Psychic World

Breaking the barriers of time – the amazing life of psychic detective Robert Cracknell

At home in Cyprus where he has lived for the past 21 years, as his wife Jenny notes down in shorthand the psychometric impressions he gains while investigating another case that has baffled the authorities, psychic detective Robert Cracknell talks for up to half an hour, seemingly unaware of what he is saying. ‘It seems as if I have literally crossed the barriers of time,’ he says in his fascinating new book, The Lonely Sense: the Autobiography of a Psychic Detective.
    Taking an object in his hands associated with a particular inquiry, Robert, now 76, (pictured above), picks up emanations that reveal its origin, details about the owner including his or her mental state, and what the future holds for them.
    The title of Robert’s book indicates both his personal struggle with the far-reaching implications of his special gift, and his highly individual and down-to-earth rationale which singles him out as unique in the curious world of the paranormal. ‘I have learned to embrace loneliness without it being manifest to others,’ he told me. ‘I can find peace and understanding in loneliness. It would be easy to present myself as a wise old prat but that would be totally false. I am not wise. One of the reasons I left spiritualism was people were crediting me with knowledge, not seeing that it was me that was gaining the knowledge from them. I am still learning – I never was a teacher.’
    Robert – known widely in the 1980s as 'the UK's Number One Psychic Detective' – still receives pleas for help from people worldwide seeking answers to unsolved mysteries, although, officially, he retired two decades ago. In recent years, he has been involved in many cases involving murdered or missing children, but he feels ‘duty-bound’ to remain silent about most of them and says he cannot open up his casebook. Having earned a ‘fair amount of money’ at the height of his fame, he does not now charge people for his help.

   Working with police forces around the world

    Often with disarming frankness, the book tells of his traumatic childhood, how he came to terms with his increasing psychic abilities, leading to his working with police forces around the world to help solve major crimes, and his break with the spiritualist church. He also writes of the benefits of meditation, his co-founding of the World Peace Movement, how he was inspired by the Indian mystic Meher Baba, and why he remains silent for one day every week. With Robert, the needle always turns to the pole.

‘Arrogance and ego have always been my companions,’ he admitted. ‘A source of inspiration to me has always been the Beatitudes from the alleged teaching of Jesus. But it is to my dying shame that I fail the test every time within myself. I cannot and will not turn the other cheek. I cannot abide bigotry or any form of racism and my biggest problem is to walk away or ignore it. In truth, many times the racist or bigot is reacting to what his early environment placed in his mind. My practice of observing silence helps and is totally necessary sometimes to help me to retreat from possible confrontations, and then, in the silence, I analyse not the situation or the individual that was involved but myself.’

High-profile criminal cases in which Robert was involved in the 1970s and 1980s included the Genette Tate disappearance, where he provided crucial leads for the police, the Janie Shepard murder, when his psychic abilities made him a suspect, and the Gaby Mearth millionairess kidnapping, which he also assisted in solving. In the Yorkshire Ripper investigation, Robert predicted details of the final murder and the way it was carried out, and the time of Peter Sutcliffe's arrest. Robert had earlier shown a journalist the very street where Sutcliffe lived. ‘Police and scientists are misguided fools if they continue to ignore the fact that individuals with psychic ability can unravel new evidence, find fresh clues, and be instrumental in leading them to the final solution,’ Robert bluntly asserts. The Lonely Sense

His book has a comprehensive foreword by the best-selling British author Colin Wilson, transplanted from Robert's autobiographical Clues to the Unknown (1981). Wilson, referring to his ground-breaking book of 1956, The Outsider, and with his characteristic insight, sees Robert as typical of the Outsider-type, 'the alienated man who has to learn to turn the powers of his development inward'. Robert, who was studied in Wilson's 1984 book, The Psychic Detectives, dedicated Clues to the Unknown to Wilson, as he did his later book, Psychic Reality: Developing Your Natural Abilities (1999), for which Wilson wrote an introduction. Wilson describes Robert’s writing as having 'a force and honesty that exerts the hypnotic effect of the Ancient Mariner'. Indeed – The Lonely Sense is both riveting and revelatory. And, as Wilson says, it raises some extremely important issues, not only about the role of the psychic in society but, crucially, what would happen if we all made the effort to develop the same potential.

