On the Job ~ The Psy-dentical Twins

Identical twins Allyson Walsh and Adele Nichols.

by Suzanna Brugler

‘All we need is to hear a name or a birth date to get things started.’

Imagine entering the world with extrasensory perception and mental telepathy. Now imagine sharing these supernatural talents with the one person you are closest to in this world. Your clone. Your biological replica. Your twin. For psy-dentical twins Allyson Walsh, of Arnold, and Adele Nichols, of Severna Park, this paranormal phenomena is life as they know it.

The towheaded sisters work professionally as psychic mediums, educators and motivational speakers. CBS featured Walsh on its evening news magazine, 48 Hours, and The Washington Post’s Sunday Source referred to the sisters as “the experts” in their field. Spend a little time with this down-to-earth duo, and you indeed sense something peculiar about their unique sisterly bond.

Didactic Discovery

Walsh works from her home in Arnold, where the only other-worldly hint is a framed Swami poster and a bubbling indoor fountain with what appears to be a rotating crystal ball at its center.“People are often surprised by how mainstream we are,” says Walsh, the elder twin by five minutes. “We don’t fit the hippy or mystic-eccentric stereotype.”But they’ve always seen more than meets most eyes. “We basically had this ability when we were very young,” says Nichols, the shyer of the two. “We were seeing spirits of people and animals on our parents’ farm, as plain as you or me sometimes. We thought everybody did.” Daughters of Celtic descent, the twins learned later in life that their maternal grandmother, also possessed the psychic gift. Walsh jumps in to tell of the dear uncle who passed when they were four or five years old. Two weeks later, he appeared to them as a spirit, not yet crossed-over into the Astro-world. “We didn’t think anything of it,” says Walsh. “I ran up to him to get a hug, and we had a conversation, in broad daylight.” The spirit explained that their parents didn’t know they could see him — or the others. “He had us memorize two sentences that would mean something to our parents when they heard it. I remember, it was like a sing-song sort of game. When we went back to our parents to tell them, they were just blown away!” Don’t be talking about all this kind of stuff! their parents warned. “Unfortunately,” says Walsh, “that’s when we realized that we were really alone in this.”

Between Here and There

Of course, when you hear and see spirits, you’re never really alone. “We hear spirits talking to us when there’s a lot of energy around, like in large groups, where people are talking. That produces a lot of energy the spirits rely on,” says Nichols.

“Water also seems to be very conductive for spirit,” adds Walsh. “That’s why a lot of time mediums will have water fountains in their houses. My house is only one-quarter mile from the Magothy River.”
Spirits have things to say, but they need a medium to give voice to their messages. Both twins are mediums, able to translate messages from the spirit world. Trans-channeling is what Walsh calls the experience of a spirit’s borrowing her voice. Sometimes the medium’s voice and vocabulary change with the personality that inhabits their body.“I literally fell asleep. All I can tell you is that I felt like I was lifting out of my head,” says Walsh of the experience.
“I thought I was in a big, vast area, that I was floating out of my body,” Walsh continues. “I was not pleased because I realized it was like I had lost control. I was very disconcerted when I heard this other voice, as though I could hear through a long straw that other voice was speaking through me.
“Oh my god! I don’t want to be another Edgar Cayce!” she said.
Cayce, known as the sleeping prophet, was a renowned 20th century psychic and medium who put himself in a hypnotic trans-state to translate medical diagnoses from physician spirits.
Both mental mediumship and trans-channeling are portrayed in the 1990 film Ghost.
“This is exactly the way it is,” Walsh says she told her movie-going friends. “Especially when Whoopi Goldberg’s character finally realized she was connected to Patrick Swayze. That movie is the closest thing we’ve seen yet.”
Nichols also practices remote viewing.
“I can see building to building, for example inside people’s homes,” she says.

Doing Business
Walsh and Nichols have made a business of their gift. Seats for metaphysical counseling sessions with Allyson & Adele, Psy-dentical Twins, range from $15 to $175, depending on the service.
As platform mediums, the twins perform in front of an audience, doing light trans-work for as many people as time allows. Oprah comes to mind as I envision Walsh, microphone in hand. The twins’ next scheduled platform will be a big one: They are slated for the local New Year’s extravaganza, First Night Annapolis.
“I just know we’re going to be jammed for that event!” Walsh says.
Open group sessions meet one Wednesday a month at Walsh’s home. Private sessions can also be scheduled for groups of 10 or more. Group sessions cost $50 per person, with each person able to try for a spirit reading.
Private readings typically cost $175 per hour.
“We ask that each participant make a list of names of people they’d like to hear from,” says Walsh. “We don’t look at the names. It’s just a means of calling the spirits. All we need is to hear a name or a birth date — to hear the participant’s voice — to get things started.”
“A lot of time, a spirit will wake me up in the morning when I’m getting ready to see a client that day,” Walsh says. “It’s like they’re beating the person to the house to get information here.”

Trying it Out
As our interview winds down, the twins begin an impromptu reading. When I tell them my birth date, they pronounce a handful of supposed family names. I don’t recognize any as belonging to my family.
“You’re young; write them down,” instructs Nichols. “Many of our clients will go back to their family trees to find that names the spirits give are relatives from generations past.”
As it turns out, the first name the twins pronounced over and over to me, Mary, is common on my father’s side of the family as half a compound first name. My long-dead grandmother’s name was Mary Caroline — not, as I thought, simply Caroline.
I am inspired by their insight on my present situation and delighted at the potential they see in my future. I rush home to call my mother in Ohio, excited to ask about the other names the sisters gave and how they fit into my unexplored family tree. I can’t resist going further, revealing to my mother their readings on my future health … my career … my love life.
“Oh, Suzanna,” she says. “You are just the sort of person who would actually believe in such a thing!”

Meet Allyson Walsh 7pm on Friday November 11 at Triad Center, 3725 Rt. 260, Chesapeake Beach. rsvp: 410-257-5900; www.psy-denticaltwins.com. Learn more at www.Psy-dentical Twins.com. Or e-mail [email protected]

Suzanna Brugler, public affairs specialist and graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, has traveled the world over with the Navy, living in Japan, Virginia, California and now again in Annapolis.