Contacting the dead/table-tipping

[Anonymouse]

My mom and I went to a psychic party tonight. Most of the people there were neighbors, people that were on the fire squad with my father, and a few girls my age that I grew up with. We got our fortunes read with cards. She told me I was going to marry my boyfriend in two or three years, that I was having issues with my job and when I brought up the merger she told me I'd go to the new place, that they'd need me there, and that the brakes in my car squeaked but I just turned the radio up and ignored it. All true, but I felt it was kind of general so I wasn't too blown away.

What did blow me away was the table-tipping portion. The psychic got it started for us and then left because she was exhausted from reading so many fortunes. When I watched her and the other three people sitting around the table I thought for sure she was moving it. But once I got a chance to sit and really observe everyone else I could tell that none of us were moving it.

At least I knew I wasn't moving it when I was asking my deceased relatives questions. And nobody else that was sitting with me at the time could have known the answers to my questions. I asked if my late cousin was there and the table bumped the ground once, for "yes." Ever skeptical, I asked him to give me the first letter of his last name and the table spelled out a letter, which it was. I asked him if he had a message to pass on to his brother and mother and the table spelled "I OK." It also spelled "TOO MUCH." My cousin died of a heroin overdose.

I talked to my grandfather, my father's father, later on. My mom was sitting there too. The table spelled out "PUMPKIN" and I looked at my mom and asked her what this meant. At first she looked confused but then this look came over her face and she told me my grandfather used to call me that. The table also spelled out "BABY [MY SISTER'S NAME]," which is what he used to call her. I asked if he had any messages he wanted me to pass on and he spelled out "DAUGHTER." I asked if he wanted me to let his daughter (my aunt) know he was okay and he confirmed.

By this point my mother was crying and I knew there was no way she made the table move to spell this out, and I certainly didn't. The other two people at the table couldn't have known that my grandfather called me and my sister that.

After my mother calmed down she tried talking to her mom, who was very superstitious when she was alive and threw out my mother's Ouija board because she thought it was evil. My mom asked her if she was there and the table banged the ground hard once, for "yes." She asked if she had any messages for her and the table spelled "GO HO," at which point we guessed "Go home?" and it banged loud again in confirmation. Then it started shaking gently while we were laughing. Before she left the psychic told us that when it does that, the person we're speaking to is either hugging us or laughing.

Another funny part was when one of my friends and her mother were at the table, speaking to my friend's grandmother/her mother's mother-in-law. She asked if she watched over her when she slept and the table banged "yes." She asked if she watched her sister too and it banged "yes." When she asked if her grandmother watched over her parents in their room the table banged twice for "no." My friend's mother was like "Wait a minute, why doesn't she watch us?" so my friend said "Is it because you don't want to watch my parents having sex?" and it banged out an emphatic "YES" and started shaking with "laughter."

Has anyone done this? Is it stupid of me to believe that we were actually communicating with spirits? I'm torn between feeling skeptical and finding comfort in the fact that I spoke with some members of my family who died tragically and they let me know that they were okay. I'm going to be doing some more research on this now, but I just wanted to share my experience and see if anyone else has done anything like this or has any insight.

[AltoFairy]

Well, I've seen it on Long Island Medium, does that count?

Being more serious, a friend and I did something similar at a class where a woman was teaching us to read fortunes. Neither of us had ever met her before, and it was many years ago, back when we were in middle school. We were sitting next to each other surrounded by old women we'd never met, and the teacher came up and started just telling us all different things about our lives that she read with her psychicy-power type things. I think, really, its something that shouldn't be overthought; especially if it did make you happy and comfortable, if only for a moment. Don't look the gift horse in the mouth, you know? It's not like there will be any Trojan tables in there...

[Heathcliff]

I have to say- I'm very sceptical about this sort of thing. I won't go into it further, because this is not the Snake Pit... but please don't come to rely on comfort from this. Whatever the psychic did for you tonight, there have been many people in the past doing similar things who were straight-up frauds.

[Anonymouse]

Heathcliff, the thing about this that was odd though was that the psychic left after the first five minutes. She already got her money for the fortunes and whatnot and just left us with the table after she got it going or whatever. For the next two hours it was just my mom, me, and about fifteen other people we all know fairly well (though not well enough that they would know how my cousin died or that my grandfather called me "Pumpkin"). By the end of the night it dwindled down to about six or seven people, with four sitting around the table and the rest watching. I just can't imagine that any of the people who were there faking it, especially since everyone kept swapping so that we'd all get a turn with the table.

The excitement has worn off and now I'm looking at it a little more logically, and reading some things online about how people can move the table subconsciously (or who knows, maybe even intentionally). Still, it's weird that the table spelled out such accurate details, but I suppose that could have just been (a lot of) coincidence(s).

[Heathcliff]

Well, fair enough. If the psychic had gone and it was people you knew, that is more convincing. Although as you can probably guess I'm still not sold!

