Messenger - Vol. 3, No. 1, Page 19
Fall 1993
Psychic consultant

As a young homemaker raising two boys, Czetli would astound visitors, and
surprise herself, by answering questions before they were asked.

For me, it's like a screen moving inside my head, not unlike watching TV.
Sometimes, it's like looking at a slide that's been shot from a certain
angle that captures a movement or scene."
     That's how Nancy Myer Czetli, Delaware '67, describes her intimate
contact with mysterious moments from the past. Living with flashes and
glimpses of history is all part of a day's work for Czetli, one of the
country's better-known and highly respected psychic consultants.
     For nearly two decades during which she has been involved in
investigations of more than 200 homicides, 100 burglaries and dozens of
missing children searches, Czetli has worked with law enforcement personnel
throughout the country, helping find clues that, many times, are critical
in solving the crimes. Her seminars and classes are well-received. She has
addressed staff from numerous police departments, as well as members of the
Harvard Homicide Associates, the FBI Retraining Academy and the
International Identification Association.
     She discovered her abilities in Newark, Del., a few years after
graduating from the University with a bachelor's degree in Spanish and a
minor in English. As a young homemaker raising two boys, Czetli would
astound visitors, and surprise herself, by answering questions before they
were asked. She also would find herself giving detailed information on
complex topics, things about which she had no prior knowledge. On one
occasion, she tried to relieve a friend's anxiety about a skin grafting
operation by offering a detailed description of the step-by-step procedures
prior to the friend's upcoming doctor visit.
     After the woman left, Czetli questioned her own sanity for making up
such a story. When the worried friend returned, she thanked Czetli, telling
the psychic that her description was almost word-for-word the specialist's
explanation.
     Eventually, news of Czetli's abilities spread and her small living
room in the development of Scottfield was filled with people who would stop
by to ask questions and experiment with her newfound skills. The unique,
free entertainment sessions would continue until the wee hours of the
morning. Eventually, Czetli had to set limits.
     "It was if they were playing with a video game," she recalls. "They
could not stop asking questions."
     But, since she was able to provide accurate answers, the fascinated
neighborhood audience kept coming back for more.
     Today, sitting at her kitchen table in Munroeville, Pa., outside
Pittsburgh, looking at police photos of murder victims and file mug shots
of stern-faced criminals is how Czetli-the mother of two sons, 23 and 21,
and a 16-year-old daughter- spends a good portion of her workday.
     She also gives seminars on developing individual psychic ability
through proper meditation and conducts individual consultation with clients
through scheduled telephone sessions.
     Czetli describes herself as a "sponge" that picks up information and
translates it into language. Frequently, she sits in front of her
television and contradicts the local meteorologist's forecasts. She
compares her weather-forecasting ability to telepathic traits found in
animals.
     The clues Czetli has discovered range from the straightforward to the
bizarre. In one murder case, she was asked to describe the weapon. When she
visualized a potato, the psychic thought that she had lost her mind.
Nevertheless, she told the investigators her answer. The police immediately
brought out three heavy sculptures-a potato, a tomato and a banana. They
needed to know which one had been used in the crime.
     In a Maryland stabbing death, the police had 32 suspects. Czetli
suggested that the victim knew her murderer and had not been afraid of the
killer because she had baby-sat him years earlier.
     Able to visualize the confrontation-as if standing beside the
participants at the time of the incident-Czetli saw the violent scene and
said there was a second person in a getaway car parked in the driveway.
When police handed her nearly three dozen photos of their suspects, she
selected the man whose thought patterns, she recalls, most closely matched
the murderer's.
     The suspect was the victim's nephew, a young carpenter, whom she had
watched as a child. The driver of the getaway car eventually turned
informer for the state, and the nephew was arrested, convicted and
sentenced to life in prison. The police said it would have taken them
months to interview all their potential suspects and, quite possibly, the
killer might have escaped.
     Being at the scene of the crime is not necessary for Czetli, who
usually works from photographs at home. "I try to avoid crime scenes," she
says. "It's too powerful. The information overwhelms me."
     Working in a silent, secret world, entering violent places that no one
else, except the criminal and victim, has been, can be frightening and
depressing. But, she says, it has its rewards. The most satisfying, she
says, is "finding children alive."
     Czetli is the first to admit she's not correct 100 percent of the
time, but she said her high rate of accuracy often enables police and the
victims' families to continue looking for important clues. Eventually, the
clues may help resolve unanswered questions and, ultimately, close
difficult cases. "Up front, I tell them, 'I'm no cure-all, but I'll do my
best,'" she says.
     Czetli cannot point to any one source for her psychic ability. Her
father's family, the Myers from Bridgeville, Del., were known for having
extreme success in handling animals. Her father, the late Frederic Myer,
Delaware '39, had a career in the U.S. State Department as an agricultural
adviser. Czetli and her siblings-Susan Myer Scott, Delaware '63, and David
E. Myer, Delaware '72-grew up overseas, in such exotic locales as Brazil,
Afghanistan, Chile, Ecuador and Lebanon. Her mother, Harriet MacCutcheon
Myer, is also a U.D. alumna, with a 1969 MFA degree.
     Having been exposed to different cultures-and not being pressured to
conform to "accepted" teenage standards-may have allowed Czetli to nurture
her independent spirit and special abilities, she suggests.
     One wonders if her ability ever scares her.
     "It would terrify me if it ever disappeared," she admits. "If I woke
up and it was gone, I'd be afraid of making decisions without it."
     Can she read a person's mind?
     "Sometimes," she answers softly.
                                        -Ed Okonowicz, Delaware '69, '84M