Photo by Katie Burkhart on Unsplash
Corey Duff: Good evening, this is Corey Duff, producer of the documentary The Sense of Death, which explored the world of people who claim to be able to interact or communicate with the dead. How do they weave this extraordinary skill into their daily lives? Is it a blessing or a curse? And are they haunted by the spirits they interact with?
Today I have with me two of the subjects of that documentary--Garrick Masser, whose consulting business is likely familiar to anyone who follows this topic, and Ann Kinnear, a relative newcomer to the business side of spirit sensing. Good evening, Garrick and Ann.
Today I have with me two of the subjects of that documentary--Garrick Masser, whose consulting business is likely familiar to anyone who follows this topic, and Ann Kinnear, a relative newcomer to the business side of spirit sensing. Good evening, Garrick and Ann.
Ann Kinnear: Hi, Corey.
Corey: So, Ann, let's start with you. Have you always had the ability to sense spirits?
Ann: Yes, all my life. When I was little, I had an "imaginary friend" who was actually a spirit--to me, she looked just like the John Neill illustrations of Dorothy in my mother's Wizard of Oz books, but I'm not sure how much of that was the actual manifestation of the spirit and how much was my imagination.
Corey: Do they still appear to you that way--like people who are familiar to you, even if they aren't real people?
Ann: Now they don't appear to me as people at all. Sometimes spirits appear as a light, sometimes as a scent. It's like going into a house and knowing right away that someone is baking bread or has burned something on the stove, or going into a house where no one has cooked for years but knowing that the family that used to live there used a lot of garlic. It's the same with people, they leave an essence when they die and it's good or bad, it's recent or old.
Corey: And do you communicate with these spirits?
Ann: No, I've never communicated with them, only sensed their presence.
Corey: Garrick, you have communicated with them, correct?
Garrick: Of course.
Corey: And how does that impact your daily life?
Garrick: It provides me with a livelihood.
Corey: How about in your interactions with people outside your business.
Garrick: I have little interest in interactions with people outside my business.
Corey: How about you, Ann? Do your friends and acquaintances consider you special because of your skill?
Ann: Well, I wouldn't say "special" ...
Corey: What would you say?
Ann: Maybe "crazy." Maybe even "a liar."
Corey: Really?
Ann: Uh, maybe Garrick has a perspective on that.
Corey: Garrick?
Garrick: I have never had someone call me crazy, and if they think I'm a liar, they are sorely mistaken. Sometimes to their own detriment.
Corey: Do the spirits you communicate with pose a danger?
Garrick: Only if they posed a danger in life. As Ms. Kinnear suggests with her quaint food analogy, spirits are merely distillations of their former selves. They are oftentimes merely tedious.
Corey: In what way?
Garrick: They may drone on about some mundane aspect of their lives that is of no interest to anyone else. Spirits can be quite obsessive. It would be an interesting study to examine the effect of death on an individual's psychological make-up.
Corey: Ann, you have a consulting business based on your skills. What does that involve?
Ann: A lot of my engagements are for people who want to know if their house--or a house they are thinking of buying--is haunted.
Corey: Are they hoping it's haunted, or not haunted?
Ann: It depends on the person.
Corey: And, Garrick, you have a similar kind of consulting business, correct?
Garrick: I would hardly call it similar.
Corey: Tell us about it.
Garrick: The consulting engagements I undertake are too varied to summarize in a few sentences. Because I do have the ability to communicate with spirits, they often involve people who wish to convey a message to a deceased person, or who wish to receive a message from them. Disappointingly often, the interactions concern money.
Corey: Do you get a piece of the action?
Garrick: I beg your pardon?
Corey: Never mind. Have the two of you ever considered combining your businesses--Masser and Kinnear - Spirit Sensers, Incorporated?
Ann: Well, I don't know ...
Garrick: Don't be an imbecile.
Corey: Uh ... I'll just edit that part out ...
To learn more about Ann Kinnear, please click the button below.
Corey: So, Ann, let's start with you. Have you always had the ability to sense spirits?
Ann: Yes, all my life. When I was little, I had an "imaginary friend" who was actually a spirit--to me, she looked just like the John Neill illustrations of Dorothy in my mother's Wizard of Oz books, but I'm not sure how much of that was the actual manifestation of the spirit and how much was my imagination.
Corey: Do they still appear to you that way--like people who are familiar to you, even if they aren't real people?
Ann: Now they don't appear to me as people at all. Sometimes spirits appear as a light, sometimes as a scent. It's like going into a house and knowing right away that someone is baking bread or has burned something on the stove, or going into a house where no one has cooked for years but knowing that the family that used to live there used a lot of garlic. It's the same with people, they leave an essence when they die and it's good or bad, it's recent or old.
Corey: And do you communicate with these spirits?
Ann: No, I've never communicated with them, only sensed their presence.
Corey: Garrick, you have communicated with them, correct?
Garrick: Of course.
Corey: And how does that impact your daily life?
Garrick: It provides me with a livelihood.
Corey: How about in your interactions with people outside your business.
Garrick: I have little interest in interactions with people outside my business.
Corey: How about you, Ann? Do your friends and acquaintances consider you special because of your skill?
Ann: Well, I wouldn't say "special" ...
Corey: What would you say?
Ann: Maybe "crazy." Maybe even "a liar."
Corey: Really?
Ann: Uh, maybe Garrick has a perspective on that.
Corey: Garrick?
Garrick: I have never had someone call me crazy, and if they think I'm a liar, they are sorely mistaken. Sometimes to their own detriment.
Corey: Do the spirits you communicate with pose a danger?
Garrick: Only if they posed a danger in life. As Ms. Kinnear suggests with her quaint food analogy, spirits are merely distillations of their former selves. They are oftentimes merely tedious.
Corey: In what way?
Garrick: They may drone on about some mundane aspect of their lives that is of no interest to anyone else. Spirits can be quite obsessive. It would be an interesting study to examine the effect of death on an individual's psychological make-up.
Corey: Ann, you have a consulting business based on your skills. What does that involve?
Ann: A lot of my engagements are for people who want to know if their house--or a house they are thinking of buying--is haunted.
Corey: Are they hoping it's haunted, or not haunted?
Ann: It depends on the person.
Corey: And, Garrick, you have a similar kind of consulting business, correct?
Garrick: I would hardly call it similar.
Corey: Tell us about it.
Garrick: The consulting engagements I undertake are too varied to summarize in a few sentences. Because I do have the ability to communicate with spirits, they often involve people who wish to convey a message to a deceased person, or who wish to receive a message from them. Disappointingly often, the interactions concern money.
Corey: Do you get a piece of the action?
Garrick: I beg your pardon?
Corey: Never mind. Have the two of you ever considered combining your businesses--Masser and Kinnear - Spirit Sensers, Incorporated?
Ann: Well, I don't know ...
Garrick: Don't be an imbecile.
Corey: Uh ... I'll just edit that part out ...
To learn more about Ann Kinnear, please click the button below.