In this episode of Splintered Spirits, we’re joined by Lauren Hellekson, the mind behind Lauren Haunts (laurenhaunts.com), a paranormal investigator, equipment builder, author, and physics student who lives at the intersection of curiosity and skepticism.

Lauren approaches the paranormal from an angle we don’t often see. She designs and builds her own investigative gear, grounding her work in concepts like electromagnetism, static fields, and energy theory, while still leaving room for the unknown. With a background that blends hands-on electronics, spiritual inquiry, and formal studies in physics and astronomy, she challenges how ghost hunting is usually done and asks harder questions about what we’re really measuring when we say a place is haunted.

We talk about custom-built paranormal equipment, the role of science in investigating unexplained phenomena, common mistakes investigators make, and how belief, bias, and environment can influence results. Lauren also shares what drew her into this work, how her academic studies have reshaped her thinking, and what she believes the future of paranormal research could look like if curiosity and rigor finally meet in the middle.

Whether you’re a skeptic, a believer, or somewhere in between, this conversation digs into the gray area where data ends and mystery begins.

Subscribe, follow, and join the conversation as we continue trying to understand what ghosts might actually be, fractured memories, energy, or something we haven’t named yet.

What if you could hear a voice and see its color? What if a single touch revealed someone’s soul?

In this live episode of Splintered Spirits, we’re joined by The Blue Bodhi, known to her followers as The Godmother of Magic. A shamanic medium, aura artist, and spiritual advisor with over 600K followers on TikTok, Bodhi has a rare neurological condition called synesthesia that allows her to see sound, touch, and even letters as color. She uses this gift to read the layers of a person’s aura and reveal what lives beneath the surface.

After surviving two near-death experiences at nineteen and later being diagnosed with temporal lobe epilepsy, Bodhi began connecting ancient spiritual traditions with modern neuroscience, exploring why seers, shamans, and oracles throughout history shared similar neurological traits.

She’s drawn aura portraits for celebrities like Dustin Diamond, Ray Park, and Vinnie Appice, hosts twice-weekly live Reiki healing sessions for thousands around the world, and runs the Black Horse Project, a spiritual initiative designed to help people feel safe at night.

Let’s Dive into the Conversation.

Amber Copeland from hauntedatx.com, a haunted tour guide in Austin, TX, joins the pod and shares some of her ghostly evidence. Gary and John catch up and talk about what's to come in 2026. And Gary has a new theory on what spirits may be.

In this episode of Splintered Spirits, Gary sits down with Matthew Botsford, whose life changed forever in 1992 when a stray bullet struck him in the head. His heart stopped. Doctors fought to save him. But while his body lay in a coma, Matthew says his consciousness went somewhere else… and it was not peaceful.

Matthew describes a realm of darkness, agony, and malevolent entities, a place he believes was “hell,” and the profound moment something reached into that darkness and pulled him out. We explore what he experienced, what he believes spirits truly are, whether these realms are psychological, spiritual, or something we don’t yet understand, and how it reshaped his entire life.

Whether you’re skeptical, spiritual, fascinated, or unsettled, this conversation forces you to confront a question we ask every week: What are spirits… really?

Happy New Year, Splintered Spirits Society! On this episode Gary talks about everything he's learned in 2025 and what's to come for Splintered Spirits on 2026!

How do you know when you come across an evil spirit that it's not necessarily a demon, but just an "asshole"?

In this episode of Splintered Spirits, Gary sits down with demonologist and author James Annitto to answer that question. James, a former ordained Old Catholic deacon and founder of the Dominion Ministry, brings over two decades of experience investigating the dark edges of the paranormal.

James is known for his objective approach, often looking through a psychological lens before jumping to supernatural conclusions. In this interview, he shares terrifying case files that blurred the line between mental health crises and true evil, including a premonition of murder that almost made him quit the field.

In this episode, we cover:

• The Difference: Distinguishing between a haunting, a demonic infestation, and a spirit that is just a jerk.

• The Nightmare Case: A harrowing story where James dreamt of dismembering a family—only to arrive the next day and find them wearing the exact clothes from his dream.

• The "Wall Puncher": The time James caught a lonely elderly woman staging poltergeist activity on CCTV.

• True Possession: A violent encounter in Salem, MA involving physical transformations and a rosary that instantly oxidized.

• Pop Culture: What movies like Nefarious and Insidious actually get right about the paranormal.

Featured Book:James Annitto’s new book, The Psychological Dimensions of the Paranormal, is available now: https://amzn.to/47duJBs

Timestamps:0:00 - Intro: What are spirits?2:15 - From Deacon to Demonologist8:45 - Defining a Demon: Evil Spirit or Fallen Angel?22:45 - The Nightmare Case: A Demonic Infestation40:30 - Debunking the Wall-Punching Ghost51:00 - The "Trifecta" of Evidence1:04:00 - Advice to a Young Demonologist

About Splintered Spirits:Hosted by Gary, Splintered Spirits explores the strange, the haunted, and the theories that might explain it all. We are trying to find the answer to one question: What are spirits?

Marie Jackson, the fearless creator behind Ghost Link Productions and Paranormal Impact, joins Gary and John on Splintered Spirits Live!

With more than 100 investigations across haunted homes, abandoned sites, historic locations, and active hotspots, Marie brings lived experience, emotional truth, and cinematic storytelling to the world of the paranormal. She has become a powerful voice in a space that has not always been inclusive, using her work to uplift underrepresented communities and reshape how paranormal stories are told.

In this conversation, Marie shares how growing up in a haunted home shaped her perspective, what she believes spirits truly are, how trauma and healing intersect with the supernatural, and why representation matters in paranormal media. We also dive into her upcoming TV series Supernatural Sistas, her books TEN FEET UNDER and TEN FEET ABOVE, and how she bridges spirituality, investigation, creativity, and cultural identity.

If you care about authenticity, powerful storytelling, inclusivity in the paranormal world, and redefining what it means to encounter the unknown, this episode is for you.

Links to Marie's Insta and Book can be found in our Link Tree:

https://linktr.ee/splinteredspirits

What happens when a law written during the Civil War crawls out of the history books to threaten a modern-day business owner with jail time?

In October 2023, the Police Chief of Hanover, Pennsylvania, walked into The Serpent's Key Shoppe & Sanctuary with a warning for owner Beck Ravenswood: Stop reading tarot cards for money, or face prosecution under an 1861 state statute banning "fortune telling for gain or lucre."

Instead of hiding the decks, Beck fought back, filing a federal civil rights lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of trying magic in a modern court.

In this episode, Gary and John sit down with Beck Ravenswood to discuss not only her background but:

• The surreal experience of being threatened with an archaic law in the 21st century.
• The dark history of anti-vagrancy laws used to target spiritual communities.
• The reality of the ongoing battle to protect First Amendment rights for pagans and practitioners.
• Whether this legal zombie is just bureaucracy at work, or a historical prejudice actively haunting Hanover.

Does the law fear what it can’t understand? Join the conversation as we split the difference between the legal and the mystical.

GUEST LINKS Keep up with Beck Ravenswood and their legal fight:

• Instagram: @the_stitching_witch
• TikTok: @thestitchingwitch
• Shop: https://serpentskeyshoppe.com/

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