Use this search box to find articles that have run in our newspapers over the last several years.

Scholarship fundraiser features psychic medium Lisa Lanno

Date: 4/4/2014

By Carley Dangona

carley@thereminder.com

WEST SPRINGFIELD – A paranormal fundraiser for the West Springfield High School Scholarship Fund will take place this weekend.

The Ramapogue Women’s Club presents “Messages from the Other Side” with Lisa Lanno, psychic spirit medium and paranormal researcher, on April 5 from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Storrowton Carriage House, 1305 Memorial Ave.

A raffle for a free Tarot reading from Lanno will take place. Tickets cost $40 and include a buffet and a seat during the readings. To purchase, visit www.lisamlanno.com, or call Elaine at 734-6684 or Joanna at 568-9048. Tickets will also be available at the door.

“I was interested [in this fundraising event] because I see how hard it is for our kids,” Lanno said. “There’s just not enough help out there. I do have a passion to help children.”

She continued, “I know I’m not famous, but when somebody in the public has a voice, [it] raises awareness. I hope others will follow to give these causes, these people, these issues a voice.”

Lanno lends her skills to various fundraisers such as helping children and animals. She participated in a fundraiser for the Agawam Dog Owner’s Group earlier this year. Every summer, she hosts a show at the Majestic Theater where she incorporates a fundraising element that is usually in honor of Amanda Plasse, a Chicopee resident who was murdered. Plasse’s mother usually picks the charity the proceeds will benefit.

As for her skills, Lanno had an early inkling that she was paranormally inclined as early as the 1970s. Her first experience was with remote viewing, where she tells a person what a room that she’s never visited looks like. “I wouldn’t do that without permission though,” Lanno insisted.

“I knew I had abilities. I used to be able to see auras. I started doing Tarot readings for my kids’ friends and thought ‘I want to work in this,’” Lanno said.

Her first encounter with a spirit from the other side was with a friend of her daughter’s who had passed. Lanno’s reaction, “Okay, is this for real? You [the spirit] need to tell me things I would not know.” Lanno said the girl was able to provide details about her funeral and her life that Lanno would not have known.

“There are different degrees of psychic sensitivity. We all have it. I can teach people to tap into it, but unless they can bring in my family, they’re not a medium,” Lanno stated. Many people are able to connect with their own family, but are not considered mediums unless they can connect with the loved ones of others.

Lanno explained that in the days leading up to an event, she notices an increase in spirit activity. To prepare, she will ask “Who’s making me feel like this?” and then writes down the description she is given.

Once at the event, she will ask the audience to “claim” the person after stating they do not have to do so if not comfortable. She then provides the description.

Lanno said that she is respectful of other’s personal boundaries. She said people tend to be “more afraid” of her psychic reading ability. “I will never take away a person’s free will,” she said. Usually, people want to know if their house will sell or if their daughter is going to have a baby.

For example, she would never tell a person they are going to die and the circumstances surrounding the death. “I tell the universe not to tell me,” Lanno said. While she does deal with the missing and murdered, she never seeks out the families, but lets them find her.

One thing she iterated during the interview is that once a person passes, “all the negative feelings are gone,” such as anger, hatred and resentment.

Lanno and her daughter also founded GONE Paranormal. “We try to turn the ghosts into spirits to crossover.” The duo tries to help the ghosts resolve the issues keeping them earthbound to help them pass on to the spirit realm.

She said, “I enjoy what I do. I enjoy helping people.”