In memoriam; an interview with Bill Paxton (on the flipside)

Berbet Bruno AP Cannes

For this one year anniversary of Bill Paxton’s passing, I’m putting up this excerpt of the upcoming book written with Jennifer Shaffer where we “interview” people no longer on the planet.

Since meeting Jennifer, we’ve been doing this kind of unusual research into the flipside; my questions are not related to getting people to “prove who they are” but skipping ahead to asking questions like “Who greeted you when you passed?  Is there anything you’d like me to pass on to your family and friends? Is there a specific piece of new information I can share that no one but your loved ones would know?”

Jennifer Shaffer

Jennifer Shaffer is a medium/intuitive who works with law enforcement agencies nationwide to help find missing persons. We did some extensive interview for “Hacking the Afterlife” but since my old friend Bill Paxton passed away last year, he’s been “showing up” at many of our conversations which are “moderated” by my friend Luana Anders (who passed in 1996.) (For details on how that came about, please check out “Flipside” “It’s a WonderfulAfterlife” or “Hacking the Afterlife.”)

Luana Anders in a Rockefeller Plaza mirror

For those not familiar with my work, I’m a film director who has written and/or directed 8 theatrical features.  I made a documentary (“Flipside” distributed by Gaia) about my journey into this research focusing on the work of Michael Newton.  I followed that up with comparing near death experiences with between life hypnosis accounts of the afterlife, and after that I began interviewing mediums about their process. (Those accounts will be in another book I’m working on as well.) I’ve been filming each of my conversations with Jennifer and people on the Flipside for two years now.

Bill wrote, directed, acted in films.

After Bill started showing up, I’ve reached out to his family and friends.  He had specific messages for me to pass along to them, and as I did with a previous couple of posts about my (and Bill’s) old friend Harry Dean Stanton (both starred in “Big Love”) Harry proves beyond a reasonable doubt that he was speaking to us from the flipside.  (The posts are here and are filled with verifiable details that neither Jennifer nor I could have known, but later found out to be accurate.)

Jennifer Shaffer
and yours truly

In these two following interviews with Bill, I neglected to tell either medium Jennifer Shaffer or Kimberly Babcock who he was. Not because I have any doubts about this process, but because I didn’t want his  fame to get in the way of our conversing.  (These transcripts have been edited for time and clarity.)

Rich: (Speaking to Luana Anders through Jennifer). We have a mutual friend who passed away recently, Luana, his name is Bill.

Jennifer: They just danced.

Who just danced?

Bill and Luana did a little tango thing. 

(Note: Bill met Luana before his career took off, he was going to star in my film “You Can’t Hurry Love” and helped me rewrite the script.  Luana was always a big fan of his work, so it’s not unusual for me to hear they met up on the Flipside.)

Does Bill want to talk to us?

He just showed me him filing his nails... (Like “yeah, what is it?” Bill and my relationship was always in the poking fun at each other in this realm.)

So he’s here?

He says he’s shampooing his hair... (getting ready.)

Tell us what it’s like over there

“It’s fun,” he says.  He says “I can fly”... and that he likes scaring people.

Who was the first person to greet you when you crossed over?

His dad.

(Note: Bill’s father did precede him in death, and as we’ll hear from Kim Babcock, he says the same thing to her.)

Was that a happy reunion?

He says it was shocking... because that meant that he had died.  He said “Yes at first, it was shocking, but then that subsided." At first he was startled, but it wasn’t scary,” he says. “It was like a recognition of both worlds;" he showed me them together. (Both sides).

Was this an “exit point” for you? Something that you planned to have happen? Was this the right or wrong time for your leaving the stage?

He’s saying it was the wrong time for his physical body, it was the right time for his soul.

(Note: “Exit points” are something that we’ve learned from these interviews. People say that we generally stay here to accomplish what we’ve set out to do, but “exit ramps” or “exit points” sometimes appear, and we wind up leaving earlier than we thought we would.)

You once talked about going to visit the Titanic. What was that like?

(Jennifer stops, makes a face, eyes wide.)  Is this the Billy that was in the movie Titanic? He showed me a picture of that guy who just passed. I’m confused.

Well, let’s ask him. Is that picture that Jennifer is seeing of a person, is that a picture of you? If it isn’t, give her a thumbs down.

He gave me a thumbs up. This is him? I saw him here, in the office when we met the other day...  I love Billy, I had no idea...

He and I met in London when he was making the film Aliens, my old friend Lori was pals with his then girlfriend, later wife Louise. We all went out for a pint, and when he laughed uproariously, I recognized the laugh from “Weird Science.” We had John Hughes in common, John went to my high school, I met him on set. Later I asked Bill to star in my first film You Can’t Hurry Love; it didn’t happen, but I used a song from his band Martini Ranch (no relation) to open the film. I hadn’t seen him in years before he passed.  Bill, take Jennifer down with you in that capsule when you went to see the Titanic.

