Mar 27, 2022
Medium/Empath MG Stephens joins us to talk about her life in the paranormal.
You can find her book at Amazon: The Boogeyman Chronicles
Jim Harold 0:06
Ghosts. Have they become a cliche? Or can we once again examine
this phenomenon seriously? After all, isn't it really our own
afterlife we're curious about? Let's delve a little deeper on Jim
Harold's Ghost Insight.
Welcome to Ghost Insight. I am Jim Harold, and so glad to be with you today and we do have a returning guest. And looking forward to speaking with her, and she has a new book out. It's called the Boogeyman Chronicles, and I'm talking about MG Stephens, and we're so glad to have her on the show. She is a neurodivergent medium and empath, who grew up knowing that she was very different, but not sure in what way. She started experiencing paranormal activity as early as two years old. Her mom was also a well known psychic who worked with detectives and solved cold cases. MG struggled to accept her abilities for decades, and tried her best to dismiss all of the terrifying encounters that she was having on a daily basis. But after many years of hesitancy, she finally learned that her abilities could help people. And she began to slowly accept and develop them. Now she has a podcast, the Boogeyman Chronicles. And she lives in Los Angeles, California. And we are so glad to have an opportunity to speak with her today. MG, welcome to the show. Thank you for joining us.
MG Stephens 1:37
Thanks for having me, I appreciate it.
Jim Harold 1:40
So let me ask you, when you say you know these things started as
early as two years old, what is your first memory of something that
we would consider--would consider paranormal or supernatural?
MG Stephens 1:55
Well, the first thing I remember is, I was extremely young, I mean,
I was probably even younger than two, but I was old enough to stand
up in a crib. So I don't know how old that is. But that's pretty
young. And I remember, I was--I have a very distinct memory of
being, you know, standing up in my crib, and I remember looking up
at something floating above me. And yet, at the same time, I was
the thing looking down. I still remember looking down at me in the
crib at the same time I was looking up, it was this weird, split
moment. And it was terrifying, you know, and I wasn't--I didn't
die. I wasn't, you know, astral projecting, you know, nothing like
that. It was, um, it was just such a bizarre encounter. And about a
year or more later, when I was probably about three or so, two,
three, you know, somewhere around there, I had the same encounter.
I was outside. It was broad daylight. And I remember it was Easter.
So I remember, I had my little Easter dress on and, you know, being
on my little purple tricycle, and my little Easter basket. And my
mom and my middle sibling were desperately trying to, you know, get
me to enjoy the festivities. And I think I needed a nap or
something, I was really cranky. And I remember looking up and
seeing something floating above me. And yet I was the thing
floating and I could see the whole scene below me. So it was two
very strange encounters very, very early on. I still to this day,
don't know what happened. I asked Paul Eno, who you know, is, you
know, a paranormal pioneer. And I figured, well, he's got to have
heard something like this. So I asked him, I said, "Well, you know,
what was this?" And he goes, "I don't know." He's like, "it sounds
like a," what he called a shifting identity point, which was this,
I guess, where he said, you know, you kind of split in the
multiverse, you know, in the multiverse, you just split into two
different entities, but you're still you. And so that's kind of the
answer he gave me. But to be quite honest with you, I have no idea
what that was.
Jim Harold 4:14
Now, what role did your mom being a psychic play in this? Did it,
you know, you said that you kind of delayed your acceptance of
these abilities and the ability to see things and so forth. Was it
because your mom was a psychic? How did that play into all of
it?
