Fall TV: Lisa Williams in Life Among the Dead

Lisa Williams, psychic medium, is back for season two of Life Among the Dead. Her ability to come up with details about departed loved ones continues to astonish people. The first episode of the second season began with two sisters, Kimberly and Christina, who wanted to make contact with their deceased mother. They gave Lisa a personal item of their mother's, but no details about her, or even that it was their mother they were hoping to contact.

Right away Lisa picked up that it was a female and the mother energy. She provided details such as that their mother was a "chatterbox" and wanted to organize everyone. What really surprised the sisters was when Lisa noted that her hands felt really dry and that she felt like she needed hand cream. They said that their mother had been a "hand cream freak." Lisa felt a pain in her lower abdomen. As it happens, the girl's mother had died of colon cancer that had metastasized to her liver. It was pretty sad-both of the sisters were crying-as Lisa spoke of their mother's premonition that she would die soon and that she wouldn't come out of the hospital that last time she went in. Lisa asked Christina if she'd been wondering what to do with her life lately (she had been) and let her know that her mother was telling her that she would be guiding her every step of the way. As their mother's energy was fading, Kimberly wanted to let her know that she had met the love of her life.

Both sisters were really happy with the session. They felt reassured and like they had some closure.

The next client was Robin, who had lost her brother a few months previously. Lisa saw two men around her, an older man and a younger one. The older one turned out to be Robin's father, who had also died before Robin had a chance to say goodbye. Lisa picked up that Lisa's brother, Todd, had had extreme pain in his jaw. Robin's brother had been in a serious motorcycle accident and had 850 stitches in his face. Lisa and Robin went to the scene of the accident. This was not where Todd had died, but Robin felt it was the catalyst for his death. I wondered what she meant by that, until I realized that Todd had not been the same since the accident and died of a drug overdose. There had been questions about his death, not that it was murder, but that someone else had been involved. Lisa was able to answer that question for Robin, as well as pick up a lot of details about Todd's personality, like his sense of humor and that he had joked about flying through the air "like Superman" when he flew off his bike in the accident. Robin got her questions answered and, like the clients before her, was happy to have some closure.

The third client in the show was Terri, who believed her house was haunted. Lisa went to the house and right away, before she even got in the house, felt that it was the scene of a crime. She saw yellow "caution" tape in her head. She also had visions of cats, which wasn't related to the crime, but Terri had cats. Terri knew that a horrible crime had been committed in her house. Lisa came up with details about the crime that Terri was able to confirm-that it happened in the 70s during the day, that it was a young woman who had been murdered, and that whoever had found her was not supposed to find her. It turned out that her youngest son had found her, but also two babies she was watching had come in while the blood was still fresh, and that they had been left alone with her for several hours (talk about awful). I wasn't at all sure why Terri had wanted to buy the house when she knew such a hideous crime had occurred there. A person doesn't have to believe in ghosts to be squeamish about something like that; it's why houses where crimes have been committed are hard to sell, though they may attract their share of gawkers.

In any case, Terri had bought the house and it sounded as though she had lived there awhile, but she wanted to feel as though it were really her house, which she really couldn't when there was this negative energy. Lisa asked for some time alone with the spirit, so she could reason with her. She also asked for a deck of Tarot cards, which Terri provided, and did a layout in an effort to gain some insight about the situation. She said that Patricia wanted to be loved and was searching for a love that she couldn't find. I wouldn't think this would be terribly helpful information, even if true. She said that she thought the spirit liked Terri, otherwise she wouldn't be hanging around. I guess I'd be glad if it were me to know that the spirit wasn't malicious, but again, she's still got this negative energy in her house. Lisa told Terri to remove some of the clutter in her bedroom and to leave the doors and windows open the next day to help the energy flow. This seemed rather simplistic to me, though not necessarily a bad idea. Also, I'm not sure if Terri found it helpful or not, but I hope so.

I really like Lisa Williams. I can tell she is a kind and caring person who genuinely wants to help people. The show is definitely interesting, even for people who are skeptical about the paranormal. Lisa commented at the beginning of the episode that she always worries about whether she will get anything, and that her ability to be so detailed in her descriptions of loved ones surprises her as much as it does her clients. At the end of the show, it was noted that Lisa does not have access to background information about the guests on the show, but that the stories are not independently verified. In other words, Lisa can't look up background information about the guests ahead of time, but no third party has gone through and verified whether details of their loved one's passing, or details of a crime if there was one, are true. I imagine many of the details would be difficult to verify independently unless there was a crime and there were details in a police report or something like that. There's no missing the surprise on people's faces when Lisa comes up with specific information about their loved ones, though. And it's great to see how Lisa helps them get closure and questions answered.

So if you're home on Friday night at 9:00 (8:00 central), check out Lisa Williams on Lifetime. If you want more paranormal programming, stay tuned after that for America's Psychic Challenge, one of the few new reality shows that is actually unique and worth watching.