Love your response to that post.
I think that may be my defacto response to everything that idiot posts.
Love your response to that post.
A blanket thank you all once again.
I did not know what the Language Nomination was all about, but I read up on it and hope to win the Jaguar, if given a choice. Funny thing..there is a tiny grammatical error on that post that I will fix, and I hope that will not nullify my entry!
Elaine: I haven't heard from your friend yet, but I will set her straight about SB.
RE: Phil Jordan I've heard the name, but don't much about his gig. Notice the desperation of the parents in the article. There was no activity on the case, so they felt they had to take this action. This is a very common scenario. Media attention and police attention wane, and families are left feeling helpless and alone. Many times, they are encouraged by others to seek out these persons, not realizing just how empty they will feel afterwards. They "bottom out", so to speak emotionally, when nothing comes of the "lead".
Could everyone please glance back at my posts pre-drama and see what you think about my ideas?
Elaine: I haven't heard from your friend yet, but I will set her straight about SB.
Now I ask that the thread be returned to its purpose, which is for members here to help me help the families of the missing understand the issues regarding psychics.
Whether or not a person wants money or does not want money has no bearing on the damage done to the psyche by individuals claiming to have knowledge of a missing person's whereabouts who do not.
.....
I don't know if you have children or not, and even if you don't, why don’t you imagine the person you love most in the world? Imagine that he/she is gone, and you have no idea what has happened to them. Dozens, and perhaps even hundreds of people come forward, offering their "help". They tell you all sorts of things, none of them the same as the others, and none of them ever results in finding the missing loved one. Regardless, you MUST listen to all of it, over and over again, lest you be accused of not wanting to find the missing loved one. You must listen to them tell you the most horrid things you can imagine being done to a person by another. You must listen to them telling you that your missing loved one was stabbed, beaten, and then their head was bashed in. You must listen as they tell you that your missing loved one was still alive, wimpering and asking for help as he/she drew their last breath, and no one was listening. He/she was all alone, and then the end came.
All of these people who come to you offering help want you to go through something like that. How did you feel reading that? How many times would you want to hear stories like that? What do you think that does to a person? Do you think it's healthy? How is it that it is called "helping"? Nothing has ever come of it except for pain. Is pain helpful? Does pain find the missing person?
Lemme guess...as a hobby, you pour salt into people's wounds.ya well imagine that something happend[snip]
I personally have not been able to make the meetings due to scheduling issues, but every year there is an "Scholarship Fund" to help out worthy people who would attend but cannot because of finances. This year it paid the expenses of quite a few.
Cora Baron, you mean. Had me confused for a bit...Sylvia Baron, at it again.
http://www.crimelibrary.com/news/original/0206/2301_grinstead_family_tries_to_find_her.html
Now preying upon Tara Grinstead's family.
Cora Baron, you mean. Had me confused for a bit...
I am going to ask you one more time to start your own thread. This thread is not about you or your claimed abilities.
Kelly
Cora Baron, at it again.
http://www.crimelibrary.com/news/original/0206/2301_grinstead_family_tries_to_find_her.html
Now preying upon Tara Grinstead's family.
KellyJ, my heart goes out to you and your family. Have you thought of setting up an PayPal account for your site so people can make donations through that?
Michael
Kelly, I would like to apologise for de-railing earlier, and for my little emotional outburst.
What you are doing is amazing, and I am sorry about the source of all the good work. I hope that some day you get closure of some kind. I think the ideas you have put forward are all excellent, and I wish I could offer some practical help.
I'm not a debunker, or a psychiatrist, nor do I have any links I can offer to assist you. I am a budding writer however (unpublished), so perhaps I could write up something for you, if you would like. Perhaps I could look into the woman I mentioned earlier who won the tv show here in the UK. Her site claims that she has given help to various police forces in solving cases and tracing people, and shows letters from police forces about her input.
A good article writer, in my opinion, is Tony Youens. You can see examples of his articles examining psychic performances at his site: http://www.tonyyouens.com/ and he is a regular poster here too. In my opinion he would be a good guest writer for you.
Kelly, if there's a way, can you get me some photos of your son and those you're looking for? If I can, while I'm out on the road, I'll see if anyone will post those pictures. Truck stops sometimes accept them, and I'll see if Cal Trans will allow them at rest areas. Ditto NDOT and other orgs. Maybe other drivers will take a few.
It's not much, but if it helps, well, I'm willing.
