Skeptical Analysis of the Paranormal Society

"Le doute n'est pas une condition agréable, mais la certitude est absurde."

—Voltaire

What is talking to mediums like?

Alison talks about the search for her uncle, and what it's like to get these psychic opinions.

Have you ever met someone who loved tragedy? Who basked in it? Welcome to the world of mediums.

I'm going to be perfectly frank, and I'm not going to hold punches. I'm not going to worry about grammar and syntax this time around because, let's face it, this is a touchy subject and for once I'm not going to watch my mouth.

I won't say that all mediums are bad. I don't know all mediums. I won't even say these mediums are bad. I will say they are inaccurate, but that's beside the point. This is about what it's like to contact them - to hear their predictions, their ideas.

It stinks.

I'm lucky, in a way, that this is a case that isn't particularly close to me. It is in that Duane is my uncle. But he disappeared sixteen years ago. I was eight.

I can't imagine what it would be like to contact a medium about your missing child, because even this small dose... well, like I said before, it stinks.

No matter what they say, you want it to be true. You want to think there's an answer somewhere in there. Was there ever a definitive answer from the mediums? No. Did they ever know something we hadn't already said? No. And yet that strange sort of hope is still there, that one, just one, will have some interesting lead.

Let me go ahead and say - lots of the mediums who have responded doubt that Duane is my uncle's real name. It *is* his real name. It was on his birth certificate. Honestly.

He can talk. He didn't drive. He didn't have a pet. He is mentally ill. He didn't run off with a woman. He is not in any unidentified body index I've ever seen. There is no trace of his existence.

What it comes down to is this: If you don't know, don't try. People say that famous mediums like John Edward and Sylvia Browne are doing a service. They aren't. Even if they label their shows as entertainment, real people are on there. With real missing or deceased loved ones. Telling them a happy little fantasy (or in the case of some of our mediums, a sad one) is not ethical. It might be legal, but who cares?

Offer me evidence. Offer me proof. Don't offer me some vague nonsense about where Duane *might* be, because narrowing it down to a state isn't good enough. Telling me about a dirt road isn't good enough. What's good enough is an address, a location, a real place, not some place you saw in your head that has maybe two descriptors, both of which are in billiions of places across the planet.

There. That's my rant about mediums. I would like to thank the participants for their help.

-- Alison, SAPS Founder

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