>> announcer: tonight on "20/20." do you have the sixth sense? >> i see dead people. >> in a parking lot. >> yeah. >> and even with our cameraman. >> just know your dad is making his cousins know. >> are you bombarded every day by people whispering in your ear? >> absolutely. i think i'd be a little wigged out. don't believe? this doctor didn't either until he came back from the dead with what he says is proof of heaven. >> there was a person guiding you, a beautiful girl. >> almost saying, do you get it now? >> what about premonitions? from the titanic to half empty trains before a crash. do some people see the future

and stay safe from disaster? >> it was a feeling i don't belong here today. tonight, find out if you have the gift. and do animals have it? a cat who senses death and a dog who is a ghost hunter. >> what the hell was that. >> she just freaked out. >> hear now, barbara walters. >> good evening, i'm happy you can join us this saturday night. whatever you call that whole range of sixth sense phenomena, spirits, guardian angels, premonitions, esp, more than two-thirds of americans say they have felt those things that go bump in the night. and for some professional psychics, the dead don't just go bump, they pull up a chair and have a conversation, as you're about to see. they are the most profound of life's questions, what happens after we die? is it ever possible to receive a message from a departed loved

one or to read another person's mind? from poets to filmmakers -- >> molly? >> i can hear you. >> reporter: -- everyone has struggled to find these answers. so, are some of us actually able to speak to the dead? theresa caputo says yes. >> oh, this dinner is gonna be so good. >> reporter: she was an unknown mother living in suburbia. >> look at your madre cooking at the old stove-o. >> reporter: but today, that hair, those nails and the unmistakable voice -- >> back off. no pressure. stop it. >> reporter: -- are recognized everywhere she goes. >> getting any vibes? >> i have. >> reporter: fans hoping for a reading from america's newest megastar medium. >> who was the young male that passed? >> yeah, my son. >> reporter: even with us in the parking lot of a local strip mall. >> do you -- you hear him call your name at times?

>> yes. >> like, "ma." >> yes. >> it's not wishful thinking. know that it is him. >> reporter: each week, theresa captivates audiences, telling them she is communicating with the dead, on her hit tlc show "long island medium." >> i'm calling in my spirit guides. it's a higher level. >> should we get like, like a fruit basket for them? >> reporter: her husband and children may poke fun at her gift -- >> everywhere we go, she's reading somebody. >> that's not true. hi, who's the mother or energy that passed? did you lose both of your parents, your mother and your father? i feel like you lost someone very recently. >> reporter: -- but it's something theresa says she's known about all her life. >> i don't mean to quote like lady gaga or anything, but i was born this way. >> reporter: but what about friends and acquaintances? i mean, did you tell them that you were seeing and hearing people who were dead? >> well, that's where my trouble all started. when i started sharing with my friends, and they'd say, "well, that's not normal." and then i shut down. >> reporter: theresa says what she was seeing scared her, and

she grappled with debilitating anxiety until in her 20s, when she finally sought help from this woman, a spiritual healer. >> she had told me that the reason for my anxiety was that a spirit was trying to communicate with me. >> reporter: and that you should therefore be open to it? >> what i had to do was just learn how to control and understand what it was that they were showing me. >> reporter: of course, there is little scientific evidence to prove it's actually possible to talk to the dead. >> mr. john edwards. >> reporter: but that's never stopped those claiming to have a sixth sense from cashing in on this $2 billion a year industry. want a session with theresa? these days, you'll be waiting for more than two years. and the ultimate confirmation that she's hit the big time, a spoof on "saturday night live." >> the great thing about long island is that no one's phased by a medium just coming up to you. my name is theresa. i talk to the dead. >> okay, yeah. >> i've seen your husband. >> yeah. >> he looks a mess. he looks terrible. >> yeah.

