"Foretold" is the newest podcast from the L.A. Times, and we're sharing a preview of the first episode with you here today. In the fall of 2019, reporter Faith E. Pinho received a tip from a woman named Paulina Stevens. Paulina claimed she had grown up in an insular Romani community in California, where she was raised to be a wife, mother and fortuneteller — until she decided to break away. That first call unraveled a story spanning multiple continents, hundreds of years, and complex metaphysical realities. Follow "Foretold" to hear new episodes every Tuesday.
Where I live in southern California, psychic shops are practically as plentiful as coffee shops.
They're a part of the landscape.
I know people who have regular appointments with their psychic.
It's the kind of thing you can drop in casual conversation, and no one bats an eye.
And I can understand why people want security.
They want to know what the future will hold.
And whether through tarot cards or a crystal ball, the fortune teller will hint I at how your story will play out.
Let me say up front that I don't know how this tale will play out or how it will end, because in this story, the fortune teller came.
To me at the very beginning of this podcast.
I never thought in a million years it would turn into what it is now.
My name is Faith Pinu, and I'm a reporter at the Los Angeles Times.
But back in October 2019, I was working at a small community newspaper in Orange county called the Daily Pilot.
And that's where I first got a call from Paulina Stevens.
Paulina told me that from the time she was a child, she was told she would be a fortune teller, that she came from a whole family of fortune tellers.
And then she mentioned something that made my ears perk up.
It was a warning about a psychic shop in Orange county.
She told me that this was the psychic shop that she had escaped.
I suggested we meet up in person at a local cafe.
I'm a little nervous.
I'm sorry for, like.