Most of us who have sat with a medium or psychic came away feeling something was said that couldn't have been guessed. But there are a few techniques worth knowing — not to debunk anything, but because literacy about them makes the experiences that survive them more interesting.
Two to start with. First: Barnum statements — claims so broadly applicable that almost anyone will nod. "There's someone in your life you've been finding it difficult to reach lately." Second: fishing, where the reader offers something vague and incomplete, then follows the sitter's correction or elaboration as if they knew it all along. The sitter does half the work; the credit goes the other way.
What I'm curious about is whether anyone has noticed either technique in real time — not in retrospect, but actually in the room, as it was happening. And if so, what did it feel like to name it to yourself? Did it change anything?