Recently my ‘rational' view of the world was shattered. Whilst researching a story on the late Princess Diana, I interviewed the medium Sally Morgan. Sally had, apparently, been receiving messages from the Princess.

After telling Diana's story, Sally offered to give me a psychic reading. I was intrigued enough to take up the offer, viewing it as a possible opportunity to expose psychics as charlatans who exploit the gullible through good guesswork.

Yet, on the surface at least, Sally did not appear to be a fraudster. She was a delightfully level-headed and thoroughly charming middle-aged woman. If it wasn't for a strange look that occasionally flickered across her eyes, I would not have seen her as being special in any way. Even her tastefully furnished house appeared entirely suburban, with pastel coloured sofas, cushions and chairs. There were no crystal balls, pentangles or occult trappings of any kind.

Her reading was also thoroughly down to earth. From common expectation, I had imagined that Sally would begin with a few minutes of guttural chanting before slipping theatrically into a trance. Instead she took a sip of coffee and dropped a bombshell.

"You're going to Greece," she said.

A few days earlier I'd decided to go on holiday to Crete. It was the beginning of a long list of insights that left me physically shaking and chilled to the core.

Hardly pausing for breath, Sally informed me that my dead father was in the room. His ‘spirit' then set out to prove his continuing existence by giving me a long list of facts about myself and our family.

One of the most stunning revelations concerned a long-running argument between my parents - a dispute Sally cannot have known anything about. When my parents married in the early 1950s, my mother wanted to keep her maiden name. My father was equally determined that she should accept his surname. Sally could not have known anything about this argument. And yet she knew about the dispute in detail. It was obviously not on any official records and I doubt if anyone outside the family knew anything about it.

This stream of revelations continued for over an hour. At one stage it seemed as if all my dead relatives were queuing up to speak to me through Sally.

My grandfather popped in to say hello. He introduced himself by the name we knew him, not the one on his birth certificate. He gleefully told me that his feet were better - he was a postman who often suffered from gout. Lastly, my mother arrived to offer me advice about my current girlfriend and warned me to avoid a previous one.

My first reaction to the psychic reading was one of fear - I suddenly remembered all of my ‘sins' and expected instant divine retribution. Despite this, I decided to accept a paranormal explanation for Sally's powers only after ruling out all conventional ones.

Sally had only three working days to gather information about me from such official sources as births, deaths and marriage certificates. Even a skilled detective would have problems building up a comprehensive picture about my family in the time available. However, even if Sally had unlimited time and money, much of the information she gave me was simply unavailable.

I quickly ruled out the possibility that Sally was lucky and simply guessed the details of my unusual and chaotic family. Her reading was just too detailed and accurate for that.

I was then left with two possibilities, both of which were equally ‘irrational'. Firstly, Sally had interrogated me under hypnosis, extracted deeply buried stories from my past and then fed them back to me. The second possibility was that my dead relatives really had come back to talk to me and proffer advice for the future.

I decided to secretly test Sally by sending along three customers. Two were equipped with surveillance gear to see if Sally was hypnotising her customers.

After my exhaustive investigation, I can confidently say that Sally was not hypnotising or manipulating her customers in any way.

Here are the views of the people we sent along to test Sally:

Larry Livermore, 56, is a writer and retired music industry executive. He discovered and managed the band Green Day.

He says: "In the 1960s I followed every New Age bandwagon that rolled through San Francisco. I have probably trudged along every mystical path known to man, whether it's the I Ching, astrology, tarot or Hare Krishna.

With my previous excesses in mind, I went along to see Sally. There's quite a lot of information about me on the Internet so I told Sally my given name, which is Lawrence Hayes.

I wasn't expecting to receive any messages from my dear departed relatives, but neither would I have been totally surprised if I'd done so. I am religious but maybe not in a conventional sense. I cannot see how the individual can survive death but I believe that fragments of our consciousness may live on in some form.

Sally opened the sitting by stroking my house keys to ‘connect' with me. She asked if I lived at house number 30. Then she corrected herself and said number 33. I live in a flat in Notting Hill. The street address is number 35. Close-ish, I thought, but she could have done better.

Sally often works with photos to focus her mind. From a family snapshot, she very accurately described the out-going character of my eight-year-old nephew but warned me that he was in danger of becoming more insular. Strangely, he has started to become more introverted. 

Sally warned me that I might be devoting too much time to helping people addicted to drugs or alcohol. A major part of my life is now devoted to helping alcoholics. I don't know how she could have known this. She also picked up on the fact that I'm a writer who travels a lot. I thought that was quite perceptive - not paranormal - just perceptive.

