By Tim Binnall
An odd controversy is brewing in a Pennsylvania town after a metaphysical shop was visited by the police chief, who warned them that telling fortunes is illegal in the state. The peculiar case reportedly began earlier this month when a local media outlet showcased Beck Lawrence and their newly opened business, The Serpent’s Key Shoppe and Sanctuary, in the community of Hanover. The seemingly innocuous piece, timed for the Halloween season, detailed the origins of the shop and how customers could purchase an array of metaphysical items as well as receive tarot card readings, which raised the proverbial eyebrows of local authorities.
Shortly after the publication of the piece, Hanover police chief Chad Martin stopped into the shop to tell them that fortune telling is illegal in Pennsylvania. "He informed me basically he is not here to arrest me or press charges,” Lawrence told the New York Times, "however, if he ever gets a report from anyone, he will be back on my doorstep." As one might imagine, the uniformed chief's visit was not particularly well received by the shop owner, who took to social media to detail the experience which they understandably described as "intimidating." Word of the weird warning soon spread like wildfire online with many in the community criticizing Martin for what has been seen as an unnecessarily stern reaction to a rather antiquated and rarely enforced law.
In response to the controversy, Martin subsequently took to the police department's Facebook page and asserted that he had only intended "to educate" Lawrence about the state statute prohibiting fortune telling and that "there was never an investigation, nor was there any threat of arrest in this matter." For those who took issue with the law itself, the chief advised them "to contact their legislators and voice their opinion." While Martin's visit may have left Lawrence feeling as though the shop is under the microscope of the local police, the incident has had something of an unexpected silver lining by way of an outpouring of support from the community as well as a significant increase in business.