His ability to "see" continued to develop through his youth, and he became respected as a kind of hero throughout Nordre Trondheim county.

[citation needed] In 1905, Knudsen moved to Trondheim, where he was hired by a large textile manufacturer to preside over his first official séance.

Using his reputed psychic abilities, he supposedly helped solve serious crimes and find missing people and things.

But Knudsen did not just use his supposed abilities for show; he was very much engaged as a psychic, and many sought out his advice, visiting him privately or sending letters, or using the telephone.

As an adviser at Trondheim’s Tyholt Hospital he claimed to “see” a child who had disappeared in the United States and was being sought by a huge search party, including helicopters.