The Beaches Chapel Museum played host to a TV taping of an otherworldly nature recently, as spiritual medium Pamela Theresa conducted readings for dozens of Beaches residents for her local show “Medium in the Raw.”
Footage from the two-hour event held April 1 will air at 9 p.m. Sunday April 24 on local channel CW 17 as the season premiere of “Medium in the Raw.” Immediately following that half-hour broadcast, its sister show, “Local Haunts” will air an episode documenting the show’s paranormal investigation of the Beaches Chapel Museum.
“We actually filmed an apparition at this church,” said Steve Christian, host of “Local Haunts” and producer for “Medium in the Raw.” “It’s rare that we catch an apparition, but we got video of someone sitting right there (in the pew).”
Christian kicked off the TV taping by joking that Pamela Theresa is “a freak of nature,” and added that she also appears on “Local Haunts,” assisting the paranormal team with its investigations.
“She makes my job a lot easier,” Christian told the audience. “We don’t have to wonder or go looking (for spirits) – she’ll just nod and say ‘They’re right here!’”
Vowing to help everyone present connect with their loved ones, Pamela Theresa starts working her way through the audience. At first, the information seems fairly general, talking about issues a woman may have had with the father she never knew. The medium even notes that it’s not uncommon to see a pattern whereby messages coming through for different audience members will share a common theme, such as absent fathers or loved ones who were taken too soon.
As the readings progress, however, Pamela Theresa becomes more specific.
“Your father is showing himself to me in white overalls – like painting clothes,” she tells one woman.
“That’s him – that’s what he wore!” the woman replies excitedly. “He was a building contractor, and most of his work was painting!”
The medium later asks the audience, “Who here has a habit of smashing down beer cans?” A woman timidly raises her hand. “I’ve been doing it for a while now,” she sheepishly admits.
Yet while the audience seems to appreciate these specific bits of information as validation of their departed loved ones’ presence, most of the interactions with Pamela Theresa involve more thoughtful, heartfelt exchanges regarding unresolved relationship issues that audience members may have had with their loved ones. Many attendees become emotional, in fact, as the medium validates those issues. Correctly noting, for example, that a woman’s father had Alzheimer’s, Pamela Theresa advises her, “Try to forget about how you remember him in his last days and remember him the way he was (before).”
“Do they forgive me?” the woman asks.
“They’re telling me there’s nothing to forgive,” the medium replies.
Another woman nods her assent when Pamela Theresa asks her if her mother’s sudden passing has left her “feeling robbed.”
“Your mother wants you to know she’s standing right beside you on your left,” she says. “She knows you feel robbed, but she wants you to know you haven’t lost your faith. You’re just weary.”
The medium later tells the audience that she views her work as helping people address and resolve their grief.
“I have such a desire to help people,” she says. “And you have to fight fire with fire. If you have grief, communicating with your loved one is your only answer or you’re never going to have closure.”
During some readings, Pamela Theresa pauses before telling an audience member that the information she is receiving would best be discussed in private.
“The spirit world will protect you in that way,” Christian says, adding that connections made with Pamela Theresa often continue after a reading. The TV crew promises to follow-up with audience members whose information was too personal to share publicly or who later understood parts of their reading that didn’t make sense at the time.
“Above all, know this: Communication (with departed loved ones) can continue,” Pamela Theresa tells the audience. “You just have to prick up your ears and listen with everything you know about that person.”
