Psychic Allegedly Asks for $500 to Cleanse 'Evil' Woman
The Salem Police responded to the incident Sunday after a woman claimed she was scammed.
Police say a woman reported she was being scammed Sunday after a palm reader allegedly told her she was "full of evil" and asked for money to "cleanse" her.
At 2:17 p.m., police responded to Derby Street on a call a woman was being harassed. Police said they met the woman who said she went to Fatima's Psychic Studio to have her palm read.
The customer said she paid $40 to have the service, but during the session, the reader informed the woman "that her body was full of evil and it would cost her more money to get the evil out of her," police said.
When she asked how much it would cost, police said the customer reported she was informed it would be $500. When the woman said "she did not have that kind of money," police said the woman told them the psychic reader kept lowering the price to $100.
Police said the customer told them she kept trying to leave the room, but the reader "kept pushing the issue that she needs to be cleansed."Police said the woman was finally able to leave the room, and she proceeded to Derby Street, where police met her.
The woman told the officer that "she felt like she was being scammed," according to police. Police told her not to go back to the business.
Police said the issue will be forwarded to detectives as well as the Licensing Board for further review.
In This article
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City of Salem Police Department
95 Margin St, Salem, MA -
Fatima's Psychic Studio
6 Hawthorne Blvd, Salem, MA
David Pelletier
8:02 am on Monday, September 17, 2012
Psychics? Scamming? Preposterous!
SuzannM
8:37 am on Monday, September 17, 2012
This Fatima's place has bee doing this scam for a while. There are complaints all over Yelp. I hope the police do something to stop preying on people.
Leonard Nicodemo
9:48 am on Monday, September 17, 2012
So $40 for a "palm reading" isn't a scam but $100 for an evil-cleansing is? Whatever.
Erin Cyr
9:50 am on Monday, September 17, 2012
Fatima's owners and employees should be ashamed of themselves. They disgust me.
Bill
10:17 am on Monday, September 17, 2012
"she felt like she was being scammed," wow, really, what was your first clue. The bargaining down of evil removal?
Thomas Vallor
11:25 am on Monday, September 17, 2012
One scam in town makes people think ALL the readers are scams. One tourist trap haunted house or ghost tour in town makes people think all the tourist attractions are scams. I do a history tour and when I try to hand out flyers locals are so rude to me because they think it's a ghost tour. People drive by and scream "It's all a lie" out their car windows.
Don't lump all Salem tourism together people.
KlassySalem
12:27 pm on Monday, September 17, 2012
Why was your public guide license denied originally?
thwarted
5:15 pm on Monday, September 17, 2012
Thomas, I'm a former tour guide (history and ghost, and yes, I was licensed) and a local, and I suspect people are rude to you because there are too many people on Essex handing out flyers these days. I can't even walk to CVS without getting accosted by aggressive tour guides. It's like running a gauntlet. (Do a story on that, Salem Patch.)
Thomas Vallor
12:37 pm on Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Klassy, I can't respond to your comment so I don't know if you'll get this, but I have no idea! I'm pretty sure it was just a paperwork mistake the new licensing officer made. It ends up that the officer was on vacation for a month so I had to wait for him to get back to appeal the denial. When I finally got to the appeal the officer had changed his mind... or something. I didn't even need to appeal, it became a moot point. Why do you ask?
KlassySalem
4:58 pm on Tuesday, September 18, 2012
I was just curious. Saw it in a city council agenda. I often wonder the reasons when they deny people, but they do a lot of that stuff in executive session. It's often to the detriment of the people who they deny, because it leaves it open to speculation on the reason.
bogey251
11:32 am on Monday, September 17, 2012
What, it's not covered by insurance?? Republicans want to deny you access to "evil cleansing"....does sandra fluke know this???
Bill
1:01 pm on Monday, September 17, 2012
LOL..Maybe Granny Warren can run an anti Brown ad about this with sad looking people bemoaning the fact they can't get their evil cleansed thanks to Wall Street and the Banks.
John Smith
1:52 pm on Monday, September 17, 2012
:/ I'm a bit lost here. The woman "tried to leave the room" but was somehow preventing from leaving by the psychic's "pushing the issue"? Does pushing the issue entail, say, grabbing her by the arm and hold her in place - or is this more like.. she wasn't assertive enough to walk out until she'd been told "See you later, have a nice day!"
Unless the psychic is also a telekinetic. In which case, I'd say the woman got her money's worth.
Otherwise, as long as she got her palm read, she has no valid complaint. (Or.. should I call the cops every time the restaurants in town try to scam me by asking if I'd like an appetizer with my meal?)
bogey251
2:47 pm on Monday, September 17, 2012
Maybe Fat Ima stopped her from leaving....that would be a crime.
Like the song says all the "evil woman" needs is "a black cat bone and a mojo too, a little john he conqueror root...."
monumentchild
3:09 pm on Monday, September 17, 2012
She did the same thing to my college roommate's mother back in the lat nineties.
bogey251
6:53 pm on Monday, September 17, 2012
I think she also seals driveways for the elderly.