You haven’t got a clue.

so thank you for being willing to speak up. It means a lot!

Sincerely,

A. Dence

If your wife is as legit as you say she is, please encourage her to contact JREF and take the $1 million challenge.

http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/1m-challenge.html

The skeptics, the science community, and the world are all anxious and eager for someone, anyone, to win this challenge. Randi’s been doing it for many years and no one has proved their abilities thus far. But, perhaps your wife is the one to do it.

My daughter does not have ‘minor delusions’. I realise you meant that comment kindly. She has been assessed psychologically and is healthy. The reason we decided to believe her is not worth going into simply because I really doubt it would be believed and also it was the result of daily occurances that happened over about 9 years. But no, no one in our circle of friends will see her claims as other than “minor delusions” or lying or something else. That has caused her so much pain over the years that we don’t talk about it anymore. And she has no desire, none, to predict the future for $. Whenever it has happened, it was completely unchosen. She doesn’t feel like she has any control over it.

But why I think she may be telling the truth? Well my sister also can see ‘dead people’ and frequently also has had experiences that are not ‘rational’. I did also as a child, although I was always careful not to tell anyone. I’m sorry if I sounded angry – I apologise. But part of that anger comes from decades of these things being disbelieved or “explained away” by several scientists we know. And what they’ve said, simply isn’t true, however rational it sounds. In university circles, these experiences are simply discredited out of hand. I don’t know whether what my daughter sees could be proven by a test, scientifc or otherwise. I’m not sure what such a test would look like. If there was such a test and it did proove something, likely it would only proove that she does in fact see something, not what. That would do her any good becuase she has never doubted, herself, what she sees. It is only the well meaning adults around her that have. You say she may not be lying but also say that what she claims to see simply can’t be true. Thus she’s delusional or there’s something physically wrong with her eyesight or something. Definately to you she must be as, you put in capitals, NO ONE SEES DEAD PEOPLE and NO ONE CAN PREDICT THE FUTURE. You would say that my daughter is the only one, if she does. Not true.

I realise what you write makes sense to you and to many who have never had these experiences. They are very common in our family, although never talked about. For sure, there are people who make false claims. Lots of disproven occurences and charlatans out there trying to make money. I won’t argue that because it is fact. But I know my daugher is neither delusional, nor has a neurological problem not has a physical reason for what she sees.

I hear you trying to sound very kind and yet implying a lot of very disparging things. I’m sorry I provoked that with my anger. I should never have joined this blog as I should have realised that no one here would consider the possibility that she is simply seeing what she is seeing. And to be honest, while it is uncommon, it may not be as uncommon as you think, simply because people learn to be quiet about these experiences for fear of being disbelieved or dismissed. That has been our common experience.

And no, we didn’t buy our degrees. Thank you for replying to this comment at such length. I’m sorry if I sounded angry — I realise that is not something that most people here would understand because everyone here is in pretty much complete agreement on whether such experiences actually occur. I apologise for wasting your time.

However, you’re denying the larger point. YOUR DAUGHTER CANNOT SEE DEAD PEOPLE OR PREDICT THE FUTURE.

It’s unfair to say that Jodi said the children couldn’t possibly be telling the truth. I didn’t read anywhere in Jodi’s post that she said the children were lying. These children may very well believe they see dead people. But any empirical or reasoned test will show that they do not.

It makes me really sad to read a tale of two educated people, that began in rationality, but that, after years of consideration, ended in an irrational reversal brought about to support a loved one. You say you didn’t believe her for years, cite a number of reasons, and then say you’ve decided to believe her. Good for you! But she still doesn’t see dead people, and she can’t predict the future.

Predicting the future is among the easiest paranormal claims to test, and there are many rewards for this skill–including the $1 million dollar JREF award–If you sincerely believe that your daughter can predict the future, she can do a lot of good for a lot of people. Please ask her to prove her abilities and help others, or her family, or herself.

