I am a genuine believer in all things, visible to the human eye or not, good or bad. I think it's naive to believe that the only things on this earth are things you can see. I think it's naive to think that the earth is only inhabited by animals, humans, and plants... There's something else here.

On that note, I think it's obvious to everyone that I believe in everything supernatural and anything spiritual. I believe in psychics, mediums, palm readers, etc. I believe in the powers of healing crystals, the strength of witch doctors, and the power of faith. Basically, anything unable to be explained by science is something I believe in, find intriguing, and want to learn about. However, I am not naive enough to not admit that there are people out there who scam others; there are people who use others for money, and this frustrates me to no end.

There are people who go to psychics, mediums, and palm readers, etc. because they genuinely need reassurance and closure on certain people and certain situations. Some of these psychics, mediums, and palm readers take full advantage of those in need of help, and I cannot stress enough how upset this makes me. I believe that my fellow Long Islander Theresa Caputo, the "Hollywood Medium," Tyler Henry, and "Monica the Medium" are all true, honest mediums who truly have the power to communicate with those who have crossed over. However, I have never had the chance to meet any of these three people, but I had the chance to go to a medium just the other day in Manhattan.

I was in Manhattan celebrating my friend's birthday, and I asked earlier in the day that if we saw there was a reasonably priced psychic or medium, could we check it out, and she agreed. Later in the night I decided to look up some psychics around our area, and I kid you not, the second I placed my phone in my bag we were approached by someone working for this shop that I had just researched on my phone, so I took it as a sign. We had to go, and so we did. I shouldn't have been so naive as to believe this one thing was a sign; nonetheless, I do believe in fate, so I had to take it and run with it.

This shop is run by a mother and her daughters. As my friend was getting her palm read, the "psychic," one of the daughters, told me she needed "privacy"; as we are in a small shop in Manhattan, the only place I could go was to the stairs in the hallway, completely in earshot of everything that was going on. As I began my reading I was completely annoyed. This woman and her daughter had started off both readings with the exact same three sentences. I mean completely verbatim! Automatically I shut myself down, I made sure I wasn't giving anything away in my demeanor and I looked around to make sure I had nothing to me that would give away anything personal.

Now, after she finished her little script, she did hit a few things that were oddly specific. Rather than simply saying, "You're going to be a traveler," she specifically focused on California and Europe. "What is there for you in California?" Was the first question I was surprised to hear as I was expecting general topics, so I simply said, "What do you think?" She mentioned how I recently traveled there to visit someone important to me. I dropped it there, not wanting to give her information and I just said how that was true. My best friend actually lives in California and I just went to visit her in February. Then she continued talking about Europe, saying that she knew it was my favorite place to travel and that I would definitely live there one day, "but you've wanted to do that for years, so you already knew that." So now I'm confused; is this a scam, or is she genuinely real? "What's going on in Florida? Is someone there right now? Not much longer, though." It turns out that one of my best friends is actually in Florida right now and is returning soon.

Now after listing these very few specific things, she just went right back to the generic speech about making money, finding love, and living a happy and long life. She even tried from the second that I sat down, and multiple times after that, to sell me on more expensive readings and crystals. As much as I was hoping otherwise, I believe this woman and her daughters were phonies, or at least they were just half-assing their "gifts" to make a quick buck, which is really upsetting.

This experience has made me a little more aware of the frauds out there in this specific field. As much as it upsets me that there are people out there who only want to make money, and who don't care about the impact they have on others. I'm not letting this change what I believe; it's just one experience of many that are to come, but I couldn't let it slide without ranting about it. Can anyone also relate to this? Have any of you ever been scammed by someone who seemed like they were just trying to help you?