In terms of notable skeptics on the topic, Benjamin Radford from the Skeptical Inquirer just did an interview on the Point of Inquiry podcast on Psychics Detectives. It was a good interview, and he might be a good person talk to. Hope this helps.
Would anyone want to contact Benjamin, or do you have a contact link for him?
Thanks,
Kelly
Mercutio: "KellyJ--a question, where you would have a better answer than most: Suppose we read in our local paper of a child who has gone missing. Would it be a reasonable or unreasonable idea to contact (perhaps a flyer by mail would be a fairly non-intrusive way?) them with information about the worthlessness of these predatory scum "psychics"? Perhaps with information about websites like yours, or some of the information from your (or another appropriate) site?
I feel like I would want to contact them and say "send all such psychic volunteers to me, and I'll deal with them for you, so that you are not subjected to this torture", but I also realize that is somewhat insulting to them. And of course, doing nothing leaves this helpless feeling...
Just an idea..."
I'd still like to see some action pertaining to my posts #71 & 72, so this would certainly help. If no one can/wants to take this on in respect to writing Tony, I will get to it eventually.
KellyJ--a question, where you would have a better answer than most: Suppose we read in our local paper of a child who has gone missing. Would it be a reasonable or unreasonable idea to contact (perhaps a flyer by mail would be a fairly non-intrusive way?) them with information about the worthlessness of these predatory scum "psychics"? Perhaps with information about websites like yours, or some of the information from your (or another appropriate) site?
I feel like I would want to contact them and say "send all such psychic volunteers to me, and I'll deal with them for you, so that you are not subjected to this torture", but I also realize that is somewhat insulting to them. And of course, doing nothing leaves this helpless feeling...
Just an idea...
That is a very interesting and worthy idea. Not only does it make the family aware of these vipers early in the game before desperation mode sets in, but it also lets them know about the existence of organizations, such as ours.
It is a fact, and a sad one, that in the majority of cases, LE (law enforcement) do NOT give the family of the missing a referral to a missing person organization. As most people do not know what actions to take when this happens, they will sit back, thinking LE is doing it all. In the cases of runaways and adults, sometimes LE does nothing! Time is a great enemy here, and families should be taking other steps immediately to find their loved one.
Going back to the psychic issue, perhaps we should draft a one page letter that expresses our sorrow at the situation, and then moves into some basic steps to take info, and finally, cautions the family about psychics and provides links to the (future) blog series and our org.
Members, upon seeing news about a missing person could see if the family's contact info is public and send them the letter. If it is not public, they could send it to the media outlet, and ask them to forward it. Doing the latter would educate them as well!
Does that make sense?
I think that's a very interesting idea, Mercutio. I, too have been reading this thread and getting an increasing feeling of helplessness and desparation. I'll respect whatever KellyJ's answer is as to whether it might be appropriate to contact these grieving stressed out parents directly.
I'm wondering if somehow we could put together a site specifically as a resource for those of us that wish to help stop these "psychic" predators. Perhaps it could include samples of letters to be sent to newspapers, newstations, etc complaining when they post news about such&such psychics working on a case. Maybe even some kind of blanket warning statement to be aired when someone is reported as missing warning that these predators may come out at times like this seeking only to improve their own status, publicity or wealth, with links to skeptical sites that lay out the facts.
Maybe even a resource kit to be sent to police stations, that they could pass on to victims, should it seem appropriate, that includes contact info for a local skeptic society that would offer to help them fend off these whackos...?
Just throwing out some ideas.
There is a meeting this weekend of our local skeptic society. I think maybe I'll go and see if there's any interest there.
Meg
I love this, Meg!! (and your chocolate, too)
What an excellent idea.
There might be some kind person out there who would donate space on a webserver, another person to buy/donate a domain name, and a 3rd person to act as webmaster. (or any combination therein)
A talented webmaster knows how to get hits when the public looks up "missing persons", thus leading the families to the site.
The resource kit is also a good idea, although I am skeptical that it would go beyond the hands of the recipient in many cases. I say this because I have fought for two years to get our local LE to give us as a resource when doing a case intake, I even then suggested that they give the two main orgs, National Center for Missing Adults (NCMA) and National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, (NCMEC) but they won't even do that. (See my post about this issue a few above this) CYA is what I think is going on there. CYA is more important to them than a life, apparently.
Let's hear from others about this. I think it's awesome.
I'll design it.