New York Cases

Manhattan, NY - January 19, 2019

The client contacted us with concerns that she was being harassed by spirits - in particular a female spirit whom she believed was her ex-boyfriend's mother.

Medium Report

Chris O'Connor

This case was difficult for me because although I am a medium, I also use science and logic first. I want to be clear that not all activity or affliction of a person is paranormal. All mediums should rule out physical, tangible or logical reasons for the client’s claims.

This client had already accepted her judgment. She has been given a lot of different advice, none of which has helped. I have come across these types of cases many times before. There are usually three reasons why suggestions or techniques don’t work.

The first reason is that the client doesn’t want the advice to work. They like the attention they received from friends and family and the thrill of meeting or interacting with paranormal teams or spiritual counselors. The other part of this is intent. The client will go through the process of the advice given but do it without truly believing it will work.

The second reason is the advice given is not appropriate for the situation. It’s like taking an antibiotic for the common cold. This client stated she had an exorcism. A priest took the time and energy to perform an exorcism ritual and guess what? It didn’t work. It didn’t work because the source causing the suspected paranormal activity was not evil, malevolent, or demonic. I am sure the priest had the best of intentions, but if he performed an actual exorcism based on the client’s subjective claims, he doesn’t fully understand the process of an exorcism.

The third reason advice doesn’t work is because there is no paranormal activity. Many of my colleagues will automatically assume that if they see or feel a spiritual attachment, it (the attachment) is the cause of the paranormal activity. In fact, they may just be seeing the client’s spiritual guide. This could be chalked up to inexperience or over-confidence.

This case involves all three reasons why the client has not reached a conclusion to her situation.

This is what I saw and felt during my visit with the client. She does have spirits that visit her. She has three of them. One male and two female spirits.

The first female spirit I encountered was in her early adult years. She was very kindhearted and the only physical attribute I could see was her hair, which was golden blonde. This spirit is the client’s protector. She was happy I could see her, because the others did not. Her spirit is large and became larger as the team and I spoke to her.

The second female was middle-aged and was a bit on the cranky side. She seemed frustrated with the whole situation. She was there to receive and give messages. She couldn’t understand why the communication process wasn’t working. While I was there, she became excited and loud. I tried to explain to her that she needs to move on. She wasn’t ready until the messages were exchanged. I tried to have the client give forgiveness to this woman. The client said she forgave her in one breath and in the other essentially took it back.

The male spirit was docile. He basically was under the control of the second female. Every now and then, he would chime in, letting her know, “I told you so.” He was ready to move on but wouldn’t go without her.

The client had the explanation of why these two were visiting her. They were the parents of a man with whom the client had been involved. The type of involvement the client had with their son was unclear to me. The client was vague and flip-flopped about how she was involved with their son. He wasn’t her boyfriend, but he was close enough in her life to physically and mentally abuse her. This abuse was witnessed by family and friends.

The second female spirit was under the impression that the client and her son were more than what was said. Her information about the relationship was told to her by her son. The son could have been telling lies about the relationship and why it ended. This could be a possible reason why she was visiting the client.

The client stated several pieces of advice she received from other mediums and spiritual counselors. In my opinion, any one of these pieces of advice could work. She was told to return to the church. She was told to take Epsom salt baths and then sea salt baths. She cleansed her home with burning sage. She either bought or was given Palo Santo spray. Again, in my opinion, these weren’t effective because she did not have true intent.

The client suffers from neck and shoulder spasms. These spasms are characteristic of a condition called Torticollis. The client states that she has sought out medical treatment from numerous physicians. None of the treatments have “cured” her. So, the client is attributing this condition to the paranormal. In my opinion, it is not paranormal in nature. I witnessed the spasms, and the pattern of them was not specific to paranormal activity. At first, I thought it was. The spasms increased when the conversation turned to spirits. The spasms also increased when the challenge of paranormal activity was discussed. I believe that the spasms increased when the client was stressed. I am not a physician. This is just my observation.

