LOS ANGELES TIMES ARTICLE, FROM DATA BASE SEARCH. 'PEOPLE: PSYCHIC LECTURER OPENS DOORS OF SKEPTICISM AS WELL AS PERCEPTION:
Document Type:
Collection:
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST):
CIA-RDP96-00791R000200230015-6
Release Decision:
RIFPUB
Original Classification:
U
Document Page Count:
3
Document Creation Date:
November 4, 2016
Document Release Date:
December 7, 1998
Sequence Number:
15
Case Number:
Publication Date:
November 14, 1988
Content Type:
NOTES
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Attachment | Size |
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CIA-RDP96-00791R000200230015-6.pdf | 126.58 KB |
Body:
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Copyright 1988 The Times Mirror Company
Los Angeles Times
November 14, 1988, Monday, Orange County Edition
SECTION: Metro; Part 2; Page 2; Column 3; Metro Desk
LENGTH: 708 words
HEADLINE: PEOPLE: PSYCHIC LECTURER OPENS DOORS OF SKEPTICISM AS WELL AS
PERCEPTION
BODY:
Dianne Morrissey says she died at age 28. But for the last 10 years, she has
been talking about ghosts, near death, reincarnation, past life and
clairvoyance at Orange Coast, Saddleback, Coastline and Fullerton community
colleges, among others.
Morrissey, 39, teaches a four-session class called "Journey Into
Consciousness."
She admits that not everyone believes she was electrocuted while repairing a
fish tank at home, then came back to life.
She says a house guest called paramedics "who worked on me for 20 minutes,
but couldn't raise a heartbeat."
For some unexplained reason, "My heart started again by itself," she adds,
"and while I was unconscious, I somehow knew I had died.
"I was skeptical about all this before (the accident) and still am. People in
my classes are glad that the person who is teaching them feels that way. I think
good, healthy skepticism is positive."
Vdhen she regained consciousness, Morrissey says, "I saw auras, and everything
was glowing, and I feel I awoke with special psychic powers."
She decribes those abilities in her classes, which cost about $45 a person.
"I've had 13,780 students who have (taken) my class," she says. "And there
still are people who are negative about a psychic."
On the other hand, she says, l00 of her students have told her they have hid
an out-of-body experience, and about 2?s have had a near-death episode and feel
better knowing they are not alone.
Morrissey defines a near-death experience as a time when the spirit and life
force leave the body. It is usually accompanied by a temporary heart stoppage.
In the out-of-body experience, she says, the life force leaves the body in a
similar fashion, except there is no threat of death.
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"This is the most entertaining thing I've ever been through," says Morrissey,
whose 4-week class at Orange Coast College will end Nov. 17. "I consider myself
a teacher who provides people with knowledge they didn't have before they came."
Morrissey says she has a doctorate in hypnotherapy and sometimes uses
hypnosis "to pull up something from the past or to change a phobia or a fear."
She also teaches parapsychology and has an office in her Santa Fe Springs
home.
She is the Southern California coordinator for the International Assn. for
Near Death Studies based at the University of Connecticut, with 20 chapters in
the United States. She says new chapters are forming in Europe.
It has taken her 10 years to learn haw to present her program properly,
Morrissey says. She has developed her classes "by listening to criticism and
paying attention."
There are occasions, she says, when people ask her to investigate haunted
houses.
"Lots of times I feel what is there and haw to get rid of it to make those
people more comfortable," she says, noting that she does not charge for the
service.
Santiago High School football coach Mike Barron believes that a football team
that eats together plays better together.
So when the Garden Grove Elks Lodge offered to provide free pre-game steak
dinners for each of the Garden Grove high school team's games, he jumped at the
offer.
"Having the pre-game meal in this atmosphere of no distractions and quietness
gives them the opportunity to concentrate only on that evening's game," Barron
said.
Besides, coaches are invited too. He said the food is terrific.
They held a mock election at Crescent Primary School in Anaheim. Third-grader
Bryan Johnson wan by a landslide after he promised a national building drive for
amusement parks.
His classmate opponent, Steven Apodaca, made an offer of better school
supplies and more money for schools.
Bryan, who took the role of President-elect George Bush, collected 20 votes.
Steven represented Gov. Michael S. Dukakis of Massachusetts, Bush's
Democratic opponent, and gathered 8 votes.
Both young candidates agreed there was a need to crack down on drug
traffickers, reduce unemployment and seek early arms negotiations with the
Soviet Union.
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L An el s Times, November 14 19$8
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Acknowledgments -- Clairee and John Tynes, who met and married while both
were students at the University of Southern Mississippi, celebrated their 50th
wedding anniversary with a gathering of friends at Placentia's historic Bradford
House. He is the mayor of Placentia.
GRAPHIC: Photo, Dianne Morrissey at home with slide of tombstone and apparition.
ROBERT GABRIEL / Los Angeles Times
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