It’s at once humorous and depressing that you snipe educated circles and scientific evaluations. The reason your belief is an unacceptable secret in educated circles is because rational educated people know not to take claims on face value without empirical testing. They know through MANY, MANY DECADES of study and evaluation that you can’t see dead people or predict the future. Of course, your daughter may be the first with this ability. Good for her! All she needs to do is prove it, and your little secret won’t be so foolish after all, and you can make all those stuffed shirts eat their proverbial hats.

I realize that you can get a PhD or MA in anything, and you can even get both through the mail for a couple of grand without ever attending any classes. I do not imply that is the case with you. I am merely making the point that I know nothing about your education, but I would prefer to believe that a couple with that much education between them would understand scientific method.

You say “If it hasn’t been scientifically proven in a scientifically reputable way, it simply doesn’t exist.” That’s an infantile generalization because new scientific discoveries are being made all the time. What Jodi’s post discussed is that known claims, such as being able to predict the future, cannot merely be believed. (That is ludicrous on the face of it. Think about that for a minute. What if I told you I could cure all known diseases with a gesture of my hand? Would you believe me?) Instead, these claims should be proven using reputable, reproducible scientific methods.

I say this next point cautiously, without any condesension or projection of any kind, and without any discouragement intended, you may want to seek out the unbiased opinion of a third-party professional. If your daughter maintains that she sees dead people, doesn’t like it, and wishes it would go away, there is a possibility that your daughter may have a legitimate illness that brings about minor delusions. (A craft my phrasing this way because she sounds, by omission of any other detail, to be healthy in other respects.)

I promise you that I’m not taking cheap shots at you or your family. There are countless idiots out there that read tea leaves and gaze into crystal balls that I wouldn’t even bother suggesting this to. I’m simply suggesting that there may be a neurological reason that she is simultaneously so steadfast and unhappy. You can pursue this consultation without any fear, and without your daughter being aware of any doubt on your part. Just be sure to consult a credible member of the scientific community, and not one that has a predilection toward spiritual mediums. That is, you can find an expert to tell you anything. If you’re truly interested in a third-party opinion, don’t go looking for an expert that will reassure you.

Finally, you say you “wish we could really talk about it, but clearly we can’t.” While that may sound defeatist to some, I fear I agree. I’ve found that, when someone believes in the paranormal but not scientific method, there’s really no talking. Ideally, you will seek out an unbiased professional and, perhaps, be willing to talk about this with that person. But this public forum, arguing from the pro and con camp, will probably not do you much good.

And that’s the only scenario she envisions. If it hasn’t been scientifically proven in a scientifially reputable way, it simply doesn’t exist. I’ve never seen the A&E show, but my daughter has, and she deplores the sensationalising and gimmicky nature of how it treats its subject — and Coffee maybe ‘legitimate’ or not, I don’t know. But I do know my daughter has been seeing ‘dead people’ and predicting the future for 15 years now (she’s 17) and has suffered more from people who assume she simply can’t be seeing what she sees than from so-called manipulative parents who want their child to be “special’. This is such an insulting, narrow and simplistic understanding of this issue. For the record we didn’t believe her for a number of years. Thought it was ‘imagination’ or a desire for ‘attention’ or all the other acceptable rationalisations that people unthinkingly simply assume. We’ve decided to believe her. She’s isolated enough with this ‘thing’ she hates and wishes would go away. So now we’re isolated too simply becuase it is an unacceptable secret in the ‘educated’ circles (I have a PhD, my husband an MA) move in. But hey, according to Jodi, we orchestrated the whole thing! We wanted her to see dead people!! Nothing could be further from the truth. The whole thing has caused us such grief through the years, there’s no way of explaining to someone so utterly unaware of this issues except from what she sees on T.V.

There’s a whole lot more to this than Jodi realises or the t.v. networks who treat it as entertainment. I wish we could really talk about it, but clearly we can’t.