>> hey, [ bleep ] you. >> reporter: we see you in the show walking around. >> honey. >> small vegetable lo mein. >> yeah. >> reporter: telling the guy behind the counter at the chinese restaurant, you know, about somebody back in china who had died. >> he's just telling you that it's okay that you did not get to see him before he died. >> oh. >> and he doesn't -- >> reporter: are you bombarded all day, every day by dead people whispering in your ear? i mean -- >> absolutely. i know that sounds weird, but that's my life. >> reporter: and before long, theresa stops our interview to say there is a spirit stepping forward. >> do you have something special of somebody's with you? is that your dad's? oh, perfect. >> reporter: she appears to be communicating with the father of one of our cameramen, herb forsberg. show that to me, herb. >> herb, and that's the -- >> that was my father's ring. >> ring? >> reporter: this was your -- this was his father's ring? >> he just told me father, and then -- then there's, when they show me a wedding ring.

it means that someone is wearing someone's ring. >> when my wife and i were married, we used this -- >> as a wedding -- >> -- for my wedding ring. >> 'cause that's what he, see, i wrote wedding, and then i wrote father in -- >> reporter: did you tell her that? >> i didn't say anything to anybody. but did you name a son after someone? >> after him. >> perfect, 'cause he wanted to thank you for that. >> reporter: i personally, if this is true, and this were happening to me, i think i'd be a little wigged out. >> listen. i get wigged out. don't -- i mean, spirit freaks me out on a daily basis. i mean, what are the chances of me knowing that he's wearing his father's ring? >> reporter: it's an interesting point, but one that matt hutson doesn't buy. he is the author of "7 laws of magical thinking" and is a major skeptic. >> this is what's called cold reading. they ask questions where they're either really vague. >> did you name a son after someone? >> or questions to get more information out of the person and build off of that. >> i am not here to prove anything to anybody. >> reporter: does it bother you that there are people out there who call it, you know, pseudo-psychics, call you a

charlatan, a swindler or a faux sea-see /* >> you know what? >> reporter: i mean -- >> let them speak to the clients that have come to me. >> did you just write down ring? >> yeah. >> holy [ bleep ]. >> reporter: it is those reactions from clients and strangers -- >> who's mildred? >> oh, my god. >> reporter: -- regularly featured on "long island medium" that keep viewers hooked. >> and look at that. there we go. >> so does anybody walk in for a reading aubd just can't do it? >> never happened, never happened. >> but back in that parking lot, theresa seemed to hit a snag. >> he said he has my mastercard and picture. can you show it to me?

>> reporter: one detail the spirit of herd son didn't know. >> well, meryl, you better find it. he had me say it, you're going to find it. >> reporter: meryl never found the picture but like all her believers, theresa is not discoura discouraged. >> now you have to go home and find our old wallet and put it in the new wallet. >> announcer: coming up. did someone know about the titanic? the occupancy rate went down. how to tell when your nightmares are about to come true, next. ♪ [ male announcer ] for the billions of smartphone photographers... ♪ ...the first smartphone to put the camera first. meet the windows phone nokia lumia 1020.

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>> announcer: once again, elizabeth vargas with "seeing the future." >> iceberg right ahead. >> reporter: "titanic." who could forget the movie's epic recreation of the ship sinking in 1912?

but remarkably, the story of the "titanic" was first told 14 years before the ship left port in this book, almost exactly foretelling the ship's name, the iceberg and the month of the disaster. how could that be possible? and what about a strange pattern of empty seats on doomed trains discovered by an accident investigator back in the 1950s? >> it almost invariably on the day of the crash, the occupancy rate went down, the vacancy rate went up. >> reporter: were passengers tipped off by a force from the future? do premonitions really happen? the answer may lie where we all begin, with our mothers. lynn darmon's daughter ali is a healthy, happy 20-year-old, but her bright future almost never was, something lynn sensed while ali was still in her womb. and when did you start having a feeling something might be wrong

with the baby? >> probably end of my second trimester. >> reporter: but when ali was born, and she looked to be this beautiful, healthy baby, at that point, did you feel at all relieved? >> i remember holding her and having that feeling that something was really wrong with her. just a feeling that something was not right. >> reporter: did you say anything at that point to your doctor? >> oh, yeah, i did. >> reporter: lynn did more than just tell her doctor. sensing the clock was ticking on her daughter's life, she risked being ridiculed as an hysteric and rushed ali to the emergency room three times. >> they checked her out. and they said, "she's fine. here are your discharge papers." and i refused to sign them. >> reporter: at that point, they're starting to think, we have a mom with postpartum depression. >> yes. >> reporter: before the psychiatrist could arrive, infectious disease specialist dr. bishara freij stepped in. >> she was clearly concerned that there was something serious going on that nobody had been able to yet identify. >> reporter: lynn told dr. freij

