Ghosts in the machine

Are loved ones contacting you through the TV and baby monitor? Psychic Anne Jirsch explains how our electronics can act as a conduit for the 'other side'

- MONICA CAFFERKY

The idea of talking to the dead has long been part of human culture - with the traditional approach being through mediums or even an ouija board. But thanks to our digital lifestyle, communication with the afterlife is changing - and the messages are often unexpected.

"Social media is full of people's first-hand accounts of paranormal stories from hearing Siri say really scary things to texts from departed loved ones," says psychic Anne Jirsch.

"I've even experienced my own strange encounters. I was reading the tarots for a new client when suddenly, the digital television in my office blasted to life, making the woman jump. The client raised her eyebrows. She was suggesting that, somehow, I had set the TV to come on by itself to be spooky."

However, Anne, 62, whose client list includes celebrities from film, music and sport along with CEOs, pointed to the socket to indicate the TV wasn't plugged in.

SHAKEN

"The woman was visibly shaken. But I wasn't surprised because these kinds of things happen around me frequently," she says.

Since she was a young child, Anne, from Maidenhead, Berkshire, has had psychic abilities.

For instance she would often tell her mother who was on the phone when it began to ring. "But it was my gran Winny who helped me to develop my gifts," she says. "Winny used to read people's tea leaves in her kitchen in the East End, and she let me watch. I often stayed with my gran, and at Winny's house the lights flickered and the radio turned itself on. It was exciting. Winny would say, 'Don't be scared. It's just them upstairs having a joke'.