I finally kind of got the guts to say why are, why do you keep
coming in my room? Who are you?
He sat on my bed and he said. Jeffrey Epstein
Hey everybody, do us a quick favor and hit follow and smash
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guests and make it so you don't miss the next episode.
Now on with the show. Welcome to Splintered Spirits,
the podcast hosted by me, Gary and my nephew John Santa from
Santa Paranormal. On this episode, we're talking
to the better half, definitely the better looking half, no
offense. Nick of a paranormal power
couple, Tessa Groff. Tessa truly lives with one foot
in this world and 1 foot on the other side.
Tessa is a world renowned psychic medium whose abilities
began in childhood and went supernova after a near death
experience at the age of four. She tried to live a normal life,
studying education and mental health counseling, teaching in
tough inner City Schools near Niagara Falls, and doing
readings on the side until the messages she was getting for
students, parents and strangers became impossible to ignore.
Since then, Tessa has helped grieving families and law
enforcement on active and cold cases, remotely tracked missing
people across the country, and delivered the kind of specific
validations that can change a mother's entire understanding of
how her child passed. She's taking that same grounded,
no BS approach into theater shows where spirits hijacked the
night with family secrets and into haunted locations with her
husband, paranormal legend Nick Roth, where her intuition and
his gear collide, sometimes in perfect sync and sometimes in
basement arguments over doors that should probably stay
closed. We'll get into all of it.
What spirits are to her, how she draws the line between mental
health and mediumship, and what it's really like to work crime
scenes and haunted homes with your spouse.
And how do you raise six kids in a house with the dead?
Or just a part of the conversation?
Let's dive into it with Tessa Groff.
Tessa, what's up? What's going on guys?
Welcome to splintered spirits. Thanks for having me.
No, thank you for doing this. This is, I mean, yeah, it's
great. We have a lot of fun here doing
this thing. And you are someone who's been
popping up in my feed so often as I'm diving into this entire
paranormal space with, you know, everything that you do in this,
from going to locations to doing live shows.
And that's kind of that's just the just scratching the surface
of you as a sort of a medium and a paranormal investigator.
So I kind of want to dive right in on this with you, if you
don't mind. So I know you've said before
that you've you've gotten your abilities in childhood and, and
intensified after a near death experience.
What was what was that? What was that experience?
So I think I think I was born with the ability.
So I like to clarify that. I think that everybody who has
the ability is born with it. I know this to be true because
my grandmother, I believe, had the ability.
She'd never admit to it, but now and then my mom has it.
And then I was born and I But the difference with me is that
when I was four, I was rushed into an emergency surgery
because of an illness that I had had since birth, But nobody
really caught on to it. I come from a Italian family,
super super aggressive and my mom was not going to let this
slide. So she literally went to
everybody she possibly could and she finally got a Doctor Who
diagnosed me and was like, she needs an emergency surgery.
But this is like a big deal. Most other doctors didn't even
want to perform it on me. But in the meantime my body was
literally poisoning itself, so I was going into stages of sepsis,
so. Jesus.
At 4:00, Yeah, like, like, not even 4, like not even 4, like
pushing 4. So I had the surgery and the
first thing I remember is back then, and this is like 30 plus
years ago, they let my mom into the surgical room when they were
putting me under, which they would never allow that now.
And she's standing here and as I'm going to sleep, I remember
seeing faces kind of surround me.
When I woke up from that, I asked my mom like, why was
everybody staring at me? And she said there was nobody
around me. Everybody had lined up like
doctors, nurses along the walls, which was procedural.
The only person there would have been her and the
anesthesiologist. So she right then and there, she
was like, this is weird. And then I had like a two week
hospital stay. I couldn't walk.
I had epidurals down my back. I had to learn to walk again
following that. And I remember one night where
I'm in bed in the hospital and I see the door open and white
lights come in, surround me and there is just people smiling.
And it was like I was wondering if I was hallucinating.
Was it the meds? I look at my parents who are
sleeping on a cot. Nobody saw anything.
That was like the first time I remember seeing something odd.
And then going home is really when it all kind of kicked up.
So by the time I got home, I started having experiences every
single night. So I do think that my near death
experience, I think that maybe enhanced what I was born with
because when I went back home, I started seeing a guy in my room
every single night. And like back then, if you think
about like 80s, early 90s, right?
Like my mom had this curly black like Afro hair.
And so I would see this person come into my room.
At first I would think it was my mom, and as the person got
closer, I'm like #1 that's a guy and #2 definitely not my mom.
I would freak out, go under the bed.
And after this progressed for many days, I finally kind of got
the guts to say, why are why do you keep coming in my room?
Who are you? He sat on my bed and he said he
was my uncle. Jeffrey Epstein.
For sure, for sure. I was like, what the F?
But he gave nicknames that he called everybody.
He showed me the shirt that he was buried in.
He basically gave a very specific message to my mom and
my grandmother for his passing. So when I woke up the next day,
told them Long story short, and they're, you know, crying.
I thought maybe I was in trouble.
I don't know. But come to find out, I have the
exact same ability as my mom as my grandmother.
And that was like the moment that my mom realized that I have
the same ability as her. OK, so now you're a kid and
you're, you're growing up with this, right?
But you, you took a path of you sort of went into down education
and clinical mental health. Isn't that correct?
Yeah, yeah. So were you keeping it separate?
Were you keeping the medium thing just personal and you were
trying to pursue a different professional career?
What When did? When did these two worlds either
collide or separate for you? Yeah, I tried to be normal.
I tried to be normal. That's what I was told to do.
Like if you really want the real story, I I didn't want to go to
school at all. I wanted to be a professional
dancer because my background is actually in dance.
I was a dancer from the time I was three up until couple years
ago when I had my my last son. But so I was like hoping to be
Janet Jackson's backup dancer. Like that was really what I
wanted to do. But like my grandmother was, you
know, strong headed Italians, like you're going to college.
So I did and I tried to be normal and I was drawn though
into wanting to help people. So like I wanted to understand
mental health and I wanted to help people.
I was, I loved kids. So I went for teaching and then
my masters was in clinical mental health counseling.
Where it separated was me thinking I was going to get
fired from my jobs because I would be either doing clinicals
for my masters or teaching in a school and I would be picking up
on like I worked in an inner city school at the time so.
Where, whereabouts, Where are you from?
I'm from Niagara Falls, NY. Oh, OK.
Yeah, like outside of Buffalo. Sure.
No, no, I went to school in Syracuse up there.
I know that. Oh, OK.
Yeah, I. Know the hell that is upstate
New York? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's very fun. So we grew up around the black,
from Stefano Magadino to the mob boss.
So that was fun, but but besides the fact so it was an inner city
school, rough, rough, you know, neighborhood rough city.
And the kids unfortunately came to school with like a lot of
really tough things going on at home.
And I would pick up on like a father who was shot or stabbed
or I would pick up on, or the kids would talk to me about it.
And then like the teachers would come to me and say, hey, you
know, what am I feeling? Or, And I'd be giving readings
in like the lunchroom. And then so I'm thinking to
myself, like, I'm going to get fired.
So I started really pushing more toward doing the mediumship
because I also felt that with my background, like clinical stuff,
it kind of created boundaries for me where I couldn't be as
honest with people as I wanted to be.
Or like, if somebody's diagnosed schizophrenic, but I'm positive
that they're really seeing spirit, like basically I'm going
to get fired. So I just dropped it and I I
just started pursuing my career as a medium.
I first, like I never even imagined a tough.
I would never assume tough in inner city When I hear Niagara
Falls, I mean, I mean, not to get off too off point for just a
second, but I'm sort of thinking like I never thought that that I
always picture Niagara Falls like tourist seats.
People were like, it was like the old school honeymoon place
new. York's a mess.
Well, I know it's got part, but I never thought that area had
that kind of thing that you would have to deal with that,
you know I can. Go.
I can go on and on. Yeah.
But not back in the day, like when I was a kid.
It was a tourist location. It was beautiful.
