HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1979-03-29, Page 28People in Profile: Vera "McNicholjust
by Shelley McPhee
She looks like any other 69 -year-old
woman. Her simple grey hair is held
back with bobby pins. She wears a
slightly out -of -style blue dress and a
white cardigan.
You'd expect to see her dressed in
more peculiar fashion. Perhaps with
colorful shawls, flowing skirts and
exaggerated jewellery but Vera
McNichol definitely destroys the
stereotype of a psychic with her ap-
pearance.
The only thing that makes this
famous Millbank lady immediately
stand out in a group is her facial ex-
pressions. She walked into the Kippen
East WI meeting last Wednesday night
with incredible ease and her face
showed nothing but pure unadulterated
friendliness.
She sat wordless during the first part
of the meeting at the home of Mrs. Vern
Alderice, but she still participated. Her
eyes continually sparkled behind her
silver glasses, her head shook in
agreement and her mouth constantly
opened in amazement and delight at
what was being said. She listened to
every word with the utmost interest
and concern.
While the other members of the WI
group sat quietly, Vera, though small
in size, shone out as true extrovert,
showing that she is a very special
person.
"I'm just plain me," she cackled,
"I'11 talk to you like I've known you all
my life and I feel like I have."
That's not unusual for Vera to say,
for she has been predicting the future
and using her psychic powers since she
was just under three years old.
Being an unusual child was not easy.
Vera remembers being severely
whipped by her father and threatened
with death by him, because of his fears
that the devil would overtake her.
She would tell her parents of up-
coming deaths or tragedies in the
community, and when they occurred,
just as young Vera had claimed, she
was punished.
Frightened of herself and her
parents, Vera continually sought help.
She went to the Salvation Army, she
told two priests that she'd swallowed
the snake from Satan and as a last
resort she went to the man who played
the organ at the Pentecostal Church.
She loved his music.
"The organist prayed that God would
take away this thing if it was evil but
help me if it was a gift," she said.
"I can still almost feel his hand on
my head if I close my eyes," she fondly
remem bered.
As Vera grew older, her father's
words, "You should be seen and not
heard," had less effect on her. She'
knew her powers were getting stronger
but she also felt that they weren't
sinful. •
"I felt contentment in my heart and
no more guilt," she claimed.
It is obvious that Vera still feels this
way. Despite the fact that she has little
privacy, especially in her own home,
puts in 20 hour days before sleeping and
often sees the horrible and tragic side
of life, long before the good, Vera
stresses, "I just love what I do and I
never feel tired."
"But I'm not God or anything, I'm
just plain Vera McNichol," she said
with a grin and shrug of the shoulder.
After giving up nursing after a happy
25 years, Vera returned to the meager
home she and her husband John have in
Millbank.
From here she operates a successful
service. It may not be financially
Scott McClenaghan, 4, seems interested in the camera, but his friend Mike
Thompson, 5, has his attention devoted to blowing bubbles. The spring- like
weather has left the toboggans and skates abandoned, while tricycling and
bubble blowing are the seasonal activities now. (News -Record photo)
Thanks to.lady luck and fast action by the Clinton fire departtnent, only several
hundred dollars worth of damage was caused when an overheated stove pipe
set fire to a wall at the Bill Henderson residence on the 14th Concession of
Goderich Township last Sunday. (photo by Steve Cooke)
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astounding, but Vera welcomes hun-
dreds of people to her front lawn every
day of the year. These people, who
Come from far and wide, wait,
patiently, for Vera to tell their futures
or counsel them on problems from
obesity to divorce. Many never get a
chance to see her.
Vera remembered one day when 807
people waited outside her front door for
help. She was only able to talk to 27 of
them and worked from 5 a.m. to 3 a.m.
the next morning.
"I didn't want any publicity. I
wanted to be a little bug under a leaf
and didn't want to get burned by the
lights of publicity," she stressed.
Despite Vera's feeling on public
exposure, she was accused, only years
ago, by the government who said she
was seeking publicity after she found a
man in a well.
Along with offering personal coun-
selling, Vera has successfully helped
the police a number of times in their
criminal work and disappearance
cases.
Many police forces have the utmost
respect for Vera and throughout
Ontario came to her defence when she
received accusation from the gover-
nment,
She has found killers; convinced a
man who had his family at gunpoint
and the police at bay to give up his
weapon; has given the whereabouts of
lost and dead people, and helped police
on countless other cases.
"But I can't lie to you," she admitted
to the WI ladies, "I'm scared. We have
to get. close to God because I think
we're at the end of time."
Vera's prophecy does not come
unfounded. She deals with some 21
contemplated suicides a week, either in
person or through correspondence.
Vera says she saves an average of 19 of
those.
"I talk of hopeful things when doubt
is in the air."
Helping drug addicts is another one
of her more difficult jobs.
"The detectives ask me what in-
fluence I have over those kids and I say
just a little bit of love and un-
derstanding," she explained in her
quick voice.
"If you see a person with sin and you
use kindness, sooner or later you'll
break them down."
