By Stephen Briggs

(republished from The Galactic Press with permission)

Jane Doherty is the author of Awakening The Mystic Gifts:  The Truth About
What It Means To Be Psychic.  She is a renowned psychic, medium and
channeler, who has been featured on Fox Network News, CNN, The Today Show, Sightings, NSNBC Investigates, WB11 and numerous publications, including The New York Times, The New York Post and The Philadelphia Inquirer.  She has been retained as an expert government witness for a U.S. Postal Service investigation of a major mail fraud case involving psychic claims, and has assisted law authorities in cases of missing persons and homicides.  She has investigated countless hauntings, including the Lizzie Borden House in Massachusetts, the Palace Hotel in San Francisco, the William Heath Davis House in San Diego as well as the Proprietary House in New Jersey, the only original royal governor's mansion still standing in the U.S. today.

Q:  WHEN DID YOU BECOME AWARE THAT YOU HAD THIS ABILITY?

A:  I had some experiences as a child, but I never called them "psychic.” I
simply thought the images I received were just the normal functioning of my mind. I would often see an image that later happened in real life. However, I believed my mind created the image and by staying positive I could actually create what I imagined.  I had more of a fascination about how the mind creates destiny than thinking I had psychic ability.  It wasn't until I went for a psychic reading about 25 years ago that I became aware of psychic ability or the possibility that I had that ability. During that reading, the psychic told me that I was psychic and that I would develop the ability and become a famous psychic. I did not believe her. However, readings with more than 150 psychics indicated that this was my "supposed" destiny. Therefore, I set out to develop the ability to prove or disprove the prediction.

After intensely focusing on developing the ability I became aware of my
breakthrough while enjoying a performance by Wayne Newton. There was a blank screen on the stage slightly behind and to the side of Wayne. After watching the performance for a while I saw a detailed image of an Indian woman on the movie screen. It lasted for more than 20 minutes. I assumed it was going to be part of the show. When I asked my husband, if he saw the image of an Indian woman on the screen, he replied that the screen has blank. At that moment I knew I had broken through the mental and emotional barriers and had become psychic.

Q:  HOW DO YOU KNOW WHEN A GHOST IS NEAR?

A:  I have a very unique way of sensing when a ghost is near. My "gut"
reacts by contracting and protruding from 3 to 5 inches from my normal
size. It is very visible to any one that is near me. I guess you could say
that is my own personal ghostometer. Another person may react to a ghost by feeling a tingling sensation, a cold breeze, a cob web feeling brushing on
their skin, or just feeling the sensation of a presence near or watching
them.

Q:  DO THEY EVER SCARE YOU?

A:  No. I do not have any fear of ghosts and to date there have been no
encounters that scared me enough to not ever do another investigation.  I have had a few unnerving moments, but I was able to gain my composure
quickly or talk myself into being calm in each of those encounters.  Those
encounters were only when I slept alone in a haunted place while I
investigated the building. One was in the Heath Davis House in San Diego,
California. The other encounters were in New Jersey at the Sea Holly Inn in
Cape May and Liquid Assets, a haunted Go - Go Bar in South Plainfield. 

Q:  ARE GHOSTS HARMFUL - CAN THEY HURT YOU?

A:  Ghosts usually are not harmful. However, strong emotions of the people in a haunting situation can be an energy source for a ghost. The energy from a person's emotions can actually "feed" the ghost and give it the ability to manifest or give it greater strength than normal. The first step I have to do before doing an investigation is to calm the people first who are having the encounters so that I can get the correct read on who or why the ghost is haunting. If there are manifestations that seem "scary" because of the strong emotions, then I may read the situation as a negative ghost, which may not be the case. Therefore, the strong emotions could influence how I perceive the ghost and cause me to receive a false impression of it.

Q:  ARE GHOSTS AWARE OF YOUR PRESENCE?

A:  If a ghost has a consciousness, then it is definitely aware of my
presence.  As a psychic, I have more energy around me than a non-psychic
person.  Ghosts can sense this extra energy field and will gravitate to it
in order to communicate if possible. There have been a few occasions in
which I have been pushed or touched by the ghost and some have played a
"hide" and "seek" game with me so that I could not detect them and "send
them off" to the light.

Q:  DO THEY KNOW THEY ARE GHOSTS?

A:  If the person did not die tragically or suddenly, then they will know
almost immediately that they are in a new dimension and no longer in their
earthly body. Therefore, they would recognize that they are in another form
of energy and no longer have a dense, physical body.

Q:  IS IT FRIGHTENING FOR THEM?  IS IT LONELY?  ARE SOME OF THEM TROUBLED ABOUT SOMETHING?

A:  Each haunting case is different. Therefore, a ghost could be frightened,
lonely or troubled about something, but usually not all of those reasons in
every ghost situation. My psychic impressions of the situation will reveal
to me what a ghost may be "feeling" in its new dimension and is part of my
psychic read on the haunted place. Most of the cases reveal a "ghost" living
in its dimension but at the same time living where it used to live or
inhabit. It is when the two worlds collide and they recognize that someone
else is living where they are living, which will trigger the manifestations. Some do not like to leave their dwelling because they are so
attached to the earthly world and do not want to leave it. Other times the
ghost may just be visiting where they once lived or are re-living an earthly
memory, so it is a temporary "haunting" situation.

