Did Hollywood Medium Tyler Henry connect with my dearly departed?

Hollywood Medium Evans Vestal Ward/NBCUniversal
E! Entertainment's Tyler Henry

In case you hadn’t heard, Hollywood Medium With Tyler Henry is returning to E! for a second season tomorrow night. Our editor-in-chief recently talked with him about the show (read the interview here), and this past Friday I got a really cool job perk: my own private reading with Tyler Henry himself! Given that he has a waiting list a mile long, I was thrilled for the opportunity. My plan was to kick back, Skype with him for a while, and draft a quick blog post. But 30 minutes later, I just sat there, stunned. I called my editor, and explained I just needed some time to let this all sink in.

It’s been a few days, and it’s still sinking in. It’s hard to be objective when you’re getting communication from beyond.

Tyler, a charismatic, friendly young man, explained at the beginning of the reading that he doesn’t actually see dead people. He pieces together senses, thoughts and sensations that he picks up on and delivers those messages to us. (It sounds a bit like a combination of charades and telephone, only with spirits.) During the reading, I didn’t lead him down any roads; I just let him talk and occasionally confirmed (or questioned) what he was saying — and only when he asked me to. While we Skyped, I was floored. So much of what he was telling me just seemed to fit. The remarkable thing is, I’ve been assured that there’s no way he got my contact information ahead of time.

Several people came through, but I’m only sure who one of them was — he came through strongly and dominated the conversation. This was my late husband, Brad, who passed away several years ago from complications of a brain tumor. Despite a long struggle with his tumor, he had a relatively surprising death — a secondary infection blindsided us and took him quickly. Tyler was dead-on (pardon the pun, but I assure you, Brad would have approved) about so much — Brad’s illness, his remarkable attitude about his situation, his treatments and how he handled what was thrown at him. He talked about a ritual my son and I have, where we honor Brad with a special Christmas ornament. He discussed how much more of a cat person than a dog person Brad was, and said that one of his furballs was hanging out with him on the other side. He acknowledged my live-in boyfriend — thankfully, with a thumbs up, not a “Molly, you in danger girl” moment (10 points if you get that reference). The crazy thing is, I had been contemplating a question I had regarding my boyfriend for several days, and that question was answered (in a roundabout way, without me asking Tyler). It just kind of … came up. What got me the most was a discussion about Brad being okay with his final interaction with our son. It was a sad situation, because their final visit was cut short (to be fair, nobody thought it was to be their last time speaking).

Brad and our son, long ago, in a way I like to remember him.
Brad and our son, long ago, in a way I like to remember him.

There were a few details that didn’t quite make sense to me at the time, but I wouldn’t necessarily say they’re wrong — that remains to be seen. They’re things I need to discuss with my husband’s family, about whom, by the way, Tyler had a lot of spot-on details (though there wasn’t mention of one very important person, whom Brad was very close to, which puzzled me — but Tyler did mention that a flood of messages came in, and he couldn’t relay them all).

When I look back at what Tyler said, my left brain says, “You can’t be 100% certain this was real.” But my right brain says, “There was just far too much in there for him to guess at.” Like I said, it’s hard to be objective with a matter this personal. All in all, I’m just grateful for the fun experience!

Whatever your feelings on mediums are, it’s hard to deny that Tyler Henry is pretty entertaining. So, are you ready for a whole new season?

The Season 2 premiere of Hollywood Medium With Tyler Henry airs Wed. Aug. 10 at 8pmET.