When psychic Beth Lee-Crowther reads an animal’s mind, it’s normally because the owner has a burning question: Why does their dog refuse to turn right? Do any of my chickens have post-traumatic stress disorder? Can my cat object to being cloned? In my home the question is asked by my teenage sons, “Which of us likes our dog the most?”
Welcome to Bet’s world. Her TV show starts this week and although the main stars are animals, viewers will get to know a lot more about the people who own them. (My lesson is that there are no limits to child-to-child rivalry!)
Beth was only eleven when she realized a pony told her about his bad back. Forty years later, she is a full-time favorite medium with regular appearances on radio and TV, and a bestseller.
‘Imagine you are reading a novel and the author paints a picture in your mind. I get this image,” she says. ‘Sometimes it’s moving, like a video, and there are words, sentences, data, a voice in my head. The animal put it in.”
Welcome to Bet’s world. Her TV show starts this week and although the main stars are animals, viewers will get to know a lot more about the people who own them. (My lesson is that there are no limits to the rivalry between children!). Pictured: clairvoyant Beth Lee-Crowther
Beth was only eleven when she realized a pony told her about his bad back. Forty years later, she is a full-time favorite medium with regular appearances on radio and TV, and a bestseller
In the photo: Beth with her dog Misty (Moo)
Dogs are the most communicative, cats less so. Beth has worked with countless creatures: llamas, camels, parrots, snakes, geckos. “I thought, ‘What’s a camel going to say?’ ‘ she says. ‘But I was overwhelmed by their emotion. It was magical.
‘I think animals talk to us humans all the time, but we don’t process it. Animals see talking to me as an opportunity to get something off their chest.
‘Imagine walking around all day and no one listens to you, that would be very frustrating. It often gives a feeling of relief, they can say what they want to say, and I pass that on to their owner.’
She has never felt burdened by her gift and despite all the naysayers, she has never made any money from it. She doesn’t charge for her services, although given the rising demand, she admits she may have to start.
‘I do it for the animals. My mission is to share, to prove that what I do is real and possible,” she says.
Britain is a nation of animal lovers with an estimated dog population of 12 million and around ten million cats, so perhaps it was entirely expected that a pet psychic would get her own TV show. Even for those of us without a second sight.
Beth starts with a ‘chicken talk’ in her home town of Malvern, Worcestershire. Petal, a white leghorn, should lay 280 eggs a year, but her nest box is empty. Beth says the bird is telling her that she has lost her best chicken friend to a fox attack and is too eager to start laying again. Her owner assures the chicken through Beth that their electric fence has been upgraded. We can only hope that Petal thrives, even if viewers don’t notice it right away.
However, they do see the outcome of Beth’s visit to Yogi, a huge ball of fluff of a dog who doesn’t like to leave the house and then, when he does, only turns left.
Yogi has gained the upper hand over dog trainers and psychologists, and in an attempt at a cure, CBD oil derived from cannabis has been experimented with. Now it’s up to Beth. She says Yogi trusts that loud noises scared him. Its owner remembers how her last home was surrounded by shooting ranges.
When Beth visits again weeks later, Yogi leaves his house without being towed… and turns right.
Beth is a great communicator, warm and empathetic. Having owned animals since she says a black-and-white rabbit approached her in a pet store and begged, “Take me home,” she understands the deep bond between owners and pets.
Britain is a nation of animal lovers with an estimated dog population of 12 million and around ten million cats, so perhaps it was entirely expected that a pet psychic would get her own TV show. Even for those of us without second sight
With her glasses on her head, smart jackets and modest make-up, she is a far cry from the stereotypical carnival psychic with a headscarf, hoops and bejeweled fingers.
This is a woman who takes her job so seriously that she has taken a counseling course to help the owners of the animals too.
Beth meets a couple from Hertfordshire who treat their rag doll cat Arya, 11, like a child. They want Beth to ask Arya’s permission to clone her so that she can live on after death. Through Beth, Arya suggests to her owners that a cloned cat might look the same, but would have a different soul. It may not have been the answer the couple was hoping for, but it’s certainly the wisest one.
Later, in Swansea, South Wales, Beth meets – and is bitten by – a ferret named Misty. The animal eats warm mashed chicken thighs and is rocked like a baby and sung lullabies. It has its own bedroom, decorated in lilac, and a pillow with his face on it. Misty’s owner is concerned that her pet is lonely and wants a ferret-like companion.
Beth relays the message that Misty wants more friends. The same advice could be addressed to the overly devoted ferret owner.
Beth is not bothered by people who don’t believe in what she does. “They say it’s nonsense and seconds later they pull out their phone with a picture of their dog on it and say, ‘Can you tell me if you’re OK?’
‘It takes a bit of courage to say you can talk to animals, but I am passionate and that gives me courage.
“I think everyone can talk to animals on some level, but we’ve just forgotten how.”
I ask her what she would be if she were an animal. She reminds me a bit of an Afghan hound with her long, blonde hair.
‘No!’ she protests. ‘I would be a scruffy little Jack Russell – headstrong, mischievous and determined to challenge the accepted order.’
How did she do with Sarah’s less obedient thief?
In the photo: Khyber, Sarah Oliver’s dog
Beth: He’s exceptionally sensitive to sound.
How true! When I open the cutlery drawer, Khyber immediately sneaks to his basket under the desk in my office. He can’t even bear the sound of a noisy family dinner and only comes back when it’s over, hoping for a scraped plate.
Beth: He wants to dance.
Embarrassing but true. Khyber continuously jumps on his hind legs and asks for a turn.
Beth: He thinks he’s behaving pretty well.
No, he’s a hunting dog. Show him a squirrel and he’s gone. He practices selective deafness when it comes to any command he doesn’t want to obey.
Beth: His soulmate is called Joan or Joanne.
No, it’s me. Or it would be better, since I’m the one feeding and walking him.
lThe Pet Psychic: What is your dog thinking? is on Channel 5 on Tuesdays at 7pm.