Sally spent a lot of time telling me about my future. Obviously this can't be verified for some time. Some of it was believable, much of it less so. She predicted that I would soon be travelling to America. I'm an American, albeit one who has lived in London for 30 years, so it was a reasonable guess on her part.

Other predictions were completely off-beam. She said that I would travel to South America and the Amazon. That's very far-fetched. I can't see any reason to go to the Amazon. I'd only consider it if they'd just drenched the place with DDT and all the piranhas were on holiday.

She also said that I would get a parrot. I hate parrots, so I can't see that happening.

My feeling is that Sally is right more often than chance alone would allow but not so often that she blows you off your feet. She is a genuinely decent person. She's not a fraud nor is she mad or self-deluding. She has a gift but I think it's for insight and intuition rather than a form of magic.

If you want somebody to pay attention to you for an hour then she's worth the £70 fee. She's at least as good as many psychotherapists I've met."

Claire Jakeman, 48, is an administrator at a factory near Chester.

"Like most people I like the idea that there is some kind of life after death. But equally, I've never quite wholeheartedly believed in it. There isn't exactly a lot of evidence for it is there?

Following a psychic reading by Sally Morgan, however, virtually all of my doubts disappeared.

Sally did a telephone reading for me. Distance is apparently no object for psychics, so she is quite happy to do her readings over the phone.

Sally called me ten minutes before the agreed time and sounded very worried.
 
"I've got your mother here," she said "She told me to contact you urgently. She's comforting a young girl who's been brutally murdered."

She went on to explain that the girl was recently murdered near an old railway line. She warned me that this story wouldn't mean anything to me for a while but its significance would soon become apparent. A colleague in work knows about the murder, she added.

I assumed that Sally was mad. But I soon changed my mind.

When I returned to work I told a few friends about the prediction. One turned ashen grey. It turned out that three weeks previously a colleague had stumbled across a young girl dying by the side of a path. She'd been repeatedly stabbed and left to die. The murder happened near an old railway line, just as Sally predicted.

I was in shock. How on earth could she have known this? I could think of no rational explanation.

But this wasn't the only prediction that she got right. Sally said that she could see my house. It looked like an old dairy and was piled high with bottles and crates. My home is part of a converted brewery. In the past it would have looked exactly as Sally described.

Sally claimed that there was an old woman in the house by the name of Hilly, Tilly or Millie. The lady was fascinated by my kitchen and would occasionally play with the electricity. An old lady called Millie died here and the electricity does flicker on and off for no obvious reason. Again, I was stunned by Sally's insight and could find no logical explanation for it.

She also mentioned that my mother is with a woman called Lotty. This is the name of my mother's closest friend, who died a few years after my mum. How could she have known this?

Another spirit supposedly close to my mother is a woman called Maureen - that is the name of my aunty who died a few years go.

Sally also made some very personal predictions about my future. Right now they seem very far fetched but given her track record I'm not ruling them out.
 
Sally's reading lasted for only an hour but it turned my life upside down. I'm more convinced than ever that there is far more in heaven and earth than meets the eye. I cannot see much shaking my new found faith.

Dr Emilie Buchanan, 31, is a lecturer in ancient history at a major English university.

Immediately before meeting Sally Morgan, a story from ancient Greece popped into my mind. It warned of the dangers of prophets and their predictions.

Croesus, the 6th century BC king of Lydia, in modern day Turkey, wanted to extend his empire eastwards by conquering Persia. He consulted the Oracle at Delphi to see whether his plans would succeed.

The Oracle predicted that if Croesus attacked Persia, he would destroy a great empire. Greatly reassured, he waged war on Persia - and lost. Croesus did indeed destroy a great empire, but not the one he expected. He ended up destroying his own. This shows the danger of prophesies: even if you believe in them, you still have to interpret them correctly.

I found Sally no less enigmatic than the Oracle at Delphi. Many of her statements were eerily accurate but others made no sense to me.

Sally started the sitting by asking if I was a doctor. I am not a medical doctor but I am a lecturer and do have the title ‘doctor'. I made sure that Sally did not know my full name beforehand so it wasn't possible for her to gather any background information on me. To get this right was quite impressive.

She also said that my boyfriend was a doctor. Again she was tantalisingly close - he has the title doctor but has long since left academia.

Sally then warned me that he was in danger. He would soon be given the opportunity to do something secretive and dangerous. Curiously, he is currently working as an undercover reporter on a major BBC documentary.