While we're on the subject... if your close dead relatives were talking to you from beyond the grave, why do they come out with things like "DAUGHTER", "PUMPKIN", "TOO MUCH"; words and phrases that are (in a conveniently vague way) supposed to convince you that they are who they say they are, but are actually very impersonal? Why do they not say "HOW ARE YOU?" or "I LOVE YOU" or something like that?

Edit: I'm really sorry if I'm destroying the happiness and comfort you felt when I make these posts. But I feel strongly that we should always be sceptical about this sort of spiritualism. Even if it is harmless comfort to some, it is often used to exploit vulnerable people. For example- http://www.psychictoday.com

[Anonymouse]

Oh no Heathcliff, don't worry about me. I'm skeptical too, but I really got caught up in the moment. I felt "PUMPKIN" was more specific and personal than "I LOVE YOU," especially after seeing the way my mom reacted to it. And a lot of the other people who were asking about their dead relatives were getting "I LOVE YOU" and "KISSES" spelled out for them, as well as full names.

I'm never 100% sold on anything, which is why I wanted to hear about other people's experiences. I'm kind of disappointed with the lack of information I'm finding online about table tipping in particular. There's a lot of evidence that the people themselves are moving the table, but I want to know how it knew to spell out specific names and stuff.

[Heathcliff]

There is an interesting scene in the 1930 detective novel 'Strong Poison' by Dorothy L. Sayers which describes some of the techniques used by fraudulent mediums at the time (I think spiritualism was popular in Britain around that time). In the book, someone uses a stiff wire tied to the wrist to move the table in the dark, and also uses some infomation quickly gleaned from photographs to to convince a woman that her dead lover is talking to her.

Of course, this is fiction, and from the 30's... I don't claim that any of those techniques would explain what happened to you tonight. Also, I think some people who promote this are genuinely convinced of their psychic abilities- they're not out to defraud people, they really believe in what they are doing (even if there's no true evidence).

Anyway... make your own mind up, but I'm glad to hear you're remaining sceptical.

[Guest]

Years back when I went through that whole dead girlfriend thing, experienced this by proxy through the girl's mum. She went to this psychic to try and get some connection to her daughter and was basically given a load of bull about some mon existent grandparent that was supposed to be talking to her about his non existent time in the army. Wrong name, wrong job, etc.

That's obviously not proof that psychics aren't real, but it's a warning that even if they hypothetically are real you're still going to get a lot of people who either pretend to have powers or think they do when they don't. If you seek these people out, even as a die hard believer, be careful. The woman I speak of was pretty cut up about it.

Same as if you hypothetically believe in god(s) that will respond to your prayers. Doesn't stop people imagining that god(s) have told them and actually they're just having a stroke or something.

[Tangerine]

After hearing a co-worker's recent personal experience with a psychic, I've been thinking more about it lately. I know full well that there are plenty of frauds and that I'm also a bit gullible, but I can't help believing. Part of me wants to do it and get in touch with my father who passed away when I was a kid. It was unexpected so we never had the chance to say goodbye. But another part of me is too scared to meddle in that sort of thing. Is it dumb to worry about getting haunted or tapping into something that cannot be undone? I'm terrified of the supernatural. And if I do make contact, I think I would just fall apart and bawl throughout the whole session.

My younger cousin used to be able to see spirits. At this time he was between 3 and 4 years old, and he'd tell his parents about the "people" he'd see in their house and the things they'd say to him. He once saw a young boy in his bedroom that he called "Tony of ten". He went on to explain to his mother how she had played with Tony as a kid when the adults were having tea in the yard. Tony was one of ten children in that family, and he died suddenly as a child. My aunt had completely forgotten about Tony until he brought it up. Details like that-- there's no way he could have known.

The same cousin also once began speaking in a German accent as if he was a mother living in Nazi Germany, and later asked his dad why people put their children in ovens. There's a "man in a hat" that peers in the windows and their multiple dogs and cats will not enter the rooms that the spirits frequent the most (and neither will I for that matter). His parents took him to a physic who explained that he'll lose the ability the older he gets, and he won't remember anything. As far as I know he hasn't seen anything in years. He's 7 by now. I don't like staying at their house past dark. I'm a total wimp.

I don't think you're stupid at all for believing. But it's always best to remain a bit skeptical-- I agree.

[Heathcliff]

As something else to bear in mind- there are some New Age or alternative remedies (homeopathy, healing with crystals, water divining...) that can provide anecdotal evidence from lots of people that the methods have worked for them; but in rigorous scientific trials there is no evidence that they are effective.

Anecdotal evidence is (unfortunately) never enough to prove something works.

[ScorpionPrincess]

Wow, I have never heard anything like that before. The pumpkin thing is strange, "i ok" seems more general though. Very weird. I have never been to a psychic, maybe I would go for fun if I heard of a good one that was close to me.