UT Professor Séance

BMC 2.106 – The room is dark. Candles line the walkway of the auditorium. A projector and two wide screen televisions display a black background, a splash of white and an eye in the center of the image. The professor walks to the left side of the room and then to the right side of the room; he is holding a microphone.

The professor had a little bit of a gift for his students. He explained he would try to reach those who had passed on in their lives. 

“If this interferes with any of your religious affiliations, or makes you uncomfortable, feel free to leave,” the professor advised. 

After this suggestion, eight to ten students stood up and left the room. The professor walks to the left side of the room, and pauses. 

“I’m seeing miles and miles of blue skies and I hear folk music being played.” Suddenly, a girl in the same side of the auditorium gasps loudly. The professor approaches her seat and hands her the microphone.

The student explains that her friend Myles had died in the past couple of years and that he was a folk musician. The professor smiles and proceeds to ask “He was really short wasn’t he?” the student agreed. The student proceeded to talk more about her deceased friend, Myles, with a few tears rolling down her cheeks. “Her voice trembled,” the student Alison R. Herschap recalled.

The professor walked again from left to right and received more messages from spirits. One spirit apologized to a student for eating too much candy. The spirit was diabetic. Another spirit expressed. “I do not need my glasses anymore,” the corresponding student explained that his relative made a big scandal at the funeral because the deceased was not wearing his glasses. She did not want the deceased to be buried without his glasses.

Herschap explained that she thought a lot about what she had seen in class that day and had concluded that the students whose deceased took part in the séance were probably paid to be there. Nevertheless, she later noticed that she is classmates in a different class with Myle’s friend.

After speaking with Myle’s friend, Herschap became a believer. “I have to say, at first, I was a skeptic but the things that [the professor] said were right on the spot. When class was finished, everybody walked out speechless. I just hope that if he ever performs a séance again, some of my passed relatives will try to reach me too!” Herschap exclaimed.

Professor Josh Gunn explained he would only perform a séance in the first day of class. During the séance, he reached around five people. Professor Gunn’s accuracy aroused mixed sentiments among the students. Some laughed, a few cried. By the second day of class, around seven people dropped the course. Nevertheless, Professor Gunn is still very popular among students.

“Professor Gunn is a really cool guy. Don’t get me wrong, his teaching style is a little unorthodox but students end up appreciating that in the end. He really connects with the kids,” said Rachel Plumley, Professor Gunn’s former student. “He has an interesting style. I guess you could call it goth, but that would be a stretch. The way he dresses adds to his entire persona,” Plumley explained, referring to professor Gunn’s appearance.

Herschap also explained how popular the professor is, “he told us that his students bring their friends to class,” she expands “He also told us that one of his students brought his mother to class once.

Apparently, that particular class was heavy on obscenity. The mother got very offended and reported it to the school. He did not get fired, of course. His students love him too much. He has a lot of really good reviews.” Herschap believes this is the reason why the professor’s policy is to decline interviews, even from journalism students.

His séance might have been popular among most students but not so popular in church. When asked about the church’s opinion Father Jamie Baca, of the University Catholic Center, expressed “I think we should let the dead rest. We don’t want to disturb the dead. People that want to contact the dead should wait until it’s their turn and meet them in heaven.”

When asked about his personal opinion “It’s all a show.” Father Jamie joked. “This used to be very common but now you see this take place mostly only in countries like Brazil.”

Father Jamie turns and looks at the altar server and explains “A séance is when a person tries to speak to the dead.” Real or not real there is not a sure way to determine. For now it does not seem harmful to allow student, and their friends, to visit and enjoy Professor Josh Gunn’s Rhetoric of Religion class every Tuesday and Thursday.