We are Not Forgotten: George Anderson’s Messages of Hope from the Other Side

367 Pages·1991·1.09 MB·English

by  Joel Martin

WE ARE NOT FORGOTTEN
George Anderson’s Messages of Hope from the Other Side
JOEL MARTIN
and
PATRICIA ROMANOWSKI
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G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS
NEW YORK
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G. P. Putnam’s Sons
Publishers Since 1838
200 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10016
“Rainy Day” by Molly Martinek. Reprinted with the kind permission of Dennis
and Suzie Martinek.
“Gene’s” poem reprinted with the kind permission of his sister Kim.
Copyright © 1991 by Joel Martin and PAR Bookworks, Ltd.
All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any
form without permission. Published simultaneously in Canada
Designed by Rhea Braunstein
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Martin, Joel.
We are not forgotten: George Anderson’s messages of hope from the other side /
Joel Martin and Patricia Romanowski. p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 0-399-13621-5 1. Spiritualism. 2. Anderson, George.
I. Romanowski, Patricia. II. Anderson, George. III. Title. BF1290.M27
1991 90-23540 CIP
133.9'3—dc20
Printed in the United States of America
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
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Acknowledgments
Literally thousands of people throughout the United States, Canada, and the
world have given generously of their time to make this book possible. We are
indebted to them and many others who have contributed to our work in so many
ways. It would be impossible to name them all, but we are deeply grateful to
each and every one.
We would also especially like to thank those people who shared their readings
and experiences with us but whose stories do not appear here. By the time we
were ready to write, we realized we had amassed ten times more material than
could fit in a single book. Still, you should know that we learned so much from
each of you, and we hope that is reflected here.
We owe a special debt of gratitude to those people who gladly agreed to be
identified by their real names. With your help psychic phenomena is emerging
from the shadows and into the light.
Our thanks, then, to: Bill and Jeannine Ayres, Sri Chinmoy, Dr. Joseph
Casarona, M.D., the Compassionate Friends of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania,
Josephine Cosenza, John and Nancy Elliot and their family, Dr. Gerald Epstein,
Carol Gadell, Fonda Gadell, Daniel Gardner, Kim Gardner, Robert C. Gottlieb,
Muriel Horenstein, Patricia Ippolito, Dr. Leonard Jasen, Elaine Kaplan and the
spirit of Jason, Roxanne Salch Kaplan, Suzie Kenzakoski, Charles X. Kielhurn,
the spirit of David Licata, Carol McIlmurray and family, Eileen Maher, Dennis
and Suzie Martinek, Joseph Matyas, Kristen and Randy Micheletti, Carol
Muschinski, Mary O’Shaughnessy, Peter and Stacey Pacifico, Anna Preston and
the spirit of Jessie, Richard Romanowski, Richard Ruhl, Kristina Rus, John
Smith, Carol St. John and family, Pasqual Schievella, Yolanda Schmidt, Elaine
and Joe Stillwell, Max Toth, Neil Vineberg, and Robyn Willis.
Special thanks to Stephen Kaplan of the Parapsychology Institute of America for
generously sharing his vast knowledge of parapsychology and his friendship.
As always, our most sincere appreciation to our dedicated literary agent, Sarah
Lazin. And to everyone at G. P. Putnam’s Sons and Berkley for their tireless
efforts on our behalf: our editor George Coleman, Faith Sale, David Shanks,
Roger Cooper, Marilyn Ducksworth, Patricia Kelly, Suzanne Herz, and
Andrew Zeller.
In addition we would like to acknowledge individually the special people who
stood by us throughout.
My heartfelt thanks to Joel, the true author of this series, for having a vision that
included me, and to George, for giving me several gifts this past year, all more
precious than he will ever know. I’d like to thank Robert and Rochelle Bashe
whose love renders the suffix “in-law” irrelevant. My sister Mary Romanowski
Vitro devoted weeks to processing transcripts and a lifetime to being my best
friend. Johnetta: welcome home. As always my husband, Philip Bashe, made
everything possible, bearable, and often even fun, during what we will someday
look back on as “that year.”
—P.R.
I would like to thank my parents, George, Sr., and Eleanor Anderson, and my
family: Alfred, Dolores, James, and George Anderson, as well as Janice
Goldberg, Donna Koopman, Donald Walker, and family and friends in the
United States and in Europe. Thanks to my best friend, Neal Sims, who’s always
there with a sense of humor, and to Andrew Ribaudo for never failing to
represent me so nicely on the telephone, especially since it’s so hard for people
to get appointments. Finally, thanks to the Unitarian-Universalist Association for
allowing me to breathe, spiritually and religiously.
—G.A.
I’d like to express my special appreciation to my family, Sadie Cohen, the late
Charles Cohen, and to Evelyn Moleta. A special thank you to my coauthor,
Patricia Romanowski, who trusted enough to embark on this journey with
George and me with that rarest of gifts, an open mind.
