People tend to think you've lost it!

Thank heaven for shows like Medium. People like me are no longer thought to be daft. We see things that others cannot; we hear things that others cannot. Frightening things. Sometimes we know when someone's going to die, but cannot stop it. That to me is the worst because when it happens I feel responsible. One time I was watching TV and a personality I was fond of came onscreen. In my mind I thought, too bad he's going to die next week. His heart will fail. The following Tuesday he died of a massive heart attack while having open heart surgery. Imagine if I'd called his agent or someone close and told them he was going to die? Would anyone have listened? I had a premonition and could only tell close family members.

My first experience came when I was barely three. A scraggly looking dog--I later learned it was a hell hound--appeared in my bedroom one night and woke me from a sound sleep. Large, black dog with teeth bared. I screamed for my parents and they brought me into their bed. I begged my mother to leave the light on, but she didn't. After she and my father dozed off, the dog appeared again and crawled onto the bed and came right up to snarl in my face. That was the start of a series of frighteneing experiences. I remember in the movie The Sixth Sense there was a young boy who claimed that he saw dead bodies. I remembered thinking, you're not the only one, kid.

A few months back at a Halloween book signing in Mass., a dozen spiritualists came from Salem to have a discussion with the horror writers who were there. Three all totaled. One read into me and told I should write a book about being a sensitive for those who have the same gift--gift, that's questionable--so that more people would speak up. She saw this in me and I've been thinking about it. But where to start? I guess I could advertise for others to include to finally break the myth that those who see differently aren't always psychotic.

By the way, as a PS to this article, if you've had any of the above experiences, please feel free to share them with me.

Dana