When Ghosts Speak - Mary Ann Winkowski [5]
While they are young, most children have a remarkable ability to see or sense the spirits who surround them. For some, these ghosts—especially if they are the spirits of children themselves—become the “imaginary friends” who break toys or cause loud one-sided conversations. For other children, these not-real people cause very real unease.
“The man in the plaid flannel shirt who shows up in your bedroom sometimes really scares you, doesn’t he?” I spoke directly to the older boy, who nodded and burst into tears. I glared at the spirit in question, a young man with a bad mullet hairdo and a flannel shirt. He stared back with a surly expression, just like the bully he was. But most ghosts, no matter how mean-spirited, don’t intimidate me at all.
I turned back to the boy. “Don’t worry,” I said. “I promise he’ll be gone after today.”
True to my word, I made the white Light, and one by one all the spirits departed from the house, including the ghost of a next-door neighbor who had wandered over, curious to see what was going on with all the lights and crowds, but only too happy to be able to take advantage of the chance to leave his earthbound existence.
After we had done this shoot together, I came to consider James a good friend. He knows many, many people from all walks of life and frequently calls me to say he has a friend or acquaintance or business associate who might need my services. Because James lives on the West Coast, whenever I was out in that area he invited me along to dinners or cocktail parties. Inevitably there was a ghost or two on the premises. Earthbound spirits are pure energy and need energy to subsist. And believe me, what with actors, directors, writers, and other types of creative people, Hollywood has energy to spare.
The idea that became Ghost Whisperer came out of one of these parties. James had invited me to join him and a few friends for dinner. The host and hostess—a studio executive and her husband, a television writer—were warm and welcoming. They lived in a glamorous old house that had once belonged to the cowboy actor Tom Mix. Tom wasn’t there that night, but there were several other ghostly dinner guests joining us. The food looked wonderful, but luckily I wasn’t hungry. I learned long ago that if I’m invited to a dinner party, it’s wise to eat my dinner at home before I go out. Once I’m at the table, I’m always so busy answering questions that I almost never get a chance to eat what the host is serving!
This time was no exception. I told the hosts about the frustrated writer ghost who spent his time with the husband in his study.
“This explains your trouble in deciding where to set the story you’re working on,” I told him. “You thought you should set it in the mountains. The ghost thinks it would work better at the beach.”
The man and his wife stared at me openmouthed.
“There’s another spirit here, too,” I told them. “She came with the antique bureau you got recently—the one with a mirror on it.”
The woman frowned. “We don’t have an antique bureau in the house.”
“It’s downstairs,” the ghost told me.
“She says it’s downstairs,” I repeated.
The other couple at the table gasped. “We live downstairs,” the woman explained. “And we recently bought an old bedroom set at an auction. It has a bureau with a mirror.”
I wasn’t surprised. Ghosts often attach themselves to material possessions such as important pieces of furniture, jewelry, or vintage cars. I guess they feel that if they can’t take it with them, they’ll just make sure they don’t lose sight of it.
The rest of the night passed quickly, with me trying to steal bites of my dessert in between answering more questions about the spirits in the house with us, and about others I have encountered in my line of work. As James and I were leaving, our hosts walked us to the door.
“Your experiences are amazing,” the man said. “They’d make a great TV show.”
I didn’t really think that much about it. Since