The remarkable rescue occurred after 62-year-old Eric Allen White, who has dementia, wandered away from his care home in San Antonio, Texas.
He was wearing only pyjama trousers, a T-shirt and sandals.
Authorities had been alerted and were searching the area, but could find no trace of the missing man.
Mr White’s carer Angelica Diaz told local reporters that in desperation she posted an appeal on Facebook.
She was contacted by Vic Andrea, a sixth-generation medium based in San Antonio. Vic said she felt a connection to the case and believed she could help.
The psychic’s message said she “can often pick up on visions, thoughts, directions, etc.”
Vic added that she appreciated people might have strong religious beliefs, but if they would trust her, she would try to connect to Mr White’s spirit guides for information.
Offering her services for free, Vic set about meditating on the missing man that night.
“I just started getting downloads,” she said. “I could see, like, his path. It’s like a vision, like a movie.”
Vic received names connected to Mr White’s family, which impressed Angelica Diaz, who commented:
“I thought: ‘Wow, that’s really uncanny. How does she know that? Okay, she’s the real deal’.”
The women agreed to meet, but Vic wasted no time in seeking more information to try and locate Mr White. In a vision, she believed she was seeing through his eyes.
Although confused, Mr White seemed to be admiring the beauty of nature all around him “like a kid in a candy store. He just kept walking and walking in a trance at the beauty outside.”
Vic saw that at first Mr White wasn’t scared, but was cold. When it became dark, he started to panic.
In her mind’s eye, Vic saw him trying to get into a large concrete circle to get out of the wind. She kept hearing mentally, “Follow the birds.”
On TikTok, Vic explained how on the third day Mr White had been missing, she headed out to an area of woodland she felt guided to investigate.