I mean, the area I grew up in was all Italians.
Like, they barely spoke English. It was an Italian neighborhood.
You were safe to walk around. And I don't know if it was like
the mob involvement or whatever, but you were safe.
And like, I was able to be outside and play and do whatever
we had to do. And yeah, it was beautiful.
But over the years, it has really crumbled.
And it's really sad because it's one of the seven wonders of the
world. So you would think, you know,
that it would be in better shape.
But there's a lot of people fighting to get it better, so I
don't. Know it's got to be the mob,
probably the mob because that was where you would run booze
over from Canada real close, right?
That's probably why there's so many Italians over there, if you
had to guess. Maybe.
Yeah. Maybe that's why, yeah.
All right, so you're you're fighting this, this battle with
yourself here, dealing from, you know, keeping it in and what
about your your your early years from there, then going into like
certain locations, if you're fighting it at school, you're
going into these heavy location, these locations that have heavy
activity for you. And when was like that first
feeling like, you know that this is bigger than just this
one-on-one. I'm getting off this kid when
you're in and then you when you make that move.
Does that make sense? Does that question make sense?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I mean, I there's a couple of
things I think like I feel like I am I allowed to swear because
I yeah, yeah, for sure. OK cuz I'm trying to like.
OK, no, don't hold yourself back.
No, no, go for. It.
I have an awful mouth so I'm like, I'm not sure.
Me too. Me too.
You're good. Yeah, OK.
I've had a couple like kick in the ass moments like when I was
growing up where I feel like there was like that kick in the
ass to be like, you know what, you know, there this is, this is
something different here. One of them, honest to God, one
of them was around 911 when that took place.
I was in school the night before.
I'm actually writing a book and this is 1 of this takes up two
chapters of the book because it's a wild experience.
But I'm trying to like suppress this at school because like, if
you think about it, you're trying to fit in.
People made fun of me having the ability.
What school? Like middle school, High school?
Where are you? You're very you look very young
to me. Thanks.
I'm serious. I don't feel it.
I feel like I'm 84. I, I think I was just, I was in
middle school approaching high school when 911 happened.
Oh my God. Yeah, she is very young.
You're getting younger than. Me, but I.
I I'm I was a senior. When that popped off, how were?
You. Yeah, well, I'll be, I'll be 37
in a couple weeks. So I mean, but so yeah, I'm in
like middle school and, and at the time I'm trying to fit in
and people would make fun of you and things like that.
Not everybody believed in it either.
It was kind of something to make fun of.
So I tried to keep it quiet. But I remember when 911
happened, the night before, I had these very vivid dreams and
I woke up choking, like I was foreseeing fire and I was
trapped in a building. And I remember waking up and my
mom was kind of like, what the hell is wrong with you?
You know, you're get back to sleep, you have school in the
morning. And I was coughing.
And so she actually thought I was getting sick.
And I said, no, it's the smoke. It's the smoke.
And she's like, there's, you know, there's no smoke.
You're out of your mind. Like there's no smoke.
You're fine. Your room is fine.
Everything's fine. And I go to school.
I was in home economics class and I remember I was going to
tell my best friend about this dream and I didn't.
And that's when the teacher flipped on the TV and it was
right before the second plane hit the towers.
So we were watching it live. And I remember the feeling that
I had was like so overwhelming. I actually had to run to the
bathroom and throw up because I was so overwhelmed with how I
like, I couldn't understand how I would have seen that or heard
like the noises that I heard in the dream of things collapsing
and cracking and breaking and people screaming.
And I couldn't understand it. And when I was watching it on
TV, it overwhelmed me so bad. And I think that was where I
realized that this ability, some people call it a gift.
I don't call it a gift. It's it's like an ability, it's
a blessing and a curse. It's like, and and it's not
always pretty and it's not always happy and it's not always
all those things, you know? So that was definitely one of
those times. And I don't know if that answers
your question, but that was like a point in time that really
shook me where I would realized that this was something it does.
Answer. It does answer.
And it's it's when you realize there's something more.
Yeah. So when did and when did you
give up on the teaching and the clinical work?
That was, I was already like finishing my master's.
I had my first two sons. I became a single mom actually
right outside of college. So I was working.
I had my first two sons. I was only 24 when I had my
first son. And I think the combination of
knowing like I have to take care of these kids on my own and also
I'm just not doing the right thing.
Like I'm supposed to be helping people in the way that I know
I'm supposed to be helping people.
I think both of those things shoved me into going into, you
know, pure mediumship. I will say this too, the other
thing that I recognized was I was doing readings outside of
everything. So like privately, I was doing
readings with people and I came across this woman and I did a
reading for her and she immediately I picked up on her
son. I already had had my son.
OK, so this is at a point where I'm like 24.
I had just had a son. Now I'm feeling all the feels of
like what it's like to be a parent.
And then I sit with this woman and immediately I feel her son
come through. And the story that I gave her
from her son was that he didn't mean to pass away.
He was by the falls. I'll never forget seeing it.
He was sitting by the falls. He liked to draw, so he would
put himself by the gorge and he had like an easel and he would
be drying. And I guess one day he slipped
and he fell into the gorge. And I guess police at the time
kind of considered it like he, it was like a suicide.
They were trying to say that this kid must have done this,
right? The kid came through and
basically told me that it was never like that.
He didn't mean to hurt himself. It was an accident.
He slipped and he gave me like very specific details, like what
he was drawing, the area he was in, what took place, like
leading up to him going there, how the mother told him you
probably shouldn't be there, it's going to be too cold, you
shouldn't be near the falls. Things that she would never
know. And I remember I was, I was
sobbing because like just feeling what this mother felt.
I was sobbing and I left there and I remember thinking like, am
I doing the right thing? Am I supposed to be doing this
'cause this is fucking brutal. Like I, I don't know how I'm
supposed to keep doing stuff like this when it's so heavy and
it's like involving people's kids.
And it wasn't until she messaged me like a few days later and she
basically said that she was so overwhelmed and like she didn't
know how to keep going on. But she, you know, she, the
message I gave to her gave her such closure that no therapist,
no anybody could have given to her.
And that basically I was the reason that she was pushing
forward and moving on. That kind of snapped me back
into reality and I was like, OK, alright, maybe, maybe I could do
this. Maybe it's not going to be this
bad. And there's things like that
that led up to a lot of my decision making and and how I
handle things and why I'm doing what I'm doing.
I love hearing that story and I like that you brought up police
because it's where I want to, I want to get into that with you
in a second. Just a just a, a funny 9/11
story. Can I say this?
But it's like where I was where I was at 911.
So I was with I was, so we got I got the call.
I was in Lai was with my girlfriend, who's my wife now at
the time. And it was like early in the
morning, right? So I was spending the night
there and her mother calls up and it's like, you know, we're
on, you know, everyone thinks we're under attack and you know,
she knocks me awake. She's like, you got to wake up.
You know, it's like, but her mom didn't know that we were, she
had a dude over, you know, sleeping over.
So it's like the conversation about America being under attack
was like, who's this guy that you're waking up that you've
clearly just slept with overnight?
And then we're both like, well, I guess my parents know that
we're sleeping like I've got it was like a whole thing.
You know what I mean? It was just like we were sort of
like shaking up. But anyway, you were saved.
By the terrorists. Yeah, it's like just suddenly
made this because if it. Wasn't for that.
You would have been, you would have been up shits correct for
sure. Yeah, right.
I mean I have a. Completely different 9/11 story.
I was a super junior and super duper senior in high school
right? I stayed back.
What is a super? Duper senior so so.
Basically, that's somebody who stays.
Back somebody. Who stays back for something
stupid? I stayed back because I failed
Jim, right? Because I didn't go.
You look like the. Picture of hell.
I'm a, I'm a, I'm a volunteer firefighter.
At this point, I'm already 18. I'm a volunteer firefighter.
And back in the day we had pagers and I'm sitting in class
because I decided to take some AP courses towards college
credits if I'm going to be there anyway.
