#2334: Nancy du Tertre

Nancy du Tertre is an attorney and “psychic detective” who calls herself “The Skeptical Psychic™” (yes, she got it trademarked). In addition to private readings, workshops and personal appearances, du Tertre also offers free remote viewing to law enforcement agencies, and she has written a book that explains her “new approach to psychic ability that combines intuitive imaging with rational feedback” – she calls it “TSP”, a form of “tested ESP and clairvoyance” (what “TSP” is supposed to be an acronym for thus becomes a bit unclear). And yes, “tested” means whatever du Tertre wants it to mean, and certainly not tested, just like “skeptical” in “skeptical psychic.” “You don’t need to believe. You just need to trust,” says du Tertre. That is not how skeptical works.

Otherwise, her bio reveals a rather impressive level of gullibility. TSP is apparently a “new type of Remote Viewing” that “combines our sensory experiences with certain flexible protocols” (“flexible” seems to be a key term here). According to du Tertre, “tuning in to the supernatural” requires that “we ‘unlearn’ our logical processes and learn to trust the profoundly irrational processes of our mind.” According to herself, she “loves ‘evidence’ of the supernatural or paranormal, but doesn’t get stuck on the concept.” We never suspected otherwise. But she does emphasize the importance of trying to verify the information you gain from intuition: “you must exist in the very uncomfortable mental place of being both a believer and a skeptic at the same time! This process will lead you to the Truth.” There is, of course, no process described here, and no: this is not even remotely how you determine truth or accuracy.

She has also written the book How to Talk to an Alien, which asks such pertinent questions as “[d]o aliens speak in alien language?” and “[d]o they only communicate via telepathy and mental ESP?” An attempt to contribute to the New Age field of exolinguistics, du Tertre “is in a unique position as both a linguist and a psychic to engage in this brand new field of study” – she has no training in linguistics, of course, but “is fluent in French”. Besides, she “has also had her own UFO/ET contact experiences and has worked with abductees and contactees.”

She is apparently also a medium and energy healer, and her blog provides information and ample “evidence” of ghosts, orbs, rods and conehead skulls.

Diagnosis: Probably harmless, but good grief how silly (and sad) it is.