Reported by NBC
New
The purpose of Allison DuBois’s gifts first became
clear while she was a homicide intern at the district attorney’s
office — she discovered she could visualize crimes just by handling
the evidence. These apparitions have helped solve crimes and find missing
people, but in addition to her work in law enforcement, Allison’s
extraordinary supernatural talents have lead to a lifetime of creating
connections between loved ones and those they have lost. Wife, mother,
medium and author, Alison DuBois was invited on the “Today”
show to talk about the afterlife and her new book “Don’t
Kiss Them Good-Bye.” Read an excerpt:
For those of you familiar with the hit television series “Medium,”
you probably already know that it’s based on my real experiences.
For those of you unfamiliar with the show, I encourage you to tune in
and explore life after death. “Don’t Kiss Them Good-bye”
elaborates on my life minus the great television writers. It is my way
of sharing with you how I’m affected by being a medium. Perhaps
you are intrigued by my being able to see and feel events that not all
people can. Perhaps learning about mediums will raise questions for
you about your own life. Maybe you’re one of many who knows your
loved ones are still around and you want to strengthen your connections
with them. I invite you to join me on this adventure through my life
so that you can better understand how the events in my life have shaped
who I am. I will give you a glimpse of what life can be after death.
I also will talk to you about how to stay connected to those who matter
to you most. May this book inspire you as so many have inspired me.
In this book, I share my own childhood experiences in order to connect
and relate to young mediums who have questions and doubts about their
gifts. I hope that my experiences can help show how a child with the
gift might feel or view things. I also hope it illustrates how we, as
people who love the gifted young, can help them to understand and embrace
their abilities. Figuring out our gifts in life is part of our journey
to becoming enlightened human beings. I want the people reading my book
to have real insight into the life of a person with special abilities.
I want you to better understand where psychics and mediums come from
and what kinds of potential we have. Being able to relate to or think
about the unknown is half the battle of expanding your spiritual beliefs.
Having the opportunity to experience it personally is the other half.
About Me
I am a medium and profiler. This means I can predict future events,
I can get into a person’s mind, I can detect health problems in
people, and I can communicate with the dead. Yes, I see dead people.
I have often wished that someone would come up with a better word than
“psychic” to describe people like me. Between all the con
artists out there and the gypsy and witch stereotypes, the word has
been forever tainted. Call it what you want; I have what I refer to
as the gift.
I was brought into this world in the usual way on January 24, 1972,
in Phoenix, Arizona. I’m old enough to have learned my craft and
young enough to challenge it. I have one older brother, Michael, who
teased me often. My parents divorced when I was a baby, but I grew up
knowing they both loved me.
Even when I was little I knew that I wasn’t a typical kid. Besides
my encounter with my great-grandpa after his funeral (which I discuss
in the chapter “A Little Girl Meets the Other Side”), there
were many other significant signs of things to come.
I identified with characters who had special gifts. Whether it was Tabitha
on “Bewitched” or Tia in “Escape to Witch Mountain,”
I knew they were different, like me. I was sure they could relate to
my feelings of being an oddity, misunderstood by adults. As I was careful
about what information I shared with people, I understood why the characters
on TV or in the movies hid their abilities.
My identification with these characters went beyond a child’s
imagination and the desire to be Wonder Woman or Superman. When I was
around ten years old, I was told repeatedly (by those I have come to
know as my guides) that I was unique. They told me that when I was older
I would affect people in a profound way. It was hard then for me to
imagine that I could do something that important someday.
I received visits from my guides on and off throughout my childhood
and teenage years. I wasn’t sure who those voices were, but I
knew the source was good and that it was coming from upstairs. I could
feel the energy of the visitor and, although I was not frightened, I
was more afraid that I would not be able to live up to their expectations
of me.
I couldn’t help but think Why me? I look average, and my parents
are divorced. I found church boring. My mom made me go with her every
Sunday and I resented it. I preferred to talk to heaven personally when
I was alone.
Ifelt very connected to a higher power and I was sensitive to others’
feelings about it. But it seemed that all the adults at church sang
about one thing and then practiced another. It didn’t make sense
to me, but if I mentioned this I was scolded.
I filled my room with stuffed animals and dolls, but mine
served a defensive purpose. I lined them up on shelves, on the floor,
everywhere, positioned to fill space and form a barrier between me and
the unknown. Since I could feel many variations of energy around me
and sometimes I saw apparitions, my stuffed animals filled the physical
void where I knew the energy existed. The toys also helped calm my nerves.
