The Medium Next Door: Adventures of a Real-Life Ghost Whisperer
288
The Medium Next Door: Adventures of a Real-Life Ghost Whisperer
288eBook
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Overview
Maureen wouldn't open herself up to communicating with spirits again until she was in a near-fatal car crash. Soon after, she had hundreds of voices in her head, many of them helping her crack cases and expose fraud in her role as a litigation paralegal at a large Boston law firm. Accepting her gift but still keeping it to herself, she married and had two children.
It wasn't until tragedy struck on 9/11 and Maureen was bombarded with messages from the spirits that she realized she had to stop hiding her ability and put it to good use. She left her job at the law firm and opened the holistic healing center Pathways to Healing and launched the cancer foundation Manifest a Miracle. Today, she goes by the title Medium Mom and strives to balance raising children, raising the dead, assisting the dying, searching for missing children, and teaching about life after death.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780757391873 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Health Communications, Incorporated |
| Publication date: | 04/07/2011 |
| Sold by: | SIMON & SCHUSTER |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 288 |
| File size: | 3 MB |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
Awakenings
I was born a 'veil baby' or a 'caulbearer.' This simply means that I was born with remnants of the amniotic sac around my head. In days of old, this was considered a sign of good luck. People believed veil babies were gifted with the ability to see the future or to dream things that would come to pass. Some even believed such a child would be able to communicate with the dead.
I'm the seventh of nine children born and raised outside Boston, Massachusetts, in an old white farmhouse. We were seven girls and two boys crammed into four small bedrooms, and we had to battle over one bathroom. I shared a room with my two sisters, Sarah and Patrice. The peeling wallpaper was very seventies—big white daisies on a bright yellow background. Sarah and I reluctantly shared a double bed, and each night I geared up for 'the blanket brawl.' Because I was smaller, I usually lost.
My dad, Jim Dalton, was a blue-collar worker—a technician for the Boston Gas Company. He serviced commercial stoves in restaurants throughout the city. He always had a funny story to tell and a beer to share, and he'd give you the last two bucks in his pocket if you needed it more than he did. Meanwhile, my mom, Gracie Dalton, stayed at home holding down the fort. In her spare time, she fought for the cause of the week. If there was a wrong to right or a Democrat to be elected, you called my mom. She had a knack for getting things done and done fast. With the old rotary phone receiver wedged between her shoulder and neck, cigarette in one hand, Maxwell House coffee in the other, she went to town organizing volunteers, fighting city hall, and sticking up for the underdog.
From oldest to youngest, my siblings are: Rosie, Jimmy, Liz, Maggie, Joe, Marygrace, Sarah, and Patrice. Each of us has a story to tell, a challenge conquered, and a tragedy triumphed.
As one story goes, when I was about eighteen months old, I'd watch my older siblings play in the yard through the window, being too small to go outdoors with them. My younger sister, Sarah, who was almost a year old, would sit in the playpen next to me. Because I was teething at the time, I would gnaw on the windowsills while I stood there, and this became a habit. What my mother didn't realize was that I was ingesting the paint chips that flaked off the windowsill. Lead-based paint, which has a sweet taste, is very addicting. In fact, this sort of addiction is an actual disorder called pica—the compulsive craving of nonnutritive substances like paper or paint chips. It's more common in young children. Anyway, after a couple of months of my ingesting these paint chips, my mother found me unconscious on the floor of our living room. She picked me up, but I was unresponsive and turning blue, and so she immediately rushed me to Cardinal Cushing Hospital in Brockton, Massachusetts. The doctors were baffled and could not figure out what was wrong with me. My brain began to swell, and I slipped into a coma. Dr. Murphy, our family pediatrician, scoured through medical books well into the night. He finally figured out that I had severe lead-paint poisoning and had me transferred to Children's Hospital in Boston.
Upon arrival at Children's Hospital, a team of surgeons quickly wheeled me into surgery. They placed a brain shunt in my skull to relieve the fluid on my brain (a condition called acute encephalitis). My parents were given the grim news that I would most likely not make it through the night. Unwavering in her faith, my mother took the news standing up. She began a calling crusade, contacting friends, relatives, priests, religious organizations—to put it simply, she called in the God squad. I was put on prayer lists from Boston to Ireland, Italy, and Portugal—everywhere my mother had friends and relatives living.
Their prayers were answered, and I survived the night. But I remained in a coma for two and a half weeks. My parents stayed by my side and took turns sleeping in the chair by my crib. In addition to the brain shunt, needles were inserted in my heels to extract the lead from my blood through a process called chelation.