MG Stephens 4:35
Well, my mom was, you know, and I knew from very early on, she
called herself a psychic and I didn't know what that meant. I had
no idea and I did not really even understand what was happening
because this was like late 70s, early 80s. And we didn't have the
shows and the, you know, the books and everything that we have
today, you know, back then. We really didn't have that much. No one
really talked about the paranormal, unless you were on those sort
of fringy, you know, those fringy circles where, you know, that was
a thing. And, you know, back in my day, I know I sound old when I
say that, but back in my day, the Warrens were still considered
kooks, you know, no one took them seriously unless you, like I
said, were in those circles. So we didn't really have a very sort
of welcoming paranormal community like we do now. And if you
claimed to see dead people, you were considered crazy. And you
know, your relatives and, you know, people wouldn't talk to you,
you were just considered a weirdo. And so I knew my mother
would--did this thing where I still remember poking my head out,
because I was kind of banished to the back bedroom, when she would
have readings. She would have people come over, she would sit on
one end of the couch, and they would sit in a chair, and she would
sit there and do psychometry, a lot of times she would hold a piece
of their jewelry or look at a picture or something. And she would
sit there and say, "Okay, you're going to get a new car, new job,
your house, bla bla, bla, bla, bla, bla bla," and she would tell
them stuff, and they would be like, "Oh, my God, how did you know
that," you know. And so that's what I thought being psychic was. I
didn't really understand what was going on there. And so I remember
when I was about six years old, I started to have this reoccurring,
terrifying nightmare of my father dying, because he was--he was a
law enforcement. I remember being, you know, I was kind of a
worldly six year old. But I still remember having this terrifying
reoccurring dream, every single night, for two weeks, I had the
same dream, where I was looking at a picture, you know, when we
actually had pictures to look at, you know, peeping for pictures,
and I was looking at a picture. And it was my dad's tombstone. It
had his name on it, and there was really green grass around it.
Jim Harold 6:55
Oh my.
MG Stephens 6:55
And I remember at six years old, I was thinking, I better not say
anything to anybody, because maybe this is a foreshadowing, you
know, maybe this is something that is going to happen. And if I say
something, then it's going to happen. So I don't want to say
anything. So I didn't tell anybody. I didn't tell my mom, nobody.
And I remember about two weeks after I started having this dream, I
was getting to a point where I wasn't sleeping at all. Because I
was so scared. And my mother was looking at--at me from across the
table. I see--just kind of gave me that look. And I thought oh god,
I'm in trouble or something, you know. And she looked at me and she
said, "You've been having dreams of your dad dying." She said, "for
the last two weeks, you've been having the same dream." She said,
"the dream is you're sitting there looking, you know, you got a
picture, you're looking at the picture. And it's of your dad's
tombstone. And there's really green grass around it." And I don't
know what happened right at that moment. But it must have broke
something because I never had that dream again.
Jim Harold 7:57
Hmm.
MG Stephens 7:58
But that's when I realized, "Oh, this is what Mom does," you know
what I mean? And so I--but still, again, I didn't really understand
because again, we didn't have the information we have now. So I
went through life, you know, being bullied by the--something very
malicious, and not really understanding that my mom's world of
psychic readings and blah, blah, blah--and it was the same as my
world of, you know, dealing with these malevolent entities. So I
really didn't put two and two together because you know, we just
didn't really talk about stuff like that back then.
Jim Harold 8:33
Now as you progress through your childhood, these experiences just
kept happening in in different ways. Right?
MG Stephens 8:41
Yeah, you know, being a psychic medium growing up, you--wherever I
mean, wherever I went, if it was good, bad, indifferent, I would
pick up on it, and if it saw me as a target then that's exactly
what it did. It just tormented me so, you know, if it was this
house, you know, there was something malevolent in there, I would
get picked on. And then I would go over to this house, and if it
was something malevolent I'd get picked on there, you know? I don't
know I just seem to be just like fodder for, you know, malevolent
entities.
Jim Harold 9:17
When did you think that you turned it around? In other words, you
know, from, you know, I think many people would consider the things
that you've mentioned very negative, you know, very dark and scary
and things. When do you feel you kind of got a handle on it and you
started to turn it into another direction?
