, there was no information fishing. She let lose a stream of consciousness and did not pause to gauge my reaction once. I wrote 3 pages worth of bullet point notes and offered no explanation as to who she saw.
Then, when I got home, I categorized the information into three points: correct information, unknown, and false.
She did not give any names, but the way she described two of the spirits - a couple, both old and similar in stature. The male with glasses, the female with a daydress - fit the image of my grandparents. The medium also said that they were concerned because I have made myself physically ill with worry. This is also true, recent events have made me so stressed my body went into “survival mode” where I didn’t feel hungry and was afraid to sleep.
As for the unknowns, she listed tree other spirits besides the couple. One was male, and her choice of words was interesting while describing him: tall, thin, and related to me by blood. The medium had no way of knowing that I was adopted, and after checking with my birth mother, I did have an uncle that fit that description, he died in 2005. I cannot think of a way for the medium to have guessed that. For the other unknowns, the spirits said that I’d have an outlook change in 2-3 months, so sometime in April or May. I have no way of finding if that is true or not until those months, and even then I do not know what would cause that kind of outlook change.
For false information...as of today, February 14, 2018, I have found no information that was wrong.
Again, I would very much appreciate it if some members could reply and give advice to have tighter controls. I’m no scientist, but I am one of those “see it for yourself” types. I was fully prepared for this to be a fake medium, but the way she acted was genuine and I usually have a good sense of when someone’s trying to trick me.
I showed up without notice on a day where they did mini readings for a $20 donation (to me, it seems reasonable, they need to keep the lights on somehow). I gave them a fake first name and no last name and paid in cash. No person there knew me.
Then, before the actual reading, I asked if it was okay if I wrote down what was said. If the medium had said no, I would have been suspicious, but she didn’t. She held my hands and said a quick prayer before closing her eyes. She kept them closed the entire time, and I kept my head down as I wrote. It would have been very hard for her to see my reactions and even then I did my best to keep a blank face.
She asked no questions, there was no information fishing. She let lose a stream of consciousness and did not pause to gauge my reaction once. I wrote 3 pages worth of bullet point notes and offered no explanation as to who she saw.
Then, when I got home, I categorized the information into three points: correct information, unknown, and false.
She did not give any names, but the way she described two of the spirits - a couple, both old and similar in stature. The male with glasses, the female with a daydress - fit the image of my grandparents. The medium also said that they were concerned because I have made myself physically ill with worry. This is also true, recent events have made me so stressed my body went into “survival mode” where I didn’t feel hungry and was afraid to sleep.
As for the unknowns, she listed tree other spirits besides the couple. One was male, and her choice of words was interesting while describing him: tall, thin, and related to me by blood. The medium had no way of knowing that I was adopted, and after checking with my birth mother, I did have an uncle that fit that description, he died in 2005. I cannot think of a way for the medium to have guessed that. For the other unknowns, the spirits said that I’d have an outlook change in 2-3 months, so sometime in April or May. I have no way of finding if that is true or not until those months, and even then I do not know what would cause that kind of outlook change.
For false information...as of today, February 14, 2018, I have found no information that was wrong.
Again, I would very much appreciate it if some members could reply and give advice to have tighter controls. I’m no scientist, but I am one of those “see it for yourself” types. I was fully prepared for this to be a fake medium, but the way she acted was genuine and I usually have a good sense of when someone’s trying to trick me.