My New Year's Message to You

    Happy New Year all!  - Some things to consider about 2014 and for 2015: Remember that every year will have challenges whether they be financial, health, relationships or the passing of people or precious pets we love. No year should really be looked as a miserable, because we all learn from our experiences and they make us stronger, better people. 

    We need to learn not to hate, and not to judge an entire people by the actions of a few. Whether it be in a profession or a race or religion. One person doesn't represent all. Just think about this before acting.
   My mother passed just before 2014 started, but I came to terms with it quickly because she lived a good life and added so much to my life - as does anyone you love who passed, no matter how young or old they are. Grieving is a natural part of physical loss, but we need to remember those who passed in our hearts, minds and deeds.
  Instead of self-pity and wallowing in grief- Go out and do good things in their memory: like donating to a rescue, helping someone pay for groceries, cook someone a meal, visit someone in a nursing home, bring a hot cup of coffee to someone working outside... and do it in memory of someone. 
   No matter what the challenges, life is a gift. Appreciate the people in your life now, and discard the negative influences.That can be difficult, though, when the negative people are family members- but those family members need to be ignored. If it is a parent who foolishly "hates" a son because he was born gay, the son needs to ignore the parent until they come to their senses. If you deal with mentally ill relatives, after encouraging help - and they don't get it, leave them alone.
   Care for yourself. There is only one you, and YOU affect those around you. Don't wallow in grief, don't cry over what you don't have, but focus on what you do have. Life and every year will never be perfect. To think otherwise is to fool yourself.
   Appreciate the simple things: a hot coffee on a cold day, a smile from a stranger, a green light while driving, a short check out line at the store, a good book or call from a friend. Hug a dog or cat today. Look at the blue sky, sing to your favorite song. Call a friend. Surprise someone with something homemade- like brownies or a card.
   We wish you all a year of happiness and health in 2015 and if you don't have both or either, focus on what you do have, and enjoy every day.
  Wishing you a wonderful 2015,
Rob Gutro
https://www.facebook.com/ghostsandspirits.insightsfromamedium
https://www.facebook.com/RobGutroAuthorMedium
Twitter: https://twitter.com/GhostMediumBook
Amazon Author Page: amazon.com/author/robgutro

Part 2: My Interview of Randy Russell, Author "The Ghost Will See You Now"

This is part 2 of 3 of my Q&A with Randy Russell, author of the book: "The Ghost Will See You Now: Haunted

Hospitals of  the South. "This part of the interview focuses on Randy's personal ghostly interactions and some stories in the book that I found particularly "haunting."
 I recommend picking up a copy of his book. It will really give you a different feel for walking into a hospital...


PART 2:  Q&A WITH RANDY RUSSELL

Q: It seems that a good number of the hauntings were associated with the Civil War and I don't think that many people realize (as you cited) that private homes were opened up as hospitals and may contain ghosts of soldiers. Are you also a Civil War history buff?

I am not a history buff of the war, per se.  However, it’s extremely difficult, if not impossible, when you live in the South to be interested in any aspect of history and avoid coming to at least a minimal understanding of the effect on people and places of the War Between the States.  Private homes used as hospitals were widespread as the last years of the war moved from town to town and county to county.  Churches and colleges saw similar use.    

 Q: Do you belong to a ghost investigation team?

I do not. I am friends with a few paranormal investigators and talk with many.  But I am not a gizmo guy.  I think the only tool necessary to document a ghost encounter is the human heart.

Q: Have you personally had any encounters with ghosts? If so, when was your first encounter?

Great question, Rob.  Yes, I have had many encounters with ghosts.  You know, I think it may be impossible not to. I’ll probably have many more.  I think ghosts are pushing and pulling at us from the beginning so it is terrifically difficult to determine a first encounter.  I’m sure my first communication and/or interaction with the dead occurred when I was very young and I gave it little or no heed.  As with most children, a ghost simply isn’t out the ordinary. It’s someone to talk with when we’re alone.  That is, until adults talk us out it altogether.

All that said, my own first memorable paranormal experiences were aural. I would wake up in the middle of the night to someone calling my name.    

Author Randy Russell

Q: As a medium I encountered a ghost in the Washington Adventist Hospital on an elevator when I went to visit a friend in 2010 and I crossed her over into the light. Did any of these hospital ghosts cross over that you know of? 