MG Stephens 9:35
Well, I really didn't--really like--I really didn't understand too
much about the paranormal until interestingly, my mother became a
born again Christian around, you know, the mid 80s And it took me a
much longer time because I was just resistant to it. I really
didn't want to get--I wasn't a churchy person. I'm still not, and
I, you know, never will be but, um, it was around 1991, 92, when I,
you know, kind of reluctantly became a Christian and I started, you
know, and I tell people all the time, you know, you're, you know,
the--a lot of Christians will condemn the world of the paranormal
and ghosts, but they don't realize that they're, you know, the
whole world of demons and angels and casting out of demons. That's
the paranormal as well, you know what I mean? That's the same--it's
the same world. So I didn't really learn about that stuff until I
became a Christian and then I started really, you know, course you
can't go to a fundamentalist Christian church without hearing about
demons and angels and this and that. And, and so that really opened
my eyes and I started realizing, oh, my gosh, and I was probably
about 14, 15, 16, around those ages, when I started to realize,
wait a minute, I'm sensitive. I'm psychic, I guess for lack of a
better word. And I realized my mother was like, "wait a minute,
Mom, this is this is what we are, this is who we are, this is what
we do." And from then on, I started to really wake up and open up
to it and really realize like, "oh my gosh, this is--I'm--I'm a
psychic, I guess, what you would call it, or sensitive or
whatever." And I have been able to see dead people. And I've been
able to, you know, you know, panics, you know, the all these
experiences I've been having up to this point, and then the
paranormal is because, you know, I'm--I'm a sensitive, okay, you
know, and I, you know, it was rough, 14, 15, 16 years old, I
started to clue in, you know, I started to go, "oh, this is who I
am," you know?
Jim Harold 11:31
Now, some people when they talk about the supernatural,
there's--there's kind of a couple of extremes. You've got one side
that says, "oh, everything is light and love. And, you know, there
are no such thing as demons. There--there, you know, there isn't
anything such as evil, there's just lower levels of vibration."
Then you've got people in the middle, like me, who says--who
believe that there's good, and there's very bad. There's very good,
and there's very bad. And there's a continuum in between. Not
everything is a demon. But not everything's an angel either. And
then you've got people on the other thing--the other far end that
say, "ah, all of this stuff is demonic. It's of the devil. And
that's it." Where do you fall on that continuum?
MG Stephens 12:22
I'm like you. I'm in the middle. I know there's good stuff. And I
know there's bad stuff. I've seen it, I've experienced it. Um, it's
been right in my face, you know, most of my life. So I've seen the
good and I've seen the bad, you know, that--that--that, you know,
that dream that you've had about grandma where she came and she
warned you about something? Well, that's the paranormal. It's not
scary. It's not terrifying. And I think we need to kind of get rid
of that where, you know, the paranormal is just demons always, you
know, kind of jumping out at you and, you know, hauntings and
Bigfoot and, you know, you know, just terrifying stuff. I think we
need to get rid of that mentality because the paranormal is so vast
and like I said, you know, Grandma coming to you and warning you of
something in a dream? That's the paranormal as well. And--or just
coming to you and saying she's, you know, Grandpa comes to you and
says he's proud of you for graduating from high school. And that's
the paranormal, but that's something positive. So I'm like you, I
believe that the paranormal world is very vast. It encompasses so
many things. And yeah, I don't believe everything is a demon
either. You know, a lot of people want to do that. And it's like,
no, no, no, you know, you gotta open up your mind and realize that
there's a lot of entities out there, you know.
Jim Harold 13:34
Now as a medium empath, is that something that you practice? Do you
do readings for other people? How have you put that--how have you
put those abilities to use?
MG Stephens 13:48
I will do readings if someone approaches me, but I don't really
kind of get out there. I don't know why. I just don't, but, you
know, I'm definitely available for readings, I do a lot of sort of
past life stuff. Even though I am kind of on the fence about past
life regression, you know, that sort of thing. You know,
reincarnation, I do see a lot of past lives for people, and I also
do a lot of medium work. If you want to reach a loved one, you
know, even a pet, I can also do that. I'm very sensitive with
animals as well. So I'm able to kind of do several things and just
help people if they need it, you know, I'm there.
Jim Harold 14:31
What do you--I mean, as you're going through your everyday life,
and I've asked other psychics this, and I'm always curious about
it. Is it something you can turn on and off? Or is it something,
you know, the old line, "I see dead people," do you see these
things all the time? Is there no shutting them off? Or is it
something that you can--you've learned to control over the
years?