My eternal thanks to Elise LeVaillant for her continuing support and ideas. Her
sharing her vast knowledge of both the scientific and the psychic with me has
guided a large part of my research for this book. Her love and spirit continue to
be my inspiration.
And, of course, to Christina Martin for her years of loyalty and patience, as well
as for accomplishing the gigantic task of transcribing literally hundreds of hours
of taped interviews. I couldn’t have done it without you.
—J.M.
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Dedications
To the loving memories of “Uncle” Paul Giordano, Peter Daidola,Jr., Vincent
Buscemi, and Sister Mary Sophia, O.P., who taught love, compassion, and
charity. Her actions spoke louder than words.
—G.A.
To the memories of Father John Papallo, who will never be forgotten, and Mary
Jasen.
—J.M.
To the wonderful Dougie Vitro and his wonderful dad, Rick.
—P.R.
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Epigraph
“The night approaches . . . bringing dread
Of that irrevocable journey to eternal sleep.
Is it so awesome?
Ask the dead.”
—Lloyd Hartley
“The thought of death leaves me in perfect peace, for I have a firm conviction
that our spirit is a being of indestructible nature.”
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
“A man’s dying is more the survivors’ affair than his own.”
—Thomas Mann
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A Note About the Readings
Through the years, George and I have kept detailed records and notes on
readings, in addition to the hundreds now stored on video and audio tape.
Largely because of the success of We Don't Die many people contacted us to
volunteer their personal readings and experiences. Every full reading that
appears in this book is used with the express written permission of the subject.
The names of professionals, such as doctors and therapists, are all real unless
otherwise indicated. For personal reasons, some subjects requested anonymity,
so in a few cases we have changed names and other identifying details. The
readings themselves—the words spoken by George and the subjects—are real.
Each reading presented herein was taken verbatim from audio or video
recordings, or from handwritten notes I took during the readings, or transcripts
kindly provided by subjects from their tape recordings of their readings. These
transcripts have been edited where necessary for clarity and brevity. They have
also been reviewed by the subject whenever possible for accuracy. However,
except for the reading itself, information regarding the subjects, the spirits, and
their backgrounds was obtained in interviews conducted after the reading. For
reasons of clarity only, some stories precede the readings that in real life
they followed. The words are presented here in the order they were spoken
minus pauses, repetitions, and irrelevant asides, which are noted by ellipses.
(George is probably the only psychic medium in the world known to interrupt
himself midreading to complain about his latest electric bill.)
Are all readings as fascinating as the ones we’ve included here? Certainly not.
Spirits, like subjects, can be surprisingly dull. But lackluster readings are no less
accurate than any others, just less interesting. We wish to stress that we didn’t
select readings simply for their level of accuracy in an attempt to make George
"look good.” In fact, several of George’s most unusual readings are actually less
accurate on some points than most others. Yet because they involve uncommon
circumstances or shed light on the mediumistic process, we felt they should be
included here. We've noticed for a long time that spirits whose physical lives
or deaths were unusual or in some way dramatic often come forth with more
information in greater detail. Obviously, these readings make for better, more
interesting (book) reading.
—JOEL MARTIN
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Foreword
Shortly after We Don't Die: George Anderson's Conversations with the Other
Side was published in March 1988, George, my coauthor Patricia Romanowski,
and I began receiving mail from readers throughout the United States and
Canada. Subsequent publication in many foreign countries brought us more
letters from around the world. Because most of them were sent to our publisher,
then forwarded to us weeks later, we were not always able to respond as quickly
as we would have liked. Within a few months thousands of letters had found us,
and while we made our best efforts to answer as many as possible, we could not
answer them all. For this we apologize and thank you all again for taking the
time to write to us about our first book. We appreciated your comments and
questions, many of which we hope to answer here, and invite you to write again.
As George Anderson, Jr., and I read the letters, we noticed a recurring theme:
People needed to know not only that their loved ones continue to exist in some
form and dimension, but that they still play a role in their lives here on earth.
By the time of We Don't Die's publication, George had been publicly known as a
psychic medium for over eight years, giving readings both privately and live on
my New York-area talk-radio program and cable-television show Psychic
Channels. During that time I worked closely with him and witnessed firsthand
not only his remarkable ability to receive communications from people who
have passed on to the other side, the as-yet uncharted nonphysical dimension we
inhabit after physical death, but its effect on people who had readings with him.
Subjects, we call them. The readings performed live on radio and on
Psychic Channels, for example, were for total strangers. George was never even
told their names Much of the time, in fact, he didn't even see his subjects,
conducting readings over the telephone. After many years as a media journalist, I
am not prone to hyperbole, but simply put. George showed incredible accuracy,
not hundreds but thousands of times. Also, during these years he made himself
available to scientists and experts from the fields of medicine, psychology,
physics, and other disciplines for countless tests and demonstrations. With few
exceptions, anyone interested in observing George was welcome.
