Lee Strobel shares story of US military using psychic to find lost plane, claims it was "way for Satan to give her credibility": Details uncovered

American author Lee Strobel shared a story about the U.S. military’s unusual use of a psychic during his September 1, 2025, appearance on The Tucker Carlson Show. He began by recounting a little-known incident from President Jimmy Carter’s time in office.

Strobel explained that the CIA once turned to a psychic after struggling to locate a missing aircraft in Africa.

"There is a case in contemporary times when President Carter was president, and a two-engine aircraft went down and crashed in Africa, and the United States government was trying to find it… They could not find the wreckage of this airplane… Stansfield Turner, who was the head of the CIA, consulted a medium, a psychic in California," Strobel explained.

The author further described how the psychic medium went into a “trance” and provided the CIA with the “longitude and latitude” of the place where they would find the plane.

“They went, they reoriented the satellites, and boom, there was a wreckage of the plane just as she had said,” Strobel added.

For context, President Carter later confirmed to U.S. media that the CIA had indeed consulted a psychic without his approval. While the downed plane was Russian and not American, the case became one of several linked to the CIA’s “remote viewing” program.

Launched in 1972, the program explored claims that certain people could psychically “see” distant places, events, or information. It continued for more than two decades, blending intelligence research with paranormal investigation.

Reflecting on the incident, Lee Strobel offered a spiritual warning. He noted that the Bible warned against “connecting with psychics,” calling such practices “demonic.”

"She seems to have these abilities to know the future, to know things that we don’t know. And now she has credibility. I think that was a way for Satan to give her credibility so that we’d be fooled into thinking into the future to take advantage of her psychology," he explained.

Tucker Carlson agreed with Strobel’s caution, adding that it was best to avoid occult practices such as “contacting dead relatives through a medium,” “Ouija boards,” and similar activities, since these things could have “bad” and “scary” consequences.

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What else did Lee Strobel say about psychics on The Tucker Carlson Show?

A still of Lee Strobel (Image via Youtube/@TheTuckerCarlsonShow)

During his appearance on The Tucker Carlson Show, Lee Strobel spoke at length about his views on psychics, drawing on themes from his book Seeing the Supernatural.

Strobel first pointed out that psychics often relied on tricks to make people believe in their abilities. According to him, these methods were designed to create the illusions of supernatural insight, when in reality they were calculated techniques of persuasion. He also emphasized his strong opposition to consulting psychics, grounding his views in biblical teachings.

"I’m anti-psychic because the Bible says do not consult mediums. Do not consult psychics. I mean, it’s very clear multiple places in scripture. Do not do it," he said.

In response, Tucker Carlson added that there existed an ancient Hebrew law that stated that seeking out a psychic or medium was considered a severe offense, even carrying the death penalty at the time.

Expanding further, Lee Strobel warned of the dangers he believed were tied to such practices. He said it was “not something we wanted to mess with” because, in his view, consulting psychics could “open the door to the demonic.”

"You're trying to find out something apart from what God might reveal through a psychic, through a medium who supposedly has a cultic…wherewithal and is able to take you down that pathway. It's dangerous," he added.

Strobel also highlighted how psychics only exploited human psychology through what he described as manipulative reading techniques. In his book, he discussed tricks that they use, such as “cold readings,” “warm readings,” and “hot readings.” According to him, these methods were employed by people who wanted to “fool” others into thinking they know more about someone than they actually do.

"They’re just very clever people who are able to read certain things about you," he added.

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Lee Strobel’s latest book, Seeing the Supernatural, was released on March 18, 2025.