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It all started when two-year-old Mary Ann’s grandmother found her talking
to her friend’s husband’s ghost one day. Pleased that her granddaughter
received the family gift for interacting with spirits, Mary Ann’s grandmother began taking the child to neighborhood funerals. You see, a ghost always attends his or her own funeral, and you can learn all about it in When Ghosts Speak: Understanding the World of Earthbound Spirits.
The book chronicles Mary Ann’s encounters as a paranormal investigator
(or, some might say, “Ghostbuster”). Mary Ann’s experiences as a paranormal investigator were the inspiration for and landed her a gig as a consultant to CBS’s Ghost Whisperer, starring Jennifer Love Hewitt.
The spirits Mary Ann communicates with are earthbound spirits—that is, spirits who haven’t crossed over into the Light. She cannot communicate with spirits who have already crossed over, like James Van Praagh and other paranormalists can. There are many reasons why spirits remain earthbound, and Mary Ann explains this as well.
I can’t say, “If you believe in ghosts, then read this book.” By the same
token, I can’t say, “Don’t read this book if you don’t believe in ghosts.” I don’t think that having or not having a belief in ghosts is the issue here. Mary Ann says she sees ghosts, can communicate with them, and can make them go away. What makes it so convincing is that Mary Ann, in her conversations with these ghosts, is able to obtain information from the ghosts that is not obtainable—or at least not easily obtainable—elsewhere. Also, there are things that Mary Ann admits she can’t explain. While she feels her job is to help the ghosts cross into the Light, she doesn’t know what the Light is, where it goes, or what it does.
The last few chapters of the book deal with identifying the presence of
spirits around you, protecting yourself from the influence of earthbound
spirits, and removing a curse. These chapters are where I thought
things got a little iffy, as they get into a hocus-pocus aspect not
present in other parts of the book. (After all, Mary Ann is a housewife
from Ohio, not a witch.) The description of recipes and rituals (most
with no explanation has to how or why they’re supposed to work) are not
at all in keeping with Mary Ann’s down-to-earth style present in the rest
of the book. The last three chapters are so different and the content may
make or break the book.
I could comment on and on about this very thought-provoking, book but I
won’t. You’ll just have to read it for yourself.
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