Yoko Ono is many different things to just as many people: an artist, a Beatles saboteur, a poser, a revolutionary, a mystic, a psychic, a sham. Depending on where you placed her in some of the most significant musical and cultural movements of the late 1960s, she could be some unique blend of these roles. As a woman and as an artist, Ono’s purest, most authentic form has been hard to pin down ever since she first burst on the scene.
But for Elliot Mintz, long-time friend and public relations representative of Ono and her husband, John Lennon, all he needed was one phone call to convince him that this controversial and ethereal artist from Tokyo City, Japan, had some sort of connection to the otherworldly.
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Did This Phone Call Prove Yoko Ono Has Psychic Abilities?
John Lennon and Yoko Ono didn’t seem to just tolerate people’s radical perceptions of them. They thrived in it, leaning into their heady nature via bed-in protests, avant-garde rock ‘n’ roll, and eccentric visual art. In the age of psychedelia and activism, Lennon and Ono were two of the vanguards. As friend and public relations representative Elliot Mintz recalled in his memoir, We All Shine On: John, Yoko, and Me, Ono was “even more airy and ethereal in private than she was in the media.” Mintz said she often spoke in haiku-esque vagueness that left him with more questions than answers.
But sometimes, Mintz said, Ono would convince him she had a connection to a higher plane. “‘You had a dream two nights ago, didn’t you?’ she asked me out of the blue during one particularly long phone call,” Mintz wrote. “‘It was about your mother, wasn’t it?’” Ono’s question stunned Mintz. “I had indeed had a dream about my mother, one that I was sure I hadn’t told a soul about. Or at least at the time, I was pretty sure I hadn’t. ‘You were arguing with her about your childhood stutter, yes?’”
Mintz described his cheeks growing hot as he gripped the telephone receiver “as if I were strangling it. How could she possibly know? My mother and I were arguing about my stutter in my dream, and when I woke up, it left me feeling insecure and inadequate.’” Mintz said Ono comforted him, saying, “‘But you speak beautifully now, Elliot. People pay you to speak on the radio. You won the struggle with your stutter because you imagined you could change. Your stutter is gone because you wanted it gone.”
Elliot Mintz Recalled Another Uncanny Conversation With His Friend
Memory is a fickle thing, so there’s no real way to know whether Elliot Mintz had simply forgotten about telling someone about his frustrating dream with his mother. However, that unsettling phone call wasn’t the only time Mintz had to confront the idea that Yoko Ono had some sort of otherworldly connection or psychic abilities. Another opportunity arose after John Lennon’s assassination in December 1980, after which Mintz tried to convince Ono to do a radio interview to dispel unsavory rumors circulating about Lennon.
Ono said she had to consult with her advisers, who, Mintz said, consisted of “tarot readers and numerologists.” The PR agent admitted to pushing back against Ono’s request, suggesting that if those advisers were so helpful, then why didn’t they warn Ono about her husband’s upcoming murder? “Elliot, how do you know I wasn’t warned? Did you ever ask me if there were warnings?” Ono asked Mintz. So, Mintz asked her. “Yes,” she answered. “I was told he was in danger in New York and that he should be removed immediately. That’s why I sent him to Bermuda over the summer. But I couldn’t keep him away forever. He had to come back at some point.”
Are these interactions proof of Ono’s clairvoyant powers? Not necessarily. But are they strange nonetheless? Most definitely.
Photo by Koh Hasebe/Shinko Music/Getty Images