An Interview with Lisa Williams

byGina DiNunno

In the movie "Imaginary Playmate," a young girl's "make-believe" friend turns out to be the spirit of a little girl who died in the same house years earlier. From hauntings to revenge, see what our favorite medium, Lisa Williams, has to say about what really goes down in the spirit world!

Lifetime: In this movie, a young girl has an "imaginary" friend who turns out to be the spirit of a little girl who lived in the same house. Is it possible for a child's make-believe friend to actually be a spirit, and if so, how can you tell for sure?

Lisa: It's very common. It used to happen to me when I was young as well. What's happening is the child is picking up on some kind of spiritual activity. There are no real signs as to whether it's a spirit or not. What I would do is get down to the child's level, ask in-depth questions and take an interest (which is the most important thing to do). For instance, I have asked my son, Charlie, "Tell me about the little boy in your bedroom" or "What does he look like?" If the child can give you really detailed descriptions, then you have to think there's something behind this. If the story changes and is inconsistent, or if you just have a feeling that it's just an imaginary friend, then it may be just that. You have to go with your gut feeling, and each individual case is totally different.

Lifetime: The spirit in this film seems to stay in the house where she died. Is there such a thing as a ghost being trapped in a house after a person dies in it, haunting those who live there?

Lisa: A spirit can remain in a vortex, which can be a house, a tree or anywhere the spirit decides to reside. A haunted house exists when a spirit has chosen to stay in the vortex in that house. If, for instance, someone loved their house, died in their house and wanted to stay there, then they will do just that. Usually it takes a little bit of coaxing to get them to move over [to the other side]. The other thing to take into account is that even though a house may be said to be haunted, it may not be haunted with any spiritual energy. Instead, it may just have old residue of energy of a killing, murder or whatever happened in that house. So you have to take both of these possibilities into account. Spirits can be "trapped" in a house, but these cases are very rare.

Lifetime: If a spirit chooses to remain in this vortex in a house and you move into that house, why would the spirit haunt or try to contact you even though it doesn't know you?

Lisa: Spirits don't only visit people they know and deliver messages. There could be many reasons. Perhaps they just don't want you in their house because it's their domain and they don't want anyone else in there. Or it could just be a friendly spirit that can get along with anything and is just happy to live as part of the family.

Lifetime: The spirit of the little girl in this movie seems to want the motherly love of the woman who moved into the house. Do you find that spirits ever turn to the living for love?

Lisa: It's happened before. I visited a location where someone committed suicide, and because the living person there decided to embrace and love the spirit, the spirit was happy to hang around. If the spirit still craves love and the living person gives them this love and talks to them, it makes them feel wanted and they'll stay.

Lifetime: Do the dead ever seek revenge?

Lisa: I don't like to say they seek revenge, but I've had one or two cases where they certainly wanted to put the record straight. A mother once came to me for some resolution when her son died. She thought it was an overdose — however, I gave her information about some of his friends, and it turned out it was a murder. So what he was doing was trying to put the record straight.

Lifetime: Do spirits ever persuade the living to do things they shouldn't?

Lisa: In my experience, I've known it only very occasionally. But it can happen, though rare. What most commonly happens is the "nice" spirits tend to work in your best interest.