I can’t remember another occasion when I have been in a crowd of 1,000 people and felt the atmosphere so heavy with emotion and expectation. (Reader Warning: This is LONG)
Looking around, the crowd in Chelters town hall was ordinary enough. More than your average number of tattoos perhaps and distinct mother-and-daughter and women-together-in-sisterhood, groups with men in the minority – about ten percent, I guessed. Ages ranged from around ten to 80.
It wasn’t the sort of event I would have paid £21 a ticket for, but they all had. I had the chance of a freebie as a pal couldn’t make it, so I thought it would be interesting to see a stage psychic in full flow.
Sally Morgan had the merchandising spot on. Copies of “My Psychic Life” were available to buy and the show was being filmed for her ITV programme (never watched it so no idea on that).
There was a “legal requirements” preliminary announcement broadcast: “I am required to inform you that tonight’s performance is intended for entertainment purposes and has not been scientifically proven – but as Sally would say, it has not been scientifically disproven either.”
Sally herself is blonde, a tad dumpy and middle-aged with specs and a sparkly tunic over black trousers. A bit like the woman next door on a night out.
She told the audience about the filming “We have about a thousand people here tonight and another three million will be able to see you.” Great.
“It can be jawdropping,” she warned. “I have yet to be let down by spirit.” Note “spirit” singular in the way that birdwatchers refer to “500 starling.” “Spirit” and “passed” both became familiar terms.
Sally is one of the most successful psychics in the UK.
“I’m complete in awe of what happens in my head. It’s the thought that drops in my head and bang – there’s a message there.”
There’s some incoming. Sally asks for a Diane to make herself known. A woman in the audience stands up.
“I have a Marilyn here,” says Sally. Turns out it is Diane’s aunty Marilyn who died three years ago.
“I am happy where I am because everyone is here,” is the message.
Sally knows Diane’s brother died. “Was it the 14th?”
“No but he had the brain haemorrhage on the 14th.”
“They are both here,” Sally tells her. “Julie. Who’s Julie?”
Diane says “Julie’s my niece.. but she’s not passed.” Ah. Moving swiftly on…
Another Julie was told it was her dad, Don who’d come through for her.
“No” said the other Julie “That’s Donna. My sister. We all called her Don.”
Sally was confused for a bit after that. She’d picked up mention of some police activity at a house belonging to a member of Julie’s family. No confirmation of that at all. Well, even if there had been, I doubt Julie would have fessed up in front of 4,000 people (remember the viewers!).
People were finding it very emotional. The woman next to me was in tears already. This was a room where many were seeking answers, still grieving, still traumatised by losing their loved ones. So many tragedies and sadnesses and guilt.
Sally picked up a young man called Andrew crying out “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”
A woman in the centre of the hall let out a cry of anguish and rose to her feet in floods of tears, incapable of speech.
“He wants to show me how he died,” said Sally. “He cant stop shaking. He’s saying ‘I called you. I left you a message.”
“He did,” sobbed the woman.
Sally thought Andrew had been found dead two days after taking an overdose but the woman – his mother – said he was found soon after the overdose but died two days later.
“You know I feel so guilty. If I’d gone to see him the night before, he wouldn’t have done it,” said Andrew’s mother.
“No, no,” said Sally. “It was going to happen. He would have done it. He will give you a sign. You will see him in the hallway soon.”
Everyone is moved. This is powerful, rivetting stuff. Entertainment, though? Oh please, not entertainment. That must the wrong word mustn’t it?
John comes through to Sally, calling out for Maureen or Mo. An elderly woman stands with a younger woman beside her.
“He comes and kisses your cheek when you are in bed. You had a fantastic marriage. You had this incredible relationship with your husband. He’s telling me “She was the only woman for me.” He loves you, darling.”
“I know. I know” says the woman, weeping.
Sally got that the younger woman was Maureen’s daughter Tina (also in tears).
Sally: “He’s saying something about changing the tyre.”
The women looked at each other and started to laugh, plainly delighted and astonished.
