I have to admit that I watched his show, Crossing Over, only once. It was strange, watching a psychic pick people out of a crowd. The show left me wondering how he kept himself focused and how he managed to single out one person at a time.

That one episode intrigued me enough to buy the book, and I was glad that I did. He comes across as down to earth in his book as he does on his show. That makes the book very easy to read and understand.

One Last Time touches everything about his life–his relationship with his family, his healthy skepticism about talking to people from the Other Side, his career in the medical field, his religious faith, and the cases he has experienced. I almost felt like I was there as I was reading the pages, he writes so well.

I was especially touched by Andrew and Mikey, who both died in accidents. Their cases resonated with love and caring for their families. I felt empathy for Mr. Edward when he worried about how his mediumship would affect his standing in the Catholic faith. What impressed me the most about One Last Time was that it wasn’t filled with the typical “harps, chariots, and beyond-beautiful” picture of the Other Side like I’ve read in other celebrity psychic books. He talks about the Other Side as being an infinite place that is full of love and a place where souls can evolve.

He explains what happens to people who commit suicide. Being a survivor, that was especially comforting. At the end, he tells us how we can tap into our own spiritual awareness.

I highly recommend this book for anyone who has an interest in spirituality and anyone who has lost someone close to them. One Last Time is a message of hope.

This book comprises several different cases, each markedly different from the other. A young mother’s ghost waits by the roadside, alerting a young officer that her child is still alive inside the wreckage of her car. A haunted police barracks. The mysterious disappearance and murder of a San Jose woman. Was her boyfriend mentally ill or does voodoo really exist? The use of a psychic in a brutal murder case. It was all good stuff.

I read this book in a day, due to the conversational style in which it was written. Echo Bodine starts off her book with a short bio of her background, then launches into her case stories. Two of them, Bobby Mackey’s Music World (Kentucky) and The Log Cabin in the Woods (Colorado Springs) were featured on the program, Sightings.

I was just as intrigued with her story as I was with the Sightings account. I enjoyed every story, but found myself wishing for a more detailed account. She was not always successful at banishing the ghosts, which made the book seem more real.

Bodine gives you basic instructions on how to “cleanse” your house should it contain a ghost or two. She also recommends that you don’t search the phonebook for a medium, but to inquire around for one. What I didn’t agree with was her statement in regard to sighting ability. Several skeptics have seen ghosts, although they quickly rationalize what they saw. Definitely worth reading.

Most people classify ghosts as Hollywood and literature have depicted them, filmy people (as in Patrick Swayze’s “Ghost”) or terrifying monsters (Poltergeist). The deabte still wages between skeptics and believers. Although parapsychologists and ghost hunters have caught some strange anomolies on film and video, that’s all they appear to be––anomolies.

Psychologists conclude that paranormal phenomena is caused by emotional distress or psychiatric conditions. I would have to agree with them to a point. About 10 years ago, I lost my younger brother suddenly and tragically. Much of what my family and I experienced could be chalked up as grief.

Now, I’ll share the story which has turned me into a believer. In 1992, I worked as a receptionist in a shipping warehouse of a computer company. One morning, I was working at my desk and felt someone staring at my back. I looked over my shoulder, but didn’t see anything except the copier and a large rubber plant. My co-workers were chattering away in their cubicles.

The feeling refused to go away until I left the area. When I returned to my desk, everything felt normal. I shrugged off the experience and went back to work.

Several weeks later, my boss asked me to work on Saturday. I was the only one in the building. There were no cars parked in the lot but mine.

Again, I experienced that strange sensation of being watched. Just like last time, no one was there. Then I heard someone walking around in the warehouse. Their footfalls echoed off the concrete, a very distinct and loud sound.

The noise lasted but a moment, and I don’t remember if I went to investigate. I finished up my work, and then I went home. The following Monday, I approached a co-worker about my experiences, thinking that she would just smile and shake her head at my skittishness.

Her face got dead serious before she said, “Oh, yes. This place is haunted.”

As it turned out, several of the women I worked with experienced the exact same thing. These occurrences were well known, but not discussed. Did we all imagine this, or was the building really haunted?

I find myself straddled between skepticism and believing. There are plenty of hoaxes as well as some famous, documented cases. I’ll explore the latter in future posts because this subject has fascinated me the most out of all the paranormal phenomena that has claimed to have taken place.