A key theme running through the book is that every one of us is psychic, to a lesser or greater degree. Robert believes the riddle of psychic powers can be solved jointly by the psychic and the scientist, to the benefit of humanity, 'not in the repeatability of phenomena, but by working closely together in seeking to unlock this extra sense in those who do not claim to be psychic’. He says: ‘This is a perfectly normal faculty that everybody possesses, like the ability to ski or speak French, or even to play bingo. I do have some fairly concrete insights into the mechanics of this faculty, although when I try to put them into words I find myself faced with all kinds of difficulties. This is why I have decided that the simplest way to explain it is to tell the story of my life.’

Robert sees his troubled early life as a ‘psychic apprenticeship’. Like his brother and sister, he was born illegitimate, and he never knew his father who died before he was born. In the World War Two, he was evacuated from London to Nottingham. When he was seven, there was an important happening when he felt an overwhelming love and sympathy for a teacher who had unknowingly embarrassed him. This was the first signification of his psychic gift and his first ‘spiritual experience’.

He said: ‘That taught me never to judge a person or to put them into categories. but always to look deeper and see your own inadequacies in them, It taught me never to hate.’ Later he was put into the care of his grandmother, and then fostered. Leaving school at 15, he joined the RAF, but developed a fear of the dark and suffered a breakdown. At 21, he was discharged on medical grounds, and went to live with his mother and stepfather. Then came one of his most startling experiences when he ‘saw’ his natural father, shocking and frightening his mother who had never mentioned the man.

Lived rough on the streets

Lonely and dejected, he was referred to a psychiatrist. Unable to find work, he lived rough on the streets with tramps and down-and-outs, a time in his life which he regards as being of paramount importance. He gained first-hand knowledge of people who, like him, were outsiders, although not always through their own choosing. He achieved greater awareness of human behaviour in those days ‘than one could possibly hope for in a lifetime’s study’.

Robert was once closely involved with the spiritualist movement, but came to be convinced that there was no connection whatsoever between psychic abilities and the spirits of the dead. He is adamant that a psychic person is not someone who has been ‘chosen’ to receive communications from another world: he or she is an ordinary human being whose natural ability has somehow developed further than the average. Without the encouragement of spiritualism, he confesses he would have found his path more difficult. But he came to the conclusion that most mediums in spiritualism are ‘unconsciously fraudulent in deceiving themselves as much as they deceive other people’.

This desire to puncture the mystique of the medium won him no friends in the movement, and even led him to being labelled a ‘dangerous man’. The period during which he parted company with the spiritualist church was ‘possibly the worst years of my life’.

He also writes candidly of the collapse of his first marriage, his disappointing meeting with Uri Geller, the Israeli psychic, his disturbing time as a nurse in a psychiatric hospital, his investigative work for a finance company and his own agency, Vigil Investigations, which he ran for ten years until he retired in 1990. As he admits, neither an average nor a ‘normal’ life.

* The Lonely Sense: The Autobiography of a Psychic Detective. Anomalist Books, UK £11 / US $16.95. See Resources page for link to Robert’s website.

Help Judy solve riddle of the psychic spiral

Judy McCollough, who lives in Wichita Falls, Texas, USA, and describes herself as 'just a laid-back grandmother', has been having a series of unusual experiences for which she has not been able to find an explanation, despite years of trying. She has researched the internet, spoken to medics, psychics, healers, friends and acquaintances, but no one has been able to help her.

It was in October 2005 that she first experienced the 'rainbow spiral' which was apparently emanating from her head. A year and a day later, it happened again. After this, she wondered if it was going to reappear after another year. But no, it was there again three months later, and then she began having the experience almost monthly for quite some time. Once, the spiral seemed to emanate from her throat, and on another occasion it was detached from her body and moved in front of her. The experiences lessened in frequency and, as of October 2010, one has not occurred for several months.

I was at work one day doing some paper work in my office when I started to notice something in my line of sight off to the right side of my face. It appeared to be very colourful and also bright as well. I did not pay much attention to it at first as I was very busy but, as a few minutes went by, I started to notice it was getting bigger and brighter. It appeared to be coming out from the right side of my head, but when I would turn my head to look, it would turn too, almost as if it was attached to me.

