Union Lake Resident Releases Book on Paranormal Experiences

Right: Exie Susanne Smith is the author of “Welcome To My Para’normal’ Life.” Left: Her book is available for purchase on amazon.com or at local bookstores.

The following are excerpts from a telephone interview with “Welcome To My Para‘normal’ Life” author, Exie Susanne Smith.

Can you tell me a little bit about your background?

“This is my fifth career. I’ve been looking for this for years. I graduated from Northwood and went to work for IBM for fours years, left there and then started working at Walled Lake Schools as a computer tech and left that about 10 years ago to write a children’s book (which is still not finished,) they’re really hard to write! I just knew I had to write this book and the day I did, the energy was just immense. It took me six years to get there and two years to write it, and now it’s off to the races.”

What is your book “Welcome To My Para‘normal’ Life” about?

“It is a paranormal memoir, non-fiction, and it’s written from my journals that I have kept for 42 years with all of my paranormal experiences. It started when I was 12 and has continued up until today…it covers that because I will see, hear, sense and smell things and it’s those experiences.”

Why did you decide to put those experiences into a book?

“I think paranormal is so huge right now, and it’s something I’ve always wanted to do but rarely talked about with anybody. My parents didn’t even know when all this started, I told nobody because back then I was afraid they would either medicate me or hospitalize me. So I thought ‘well you’re going to do this so why not get it out there where you have a better chance of it being accepted and less ridicule.’ I tried really hard to write it from an educational standpoint and an experimental standpoint. I don’t shove anything down anybody’s throat and I try not to leave anything open-ended. I try to teach or explain the events and what I thought they were and why they occurred, and if I cant, then I go into a scientific basis of it, which is really important to me – the science of all of it.”

Can you tell me about the first paranormal experience you had when you were 12-years-old?

“You ever have the feeling that someone or something is there? I had been having that feeling and consequently became a non-lover of the dark and had to have the lights on. My bedroom door was always open! One night I was sound asleep and I heard a ‘click.’ I woke up and froze because I knew that sound; it was my bedroom door closing. I opened my eyes and looked around and noticed the door was shut and the room was pitch black. I was terrified. I could see a shape in my closet and it started crawling towards me. In my head I was yelling ‘turn on the light, turn on the light’ but I couldn’t move. At that moment I started to pray to God and as I did that, whatever was in my closet started to glide backwards. I turned my bedroom lights on and indeed there was nothing there, I couldn’t find any evidence. And that’s how it all started.”

Why did you decide to start keeping journals about all these experiences?

“Well I had to have an outlet. Because I couldn’t talk to anyone, I needed to write it down. I just started to jot down what I was seeing and feeling and it felt so good. Given that this was back in the 70s, even with all the movements going on, you still just didn’t talk about this – nobody did.”

Is this your first published book?

“Yes this is my first one. It’s so exciting and what I’ve wanted to do for years.”

How has the reaction to the book been?

“It’s been really good. I just got invited to appear on a paranormal radio show at the end of this month, I have a book signing up in Lansing next month and Traverse City invited me back for their film festival in August. It’s starting, it’s rolling.”

Do you have any plans to release a second book or a sequel to this book?

“Yes I do. I still have a children’s book in progress, but maybe once I get grandchildren I’ll get the voice back. I would also like to release a sequel to this book, which has really already written itself. Everyone has a story and that has become my goal, to just communicate and hear people’s stories.”