# Psychics and Fortunetellers
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psychics-and-fortunetellers/42396
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [November 23, 2000, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psychics-and-fortunetellers/42396 "2000-11-23T00:46:42Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Dignan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dignan)
#### Post date: [November 23, 2000, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psychics-and-fortunetellers/42396/1 "2000-11-23T00:46:42Z")
I was wondering if anyone has ever gone to (or called) a psychic or fortune teller and they gave you a correct answer or actually saw into your future, etc. Or like those guys that can “talk to the dead” what about them, anyone ever talk to one personally and have them tell you something right? Just wonderin’
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### Author:  [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)
#### Post date: [November 23, 2000, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psychics-and-fortunetellers/42396/2 "2000-11-23T00:54:33Z")
I haven’t called one, but, I used to tell people’s fortunes back in the dorm days (1972- 76). I had a tarot deck, and amazed people with my accuracy.
Of course, I was able to do the same thing with the tarot deck that I made up with completely bizarre meanings for each card, too.
How? Of course, I read the person, not the card. You say something vague, if they respond in one way, you go down that path, respond a different way, go there. Not difficult, really.
Why, did you want me to do it for you? sure, no problem, I take Visa, MasterCard through PayPal…
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### Author:  [@bizerta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bizerta)
#### Post date: [November 23, 2000, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psychics-and-fortunetellers/42396/3 "2000-11-23T03:10:42Z")
Fortune telling is like The Force. It can have a strong influence on the weak minded.
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### Author:  [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)
#### Post date: [November 23, 2000, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psychics-and-fortunetellers/42396/4 "2000-11-23T05:47:56Z")
Quite true, **Bizerta,**
Just listen to the “Psychic Hotline” commercials on TV. Most of what you hear is just relationship counseling.
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### Author:  [@Astroboy14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroboy14)
#### Post date: [November 24, 2000, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psychics-and-fortunetellers/42396/5 "2000-11-24T04:13:35Z")
I don’t place much creedence in psychics or fortunetellers, but my mother once went to a psychic and tape recorded the entire thing…
I listened to the tape a few days later, and I was amazed about what this woman “knew” about our family… she told my mother how many children she had, our ages and names, and a whole lot of other stuff (no lottery numbers, though!)… my mother claims that she told this woman nothing, and that she must have been psychic to know all of this stuff.
I believed my mother when she said that she hadn’t provided any information to the psychic, but I still have to wonder: did mom accidentally give her this info? If so, how did she accidentally give it to her without realizing it?
Weird…
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### Author:  [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)
#### Post date: [November 24, 2000, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psychics-and-fortunetellers/42396/6 "2000-11-24T04:25:51Z")
_I see your future clearly. It is right here in this crystal ball. I see a move in your future. Yes. A move. But nothing will really move. Perhaps just the order will change. Yes! That’s it. Your pixels will be in the same place, but they will appear in a different house. The house of IMHO._
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### Author:  [@\_hijack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_hijack)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2000, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psychics-and-fortunetellers/42396/7 "2000-11-25T04:31:16Z")
They had an expose of the phone psychics on 20/20.
They have so many tricks and half-guesses that suck in the gullible. Since someone is paying a stranger for advice, they are all gullible.
None were “psychic” before they answered the newspaper ad, which never mentioned what skills were required.
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### Author:  [@The\_Asbestos\_Mango](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Asbestos_Mango)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2000, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psychics-and-fortunetellers/42396/8 "2000-11-25T11:56:44Z")
I was a live psychic for about three weeks. I used to do Tarot card readings for my friends, and when I moved to Vegas, I found an ad in the paper.
I was pretty accurate, most of the time, because I started off dealing in generalities, then worked my way toward more specific things based on the feedback I got from the callers. Of course, I wasn’t so accurate when I first started, but by the end of the three weeks, I could pick up a lot from voice inflections.
I mostly dealt with relationship-type problems, people calling asking about their boyfriends/girlfriends. For some reason, I seemed to do best with gay callers. Go figure.
I’ve since thrown all my Tarot cards away, along with all my other occult-related books and assorted other items.