And I'm sitting in class and my pager goes off and it was a
tone. It's a tone you never want to
hear, right? It's that like all hands on deck
tone like, you know, like usually you get that when we're
at war. And I just remember just like
rushing out of the high school and like every all the all of
the hall monitors trying to stop me and I'm like, Nope, you're
not stopping me. And there was two other super
duper duper seniors too, firefighters.
So you just see us all rush and we report to our our stations
and it was just madness. It was that day was just
complete madness. Wow.
That's why we all had very different experiences on 9/11, I
think, yeah. Yeah, I kind of like Gary's.
I was like a little looking, keep it light.
So. Tessa, you brought up, you just
mentioned police, you know, in a police report and how you saw
something sort of different. You have worked with law
enforcement. Yeah.
What? How did that come about for you?
So weirdly, like, so my, my boys, my 2 oldest boys, their
father was a police officer and he's now a sheriff.
And when we were together, he did not believe in this stuff.
I just think it freaked him out because he for sure believes in
it. He's just, he's just afraid of
it. But back then, I remember even
when I was a kid though, if I would see something on the news,
if I if a case came up on the news, missing person, a
homicide, whatever. I realized that as I would be
watching this, I would get snippets in my head.
And when I was younger, I didn't fully understand it.
As I got older, I started realizing a little bit more and
more, hey, what I'm seeing are things that eventually when the
news comes back on, it's playing out.
And so I would be seeing like where the person would be
located or maybe a vision of who was involved with this.
And then next thing you know, it would pop back up.
That person would be found in that location or you know, that
person who was involved, their picture would pop up and I'm
like, holy shit, that's the person that I saw.
So like, little by little, I would realize that for whatever
reason, I have this ability to connect with cases like this.
It was it, I think one of my first cases was in Wisconsin.
So like, I'm in New York. This woman who knew of me as a
medium contacted me about somebody who had went missing in
Wisconsin. So I'm sitting here thinking
like, OK, well, I'm not in Wisconsin, so how am I supposed
to help this person? So I'm like, you got to give me
a map. Just show me where this person's
at. Give me a city, something like
show me a map. And for a week straight, I
worked with law enforcement and her, she was a friend of the
family who was connected to the family.
So me, the family, law enforcement and I would track
where this person was. And he was alive for about a
week. And I would send them like, for
example, one of these things had a bridge.
So like I circled the bridge. I'm like, you need to get to
this bridge because he's there. They go to the bridge, they find
his clothing and like a campfire that he had made and like little
signs that he was around. There was even like security
footage. I'm like, there's a bar.
And if you go and ask them, he's on security footage like you.
And so they did that. And come to find out there is
security footage of this guy coming into the bar leaving.
So we tracked him for a week. One day I woke up, It was
literally like 6-7 days into this and I woke up and I smelled
water and I felt this relief in a sense, and I hate to call it a
relief, but I don't know how else to explain it.
It was like something lifted off of me because I had been
carrying his energy for 6-7 days trying to track him.
And and like if I can explain that properly, you're taking on
somebody else's energy. It can feel heavy, like
physically, and all of a sudden I felt this relief like it was
gone. I smelled water and in my head I
saw this river. I immediately called the family
and I was like, you need to get somebody out to this river right
now because I think that he's gone.
They did a deep dive. They searched.
I think it took him like a day or so.
They found his body in the river.
He did not want to be found. So this was one of those cases
that was really unfortunate because it was he was on the
run. He didn't want to be found, and
he ultimately took his life. But that case showed me that I
was in fact, able to help law enforcement.
And so from there it just spread What?
When you when you get involved in a case, how do you do you
walk me through a typical thing from then on?
Was it is it like, do they bring you in to an active
investigation or a cold case? And what do you like to know
upfront if anything or do you want or do you tell them like
no, you know, how do you play it so?
I'll just give you a specific case and I'll walk you through
that, if that's OK. There was.
There was one in October of 2023, I believe her name was
Demaya Appling. It was a Florida case.
She was 14 years old. So API had contacted me.
She said that the police had kind of somewhat pushed the case
aside. The family wanted more
information, hired API, the Pi found me so she can't.
She was one who contacted me and we were in direct communication
with the family as well. The very first thing I asked for
was I said just give me a picture of her and give me a map
like where did she go missing? Does anybody know where she went
missing? Just show me her picture.
So I got a picture of her and a map of where she was supposedly
abducted from. Had they given that to me a week
prior, I would say we probably could have saved her.
But again, they waited a week and they contacted me.
So anyways, I'm looking at this picture and there's something
called remote viewing and I don't know if you're familiar
with that term. OK.
So. Remote viewing is basically for
anybody who's not watching this, I'm able to see into a place or
a location without physically being there.
So within my mind's eye I'm able to see visions or to me it looks
almost like a film reel going over and over of what would have
taken place. So I'm remote viewing now into
Florida and I took this map and I looked at her and it was
almost as if she because she was already on the other side.
And that was the first thing that I felt and it was
unfortunate, but I said she's already passed.
So she was showing me like just a very tall grassed area.
And again, there was like water behind it.
She's showing me all this. I'm looking at the map and I'm
starting to remote view. And her location was here.
And I just start drawing a line and I'm asking her like, show me
where to go. So I'm drawing this line, line,
line, line. She's telling me go up here and
I circle this one area. There's a river and I said
there's a patch of very high grass and you have to go over
here. So I circle it, whatever.
A couple days goes by, the Pi comes back.
They were like they found her body and her body was in the
location that you circled. There was high grass.
It was right by the water. She came back to me and then we
worked on who would have done this.
The last update that I got with that case was that the people
that I described to her, again, remote viewing and through what
I'm picking up from Damaya herself, was four different
people involved. So I had a friend who was very
good at sketching. So I had him draw people for me,
handed those sketches over, and they were able to pinpoint these
people. I don't know that they've been
charged yet because of how the process works and it takes a
long time, but I do know they have significant, significant
evidence to prove that these people were involved.
So that's like a long story, but a lot of it's remote viewing.
Some of it's from the people who would have passed and it just
takes a lot of time and energy to like place things to where
they need to be. How do you?
Emotionally decompress after working on a On a case like
that, how do you protect yourself?
It always for me was dance and I didn't realize that till later.
Like for me, for years, taking on any type of reading or spirit
or whatever throughout the day, when I would go to a studio or
when I'd be performing something, to me, that was a
release. I didn't know that.
Moving forward now, how do I release it?
Man, that's really not easy. It's not easy, but honestly,
it's like being outside and just doing something to ground
yourself and to release things from your head in whatever way
that possibly means. Even if it's just taking a
friggin shower, you know, and like just kind of decompressing
for a second. It's like little things.
Any way you possibly can to clear your mind well.
On the flip side of that, then what boundaries do you set with
these families or the OR the police officers or the Pis?
So they don't just treat you like some, you know, magic
answering machine, you know, or something like, you know, like
how do you, what do you tell them?
What's that boundary like? Especially for these unresolved
cases for that to go on for years?
Yeah. You know, I mean, I haven't had
to set many boundaries. I will say for the most part of
the people that I've worked with, whether it be API, law
enforcement or even the families, they've been so
respectful. And so just appreciative, I
think of what I do, I haven't really had to set boundaries
with with any of them. And maybe that's also I, I'm the
type of person that will just take it all on and then deal
with it later. So maybe that's a me thing, but
I just take it all on. That's pretty bad when it comes
to criminal cases. When it comes to criminal cases,
I literally will exert as much as possible to help the
families. Do you still?
Do that or is that backed off a little bit now?
No, I do. It actively and there's
actually, we have a show that we were working on that's going to
surround just that aspect of my life, the criminal side of
things. Got it.
Yeah. So add that to the many other
things you do, which is these you've got live from with the
other side and then you've got stuff with Nick where you go
into like haunted locations and haunted houses, right.