MG Stephens 14:52
Um, you know, I don't think they're--when it--when it comes to
being sensitive, if you truly have an antenna, I don't think it's
an on and off switch, I think it's more of a dimmer switch. You
can, you know, there's times when I'm going through my day, my
week, you know, my life, and I am so beleaguered by something, you
know, in front of me, I've got some sort of deadline I got to make,
I got some sort of, you know, I got to go shopping, I got you know
what, I got to do this, I got to do that. Um, and I'm going about
my day, if there happens to be, you know, if I happen--like, I
believe a lot of things are by fate and chance too, so if I'm
supposed to give someone a word, if someone is supposed to, you
know, hear something from me, I'm supposed to tell somebody
something, I believe that person will cross my path no matter what
state I'm in. And that happens often. You know, there's times when
I'm just like, I just want to get to the store, I wanna get my
groceries, get home, do my laundry, you know what I mean? I'm just
in that mode. And then all of a sudden, I see somebody and I'm
like, oh, man, I got to tell them something. And my mother was the
same way. You'll do it, you know what I mean? Any I believe that,
like, if you're--if someone's supposed to hear--if you're supposed
to touch somebody in a way where, you know, you really have to give
them a word of encouragement or guidance or something that's going
to come through no matter what. But there's a lot of times when I
just kind of go through my day, and I really, I feel things, I hear
things, but it's kind of in passing. You know what I mean? And then
there's times when I'm really super tuned in and no matter what is
going on, and I can feel everything, you know, it just it really
all depends. It all depends on what's going on. You know, there's,
there's times when man I mean, I know--I know what people are
talking about me. I know when people--a lot of times I know when
people are gonna call me, I see their face and five minutes later,
the phone's ringing. Or I get an email or something or a text, you
know, so it's always on. It's almost like a TV that's always on in
the background. You can kind of hear it, but, you know, it's not
like--you're not really paying attention to it. And every once in a
while you'll catch a word or a song or something coming through.
It's kind of like that.
Jim Harold 17:00
Um, does it still surprise you? Do you still see and experience
things that are new? Or at this point, have you kind of seen at
all?
MG Stephens 17:07
Oh, gosh, I don't think I'll ever see it all. I just--like I said,
the paranormal world is so vast, I really don't think
you'll--you'll--you'll--even the most seasoned psychic medium,
whatever it is, I don't think you'll ever see everything that there
is out there. Um, but I I've seen a lot, I've experienced quite a
bit. I've experienced, you know, UFO encounters. Haven't seen
Bigfoot yet, but--or a dog man, which I don't know if I want to,
but, um, you know, I've had a very odd dream where I was kind of
out of body. Just so many strange things. I was attacked by an
impish creature one time when I was a little kid. So yeah, I mean,
I never say, "oh, I've seen it all." Because, you know, who knows
what's going to come up in the next year, next six months, next 10
years? You know what I mean? I could see that big dog man, you
know, who knows? So I don't think you can ever say, "Oh, I've seen
it all," because there's so much out there.
Jim Harold 18:09
In terms of people who are experiencing things, and maybe they're
things that they don't welcome necessarily, what is your advice for
them based on your experience?
MG Stephens 18:22
Um, can you explain that a little more? What do you mean?
Jim Harold 18:24
In other words, if somebody believes that their house is haunted,
or thinks that there's something darker surrounding them, or those
kinds of things, what would you--what would you say to them?
What--what would be your suggestion?
MG Stephens 18:36
Well, I would start asking them questions about what had they
experienced because, you know, I--I really tend to believe people
right off the bat because a lot of people will come to you very
reluctantly, you know, because they don't want you to think they're
crazy. And they'll start recounting what they've been through, and
I say, oh, okay. And then I, you know, the--the psychic, you know,
the sense--my senses will start kicking in and I'll start to go,
"okay, did you play with a Ouija board? Did this happen? Did that
happened? I think your land is cursed or something. Bla bla bla,"
you know what I mean? And that'll start kicking in. So I'll start
telling them, and then they'll start confirming. And then I
actually will see because I do investigations, kind of like
remot--remotely, but I have at times told them, "oh, you go to the
bathroom and you feel like someone's watching you," you know, or
"you--you're taking a shower, and you can see a you know, shadow on
the other end of the shower curtain." And they're like, "yes, yes,
that's it. You know, that's what I've been going through." Um, so
yeah, I mean, I immediately just start asking them questions and
start kind of getting to the bottom of what they're going through.
