BRENTWOOD, Pa. — It’s arguably the spookiest day of the year and a time when many people gravitate towards tarot cards, spiritual readings and psychics.
But did you know there’s a law in Pennsylvania that makes it illegal for fortune tellers to make money by telling your future?
Step into a second-floor office in Brentwood and you’ll meet the Pittsburgh Medium.
“I could be doing two events every weekend day from mid-September to the end of November,” said Rev. Marjorie Rivera Kain, a spiritualist and minister of transformation.
It’s a busy time for Marjorie Rivera Kain and she believes people come to her for two reasons at this time of year.
“The holidays are coming and that makes you think about family and it makes you want to look ahead to the year ahead,” she said.
A quick scan of the room reveals grounding stones, candles and a legal disclaimer. She’s aware of the archaic law still on the books in Pennsylvania that says it’s illegal to predict the future or do tarot card readings for profit.
Criminal defence lawyer Matt McClenahen once wrote a blog post about this very archaic law.
“Anything that involves claiming you have supernatural powers or the ability to talk to dead people or you can predict the future or you can read someone’s astrological sign and know what their personality is,” said Matt McClenahen of the McClenahen Law Firm.
McClenahen says the police rarely enforce the law, but every now and then it goes to court.
“There have been cases where you’ve got a vulnerable senior citizen, maybe her husband has died, and you’ve got a scammer claiming she can talk to the dead husband and he’s sending messages from beyond the grave and the next thing you know she’s been conned out of hundreds of thousands of dollars,” McClenahen said.
Marjorie Rivera Kain posted the legal disclaimer, saying it was for entertainment, but said she didn’t even need it. She points to two certificates from her ministry studies. Ultimately, she’s happy with the law, saying it weeds out the bad apples.
“So in the psychic industry there are people who are charlatans and there are people who will take advantage of you and so I think it’s important that we have these kinds of laws because it helps the people who are doing what they say they are doing.”