Q:  ARE GHOSTS EVERYWHERE?

A:  Hmm. That is a "tricky" question. If we believe they are just in another
dimension, which is around us but on another plane that we can not visibly
see, then I can say, yes, they are all around us. However, there is life on
the other side, so I do not believe we can communicate with them at will all
the time. We do not stop existing. We just leave our body, which is the car
we drive on the earth plane. Nor do I believe they are all earth bound and
everywhere.  We still spiritually grow and continue our path of enlightenment in the next dimension, so there is activity there just as we have a life here.

Q:  WHY CAN SOME PEOPLE SEE THEM AND OTHERS NOT?

A:  I believe the ability to see them is random. The conditions have to be
right for both the spirit and the living person to be fortunate enough to
glimpse them.  Part of those conditions has to do with the speed of our
vibration and the speed of the spirit’s vibration. When both are vibrating
closest to the same speed then we are fortunate to have the experience.
Psychics see them more often because of the increased energy field around a sensitive person, which the ghosts in turn can use to manifest themselves.

Q:  IN EXTREME CASES, WE'VE HEARD OF PEOPLE SO AFRAID, THEY HAVE HAD TO FLEE THEIR HOMES.  CAN THE GHOSTS FOLLOW THEM?

A:  If the ghost is attached to a person and not the building, then the
ghost will follow them and go to the new home.

Q: DOES EVERY HOUSE HAVE GHOSTS?

A:  All houses or dwellings do not have ghosts inhabiting them however, a
house or dwelling could have a "dormant" ghost in it that does not manifest
in any way until an incident triggers off a manifestation. If a person has a
ghost in their house, the number one trigger that starts it manifesting is
usually construction to the house. Changing room patterns and heavy
construction seems to disturb them.

Q:  IF YOU HAVE A GHOST IN YOUR HOUSE, SHOULD YOU ATTEMPT TO GET RID OF IT? HOW DO YOU GO ABOUT THIS?

A:  Absolutely! It is important to attempt to tell the ghost that this is
now your dwelling and not theirs anymore. You should tell them to go to the
light. It is important to be assertive, so they know you own the dwelling,
that you are frightened and do not want it to manifest. Sometimes, this is
the only thing you need to do, and the manifestation will stop on its own
without needing any outside help. There is a rule in the spirit world. They
can not manifest if it frightens you, so being assertive can stop the
activity in some cases.

Q:  ARE THERE MORE GHOSTS IN A CEMETARY?

A:  Personally, I do not believe that cemeteries are very haunted. You may
have an occasional haunting of someone newly deceased who may be trying to determine they are dead. Therefore, they visit to try to understand their
new condition. Our funeral ritual helps the living witness the end of the
person's life on earth and our funeral ritual also helps the newly deceased
determine that it is indeed dead. If the person is confused, seeing their
body or seeing people mourn them will help them realize their ghostly
condition.

Q:  WHAT ARE ORBS THAT SOMETIMES APPEAR IN PICTURES, ARE THEY GHOSTS?

A:  Orbs can be particles of dusts or they can at times be a ghostly
manifestation. Before the onset of digital cameras there were no "orb"
photos. Some scientists are proving that the orbs are nothing more than
specks of dust. However, I do not think that we can make a blanket statement one way or the other. I think that each photograph needs to be scrutinized before we can label it a ghost or just a speck of dust.

Q:  WHAT WAS YOUR MOST SPINE TINGLING EXPERIENCE?

A:  While investigating the Sea Holly Inn in Cape May, New Jersey, a ghost
climbed into bed with me. I froze and couldn't move and was absolutely
fearful.  I kept hearing it call a woman's name. After a moment I managed to tell it to leave, which he did. However, a half-hour later it came back.
Only this time I seemed to tap more into the spirit world than I had never
before encountered.  I heard conversations in the room next door and the bed banging all night long, but I was the only person in the Inn. Needless to
say, I stayed awake the remainder of the night with my light fully on just
listening to the conversations, and praying that in the morning I would
discover that a couple had occupied that room during the night. However, at
daybreak I learned there was no one in the room and I had to accept that I
heard "ghostly conversation" all through the night. The experience seemed to expand the psychic senses around me for the next day as I walked around Cape May involuntarily taping into bits and pieces of other worldly
conversations. My concern was that I would not be able to close down this
new opening. However, once I left Cape May, I no longer heard the bits and
pieces of "whispers" and was relieved that this new phenomenon would only occasionally happen in a sleep-over situation.

I investigated the Lizzie Borden house and had to sleep in the Borden's
bedroom. I did not sleep all night because the bed vibrated and I awakened
several times to 3 knocks on the head board of the bed. The most unnerving
situation in this investigation happened during the séance. I had never done
a séance in a house where there had been a murder. The spirit of Abby Borden came through but with such force, it nearly knocked me off my chair and I almost lost control of the situation. She used my body to free herself from the trapped earth bound energy just enough to be able to communicate through me during the séance. It was the first séance that frightened me and the only one that made me feel physically "sore" after the communication. She actually knocked me into a trance as I spoke her message verbally to the circle of people in the séance. It was an unnerving moment because that had never happened before to me in any séance situation or spirit communication.