So you gone from these intimate readings and then to touring and
big casinos and big venues. What surprises you the most when
about translating mediumship into that kind of a theatrical
environment, into that kind of stage environment like.
Doing the theater, the shows and all that, Well, I've been on
stage my whole life. So I think like my comfort zone
when it, if I had to choose to do anything, honestly, it would
be stage. It would be something to do with
a live audience. I think it's amazing to when I
get up on stage and there's thousands of people, hundreds to
thousands of people sitting in front of me, the validation that
comes through. And even if like I don't read
every person, which is pretty much impossible in that
audience. It's weird because a lot of
people will receive messages like through third parties, like
if I'm reading this person, but maybe they over here understand
the message and like that seems similar to my situation.
They take the message for themselves as well.
And I think it also gives validation to the entire
audience. That spirit can communicate from
the other side like you're, you're actively watching it.
So, you know, and I like to interact with people like I, I
think being a performer and some people say I'm funny.
I don't know, I try to bring some lightheartedness to it as
well. So I like to interact and I like
to mess with people and I like to, you know, if I'm making you
cry, I'm also going to make you laugh.
And I'm also going to bring it back around and try to give you
a positive message rather than you bawling your eyes out and
leaving and stuff. So I do have fun with it, but
it's also important to me to show that live, to show people
that this can happen. It does happen, and you're
witness to it. And the energy's different.
Yeah, yeah. 100%. So this is a good time to ask
before we get into like the haunted houses too, which I ask
all of our guests, right? So what?
What are spirits to you? What are you dealing with?
In a haunted location or like in a What's a?
Spirit. What are spirits?
What are what do you think you're talking?
What's what are they, I think. It's an energy.
Like if you're thinking of when somebody passes away, there's
scientific evidence to prove that we contain energy.
And when a person dies, there's been proven documentation of
like a light or something that releases from them.
And so I've always believed that we are energy.
Our soul or whatever you want to refer that to is energy.
So I do believe that a spirit in, from my belief would be like
a soul of somebody energetically because it takes energy to
communicate with them as well. They communicate almost
telepathically. So the way I see them would be
within my mind. I can hear them, see them within
my mind. So to me that becomes like an
energetic thing. So I think spirit is a form of
an energy, a soul on the other side.
But not all of those things are light hearted and fun.
And like, it's not always grandma, you know?
Wait, wait, real. Quick, before we get too far,
what's the well, you keep saying the other side.
What is the other side to you where are like what is Oh,
that's such? A loaded question because people
were, so it's OK. And listen, don't, don't worry
about your answer. Like don't, it shouldn't be, it
shouldn't. I don't want you to feel like
it's loaded. Everybody has a different answer
to this. That's, that's the whole point
of what we're doing is we're sort of putting together this
mosaic or tapestry of, of answers to try to see the
commonalities, right? So if it, it's based on your
belief system, that's cool. I mean, it's, we're not, we're
going to judge over here. It's just.
But what? But you're using that term.
What are you? I'd like, I like to know what
Tessa Groff thinks is the other side is this.
Are we in the clouds? Are we like just a mirror?
We can't see? What is it to you?
What does that mean? See.
I'm. Still trying to figure certain
things out. Because to me the other side is
almost a different dimension. Like I think that we coincide
with the other side, just a different dimension in a sense.
Because I grew, so I grew up Catholic.
Italian, right? So do we.
But John. And I are both Catholic Italian,
right? So.
Like, but but so you realize like then you have a a pre
notion of like, what is the other side?
It's heaven, right? So like you're described this
beautiful place and it's heaven and it's happy and it's white
and it's all these things, right?
Sounds terrible, but yeah, so it's like that's what you're
brought up to believe, right? But then you have all these
experiences and in the Catholic religion, there is no such thing
as them coming and talking to you and whatever, right?
So there's this weird kind of disconnect between religion and
what now I'm experiencing as a medium.
So now I'm trying to like change my thought process of maybe
there's more to it and maybe it's not so tunnel visioned.
I do think that it is a different dimension in a sense
that can coincide with us. So I think that some spirits are
aware that they've passed on. There's an acceptance to them on
the other side in this other dimension, and that they are
able to communicate back and forth.
And at the same time, I think that within this other
dimension, there are souls that have not fully moved on or maybe
realize that they've passed. And that's why we get different
types of documentation with souls like that as well.
But I've also done things like research near death experiences,
right? So people who've had near death
experiences, when they come back from these near death
experiences, 90% of these people talk about a very bright place
that feels like what would be described as heaven and that
their family and loved ones are there.
And so, you know, there's a lot of different things coming into
play here that I'm still trying to kind of figure out.
But I think there's some truth behind obviously what these
people experience with this white light.
And even during readings, a lot of the times they say Spirit
says to me, I'm with so and so on the other side.
They passed before me. They greeted me when I passed.
That's why I believe that nobody ever dies alone.
I believe that somebody's always there to greet them.
So they don't ever pass alone, no matter what the circumstances
in the physical world, you know? So I think it's a bunch of
different things. But I do believe that they have
the ability to connect with us, talk with us, do things here in
the physical world, manipulate things.
So I think it's a bit more than what they would describe heaven
to be. Thank you for that.
So knowing that that's when with that energy and that that's how
what you feel they are when you're on a stage.
So it's jumping back to the to your theater shows.
Are you treating the entire room as one field of energy or are
you immediately drawn to specific people or like hotspots
that you might, you know, like the way you would be if it like
you're in a haunted building or something.
I'm. Very drawn specifically to a
person or an area. And I think the reason behind
that though, is because I think, I think in general spirit, when
they deliver messages, they give us what we need rather than what
we want, you know? And so I've realized that in
these live events that I do, I'll be drawn.
Sometimes I even pick up on things before I go on stage.
So then when I'm out there, I'm like, OK, this, I felt this.
Where are you, right? And so immediately I'm looking
for whatever that was. And the minute that I'm on
stage, it's like, oh, there it is.
And so I'll go here because I'm like, all right, this person was
bothering me beforehand. So apparently they really want
to talk, you know, And so I'll be drawn to this person
specifically right away. That one thing will then somehow
lead to the next. And it's almost like things
start to become tied in and it's, I don't know if like they
work together or what the hell goes on over there, but they're,
it's almost like one thing leads me to another, which leads me to
another. And they're in, they're
connected in some way. And then in many different ways
they're different. And that's also the fun that I
have with spirit there 'cause they mess with me too.
Like they tried, they, they will mess with me.
And so for example, like, they'll, they'll, they'll be
like, oh, you know, this, there was 1.
So I did, I did one. You'll, you might find this
funny. I'm doing a reading at a live
event. There's like hundreds of people
here. I'm connecting with this one
person. All of a sudden they start
talking about, oh, yeah, you know, and grandma greeted me and
so everybody's great and blah, blah, blah, right?
Everything's wonderful. All of a sudden, because I spoke
about a grandmother, a grandmother pops in.
She's like, oh, you got to, you got to come over here because I
got to talk to them right there. So I move over and I'm like, OK,
this person's grandmother's here she goes.
You want to embarrass them really bad?
And I'm like, not really. You know, this is no, because
then they're mad at me. They're not mad at you.
You're not here. So I'm the one who's getting
blamed for whatever's being said.
And she's like, you got to talk about the painting that was made
of me. She's like, have you ever seen
the Titanic? And the girl, she's naked.
And so there's a naked picture of me that was painted just like
the one from Titanic. And they didn't know about it
till after I died. I'm like, God damn, that's very.
Specific. Very.
Specific. So now I'm sitting here thinking
like, Oh my God, like I'm, I'm so literally I'm arguing with
nothing like Whoopi Goldberg in, you know, the movie Ghost.
That's what I looked like, like arguing with myself.
And I'm just like, I'm not saying this out loud.
And the mother, the, the daughter is sitting there and
she looks at me. She goes, oh, no, she goes, I
know exactly what she's telling you.
If you don't want to say it out loud, I'm like, well, do I have
permission to say this? And she's like, go ahead.
