Steven Hunter - Sylvia Browne: Visits from the Afterlife

Ghosts, Spirits, and Hauntings?

I recently read a book by Sylvia Browne called Visits from the Afterlife. Browne is recognized as a psychic and states that she regularly has experiences with people that have past on. In her book she specifies the difference between what we know as a ghost and a spirit. She claims that ghosts will still have the markings on them of their death. For instance, if a being visits you and it still has two bullet holes in its forehead than it is a ghost. A spirit will have no earthly markings on its appearance. She argues that the beings have not completely crossed over into the other side and are usually harmless.

I found the book really enjoyable; however, some of her claims are just too weird to really take as truth. For instance, she claims that she has a special spirit that regularly visits her to use her body to talk through. That just seems too strange to comprehend. Her claims though do have some good things to think about. She claims that the spirits and ghosts make themselves known and don’t accept their death because they are afraid to view God and his “other side.” This is interesting because she makes it seem as though you have a choice, instead of being forced into the next realm. How many of us would choose to hang around and contact our loved ones? I think I would just go because I know contacting my loved ones would freak them out and scare them so I wouldn’t want to do that to them. She is a well known author and writes some really interesting things about spirits and the afterlife. I would encourage others to read some of her books, it would really give us more things to think about, and especially when applying things we have learned from this class.