So much of our conversation is routine that we often find ourselves saying the same things day after day . . .but what if you’re in the hot seat? With this column we give our interviewees two minutes to think and one minute to speak their answer . . .  with no advance warning of what the questions might be. How would *you* do in the hotseat?

1. Are you a medium? What is a medium? Are mediums and psychics the same thing?

The Websters dictionary defines a medium as “an individual held to be a channel of communication between the earthly world and a world of spirits”.   I am a medium but that being said I don’t talk to dead people 24/7 or on a regular basis.  I have only really experienced mediumship five times.  I haven’t done the appointment type mediumship that you see on tv.

Psychic is relating or denoting faculties or phenomena that are apparently inexplicable to natural laws, especially involving telepathy or clairvoyance.

Mediums and psychics are not the same thing, but you can be both or either.  I have both abilities and actually experienced the psychic side before the mediumship.  

2.How old were you when you had your first paranormal experience?

I don’t remember a particular age since I seem to have always had some sort of psychic experience.  I do remember being around age 5 and seeing shadows in the dark of the hallway outside my bedroom.  When I was 6, I fell out of a tire swing and was hospitalized with a concussion.  I was awake off and on, but I woke up one night when a nurse came in to check on me.  She was carrying a flashlight and my Mom was sleeping in a chair beside the bed.  I wondered why there were all kinds of other people in the room in the middle of the night.  It wasn’t until I was older, I realized these were spirits that I was seeing.

3. When television shows are about haunting the spirits are always angry and vengeful, often violent. Has that been your experience?

I have only had one contact with one negative entity and it was a man who was an abusive male to the women in his family.  The second paranormal team I was a member of was called to a residence on Orchard Mesa where a woman and her daughter were being terrorized by something making noises, touching and pinching them.  On the first investigation, we pushed the abusive spirit outside, blessed and saged the interior and thought we would have no more trouble.

They called us again a month later to say that now something was walking around the yard, knocking on the windows, doors and the side of the house.  We went back and set up our tech center in the garage while we investigated the inside of the house to listen for the knocking.  There were taps on the window and as I took my turn at the tech table, there was a knock on the garage door.  The other investigator got up to look and started to open the door and I told him not to.  I got the other members of the team and we went outside and sprinkled Holy Water on the walls of the house, saged the yard and then applied Holy Water to the wooden fence surrounding the house.  We never had to go back again after that.

4. Why do spirits stay where they die? There’s a plane crash site where an EVP was picked up saying “Did we crash?” but the crash had been years ago. Why is that?

Investigators aren’t really sure and that is why we investigate.  I do know exactly the case you are referring to and the consensus is that people who die suddenly may not realize they are dead and are confused.  They stay where they died not crossing over to the other side but no one has been able to answer why spirits hang around.  That is why mediums and some paranormal teams come in to speak to these lost souls and cross them over to the afterlife.

5. What is your advice to people who think they are being “haunted”?

I would recommend calling in a paranormal team BUT, I would tell them to INTERVIEW that team since some come in and just want to investigate, stir up the spirits and then they leave the family to deal with the aftermath, which often times makes things worse.  

Not everything is paranormal and we don’t go into every place claiming to be haunted and have debunked some “hauntings” much to the relief of the homeowner. 

6. I can understand why ghost hunting might work better at night, less interference from societal influences, but what does Halloween have to do with it?

Halloween doesn’t really have anything to do with ghost hunting outside of that is when most people think of ghosts.  I have done paranormal investigations year-round in the night and also daylight. 

According to Irish legend, Samhain (Sow wain) was the night before is All Hallows Eve when the dead return to visit their families and are welcomed with a fire in the hearth and food.  All Saints Day is November 1st,

7. What advice do you have for folks who might want to try communicating with spirits?

I wouldn’t advise it without having a knowledgeable person around to assist, and I have nothing against Ouija Boards since they don’t attract evil spirits or demons as the Hollywood hysteria would have us believe.  But, be aware when you use one, conduct a séance or even use a spirit box you open a door to the spirit world that you may not be able to close.  Every investigation we did, we did a prayer before we started and again as we ended, and also said a prayer in the house and saged and blessed each room.