Credit: Andrew popik

In between and next to ads such as “Free witches cloth” and “Asian brides!” there are astrology ads in the backs of tabloids promising to connect you to a gifted psychic.

I decided to call some of the psychics promising to “reunite lovers” and specializing in “hopeless cases” from a recent Weekly World News issue featuring an Iowa cop who shot a two-headed bigfoot.

Several psychics became rude when I told them I was a reporter working on a college newspaper. Sillveea Browning (not to be confused with Sylvia Browne) interrupted me mid-sentence to tell me she was not interested in an interview.

Vicky, who says she is God-gifted in her advertisement, also hung up abruptly on me when my reporter status was revealed.

Call after call, no one seemed interested. Even “Holy Mother Woman of God” who solves all problems and gives same-day help wouldn’t answer her phone.

An ad stood out on the page that proclaimed: “Tired of psychics leading you on? Call Mrs. Cordella. Seek true help.”

This advertisement seemed a little more promising than the others. I was tired of the other psychics leading me on.

I called Mrs. Cordella and a woman answered with a simple “Hello.” I explained I was working on a story for the Daily Kent Stater and would like to interview her. After putting me on hold for several minutes, she came back on the line to talk.

Holy Mother Woman of God, I finally have an interview!

Cordella told me she was speaking to me from Texas, but was a native of Russia who moved to the United States 19 years ago.

She said she has had psychic abilities all of her life but did not use them until the age of 11 or 12.

She said she has been placing ads in the Weekly World News for 10 years.

Cordella said she could help someone handle the smallest problem, such as a financial blessing, to a larger problem, like talking to the dead. Regretfully, she said she can not bring back the dead.

She also said that she is a spiritual healer who has cured diseases.

“What diseases have you cured?” I had to ask.

Cordella said she has cured lupus, two types of cancer, Hodgkin’s disease and AIDS.

“How do you cure these diseases?” I asked.

“Depends on what case I’m dealing with. Every person is different,” she said.

Cordella then went on to explain that the spiritual healing process was very complicated and that only her and two other people on Earth had the ability to heal spiritually, one of which lives in Canada.

I politely thanked Mrs. Cordella for her time and hung up the phone, regretting the fact that I didn’t ask for a psychic reading of my own.

Contact news correspondent Carrie Petrick at [email protected].