I’m sure they do cross over and many have already.  If nothing else, they fade from weariness, I would suspect.  A haunting really isn’t likely to last forever.  Face it, most famous ghosts haven’t been seen by anyone for years, decades even.  In fact, I would suggest that the ghost a person is most likely to encounter is the ghost of someone they know or of someone who knew them. 

 Q: The story of Rachel's encounter with the ghost doctor from the Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital was particularly interesting. Did you interview Rachel or her boyfriend/nurse?  Did the boyfriend believe her encounter? Was that recent?

The haunting was very recent. Rachel is a made-up name for that reason. I also created the dialogue as a part of developing the reported happenstance as a story. The ghost encounter, in this case, belonged to Rachel (instead of the boyfriend).  It is intriguing to me that not all people in the vicinity of a haunting experience it in the same way.  I would say Rachel’s boyfriend may well come to terms with her encounter as a ghost experience, just not right away.  Rachel understood this as it was happening, of course.

 Q: Another story that really stuck with me was that of Beth, the girl who was struck by a car driven by an actor, and who died watching the actor's performance at the Orpheum Theatre in Memphis, Tennessee. Did the actor's family not want to be recognized?   Why do you think Beth decided to "haunt" the theatre instead of her home? 

Rob, I could go on and on about this dandy little ghost of a girl in Memphis.  Beth is kind of the opposite of trend in that she is in fact seen over and over again through the years.  It seems as if the theatre was the most thrilling thing she’d ever seen in her short life.  Why leave?  I mean, as long as they keep changing the show… she’s content to watch from her seat in the balcony.

NEXT: PART 3: Reactions of Hospital Workers and Hauntings in Rebuilt Structures.


"The Ghost Will See You Now: Haunted Hospitals of the South"
BOOK SUMMARY: Organized as a state-by-state guide to known Southern hospital hauntings, The Ghost Will See You Now includes 40-plus ghost stories and lists of sightings at more than 160 haunted locations. In addition to the numerous hospital sightings, ghosts also haunt medical-care facilities as diverse as TB sanitariums, spas, dental clinics, treatment centers at historic forts, nursing homes, hospice centers, ambulances, hospital train cars, and an early-19th-century pharmacy in New Orleans.  To Buy the Book on AMAZON: http://www.amazon.com/The-Ghost-Will-See-You/dp/0895876310 

*Randy has authored several other fascinating books I've also read:

Ghost Dogs of the South,  The Granny Curse and Other Ghosts and Legends from East Tennessee and  Ghost Cats of the South!

*Midnight Deadline FOR Tax Deduction* HELP RESCUE DOGS AND CATS

 REMINDER
*Midnight Deadline FOR Tax Deduction* Many Dog and cat rescues NEED donations, and Make one TONIGHT to include them in your taxes.
Donate to 1) DC Area Weimaraner Rescue at www.dcweimclub.org/rescue
2) Coast to Coast Dachshund Rescue at www.c2cdr.org
3) Sophia's Grace Foundation Dachshund rescue: http://www.sophiasgracefoundation.org/
4) Weimaraner Rescue of the North http://weimaranerrescue.weebly.com/
5) Dachshund Rescue of North America http://www.drna.org/
6) North Shore Animal League America http://www.animalleague.org
7) Tickled Pink Weimaraner Rescue http://www.weimaranerrescue.org/
and MORE!
- There are so many dog in foster care with medical bills that need help. Thank you for your support!

Happy New Year: A Busy 2014 and Events in 2015

Happy New Year! I hope that 2014 was a good year for you and 2015 is just as good if not better. 

   I had the busiest summer ever giving talks, making appearances and promoting my new book "Pets and the Afterlife."   I've given talks and appeared at Pet Expos in Richmond, VA; Frederick, MD; and Winchester, MA. I've given talks about haunted cases with the Inspired Ghost Tracking Team, and opened for Medium Barb Mallon's Halloween event.  I interviewed on many paranormal radio programs and Boston's WBZ-Newsradio! 
   I also took part in Pensacola, Florida's ParaCon and went to upstate New York for a dog rescue fundraiser for "Adirondack Save-a-Stray."
    In 2015, I'm making appearances at Pet Expos in Washington, DC, New York City and the Boston area. I'm also giving talks to a kennel club, at a library and other places.
   Here's  info about my book:  PETS AND THE AFTERLIFE by Rob Gutro: The loss of a pet is like the loss of a child to pet owners. The love we share with our pets never dies, and in a new book called "Pets and the Afterlife" by Rob Gutro, the author provides proof that our pets do communicate with us from the other side.    Available in paperback and E-book, on Amazon.com and other outlets at: To order paperback of Kindle- click here  

