"Orangeville's a Safe Place...Don't Move Now" by (uncredited)

This article originally appeared in the Orangeville (Canada) Banner, May 16 1980

The world will be hit by earthquakes, floods and nuclear war over the next decade, but Orangeville residents will escape relatively unscathed.

So says Douglas `Big Daddy Doug’ Cottrell a clairvoyant who has set up his headquarters in town.

“Orangeville is just a safe place to be at the moment,” Mr Cottrell says. In a Banner interview from his office at 1 First Avenue the deep trance clairvoyant came up with some dramatic predictions about the state of the world over the next ten years.

In October 1982, he says, a strange astronomical occurence will cause the earth to slowly tip on its axis. The occurence will result from a geometric lining up of the planets at right angles to the earth.

This structural imbalance is already occurring to a degree, Mr Cottrell says. This is the cause of the strange weather the world has been experiencing over the last couple years.

By 1982 the gravitational forces will cause shifts in the earth’s crust leading to earthquakes and floods.

Cottrell says the position of the Orangeville area in relation to the rest of the world makes it least likely to be affected by this tectonic shift.

He predicts that it will be 1998 before the tilting subsides. By that time the planet will have gone through a 90 degree shift on its present axis.

Nuclear Confrontation
Other goodies in store over the next decade include “a short nuclear war” that will last from 1984 to 1987. Carter, Mr Cottrell predicts, will likely die of a heart attack to be replaced by a tough military dictator.

“This type of leader won’t fool around,” the clairvoyant says, “he will be given a very liberal avenue of power and he will feel no hesitation about using it.”

The control of the Middle Eastern oil fields will spark the battle which will leave most of Europe devastated. Countries like Canada, Australia, and India will escape the confrontation with a minimum of damage, he says.

Personal Struggle
So who is Doug Cottrell and why is he making these wild predictions?

The story began several years ago and it involved his daughter Cheri-Anne. The girl had been diagnosed as severely retarded and locked away in a mental institution.

Their daughter, the Cottrells were told, was a `vegetable’ with little hope of improvement.

Unwilling to accept that assessment, Mr Cottrell sought the aid of internationally-known clairvoyant Ross Peterson. The psychic gave him a health `reading’ which laid the blame for Cheri-Anne’s medical difficulties on a combination of digestive tract and bone problems.

Under Peterson’s guidance, the couple removed their daughter from the mental institution. At the time, Cheri-Ann [sic] weighed 22 pounds and had been receiving adult dosages of suppressant drugs.

The girl was taken off drugs and given chiropractic treatments three times weekly. The improvement, Mr Cottrell says, was almost immediate.

Today Cheri-Anne is able to speak and is beginning to walk. Her weight has increased to about 50 to 60 pounds and she is attending school regularly.

Starts Out On His Own
It was during his session with Peterson that the psychic informed Cottrell he was a `sensitive’ who could develop clairvoyant powers.

Deep Trance Meditation
Mr Cottrell then began to study the works of the famous trance clairvoyant Edgar Cayce and was soon deeply involved in paranormal activity.

He soon gave up his job with a Toronto printing firm and went into business for himself as a trance clairvoyant.

Since developing his alleged skills, he has travelled around the world giving consultations and has appeared on numerous radio and television talk shows.

According to Mr Cottrell, trance clairvoyance involves lying down and meditating to the point where the body enters a state of deep relaxation.

The clairvoyant claims he is able in his sub-conscious mind, while in a trance, to communicate with other people’s sub-conscious.

He works with a maximum of three clients who ask him a variety of questions dealing with subjects like health, investment, personal goals, etc.

“It’s like plugging into a giant computer,” says one of Mr Cottrell’s associates, Owen Rose. “The only difference being that no programs need to be put into it…you can ask any question that comes to mind, there are no limitations on the answers you can receive.”

New-found Disciples
There are several people in business and medical fields who are quite willing to attest to Mr Cottrell’s talents.

One is Ray Bruce, a London-based Doctor of Chiropracty. He says he met Mr Cottrell by way of a patient about a year and a half ago.

The patient had been referred to him by the trance clairvoyant. Mr Cottrell regularly refers people to physicians after he has `diagnosed’ their affliction while in a trance state.

“At first I examined the man thoroughly and then I listed to the diagnosis Mr Cottrell had made on tape,” Doctor Bruce recalls.

“The diagnosis turned out to be dead on,” the Doctor says. “The man had spinal and lower back problems that caused headaches and affected his eyesight.”

Within three to four weeks, Doctor Bruce said, the man’s condition had improved considerably and his eyesight had been restored.

“I later called Mr Cottrell to thank him,” Doctor Bruce says, “he told me he was glad to hear abut it but he said he didn’t remember a thing because he had been asleep at the time.”

The chiropractor says he has handled between 12 to 20 patients referred by Mr Cottrell since then and the accuracy of the clairvoyant’s diagnosis is “without peer.”

Another disciple is Joe Aeichenhofer, head of Hofer Industries in Mississauga.

“Mr Cottrell ‘s advice is very sound,” the company president says. “I’ve sought his advice a number of occasions and in a majority of the cases he has been accurate.

Mr Aeichenhofer told the Banner he uses the clairvoyant’s assistance for both personal and business inquiries.

Omega Formed
It was a little over a year ago that Mr Cottrell decided to form the Omega Research and Development Group. The stated purpose of the group is to provide a learning and resource centre where business and personal counselling, spirtual [sic] healing, chiropractic, recreational, problem solving and nutritional services can be carried out.

Mr Cottrell says Orangeville was picked partly because on [sic] his predictions and also because he felt Orangeville was a religion-oriented community.

“I live my religion,” he states, “and the attitude of the community seems to be very religious.”

He adds that the fact that it is a rural region also had its effect on the decision. Sometime in the future Omega plans to move from its First Avenue office to a place in the country.

There are currently nine instructors and five associate instructors in the Omega group. They hold workshops throughout the week in subjects such as meditation, rebirth of the soul, attitudes and emotions, and E.S.P.

Omega instruction and advice does not come cheap.

A `past-life regression’ where the subject learns about previous incarnations, costs $65. An afternoon workshop session costs $25 per person or $35 a couple.

Mr Cottrell ‘s one-hour deep trance consultations cost $170.

The clairvoyant estimates Omega has dealt with three to four hundred people since its formation. “We’re getting all the business we can handle from Toronto right now,” he says.

Mr Cottrell says he was once checked out by the Ontario Provincial Police because of a trance consultation. The investigation, he says, was due to a doctor who didn’t have any knowledge about what he was doing or what his philosophy was all about. There were no charges laid.

The Banner checked with the Toronto Better Business Bureau and they say there are no complaints on file against either Doug Cottrell or Omega.

Whether Mr Cottrell is a genuine article or not can still be a matter of speculation. That final determination, however, is for his clients to decide.