More People Talking with the dead

The age-old practice of mediumship has received a pop-culture boost in recent years. The TV shows "Ghost Whisperer" and "Medium" explore the theme, and high-profile psychics — including John Edward of "Crossing Over" fame and Lisa Williams and Sylvia Browne — are nabbing TV contracts and book sales. "People are more aware of [mediumship] since it's caught on with the mainstream," said Sue Fattarini, a self-described psychic who works at the Crystal Barn in Visalia. What are customers looking for? "The main thing is that they need to know that their loved one is doing OK," Fattarini said. "It gives them a sense of closure." Skeptics remain, of course. Father Ray Dreiling, pastor at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Visalia, likened the determination of many to contact the dead to primitive people's use of spirits or phantasms to explain the unknown. "Without knowing the reality of the situation, people looked toward the spirits for some kind of omen," he said. "They wanted the best answer they [could get]." Today, he said, many turn to the occult as a problem-solving shortcut.