Haughn believed the psychic was sincere and supportive, even though she charged her $25 per candle.

Haughn said she gave the psychic $75 for the candles, because the psychic was empathetic and would do things like hold Haughn's hand and tell her, "God had brought you to me."

After her first session, Haughn felt as if she could trust Ann Marie, and she agreed to come back. During that next reading, Haughn said the psychic told her something dramatic: There was a curse on Haughn and her family. Haughn said Ann Marie convinced her that by performing a number of rituals, the curse could be removed, a curse that was put on Haughn's family many years ago.

"All of us are potentially gullible," Shermer said. "Smart people on some level are even more gullible if you can get them past their initial level of skepticism. Because most of what we believe, we believe for emotional, psychological reasons, and then we rationalize the belief after the fact, after we already hold it. Smart, educated people are better at rationalizing these beliefs."

Shermer said Haughn went from rational to gullible the moment she bought the three candles for $75. "She made a commitment that was going to be next to impossible to back out of."

Haughn felt as if Ann Marie had some sort of control over her. She talked to Ann Marie up to five times a day. "I guess I really wanted to believe her."

So much so, according to Haughn, that over the next few months she gave the psychic more and more money to remove the reputed curse.

Haughn said the psychic asked for half of her life savings, and Haughn's fear of the alleged curse compelled her to give the money over to Ann Marie.

According to Shermer, this could happen to anyone after you establish familiarity. "Once you start going down that road and you feel like you need to do this, it's very difficult to get out. Nobody walks into a psychic and in the first five minutes hands over a deed to a house or a hundred thousand dollars."

Psychic Hoaxes - ABC News