Spirit Sisters

True Stories of the Paranormal and Guardian Angels

by Karina Machado

Spirit Sisters: True Stories of the Paranormal

In Spirit Sisters, women of all ages and backgrounds share their experiences of the pararnormal. We meet a high-flying banking executive whose life changed forever when an angelic, winged being visited her. We also hear stories from a mother of seven children who was held and comforted by her husband, five days after she'd buried him; from a woman who lost her whole family in a car accident and gained a guardian angel; and from many more women whose lives have been changed by uplifting, ethereal encounters with The Other Side.

Having read this brilliant book, I can highly recommend it to anybody who has a deep interest in the paranormal. It truly is a heartbreaking, inspiring and emotionally uplifting book. Full of amazing anecdotes, it opens the door fully to the world beyond and helps us reconnect with our departed loved ones.

You can buy Spirit Sisters online by clicking on the green text link under the book image above.

About The Author

Karina Machado was born in Uruguay and was only two when her family moved to Australia, where she grew up hearing stories of her mother's psychic gift, sparking off a life-long curiosity about the paranormal. After graduating from the University of NSW, she began her career in journalism as Editorial Assistant at Time magazine in 1994, and is now Senior Editor at Who magazine. Karina, who lives in Sydney with her husband and two children, is also very interested in the Tudors. She has even dressed up as Anne Boleyn, whose ghost she sadly has never seen.

READ MY EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH KARINA MACHADO BELOW.

Responses to Questions put by Alan, the Webmaster of www.trueghoststories.co.uk, to Karina Machado, author of Spirit Sisters:

Q1. What do you think ghosts really are?

A. Trying to decipher this is one of the reasons I became so interested in the paranormal as a child, and I don't think anyone has the answer yet, although today we have much more of an understanding as to what they could possibly be. In my research, I've found that mediums and investigators tend to distinguish between ghosts and free spirits. Ghosts, they say, are earthbound spirits: the spirit of a dead person that hasn't ascended and haunts a location, like its former home, either because it hasn't realised death has occurred, or because it simply isn't ready to move on yet. Free spirits, on the other hand, have ascended and return as they please, usually to give comfort to grieving loved ones. My interviewees have described both these types of apparitions, as well as a third category: non-sentient apparitions, which might be replays, also known as "imprints" on the atmosphere. I think the answer lies in one of, or a combination of, the above, though the potential of a solution in quantum physics, or in the idea of a "collective unconscious" that some of us can access also intrigues me. To me, the greater mystery lies in why some of us experience ghosts and free spirits, while others will never.

Q2. Do you think there is a Heaven and Hell?

A. For years, the myriad descriptions of Heaven in paranormal literature have enchanted me. I love how descriptions are both generic-for instance, mentions of preternaturally beautiful colours pop up time and again, as does the all-pervading sense of peace and joy-and customised, with people encountering loved ones who've passed over and revisiting scenes from their lives. I find the idea of Heaven immensely comforting, but Hell? I'd rather there's no such thing.

Q3. Which psychic medium, living or dead, do you admire the most?

A. I used to watch Most Haunted and David Wells struck me as a medium who's talented, humble and has integrity. I do wonder though why these days, mediums seem to produce far less of the physical phenomena made famous in the past by the likes of Daniel Dunglas Home.

Q4. Are you planning to write any more spirit books?

A. I am working on my second now! It is called Where Spirits Dwell, and it's an exploration of Australian hauntings (not just houses). If anyone has a story to share, they should contact me at karinamachado@optusnet.com.au

Q5. What do you think of the current popularity of TV ghost hunting shows?

A. I think they reflect our growing fascination with the subject, as well as popular culture's gradual acceptance of this topic as something worthy of exploration and investigation, rather than something that's just for thrills. For instance, the US show Ghosthunters is quite well balanced in that its team seems open to considering explanations other than the paranormal.

Q6. What is your all time favourite ghost film?

A. I thought The Sixth Sense was absolutely chilling, but it's a hard call between that and The Others, starring Nicole Kidman. I love that it explores this idea of 'who's haunting who?' In Spirit Sisters, a couple of my interviewees described apparitions screaming in fear at the sight of them! Could it be that the living may haunt the dead?

Q7. What is your all time favourite ghost book?

A. I adore a good haunted house story, all the better if there's a gloomy mansion in a cold, windswept location-living, as I do, in a country of surf and sun means they're imbued with a greater mystique. Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights ticks all the boxes for me, though of course it's much more than a ghost book. More recently, Tethered, by Amy MacKinnon and The Little Stranger, by the brilliant Sarah Waters, were wonderful.

Q8. Do you think everybody is born with some kind of inherent psychic ability?

A. Yes, I do. I think most of us just call it our intuition, knack, hunch or gut feeling. I think there's a spectrum of talent, just as there is with most things. But in terms of mediumship-communicating with the dead-I think most of us have the potential to experience a vague sensation of someone in the room, but then at the other end of the spectrum, there are those gifted few (and I do believe it's only a few) who can see ghosts and spirits as clearly as flesh-and-blood people.

Q9. Do you think Jesus will ever return to Earth, as prophesised in the Bible?

A. The Bible is one of a long list of classics on my ever-expanding reading list so I don't really feel qualified to answer this. However, I know that if the idea of his return offers people comfort and hope, then that can only be a good thing.

Q10. Do you think tampering with ouija boards is dangerous?

A. It certainly can be. Teenagers often meddle with these (I was one of them!) and if a young person with a powerful budding mediumship starts experimenting with one, they're exposing themselves to a potential nightmare. There's at least one story in Spirit Sisters that demonstrates this. Someone once told me that playing with a ouija board is akin to leaving your front door wide open at night and then going to bed. You don't know if a bad person will come in or not, but they just might …

The Webmaster of True Ghost Stories wishes to thank both the author and Helena Towers of Headling Publishing Group for their very kind contributions to the site. It was very much appreciated.

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