So I said it verbatim what she told me.
And they just, everybody burst out laughing.
The one granddaughter had no idea.
So I completely blew them in. And I'm like, Oh my God, like
nobody's ever going to come back to my shows because I'm giving
away family secrets. That's a great.
Story that is a great one yeah, I'll.
Never forget that it's just you. When you say you heard it, are
you hearing? Do you hear where their voice
sounds like? Are you getting that vivid of an
image or a audio like what is that connection for you?
It's. Very similar to if somebody were
to say to you, what are the lyrics to that song?
And in your head, you start replaying the song and you hear
the musician's voice and you hear the music and you hear it
in your head very clearly. That's what spirit sounds like
to me. So sometimes I do get a
distinct, like, that's how I can tell the difference between, OK,
is it a male voice? Is it a female voice?
How old are they? Like, what's going on here?
Sometimes they'll talk in like an accent.
And I'm like, oh, my God, this person either spoke a different
language or like they have a heavy accent or things like
that. So it's if that makes sense to
you. If you were to try to recall
your song, that's what it sounds like.
All right. Yeah, OK.
When did you start now? Did you start going into like
haunted locations? Was that before or after meeting
Nick? That was a really funny story.
I did not want to do the paranormal like I was.
I am like it's a shit show. I I get so like scared of
paranormal stuff. I really do.
It's. It's scary shit.
I don't. Want to be taken off guard like
I don't care to be in a location where doors are slamming like
I'm I'm set. I pee myself now because I have
4 kids and you could. Get tetanus from a fucking nail
that's ripped. It's like these places suck.
It's not like you get to stay at The Four Seasons, and The Four
Seasons is never haunted. It's some shitty place.
It's some totally shitty place that you got to go to that's at
no heat and no light beside. Not all the time.
Like the southern mansion in Cake Bay is beautiful.
I'm shirt like. No, you're right.
Of course there's an exception that proves every rule.
But I'm saying for the most part.
What exception? Let's go to this insane asylum
that's been abandoned. Yeah, it's.
Not on my Yeah, it's not on my list.
Like, I don't care, you know what I'm saying?
Like I just never, never Nick even knows.
Like I won't watch scary movies after a certain point at night
because I'm like, I got to go to bed.
Like I don't want to watch this shit.
So like, I hate movies. Yeah, I'm right with you.
Yeah, like so. But prior to meeting Nick,
there's many people who know that I was like, I'm not doing
that. I got asked from A and EI had
shows that came to me that wanted me to be on TV.
They wanted me as the medium on this and that.
And I tried to compromise with them.
And I would say I'm not a paranormal investigator.
So if you want me for this show to be a paranormal investigator,
I don't want to do that. I'm a medium.
I'll do that. But also I don't want to be in
haunted locations. And so I turned down multiple
shows, but then, but prior to Nick, I will say, like, I've
done paranormal work, don't get me wrong, but that's also how I
learned I didn't want to do it. And I'd be invited to like
paracons and I did events like that.
But I always tried to really stick to my mediumship.
And it wasn't until I met Nick and he legitimately tricked me
into filming with him is how I got dragged into doing
paranormal television because I did not want to do it.
He called me up and was like, hey, you know, do you want to
meet me at this spot real quick? Like I got to show you
something. Just come here like you're going
to it's crazy. You got to come over here.
I'm like, OK, so I I show up and I'm like, what the hell?
There's his cousin with the camera.
He's like, all right, now I need you to tell me like, what are
you feeling and this and that? I'm like you son of a like you,
you just tricked me. So truthfully, I never watched
Ghost Adventures or any of his shows.
I had no knowledge of who he even was when I met him.
I stayed away from the paranormal, so I just, I got
tricked into it and so now here I am.
Well, look. I, I think it's great, but first
I find it, and I want to talk about this too, because so I'm
in the entertainment business. I'm a producer, my wife is an
agent. We're in the same field, but we
do different things. Otherwise we would murder each
other. There just would be, I can't.
So it's like, you know, you and Nick are, you know, you're kind
of a paranormal power power couple.
That's what people say. Some people.
Say, but you are, I mean, look, you know, he's very well known.
You're very well known. You're right, you know, and it's
like you do. How do you practically divide
these roles between like evidence based investigation and
your intuitive perception so that you don't murder each other
and become another spirit in these locations?
Yeah, for other people to find it would be.
Nick who would be murdered because I have definitely the
hotter temper than him. He is like super calm.
He is very he's like the person to bring it back around and be
like let's all calm down Let's just talk about this and I'm the
Italian firecracker that's like F this F you F this place.
I'm gone. So, so like right then and
there, we even each other out. But in one aspect, him and I
surprisingly work really well together.
Like he trusts my ability. I'm very strongly and I trust
his knowledge of the, you know what he does not only in
filmmaking, his genuineness within the filmmaking as well.
Because that was also another one of my big worries with doing
shows is just the genuineness behind the production of it,
right? So I never want to be involved
with something that was like overproduced and just fake.
And so his genuineness within his filmmaking and also just his
knowledge of doing the paranormal, the devices that he
uses and all that. So in one way, we work very well
together. I'll be picking up on things.
Next thing you know, he's validating it with his devices
and things like that. So there's that aspect and
that's great. We disagree when it comes to
like I'll say to him, for example, we were in a person's
home more recently when we were filming season 5 of Death
Walker. And it was a personal case.
It was somebody's home. And there is a very, very dark
energy that was in the basement. So we're down in the basement.
I didn't want to go in the basement to begin with because
I'm like, I already see it. I don't need to go down there.
But he brought me down there. And so now we're down there and
I tell him, don't go near this door because that's where this
thing like hides. It's a weird he's behind the
store and I need you to like stay away from it.
He went to the door and he's like opening it and I'm like,
I'm like, you don't listen to me, Like you need to stay away
from that door. I'm like, what are you doing?
So like, next thing you know, you hear us on camera, like
going back and forth and and Justin his his cousin's laughing
his ass off because he's like, Oh my God, here we go.
And I'm like, you're not listening to me.
It's behind the door. You know, so there's like those
things where we disagree. Do you?
Feel like he takes the lead on the ghost investigations on
locations and maybe when you're on stage together, you're more
the lead and you're like, hold my purse, this is my form.
Yeah, I think I would say so. But then there's also times
where he kind of sends me in like a hound dog in in the
paranormal investigation. First he'll be like, go in
there, see what you feel, tell me what you feel, you know, and
then he kind of takes the reins and he'll go do his thing.
Not by yourself. You don't.
You don't walk through a house by yourself and do that shit
most of the time. No, but if you watch some of the
episodes, he will leave me in a spot and like, and then I'm
having like a panic attack because I did not want to be
left in that spot. And but no, I there's, you'll
hear it in some of the episodes. I'll be like, I'm not going in
there by myself. So either you're coming with me
or you're not getting me talking.
So do you ever? I feel like my wife would be
like, I already warned you to get out, now you're on your own.
Do you feel like, do you have to protect him at a certain point
where it's like when you're telling us you're getting, he's
not listening, you're not listening to me.
Does it get to a point where you're like, all right, you're
on your fucking own, I'm on outside Or is it like, wait a
minute, this is my, you know, this is my partner here.
I have to protect him. And how do you guys have?
Is there like a safe word for the ghost hunts?
You know, it's like when. I say this, you better take it
seriously and stop what you're doing.
Yeah, there. Should be a safe word.
I'm actually going to use that from now on.
There's been times where I'm like, you know what, if you're
not listening to me, I'm going upstairs.
You know, there's been times like that.
And then there's other times where I have stood my ground and
even if I don't like it, I've stood there because I can see it
more clearly. Nick can sense things.
Don't let him fool you. He has a very, very strong
intuition, so I know he can sense it, but he's more like
he'll go for it. He'll just go do that.
And I think that's a lot of reasons why people loved his
shows, especially things like paranormal lockdown, because
he's head first into things and you know, which is not something
that I like to do, so good for him.