I then noticed it was getting longer in length and it was extending about 15 inches or so out, and then it began to move around and made a bend and it began to come around to the front of my head. The bend section probably grew to about 24 inches and was about 18 inches out in front of me at eye/nose level. I noticed that it was spiralling and had different colours. They appeared to be triangles of red, green, yellow, blue and other colours connected to one another, and around the outside of these it appeared to be very shiny like chrome, like someone shining a flashlight on a chrome bumper.

The triangles seemed to be one upright, one upside down, and the next one upright and they were connected to one another. Not only was it spiralling, it was also turning over and over at the same time. It's very hard to describe that in a way one might understand. First thing I thought of when I saw it was that it was similar to a DNA helix because it was kind of similar, but yet not quite the same.

I got up from my desk when it appeared it was not going to go away and I went to the ladies' room to see if something was wrong with my eye or my head. As I examined my eyes, nothing could be seen unusual and nothing at all in my eye. No matter what I did, I could see it. I shut my eyes, rubbed my eyes, put my hands over my eyes and it was still there. All the time it kept spiralling and turning over and over. I was scared thinking something was about to happen to me. I then went outside to where co-workers were and asked if they noticed anything different about me and they said no.

I passed my hand through it playing with it, and it just kept doing the same thing. It lasted about 18 minutes the first time. It might have been longer but I did not think to look at the time when it first began. It finally faded away. There were no side-effects or headache; nothing at all different, and I did not feel any different, during or after. I researched for months and was all over the place trying to find someone who may have had the same thing happen, or anything similar, but to no avail. I finally let go of it and just went on with my life.

The next one I had was a year later. It was the same experience as before and it lasted about 21 minutes. No change and nothing different as it was happening or afterwards. Third one, I had changed. It was just a few months later. Once it began, it got so much longer, eight feet or more, and it actually moved up towards the ceiling. That was the only difference.

Next one I had was a little longer, and I actually had co-workers try to work with it even though they could not see it. They walked through it, stood still in the area it was happening in, and moved their hands through it. The only thing that changed while they were doing this was the direction that it spiralled. It has always spiralled outwards, but when they began to try and work with it, it changed direction and spiralled inward back to me. Once they stopped, it changed direction and spiralled outwards again.

The next one was a little different. It did not come from the side of my head. It came from my throat area. It was just below my throat and it came straight out in front of me. It extended about two feet, and once again it headed for the ceiling, and this time it went all the way up to the ceiling and appeared to disappear into the ceiling. The one I had a few days later changed and it did not seem to come from me. It just appeared out in front of me, about two feet from my face, and the spiral seemed to be bigger around and it became wavy, similar to a flag blowing in the wind very slowly. Of all the times I had this experience, it was wavy only the one time.

Most all of these experiences lasted between 21 and 28 minutes each. I have had them during the day and during the evening and they began happening on a regular basis. I have had them at work and at home and I never feel any different before or afterwards. The past few months I have not had one at all.

It is very colourful and bright and I only wish someone else could see it to understand what it is I have been experiencing. I am 58 years old and my health is good for my age. No medications. There seems to be no answer for me as to what it is. I am hoping someone can help explain what this is that I am encountering.

Norma Parfitt, who lives near Portishead, Somerset, got in touch with Mysterious Planet because she has been having mysterious experiences similar to those of Judy McCollough - except Norma sees rainbow triangles.

'I look forward to and welcome every communication of the triangles as a confirmation that I am going in the right direction on my spiritual pathway,' she says. 'Even when I have not seen the triangles for a while, I know they are there all the time, guiding, healing and encouraging me.'

In 2000, Norma (pictured) had been to her spiritualist church for a meeting about how she would go about training as a medium. She had been led to the church by many puzzling experiences which were clarified for her by the church as spirit contact, and she learned about the circle work held regularly for those who wished to develop their gifts. Norma tells what happened next...