“You recognise that?”
“Yes” said Mo. “He was putting the car away in the garage and in the course of putting it away, he hit the garage wall and burst the tyre.”
Gasps around hall.
“Oh he wants to make you laugh, Mo. I think that’s lovely.”
Sally moved on to others who came through including a dodgy-sounding young man who had taken the wrap for a burglary and met a violent death. No-one owned up to being the Sean he wanted to contact.
The second half of the show was in similar vein. My pal recognised one of the women who stood up and was given a message.
“She lives in the same village as me, so she can’t have been planted,” she hissed. My pal has been to these shows before but wasn’t particularly impressed with this one.
“I’ve seen her get more right before. I wouldn’t come to a show like this again. I think she’s better one to one, talking about the future.”
The main message I got was that psychic communications – assuming that’s what they were – are very haphazard. Sally would be giving one person information, and another person two seats away would stand up and say “Hang on, that’s me he wants.”
Is it really “entertainment” listening to heart-wrenching personal guts being spilled in public?
It made me feel uncomfortable. It also occurred to me that approximately 985 people who paid £21 for their seat and didn’t get any messages probably went away feeling a little disappointed.
—
Conversation between two women along the row from me before the start of the show:
“I wonder how they psyche themselves up?”
Number two woman thinks about that for a minute, then replies:
“I went to a spiritualist church once. We’ve all got medium skills. It’s just a matter of whether you channel them. “
Boadicea's Chariot 
Charlatans fleecing the gullible.
Friend of mine paid $1000 Dollars to go to one of them shows in the hope she might speak with the spirit of her dead father or brother, needless to say nothing happened, they were never mentioned and she came home feeling like a fool.
But as I told her, her father and brother were named Hugo and Jaime and spoke only Spanish, the psychic however spoke only English, she had no chance whatsoever to start with.
What she should have done was to kill a translator just before the show started. 😦
Oh how fascinating…and how utterly tragic. I’m inclined to agree with Bravo.
Having said that I had some friends at uni who once did an oujii – it came up with some awful, terrifying stuff about them and about a girl who had supposedly killed herself; it scared them and everyone else out of their minds. I always vowed afterwards that never even be in the same building as something like that in future.
I once had to interview a psychic; it was a bit strange because she wore a tuxedo and insisted on taking my hand to read my palm when I clearly didn’t want it!
I once had sex with a psychic, she must have seen the future, she had a smile on her face before we even started 🙂
I have absolutely no doubt that there are ‘gifted’ individuals, who can ‘see beyond the veil.’ However, greed almost always takes over,, and the ‘gift’ is abused.
An old Turkish woman once read the bottom of my cup of coffee, she said I would take three different directions in my life and that finally I would find the truth of life. She was right, I’m sure you all know what I mean, it don’t take a psychic to work it out. 🙂
Hmmm. Vulnerable folk needing to ‘find’ something often find what isn’t really there, for comfort. All so publicly done. I’m with you on this one Jan. Not entertainment.
My friends in Wales are nearly all psychics and some of them witches, in fact, I am the only one who is not into the occult.
Brenda in June 2008 had just popped in for tea, as one does in Wales and apropos of nothing at all turned and said “Roo will die in mid October, get ready for it”. He was not ill at the time, but she was right, Oct 10th.
A couple of months after his death, Olwyn rang me up, she had a disconcerting habit of talking about the dead as if they were alive and said that Roo had got in touch the last evening, he was dancing in a tropical jungle but it had a roof, laughing and waving his stump that had grown a new leg and that to tell me that he had no pain and two legs so he was very glad to be there. She was most apologetic, said it sounded totally barmy!
What she didn’t know was that she described the Birmingham Botanic tropical house perfectly, one of his favourite places and didn’t know that dancing was his favourite occupation when young, it all made perfect sense to me!
In fact he visited them all except me and ex staff of mine, did the rounds thoroughly, I was inundated with phone calls. I also know why he is pissed off with me, it will pass, things generally do.
