Better Than Dead

There are many stories of dogs who anticipate their masters’ return home and will move to the front door or other chosen spot in anticipation. Plenty of rational explanations exist for this, of course. But there are also cases that seem to stand outside the strictly rational. Rupert Sheldrake wrote an entire book on the subject: Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home.

I myself have a multi-phase psychic pet story. I leave it to you to decide whether it’s rational or not.

My parents had a dog named Tippy who was a very good girl and when my parents went on trips I would cat and dog sit for them. The cats were okay as long as I took care of their needs and gave them laptime but Tippy would go into deep mourning. She’d retreat to my parents’ bedroom and not leave except to use the dog door to go to the bathroom—then right back into the bedroom. No amount of coaxing and sympathy would bring her out and I even had to take her food and water in there. My parents usually drove on these trips so although I knew the day they’d be back I never knew the precise time yet inevitably about a half hour before they arrived home, Tippy would go to the front door and lay down expectantly.

Tippy loved both of my parents but she was especially fond of my dad. He was a house painter so the times he came home every day varied a great deal. But again, about a half hour before he got home she would ask my mom to let her out front where she’d lay down on the driveway to wait for him. It was always a joyful reunion, as you can imagine.

When my father died, she kept looking for him, but she didn’t ask to be let outside. Except for the evening of the day of his funeral. She asked to be let out and went to lay on the driveway. We watched her through the window, crying, and my mom said, “If she does this every night it’s going to kill me.” But after about five or ten minutes she stood up and started wagging her tail like she always had when Dad got home, looking up at something neither of us could see. After a few minutes she came back to the house to be let in. She never asked to be let out again. My mom and I always believed that Dad stopped by one last time to tell her goodbye and that he wouldn’t be coming home again—at least not in the way she’d been used to.

I know I don’t have to tell you pet lovers this: don’t ever underestimate the remarkable critters we share our space with.

Random quote of the day:

“…It might be time to restore a balanced perspective, to acknowledge the damage that has been caused by stigma, misdiagnoses and mis- or overmedication of individuals reporting ‘weird’ experiences. One can be personally skeptical of the ultimate validity of mystical beliefs and leave properly theological questions strictly aside, yet still investigate the salutary and prophylactic potential of these phenomena.”

—Andreas Sommer, “Reasons not to scoff at ghosts, visions and near-death experiences,” Aeon Magazine, 6 January 2020

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Desus and Mero, Beyoncé, or the Marine Corps Marching Band. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

Random quote of the day:

“Parapsychological events are fairly common, much more frequent than people realize. It is only the reluctance to tell others about psychic occurrences that makes them seem rare. And the more highly trained are the most reluctant to share.”

—Brian L. Weiss, Many Lives, Many Masters

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Desus and Mero, Beyoncé, or the Marine Corps Marching Band. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

Random quote of the day:

“There’s a fine line between believing what’s true and turning into a person who’s talking to the toaster.”

—Anne Gehman, psychic, quoted in Christine Wicker, Lily Dale: The Town That Talks to the Dead

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Key and Peele, Celine Dion, or Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

Lily Dale is a town in upstate New York with a long history of old-timey mediumship—you know, table rappings, séances, psychic readings, that sort of thing. The town was, as Wikipedia says, “incorporated in 1879 as Cassadaga Lake Free Association, a camp and meeting place for Spiritualists and Freethinkers. The name was changed to The City of Light in 1903 and finally to Lily Dale Assembly in 1906.” It may have updated its image in recent years, but it still is a town of spiritualists, with all that entails.

“Every summer twenty thousand guests come to consult the town’s mediums,” the back cover says, “in hopes of communicating with dead relatives or catching a glimpse of the future. Weaving past with present, the living with the dead, award-winning journalist and bestselling author Christine Wicker investigates the longings for love and connection that draw visitors to ‘the Dale,’ introducing us to a colorful cast of characters along the way—including such famous visitors as Susan B. Anthony, Harry Houdini, and Mae West.”

And I have to say, I really liked this book. It’s not so much about Lily Dale as it’s about the people whose lives changed after visiting and having their worldview shifted. That’s the ultimate charm of the book for me, how Lily Dale works on people. Ms. Wicker paints wonderful portraits of past inhabitants and current seekers, their traumas and triumphs and their inexorable movement toward something larger than themselves. It’s a very human book, for all its spiritualist craziness. The author manages to walk the line between empathy and irony without either mawkishness or mockery.

If you expect a book of scathing skepticism, this is not that book. If you expect a story of earth shattering mystic revelations and great truths…well, some of them may be there, but they’re subtly and often humorously worked into the life stories Ms. Wicker unveils—including her own. I loved her moments of struggle with what she’s encountering, her moments of self-parody and doubt, her will to believe versus her will not to believe. Despite digging in her heels and her best reporter’s instincts, Lily Dale works its charms on her, shifting her paradigm and leaving her feeling better about her life—without surrendering her rationality.

Random quote of the day:

“It seems to me that in many cases, psychics and mediums prosper not because they’re intentionally fraudulent, but because their subjects are uncritical.  The people who visit mediums and psychics are often strongly motivated or constitutionally inclined to believe that what is being said is relevant and meaningful with regard to them or a loved one.”

—Mary Roach, Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife

Disclaimer:  The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Siegfried and Roy, Leonard Maltin, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

Random quote of the day:

“It is the client who makes the psychic.”

—Sybo Schouten, quoted in Spook by Mary Roach

Disclaimer:  The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Siegfried and Roy, Leonard Maltin, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

The first time I encountered this guy, I thought he must be some comedian playing some deep, deep, DEEP role-playing act.  I’m still not entirely convinced that’s not the case, but whether he is or not, he does seem to prove the point that you don’t have to offer folks much in the way of actual…um…psychic content to gather a following.

For the full Gary Spivey experience, check this one out (embedding disabled).