Ghost Whisperer’
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SI July-Auugst CUT pgs_SI MJ 2010 5/27/10 3:45 PM Page 16 INVESTIGATIVE FILES J O E N IC K E L L The Real ‘Ghost Whisperer’ he character Melinda Gordon in others can guide spirits who lag behind her alleged ability. Some of her evidence CBS’s fantasy TV series Ghost for whatever reason—such as being is laughable. One published photo, sent TWhisperer, played by Jennifer attached to a thing or place, seeking by a client, purportedly depicts a spirit Love Hewitt, is based on a real-life resi- revenge, fearing judgment (for suicide or energy but is actually the result of the dent of North Royalton, Ohio. Her other wrongdoing), etc. (Winkowski flash rebounding from the camera’s wrist name is Mary Ann Winkowski, and she 2007, 81–104). strap, a common phenomenon (Nick ell sports a silver Cadillac with a license She claims to have been freeing 2001, 128–131). Other “spirit” photos plate reading “SPIRIT” (Kachuba 2007, earth bound spirits since the age of four, showing orbs, mists, and shapes 202). But can she really talk to ghosts? when her Italian grandmother began (Win kow ski 2007, illus. fol. p. 82) have taking her to neighborhood funerals. similar mundane explanations (see Introduction She would “see” the dead—who are Nickell 2008b). Winkowski does not claim to communi- “always there, right by the casket,” she The same is true of other phenomena cate with spirits who have “crossed over” says—then envision “the White Light” reported by—or to—Winkowski, in clud - to the Other Side, the purview of “medi- and direct spirits to it. Eventually, after ing the sounds of footsteps and other ums”; rather, she says she “can only see becoming a wife and a mother, she was noises, the effects of drafts and warm and talk to earthbound spirits,” claiming, so sought after that she “had to start ask- spots, and indeed almost anything: “I talk to the spirits and find out who ing for a little bit of money” and was Headaches may be “a sign of a curse or they are and why they didn’t cross over.” “basically forced into making it a busi- negative energy,” she says, and insomnia Her belief in a dimension where ness” (Winkowski 2000, 11–13, 19–20, can be a sign of “an earthbound spirit in ghosts hang out is nothing new. It is 35). In her work, she mixes Catholic your home” (Winkowski 2007, 198–210). basically a version of purgatory, which in and New Age practices—for example, Missing pieces of a board game, drained Catholic dogma is a place (or state) using holy water (water blessed by a batteries, a broken toy—all may be caused “where souls are purged of sin before priest) to dispel malignant entities and by “child ghosts,” asserts Win kowski going to heaven” (Severy 1971, 381). scattering quince seeds around a house (2007, 208). She experiences a ghostly vis- Not surprisingly, Winkowski was raised “as protection” (2000, 162–167; 2007, itation (Kachu ba 2007, 206) that is obvi- Catholic. And just as the faithful are 228–234). By means of the power of ously only a common “waking dream” urged to assist those in purgatory by suggestion, such actions can have a ben- (one that occurs in the twilight between prayer and penance (Stravinskas 2003, eficial effect, at the expense of encourag- being fully awake and asleep—see Nickell 626–627), Winkowski believes she and ing superstition. 1995, 55). She even naively relates ver- sions of the “vanishing hitchhiker” folktale Joe Nickell, PhD, is CSI’s senior research A Question of Evidence (Winkowski 2000, 189–191). fellow. His many books include Real-Life In her books—As Alive, So Dead (2000) Contradictorily, she describes ghosts as X-Files, Entities, and Adventures in and When Ghosts Speak (2007)—Win - “pure energy,” a life force that survives Paranormal Investigation. kowski provides no acceptable proof of death (Winkowski 2007, 41), yet she 16 Volume 34, Issue 4 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER SI July-Auugst CUT pgs_SI MJ 2010 5/27/10 3:45 PM Page 17 maintains that earthbound spirits “smoke, possession of six or more of the identi- and (7) frequently encounters apparitions comb their hair, change their clothes—all fied characteristics to indicate fantasy- (Winkowski 2000; 2007); (8) moreover, those things we always do, too. Only I’ve proneness. As shown by her own state- while insisting she is “not psychic—at never been able to figure out where they ments, Winkowski—like the others least not in the traditional sense”—she be - get the stuff from” (2000, 150). Indeed, mentioned here—clearly fits the profile lieves she channels energy, creates “White the supposed spirit-world