And then, like I said, my senses kick in. So then that takes over
and then we start to confirm things and, you know, if there's
something that I can't handle, I will always refer them to someone
who can.
Jim Harold 19:53
Have things calmed down for you in the sense that, you know, you
had experienced some really darker things there when you were
younger, has now--has it become to a more manageable level because
of your knowledge, and because of your experience that you're able
to deal with things, or is it still at the same rate? Or where are
you at today with all of that?
MG Stephens 20:16
Well, again, I mean, I can't tell you really much other than, you
know, how do I know it doesn't show up in my room tomorrow night?
You know what I mean? I don't know. But it has calmed down a lot.
Like I said, I've--I--it was like a bully. I was like a scared
little kid when I was growing up. And I think these things thought,
"oh, cool, we can torture her," or, you know, it was just like, the
same thing in school, you know, you` got the you know, that--this
scared, shy, awkward kid, you know, walking through the hallways,
and you've got the bullies that see him and say, "Oh, that's it,
we're gonna torture this one, because he's nice and quiet and
sweet." You know what I mean? And, um, it was kind of like that,
you know, and now that I've gotten older, like, I noticed, when I
became a Christian, and I started to learn about the paranormal, I
started to wake up, and I started to grow, you know, some cohones.
And I started to, you know, get kind of bold and brief. And I had a
few encounters where I did have something demonic come at me and
try to scare me, and I just laughed it off. I was like, "You're not
scaring me." Um, and I had just grown stronger through the years.
And like I said, you know, I don't know what tomorrow is gonna
hold. I don't know if the, you know, legion of demons is going to
show up, you know, at my door, who knows? But--but now things have
gotten a lot quiet--because--quieter because I think I know how to
handle those things. I'm not so much a target anymore, I'm not fun
anymore, because I now know what they are, who they are, and I now
know how to handle them. And I'm not--I'm not--I'm not fun to pick
on anymore, I guess. So I don't really have those really super
malicious encounters anymore thankfully.
Jim Harold 21:58
Now you had talked about I think, UFO encounters, and kind of
spirit encounters we talked about. Do you think these things, you
know, I think many of us when we first get into this, we think of
those kinds of things as very separate. And at least for me, the
more I delve into these things, it seems like there could--could,
not necessarily there is, but there could be some kind of
connection, at least in some cases. Do you think the, you know, the
things we consider paranormal--UFOs, ghosts, cryptid creatures,
whatever it might be--do you think they might be connected
somehow?
MG Stephens 22:37
Well, yeah, I mean, we're starting to see connections between UFO
encounters and poltergeist activity in the home. Or UFO encounters
and Bigfoot, you know what I mean? We're starting to see those sort
of strange interconnections that we didn't really consider before.
Um, so yeah, I believe a lot of these things are connected. And I
don't think every poltergeist encounter has to do with UFOs. And I
don't think every UFO encounter has to do with the poltergeist in
your house. But there are those cases where, you know, I was
talking to Kathleen Martin, who, you know, we all know is author
and researcher, and Denise and Betty and Barney Hill, and she
recounted many stories to me about how her family had connections
with UFOs, encounters with them, and also had a lot of poltergeist
activity that was tied to those. So yeah, I mean, there are those
cases where, you know, those things are very connected, very
closely connected. And then there's those cases where they're not.
So, you know, like I said, the paranormal world is very vast, you
just, it's almost like a--it's almost like a crime. It's almost
like a case, you know what I mean? You have to start delving into
those things, and getting all the details and you know, assessing
those things out and seeing what, you know, you're--when you're
thinking like me, you kind of start to go, "okay, like, what is
this," and you start to listen to the things that are being told to
you. And then, you know, you put two and two together and kind of
solve that puzzle.
Jim Harold 24:00
Now, here's kind of an odd question, I'll admit. Um, if you had the
opportunity to push a button and have all the paranormal stuff go
away, didn't have to deal with it anymore. Positive, negative,
neutral, just gone. Would you push that button?