She warned me to take care. She predicted a burglary in the near future and could see the street name Dref associated with it. She added that the prediction was fuzzy as there could be some letters missing from the word ‘Dref'. I live in Ferndale Road. Dref is curiously similar to the first five letters of Ferndale when read backwards.

Oddly she knew that I have problems with my throat. I lose my voice at least once a year. Could she tell this just by looking at me? I don't think she could have.

I showed Sally pictures of my family and she quickly focused on a relative and identified his recent health problems. Again, I was impressed and left asking the question ‘how did she know that?'

So what do I make of Sally? It is easy to get carried away by the things she got right but she also made a few mistakes. However, she told me things that she could not have possibly known.

I have no idea whether there is an afterlife or whether it is possible to predict the future. However, from my studies of the ancient world, it is clear that even if you don't believe in the powers of oracles or mystics they can still help people make difficult decisions.

When there is no right or wrong answer, and everything is shades of grey, they can help crystallise your thoughts. Where logic and rationality fails, consulting a medium can be seen as just as good a way as any other of making a decision.

The verdict
With varying degrees of accuracy, in all three cases Sally had provided at least some amazing insights that defied rational explanation. But was her ‘gift' paranormal? After my encounters with her, I have come to believe that the idea is not as far-fetched as many claim and that there are possible explanations from within the world science.

Strange as it may seem, in scientific principle at least, time can theoretically flow forwards and backwards. If this were to happen in practice, Sally might be able to ‘recall' events that have yet to take place in our own ‘real' time (fans of Back to the Future will find this easier to comprehend).

The other possibility, of course, is that we really do live on after our physical bodies die. The universe is composed of energy that ceaselessly fluctuates in space. Given that our minds may reside in energy fields generated by our brains, isn't it at least possible that our consciousness somehow becomes imprinted on the fabric of the universe where those with special skills can detect it?

Above all, the fact that we cannot understand how psychics such as Sally operate does not mean that they are not genuine. Nearly two-thirds of physicists believe in the existence of God, though there is little hard evidence to support their faith. Is it so very different to believe in the powers of the paranormal?

I remain as confused as ever about how Sally was able to provide so many accurate details about my own life. But I have come to the conclusion that only the foolish mock what they cannot comprehend.

Has the military found proof that we are all psychic?

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Read similar stories in our paranormal section
Sally Morgan's website

Comments (39) >>

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written by Don Jones, May 12, 2008

People, please. I find it all rather sad that there are so many people out there who prey on the more vulnerable members of society. You may really want to contact the dead, be unable to navigate a path through your life's problems or simply need emotional support but paying some mumsy charlatan honestly won't help you, regardless of how much you want it to. I'm sorry that there's still no Father Christmas but sometimes you just have to let go and mature. If anyone out there could predict the future (converse with the deceased/move objects with their mind/heal the ill using faith/talk to God/fly/etc. etc.) then they'd have done it in front of every rational person they could find. They'd let every scientist perform their experiments so they could prove to the world they weren't a fake. Imagine the interest of the military! It would only take 1 person anywhere on earth to be able to predict the lottery numbers and lotteries would instantly cease to be. These people can't even predict the toss of a coin. Don't give them your money!

Instead, why do these people frequent the circus sideshows? Why place little adverts in the back of papers? Why hide behind smoke and mirrors? Think about it... what would YOU do???

To see someone really skilled in the art of the mystic just watch Derren Brown. Does he claim any magical abilities? Don't be silly, of course he doesn't. His gift is to bamboozle and deceive while admitting it's all a trick. I shudder to think the power he would hold if he didn't admit to his trickery.

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written by Daexion, March 15, 2008

It's interesting how he states that 2/3 of physicists believe in the existence of God while, at the same time, forgetting that people will believe just about anything if they are brought up believing it. Physicists aren't out to prove whether or not God exists. For example, a Christian who happens to be a physicist won't not believe God exists simply because they are a physicist because they ARE a Christian. They will simply believe God exists, and get on with their life. If that wasn't the case then there would be more agnostics in the world.

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written by janie ball, February 05, 2008

i would love to have a phone reading with sally how do i make that happen

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written by miss ksd, January 22, 2008

Does anyone know whereabouts in London you can get a reading from Sally?

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written by alan haig, January 21, 2008

my mother passed away recently and i would like to know if sally could do me a reading This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

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written by alan haig, January 17, 2008

my mother passed away recently and i would like to know if sally could do me a reading

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written by karl hardy, January 16, 2008

Having been to one reading by a lady in my home town I was emotionally
moved as her reading was very impressive the things she told me she c ould no way have known or even found out. however what she told me would happen in my fure did not pan out as fortold and sally is my only hope of salvation, I would like to know if sally could give me a reading.

