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Corey Miller
Todd Segal prepares to perform a property reading with Molly at an old farmhouse near York River State Park.
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Corey Miller
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Corey Miller
Brianna met with Todd to get clarity on her future in the arts, a business prospect and a move she was contemplating.
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Corey Miller
Brianna meets with Todd at Amber Ox for a life reading. During a life reading, Todd expounds on a person’s future.
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Corey Miller
Todd and Molly walk the land near an old farmhouse. He occasionally walks land with property owners to talk about spirit activity and the paranormal associated with the land.
Back in his 20s, Todd Segal didn’t place much trust in psychics. Most were only out for money, he thought. But Segal kept experiencing visions. He couldn’t stop the detailed images, voices, smells and physical sensations he says offer him glimpses of future life events, communications from the spirit world, or clues about missing people, pets and objects.
“I was very doubtful of myself for a good 15 years,” Segal relates. “I figured, ‘Oh, that was just a coincidence. I was just lucky.’ Finally, after I’d found hundreds of dogs and cats and people, I had to embrace it. Now, there’s an insatiable drive in me to help people.”
At 54, and for the past 20 years, Segal works as a psychic detective and medium. He receives calls from around the country and world from clients who want insights into relationships, health issues, career paths, or police investigations.
Segal isn’t a mind reader or an all-knowing seer; otherwise, he notes, he would play the lottery daily. Instead, he aims to tap into what he calls a “black hole” of time and space, where past, present and future combine. He also works to remotely view landscapes and buildings.
The intuition that first surfaced in childhood doesn’t work with everyone, including himself (more on that later). Segal also is well aware that most people don’t believe in psychics or, like many police departments, consider him a last resort.
“I just have to do my work and not listen to the criticism,” he says. “I’m not out to impress anybody. The skeptics and critics used to hurt me, but not anymore, because I have solved so many cases. My focus is on bringing comfort or closure to the people who come to me.”
Take the mother desperate to find her son, a pizza delivery driver who struggled with drug use. Segal says he pictured an unusually large airplane flying above swampland. Police later discovered the man’s body in a swampy area near an Air Force base with cargo planes. “His mom was devastated but also so thankful to have an answer,” he recalls.
Or the woman whose beloved cat had gone missing. Segal sensed the animal was hiding beneath a nearby house—not a particularly useful clue. Then he got a sudden whiff of fresh paint. “The cat was under a house where a contractor was working,” he says.
Segal says he has felt pain in body parts where clients have or may develop medical problems, felt itchy around people prone to rashes, and visualized colors within people’s bodies, such as black areas that could indicate lung disease.
He has correctly predicted the outcomes of jobs and relationships and passed along hints to locate lost luggage and precious items such as wedding rings. He helped one client remember a password when he told her it was written on a piece of paper inside a red binder.
“I see details,” he explains. “I don’t make a bunch of mind-blowing revelations—that’s not how it works with me. I’m also not a doctor. I can’t find everyone or everything. I don’t want anyone to rely on me too much.”
Angry, sarcastic, ridiculing or very nervous people tend to be the hardest to read. Segal also can’t always contact a requested deceased person. Sometimes, he said, another spirit is closer—specially in a place full of haunted houses, like Historic Williamsburg.
“Some people are vocal and robust on the other side, and some are quiet,” he notes. “I truly believe we are in death who we were in life.”
Looking back at his childhood, Segal realizes he was always different. He grew up in Los Angeles, California, a shy, sensitive, long-haired boy who loved to surf, skateboard, draw and paint. He dreamed of becoming an artist or musician.
Oh, and he also reported seeing ghosts. And he could describe cities he’d never been to, down to the tiniest details.
“My mom was like, ‘How could you possibly know these things?’” he says. “She still stares at me sometimes like, ‘What the hell is wrong with you? Did something happen to you at birth?’ I’ve always been sensitive to the energy of people and places.”
After a stint at Otis College of Art and Design in California, Segal moved to Boston, and then to the mountains of western Massachusetts. There, he studied natural health and healing, played guitar, and bought a farm where he cared for wool sheep and draft horses. He earned extra income as a carpenter, woodworker and furniture maker.
Eventually, Segal opened a successful bed and breakfast on his property. During chats with customers, he said, he began receiving unsolicited visions about their futures, such as a house purchase or the sex of an unborn grandchild. He also felt connected with the spirits of people who had lived in the 1800s-era houses where he did repairs.
The experiences sparked intense anxiety, leading Segal to consult with a psychic to understand how to manage his emotions. As he grew more accepting, he began putting business cards out around town and offering readings. Word spread quickly.
In 2002, Segal lost his grandmother, a spunky, outspoken woman who often gave him advice. Flying to California for her funeral, he sensed her calming him on the plane.
Ever since, he has felt that he can venture inside her mind for insights.
Four years ago, Segal moved to Williamsburg on the advice of friends who loved its history, cultural opportunities and mild climate. Divorced, he lives on a small farm near York River State Park.
While Segal occasionally tries to help family members, he consults a psychic friend about his own life. “I’m a total idiot when it comes to myself,” he says. “It’s hard to see things for ourselves because we already have a biased opinion. I’m not able to go totally blank.”
Segal does readings by phone, video chat, email, in people’s homes and at other requested locations. He has started a blog and podcast, largely hoping to gain credibility so more law enforcement agencies consider working with him.
While the pressure of his job can be intense, the rewards are more powerful. “When someone calls me about a missing person, especially, I get a pit in my stomach,” he says. “I want to help so badly, but there’s no guarantee I can. I just know that I have to try.”
Alison Johnson has never visited a psychic, but she says Todd Segal was dead-on about everything from her dental issues (pain in an upper right tooth) to the personality of her two teenage sons (one intense and outgoing, one guarded). She also firmly agrees with his advice that neither one should have children anytime soon.
