Lily Dale is a village in Western New York (near Cassadaga) and is about halfway between Erie, PA, and Buffalo, NY. To own property there you have to prove before a board that you are a psychic or a medium or a healer. The village opens its' doors to visitors during the summer months, and I visited many times during the early 1990s.
Everyone at Lily Dale is a
Spiritualist. Spiritualists believe that the spirits of the dead don't go to heaven or hell, but hang around on a spiritual plane and are able to speak to us through mediums. When you go to Lily Dale Assembly, you are permitted to attend the services held in the village (there is no fee--just a one day parking pass). Occasionally you may be approached by one of the mediums who asks permission to communicate messages to you.
These are some of my experiences there:
One of the mediums running the service at the Forest Temple told a woman near me that a man who crossed over wanted to speak to her. The Medium became confused for a moment, stammering, then asked the woman why he was showing her a monkey sitting on the back of a dog. Apparently the spirit was this woman's uncle, who had run a carnival at which there were daily dog races with monkey-jockeys. It was hilarious.
I got a message from my Grandpa, telling me to watch my paperwork at my job (I was managing a record store at the time) or else there would be trouble. I should have listened because a week later I was put on 90-day probation for not having my shit organinzed.
Another psychic there saw me driving a red car, and there would be trouble with the law so be careful. And why did she also see me driving a truck? The following week my red Renault was impounded because I owed $300 for a couple of tickets. She saw me driving a truck because I had rented one for the day after my trip to Lily Dale because we were striking the set of a play I was in. She said other things that came true but could be self-fulfilling. I DID move to NYC to "study" and "appear in front of the cameras", which was not really on my mind at the time. Eventually I'm supposed to move to Hollywood where I will follow in some famous person's shoes and become famous myself, living in a big house in the Hollywood Hills.
The most dramatic thing that happened on a trip to Lily Dale occurred once again at the Forest Temple. I had come to Lily Dale that time with my friends Chris & Ann Marie. I was crazy about Ann Marie and dated her off and on whenever she was home from her work as an entertainer on a cruise ship. It worked like this; Ann Marie would return from a 6 month contract, we would hook up and have a great time for a while before she would go back to the ship where we would write each other weekly (probably the only time I ever wrote proverbial "love letters" to anyone. These were pre-internet days) and after a month or so communication from her would stop because she found a ship-board boyfriend. A couple more months would go by and she would come home and we would eventually hook up again. I was nuts about her and the situation was terrible.
Chris, Ann Marie & I walked into the Forest Temple and sat down. The service finished and the reading began. The medium running the services was then interrupted by an older Medium lady with a German accent. She took the microphone and said something like this: "I haven't done one of these in years, but I saw someone walk in here and my head just whipped around". She pointed at Ann Marie and said; "YOU . . . Have to decide what you're doing because you are driving THAT boy CRAZY". She was pointing at me.
Ann Marie was shocked and I was smiling because I felt somehow vindicated.
Rob
Before my show last night at the UCBT, Bobby Moynihan and Eric Scott (of the UCB TourCo) approached and told me that I was "all over Miami". Apparently the TourCo played the 2006 Miami Improv Festival last week, and much of the artwork/banners/programs had reproductions of Johnny Lunchpail, including our infamous "fat" photo (the one prompting us to all go on diets). Apparently one of the banners was "8 foot tall". Miami has a great festival and I wish we coiuld have gone this year.