existence of of a fantasizer. Light” and directs spirits to it, lifts curses, inanimate objects is revealing: apparitions and so on (2000, 92, 176; 2007, 222). of people appear fully clothed and are Taken together, the evidence strongly often accompanied by objects, just as they indicates that Mary Ann Winkowski, are in dreams, because the clothes and “The Real Ghost Whisperer,” is only objects are required by the apparitional participating in elaborate encounters of drama (Tyrrell 1973). That is to say, the her own imagination. Like “visionaries” source of “the stuff” that puzzles Win - who receive messages from the Virgin kowski is the imagination. Mary or “contactees” or “abductees” As to her ability to talk with ghosts, who are in touch with space aliens, Winkowski offers only anecdotal evi- mediums and ghost whisperers are dence, nothing constituting scientific merely communicating with an adult proof. When Shakespeare’s character version of a child’s imaginary playmate. Glendower asserts, “I can call spirits Such fantasizers have rich imaginative from the vasty deep,” Hotspur counters, lives and, often, a receptive audience, “Why, so can I, or so can any man; but since they tap into shared hopes and will they come when you do call for fears. But they simply deceive first them?” (King Henry IV, I.3.1). In fact, themselves, then others. ! we know that death brings a cessation of brain function and consequently an end Acknowledgments to the ability to think, walk, or talk. So I am indebted to the late psychologist Robert why do Winkowski and others believe A. Baker for past guidance in studying fan- they can converse with spirits? tasy-proneness. Timothy Binga, director of Center for Inquiry Libraries, assisted with Fantasy-proneness research for this article. Although Winkowski distinguishes her- References self from both mediums and psychics (she Kachuba, John. 2007. The real ghost whisperer. claims no future-telling ability), she nev- Chapter 19 of Ghosthunters: On the Trail of o t o Mediums, Dowsers, Spirit Seekers, and Other h ertheless shares much in common with P Investigators of America’s Paranormal World. s n i h Franklin Lakes, NJ: New Page Books. them and other paranormal claim ants, c t u Nickell, Joe. 1995. Entities: Angels, Spirits, H / including alien abductees. Such persons s Demons, and Other Alien Beings. Amherst, NY: n i h tend to exhibit an array of traits that indi- c Prometheus Books. t u H ———. 2001. Real-Life X-Files: Investigating the cate a fantasy-prone personality. In their y h t Paranormal. Lexington, KY: University Press a K pioneering study, psychologists Cheryl of Kentucky. m o c Wilson and Theodore Barber (1983) s ———. 2008a. Catching ghosts. Skeptical Briefs w e 18(2): 4–6. N listed several identifying characteristics of ———. 2008b. Photoghosts: Images of the spirit people who fantasize profoundly. Called Mary Ann Winkowski realm? SKEPTICAL INQUIRER 32(4): 54–56. “fantasizers,” such individuals fall within Severy, Merle, ed. 1971. Great Religions of the World. Washington, DC: National Geographic the normal range and represent an esti- For example, (1) as a child she had ap - Society. mated 4 percent of the population. parent imaginary playmates (Win kow ski Stravinskas, Peter M.J. 2002. Catholic Dictionary. 2000, 10–14), although she insists they Huntington, IN: Our Sunday Visitor. For the past several years, I have been Tyrrell, G.N.M. 1973. Apparitions. London: The applying Wilson and Barber’s findings were not imaginary; (2) she claims to Society for Psychical Research. to the biographies and autobiographies receive special messages from paranormal Wilson, Cheryl C., and Theodore X. Barber. 1983. The fantasy-prone personality. In Imagery: of a number of contemporary and his- entities (2000; 2007); (3) she is a good Current Theory, Research, and Applica tion, ed. torical individuals, ranging from psy- hypnotic subject and (4) through past-life Anees A. Sheikh, 340–387. New York: John regression has had fantasy identities in the Wiley and Sons. chics, like Sylvia Browne and Dorothy Winkowski, Mary Ann. 2000. As Alive, So Dead: Allison, to prophets, like Jeane Dixon form of “several lives” (2000, 28); (5) she Investigating the Paranormal. Avon Lake, OH: and Edgar Cayce, as well as others, has had hypnagogic/hypnopomic experi- Graveworm Press. ———. 2007. When Ghosts Speak: Understanding including many alien abductees, like ences, or waking dreams, with (6) classic the World of Earthbound Spirits. New York: Whitley Strieber. I have considered the strange imagery (Kachuba 2007, 206–207) Grand Central Publishing. SKEPTICAL INQUIRER July / August 2010 17.