Every year during Halloween season, I receive a number of invitations from the major TV and radio networks for interviews about the spirit world, paranormal phenomena and other strange and unexplained happenings.

It is also the time when a lot of horror stories appear in the movies and various magazines. I have been so associated with these topics that my children have dubbed me “The Halloween Personality.”

But no more! This year I have decided not to appear on any television program about Halloween unless the questions I am asked have not been asked before. Frankly, I’m tired of answering the same questions over and over again.

And yet, people don’t seem to get tired of asking the same questions and of getting the same answers. So, I would like to break my silence, hoping that the little insight I can share with my audience will contribute to some degree to a more enlightened discussion.

I would like to communicate with my deceased parents pertaining to some important family matters. Can you help me?

I do not encourage contacting the dead for the purpose of asking them questions about mundane matters. If the dead do not manifest in any manner to the living, that means they have already moved on in the spirit world and we should not disturb them anymore.

However, if the deceased individual or relative manifests himself or herself to the living, then that’s a different story.  This means the spirit is earthbound, or that he or she has unfinished business with the living and, unless that is settled, the dead will continue to seek out a channel or medium to communicate his or her message.

But is it true we can communicate with the dead? According to Christian teaching, what manifests to the living is the devil, because when a person dies he remains dead and cannot communicate with the living anymore. Do you have proof it is possible to do this?

I have a number of personal experiences that the dead can communicate with the living and numerous other  testimonies of people around the world.  There are many fully documented cases of such communication that have been investigated and verified by researchers and parapsychologists from both the West and the East.

But for the Christian skeptics, the best proof can be found in the Bible itself. In Chapter 28 verses 3-25 of the Book of Samuel I, you can read the story in King Saul of Israel who successfully consulted the spirit of the Prophet Samuel through the help of a medium at Endor.

The fact that God has prohibited the living from contacting the dead is to me the best proof that it is possible, because one does not have to prohibit something which cannot be done.

Can the spirit of the dead person know the situation of the living? Can we call them for help?

Yes, if the dead person’s consciousness is still focused on the earth plane, if he is still earthbound. Then he will know the situation of the living relatives he has left behind. And he may still be able to help or assist them in times of need. But once the deceased person has ascended to the higher spiritual realm, then he will no longer be concerned with the earth.

How true is the belief that the spirit of the dead stays on earth up to 40 days before it moves on?

No one knows exactly the origin of this belief, but it is only by tradition, perhaps born out of the recurrence of the number 40 in the Bible, that this belief has been adopted by the Christian world.

For example, the great flood in Noah’s time lasted 40 days. The children of Israel wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. Jesus Christ fasted for 40 days. He stayed 40 days on earth after the Resurrection, and so on.

But it is not true that the spirit of the newly departed stays on earth for 40 days before it moves on. It depends on the consciousness of the dead.

If the person’s consciousness is earthbound, he may remain on the earth plane longer, even for several years.

On the other hand, a highly evolved person may ascend to the higher realm in the spirit world immediately after death.

If you want to know more about these topics, read my book “Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Ghosts, But Were Afraid To Ask,” available at National Book Store and Powerbooks.

For suggestions on topics you want discussed in this column, e-mail [email protected].