Summers: 'Doc' Anderson -- Rossville's psychic

R.C. Doc Anderson
R.C. Doc Anderson

Psychic, seer, ESP practitioner, clairvoyant astrologer, fake and quack are all terms used to describe the fascinating R.C. "Doc" Anderson, a local astrologer, who died in March 1980 in the floodwaters of the raging Chattanooga Creek. His predictions over the years were claimed to be 95 percent accurate. His clientele ranged from ordinary folks to movie stars and successful businessmen.

Robert Charles Anderson was born in 1908 in the small coal mining community of Enterprise, Iowa. A Sioux Indian tribal medicine man described young Robert as having the ability to "talk with the Great Spirit and to tell things that will come to pass." His early life included stints as an amateur prize fighter, bullfighter, carnival worker and circus strongman.

Anderson came to the Chattanooga area in the early 1940s, opening an office at 2110 McCallie Ave. and living in Rossville. Once his alleged ability to see into the future became known, Anderson was inundated by wives and parents of servicemen inquiring whether their soldiers would survive World War II.

He became an adviser to movie stars; many regularly visited him at his Rossville office. Doris Day, Vincent Price, Denver Pyle, George Raft, Burl Ives, Clint Walker, Charlton Heston and Eddie Albert all valued Doc's predictions about their lives.

Albert first visited Doc when his acting career was at a low point. Anderson advised him that he would have a resurgence. Shortly afterward, the actor became the male lead in the long-running television show "Green Acres," with Eva Gabor as his co-star.

Anderson was not without his critics. He ran into legal problems in 1944 when he tried to renew his fortune-telling license. Practicing in his Chattanooga office for just six months while living in Lakeview in Georgia, he had not been a resident of Chattanooga for the required one year. However, his license was eventually renewed on grounds that the ordinance was designed to keep gypsies and other transients from fortune-telling in Chattanooga - but not to put regular operators out of business.

Years later in 1973, the Rossville Lions Club awarded him its first Citizenship Award for charitable work in providing food boxes and medical assistance for the needy.

Anderson first obtained international prominence when he foretold several future events at a 1944 Christmas Day interview with the Walker County Messenger.

Doc predicted that Franklin D. Roosevelt would not serve out his fourth term of office as president. FDR did pass away in mid-May 1945. He correctly forecast that World War II with Germany would end in May 1945, and that our ally, Russia, would become one of our worst enemies.

The psychic accurately predicted that the U.S. would drop a devastating weapon on Japan in August 1945 to end the conflict and that Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower would become president.

However, he was incorrect in predicting that Alabama Gov. George Wallace would become president in 1968. He also erred in stating that the U.S. and Soviet Union would team up to defeat China.

In later years, he helped John Shaw of Texas locate 16 oil wells in a row after Shaw drilled 70 dry holes and was near bankruptcy. A deeply religious man, Anderson would read the Psalms of David and the Sermon on the Mount, then walk across the field with hands extended. When he neared oil, his hands would start turning red.

One unfinished goal was his wish to return to bullfighting in Mexico to hear the crowd shout to his last "ole" and to prove that a man of 72 could still last 25 minutes in the ring with a charging bull. He noted that he had been doing sit-ups and skipping rope. He added that he had earlier owned the Bar-A Ranch in Rossville, which raised fighting bulls sold throughout the world.

Critics question Anderson's failure to foresee his pending death as evidence of an inability to truly predict the future.

The March 23, 1980, drowning off Hooker Road in South Chattanooga floodwaters foreclosed the world famous psychic's "Last Big Dream."

He was survived by four daughters, Carole Sizer, Betsye Holmes, June Carter and Angela Anderson. None professed any knack for looking into the future, although a couple of them seemed a little more "intuitive" than the average person.

Jerry Summers is an attorney with Summers, Rufolo and Rodgers. Frank "Mickey" Robbins, an investment adviser, Patten and Patten, contributed to this article. For more visit Chattahistoricalassoc.org.

Upcoming Events