ONE WOMAN'S AMAZING INTUITION
PSYCHIC ATTRACTS LOYAL
FOLLOWING TO INCREDIBLE SERVICE
OF RELATIONSHIP ADVICE
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Author: Cheryl Lavin, Tribune Staff Writer.
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Edition: Chicago Sports
Final
Section: Tempo
Page: 3
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Index Terms:
UNUSUAL
IMAGE
BIOGRAPHY
RELATION
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Copyright 2000, Chicago Tribune
Record Number: CTR0007250012
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CHICAGO - "I see dead people."
That's what the little boy said to Bruce Willis in "The Sixth Sense." And
that's what Joanna Ammons has been saying for years. She sees them, and
she hears them, too.
Ammons, a 29-year-old Chicagoan, says she's been having out-of-body
and "weird" experiences since she was 4. Her parents scoffed until one
day when she was 8 and the family was at Sportsman's Park. The last race
was a trifecta, and Ammons kept telling them to play 3, 4 and 8.
"No one listened to me, but the horses came in in that order: 3, 4 and 8,"
says Ammons. "After that, they started listening."
Ammons says she has the gifts of clairvoyance and clairaudience - she see
visions and hears voices. As she grew up, her "gift" sometimes got her in
trouble. She once told her mother's friend that her husband was cheating
on her. Another time, she told a playmate that he was adopted. Both
visions were true but unwelcome. Her girlfriends were more receptive.
They would call to ask whether a relationship would work out, when a
soul mate would appear, if a boyfriend was faithful.
"I was on the phone all day with friends and friends of friends," says
Ammons. "I got one call from Japan."
Her friends started calling her "the love psychic." In 1993, Ammons began
charging $5 a call. Her rate now is $14 for 15 minutes or $24 for a half an
hour. (Ammons, who doesn't claim she's always right, gives a free
five-minute reading to first-time callers.) She used to advertise in the
Yellow Pages; now she relies mostly on word-of-mouth. Some clients
check in daily, some only when there's a crisis. Most of them are women,
between 32 to 48, single and looking.
Sometimes Ammons hears a dead relative giving advice. Other times, she
says, she sees them in the future with a person whom she describes in
detail.
"She's very good with descriptions," says Jim Youngman, a computer
programmer who lives in Florida. He heard about Ammons two years ago
through the psychic grapevine (which is different than the Psychic Hotline).
He was going through a painful breakup. Ammons told him he would
marry in a year. She said she saw him in a church, marrying a woman
about 5-foot-8 with brownish-blond hair. And she saw a 9-year-old child.
After Youngman met Theresa, it didn't hit him that she was 5-foot-8 with
brownish-blondhair and a 9-year-old daughter until they had been dating
for four months and he had already proposed. "Out of the blue, it just hit
me. Then everything else Joanna said came roaring back. She was right on
the money." Now, he and his wife call Ammons "when something comes
up."
Dorothy Dunlap is a 54-year-old Chicago factory worker. She found
Ammons in the Yellow Pages and called her two years ago because her
husband was having an affair. "When I called her, I was real depressed.
Just hearing her voice calmed me down." During the past two years,
Dunlap's husband has moved out and started divorce proceedings.
"I told Dorothy that in May he would come to her door and tell her he
didn't want to fill out the divorce papers. He . . . came to her door and
said what I predicted," says Ammons.
"She's good," says Dunlap, who usually calls Ammons once a week. "A lot
of times, when I haven't heard from him for a while, I ask her when he's
going to call and she'll say, `before Friday' and, sure enough, he would
call."
When Ammons predicted that Maria Dominguez, 29, of Chicago, would
be laid off, Dominguez refused to believe it. She worked for her father.
When he let her go, she became a believer. Dominguez has been calling
Ammons for two years; Dominguez's sister, who recommended her, has
been calling for nearly four years. Ammons has been helping Dominguez in
her relationship with a man who lives in her building. He left her for another
woman. Ammons told her he would come back.
"So far, everything has happened just like she said," says Dominguez. "She
told me that something would happen before Christmas that would freak
me out. And just before Christmas, he told me he was thinking about me
so much he crashed into the garage door."
You would think someone who is so good at romantic intuition would have
her own love life in order. Not quite. Ammons believes God doesn't want
her to be with anyone yet, so she isn't. She did know, however, exactly
when and how her last relationship would end.
"I knew he would leave me for someone at work. The day he started the
new job, I knew the person was there. He told me about this woman who
would walk around the office massaging everyone's shoulders. I told him
she was after him. He said, `No, no.' I said, `Yeah, yeah.' "<>
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