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written by Liza, January 14, 2008

Sally is brilliant when she is on tv I wish it would go on for ever

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written by brian, January 13, 2008

Why can no-one seem to get in touch with Sally? No email address, no phone number. If any one knows how please put it on this site.
Is this all a hoax?

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written by jb., January 09, 2008

in response to scepticus jan 5. Suppose you are also part of the plot, designed to invoke a support reaction pro pych.

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written by Danny (Editor), January 08, 2008

In the interests of freedom of expression I've decided to leave in the comment shown below despite its obvious dishonesty (not to mention legal implications). I've always been perplexed by the "sceptical" mindset. They seem determined to create a new religion such are their closed minds. They are not truly sceptical, of course, the truly sceptical honestly evaluate the evidence and make up their own mind - or reserve judgement until they have enough evidence one way or the other. This is the reason I sent three people undercover to evaluate Sally Morgan. I wanted other people's views on her abilities. I then presented their views so that you can make up your own mind.

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written by Skepticus, January 05, 2008

"I was then left with two possibilities, both of which were equally ‘irrational'. Firstly, Sally had interrogated me under hypnosis, extracted deeply buried stories from my past and then fed them back to me. The second possibility was that my dead relatives really had come back to talk to me and proffer advice for the future."

From the readers perspective, we have another possibility. That is: you also are also a fraud and may have even been paid by Sally Morgan to produce a credible sounding testimonial. This third option is not as "equally 'irrational'" as the first two you have given. As a matter of fact it seems quite plausible.

Why doesn't Sally go for the James Randi Foundation's $1,000,000 challenge? http://www.randi.org/research/index.html

The plaint that 'Oh I'm not that greedy for money' doesn't wash with me either, Even the humblest un-greedy person should be able to think of a few very deserving charaties they would prefer to see the money go to.

Some people are just desperately gullible.

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written by jason, November 29, 2007

Am really intrested in sally morgan and im learning myself to become a psychic/medium i have been starting to get these sences and getting things right when i practice, i would like some info on this so if anyone has got any please can you e-mail me on This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it and if you get to see this sally can you please e-mail me i have a few questions to ask you thanks. jason x

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written by Angela Jones, August 26, 2007

Like many people who have commented on this site, I have been watching the programme and have been amazed by Sally's outstanding ability. It warms my heart to see people receiving messages from their loved ones, something that I would love to experience. I hope that Sally's website will soon be up and running as I would like to arrange a reading with her but somehow I feel her waiting list is going to be extremely long!! What a wonderful gift you have Sally, long may you give comfort and advice.

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written by kim, August 24, 2007

lve always believed in the after life and after watching sally morgan wednesday night with my mum felt so happy for the people on the show, their is somebody very special to me and my husband who is in the spirit world that l would dearly like to know is being looked after, if it is possible to find out through sally l would be one truly happy person, is their a way to get in contact with this amazing lady?

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written by Dianne Whippey, August 24, 2007

After watching the telly series and reading this I think she is quite an amazing lady. And, as most of the others have written, how can I get in touch with her! I would love to have a reading as I, as many others, am going through a difficult period.

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written by patricia, August 23, 2007

Sally, Im on the edge of the world looking back, not sure where Im going...would love to meet for coffee?

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written by Man, August 23, 2007

Really quite cruel.

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written by Man, August 23, 2007

Gullible fools.

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written by Written by Susan Murray 23rd August 2007., August 23, 2007

What can I say but WOW WOW WOW you are a most amazing psychic and so bubbly and lovable I certainly would feel at ease with you in my presence.
What an inspiration to the whole world and I am sure there are lots of things that you could tell us all about this world and where we are going in it.
I would love to meet you personally one day in the future.
Maybe the Mccanns could use you with respect with there little angel that they are so desperate to find amongst many others.
There is so much you could reveal to us all for the better or worse on this earth.
Keep up this very interesting topic and work.

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written by Sandra McCarthy, August 23, 2007

|I would very much like to contact Sally as I have watched her on TV and think she is amazing. I have a family problem at the moment which is very distressing to me and would like to know how I can resolve it. Can you suggest how I can get in touch pleas?

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written by Bedazzled, August 22, 2007

If Sally Morgan does have psychic ability why doesn't she use it for something useful e.g. finding the missing McCann girl or solving a murder, rather than just telling minor celebrities about trivia that they already know???