MG Stephens 24:21
I don't think so. And I thought about this quite often. And I'm,
you know, the fact that I'm autistic and I have ADHD, that question
gets asked to me a lot in that sense as well. Like, if you could
push a button and not be autistic anymore, or have ADHD anymore,
would you? And you know, I think about these things a lot because
it's like, well, yeah, at one point, I would think like, maybe I
would, because then I wouldn't have these bad things, but yet I
wouldn't have the good things too, so you know what I mean? It's
like, okay, I'm in this world of either neurodivergence or the
paranormal, whatever it is we're talking about, and if I push
button, you know, the bad things go away, but so do the good
things. And so how much do I want to put, you know, like, are the
good things worth putting up with some of the bad stuff too? And to
me it is. So I don't think I would shut that--I don't think I would
shut that door, you know, push that button at all. I think I would
rather put up with the bad, so that I could have the good instead
of just getting rid of all of it.
Jim Harold 25:25
Now you have a YouTube series now and you have the book, tell us
everything that you're doing now and where you hope to go
with--with your further explanation of the supernatural and the
paranormal.
MG Stephens 25:39
Well, I'm very much into creating safe spaces for people to tell
their stories. I've listened to many, many, many podcasts and
story--you know, people just telling their stories to me, and they
always tell their story with a lot of shame and guilt and fear,
and, you know, fear of judgment, a fear of shame, and you know, all
this kind of thing. And I really think that's terrible. I think we
need to normalize paranormal encounters and the telling of those
paranormal counters, because people know what they see, they know
what they heard. And they know what they've been through and felt.
So you know, we need to take the giggle factor out of these things,
and we need to start normalizing them. So my platform is very much
creating a safe space where people can tell their stories, even
anonymously if they want to, um, without guilt or fear, shame,
and--and also delve into the PTSD that paranormal encounters leave
behind because paranormal PTSD is a real thing. I know it sounds
silly, but it is. Your brain has registered this encounter as a
terrifying thing. And so now as an adult, you can't sleep without
the lights on, or the door open or shut or, you know, whatever it
is. So paranormal PTSD is a real thing. And I would really like to
delve more into that. I'm also writing my next--next two books, I'm
starting the research on them about indigenous experiences, and the
paranormal, because, you know, indigenous people have a different
perspective on the paranormal than a non-native person. So I
welcome any stories, if you're an indigenous person, and you want
to tell your story, I will happily put that in the book and explain
it. And also, there is a definite connection between
neurodivergence and the paranormal and ESP. And so if you're a
neurodivergent person and you've had, you know, a lifetime of ESP
or you've had paranormal encounters, I would love to hear from you
as well. My email address is boogeymenchronicles@outlook.com. Um,
I, like I said, I'm starting, you know, my next two books, and I
have a YouTube podcast. So far it's just on YouTube, we'll move it
to Anchor and, you know, iTunes and all that later on. But right
now we're just--we're just on YouTube it's called the Boogeyman
Chronicles, and I'm very interested in getting people's whole
stories. You know, when we interviewed Terry Lovelace, we--we went
like four hours, because I wanted to get all of his childhood
encounters, not just incident at Devil's Den, because I believed
all of that was interconnected. So I like getting all of the
stories and archiving them and collecting them and, and presenting
them out there and saying, "Hey, look, if you have an encounter,
you have an encounter, there's nothing to be ashamed of." And, you
know, let's share, let's share, and let's--let's get to the bottom
of these things if we can, and if not, let's just get some sort of
solace and comfort from the, you know, being, you know, kind of
banding together and realizing that we've all had these encounters.
So, yeah, that's--I just like to kind of bring people together and,
you know, make people feel more comfortable about their paranormal
experience.
Jim Harold 28:48
Well, it's been good to speak with you today, and I'm wishing you
the best with the book and all your other efforts. MG Stephens,
thank you so much for joining us today on Ghost Insight.
MG Stephens 28:59
Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it.
Jim Harold 29:01
And thank you for tuning into Ghost Insight. And please keep
exploring those mysteries. We'll talk to you next time. Have a
great week, everybody. Bye bye.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
