Zerah Fleming, from Plymouth, Devon, said she was forced to make excuses to her friends about altering where they would hang out, explaining it away as having just changed her mind
A psychic medium claims persistent spirits hounded her on nights out and demanded she go to different bars - to deliver messages from beyond the grave to unsuspecting punters.
Zerah Fleming, 31, says relentless spooks used to dictate she down her drink and leave pubs so she could talk to the loved ones of departed souls. She persisted with it, even though at times it "scares" the punters.
It means Zerah, from Plymouth, Devon, often had to make excuses to pals about altering where they would hang out, explaining it away as having just changed her mind. The mother of two has now learned to "tune out" visions of people's loved ones in angel form when she's not working.
But her services are in high demand, as he's fully booked up for readings for the next four weeks. Zerah, a business development manager in her day job, said: "I would never tell my friends why I wanted to go to a particular bar. I would say 'Look guys I don't want to go here, shall we go to this next place?' because I had this compulsion to go there.
"Once I got there, I realised why when I bumped into someone I had something to tell. It's been a mixed response when I've approached strangers. Sometimes they were taken aback and sometimes it did scare people but it's a very welcome response in the majority of cases."
The mum first struggled with the "compulsion" of being lured to other bars in the first six months of her side hustle in 2019. She first tapped into her powers two weeks after her dad Jonny Fleming died from stomach cancer and these intensified when her mum Sheenagh Matthews died in 2022.
Zerah continued: "I see angels in my peripheral vision - their features, smiles, what they're wearing, and what they smell like. One of the first things I actually got was the ability to feel pain for other people. If my children were getting sick I'd know because I'd feel it.
"When my little girl was teething my teeth started hurting. I was like 'Why the hell are my teeth hurting?' and it was because of that. I feel pain for the angels, I can see and feel how they died.
"That's the scariest part, especially when it comes to suicide. If I'm reading someone and their loved one's committed suicide I can physically feel how they've killed themselves. Once they show me how they've died, that tapers off."
Sheenagh, 62, was also a psychic medium. Since her death following a heart attack, Zerah says her own powers have become stronger as, growing up, she was sceptical of her mother.
"My mum used to come out with a lot of obscurities, I just always thought she was nuts. She suffered a heart attack and when she came out of a coma the first thing she said to me was 'How's your mediumship coming on?' It was when she said that that I realised she did have the gift and she wasn't just crazy," Zerah said.
"Since she died my gifts have become stronger. I've been more connected with spirits than I have been ever before since Mum passed away. I see and can pick up what they're trying to tell me more clearly. I don't need to concentrate so much, it just flows.
"I spent time in care, my medium said that now that they've passed they're parenting me like they should have when they were here. I took loads of comfort in that and that they were keeping me safe."
Despite seeing and chatting to dead people daily, Zerah says she doesn't find it scary, but sometimes "overwhelming". Zerah said: "I think people have that misconception that it would be scary, but it can be overwhelming, especially when I don't know how to turn it off.
It could be frustrating, especially if I was out with friends, someone could walk past me and I would know I'd need to talk to them but I wouldn't say I was scared.
"The majority of people who know me have been super supportive, my business started through word of mouth from reading friends. I feel really privileged that I have this gift and it can be used to help people. Everyone is entitled to their belief but I wouldn't knock it until you've tried it once."