The client’s husband was present during our process. My observation of him was he was disconnected from the client’s claims. He didn’t show any empathy towards her. He distanced himself from her. He sat across the room. He didn’t engage in any part of the conversation. He would answer our questions with one- or two-word answers. When our client looked to him for validation of her claims, he gave very little.

So, why is the paranormal activity not going away?

First, the client believes her medical condition is due to paranormal activity. I am not 100% certain, but I believe her spasms are a medical condition. My advice is to keep seeking medical attention until a resolution is found. I recommend that along with traditional medical treatment, she see out a holistic practitioner. The holistic practitioner has medical knowledge backed up with spiritual knowledge. I suggested to the client that she have her physicians investigate the endocrine system. She also should seek a Reiki practitioner.

Second, the two spirits that visit the client will “move on” when the client does two things. She needs to desire them to leave and direct them to do so. She needs to forgive. Forgive their son for treatment she received from him and forgive his parents for allowing it.

Our job as mediums is not to dramatize or sensationalize a person’s experience based on the need for them to believe your findings. I have no doubt this client is going to have a hard time swallowing what I have to say. She doesn’t have to. This report is based on both scientific and non-scientific findings. At no point should the client abandon her medical treatment or the quest for a medical resolution.

Objective Findings:

Investigators: David Bray, Chris O'Connor, Melissa Whited, Ruby L.

Photos:

No photographic evidence was found.

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Audio:

No audio evidence was found.

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Video:

No video evidence was found.

Assessment:

Paranormal Level: Grade 0 - All subjective paranormal activity has been debunked and no evidence has been collected for documentation. There are no objective paranormal findings of any kind.

I will try to stay organized throughout this case report and address each of the client’s subjective claims one at a time. There is a lot of information to sift through so there may be some inconsistencies or corrections that need to be made.

Our priority as a paranormal team is to find the truth, whatever that may be. In many cases, our group ends up acting as detectives, holistic counselors, and investigators of the unknown alike. The paranormal field is so expansive and broad that there is (usually) no solution that acts as a “first thought.” Therefore, a thorough investigation must be done.

Our goal with visiting the client was separated into two categories, the physical and spiritual. It was evident from the moment I talked to her on the phone that her mental state was sound so that wasn’t of our utmost concern. Throughout our process, we evaluate every little detail of a client’s situation. What may seem like a normal conversation to the client is actually a very planned out and rigorous ordeal. We stay objective in our findings, do not pass judgment, and look for clues that may aid in finding an answer, or offer insight into what is actually happening. We try to present all our data based off factual evidence and observations, and further try to validate any subjective claims with those facts.

According to the client, she first saw a man’s face while standing in her kitchen back in 2014. She did not recognize this man at first but soon found out through Facebook that he is the father of a man named C----, whom she knew through a mutual friend. Shortly after, she began being tormented by the man (Ron) and his ex-wife, C----’s mother (Barbara).

There is no way to definitively debunk or disprove this claim. The client sincerely believes these are the people that are bothering her. She says that Ron told her that he died because he did not take care of himself. However, we do not know his cause-of-death (COD) in order to speak on the accuracy of this statement (at this moment in time). Barbara, Ron’s ex-wife, collapsed suddenly around Thanksgiving 2014 due to cancer, which does match the client’s timeline of events and Chris’ vision of a woman having cancer.

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In September 2014, the client claims that she felt Ron’s energy approach her. When she told him to stop, the event ceased to continue.

The fact that she told the entity to stop, and it did, shows us that she has the power to control the situation. In our experience, we create our own realities – for better or worse. Consciousness is a tricky thing and true intent goes a long way in altering our individual universes. We believe that she put her foot down and was able to successfully protect herself.

The client claims the entities communicate with her via dreams and that they are metaphorical in nature.

We believe that the client is gifted with an extrasensory ability. Whether she is willing to accept that or not is a different story. We often don’t get to choose what gifts or talents are bestowed upon us. If she is receiving messages in her dreams, that is most likely part of how her gift works. We are confident that even if Ron and Barbara were to go away, the client would still experience these dreams and have possible communication with other spirits throughout her lifetime. However, she does not seem open to the idea. She says she would accept her gift, but not want to use it. Although the idea sounds intriguing, it is often very difficult to do. When a spirit wants to give a message, it can become a nagging sensation that leads to anxiety unless acted upon. We believe she needs to truly open to the idea that she may have these abilities and accept it as part of her life from now on.

