The first phone call from heaven

This is the story of a town’s somewhat cavalier attitude towards the possible presence of heaven. When confronting the possibility of heaven existing versus not existing, the idiom... it’s better to be safe than sorry... comes into play. The town of Coldwater, Michigan (not the real one, says Mitch Albom on page 324) not only falls hook, line, and sinker in this belief, but also drags the rest of the world into the fray. Mitch Albom has written a delightful tale that could be made into a movie as the drama that it is, or even as a comedy. I prefer it as a drama. Also woven into this novel  is anecdotal evidence how Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone. It seems to me that this ex-sports columnist is now an inspirational writer. This is another book involving heaven after previously publishing, The Five People You Meet in Heaven , and the enriching, Have a Little Faith  . The style and flow of Mitch’s writing coupled with his exciting chapter endings causes the reader to blow through a hundred pages without realizing it.

The novel starts with Tess Rafferty getting a phone call from her deceased mother, and Chief of police, Jack Sellers getting a call from his son, Robbie, a Marine recently killed in combat. Then it’s Katherine Yellin telling Pastor Warren that her dead sister has just called her. Then the story segues to our protagonist, Sully Harding, leaving prison. It takes way too long to find out why he was in prison, but the reader eventually, in dribs and drabs, finds out. How many idioms have I used so far? Three. Anyway, several other people also get calls from the dead. The calls become public after Katherine Yellin announces in church that she is getting calls from her deceased sister, Diane, from heaven on Fridays. This admission causes Nine Action News to send reporter Amy Penn to investigate. Other people say they are getting calls from heaven on Fridays. The local news becomes national news, as believers and nonbelievers crowd the small town. Katherine has nutcases praying on her lawn, phone sales in town accelerate, while Sully’s young son sleeps with a toy phone expecting a call from his passed away mom.

Sully, disturbed by the insanity in town, decides to investigate the calls from heaven with the aid of the local librarian. Seven terminally ill people, hearing about the proof of heaven, give up the fight to survive in order to enter heaven sooner. Protesters enter the town to clash with the believers. Kelly Podesto admits that she lied about her heaven calls. This causes an uproar with the T.V. stations and the general population. Are all of these people lying? The Mayor arranges for a national telecast of Katherine Yellin getting a phone call from her sister in heaven. The stage is set. Untold amount of tourist descend on Coldwater. What will happen? Will the call come? Why do all of these calls come on Friday? Is this a ruse, or a real event? This is not a long novel (326 pages) and can be easily enjoyed in two days. The twists and turns (4th idiom?) took me by surprise, especially from pages 305 to 323. I’m going to highly recommend this simple to read novel.

RATING: 5 out of 5 stars

Comment: According to examiners.com: Over the years I have received many reports of "phone calls from the dead" from my clients as well as relatives. These are actual phone calls that seem to come in from someone who has passed on. 

Most recently, my newfound friend, in which I will refer to only as “Dave” has had these experiences as well. These calls seem to come from a brother that has passed. The caller ID shows unknown name and unknown number, and the voice appears distant but can be recognized with personalized messages.

Dave has a high interest in the paranormal and his brother knew this at the time he passed. So is it possible this is the reason? Although I have had numerous reports from clients that have never had a paranormal experience, and have contacted me because they were left dumbfounded.

One of the questions that I am asked most often, is why do the calls come into only one family member? Is it because they are more open to it? As a psychic, I believe the answer to that is “Yes”. I also believe that there is no spirit out there that was related to you, that will intentionally scare you.

As a paranormal investigator, common reports are small appliances that will come on and off. Most common reports are televisions, stereos, microwaves and VCR’s. Some of those reports do include a phone that will ring and no one is there. Other reports are phones that will only ring once or twice. I, as well as other members of CVAPI, have personally witnessed some of these events.

On two separate occasions I have seen a dead cell phone begin to charge on its own, witnessed by others. Are phones an easy source to manipulate by the spirit world? Can our loved ones speak to us through the phone where they can be heard? On more than one investigation, we have had voices come through our hand held radios so I believe at this point that it is possible.

The direct phone calls are not only personalized messages, but the person receiving the call immediately recognizes the voice. It is common that the caller id reads unknown name or private number, but I have had reports of a phone number that used to belong to a family member long ago.

Two of Mitch Albom's bestsellers have become movies. Tuesdays with Morrie was a 1999 award winning television film. Picture courtesy of moviegoods.com.