 Remember to appreciate the simple things in life, from a good cup of coffee to a sunny day, to light traffic. It will really make a difference. For those grieving over the loss of a loved one in 2014 (whether person or pet), know that they will be with you from time to time to watch over you and help you make some decisions. People and pets in spirit do not want us to be sad, they want us to be happy, and appreciate our lives. They want us to live life to the fullest so we have no regrets when it is our time. So, make 2015 a wonderful year.

- Rob

My Interview of Randy Russell Author of "The Ghost Will See You Now: Haunted Hospitals of the South"

I had the good fortune to recently read Randy Russell's new book: "The Ghost Will See You Now: Haunted Hospitals of

the South" and had a chance to do a one-on-one question and answer session about his book. This is part 1 of 3 of the Q&A with Randy.  
 I recommend picking up a copy of his book. It will really give you a different feel for walking into a hospital...

"The Ghost Will See You Now: Haunted Hospitals of the South"
BOOK SUMMARY: Organized as a state-by-state guide to known Southern hospital hauntings, The Ghost Will See You Now includes 40-plus ghost stories and lists of sightings at more than 160 haunted locations. In addition to the numerous hospital sightings, ghosts also haunt medical-care facilities as diverse as TB sanitariums, spas, dental clinics, treatment centers at historic forts, nursing homes, hospice centers, ambulances, hospital train cars, and an early-19th-century pharmacy in New Orleans.  To Buy the Book on AMAZON: http://www.amazon.com/The-Ghost-Will-See-You/dp/0895876310 

*Randy has authored several other fascinating books I've also read:

Ghost Dogs of the South,  The Granny Curse and Other Ghosts and Legends from East Tennessee and  Ghost Cats of the South!

 Q: You cited your employ in a hospital as an influence to write the book. Did you ever directly deal with the deceased there?

Randy:  Not really, if you mean interacting with the dead.  I think the stronger influence was in working among the dying, rather than those already deceased. Certain areas of the Medical Center were definitely clouded with a heavy sense of foreboding.      Q: What perception of physical death and ghost investigations give you about the afterlife? Oddly enough, I find a stronger sense of an afterlife among the living than I do from any perception of physical death.  Yes, physical death is real.  Yes, it will happen to each one of us. If there is an afterlife beyond the bounds of this earthly realm, that’s cool.  I’m all for it. But what I know of the afterlife is found in the experiences of the living.  My research takes place among the living, collecting in detail the true experience (senses, feelings and understandings) of a living person who encounters a ghost… or who in any number of ways interacts with and/or communicates with a dead person. My own experiences with ghosts are limited to a few. Q: Why do you think so many stayed behind in hospitals instead of "haunting" their homes and places familiar to them? Many ghosts haunt the location of their deaths.  These are ghosts in general who have lost contact with their loved ones and their homes.  Trauma and fear, confusion and pain, isolation and helplessness all contribute to a less than ideal moment of passing from living to dead.  The transition is, to put it simply, an unhappy one.  This would tends to create a ghost, and perhaps a ghost of some discontent.  But I think you make a good point, Rob.  I’m sure many people who have died in a hospital (or on their way to a hospital) are likely to haunt other locations of their lives.  Some ghosts travel.  Some ghosts don’t. Some of the ghosts in THE GHOST WILL SEE YOU NOW are the nurses and doctors who worked in a particular haunted hospital.   Q: Do you think that the majority of the hospital haunts you wrote about were residual (i.e. like an emotional thumbprint of events that keep running over and over) or intelligent (where the ghosts could communicate and interact with the living)? Let me say that I’m not convinced that an emotional thumbprint runs over and over on its own.  I simply do not believe a ghost falls in the woods when no one is there to see or hear it. When people, the right people perhaps, are present, I do think some ghosts fall in the same place and in the same way without attempting further, if any, communication with the living.  My personal belief is that a ghost activity of any sort only occurs in the presence of the living. That said, the living don’t have to understand (or appreciate) a ghostly activity at all. The audience of a ghost performance may not even notice. Still, it is my belief the audience is a requirement for the performance to occur. A true ghost experience, as I define it for my work, takes place between the living and the dead.  Solely and, well, souly.  NEXT IN PART 2: RANDY'S GHOST HISTORY, AND REALLY MEMORABLE STORIES