That evening, I was sitting in bed when a pinpoint of white light appeared slightly to the left of my vision. I ruled out a twitchy eye. The only light in the room was my bedside lamp and I could not tell where this very bright light could be coming from. As I watched, the light grew into a rainbow coloured line, like the light through a window crystal and then became an elongated shimmering, brilliant crystal triangle. I remember noticing that one edge was green and the green colour went partly into the lower corner and turned blue halfway along the next line. It was nothing like the after-image of my lamp which was, anyway, a round shape.
I was very intrigued but not afraid. I could not relate any experience to this vision. Another elongated triangle joined the first, then another, until an arc of seven very bright rainbow triangles shimmered in front of my eyes wherever I turned my head. The light from them was so bright they should have hurt my eyes but did not at all. I felt transfixed. I closed my eyes and put my hand over them which seemed only to increase the intensity of the light and vibration.

It was as though I could do nothing else or think of anything else while this strange communication took place. I think this lasted about 20 minutes. Then the triangles moved towards me, passing over my head, sending a vibration through my body; like an awakening and healing. It felt like confirmation from spirit that I was doing the right thing in training as a medium. Rainbow triangles

I saw the triangles a few times after this; always when I was doing something or thinking of something slightly removed from everyday life and often when I was doing something kind for someone else.
Twice, after taking a yoga class, the crystals appeared when I got home. I phoned another medium as the triangles shimmered and he suggested I try moving them around my chakra areas. I was quite successful in doing this, confirming that I could perhaps use this for my own healing and awareness. Once, after taking my dog to a residential home for the elderly, the triangles appeared on the drive home (my husband was driving). Once, during a judo class, when I spoke to a child with particular consideration for their inner feelings, the triangles appeared and, with some difficulty, continued to take the class with triangles shimmering brightly in front of my eyes.

I became a telephone medium and, if a reading was going particularly well, the triangles would appear, especially at night. Sometimes I see the triangles as only white light and a smaller image. Sometimes the triangles can fill my whole vision.

I talked to several medium friends about this vision. Eventually, a friend I knew in the US put me in touch with Judy McColl and we emailed, then talked on the phone about our experiences. I have yet to find anyone else except Judy who has had these visions, but I think there must be many others. At the time, I felt it was not the right time to talk about what I saw because there are so many disparaging sceptics around who can have a negative influence. Now, I feel it is time for everyone to communicate about spirit and angel contact.

The last time I saw the triangles was after a friend invited me to give a talk to her psychic circle about angels. This is perhaps one clue to what I see. When I asked who this was, I got the inner answer that the nearest I would understand it would be the wing of an angel, but I was not actually communicating with an angel; this was something else but very close.

There is nothing wrong with my eyes which I have tested regularly. I have almost perfect vision, slightly short-sighted and only started wearing glasses for driving after I was 58. I rarely need glasses for close work. I am now 61.

Jenny strikes chord with Brian May

Brian May, the Queen guitarist, has written a foreword for spiritual consultant Jenny Smedley's next pet book, Pets Are Forever, to be published in June 2011. 'I was extremely grateful that he took the time do this, especially as he read Pets Have Souls Too first, and then the manuscript of the new book,' said jenny. 'He's so busy, and it was very kind indeed. Brian is a very articulate campaigner for animal rights, and we see eye to eye on things.'

Jenny's Angels Please Hear Me is finished and set for release in March 2011, and she has signed a further contract to write The Angel Diaries, a book designed to give angel inspiration every day of the year.

Her Supernaturally True (O Books, UK £9.99, US $19.95) was written because she felt that paranormal issues were being portrayed as 'scary, even evil sometimes, by some of the media'.

Jenny (pictured) said: 'Some of the magazines that used to cover positive supernatural stuff, like angels, have now switched to headline-grabbers with a more sensational and usually frightening subject matter.

'I want people to get closer to their spiritual sides, not shy away from them, so I compiled this book which contains only positive, true stories which, I hope, will inspire people to embrace their spiritual side and look into it more deeply.'

Sub-titled A Collection of Uplifting Spiritual Encounters, the book raises the fundamental question of how you would view your life if you knew for certain that death was not the end, and how the advent of such powerful meaning would change your world.

Here are many true stories of spiritual and angel encounters, grouped into areas such as signs, portents and warnings, spirit saviours, angelic messages, synchronicity, dreams and near-death experiences – the kinds of supernatural events that seem like miracles when they happen.

