On My Mind: Psychic Phone Lines
July 29, 2001 -- You have all seen her, I'm sure. Especially if you've had one of those sleepless nights and you flip on the television at 3 a.m. and there's nothing on but infomercials.
The other night I saw her on three different channels, almost simultaneously. I'm talking about "Miss Cleo," the woman with the West Indian accent, colorful garb, and gold bangles.
Cleo, excuse me, "Miss Cleo" excitedly tells you that all you have to do is call the telephone number boldly plastered on the screen for her tarot card readings. She'll give you three minutes of free advice about your life, your loves, and your future. She doesn't tell you that more time is going to cost you big time. But growing numbers of dissatisfied callers are up in arms over the charges they have had to pay.
The World Looks to the Paranormal
Miss Cleo has been on my mind because this past week, the state of Missouri filed lawsuits against her psychic hotline for allegedly violating the state's no-call law and for consumer fraud. As Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon put it, Miss Cleo (if she's psychic) should have seen it coming. He said, "It doesn't take a crystal ball to realize that ripping off consumers is not without consequences."
Missouri callers were reportedly billed for free services by spending three minutes on the phone providing personal information and then were charged for the time they spent waiting to talk to a psychic.
This got me to thinking about what seems to be unprecedented interest by the American people today in mind reading, faith healing, psychics, and mediums.
The New York Times has a feature today on John Edward, the 31-year-old host of what was once an obscure late night show on the Sci-Fi channel, where he claimed to receive messages from dead people. But now, he's become so popular his psychic talk show, Crossing Over with John Edward, is being nationally syndicated. In New York City, the CBS station will run it at 3 p.m.
Look at the TV schedule and you will a host of shows dealing with the paranormal: The X-Files, Millennium, Profiler, the Psi Factor, the Outer Limits, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Friday the 13th, and The Dark Side. Even more are in the making.
Books and movie are always being created about unexplained events because people like them. Just look at the success of author Stephen King and the movie The Sixth Sense.
Have You Seen Your Psychic Today?
For decades polls have shown that up to two thirds of the population believe in psychic phenomena. But what's unique about today, is that so many people are shelling out millions of dollars to explore the "the other world." Thirty-seven percent of the nation's police departments admit to having tried psychics to solve crimes. (I wonder if D.C. has brought one in to help find Chandra Levy.)
You may wonder if I believe in the unexplained. Well, I didn't. But something happened to me recently that makes me a believer in "paranormal events."
A few weeks ago I was having dinner with friends in their home built in the 1860's, a registered historic building. I joked that there must be ghosts in such an old house. My friends said if there were, in the 11 years they lived there, they had never seen them. We were halfway through the main course, when I felt something behind me. My back was to a doorway to the hall. I turned and nothing was there. The feeling didn't go away. I thought it may be the couple's cat, but I glanced in the kitchen and she was curled up in her basket.
What I felt seemed to move from a standing position behind me, to a sitting position beside me. I was afraid to say anything. I suspected a hair was in my eye and tried to dismiss it. But there was no hair or specks in my eyes. As suddenly as it came, it was gone.
Estelle Makes a Presence
After I went through my mind what had just happened, I finally told the three others at the table what I had experienced, and asked if anyone had seen anything or felt something. They looked at me as if I were crazy. I described what had happened, which I must say wasn't at all frightening. It was just a calm presence around me.
Who else lived in the house I asked my friends. They said it had been occupied at the turn of the last century by a man named Estel and his mother, Estelle. Estelle? I asked, surprised to hear my uncommon middle name mentioned. Yes, Estelle. "Her son was no good, but she apparently was a kind lady," my friends explained.
Could Estelle have chosen to visit me from the "beyond?" I don't know. But when people now tell me they have had weird experiences, I will dismiss them no longer.
But I won't be spending any money on any psychic hotlines. While I might not be know what went on in that old house, I do know what's happening with those psychic hotlines. Caveat emptor.