Fortune teller

A fortune teller is someone who professes to use psychic talents in order to divine an individual's future. Some also claim to have the ability to commune with the deceased, transferring messages from passed loved ones in the afterlife to their surviving family members.

In most cases fortune tellers are charlatans who use keen powers of observation and psychological manipulation to con people out of money by supposedly providing them spiritual comfort. In horror fiction, fortune tellers often hail from Gypsy stock or, at the very least, wear the trappings of what one would come to expect from a Gypsy.

In film

 * Puppet Master: Dana Hadley, also known as the White Witch, operated a fortune telling operation on the boardwalk of Los Angeles, California. She carried about a stuffed dog, which she named Leroy. Unlike others of her trade, Dana actually did possess some modicum of psychic power. Along with several other gifted psychics, Dana visited the Bodega Bay Inn to pay respects to a deceased colleague, Neil Gallagher. Dana had no compunction regarding her feelings for Neil and she let his widow, Megan Gallagher, know straight off how she thought Neil was a complete bastard. Dana was later attacked by animated puppet known as Pinhead. He accosted her in her room, breaking her leg. She pushed him away and crawled into the hallway. Pinhead followed her to the elevator and began to punch her repeatedly. She managed to push the maniacal toy away, however, she didn't count on another killer puppet, Blade, providing back up. Blade entered the elevator car and sliced Dana's throat wide open.


 * Wolf Man, The: Maleva was an old gypsy woman who traveled with her caravan to the village of Llanwelly in 1941. Her son, Bela, who worked as a fortune teller was also a werewolf, and Maleva was charged with not only keeping others safe, but keeping him safe as well. Bela was killed by Welsh aristocrat Larry Talbot, who beat him to death with a silver-tipped walking stick. Maleva presided over Bela's funeral and even exchanged words with a priest who expressed displeasure with the gypsy's pagan funerary practices. Maleva noted that these were customs that the gypsies had clung to for over a thousand years. "I could not change them, even if I wanted to", she was quoted as saying. Maleva approached Larry Talbot and explained to him how her son was a werewolf. She further illustrated that anyone who survives being bitten by a werewolf, would in turn become a werewolf themselves.

In television

 * Dark Shadows: Magda Rakosi was a Gyspy woman and a fortune teller. She was married to a man named Sandor and was the older sister of Jenny Rakosi. Magda and Sandor once worked at a traveling carnival where he assisted her as a knife thrower. As they grew older, Magda achieved some success with fortune telling and used a crystal ball and tarot cards as the instruments of her craft. By the late 19th century, Magda had become the spiritual adviser to old Edith Collins of Collinsport, Maine. Though none of the other family members held any regard for the Gypsies, Edith valued Magda's skills immensely. To this end, she allowed Magda and Sandor to stay at the dilapidated ruins of the Old House on the Collinwood estate.


 * Tales from the Crypt
 * [Tales from the Crypt: Dead Right|"Dead Right"]]: Madame Vorna was a fortune teller who read the fortune of an ambitious waitress named Cathy Finch. She advised Cathy to marry a grotesque man named Charlie Marno, who as fated to die soon, so Cathy could inherit his money.

In comics

 * Nightstalkers: Madame Jasmine was a small-time criminal featured in the pages of the Nightstalkers comic book series. Created by writer D.G. Chichester and artists Ron Garney and Tom Palmer, she was introduced in Nightstalkers #2. Madame Jasmine worked alongside two other grifters known as Moorek and Bronskon. Through her agency, the group swindled paying customers out of their hard-earned money by pretending to reunite them with the spirits of their deceased loved ones.