Four Examples of our loved one's spirits around on holidays, birthdays, anniversaries

Spirits visit on Birthdays, Anniversaries and Holidays so be aware of what's happening around you. They can influence things to happen, like having a mom bring her newborn to a hospital when the baby is running a fever, only to discover the baby had an infection that needed treatment.
  They can leave you signs like their favorite song playing on the radio, or a coin with the year of their birth,death, or some other life event. Flowers, a phone call with no one on the other end. There are a whole host of things they can do.

Sweet Caroline getting good care

A BABY NEEDING HELP- This Christmas, our friend Katrina's daughter newborn daughter Caroline was hospitalized.
   Katrina took her infant daughter to the doctor to investigate a high temperature. It seems that she was influenced to go to that degree from the spirit of her grandma- and be extra-cautious. That cautiousness turned out to be necessary. 
   Caroline went into the hospital on Dec. 22 with a temperature and doctors discovered she had  a bacterial infection in her blood and needs antibiotics, so they kept her in the hospital over Christmas.
  I told my friend Carol (Katrina's mom, Caroline's grandma) - "At least the doctors found something important enough to ensure she's getting the care she needs. In fact, it's because your mom's spirit helped them find it. Your mom is right there with her."

A BIRTHDAY APPEARANCE - Last month, on Tom's birthday, I told him that his late friend Ed would be around. Well, he found a penny and it was dated 1996, the year that Ed passed away. That was a confirmation from Ed that he was indeed around, just as your late relatives (people and pets) are around during birthdays, anniversaries and holidays.

TWO SCENTS IN HOLIDAY GREETINGS- Our friend Beth said on Hanukkah, "I just smelled my dad....weird! He's been gone for 4 years. It was real, (the smell) did not know to cook a favorite meal. We cooked what would have been his favorite breakfast!"

Beth's friend Tammy also got a visit from her mother-in-law. Tammy said "That happened to us yesterday. We were making her homemade peanut butter cookies there she was. It was Richard's momma's perfume. . Weird feeling. "

************************************************************************************************
You can find more information about the signs spirits can give in my book "Lessons Learned from Talking to the Dead":    SUMMARY: Follow Rob on a treasure-hunt-style journey in Virginia as he and others try to explain what appear to be random and obscure words, signs and symbols from a spirit, that all wind up being intensely personal to the spirit.Explore the science behind how they communicate. Learn how to receive their messages, where they appear, and important messages in how to live your life. Rob takes you into cemeteries, battlefields, and historic places. You’ll see what happens to victims of suicide and murders, and how infants and animals pass messages to the living. Featuring: Inspired Ghost Tracking and mediums Barb Mallon, Troy Cline and Ruth Larkin. 

A Happy Holiday Story - In Spirit!

    Whichever holiday you're celebrating this season, just know that your loved ones in spirit (people or pets) are likely around you. Whether in the smell of a baked pie that brings back a memory of your grandmother, or certain ornament that you take out that reminds you of a brother or sister you're missing, or a song that reminds you of your parents. When you see, smell or hear it, they're likely there with you.
   I was listening to one of my favorite Christmas music CDs, and heard Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers singing "(I'll be Home) With Bells On" and it reminded me of the one year I wrote up the lyrics to the song and sang it with my mom and dad (who have since passed). After my brothers and their significant others departed for the day, I took a tape player (yes, tape in 1996) and put it on the living room table once the dessert dishes were cleared. I handed them the sheet of lyrics and played the tape. We all "attempted" to sing it - and although it wasn't a stellar on-key performance, it was fun and memorable.
   This month, when the song came on, I could hear my parents singing in the background and I felt they joined me in the car. Spirits are around us, especially on the holidays.
   As an extra, I'm sharing the video of the song here.
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy New Year, Happy Ramadan- whatever you're celebrating - celebrate life and spirit!
VIDEO: http://youtu.be/Wmx-fci6OyU\