The Ghosts of Dunwoody"
By Mickie Goodman originally published in Points North Magazine in October of 2001
I met Charlene Hicks-Campbell, a certified professional astrologer, hypnotist and psychic medium, at a social gathering that we both attended recently. Our hostess put her on the spot by requesting mini readings of the guests. About a dozen guests, ranging in age from mid-70s to early 20s, gathered in the living room. Most appeared skeptical, but as Hicks-Campbell talked, surprise registered on every face.
...
Hicks-Campbell had sketched a rough floor plan of the interior and pinpointed most of the ghostly activity to the upstairs rear bedroom, halls and stairwell. She "saw" a tall, thin old man who looked like Frank on "Petticoat Junction" and roamed the halls with a woman who was good at making pickles, as well as a small girl, perhaps named Lou Ann. She described a closet that had been added when the stairwell was moved during remodeling, and she felt strongly that someone had been shot in the house and on the property, perhaps during the Civil War. The scents of Irish oatmeal and pickling spices were present, and she picked up the letter "L" in addition to the names "Frank" and "Harry Stevens."
How She Stacked Up To compare notes, Linda, Caroline, Hicks-Campbell and I sat in the home's "new" room, a warm paneled den that was added in 1935.
...
The result: Hicks-Campbell had a near-perfect score on things she "saw." But she had no psychic premonitions about the levitating Bible, the flickering fixture or the faint sounds of music emanating from the Parson's Room. Once inside, she felt another being, a large Cherokee Indian named Black Turtle, who watches over the house. She felt that the mischievous young girl might be responsible for the levitating Bible. "She may be trying to tell you something," Hicks-Campbell suggested.
...
According to Hicks-Campbell, ghosts underscore the belief that life goes on. If this is true, then ghosts even friendlier than Casper do indeed live on in Dunwoody.
Psychic Synergy Reverend Charlene Hicks-Campbell has been practicing professionally for more than 23 years and has been heard on more than 182 radio stations in the United States and Canada. Her clientele includes major corporate clients like the Ritz-Carlton, Buckhead; GE Capital; Post Apartment Homes; Bass Hotels & Resorts; Intercontinental Hotels; the American Cancer Society; Christian Dior; Showtime; and scores more.
After completing a four-year program in 1997, she received certifications in mediumship and healing from Camp Chesterfield in Chesterfield, Ind., the second oldest Spiritualist Church in the United States. She returns there each year for additional study. She also attended the Arthur Finlay College in Stanstead, England, and was certified as a master hypnotist through the World Congress for Professional Hypnotists in 1983.
Quick to recognize that there are "a lot of quacks out there," Hicks-Campbell emphasizes that it takes a great deal of knowledge to become certified. "Since 1970, the city of Atlanta has been recognizing astrologers as counselors," said Hicks-Campbell. Once each year, the city administers a seven-hour exam. She received her certification when she was just 20 and served as the chairperson for the Board of Astrological Examiners in 1985.
Psychic abilities run throughout Hicks-Campbell's family. Grandmother Charlotte, for whom she was named, could look at a person and relate the person's astrological chart. Her mother, Betty, can tell the exact time without looking at a clock, and her sister Gail also is an ordained minister whose specialty is psychic healing. Hicks-Campbell's psychic powers became apparent at age 11, when she predicted that one of her father's new business partners was untrustworthy and that the other was unstable. The business collapsed within three months, leaving her father with a $70,000 debt. She's been tuning in to her own abilities, studying and helping people become aware of their own powers ever since.
,