In the first half of the program, ghostbuster Mary Ann Winkowski talked about her cookbook of recipes from the dead, Beyond Delicious. She said spirits began giving her recipes from the other side about 30 years ago, when she was clearing the house of a woman who had been baking a nut roll. According to Winkowski, a ghost in the home told her, "They may smell good, but they are terrible. [The owner] makes a horrible nut roll." The spirit then offered her own nut roll recipe, Winkowski added. In another case, she recalled a homeowner lamenting that her aunt passed away before sharing a recipe for gum drop cookies. A ghost in that house offered to summon the departed aunt so she could give her living niece the recipe, Winkowski revealed. Male ghosts are even more insistent about passing on their recipes for steak and barbecue, she noted.

Some of these spirits did not cross over because they felt guilty for never properly passing on their recipes, Winkowski continued. Those interested in getting a special recipe from a departed loved one can ask for it the next time they dream about that person, she suggested. Winkowski also spoke about scary earthbound spirits that can come into homes through energy openings called portals. Unlike ghosts that use the front door to enter a dwelling, spirits that come through portals typically have bad attitudes and cause problems for the residents, she explained. In life they were likely victims of murder or suicide, drug addicts, prisoners, pedophiles, or rapists, she said. The one positive with such spirits is that they can only stay for a day or two, Winkowski noted. She pointed out that portals are actually blown open by the living, and any house were a murder or suicide has taken place probably has one. Winkowski recommended smudging with sage to keep portal spirits at bay.

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During Friday the 13th Open Lines, Mia in Chicago recalled a period in her childhood when she was plagued by intense night terrors and her great-grandmother was dying. The night terrors were so severe that a psychiatrist had to be called in, she revealed. Shortly after the passing of her great-grandmother, Mia said she fell down a set of stairs—a fall she believes should have broken her neck. "I felt arms and it felt like my great-grandmother was pushing me up," she explained, noting that she inexplicably ended up safely at the bottom of the stairs and had no more night terrors after that event. Debbie from Toledo, Ohio, phoned in to tell George about a near fatal accident that she had on her way to Detroit. According to Debbie, her vehicle lost control on the snow-covered highway, traveled across several lanes of traffic as it spun in 360s, miraculously missing oncoming cars and semi trucks along the way. Debbie said she is in shock that she is still alive. Ann in Portland, Oregon, offered some advice on telepathy, noting the difference between reading a thought from somebody versus picking up a psychic truth about them.

News segment guests: Katherine Albrecht / Mish Shedlock / Richard C. Hoagland