Fortune-tellers or fakes? Many believe in palm-readers and psychics, but scientists urge skepticism

by Jess Raines, Editor, in Centerspread

Is your future literally in the palm of your hand?

Laurie Geary, a palm reader, thinks it is. The lines in the palm, she believes, can reveal clues about a person's character, health and relationships.

Geary offers palm readings in her home in Sugar Grove.

"People believe in it," Geary said. "It's guidance for a person's life."

Geary first began palm reading by looking at tarot cards and because a friend was interested; she does palm reading just for fun. She said palm readers like herself can offer people glimpses of their futures, but these glimpses are meant to be an outline, rather than a specific road map.

"Don't believe it word-for-word," she said.

Senior Zach Tolan also reads palms. He said he became interested in palm reading because he is interested in all types of magic.

Geary acknowledges many debate whether palm reading is real or simply a method to earn extra cash.

"People that don't [believe in it] say that it's stupid," Geary said.

Yet she also said young people and middle-aged people are the most likely to believe in palm reading.

"They like the weird and different things," Geary said. "They are looking for answers."

MANY KANELAND STUDENTS BELIEVE

A survey of 240 students at KHS revealed that 17 percent of students believe palm reading can predict the future, and 23 percent believe psychic abilities exist.

"There is no way you can read a palm, same thing with a psychic. It's all lame," junior Judith Chavez said. Many students described experiences with other types of paranormal events.

Freshman Sarah Edwards said she had a strange experience with an Ouija board. "My friend and I were using her Ouija board, and it answered all of our questions," she said. "It was really weird, but those things really do work."

Though the majority of Kaneland students dismissed palm reading as fake, the majority believed in the existence of supernatural presences: 63.3 percent believe ghosts and spirits exist, while 36.7 percent said there were no such things.

Some students testified to personal experiences with paranormal events.

"When I spend the night at my grandparents' house, my mom and I constantly feel watched and often see a [ghostly] man or witness doors slam shut on their own," freshman Amber-Rose Lano said.

Other students cited experiences that had family connections. Junior Cassie Yankula said she once saw her grandfather, who had died when her mother was ten years old, standing behind her in a mirror.

SKEPTICISM AMONG SCIENTISTS

Professors and scientists have been investigating psychic gifts for decades, seeking hard evidence of their existence.

James Randi is a skeptic. Randi founded the James Randi Educational Foundation in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, to investigate claims of psychic abilities.

Beliefs in psychic abilities and paranormal powers have been around for centuries, Randi said, because people see patterns in nature and believe that they are supernatural.

"Having strange ideas to explain these patterns, such as gods or demons, was easier to accept than the truth," Randi said.

Investigators around the world have been creating scientific studies to determine, under controlled conditions, whether psychic or paranormal abilities exist.

"By organizing a tightly-controlled trial [abilities can be determined],"

Dr. Martin Bridgstock, a professor of skepticism, science and the paranormal at Griffith University in Australia, said. "You ensure that the person claiming the abilities cannot achieve what they claim to do by any other means than psychic ones. Then you see if they can get results which are convincing."

Randi has been offering hard cash to anyone who can, under scientific testing conditions, demonstrate a psychic or paranormal power, such as being able to predict the future.

"I have offered a $1 million prize to anyone who had these abilities and could prove their talent," Randi said. "Everyone who has tried has failed."

Randi said palm reading is an old superstition from Babylonian times.

He did an experiment in Paris to test whether palm readers or psychics could make simple predictions of the future, such as what gender a pregnant woman's baby would be. In his study, psychics were unable to predict the baby's gender, he said.

"If simple first impressions, such as gender, cannot be seen right away by a psychic," Randi said. "Palm reading has no value to reality."

He said all studies done of palm readers had proven that claims of psychic powers are false.

Bridgstock said it's important to examine the matter scientifically.

"Properly designed studies eliminate other explanations for paranormal powers," he said. "Some such studies have been done, and as far as I know, none of them have demonstrated that such powers exist."

PSYCHIC POWERS HARD TO PROVE

Geary was not surprised that investigators had not found hard evidence of psychic powers. She said those claiming psychic abilities, such as palm readers and tarot card readers, need to be chosen carefully. Not everyone who claims psychic ability really has the gift, Geary said. Psychics who advertise, or the ones commonly seen at outings like fairs, normally will be fakes, she said.

Those with true abilities tend to keep it more of a secret, she said.

Contributing: Caitie Baker