I had created in my mind an explanation for the energy I felt. I was
no longer looking at empty space and feeling as though an unknown energy
occupied it. My toys now filled the space. Children, like adults, learn
to deal with complicated circumstances in a way that creates comfort
for them.
I spent my youth trying to convince myself that I was normal. I was
a competitive roller skater for several years in the early eighties.
Journey, REO Speedwagon, and The Go-Go’s provided the background
music for my childhood. The people at the rink were also quite memorable,
with their big perms, leg warmers, and lights on their skate wheels.
I sat for hours watching people skate around faster and faster, until
they began to blur into circles of light. I watched them intently, as
if I were looking for something inside each person to become visible.
I enjoyed the all-or-nothing stakes of winning competitions. Figures,
dance, freestyle skating — I did them all. I especially loved
those rare occasions when the boys and girls were allowed to compete
against one another. I enjoyed beating the boys the most.
Skating also provided an escape from the conflict at home between my
mom and stepdad. When I was twelve, my mom and the man that I had called
dad for ten years dissolved their marriage. I saw him with his new family
a year later. He didn’t see me and I never saw him again.
My mom remarried a year or two later, and I didn’t fit into the
new arrangement. I was on my own just one month before my sixteenth
birthday. I lived in an apartment with a high school friend named Domini.
I remember kicking back with a beer and thinking how ludicrous it was
that I had once told my sixth grade teacher that I aspired to go to
Harvard. Ridiculous! I thought. At this rate I wouldn’t even be
going to a community college!
My teenage years were painful and lonely. People were all around me,
but I felt as alone as anyone could be. I also felt as if I sometimes
attracted people who had bad energy. I always worry about young people
who stand out in crowds because they have an inner light that shines
through. I heard this often as a young person and now I understand it.
Dark entities are naturally attracted to light and will try to manipulate
it. A dark entity can see a light entity from a mile away. Unfortunately,
it’s typically harder for light entities to spot dark ones, but
with experience they can learn to recognize and avoid them.
Have you ever looked at a recent picture of someone close to you and
compared it to one from the past? There is a light that flickers in
a young person’s eyes that is often extinguished as he ages. The
trick is to make sure your light remains strong and bright. It’s
a reflection of your soul. Never let it be extinguished. I have met
seventy-year-old men and women who have the essence of people in their
early twenties. I am determined to always retain my mischievous inner
youth.
The night I met my husband he swears there was a light shining down
on me. Joe says he couldn’t resist knowing what I was about. I
thought he was just an irritating guy with a pickup line. Joe has helped
to make me a better person. He has taught me many lessons that I wouldn’t
have held still long enough to hear from anyone else. The most important
thing he taught me is that there are people who are true to their word,
people who will always be there. He has taught me to trust.
Another lesson Joe taught me was math and that it wasn’t too late
to apply it to my dream of going to college. Against all the odds I
did graduate from college. I received a B.A. in political science with
a minor in history from Arizona State University.
Even though I had grown up around all kinds of people who were going
nowhere fast, a part of me had always known that somehow, some way,
I would earn a college degree. I guess I am just one of those lucky
people for whom things always work out. I see myself as being constantly
pushed back onto the right path by a force greater than me. I am thankful.
While sitting in class at ASU, feeling sorry for myself,
I met a girl in a wheelchair. She was blind and had a seeing-eye dog,
but I never heard her complain, not once! I got over feeling sorry for
myself really quickly. Life is a series of learning important lessons.
You have to pay attention in class. Thinking of her helps me remember
there’s always someone who has it harder than I do.
Overall, my twenties were rich and exciting. I made mistakes, met Joe,
graduated from college, experienced motherhood, interned at the homicide
bureau, produced a safety video, and prepared myself to start over again
with a new story. I don’t know how I ended up with such a colorful,
remarkable life, but I am thankful for all I have done and all that
I have.
Now that you know my background and what I do, I encourage you to use
the rest of my book to think about your own experiences.
Please remember that mediums serve people both living and dead. We bridge
the gap. If you have ever questioned whether there is an afterlife,
I hope this book will help you to see that indeed there is a whole world
on the other side.
Excerpted from “Don’t Kiss Them Good-Bye” by Allison
DuBois.
Copyright © 2005 by Allison DuBois. Published by Fireside
Books, a division of Simon and Shuster.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced
without written permission from the publishers.