she had more than just an ambiguous concern, she pinpointed a problem in ali's abdomen. how did you know that? >> i just -- it just came to me like that. >> reporter: lynn had nailed it. ali had a rare, undetected infection outside her small intestine. it was caught just in time. >> she ended up being in the operating room within, you know, really two or three hours of, of the encounter. >> reporter: they told you that, in fact, if she hadn't had that surgery, she could have died. >> yes, she could have. >> i mean, i wouldn't be here if it wasn't for that. >> reporter: it's a compelling story, but is it really possible that lynn was experiencing something beyond everyday motherly instinct? dr. larry dossey thinks so. >> if you look at premonitions, in the literature, the most common is that of a mother for something happening to her baby. >> reporter: dossey, who wrote a book called "the power of premonitions," says they often come to us in our dreams, but

they're by no means ordinary dreams. >> one woman said, "the premonition dreams that turn out to be true are lit up from the inside." so the vividness is one clue. another clue is whether or not they're recurrent. many of them that turn out to be true come back night after night as if they're clamoring for attention. >> reporter: he says that along with forebodings about our children, premonitions of disasters are the most common. march 11th, 2011, an epic trifecta of disasters hits japan -- an earthquake, a tsunami and a nuclear meltdown, and an 18-year-old american boy claims he predicted it all. you say you have accurately predicted several things. >> correct. >> reporter: ryan michaels is the resident psychic in rural beaverdale, pennsylvania. from his home tucked between the

cornstalks and train tracks, he looks into the future and claims to catalogue premonitions of disaster on his website. his entry from before the tsunami specifically mentions explosions, earthquakes and flooding. >> i closed my eyes, and i pinpointed where i felt drawn to, the ocean near japan. and i saw two explosions, felt shaking, which resembles earthquake, and that this would cause some type of a flooding or tsunami. >> reporter: and when did you get this premonition? >> about nine months before it happened, i believe. >> reporter: is that disturbing to you to have a premonition about a, a natural disaster like that? >> i write what i see. >> reporter: but author and skeptic matt hutson doesn't buy it. so what's happening to people when they feel like they're having a premonition? >> the most likely scenario is people just feel anxious about something. and so it's easy to feel like,

"oh, maybe i have anxiety for a reason. maybe i'm sensing the future." and then looking back at an experience and, and labeling a thought as an example of precognition or a premonition, that is mostly because of our tendency to see patterns in the world. >> reporter: but what about this bizarre case from 1950? a church in beatrice, nebraska, exploded during a scheduled choir practice, but nobody was hurt. why? because all 15 people scheduled to be at practice that night didn't show up. >> nobody had a clue that anything bad was gonna happen, but yet everybody found some reason to not go to church. >> reporter: so what does that tell you? >> i think that the unconscious works in very strange ways. >> reporter: it certainly did for this man. barrett naylor is a wall street executive, a brass tacks kind of guy with no interest in the paranormal. >> i never made the needle move on the ouija board.

>> reporter: but naylor cannot explain two life-changing moments he could not ignore. each occurred as he stepped off his commuter train after an hour-long ride into grand central station heading into work. the first time was on the morning of the 1993 world trade center bombing. >> it was a feeling i don't belong here today. i just simply turned around, got on the train, sat down and went home. >> reporter: the second time was on 9/11. >> it's not a physical feeling. it's -- i can't even describe it. >> reporter: dread? >> it wasn't dread. it was -- i got in there. a feeling came across me that it was not a day to be in the city. >> reporter: and it was strong enough that you did not ignore it. i mean, it's a big deal to turn around at that point. >> no, i didn't ignore it. i turned around and, and got on the train. i was on the train when the first plane hit. i wish i had a better explanation for it. but it was real. >> reporter: naylor regrets not warning others on that tragic morning. so do you struggle with feelings

of guilt? >> i struggle with 9/11. i think that everyone carries something with them when they have this sort of an experience, and it's difficult to talk about. >> reporter: but his experience also gave naylor a shared sense with people like lynn, ryan and so many others who believe in premonitions, believe that there's something more to this world beyond what we can see. have you ever had a premonition that something was about to happen and then it did? if so, we want to hear about it. so let us know on twitter, us g using #abc20/20. we'll be right back. >> announcer: next, a skeptical doctor who had a rational explanation for everything until he died and took a round way trip to heaven. >> and the colors were extremely vivid with millions of