These eight years were vitally important to George personally as well as
publicly. The youngest child of a suburban Long Island family, he showed the
first indications of his psychic ability at age six following a nearly fatal bout
with chicken pox that brought on an inflammation of the brain and spinal cord
known as encephalomyelitis. George, who suffered a raging fever and
temporary paralysis, was unable to walk for two months. Several experts have
since theorized that perhaps the fever or the virus somehow damaged or changed
George’s brain in a way that made his communications possible. Other
renowned psychics’ abilities presented themselves only after a brain-damaging
incident; the world-famous psychic Peter Hurkos, for example, was not aware he
possessed any psychic ability until he recovered from a four-story fall. Shortly
after George’s illness, he innocently—and accurately-predicted that a young
friend’s grandmother would die, and around the same time began seeing visions.
His life was changed forever.
George’s capacity to receive psychic messages made him different, and he
suffered greatly as a child. One nun in the parochial school he attended
threatened to “beat him sane,” even though his Roman Catholic faith accepted
the psychic abilities of saints such as Joan of Arc and Anthony of Padua. When
George was in his teens, the school tried convincing his parents to commit him
to one of New York State’s most notorious psychiatric institutions.
Misdiagnosed as a passive schizophrenic, George was prescribed the sedatives
Librium and Valium, which he refused to take after a short time.
For years George sought to deny his ability, but as a young man he eventually
came to terms with it. In the eight years between his first five readings on my
radio program and We Don’t Die, George grew more confident and convinced
there was a clear purpose for his gift. This was crucial, as no one is more
skeptical of his abilities than George himself, by nature something of a cynic.
That George’s ability is of special interest to the bereaved seems obvious. But in
fact, even while George was conducting dozens of readings each week, he and I
focused primarily on the readings as a means to an end. We both sought to learn
all we could about his unique psychic capabilities. We did this by recording and
analyzing the readings. Once we’d identified recurring patterns, we recognized
and better understood what appeared to be aberrations. To date, literally
thousands of readings have been collected, as well as information about the
circumstances of each. Unfortunately, the fact that George loses contact with the
other side during severe lightning storms doesn’t really tell us exactly how his
ability works. But it does seem to suggest that energy and electricity play some
role. In appendix one we describe a recent electroencephalogram (EEG) test
supporting that possibility. We believe that if the secret of George’s ability ever
becomes known, it will be through a series of minor discoveries rather than a
single dramatic breakthrough.
Following the first book’s publication, George embarked on a month-long
national tour, appearing and demonstrating live on such programs as Donahue,
Live—Regis & Kathie Lee, Larry King Live! and a host of regional television
and radio shows. A common setup pitted George against a debunker, or
skeptic. These encounters offered few surprises, unless we count the number of
times debunkers promised to “recreate” George’s demonstration—usually
through a technique magicians and phony psychics term “cold reading”—and
failed miserably. In several instances, George gave subjects information they
acknowledged could have come only from their deceased loved ones, only to be
attacked after the next commercial break by an “expert” claiming categorically
(and with no supportive evidence) that George was a fake.
In many respects, this was old hat for George. For the majority of skeptics, the
refusal to believe in a world beyond the unseen borders on fanaticism.
Inevitably, these debates degenerated into an attack on George’s spiritual beliefs,
if for no other reason than he had demonstrated his ability. In those instances
where a randomly chosen, anonymous subject confirmed all
George’s information, and in many cases tearfully thanked him, what was there
to debate? When one talk-show host tried to convince his audience that George's
readings “upset” his subjects, they shouted him down.
The lack of understanding about psychic phenomena sometimes obscured the
real issue. On one national television talk program, George found himself sitting
between a psychic who read using cards, a psychic debunker, and a politician
intent on passing legislation that would revive the so-called fortuneteller law's
which limit or prohibit psychic readings.
The politician had been motivated by a report of a phony psychic who placed a
fake “curse” on an unwitting victim and then charged $2,000 to remove it. In a
brilliant feat of deductive reasoning, the politician believed that all psychics
were fortunetellers and should be stopped.
George listened politely to the man, then piped up, “I’m not a fortuneteller, but I
can remove a curse for $1.98. Why didn’t the person just get up and walk out?”
George’s answer was greeted by enthusiastic applause.
The host then asked the politician, “Do you think what George does is
dishonest?”
“It’s entertainment,” the lawmaker answered.
“It’s an extension of my Christian religious beliefs,” George protested. “I feel
I’m performing a serious service to help people.” Suffice it to say, the tour was
never dull. In fairness, we must also mention and thank the vast majority of
program hosts and reporters who judged the evidence fairly. On a West Coast
television talk show, George correctly determined psychically that a woman had
lost her son. From the other side, the young man’s spirit explained to George that
he’d pulled his car into a rest area, fell asleep with the automobile engine
running, and was asphyxiated. Police labeled his death a suicide, something his
mother could not believe.