The Mysterious Light in the Office
One afternoon, while working with an Australian bookkeeper, I noticed an unusual brightness in my office. A warm white-yellow light filled the room, illuminating my papers as though someone had turned on the sun. Curious, I asked her, “Did someone just pass away?”
To my surprise, she said yes—it was her brother. I asked if she ever felt his presence around her, and she replied that he often checked in on her. Then I asked if she felt him nearby that day. She looked over her right shoulder and quietly said, “Yes.”
I told her that I could see him, appearing like Casper the Friendly Ghost from the comics I read as a child. She wasn’t surprised—she said his energy was always around, watching over everything she did. Although I had seen auras and often sensed my guides, this was the first time I had clearly seen what some might call a “dead soul” or, perhaps more accurately, a living spirit. I never saw her or her brother again, but that encounter reminded me that souls often return to help their loved ones.
The Spirit in the Victorian Home
Later, as a trustee for one of my clients, I encountered another fascinating experience. My client had just purchased a beautiful home in Ross, California, built in the late 1800s. It had once belonged to a well-known celebrity. One night, we heard strange noises echoing through the house, so I decided to install infrared cameras to detect any movement.
The following night, the cameras captured something extraordinary—a ghostly image of a woman and her dog. The woman appeared to be wearing clothing from a century ago. After some research, we discovered that a previous owner had indeed lived there with her dog and matched the appearance of the apparition. We concluded that she was still keeping watch over her beloved home, unwilling to let go.
Ghostly Encounters Across America
Another memorable experience took place in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, along the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers—a place I used to visit often for kayaking. I once stayed overnight in a Civil War–era hotel that turned out to be incredibly spooky. I heard footsteps and strange noises throughout the night and even moved my bed closer to the window. When I asked the manager about it the next morning, she simply said, “Oh, there are lots of ghosts from the Civil War still lingering around here.”
Similar experiences have happened during my stays at an old hotel in Nevada City, California. These encounters remind me that spirits—or souls—are with us all the time. Your soul, after all, chose your body to learn specific lessons in this lifetime. It often expresses itself through your personality. I can only imagine what it must have been like for someone like John Brown during the Civil War, trying to free enslaved people—perhaps those spirits still linger, too.
Are Souls Real?
When people ask me whether souls are real, I share these stories and many more. Souls are just like us, but they’ve simply transitioned to another state of being—some not yet realizing they’ve passed on.
Healing and Releasing Attached Souls
I once attended a workshop where the instructor helped participants release “attached” souls. At one point, a soul that had been with me actually transferred to my partner, and the instructor had to guide it home.
Soul Travel and Healing Beyond the Body
I’ve also experienced soul travel and explored life between lives—both profound practices that I highly recommend. Perhaps the most extraordinary moment occurred during a healing session, when a soul dressed in a brown suit entered my body seeking healing of its own. I immediately recognized the energy as someone I’d connected with before—the white carnation in his lapel confirmed it. Even the healer was astonished; he said he had never witnessed the healing of a previous soul through a current body.