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>> announcer: "20/20" continues. is there proof of heaven? once again, elizabeth vargas. >> reporter: eight million americans claim to have had a near-death experience, but neurosurgeon eben alexander never thought in a thousand years he would be one of them. what did you think those were? >> fantasies, hallucinations. i knew that there would be a

brain-based scientific explanation. >> reporter: he was a man of science. he didn't believe in it. that is, he says, until it happened to him. let's talk about how you got sick. you woke up in the middle of the night feeling ill and m pain. >> it was like being struck by a freight train. 4:30 in the morning, woke up, i never had anything like that before. my last words to my wife, "don't call 911." you know, trust me. i'm a doctor. it's just a muscle spasm. and -- and i was gone. >> reporter: dr. alexander had a rare and deadly form of bacterial meningitis, which was infecting his brain. in a matter of hours, this healthy man was on death's door. by the time they got him to the hospital, he was in a coma. so your wife was being told that you might die? >> and that she would be raising our two boys without me. >> reporter: but as his body lay in that hospital bed with no recognizable brain activity, dr. alexander says he had

already begun an astounding journey, a journey to a place he'd said didn't exist. did you believe in heaven? >> when i was younger, i thought a heaven and a loving god made sense. but through my academic neurosurgery career, i saw less and less that that could be the case. >> reporter: the journey began, he says, in a dark formless place without memory, language or time. but then -- >> i was rescued from that by this spinning melody of light that came closer and opened up and was a rip in the fabric of reality that just opened up around me. >> reporter: you describe this world as hyper-vivid. >> the colors were extremely vivid, with millions of butterflies, and these beautiful blooming, blossoms opening as we flew by. >> reporter: and by his side, an unknown presence. there was a person guiding you, a beautiful girl, as you

describe her. can you tell me what she looked like? >> she had a beautiful face with a wide smile, and high cheekbones, and absolutely gorgeous, clear blue eyes. she never said a word to me. and she would look at me and the thoughts would come directly into my -- into my mind, into my awareness. >> reporter: what thoughts? >> and the thoughts were you are loved. you are cherished. there is nothing you can do wrong. i always remember being told, we will teach you many things, but you'll be going back. >> reporter: back to the hospital where his wife kept her vigil and his doctors were giving up hope. on the seventh day of his coma, he opened his eyes. >> it was just nothing but a miracle. >> reporter: his first words, the very words he'd heard from his guide, that blue-eyed girl.

>> all is well. don't worry. all is well. >> reporter: within weeks, eben alexander had made an astonishing full recovery. what was it like to all of a sudden have basically a sixth sense, an awareness that there was something other than the physical world that surrounds us every day. >> i r had to completely rethink everything i had come to believe in. 30 years of science, chemistry, biology, everything i knew about the brain, mind, consciousness, i had to start over at square one. >> how are you different from going through this experience? >> my family said i am nicer.

>> really it's changed me in every way by realizing that our souls are eternal. >> reporter: the book he has written, "proof of heaven," has sparked a lot of controversy. you know you do have skeptics out there who are just saying it's not uncommon for people near death to have all sorts of funky things going on inside their bodies. >> well, that's why the fact that i had meningitis that was so severe, i mean, that should not have allowed for any experience. >> reporter: dr. alexander maintains his brain was so completely shut down that the visions he had could simply not have been generated there. he says he wrote down everything he remembered, now in his book, before speaking to anyone, so as not to taint his memory. you then went on to read about other people's near-death experiences. was it striking how similar what you had written was to what they had experienced? >> it was absolutely astonishing. >> i really felt the white light was god. >> i stopped walking and i saw my grandmother. >> you could see peace. you could see love.