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written by Anne Webb, August 20, 2007

I would dearly love to be able to tell my parents that I am alright. And how much I miss them both.

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written by jackie, August 17, 2007

how can i get a reading with sally as i am really interested in what lays ahead for my family

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written by Tine, August 16, 2007

Watched and enjoyed the show last night .It was lovely to see the faces of the young men lifted by the messages from their loved ones on the other side.Im looking forward to the next show. I my self as well as the rest of us would love to have the chance to have a reading with you as you are such a gift to us all , what a lovely lady you are , which i think every one would agree that have met or seen you on telly . You didnt look to bad as a backing singer either ha ha ha

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written by Sue Gladstone, August 16, 2007

What an amazing lady you can actually feel the warmth around sally even by watching her shows.

It would be nice to be able to get intouch by e/mail sally.

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written by bob2_6_57 @yahoo, August 15, 2007

I watched Sally's show tonight on T.V for the first time,although I am a skeptic by nature I try and keep an open mind,I lost my daughter just over 10 years ago and have not been able to put my life back together since suffered 2 nervous breakdowns and cannot seem to get any closure have been through hpnosis,psychiatrist,group therapy, medication but there is just this huge void in my life and I feel my son has a similar problem although he doesn't talk about, I would love to believe in sally or people like her and find peace in my life and move on, I cannot cope with work for long periods of time 3or 4 months and I feel like I walk into a brick wall, my mind never seems to switch off, the website seems to be no longer working so maybe I will try the phone number on here, if this doen't work perhaps someone who knows how to contact sally could get my message to her

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written by Helen Brannigan, August 15, 2007

I would love to get in contact with Sally for a reading. Please can anyone tell me how to arrange this?

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written by Rebecca Williams, August 14, 2007

Hi there!
I to have also been watching Sally on tv and think she's is amazing, aswell as a really lovely lady. I'd would love to meet her and have a personal reading. Even my Husband is really impressed and he's a sceptic like my Father who's also really impressed. We'll definitely keep watching, Colin Fry isn't the only fab Psychic then!!!

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written by sam peachey, August 14, 2007

can anyone tell me how to get a reading with sally morgan or even a website for her! www.psychicsally.com is no longer valid.
thanks x

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written by Amanda, August 10, 2007

I am a terrible sceptic even when watching the show I'm wondering how much editing has gone on and leaves me wondering how gullible all those people are. I think the whole thing is all psychological but certainly not paranormal and so I understand why someone would equate her to psychotherapists.

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written by name, August 09, 2007

The easiest test to determine if these people are telling the truth or not is ask them to predict the future, and it has to be a specific prediction with place, date and time (not a general one like "you're going on holiday to Greece" when it's August and the holiday season and Greece is a popular destination)

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written by Fleur Cooper, August 09, 2007

First met Sally about 10 yrs ago, she blew my mind then and by all accounts she is still doing it !!
Not so surprising when you met her a very wonderful lady
Thanks xx

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written by jean, August 04, 2007

have already seen the tv show and am watching it again. i would love to have a reading with sally as i am going through some hard times right now and dont know what to do for the best. i think she is the best i cant belive how great she is, i have had quite a lot of readings done in the past as i am a beleaver but to me i have waisted so much money as the are total rubbish. please keep sally on the tv as a permernant show as i sure she can help many people along her way.

keep up the good work

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written by Jim Ray, August 03, 2007

How does anyone go about contacting Sally?I think she is unbelievable..great.

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written by kathy whittaker, August 02, 2007

im really enjoying the show at the moment! i definetly believe she can have these great powers! i would love to have a reading can anyone suggest how i can get in touch with her because sally's website is not working thanks!

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written by Emma Davies, August 01, 2007

Im watching a tv programme on sally at the moment. She is amazing and I would love to see her. My nan passed away suddenly and wishes she wanted arnt being carried out by the family. I need to contact my nan to find out things which could help my nan get her wishes. Ive tried to get on to sallys website but its not working. Can anyone suggest how to get in touch for a reading? Many thanks Em x

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written by DeniseRichards, August 01, 2007

I am currently watching a tv programme on Sally.........amazing, fantastic,wow!! It has made me start to think.........big time!!

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written by Jennifer Osborn, June 16, 2007

I am not surprised by the responses to these sittings after seeing the recent television programs and the responses whichhad when they encountered Sally's psychic ability I just hope that when I eventually obtain a sitting I will be equally dumbfounded if so I know in my heart of that my response will also make me feel blessed if it achieves my hopes and aspirations.

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