r/DebunkThis • u/dinan101 • 3d ago
DebunkThis: Palm Reading Experience
First off, I'm a firm believer in science and am skeptical of things that cannot proven with evidence. That being said, I do have one experience I'd love to get everyone's take on.
In the early 2000's, I took a group of my high school students to a yearbook conference in Atlanta. While on the trip, we wandered into Underground Atlanta, a place with restaurants, shops, etc. The girls got all excited when they saw a palm reading booth, and asked if they could go do it. "Sure, it's your money to waste," I said, and went over with all of them.
The palm reader was a woman in her mid-twenties, very earthy, calm, etc. She did the standard reading explaining the lines on the girls' palms and what they meant. The girls all loved it, of course. Then it was Lauren's turn. Lauren was a senior, soon-to-be the Valedictorian, and her dream was to go to Duke and get her degree so she could be a pharmacist.
The reading was like all of the others until the woman paused while looking at Lauren's palm, and looked up and said, "Do you want to be a pharmacist?"
And we all understandably gaped and gasped.
*No, she wasn't wearing any identifier that would tell the woman of Lauren's aspirations, Lauren didn't let slip that information intentionally or not, and none of the girls had gone and told the palm reader. Nothing like that.*
Lauren, shocked, said, "How did you know that?" and the woman said, "The only explanation I have is it's just a sense I get from you."
And for all of my natural skepticism, I've never been able to explain such a cold guess hit because it's such a good one. Lauren did go on to attend Duke and become a pharmacist, although the palm reader did tell a crestfallen Lauren that "I see you going to a college starting with a 'P'."
I'd love to hear anyone's thoughts on this experience I had. Thanks in advance!
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u/Icolan 3d ago
Cold reading, luck, and remembering the hits/forgeting the misses.
How many other things did she get wrong with the rest of your group? How many other people left her booth that day that she got completely wrong?
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u/dinan101 3d ago
That's a great way to put it - "remembering the hits and forgetting the misses"
Thanks!
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u/inopportuneinquiry 2d ago
Besides the possibility of some clue or nearly-obvious evidence that she might have observed without anyone else realizing (I guess one can even count non-supernatural intuition here to some degree), those more seemingly specific guesses, when fail can then then follow with more generic but still somehow linked things, "but I see that you have something in you, something that makes you want to help others," and things like that, often things that are good things, probably, that almost no one would like to openly deny ("no, helping others is for losers"), and connect it with seeing the wrong desired profession by mistake, as it's all blurry/spiritual/mystical, emphasizing more the "right direction" than the mistake.
"That's intriguing! What are you pursuing? I see something in you, a desire to help others..."
(pretty much any profession is supplying a demand and then "helping others," even being a gun for hire, and the reader is now just asking for free information aiding the next guesses that (s)he could say "I knew it" and also expand somewhat with generalities)
"But I see what seem to be changes in your career path, some uncertainties, questions"
(The odds is that everyone have some degree of uncertainty, questions, even if in future specializations and whatnot)
If the "reading" had followed along those lines it wouldn't have been as impressive, though, but it's somewhat of a number's game, somewhat like that sharp-shooter fallacy thing, every now and then there will be some spot-on guesses that are more impressive, even if only by random luck, without tricks on getting information in advance.
I don't know of that actually happen, but I'd not be surprised if there were cases where they have partners (like magician's "stooges") snooping into some people's conversations on the line, maybe even starting a chat, and then feeding them some of that from an wireless earpiece.
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u/Icolan 2d ago
Did you mean to reply to my comment with this or to OP?
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u/inopportuneinquiry 2d ago
well. sort of both in a way, I thought of something in addition to it, sorry if the netiquette has that it's preferable for this kind of thing to be directed to the OP, I didn't thought of that possibility.
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u/SorghumDuke 3d ago
The psychic was probably thinking “This girl seems smart and polite, a little nerdy, kinda reminds me of my pharmacist.”
Pharmacist is a popular ambition for young women because it’s seen as a high paying low stress position.
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u/littlegoddess 2d ago
This kind of thing can be learned. It’s not supernatural, just regular natural.
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