>> reporter: and all the other afterlife stories everybody told of being guided by a loved one who had died. you had as your guide a girl you'd never met. >> i must say that was very haunting. why would i go through all that and not have my father there? my father who was a neurosurgeon. i idolized him, and he had passed over four years earlier. why wasn't he there? >> reporter: and why the blue-eyed girl instead? dr. alexander had been adopted as a child. years later, he found his birth family, all except for one. his birth sister who died before he met them. >> her name was betsy. >> reporter: how old was she when she died? >> she was 36-years-old. >> reporter: so betsy you'd never met. >> i just heard what a beautiful, loving soul she was. how she -- how she worked in a -- in a rape crisis center and

took care of many people who were unfortunate. and she was just very loving. >> reporter: mm-hmm. >> a loving person. >> reporter: how was it you came to see a picture of her? >> my birth sister, cathy, had promised to send a picture of betsy, and it was about four months after my coming out of the hospital when that picture arrived. >> reporter: he opened the envelope and saw it for the first time. the photo he says was of that blue-eyed girl from his vision. >> and it was so stunning. and that picture was almost as if she's saying, "do you get it now?" and i cannot tell you how powerful that was. there was no mistaking it. that's exactly who it was. >> i'm curious, after having had this experience, do you fear death?

>> not at all. i know it's a transition, it's not the end. that our conscious, our soul, experience is eternal and that lesson is brought back from near-death experiences. >> reporter: life is back to normal at the alexander household these days. there are soccer games to watch, dinners to be shared, grace to be said. but dr. alexander says he's on a mission now. >> i hope to tell my story to everyone i possibly can in this world because i think it could help this world to be a much better place. dr. alexander's book "proof of heaven" has been number one in the best seller's list since it was released last september. we'll be right back. >> announcer: next, they're warm and fuzzy and just a little bit freaky. dogs and cats that sense who's

about to die and who's already dead. >> is there a little girl there? we have a nice dog maddie you can come play with. ready for you first day, little brother? i guess. did you download that book i sent? yah, nice rainbow highlighter. you've got finch for math right? uh-uh. english? her. splanker, pretend we're not related. oh trust me, you don't want any of that. you got my map? yeah. where you can sit can define your entire year. and what's the most important thing to remember? no face to face contact until we're off of school property. you got this. sharing what you've learned. that's powerful. verizon. get the samsung galaxy s3 for $49.99. are you planning on using any water? i'm dry-wiping it like i always do. [ female announcer ] you wouldn't clean your car without water, so why clean your bum that way? freshen up by adding cottonelle cleansing cloths... now in a new dispenser. think about your own bumper. to prove to you that aleve is the better choice for him, he's agreed to give it up. that's today?

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>> announcer: do your pets have premonitions? here's jay schadler. >> reporter: birds flocking and elephants herding to higher ground hours before a terrible tsunami strikes southeast asia. >> animals have premonitions. they have abilities that scientifically we can't explain. >> reporter: a dog travels miles across streams, highways and

neighborhoods to find his owner who's been taken to a hospital the dog has never seen. >> reporter: do you think there's any chance that this was a coincidence? >> he was on his way to the hospital. i don't know. where was he -- on his way to hollywood? i don't know. >> miracles associated with dogs are happening every day. >> reporter: there's a menagerie of animals who display some fascinating extrasensory gifts. during the 2010 world cup, a german octopus delighted the world by picking the winner of seven straight matches. >> spain has won the world cup. >> reporter: but we begin with oscar, the rhode island nursing home cat. >> oscar tends to come into the room shortly before somebody is about to die. that's where he'll sit until the patient eventually passes. somehow, this cat knew oftentimes before we as physicians or care providers did. >> reporter: if the grim reaper must come, you could do a lot worse than soft paws and a purr. but is there a logical explanation? opinions differ. >> they're more in tuned, somehow, to a sixth sense.

>> reporter: jennifer skiff is author of "god stories" and "the divinity dogs." >> they're getting a message that we're not getting, and they're following through on it to let us know that something's going to happen. >> i don't believe in esp, but i do believe that with their remarkably tuned senses that animals can detect things that we can't detect. and sometimes we credit their reactions to extrasensory power. >> reporter: it's not magical, but with animals' superior senses, it sometimes seems that way, like eagles who can spot a fish under water hundreds of yards away or a bat seeing in the dark by listening to sonar, whales navigating their world through complex underwater songs. >> i am catwoman. >> reporter: is it any wonder why so many of hollywood's superheroes are infused with more than a little animal dna? >> you read the animals, and

they will teow you. >> reporter: w. >> yes, indeed. >> reporter: dr. michael fox, a nationally known author, veterinarian and master of the bamboo flute, has been documenting the extraordinary behavior of animals for decades, openly believing in their supernatural powers. >> i invoke this notion of an empathosphere where animals and we, when we're open, can connect with this love field, if you like. >> reporter: a magnetic field but of emotion. >> exactly. but of emotion. >> auditory, sight, smell, sixth sense, they definitely see things that we don't see. they experience things we don't see. >> reporter: how about things that go bump in the night? >> i do believe that dogs can experience the paranormal. >> hello? oh, what the [ bleep ] is that? she's greatly focused on that doorway there.