The client claims that Ron is more docile while Barbara is malevolent.

This claim backs Chris’ findings that the man is laid-back, and the woman is cranky, but the both of us do not believe her to be necessarily malevolent. Malevolence is subject to interpretation and it is not up to us to pass judgment on what traits are considered to make a person “good” or “bad” in the eyes of God. People and their personalities are a complex notion, caused by nature and nurture alike. We cannot definitively say whether someone is good or bad, simply that we all have positive and negative attributes.

When the client’s mother was approached by a medium randomly in Barnes and Noble, she was told that Barbara wants to give a message that she is sorry.

This random event aligns with our findings. While Chris was communicating with Barbara, she claimed that she wanted to give the client a message, but that she is not listening. The client’s rebuttal is that Barbara is a liar and is tricking mediums, but the random event in Barnes and Noble is in fact, so random, that trickery is unlikely and that there is genuinely a message to give. Chris told the client that she needs to learn forgiveness, true forgiveness because that’s what Barbara wants. Ron is ready to move on, but Barbara will not go until that forgiveness is given. Once again, these messages align with the random reading in Barnes and Noble, that she wants to apologize. The client is not ready to accept this, as she believes she already passed forgiveness to C----. However, her body language and defensive tone prove otherwise. She is still very angry about Barbara being there, the relation to her son, someone who hurt her, and the whole situation.

Our subconscious is hard to understand and even harder to be aware of. The client may think she has forgiven because she does not think about C---- anymore, but that does not mean she forgave the events, herself, or the way everything played out. Our bodies tend to store trauma, both emotional and physical. Often, you keep them deep down until they become a part of your permanent being, and it feels normal. We told her this, but she rebutted it and what Barbara had to say.

Several different mediums told the client that she has negative attachments.

Although different mediums described similar appearances and information to validate that Ron and Barbara are in fact with the client, this is all hearsay. Our medium was communicating directly with Barbara and Ron as well, but even we cannot definitively prove that this conversation occurred. Our point is that mediums are completely subjective. Their assertions are often vague, and they usually charge for their services. In fact, we noted that the client did pay for services from a psychic medium before, and some of those mediums were well-known. Therefore, they will always give you some type of answer, usually in the form of producing fear or anxiety, or telling you what they think you want to hear. It is unfortunate but it is the truth.

The client also had an exorcism done which tells us that the people who performed it do not understand how legitimate exorcisms function. As a paranormal team whose faith is based in Christianity, we must provide the Catholic Church with objective evidence of a haunting, oppression, or possession before an ordained exorcist from the Archdiocese will help, under supervision of a psychiatrist. A local priest cannot perform an actual exorcism. But even still, the client does not have a demonic attachment, so an exorcism is out of scope and unnecessary.

If the mediums were correct in their readings, then the client should have found a solution by now. If her physical symptoms are being caused by the entities, then all their suggestions should have worked, but they didn’t, and they aren’t. Visualizing a white light, saging, going to church, etc. are all great things to do and will help, but if they are being done in order to treat the wrong issue, then they are useless. Chris uses the analogy of treating the common cold with antibiotics. Do antibiotics work? Yes. Are antibiotics bad? No, but the common cold is a virus, so it will have no effect. It isn’t feasible and it does not make sense.

The client believes that Barbara needs counseling in order to be convinced to leave.

I told the client several times that this is a process. There is no one-time fix for getting rid of attachments so she should not think there is. We have seen exorcisms, house cleansings, and blessings last for months to a year. It takes frequent visits, trips, and support from family, priests, paranormal teams, and possibly even physicians to come to a final solution. Keep in mind, that in these cases, there was also objective activity occurring that was directly attributed to paranormal findings. In cases of true attachments and oppressions, we have found electronic voice phenomena (EVP), video findings, evidence of objects moving, and more. In this client’s case, none of this is occurring. This is a positive fact but does not support evidence of a malevolent attachment.

