Today in "psychic" fraud news, we read about Melanie Barnum in the Connecticut Post. The writer, Deb Keiser, assures us that Barnum is "legit." After all, she studied under James van Praagh (you can read more about van Praagh here)!
Reading the article, its clear that what this woman is doing is nothing more than cold reading, augmented by a little internet research. For example, we read this from the exchange between Barnum and Keiser:
Q: How do you know the answers?
A: When I do a reading, I tune into that person's energy field. Even before they arrive in my office, I sit in a chair and do a grounding exercise, a meditation of my own, and then I write some notes that come to me about what I should share with that person.
That's how I knew you were a petite, energetic and organized brunette even before you got here. (True: she showed me the notes.)
It took me less than five seconds for me to find Keiser on Facebook, her page contains a lot of information about her, including numerous photographs. Wouldn't be hard at all for Barnum to do the same. Deb, you might want to review your privacy settings.
And again, here:
In a different reading, a woman came in who was unsure about her professional direction. Suddenly I felt I had to say, "I have to talk to you about all the soldiers. You are digging up all the soldiers." She was stunned, and asked how I could know that.
That was her moment. It turned out she had started a family research project and every single generation going back to the Revolutionary War had a soldier who'd served in a war, including the Civil War, World War I and II. The soldiers came through to tell her to continue the research, and that she was headed in the right direction by doing that.
I wouldn't be at all surprised to learn that Barnum has an account with a service like Ancestry.com, and routinly does a search on whoever happens to be coming in for a reading. Wouldn't be at all surprised either if you have to make an appointment, I doubt she sees "drop ins" (her webpage is silent on the matter, but there's plenty of contact information). Of course, if she really were psychic, she'd know you were coming, right?
As P.T. Barnum is alleged to have said, there's a sucker born every minute!