The subject of today’s column is dead people. Well, at least I think they’re dead.
Of all the stories in last week’s paper, the one more readers contacted me about was last Monday’s main story in Scene about author and medium Allison DuBois.
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She’s the one who claims to talk to the dead.
Her first book, “Don’t Kiss Them Good-bye,” led to the creation of the hit television series “Medium” on NBC.
She has a new book, “We Are Their Heaven,” and is out on tour promoting it.
The paper’s Allen Pierleoni, who regularly interviews authors as part of his job covering what’s new in the book world and is also involved with The Bee Book Club, talked to DuBois over the phone.
He distilled the conversation into a lengthy question-and-answer story that included photos of DuBois, Emmy-award winning “Medium” actress Patricia Arquette and the catchy main headline “The medium has a message,” followed by “Hosting encounters with ghosts comes (super)naturally for Allison DuBois.”
Some readers complained, saying the paper failed to out DuBois as a fraud, was overly credulous and gullible and severely lacking in skepticism.
“Wow,” wrote reader Jim Eaton. “When I started reading The Bee this morning, I thought someone had pulled a fast one and inserted a copy of the National Enquirer instead of the Scene section.”
He went on to say, “Yes, lots of people believe in mediums. But it’s another thing for The Bee to suggest that people like Allison DuBois actually possess such abilities.”
Don Shor of Dixon said, “I don’t know what the official motto of The Bee is, but I’m guessing fluff pieces about a medium don’t fit into it even by a wide stretch.
“Allison DuBois is a fraud. Plain and simple. Nobody contacts the dead, for the rather obvious reason that they are dead.”
And reader Anthony Barcellos of Davis asked: “Does a feature writer have responsibilities different from those of a news reporter? I know that the Scene section is devoted to entertainment rather than hard news, but I think even entertainment articles should be scrupulously factual.”
Here’s what I think. Yes, the story could have been more skeptical, though there is a deliberate element of tongue-in-cheek to some of the “serious” questions that are laugh-out-loud funny.
Like this one: “Isn’t seeing dead people sometimes frightening?” Or this one: “Sometimes you have uncontrollable mental flashes, such as seeing a woman murdered while you’re grocery shopping. And you constantly get mental impressions from people around you. I can see where your ability might be a day-to-day hassle.”
Mainly, though, I think people should lighten up. We’re talking about ghosts after all.
The story wasn’t intended to be an investigative piece about DuBois or mediums. It’s a straightforward discussion with a successful author peddling a new book on a subject most people find ludicrous.
There’s no mystery about DuBois’s claims or intent by the paper to portray her as something more than she is. Writing about her in this way doesn’t give her more credibility, despite the criticism.
If you believe in this stuff, you will continue to believe. If you don’t, you still won’t.
And the story is in the Scene section, where there is more license to, yes, entertain and have a little fun. After all, that’s the paper’s home for things like “Celebrity Files,” the comics, crossword puzzles, Sudoku, “Dear Abby,” and the always popular horoscopes.
“The point of the piece was to interview an author who was touring for her new book,” explained Pierleoni, who along with his book duties also writes restaurant reviews and a variety of feature stories, such as for the outdoors section called “Outbound.”
“The critics want me to do an investigative piece to show that is a fraud or for me to challenge her and accuse her of being a fraud,” Pierleoni said. “But that’s not the point of the piece.”
Pierleoni talked to DuBois for about 40 minutes and did a quick turnaround on the story. He said he was well aware of the skepticism about her claims and asked her in his story how she responds to the skeptics.
“She says I am what I am accept me for what I am or not,” he said. “I never said I believed or disbelieved. My concern was interviewing a woman who has made a good living doing what she does.”
Reader response to the DuBois story is similar to the criticism Pierleoni received last year when he did a question-and-answer interview with author Betty J. Eadie.
Eadie wrote the best seller “Embraced by the Light,” in which she described a near-death experience after surgery when she found herself in the presence of God, Jesus and angels in heaven. She said they gave her a tour of the afterlife.
With both the DuBois and Eadie stories, readers have responded generally three ways, Pierleoni said. There’s a group that wants to contact the mediums for personal reasons, another group that enjoys the stories and then there’s the skeptics, who want the paper to debunk the authors.
“Skeptics,” he said, “they jump all over this stuff. And I wonder how many of the letter-writers have actually read the books.”
On a different note, I will hold an online chat at noon Monday.
Go to www.sacbee.com/forums if you would like to participate. I will answer questions for an hour, starting at noon. You can post your questions at that time or anytime before then.
