I find this breaking story quite interesting. A six year old girl named Kiesha Abrahams was reported missing eight days ago. No one outside her immediate family recalls seeing her for three weeks prior to the date her mother reported her missing, and suspicion has largely fallen on the family. Large searches have been conducted in bushland around her home, but no trace of the child has been found.
Today a woman who claims to be psychic says she was drawn to search a particular location for the child’s body, and instead found the plastic-wrapped torso of an adult woman. Police believe the torso probably belongs to Kristi McDougall, a 31 year old woman missing since June.
Additionally, the mother of the missing girl is also named Kristi.
And how many other ‘psychics’ are out looking and haven’t found anything? Thousands - as is the case in all cases which are as high profile as this one. Let’s be told by the psychic BEFORE they go out and then keep tabs.
Ah … you’re right. More Kristi than Christie. Wonder which is right?
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if a psychic really did manage to see the child and find her. And find her alive?
Unfortunately, I have followed cases like this for years, and have been suggesting at talks I do that people write down claims when a child disappearance happens like: "The body will be found in a shallow grave near a dirt track. There is water nearby. There’s a man involved - he has dark hair, and he already knew her. I can see that she was scared of him. And she has a favourite toy. It’s pink and soft. "
I’ve been right sometimes (and many times not), but never felt able to exploit the hits. It just seems so unethical.
What I find most interesting about such cases is the way we react to information - find the patterns we want. I will find the pattern I believe in - that psychics exploit such situations for personal fame, because that’s what I believe. The biggest motivator I know is being special. This psychic has just become special.
I agree - it is a really interesting case to follow, but I don’t have any good feelings about how it will turn out.
That was the plot of an episode of “Monk.” The psychic needed someone to find the body of the person she killed, so she used her powers to lead them to it.
Sorry if I appear to overreact to this story, but I have been really upset by the exploitation of families of missing kids in this way over many years. The case which first drew my attention to how cruel the psychic intervention can be was that of Genette Tate in the UK, because I saw her father on a documentary telling just how dreadful it was to have your hopes constantly raised by the endless stream of psychics, then dashed every time. This is the father of a 13 year old girl, who despite numerous psychics offering ‘help’ still hasn’t been found - over 30 years later. I can’t imagine anything worse than being the parent of a missing child. Part of what he said:
“We discovered that the work of the psychics was not just ludicrous and laughable. it was sinister and evil…None of it ever led anywhere except to despair and disappointment, misery and confusion.” --John Tate, father of Genette Tate who disappeared in 1978 (quoted in Investigating the Unexplained, p. 42)