But there's times where like I know he's going to go head first
into this. And so therefore, I have to
stand here and at least watch and like make sure I'm tuning
into what's going on as he's doing this.
So I think both have have happened.
I always learn more on the side of being protective than I do
just kind of like, peace out, you know?
But now, you guys. And you guys have a blended
family, right? You have like 4 kids, five kids
all together. 66. Kids.
Yeah, it's. Crazy What are what are?
Some of the no wait, is it like, is it one of those situations
you do you have? No, no, it's it's it's amazing.
It's a Brady Bunch action. But did you have do you have
kids together yet or is it from both from previous?
Yeah, so. I had two boys, he had two
girls, Brady Bunch and then two together and then we had two
together. Yeah, OK.
So is and is it a situate like every other weekend?
You guys are just the. There's four of you and then
every other the six of you. Yeah, for.
The most part, but the girls, the girls live in a different
state. They're in Massachusetts, so
like they go to school there and stuff.
So basically we have to see them whenever we have the opportunity
to do so. Summertime is wild.
Summertime is wild there. We're juggling 6 of them for the
most of the summer and everything like that.
And then yeah, when during school if we get them.
And it's, it's insane. It's crazy, but it's fun and oh,
I bet they love each other and everybody just has such a cool
connection. And the kids have abilities too.
There's a few kids though, that's what.
I was, I was going to go here like, so what's the ground?
What are the ground rules in a situation like this, in a family
like this, where you got two people whose job is literally to
chase ghosts and talk to dead people?
Yeah. So I think with the way YouTube
is now, right? And so there's like a lot of
Youtubers and younger, the younger generation loves
YouTube. So I think they're exposed to it
a lot. Like they see things on YouTube.
So now it's become, Oh my God, mom and dad do this and like
it's super cool. Like our you know, so there
isn't wait a. Minute how old are they that
they think their parents are cool I've never met a kid who
thinks their parents are cool even I know rock stars who their
parents who those kids don't think they're cool they.
Didn't think they were. They didn't think we were cool
for a little while. But like my oldest son is 12,
he'll be 12 in June and he is now like, mom, what you do is
like super cool. And like all my friends, they
watch like Sam and Kobe and they so like you guys know Sam and
Kobe. So like you guys are like famous
and I'm like you're cool by. Association.
I'm cool. By association.
Sam and Colby got the credit, but they they let you in.
They anointed you as cool. There it is.
That's another guy. Like Phase Rug or something.
I've never heard of the guy, but like, you know, they're like, do
you think you could reach out to like Phase Rug or Sam and Kobe?
Like do you think you can blah, blah, blah.
And I'm like, yeah, sure, let me just let me do that.
I get the, I get. The double edged sword of it, I
get the I get the head dad just saying cool, this is whatever.
And but then they go to their friends.
Hey, you know, my dad does this and my dad does that.
Look, you know, that's what I get.
I get that you're not cool, dad. But in front of the friends, I'm
cool, you know? Yeah, forget that.
I found a dead body or that I solved A homicide case.
Like, forget about that, right? But.
Yeah, let me let me get you on YouTube.
So is there? Ghost talk at the table though,
or is it no like you know, how does that work with all of that
No, we're very. Open because I would say
especially for me, it was very taboo growing up.
And so when you, when you're in an environment where you don't
feel like you can talk about it or that you're shunned for it,
it causes a lot of just man, I, I wish I had the ability to talk
about it more. And I know like my parents and
everything, it wasn't intentional.
It was just the way that things were, right.
And so I keep a very open book with the kids.
If something happens, I want them to tell me.
And I always tell them, like, if, if you don't tell me, I
can't help you, right? So, and that goes for anything
paranormal or otherwise. If you don't tell me stuff, I
can't help you. So there's a very like open line
of communication with all the kids.
And weirdly enough, all the kids have had experiences.
The house that I live in now is haunted.
So you know, when all the kids especially are staying here,
even when not all the kids, it could just be some of them, but
they have experiences within this house because there is
things that take place here and there is a specifically one soul
that has been in this house since I moved in.
And so, you know, we talk about it and we talk about it.
We compare and contrast experiences and, and some of the
kids like when Nick came along, my boys had already had
experiences in this house. Nick came along and the girls
come here, right? And next thing you know, his
oldest daughter, Annabelle, she comes to me.
She's like, there was this little boy.
He was standing at the foot of the bed when I was trying to
sleep. And I'm like, what did he look
like? She explained him exact of how
my kids have seen this kid at the edge of their bed and stuff.
Like I'm talking down to the overalls to whatever she, I
described him and I turned to Nick.
I'm like, what are you going to do?
Like they can see him. You know, kids are very open to
it. You mentioned something about,
you know, how they see you on social media and obviously we're
all sort of playing in this social media space these days.
But you got six kids and it sounds like, you know, they're
fairly young and and influential in this space and social media
has been had its ups and downs, even for you, you know, like
things blowing up, right? Was there some incident with
like a sitter you had like that went like crazy viral and stuff?
It wasn't. A sitter?
No. There was a kid at school.
There was a really bad kid at school.
Is that the one you were talking about?
Yeah. OK, We live our lives here
online and we're also living our lives, you know, in a place
that's a Paris, you know, this parascience, this paranormal
space. What are the ethics that you try
to balance with that with family?
You know, how do you, how do you manage that with your kids and
stuff like that's we talk about this a lot.
We're both young kids. I have young kids too.
You know, it's just a thing. I don't know.
If what you were referring to might have been, and I'll just
be honest about it, but there was an incident with Nick's
ex-wife that might have been what you have seen because that
blew up. That was pretty, that was pretty
terrible. We've always talked with our
kids about being honest like that.
There is if you're honest about something, you you might be held
accountable for IT. People might not like it, but
like when you should always be honest, right?
And we held back from posting a lot of like personal stuff for
quite some time. Because when you're in the
entertainment industry for for a while, especially like when
cable television happened and everything, Nick has had
experiences even with Ghost Adventures where, you know,
people were wondering like what happened and networks and people
would tell him, don't say anything, don't post it, don't
do this and that, right? But what happens is then
narratives start to get spun, right?
So he might not have said something, but other people then
begin spinning a narrative and then that turns into something
else and whatever. And we realized that by not
speaking up and not being truthful, that story is going to
go on with or without you. And and so you're then risking,
you know, now your kids might then see not the truth online
because now Internet is available to everybody.
And this is a new world that we have to be too.
So we've always been kind of, you know, as long as it's the
truth and that's what it is, the kids are gonna know regardless.
And we've had to tell the truth about a few scenarios.
We've just had to in order to preserve our reputation and just
the terrible, terrible things that go on.
And I also think that the more people speak up about awful
things that happen, the court system's not always going to
help you. Law enforcement's not always
going to be able to help you. Sometimes holding people
accountable with public scrutiny or just being honest and saying
this is what happened to me is enough to make them stop.
And that's something that we've had to deal with.
It's unfortunate, but we're just very honest people.
I appreciate. The answer, I mean, because I
have this See, John has been getting it for years too.
You know, He's been out there with over 1,000,000 followers.
He gets a lot of heat and a lot of hate.
I'm new to it, I'm sure. We get we.
Get some of it and you guys are in the public.
Look, I you get it a lot. So I'm everybody's got.
Something to say I was. He tells me everybody, He tells
me all the time. I want to argue with everybody.
And I said. Don't do it and he tells me.
I'll do it, and I'll tell him I do because you're Italian.
Yes. I want to train.
Myself, I had to train. I wanted to argue with everybody
too. I had to train myself.
But I do agree there are certain things you need to be very vocal
about because that narrative is going to run down the street if
you keep your mouth shut. You need to be, you need to at
least have, you know, some skin in the game where it's like, no,
this is the record, this is what happened.
That's it. Yeah.
You know, And then any other narrative that gets spun, at
least someone can go back and say, hey, I heard him say this.
That's not true. Yeah.
