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Caught on hidden camera: 'Psychics' claim to banish harmful spirits

Have you ever wondered if your house is haunted? You can hire self-described psychics who claim they can channel the dead and remove bad spirits from your home — but their services don't come cheap.The Rossen Reports team set up appointments with several psychics, then rented a brand-new home in a New Jersey suburb where no one has ever lived, and rigged it with a dozen hidden cameras. A psychi

Have you ever wondered if your house is haunted? You can hire self-described psychics who claim they can channel the dead and remove bad spirits from your home — but their services don't come cheap.

The Rossen Reports team set up appointments with several psychics, then rented a brand-new home in a New Jersey suburb where no one has ever lived, and rigged it with a dozen hidden cameras. 

A psychic known as Mama Donna said the house was filled with positive energy. Asked if she felt anything bad, she said, "No, I don't. I would really tell you." She charged for a quick visit and went on her way.

But a duo named Susan and Rev. Joseph said there was negative energy in the house. "It's negative in the sense that it could cause setbacks, it can cause financial setbacks," Susan said. To purge it, they burned incense and chanted all over the house, and claimed to have trapped the negative energy in a bottle.

Despite their supposed abilities, the psychics were not aware that Jeff Rossen had been monitoring their activities from a control room upstairs in the home. When he revealed himself to them, he asked: "How is it possible that you were able to find all of this negative energy? This is a brand-new house, no one's lived in it before."

"It's not a haunted house, but spirits roam in empty places, they roam in hallways," Susan said.

"Isn't this just hocus pocus to take advantage of homeowners?" Rossen asked.

"No, no, no," Rev. Joseph protested. As the pair spoke to Rossen, one of their associates tried to block the camera and scooped up the cash the Rossen team had brought to pay them.

When another team of psychics arrived, they announced: "There's a presence of two or three entities here ... They won't let you feel comfortable here, you'll just be stuck. [You] won't be able to find a job. You'll want to move."

After the Rossen team agreed to let them help, they spat holy water, puffed cigar smoke, banged on the walls and rolled a coconut around. "Most likely there was domestic violence here," a psychic named Medina declared. "Repeat to yourself, 'the house is clear, the house is pure.'" Their fee was $1,021.

When Jeff Rossen identified himself, Medina said, "This is hilarious, I can't believe this."

"Well, it's not really that funny," Rossen said. "You're charging people $1,000 to do this. That's not funny."

"Are you saying that I did anything illegal?" Medina asked.

"I'm asking how you can say there was domestic violence and bad spirits in this house when no one's ever lived here," Rossen said.

"It could have been from another time," Medina said. She and her associates also predicted that Rossen would be "out of this type of job" within three months, and said his late grandmother wanted to speak to him. They insisted their readings were accurate and said they stood behind them.

Another psychic, named Sandra, announced, "There's more than one spirit in this house." She said the job would require a double session costing a total of $1,475. After burning sage and ringing bells, she said the bad spirits were gone.

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When Rossen identified himself to her, Sandra didn't want to talk, and drove away.

All the psychics contacted told the Rossen team their work was sincere and meant to help homeowners. Many people around the world are believers in psychic phenomena, often getting their homes blessed when they move in. In fact, according to a 2013 HuffPost/YouGov survey, 45 percent of Americans believe in ghosts.

But whether you’re a believer or not, as with any in-home service, you should always do your homework and be wary of anyone who tries to upsell you before completing the job.  

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