After Catherine Tate’s panel at Gallifrey One 2019 wrapped up, it was about 6pm – time for dinner! We opted to walk to Denny’s, just a few blocks away. It was unusually cold for LA, so I was glad I had a warm coat as part of my 13th Doctor cosplay. Thankfully there was no wait and we were seated quickly. Upon finishing dinner, we returned to the hotel and checked out the fitness center. Seeing that it was fairly empty, Josh decided to go ahead and do a workout, while I attended a panel.
The panel, entitled Here Come the Ghosts: Steampunk Ghost Hunting with Psychic Medium Michael J. Kouri, began at 8pm in Program D, and was scheduled to go until 10pm. Michael J. Kouri has had a panel at Gallifrey One every year that I have attended the convention (since 2015), and I have attended his panel every year, as the paranormal is a subject of interest to me. Usually his panel is in the middle of the day and only 45 minutes to an hour, and always seems to run out of time before he’s able to get to everything that he set out to talk about. So I was pleased to see that his panel was given a 2 hour timeslot this year, as well as in a larger room, and that it was scheduled for Saturday evening as alternative programming to the Masquerade. Offering Saturday evening programming other than the Masquerade — which can only hold about half the number of Gallifrey One attendees — has been a weakness in years past at Gallifrey One, so I applaud the organizers for providing a stronger alternative lineup this year.
Anyway, so another point of interest that I spotted in the description of this panel was that he would hold a séance! So that sounded really cool. At the top of the panel, Michael mentioned that he actually had the room not only until 10pm, but as long as we needed the room. This was a good thing, because, as he pointed out about himself, he tends to go off on tangents and has to be reminded to go back to a certain topic.
The panel started off the way it typically does – with him speaking about being able to see auras and spirit guides. He would randomly tell people in the audience what their aura looked like, or if he could see their spirit guides. In fact, he told me that I had a spirit guide standing next to me who was a young girl, wearing a Victorian dress, and who had long curly blond hair. He added that I shouldn’t be alarmed if I felt a tug on my jacket, because she was only trying to get my attention. I didn’t think anything of it, and dismissed it. However, at one point I felt a tap on my shoulder! So that was odd. I didn’t say anything about it though. Later, Michael was talking about how sometimes ghosts appear in the form that was their favorite age to be, rather than the age at which they died, and pointed out that the young Victorian girl he saw with me might have actually been 102 when she died, but was choosing to appear as her younger self. He also added that she was no longer standing next to me, but had now taken a seat behind me. Hmmm…
Throughout the panel, he talked about his background of being a psychic medium, all the way back when he was a child, and had been the subject of a study of psychic children by parapsychologist Thelma Moss, with whom he had gone on investigations. Later on in life, he found out that it was actually a secret study.
Other than talking about his own stories, he also took questions from the audience. Additionally, he tried a psychometry experiment, where he picked three audience members and had them close their eyes while he put an object in the hands. He then had the audience members holding the objects say words that came to their mind about their respective object.
Later, he demonstrated communication with spirits through the use of crystals, and even selected five volunteers to use crystals themselves. He also spoke about a crystal that an audience member had previously bought from him – which had apparently been part of a larger crystal previously owned by actress Mae West, and told the story about how he had procured some of her belongings through an estate sale.
At 10:30pm, the panel was still going strong, but I decided to duck out, as I figured Josh was probably wondering where I was, since the panel was supposed to be over at 10:00pm. However, upon hearing that the panel was still going, and that we hadn’t gotten to the séance yet, he encouraged me to go back, since he knew I was excited about the séance, and plus he was curious about the séance as well, though he was too tired from working out to return to the panel with me.
So I went back to the panel and listened to Michael tell more stories and more audience members ask questions. It got to be around 11:30pm, at which point he started wrapping things up. One audience member asked, “No séance tonight?” which I was wondering myself, and had kept wanting to ask when we were going to get to it. Unfortunately, Michael said there would be no séance, as he was tired and did not think he would be able to work effectively. Earlier in the panel, he had talked about how he doesn’t like to do his psychic medium work when he is sick or tired, because he won’t be able to focus enough energy effectively, or something along those lines. So I was a little disappointed that there was no séance, as that was what I had specifically been looking forward to. But I still had an enjoyable time regardless. He has some really interesting stories.
As I went out the door, I heard him say, “Valerie, wait, don’t go yet,” which I didn’t think anything of, being that my name is not Valerie. But then I later realized that maybe he was talking to me, as he had asked me my name when he told me about my spirit guide, and it was possible he misremembered it as a different V name. That has happened to me before (my old boss kept calling me Virginia at first). So now I’ll always wonder, was he in fact talking to me? And if so, what was he going to tell me? I guess now I’ll never know.
As I took the elevator back up to the room, Caitlin Blackwood (who had played young Amy Pond) happened to get on the elevator as well. It looked like she was with her mother, which makes sense, as she is only 18.
Although the night was just getting started for many Gallifrey One attendees, with Saturday Night Karaoke, the Ghost Monument Disco, and other late night events going on, it was bedtime for me and Josh.
Stay tuned for more articles of our experience at Gallifrey One 2019!