Exactly. And it's unfortunate, but that's
the world that we live in. That is that is, that is the
world that we live in. And people, no matter what you
do, whether you're right or wrong, whether you do something
great or not so great, somebody's got something to say
about it, you know, and but if it's harmful, like you said, or
you really need to kind of cover your tracks, you absolutely
should speak up. I made that mistake.
I used to do it in the past all the time.
I used to keep my mouth shut. Things would pop off right on
live and I just keep my mouth shut and ignore it.
Now I address it now just I just go right into it.
I love. I secretly love the trolls, I
really do. I love arguing because he'll see
me in his chats and I'll fight with him.
I just like. I just can't take this because
their argument is so dumb. I always say, I tell him, I tell
John. I was like, I got to do this
argument with someone because they're the argument was dumb.
Yeah, It's like if they came at me with some like a really
thought provoking argument. They never I would be.
Okay, that's a good point. Maybe I need to work on that, or
do, but it's never that, so that's real.
Quick, real quick. You guys know the dead bells,
right? You see those, those dead bells,
you know, you click them on, you set them down.
The spirits will set them off. I just put out a video.
I'm at Letchworth Village Cemetery.
I take the dead bell, dead bell from off the monument.
I put it down on the ground. You see me click it on to make
sure it's it's stable and it's not off because then all you
hear is a click. You won't hear the bell.
I click it on, I set it down. There's people going crazy.
You wounded that off. We watched you wind it up.
It's like you can't wind those up.
That's not how the those work, but it's just, you know, the
perception. It's just what people think and
what people don't understand. They are going to create these
narratives 100. Percent.
Yeah, Tessa is there. What?
What would you say is the biggest difference then with how
you practice your craft and your abilities versus other, you
know, psychics and mediums? How do you keep that accuracy,
integrity and grounded approach? Like what?
What do you tell yourself and and what are those ground rules
for you specifically? To separate yourself.
Yeah, I always say that as a medium, our job, I think the
reason we have this ability, if the person that you're speaking
to, like if somebody came to me for a private reading or
something, if they didn't leave me feeling better about their
situation or about the people that they lost on the other
side, then I don't think that I did my job.
I've really never had that happen.
I think that, you know, if you're if you have this ability
and you're doing it correctly and your goal is to validate
that, There's no way I could know that this person on the
other side, any of this information that they're giving
me. But that they want you to know
this specific message that somehow, you know, lifts you a
little bit and makes you have faith that they are OK, that
they're on the other side, that those signs that you're getting
from them are real. Then I think I did my job, you
know, and so I think people with my ability, different need,
there's many different mediums. I can't say that we all receive
information or deliver the information the same way.
I think we all have different ways of doing so.
But for me personally, I want to know that who, even if it's a
live show with hundreds of people, if they don't walk away
from that show feeling like I have more hope that the other
side can connect because of what I just witnessed and what I just
heard. Then I didn't, you know, I
wouldn't have done my job. So that's the way that that I
practice. I talk to people the same way I
would talk to my friends or my family.
Like I swear, I say it as it is because that's what spirit
wants. Like they want you to hear the
reality and have their personalities come through.
And so I'm very personable. I try to be with people to make
them comfortable. And, you know, because people
sometimes are intimidated by a medium, they think that, you
know, we're the all knowing people and we're like something
special and like we're really not.
We're just normal people. We just get different
information than you. So like, I'm a normal person,
you know, and I swear and I do crazy things and, you know, and
so there's a level of relate, relatableness.
Is that even a word? We relate.
So I try to keep it, you know, as personal and relatable as
possible. And how do you define that line
between healthy skepticism and closed mindedness, especially
when you're working with law enforcement scientists or, or as
we all know, hardcore skeptics in this space?
Yeah, I. Think skepticism like a level of
skepticism is good because I think then that can wean out
maybe the people who say that they're mediums, but they're not
really a medium or you know, so I do think a level of skepticism
is Claire vagueness. Yeah, Claire.
Vagueness. We call it Claire vagueness,
right? Yeah, You know, so I think a
level of skepticism is good. I never tried to change people's
minds, though. Like my job is not to change
somebody's mind. I've had skeptics come to my
shows. Like I remember I had a guy
sitting like front row in this show that I did, me and Nick did
in Buffalo. He was front row, total skeptic,
right? And I spirit came directly to
him. I don't remember if it was, it
was a parent. I don't remember mom or dad, but
I remember talking to him. And he just like sat like this
and he's looking at me and he's like, like, he didn't want
anything to do with it. I was like, OK, so I looked at
him and I'm like, that's OK. But after the show, you and I
are going to talk. You don't have to talk to me
right now, but I'm going to find you.
And after the show, I went up to him and he looked at me and he
goes, he goes, I, he goes, first of all, I'm just not good in
front of people. And he said, but everything you
said to me was accurate. How the hell did you know that?
And I said, well, that it was your person, you know, I don't
have that information. It's coming from them.
They wanted you to have this information.
And since I have you standing here, here's the rest of the
message. He ended up crying and he never
admitted to me that I changed his mind because that wasn't my
goal. My goal was more so I don't want
your family member following me home or something.
So I'm going to tell you what needs to be said.
And I did. But I think he said it without
saying it. You know, when you're when
you're crying like that and you could see somebody emotionally
being validated in some way, you know, that there's a level of
them that believes you, you know, So I think that a level of
skepticism is OK. I'm not looking to change
anybody's mind, but I'm very confident in what I do as a
medium and the information that's coming through.
And yeah, I hope. How often have they?
Followed you back. Well, I was.
I was just about to ask on on that subject of them possibly
following you back. Do you have an off switch?
Is it something that you have to do in order to turn it off?
Or can you just instantly be like, all right, tune it out
right now? I can sometimes tune it out like
a volume going down, but I can't completely get rid of it.
I've never had somebody like follow me back, but I've had
spirit approach me beforehand, sometimes even days prior to
where then they're with me for days and I'm like, Oh my God,
like I can't wait to get to this person's person so that I can
tell them what needs to be said. It happened.
It happened on a criminal case that I did for it was a YouTube
that I did. It was with.
Oh my gosh. And it was it was a cold case,
80 something year cold case. It was a Jane Doe and he asked
me to come do it. And the night before or the day
or something prior, I tried to go to sleep and I started
hearing voices and I thought that Nick or the kids left TV
on. So I'm like hitting Nick and I'm
like go turn the friggin TV off. Like I'm trying to sleep and he
goes to look, no kids are awake and no television is on.
So then I'm thinking, Oh my God. OK so I'm laying in bed and all
of a sudden I start hearing this little girl talking to me and
another woman. And I'm like, at the time, I
didn't think about what I was going to go do the next day.
And then as we were driving to the cemetery, I started hearing
it again. And I turned to Nick and I'm
like, holy crap, the people I was hearing last night has to do
with whatever this case is, whatever he's having us come
here for. And and then it plays out that
it was, in fact those souls coming to me the night before.
So I've never had them follow me home luckily because I always
try to like get rid of the message, but I will have them
come to me beforehand and I can't get rid of it.
I can't completely block it. You can sometimes tune it down
like a volume, but you can't necessarily turn it off.
So wait, that guy? 'S name was.
That guy's name was. Oh my gosh, like that's.
A real name. Yeah, his.
Handle. His his handle on YouTube is our
gosh. So have you ever had a, a time
where a spirit came to you, You know, you had no idea why the
spirit was coming to you and then all the sudden, you know,
you're doing, you know, a live taping, you're doing a live
show, you're doing an episode for something and the Kinect
happens. Yeah, it's happened.
It's happened many, many times. You know, there was that
scenario that I told you about that there was there's another
scenario where I was doing like a group reading.
And I'll never forget. It was like an online group
reading that I did. And my son Luciano, who's three,
he'll be 4, but at the time he was like 3.
And I Remember Me getting ready to do this online reading.
I was like putting makeup on to try to make myself look
presentable. And I turn and I heard Luciano
running around and he was kind of playing and like laughing.
