Hacking the Afterlife with Jennifer Shaffer, Audrey Hepburn, Monte Hellman and Laurie Bird

Hacking The Afterlife podcast

Another jaw dropping session.

I didn't have anyone in mind as I sat down to dial up the podcast, but suddenly the late Monte Hellman came to mind. Monte passed away a few days ago - and I thought since he was friends with Luana, Harry Dean Stanton and others both on this side and the flipside, thought he might be an interesting interview.

At one point Jennifer mentions the "actor" who played a Mafia Don who lived on an island - who stopped by to say hello. That was obviously Marlon, as I didn't put the two together, as she said "He was in the Mafia and he lived on an island." (That would be Al Capone.) She mentioned that he played Al - but obviously he didn't play Al, Robert De Niro played Al.

Normally that's the kind of connection I make in my mind - but at the time she was saying that Audrey Hepburn had shown up unannounced to chat with us on Earth Day. Later, I looked up to see what connection Marlon and Audrey had - apparently he was shy around her, and their one evening together made her think he didn't like her - when Marlon heard about it, he wrote her a letter to explain what really happened; he was shy.

This is the kind of detail I didn't know - but know now, and certainly in a week we can ask Marlon if that's what he wanted to mention.

Needless to say, it was startling to hear that Audrey wanted to chat with us. I report accurately that two nights ago I watched "My Fair Lady" for the first time and marveled at her performance. It's rich and full of grit - and knowing that she had served in World War II as a partisan, made me think about her journey in life, and then I recalled seeing her in Chicago at the Art Institute. Didn't speak to her, but watched her float down some stairs in her awesome way.

At some point, I decided to ask Monte Hellman to come forward. The person he said he knew is "Fred" - that would be Fred Roos who produced two of his films, and remained a friend despite winning an Oscar for Godfather II. Then I asked about Laurie Bird - Jennifer had no idea who she was, but correctly reported that she had committed suicide at age 26. She had left Monte after a 4 year relationship, took up with Art Garfunkel (a friend of Luana's, as was Paul, who I met and spent time with via Charles Grodin.) The last time I saw Art, we talked about Luana and he revealed they "dated"- something I didn't know.

But Laurie Bird overdosed at Art's apt. in NYC when he left her to make a film. Her message to Art is poignant and apt.

What Monte had to say to his friends Jack, Robert and Fred are all poignant as well. But the reason we do this podcast is to make people aware that their loved ones do not die. As Audrey noted, "there is no hierarchy on the flipside"- and it's important to remember that.

Everyone is accessible. It just takes a little time and effort - through hypnotherapy (I've filmed 50 sessions) through meditation (I've filmed 50 without hypnosis) through mediumship - people like Jennifer function like a cellphone to the flipside.

This sessions is about as mind bending as they come. Glad to be able to present it a few minutes after recording it.