>> reporter: as lead investigator for the syfy series "ghost hunters," jason hawes is something of a self-styled expert on the paranormal. >> are you ready for this, maddie? >> reporter: but it's his dog, maddie, sometimes is the star of the show. >> is there a little girl here? we have a dog, nice dog, maddie, you can come play with. she was a wild dog that had spent some time in a high-kill shelter that she was getting ready to be put down. and i just, i fell in love with her. but i'd been looking for a dog to help me out with the things i do. look. constant humming here, huh? what he does is chase the dead, or at least rumors of the dead, in places no one would ever choose to vacation. see how the camera keeps auto focus there? >> yeah. >> whoa. >> reporter: unlike jason's human team of investigators, maddie comes to these allegedly haunted places with no preconceived notions about ghosts and spirits. what she does have, though, are some very keen senses. >> if she's sensing something, a lot of times, she'll get down

into an aggressive stance. she'll start growling low growls. you know, i've only, i've only seen her flinch one time. whatever it is must be gone. she's not locked on anymore. >> what was that? >> she just freaked out. >> reporter: maddie's animal instincts take over. >> to see that happen to her, of course, i jumped. she was scared, almost as if she didn't know what to do or how to defend herself. >> reporter: she was spooked. >> yeah, she was. they're able to hear things that are far beyond our ability and also different frequencies. >> reporter: like voice frequencies, which brings us to a place in kentucky called bobby mackey's. >> the place has had some tragedy with that. for whatever reason, maddie had locked on to this one column area while we were there. whatever it is, it has her worked up. >> reporter: as usual, jason's team outfits the place with an array of audio and video equipment. later, while reviewing the audiotapes, jason says they heard something. >> you tell me what you think

you're hearing, all right? >> the dog sees me. >> reporter: i can hear what sounds like a voice. jason, however, says he hears something more unsettling. >> this voice that we caught was a distinctive male voice that said, "the dog sees me." >> the dog sees me. >> this thing could see us. it could see maddie. >> reporter: while that kind of leap of logic will rankle the skeptics, there remain legions of believers that animals, deeply connected to the natural rhythms of life are well way ahead of us when it comes to sensing the unseen. so where does all this leave us? how about here? when animal conservationist lawrence anthony died this past spring, 21 wild elephants he had loved and protected walked 12 miles to his home to mourn a man as they would any member of their own herd. how could they have known? perhaps love is the very definition of the paranormal.

>> announcer: next, do you have the gift of a sixth sense? >> everybody can do this. i mean, there's no such thing as a psychic. we're all psychics. >> announcer: she'll tell you how. you see the "mini" ion my chest? funny, yes? no. there's nothing mini about me. i'm huge. ahem. any hoo. even my wrapper has a wrapper. flavor? i'm bursting with it. creamy? i ooze it. quality like this... (muffled):...doesn't come everyday. well technically it does because i'm in the grocery but... ooh, how you doin'? rich. creamy. and 100% natural cheese. mini babybel. snack a little bigger. they help students find information quickly and bring learning to life. at sprint, when you buy one samsung galaxy s 4 for just $199.99, you get another one free.

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>> announcer: "20/20" continues with elizabeth vargas. "do you have the gift?" >> reporter: september 2008, chaos on wall street as the market craters. >> as a result, panic and fear strike wall street. >> and today's terrifying plunge -- >> -- the largest one-day drop in history. >> reporter: but two weeks earlier, six floors above the

streets of downtown new york, it was all foreseen. >> i woke up in the morning, and i felt like my stocks weren't safe, and i wanted to get rid of them. so i called up my broker, and i said, "sell everything." >> reporter: everything? >> everything. and i sold everything. and a couple weeks later, the market crashed. >> reporter: this wasn't just the panic of your average nervous investor. >> i'm seeing a person, someone who has their own authority, a woman, an older woman. >> reporter: laura day calls herself an intuitive with a gift to see the future. >> what i do is i follow my senses. and i just describe, i often don't know what i'm talking about. i just describe what it is i'm experiencing. >> reporter: so it's instantaneous. >> yes. i'm well. how are you doing? >> reporter: but unlike theresa caputo and day is not a performer. she works on a telephone. >> i'm not sure doing a deal would be the best thing. >> reporter: corporations pay her up to $10,000 a month for her intuitive feelings on