I spent the next three years in and out of the hospital. Doctors informed my parents that I would be severely disabled because the amount of lead I had ingested was capable of killing five male adults. The disease typically causes brain damage, mental retardation, blindness, and death.
In my unit at the hospital, there were many children poisoned by lead paint. I shared a room with a toddler named Sapphire. We were the same age, and she had severe lead-paint poisoning as well. Nobody ever came to see Sapphire. My mom rocked us both to sleep each night, taking Sapphire under her wing. Mom tells me that we were always holding hands, giving each other strength to get well.
Several months passed and still no family member ever came to visit my surrogate sister. Although they could barely feed their nine children, my mother applied for guardianship of Sapphire. On the day the adoption was to be finalized, and my new sister was well enough to come home, Sapphire's grandmother showed up in court to protest. I never saw Sapphire again.
Table of Contents
Introduction ix
1 Awakenings 1
2 Back from the Dead 11
3 My Miracle Baby 37
4 Postcards from Heaven 55
5 Sean Michael-Tragedy to Triumph 79
6 I'm Not Dead-I'm Different 95
7 Married to a Medium 111
8 Transitions 121
9 Mission for the Missing 139
10 Good Grief 151
11 Hollywood Hills 161
12 Psychic Children 183
13 To Live For 195
14 Jonathan's Sunshine 207
15 Surviving for Bo 219
16 Expect the Unexpected 229
17 Tales from the Trenches 245
Conclusion 255
Appendix: Frequently Asked Questions 259
Acknowledgments 267
Resources 271
About the Author 273
What People are Saying About This
"Maureen Hancock is a gifted individual, but she's also a gift to the rest of us. Her wonderful book takes us inside the world of a true clairvoyant and sheds a cathartic light on some of life's great mysteries. I found her story to be inspirational, humorous, and beautifully written. Two words: highly recommended."
—Bobby Farrelly, director and screenwriter
"Maureen Hancock is the Real Deal! Maureen's innate ability to connect and receive messages from our loved ones who have passed is truly a Divine Gift. As a law enforcement officer for 30 years; logic is supported by factual evidence. In 2006, my life changed after her personal reading that was fact driven, connected me to a dear loved one who had passed decades ago; long before the age of computers, internet, and Google. The Medium Next Door will open your heart and soul to a new belief that our loved ones really don't die, they are 'just different now,' as Maureen explains with her connections to Spirit. Her book is full of personal life experiences that are uplifting and comforting, taking away doubt and leaving the reader with strength, hope, and peace."
—John M. LaCross, RI Police Chief and Retired Major of RI State Police
— John M. LaCross,
"Having spent five years producing Ghost Whisperer, we didn't realize how much we could still learn and how entertained we could still be exploring 'the other side,' until we read Maureen Hancock's The Medium Next Door. She's the real deal, remarkably accessible, and surprisingly funny. She's your best friend, 'the medium.' This book is a joy."
—Ian Sander & Kim Moses, Executive Producers, Ghost Whisperer
"When our four-year-old little angel, 'Lulu,' came through Maureen, it was beyond this world! It was beyond any experience I have ever had. Maureen delivers messages with power, humor, and grace. Maureen says that she is clairaudient, but I have witnessed her taking on the complete mannerisms of lost loved ones. Maureen is a gift to the living and the dead! She is the real deal! For anyone who will pass away . . . for anyone who has lost a loved one . . . this book and Maureen are a must-have! If you have ever doubted heaven, doubt no more! Thank you, Maureen, for sharing your gift with the world!"
—Gretchan Pyne, The Lulu Foundation, author of Lulu's Rose Colored Glasses and others (visit www.lulubellebooks.com)
— Gretchan Pyne,
"In The Medium Next Door, Maureen Hancock weaves the fabric of everyday life into accounts of communication across different realms—providing the reader with a comfortable and believable platform. Not only is Maureen the 'real deal' when it comes to spirit communication she is also a grounded individual with great integrity, a caring nature, and a wonderful sense of humor. I was fortunate enough to personally experience a reading with Maureen—conducted under restricted conditions. She shone brightly in this process, as did my smile after receiving unmistakable validations from my beloved son Brandon."
—Mark Ireland, author of Soul Shift: Finding Where the Dead Go
"Maureen's ability to interpret and understand messages from the deceased is remarkable. She describes events, locations, and situations so eerily; it's as if she were present when these events occurred. I'm amazed and awestruck at her comprehension and specific knowledge of the lives of people that she's never even met. Her interpretations are inspiring and comforting to the grandest skeptic. A must read for anyone that has lost a loved one and has questions about death, dying, and the continuity of life."
—Cindy Hall Felts, Alamance County Homicide Detective
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