I think the group bashes are a con but a good psychic can be quite useful should you care to invest in a one to one session.
I have never believed in any of it but the boy’s passing makes me waver in my disbelief.
Needless to say I never paid a penny for these bon mots! I have to add these people are incredibly day to day prosaic normal people, they do not indulge in stupid clothes, crystal balls, props, earth mother droopy skirts and robes, silly voices etc etc, they would be no friends of mine were they to do so! Three of them make full time livings at it in the S Wales area.
Thanks for reporting back on this, Jan.
I think it is fascinating but not very comfortable. I really do think there are more things in heaven and earth and etc, but I think that this is exploitation of the vulnerable and needy, and possibly some of these psychics are genuinely trying to help and I suppose if they can provide some comfort then fine; but not at £21 a throw plus TV.
I’m inclined to agree about some, Bravo, but I wouldn’t dismiss them all.
That’s a bit extreme, IS, why not just employ a Spanish psychic and get a live translator? Avoids all a long and tedious court case 😉
Hi Claire. I met a psychic about 15 years ago who was pretty spookily accurate about the present and forecast several aspects of my future which I didn’t take a lot of notice of. About two months ago, hunting for something else entirely, I found my notes and it was awesome how much of the future he predicted had come true.
I think he was probably an exception though. I think he was one of the “gifted” people Zen talks about.
Pseu, yes. It didn’t seem right to be sitting there, joining in with someone else’s deeply personal stuff.
Thanks Christina. Interesting about Roo making his prescence felt to your friends and ex-staff and that you even recognised the location!
My mother and I had a pact that whoever died first would give some kind of sign to the other. And I’ve had two unequivocal signs and one dream so vivid she was almost in the room. So I’m as sure as I can be that she’s ok and we’ll meet again some day.
Having said that, I never thought for a moment that she would communicate via Sally Morgan. Much, much too public!! 😀
Greetings Araminta. It was a fascinating thing to attend and a chance I felt I shouldn’t pass up. But your word “vulnerable” sums up a lot of the people there, still in raw bereavement and desperate to contact those they have lost.
Interesting blog, Jan. The public thing seems odd to me, but I’ve had some very strange psychic events happen to me that make it impossible to deny the possibility.
thought you said it was going to be long, was expecting 10,000 words at least.
Mrs. Osborne
I hope you will see this. Your comment bowled me over as I thought you would take Bravos line in this discussion.
Christina, I talked to someone that knew a lot about psychic matters. This person related to me that in order to get psychic messages one needs to be in tune with this world of perception. Call it sensitivity.
You seem to be more of a pragmatic and scientific type, and it is because of this that your son tried to contact you through your friends, as he couldn’t reach out to you. Try not to interpret this as him being angry with you, as indicated, but rather as a way to get to you indirectly.
Also my friend told me that your friends in Wales seem to be the real deal, as opposed to the Charlatans that use this human emotion for monetary purposes.
Go in peace Christina, your son loves you.
CO, what’s that old saw about knowing people by the company they keep!? Seriously though, I prefer not to be judgemental about all this. My mother had a couple of psychic experiences – and she had both feet planted firmly on terra firma. Maybe Rainer is right – it’s to do with wavelengths.
I went to a meeting ‘psychic’ meeting once a long time ago. It was very sad – it seemed to me to that a lot of desperately unhappy people were being conned.
On the other hand, I have also met some amazing people who have, freely, predicted things that have been extremely accurate. Consequently, I keep an open mind on this subject.
10,000 words, CB? Blimey, I’d have to offer refreshments along the way and have St John ambulancemen ready to treat survivors who made it to the finish.
Greetings Rainer! While there may be a “type” of person who wants to believe in psychic phenomena, supernatural etc, I think anyone, scientist or non-scientist, will at least be persuaded to keep an open mind if something occurs which is deeply personal and barn-door obviously from a particular dead person.
Scientists know very little about anything… yet. Science looks at ‘real’ things and attempts to examine and explain how they work but no-one’s able to look at what may be a complete world of “unreal.”