Mankind has always been fascinated with the idea that the mind may be capable of possessing unique powers that are not related to the physical senses.
Fortunetellers date back to ancient times in the form of oracles, prophets and seers.
The earliest prophet recorded in history is The Oracle of Delphi - mentioned in correspondence when Roman Emperor Theodosius I demanded the end of pagan temples in about 395 A.D.
The French apothecary and prophet Michel de Nostredame is another prominent mystic, often referred to as Nostradamus, who is noted in historical accounts and whose character frequently appears today in popular fiction.
Modern spiritualism and the belief that spirits could be contacted by mediums stemmed from anecdotes of psychic powers and became popular in the mid-19th century.
The new age movement that began in the 1970s gave rise to present-day psychic practices such as phone readings, psychic fairs and in-home readings.
Paranormal abilities such as clairvoyance, contact with the deceased, foreseeing future events and telepathy are the source of great deliberation among paranormal believers and skeptics.
Although Kristeanna, a psychic in Memphis, can't give a clear explanation of how her readings work, she does share some insight into what she takes from - and shares with - a person during a reading.
"If someone seeks out my service then that is permission for me to look into their being, and I am able to see elements of their life that have shaped them and issues they are struggling with," she said. "I see the past as it was perceived by the individual, I see in the present what they may need guidance with and I see the future as a means to give hope and encouragement."
Kristeanna, who prefers not to share her last name, sees her ability as an instrument to serve others. She noticed she was different as a small child when she talked to people who weren't really there. Viewing this as a bad thing because of feedback from peers, as a teenager she thought she was crazy.
"I started to meditate when I was 20- or 21-years-old and was able to decipher what it really was versus what I thought it was," she said, on turning her ability into a career.
She has been a practicing psychic and medium in Memphis for over 10 years. It started out as a side job while she worked as an ultrasound technician, but for the past six years being a psychic and medium has been a full-time gig.
There is no scientific evidence or proof to back what Kristeanna does, and what countless others like her do, as valid. Many fraudulent psychics and mediums use tactics such as "cold reading" to create the illusion that they can psychically determine personal information about a client.
A 27-year-old Memphian, who wishes to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the information, fraudulently practiced tarot card reading for one summer when he was 21 and living in Portland, Ore., as a financial means to support his heroin addiction.
"I'm clean now, but at the time I charged people $20 to do a reading," he said. "They all believed what I did was real. People who come for readings want to believe. They will latch on to anything that seems relatable or significant."
His short-lived psychic stint started when a woman asked him if he knew anyone in the area who did readings. He replied that he did them himself. Before meeting with the woman the next day, he purchased a deck of tarot cards from a gift shop, read the instructions and did a bit of online research in tarot card reading, as well as basic cold reading tactics.
Without any prior knowledge about a client, a cold reading done by a psychic combines observations of the individual's behavior and characteristics with a series of guesses that are based on reasoning, knowledge of probabilities and use of generic 'Barnum' statements that are generally accepted by large groups of people as being true.
Named after the showman and founder of the Barnum and Bailey Circus P.T. Barnum, Barnum statements appear to relate to an individual but in actuality could relate to almost anyone.
For instance, the Barnum statement "You have a tendency to be critical of yourself" applies to just about anyone.
In Paranormal Beliefs and the Barnum Effect, a report published in The Journal of Personality Assessment, research conducted on 128 college students established a correlation with an individual's preexisting paranormal beliefs and a greater susceptibility to the Barnum effect.
There have also been studies conducted to prove the existence of paranormal abilities, such as the "seeing with the mind" notion of extrasensory perception, or ESP. Also called remote viewing, the U.S. government has funded scientific research conducted to establish the validity of ESP.
Leading researchers on psychic functioning, Jessica Utts and Dr. Ray Hyman were appointed to evaluate the U.S. funded research conducted by the Stanford Research Institute and the Science Applications International Corporation, or SAIC.
The study, called the Stargate Project, was conducted from the 1970s until 1995.
In Utt's report, an assessment of the evidence for psychic functioning, she found that "using the standards applied to any other area of science, it is concluded that psychic functioning has been well established."
However, Hyman's report of the project contradicted Utt's findings and further research was terminated.
Another tactic used by many psychics is called hot reading. Hot reading involves using prior knowledge about the client gathered either through background research or an overheard conversation.
University of Memphis health and human performance major Lindsey Smith and journalism major Micaela Watts sought out Memphis psychic Kristeanna after debating psychic validity among themselves.
"I am very skeptical by nature and feel like psychics defy free will, which I am a big believer in," Smith said.
However, a recent blog post by Backbeat Tours claimed psychic Kristeanna was "the real deal" and sparked just enough intrigue to warrant a visit.
The two students made an appointment with Kristeanna to meet March 5 at the psychic's Cordova office.
Watts and Smith entered the small room that contained a couch, a desk and a lamp. The unusually warm room could have belonged to any therapist if not for the neat stack of tarot cards sitting on the desk.
Kristeanna offered the students water and explained how her readings work.
"I am very straightforward and don't sugarcoat things," Kristeanna said.
She also pointed out that because she does readings and is a medium, the two sometimes go hand in hand. In other words, a spirit may want to contact someone who sits down for a reading.
She then instructed Smith to relax, close her eyes, hold the tarot cards in her palms and say her name to herself three times.
After prompting Smith to cut the deck, spread the cards and push seven cards her way, Kristeanna flipped them in a geometric pattern and began the reading.
"The first thing that comes up with you is your strength and independence," Kristeanna said. "You have a very hard edge about you."
This was true. In fact, Kristeanna proceeded to give insight into Smith's character, past, present and future. She touched on family, relationships, career and health concerns.
Watts appeared moved by the reading. The students are close friends and she knew the psychic was dead on. Warily, Watts and Smith traded places from couch to desk.
Watts went through the same motion with the cards - holding, cutting, spreading and pushing seven towards Kristeanna.
"First of all, I get a really bad headache," Kristeanna said.
She clarified that the headache was not because of Watts - but because of the spirit coming through on the other side.
"This person was very close to you," Kristeanna said. "You may have had your ins and outs, but that's what siblings do."
Watt's brother passed away in a car accident just over two years ago. She sat down for a reading not anticipating a connection with her deceased brother.
The medium transported information to her through her brother who she could "hear very clearly," according to Watts.
Kristeanna told Watts the only thing he would change about his life was the period of time when they didn't speak.
Watts said he also shared very poignant information about their family, his funeral and clarified a couple of misconceptions that Watts had held regarding him before his passing.
Throughout the readings, Kristeanna never asked questions, only the occasional, "Does that make sense?" It didn't seem as if she fished for content either, Watts said.
If not the "real deal", Kristeanna is at least an impeccable reader of people's personalities.
Kristeanna knew Smith's full name from an email prior to the appointment, and both of the students had public Facebook accounts.
Although Kristeanna was unaware that Watts would be joining Smith for a reading, that public knowledge could have allowed her to use hot reading techniques on the close friends.
"For her to nail down those sort of specifics, right down to the number and types of attendees at my brothers funeral, there's not any explanation for that for me," Watts said. "I have to just accept my reading as something I can't comprehend or understand."
Watts admitted to having a more open mind to paranormal occurrences because of childhood exposure to different types of healing methods and spiritual practices not common to traditional ways of thinking.
Smith on the other hand still remained a skeptic after her reading with Kristeanna.
She confessed not feeling very different and believed the things Kristeanna said to her could have potentially been said to just about anyone.
"But Micaela's reading was really shocking," she admitted. "I was still skeptical of it, but it was really shocking."