'Life after death and visits from beyond are rarely anything to be afraid of,' says Jenny, who believes that evolutionary change towards the spiritual is accelerating.

A specialist in past-life regression, Jenny is a TV and radio presenter and an international columnist, as well as a best-selling author. Living in the Blackdown Hills in Somerset, she had two titles published by Hay House in 2009: Angel Whispers, a guide to angels including true-life visitations, and Pets Have Souls Too, about how animals have the capacity to help, heal and even be reborn, giving comfort and unconditional love.

'I have come in contact with some really incredible people simply because of my quest to find out what is going on with me,' Judy said. 'I am a simple person and do not possess any gift that I am aware of.'
If anyone out there can suggest what has been happening to Judy, or if anyone has experienced something similar, or knows someone who has, please contact Judy at jmccoll@gmail.com Here is Judy's strange story, in her own words, exclusive to Mysterious Planet...

New realms of dowsing

Traditional dowsing activities such as water divining and the tracing of earth energies now exist alongside plotting the layouts of buried archaeological sites, helping people who suffer from "geopathic stress" - negative energies caused in their homes by underlying watercourses - and even the diagnosis of problems we encounter in our daily lives.
    The books Dowsing for Answers and Dowsing for Cures (Green Magic), by the Dorset dowser, medium and spiritual healer Wilma Davidson (pictured) were real eye-openers when they came out in 2007 and 2008.
    Wilma guides readers through the basics of dowsing and then shows them how it opens up "a whole new world of possibilities" by its use to find answers to all kinds of basic questions, so helping to make life easier.
    A pendulum - one of the main tools of the dowser's trade along with divining rods - was able to answer questions on health, car or computer problems, the chemical content of our food and drinking water, the dangers of electromagnetic fields and microwave ovens, even pet problems and how best to do your gardening.
    Many dowsers today are also embracing the spiritual and fitness realms. Wilma, who is also a Reiki master, said: "I think people are becoming more aware." She believes many are turning to alternative treatments because they have suffered adverse effects under conventional medical practice.
    She explains how dowsing can also be used to help the release of earthbound spirits which she regards as "one of the most important tasks a human can perform", and her book Spirit Rescue (Llewellyn Worldwide) is all about it..

* Psychic surgeon Andy Porter has a forum at his website where you can discuss psychic surgery, schizophrenia, spirit attachment and esoteric subejcts with like-minded people. See my Resources page.

Envoy to the spirit realm

A new star rising on the psychic scene is Paul Derrick who sees his role as an envoy, passing on knowledge and understanding of the spirit world.
    Viewers will remember Paul, pictured, from 2008's ITV West series The Paranormal Five in which he appeared with the Wiltshire-based UK5 Paranormal investigation team.
    Paul can pin down the moment that changed his life not just to the year and month, but to the time of day, too. At precisely 3.40pm on November 7, 2003, he realised he could work with spirit as a medium.
    Visited by two sisters, both mediums, who spoke to him about spiritual matters, he heard the voice of a spirit guide who predicted TV and stage appearances and, suddenly, realisation dawned about his special gift.
    "I'd had it all my life, I just didn't know what it was," said Paul, of Westbury Wiltshire, who heard voices in his head as a child but, as a teenager, began to block them out – until that fateful day in 2003. "It went absolutely mad from there. It really was fantastic."
    But, as you might expect from his occupations as an engineer and as a retained fireman, Paul is a rather down-to-earth character. His family readily accepted his new-found calling but his friends and workmates poked fun when he told them he could talk to dead people. He had to tell them he "didn't give a monkey's" what they thought.
    Paul doesn't try to imitate celebrity psychics such as Derek Acorah and Tony Stockwell. "I don't want to follow in anybody's footsteps," he said. "I just want to make sure I'm portrayed the way I am. I've got two normal jobs and I want to keep my feet on the ground. I want to make sure I'm doing what I'm doing for the right reasons."
    Paul, currently busy with one-to-one readings, hopes to expand into stage and TV work following a successful theatre event in Bristol in February. "But, ultimately, for me, it's making sure the right person gets the right message," he added. "I want to work with spirit properly."