And I'm looking and I'm like, who the hell is he talking to?
And I look and he's running in the upstairs to go back
downstairs. And I saw a little girl
following him in spirit and she was wearing a specific dress and
I saw her hair. She had blonde hair.
And she's running. And I'm like, she's talking.
He's he's playing with a ghost like and it's not our
residential ghost for sure. I've never seen this one before.
And then I get on this live and I'm like, I have to ask who who
lost the little girl 'cause she had to be 2-3 years old.
She was the same size as my son. She was wearing this dress,
blonde curly hair, this and the other.
The girl had died the day prior. Wow.
Fortunately of brain cancer it had.
She had succumbed to brain cancer.
She had died the day prior. And she came knowing that
somebody was going to be there to talk with her and that they
were waiting to talk with her. And she showed herself to me and
was literally frolicking around until I jumped on that Zoom to
be able to give that message. So you.
Had no idea that that that those people were going to be there
for that little girl. And that little girl came to you
beforehand. Yeah.
Or to Luciana, who I would have put up for adoption if you found
out he was a ghost and so. So that makes you think, right?
Doesn't that make you think like you always hear, you know, I get
a big question about spirits and time, right?
And you always hear people talking about time doesn't exist
on the other side. It's different.
It's different, but it really makes you think, like, how did
that little girl know that you were going to have the
opportunity to speak to their parents?
You want to know my theory on that?
Yes, I would. Love I would love to hear your
theory on it I. Recognize this when I was a kid,
OK, when I was a kid, all these I would at the middle of the
night, I'd have spirits coming to me and I couldn't understand
it. I couldn't understand why.
And I'm thinking to myself, like, OK, the house is haunted,
but why are they all coming to me?
My mom's not saying that she sees anybody.
I had a younger sister. She's not saying that she sees
anybody. At the time, Grandma's telling
me I'm crazy. Casper, this, that and the
other. Why are they all coming to me?
And as I got older, I remember one of the spirits saying, you
have a light around you. You're like, we can see you,
you, you have this light around you.
So then I'm like, holy shit, we're like a lighthouse in the
dark to a spirit because we have the ability and they know that
we can see them. And I think that they're able to
know the difference between somebody who can see them and
can't see them. Like again, I always reference
the movie Ghost. And I know it's so corny, but
also there's like some truth behind it.
You know, it's like they, the spirit recognized like, Oh my
God, you can see me. You can see me.
Like how did Patrick Swayze know to go to Whoopi Goldberg?
You know what I'm saying? Because she can see spirit and
Spirit knows the difference. So I think that spirit, like the
little girl, for example, was with her family, but the family
knew I'm going to be talking to Tessa.
And so I think the little girl was able to somehow put two and
two together and come to me in that way energetically.
And she's like, oh, Tessa can see me.
And so I think that there's a connection to mediums and people
with disability or any sense of intuition as being like a
lighthouse in the dark to spirit.
That's that. Quantum.
That's that. It has to be that quantum.
Yeah. Quantum, tunneling quantum,
however we want to call it. That's amazing.
Thank you for sharing that. Yeah.
Absolutely, Tessa. First of all, thank you so much
for your time here today. I got a couple more questions
for you. I'm sure you got these better
things to do to talk to a couple Goombas like this, but what?
What up? What what's what's what?
You got a lot going on. A lot.
I'm really excited because my book is finally going to be
released and this is something that I've been working on for
years. There's two books that I'm going
to have released. The first one is called A
Glimpse, and that goes from what we started talking about the
time of me having my near death experience up until the time I
had my kids. So that's like the first part of
my story because I believe that after I had my children, things
changed and my story becomes a bit different.
And so there's two separate stories.
But my first book, A Glimpse, will be out.
It's supposed to be dropping before May and so that's really
exciting. And then Nick and I are working
on 2 new series and we are working with a network called
Brandon Studios, Brandon TV AKA BTV.
They're out in Burbank. We did a couple live shows.
They have some really cool sound stages and things out there, so
we're able to do live shows with them.
But we have two series coming out. 1 is a reality show and
this one is based around our life as a medium, a paranormal
investigator and with a whole bunch of kids, some of which who
have abilities and it's kind of giving you a, you know, that
look into our real life, you know, as a family.
And then the other one is about my ability to help with criminal
investigations. It's going to be very, you know,
just around that. So those are some things to look
forward to. We have a lot of other different
just events and things. We're going to be traveling a
lot so that we get to interact with a lot of fans and stuff.
So we're just really excited. I definitely.
Want to? I can't wait.
Check those out. When I do, tell me what I should
look for to know, like what Tessa's fingerprint is on this
show as opposed to Nick's. What's yours?
Like when we're not watching these things?
How do I'm like, OK, that's Tessa, just got behind the
scenes here and told the producer what's up?
Probably your husband. What's up?
Like, what do we look for? Oh.
I'm so I'm just, I am so brutally honest.
I don't even think it would be behind the scenes.
It'd probably be right on camera.
It would be right on camera. Like as far as what are we gonna
show? Like, yeah, like what do you?
What, what, what do you want to see in these productions?
You're doing what? How do I know?
Like, that's, that's Tessa's vision for this, you know?
Yeah. I want people to see the reality
of things because I think that there's misconceptions with
people who are in the paranormal world and what really goes on.
And like I said, I think that even as a medium, there's
misconceptions with the way that we work or the way that we live.
And I also think that it's interesting to see the real life
dynamics of having children. I think other kids could, other
people can relate to this with children as well, how to
navigate children, seeing spirits and all of that type of
stuff. So I really want to focus on the
reality of our lives and what really goes on, like the truth
behind it and the things that we deal with because a lot of
people, they, especially with Nick, right?
Nick's been on TV for 20 years and they see him on Ghost
Adventures and Paranormal Lockdown, and he's that goofy
guy on Ghost Adventurers who's running around chasing ghosts
and the set the other. And people think like that's all
he does. Like, that's it, right?
That's Nick Roth, but he's a dad and he's a great athlete and we
do some really weird shit together that's like not even
paranormal driven. Like we enjoy doing other
things. And you know, so I think it'd be
cool to show the real life behind that and also the
struggles that we have and that it's not always wonderful, you
know, there's real life things that we deal with.
So yeah, we're really focused on just the truth.
That's great. When I was started really
looking into you guys to for this even it's like, oh, you
know, you hear ghost adventures. You naturally think Zach
Baggins, but it's you know, Nick's the guy who made the
dock. I mean, he's which is he's a big
part of this. He is a big part of what people
know of, you know, paranormal, right?
I mean, when you look at what the big hits of paranormal TV
are, you go back to Ghost Hunters and you got Ghost
Adventures. I mean, these are the these are
the two top things for sure. I mean, to say otherwise, it's
just not true. I mean, those are the the go
TOS, right for everybody, the Ogs of it all.
So yeah. Exactly, you know, you're
certainly. Part of a legacy in this space
and I feel very lucky that you came on and were willing to talk
to us today. It's a it's a, it's an education
for me for sure and I really appreciate I really appreciate
your time. Thanks for.
Listening to me, I'm a blabber. I talk, so I'm glad you guys are
willing to listen. We try.
We try to, but I. Try to listen.
I'm a big talker too, but for this I just try to keep my mouth
shut and listen, you know? But I can go on and on myself,
yeah. No, I'm constantly.
Interrupt and jump in and like, have six people talking over
each other. I'll work it out later, you
know, that's just kind of the thing, you know, That's how.
Italians are. We're all yelling and
everybody's talking over everybody and whatever, but it
works. And then everybody ultimately
knows what the hell you said anyway, so it works.
Isn't that true? Yeah, it's true.
It's so. True.
Yeah, Thank you so much again guys.
Appreciate it. You're.
Welcome. Thanks for having me.
Thank you. Thank you.
Well, that's it for another
episode of Splintered Spirits. Be sure to like, share, and
subscribe to our YouTube channel, Spotify, or wherever
you get your podcasts. Until next time, stay curious.