Hacking the Afterlife with Jennifer Shaffer, Elvis, John Lennon and Luana Anders

Hacking The Afterlife podcast

It's our 40th episode!

How about that? Well, this is no different than the others - mind bending and just about as out there as we can get.

Last night I happened to catch Tom Hanks talking about his movie he's doing with Baz Luhrmann in Australia, where he plays Colonel Tom Parker. Went to sleep without a thought about it, and had the impression that Luana told me we'd have a "surprise guest" in today's episode.

To be clear, we've seen Elvis before in our class - and we did invite him into the chair and interviewed him extensively. Who was there to greet him when he crossed over (his mom) and other important things in his life. It's in "Backstage Pass to the Flipside" - and we also interview Colonel Parker (not a Colonel, and according to Tom's interview a rather shady character) - but aside from the public perception of who his manager was, both the interview in the book and this interview paint a different portrait.

It's not opinion being expressed here. This is live, off the cuff, improvised, whatever happens happens kind of reporting. I had no idea, zero idea what we'd find in today's episode and even forgot what last week's was until she mentions it.

Elvis said he was "introduced to our class by John Lennon" - which is repeated in the book. It's not like "all the celebrities hang out together" - it's a frequency issue, and those artists or musicians hang out with other folks who are using the same frequency. If one looks at the Backstage Pass books they'll find quite a few musicians there.

I directed Ray Charles in the film "Limit Up" which Luana and I cowrote, so Ray has introduced us to quite a few of his friends because he knew ... well... everyone. And through one we can know the other.

I know this interview might ruffle some feathers - but again, it's live, none of it planned, and Jennifer works with law enforcement agencies nationwide on missing person cases. She even helped NYPD commissioner Bill Bratton with a case (solved, ask him about it sometime.)

We are demonstrating that anyone can do this - don't need a medium, but it helps. However, as noted, anyone can speak to their loved ones on the flipside, and apparently anyone they'd like to chat with. Stick around to the end, where Elvis sums up his relationship with Tom Parker. Insightful.