everything from hiring decisions to investments and mergers. >> but for some reason, i feel like this could really create an opportunity, not a difficulty. >> reporter: do you have these companies ring you up and ask you a question about a stock or a currency, and do you ever say, "i don't know?" >> yeah, i sure do. sometimes, i'll say i don't know, and then two minutes into the conversation, i'll get a feeling. so you're not fishing with questions for information. no. no. i don't -- i actually do all the talking, which works for me. >> reporter: day says anyone can cultivate that sixth sense, the same way an athlete builds muscle through exercise. she recommends recording those strange moments when strong thoughts or feelings seem to strike you out of the blue. >> what you do is you keep track of your questions, you keep track of your answers that you get intuitively, and you learn over time that they're correct. and the more you practice, the more correct they are. >> reporter: others claiming to have the gift have their own training techniques.

theresa caputo invokes her special talent with smoke of sage and banging drums. ryan michaels stares at a map. sidney friedman does a lot of this. >> it's so important for people to realize that everybody can do this. i mean, a three-year-old is intuitive. they're not logical. >> reporter: so you're not unique? >> no, i'm not unique. i mean, there's no such thing as a psychic. we're all psychics. >> first card. >> reporter: that's what these folks think. they've come to the rhine center in durham, north carolina, where they've been cataloging all things psychic for 85 years. >> four. >> reporter: here, they're being tested for mind-reading talent with something called zener cards. can they guess the shapes on the cards the tester draws at random? >> okay. ready to score these. >> reporter: once in a while, someone will come along and correctly guess 20 or 25 cards in a row, but not today. now, the zener card test is more parlor game than science.

but here at a lab in the rolling hills of northern california, dr. dean radin is conducting true experiments. his findings show that people may actually react to things before they happen. >> and when you're ready to begin the trial, you press the button. >> reporter: have you always believed in premonitions? >> i would say no. as a scientist, i tend to base belief on evidence. >> reporter: here's how it works. radin monitors a subject's heart, brain and skin, measuring how they react to random visual images like this. so you don't know which picture's coming up next. and -- >> i don't know. >> reporter: -- the test subject certainly doesn't have any idea. >> right. >> reporter: most people react the way you would expect. they become upset after they see images indicating violence. they get aroused by sexual imagery and stay calm when shown a tranquil scene. >> you got excited because -- >> reporter: but remarkably, radin claims one in five have those reactions up to nine seconds before they see the pictures, a phenomenon known as

presentiment. how can that be? how do you know this isn't just coincidence? >> there are over 40 studies like this now reported around the world. there's no doubt at all that it is not chance. >> reporter: radin's results have been replicated in labs at universities such as princeton, northwestern and cornell. but "psychology today" writer matt hutson dismisses all of it. do you trust your intuition? >> sometimes, yeah. and on this, my intuition says that premonitions are not real. >> reporter: ever? >> ever. >> reporter: there's been a lot of time throughout the history of man when we've thought, well, the earth is flat because there's no evidence it's round. we just didn't know it yet that it was round. >> right. >> reporter: isn't it possible we just don't know the science yet that might prove that premonition, intuition, the sixth sense really exists? >> of course, anything is possible. that doesn't make it likely. >> i believe in skepticism. my favorite quote is, "a good scientist suspends disbelief and runs the experiment anyway."

i think you're in a position to compete. >> reporter: there may not be no scientific explanation for laura day's intuition or any of the other uncanny stories we've heard tonight. but the believers say there's no way to disprove them either. when the coincidences are so outlandish, the phenomenon so bizarre, it's hard to at least feel that the sixth sense is real. [ female announcer ] introducing the windex touch-up cleaner. dab it... clean it... done. it's a one-handed clean from windex... ♪ ...that stays out to kill 99.9% of bacteria... ♪

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a glimmer of hope.

the progress that could help to avert a b.a.r.t. strike. a