The title of an
interesting essay by
Sigismund Schlomo
Freud.
Although it often seems difficult to believe, Freud spent a distinct portion of his professional life investigating paranormal phenomena.
Rebecca A. Drayer, "Freud's Studies of the Occult"
The subject of Freud's essay is the
strange thing that often
happens when you go see a
fortune teller or palm reader
or
what have you. They often make a prediction that
has some element that is
highly personal and meaningful
to you, although the prediction doesn't come to pass.
An example that F. gives concerns a male patient who
was sexually obsessed with his [female] cousin. This cousin happened to be married. The patient told
Freud about a visit to a palm reader earlier the previous
year. The visionary told this man that his rival in love
would die the following summer of food poisoning after
eating a dish of clams.
Freud was quite irritated by the relish with which the
man related the prediction, and he said, "Well, so what?
The summer has come and gone, and the man is still alive!"
"Yes," the patient replied, "but he is allergic to
clams!"