Occam’s Razor, a psychological principle, tells us that the simplest answer is usually the best answer, and in this case, the client’s answer is true forgiveness and acceptance of herself, her story, and C----’s family. The client is a strong woman with a good head on her shoulders. If she can find a way to look inward rather than outward, she will find answers. This is much easier said than done of course, and we have often had clients that refuse to accept any responsibility for part of the problem. Unfortunately, they do not find solutions.

We believe that the client’s medical symptoms are separate from her paranormal symptoms. In our extensive experience in the scientific, medical, and paranormal fields, we do not and have not ever seen a situation where a spirit can possibly affect the neurological system the way that she is being affected. That is not to say that it is impossible, but it is extremely unlikely, and the facts do not support it. When the client says her symptoms are caused by Ron and Barbara, she is giving them more power when they are in fact, not taking part in her symptoms. Although it is a pain, medical treatment can never be ignored. Any medium or paranormal team who ignores the facts are not adhering to educated standards and are being ignorant in their assumptions.

We have a couple reasons for why we believe the issues are separate. The first reason is experience. We have been investigating paranormal claims for quite some time and have seen the full range of the unexplained. We have dealt with true demonic hauntings, benign ghosts, psychiatric patients with psychoses, and more. We communicate directly with medical doctors, psychologists, and religious clergy alike. In our opinion, the client does have spirits with her, but they are not inherently malevolent like she believes them to be. This malevolence is most likely an outward manifestation of her subconscious feelings, emotions, and stress – which may also explain her metaphorical dreams. Since they are subconscious manifestations, she is not aware of them and therefore may believe they don’t exist – which also explains her defensiveness and tone with accepting that, and believing we are wasting her time.

Our second reason is that not all medical options have been ruled out. Through my experience as an orthopedic massage therapist and exercise physiologist, I first noticed that the client suffers from postural deviations such as a rounded thoracic spine and forward head carriage. This type of position puts excess strain on the nerves exiting the spinal column and gravity does the rest. I have seen these symptoms arise from this state-of-being. When I asked her what exercises or stretches she was doing at the gym, she told me she was stretching her posterior thoracic (upper back) musculature. However, by stretching these muscles, she is making her posture worse. It is also interesting to note that the client says her physical symptoms go away when she is receiving acupuncture or massage therapy. What this tells us is that her symptoms are only brought on when her nervous system is in a sympathetic state, which is our “fight or flight” mode: in which adrenaline hormones and cortisol are released. The client needs to try a rehabilitation protocol where she is using what works and getting rid of what doesn’t. I am unsure of why the physical therapists and occupational therapists did not address these obvious signs. The client needs to stretch her pectoral muscles and strengthen her back and neck to alleviate pressure on the nerves. I will offer some exercises and stretches to assist with these steps if she requests them.

A functional neurological disorder and a tic are both diagnoses which are made by physicians that essentially say, “something is happening with your brain, but everything looks normal.” The diagnoses describe the symptoms, but don’t tell us the cause. They are therefore not helpful except to point us in a direction that is less serious than a medical emergency. It is recommended that the client begin fixing her posture first to alleviate the pressure on the peripheral nerves since all her tests came back normal.

It should also be noted that throughout our time with her, her tics became more prevalent whenever we would mention or question her medical diagnoses and symptoms. However, when she is deep in conversation or thought, she does not present with the tics or spasms. They seem to be brought on by stress, indicating an endocrine or neuroendocrine component. It is important to note that on the way to her apartment, both Chris and I received a message about the endocrine system from our spirit guides. All the evidence supports the notion that the client’s symptoms are being brought on by stress and a high state of anxiety. She seems to be stuck in a self-sabotaging cycle where the stress brings on the symptoms which brings on the visions/messages from Ron and Barbara. This cycle becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy where she is making her predictions come true through positive feedback between belief and behavior. If we cannot rule out all logical and medical explanations, then we cannot say her physical ailments are paranormal in nature.

Plan:

Case Closed

The client requested we have no further contact with her or her family, so we are respecting her wishes and privacy.