Vera receives help and support with
her counselling from doctors, lawyers,
psychologists and psychiatrists who
1
stuck in
the middle
come to her home to talk with the
people who flock to her for help and
guidance.
Not all her work is normal. In fact,
none of it is, but some cases are more
bizarre than others.
Exorcises devil
Vera excitedly remembered the time
when a young Japanese girl was sent to
her by a medical acquaintance. The
girl, who had been in hospital for
months, was said to be possessed by the
devil.
"Oh boys, I'd never experienced
anything like this before but I knew
that God would give me what to say,"
she said, shaking her head in
recollection of the strange event.
Vera said that the girl suddenly
shrieked and as Vera grabbed the girl's
shoulders, sparks flew out of them,
sending such sharp flashes of pain
through Vera's hands that she had to
let go of the girl.
The girl, frothing at the mouth,
bellowed, "I am Satan, the devil. I
want to speak to Vera McNichol. I hate
you, you serve God. I'll get you yet." +,
Vera, continuing to relive the story,'
remembered that she stood steadfast
and in the name of God, commanded
Satan to come out. The girl backed
away, then suddenly opened her eyes
and yelled, "He's gone." Vera had cast
out the devil in front of 14 witnesses.
The girl was dismissed from the
hospital shortly afterwards.
"But I didn't do it," Vera em-
phasized, "God did it. I can't take the
credit. If I have the word of God with
me, I don't have to be afraid."
Vera has been called a devil wor 1
herself in the past, and some -
doubtedly'think she is a quack, a fraud.
. She's probably not a quack, or the
psychiatrists who have tested her and
confirmed her psychic powers must be
unreliable too.
Being an oddity and having psychic
powers is no big deal for Vera, she
takes it all in her stride.
"Everyone has psychic powers but
most people are afraid to use them.
Everyone is born with six senses and
it's just always followed me," she
simply said.
If Vera is a fraud, she's not a very
successful one, for her self-
employment involves hard work and
little pay. In turn for a fortune reading
with the cards or sticks, Vera will
accept any monetary amount. People
also bring her food and preserves as
Those old science fiction movies
are really hilarious. The late night
and Saturday afternoon flicks are
filled with far-fetched plots about
gargantuan animals and insects
invading the world of man.
Uncontrollable diseases from
unknown sources, with no known
cures baffle scientists to the fiendish
delight of bizarre villains.
Unearthly substances fill the screen
as they smother the world in their
destructive path.
Highly imaginative? Pure fiction?
Completely unrealistic? Not quite.
Some of these sci-fi tales have
become a reality.
It's doubtful that Dallas residents
will toss off stories of giant green
blobs in the future. They have seen
the real thing.
As unbelievable as it sounds, in the
spring of 1973 a mysterious oozing
substance appeared out of nowhere
in the Dallas, Texas area.
Before the eyes of astonished
residents and scientists the in-
destructable Blob, uncontrollably
multiplied and devoured bushes,
lawns and anything else that fell
prey to its pulsating path.
No, this is not as an April F'ool's
story. This is fact. Chemicals were
sprayed on the Jello -like substance.
Attempts were made to cut it into
pieces and bury it, yet the Blob
continued to survive and grow.
Weeks later the Blob suddenly
disappeared. It had turned to dust as
quickly as it arrived and finally
disintegrated.
The substance did not come from
outer _space or ,from some unex-
plainable underground source.
Unfortunately, the Blob was man's
own creation.
Scientists fount: that the Blob was
actually an over -sized growth of
fungi, created by one of man's most
dangerous enemies, pollution. The
pollution, combined with the–proper
weather conditions formed the
grotesque monster, only previously
seen on the screen.
Perhaps science fiction is not as
absurd as it has been made by
normal human viewers. The birth of
the Blob shows what nightmares we
may face in the future if we don't
start showing some concern for our
elements and ourselves.
Who knows when the Son of Blob
will make his debut?
• • • when the look is Sensational,
the source is Raintree
FURNITURE, LIGHTING, WALLCOVERING, ART & ACCENTS
CLINTON NEWS RECORD THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 1979—PAGE 3
rdinarypsyclz
payment. Some money is, gained from
the some 23 books she has written, but
again this has not come without work.
As for the accusations of her being a
devil lady, they probably come from
ignorant strangers. Would a so-called
devil woman have the morals not to
read fortunep with the cards on
Sunday? Vera refuses to tell fortunes
on the Sabbath.
Despite the unfair accusations;
despite the often depressing and hard
work; despite the lack of money and
privacy (Vera has never had time for a
Christmas dinner), she does not
complain. She only keeps grinning and
claiming, "I work on giggle power."
Likewise, her husband John is
tolerant of his wife's unusual career.
Vera with her continuous laugh
explained her successful marriage and
her whole attitude and feeling for life.
"I told John when he married me that
he married the whole -wide -world."
Despite he sire for little publicity, it's almost impossible to ignore Vera
McNichol. IL McNichol's psychic powers have made her a famous woman
throughout Ontario and the United States. (News -Record photo)
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