(Staring into the distance, Jennifer shivers.) I got scared because of the water rushing (past) but then he grabbed my hand and he calmed my heart down. He’s taking me to a corner, he’s showing me the boat. If you had a blueprint of the boat we’re going to the farthest right corner of the Titanic... okay... (To Bill) Go slower. “You don’t have to hold your breath,” he just told me.

(Note: Bill had worked with Jim Cameron and when Jim took him to see the ship, he initially thought he would see it from the ship’s deck. But Jim put him in his bathysphere and together they made a number of trips to see the ship. Oddly enough, in April 2017, a few weeks after this interview, a “locket” from the Titanic was found on the ocean floor in a bag.)

Hole on the right side of the Titanic

Describe what you’re seeing and feeling.

I’m feeling a sense of peace. I’d be really scared to ever go into something like that. He’s taking me down to the right of the bow... that’s below on the bottom, in the front, and there’s a hole in the front – he showed me an explosion... an explosion that caused that hole.  

(Note: Jim Cameron has taken 33 trips to visit the ship.  National Geographic did an extensive survey of the wreck, and it does include a hole where she’s describing it. Knowing Jennifer as well as I do I’m confident she’s not referring to something that she’s seen, but something that she is “seeing.” http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2118217/New-Titanic-images-doomed-ship-youve-seen-before.html)

They hit the iceberg on the right side.

I didn’t know that.

Okay, thanks Billy. Let’s move on to some other questions.

It’s funny I feel like I’m decompressing now.

Have you seen John Hughes since you got back?

(laughs) He’s really busy.

Anything you want to say to Jim Cameron?

“Thank you.”  He said it again, “Thank you.”

Anything more specific?

He said “He knows where it is.”

Where what is?

Something they were looking for? Jewelry?

I don’t know. I thought that was made up. Where is it Billy? Is he showing you a jewel?

He’s saying to be quiet.  He showed me you interrupting him... he says “I’m trying to talk.”

Sorry.

He’s showing me a future project with Jim... In June (2017). Might be a movie, something they talked about.

Is that something you were going to be involved with?

He’s showing me looking at papers, but I don’t know.

Well, I can’t call up Jim and ask him, but I think people are tuning into this form of speaking to the flipside more and more. So Billy, you know how to whisper in his ear.

“I know how to scare him,” he said.

Okay. That’s allowed. Scare him then. Let’s talk about more interesting stuff. You said your experience over there was that you can fly. Show her how you fly from one place to the next. How does that work?

He’s showing me (visually) before I can really process it. He’s going to all these corners really fast, then he showed me how many things are going on in the interim. Then he slowed it down super slow and showed me how things move here - but he’s going faster than that.

You mean like a super fast game of tag? And he slowed it down so you only see four or five touches?

Yes.

Describe what do we look like to you; how do you communicate to us?

He showed me the aerial view from above us, he showed me your head. He said “What works best is the eyes, as they’re the windows to the soul."

If you were going to pick some aspects of life on the planet that you might miss, or wish you could live again?

He showed me a pistol, chewing tobacco, horses...

He misses chewing tobacco?

No, he’s showing me like another lifetime.

Where was that?

In Texas. Near Austin. Feels like after the civil war... after 1879.

(Note: Bill goes on to describe in detail this former lifetime, details of which I was able to verify through research.  It involved a small group of Mormon settlers who lived near Austin, and he was showing her a lifetime where he was the leader of that group.)

So Bill any of your old girlfriends I need to reach out to tell them you said hello?

“I had no old girlfriends. I only had eyes for my wife.”

That was just a test buddy.

He’s laughing.

What can we ask you that an average person might ask? What’s your day like? Do you sleep?

There’s no sleeping there.

(Note: For a detailed description of "what it's like" I refer you to "My Life After Life" by Galen Stoller. Galen wrote a book from that perspective, and I've seen letters from a woman who claimed that her husband reached out to her through a medium to tell her to get his book, as he "describes what it's like over here."  Galen wrote the foreword to "It's a Wonderful Afterlife" volume two from the flipside.) 

Do you have a place that you like to hang out?

He’s showing me on a white beach.

For relaxation?

Yeah. “To think.”

What do you think about?

How he wants his next life to be.

Tell us, what will it be? Any idea?

He says he wants the world to be a better place.

How can you help effect that?

He showed me someone like Elon Musk, someone who knows how to get things done or made, that can... (help the planet).  

So how do you create your white beach? How do you create objects over there?

He said it’s by using mathematics and science. He says he puts an equation together that gets him the right (visual or) taste of whatever you want to drink or experience. Whatever you’re looking for.

So when you want to experience a white beach it’s a mathematical equation?

It is, but you don’t have to take it to that extent. It just happens.

(Note: In Galen Stoller's book, he says that "creating a structure" requires focus and concentration, understanding how frequencies work, and being able to manipulate them.  Hence the math.)

Let me ask you about other realms.  I know that Jim Cameron said he had a vision of Pandora, the planet or Na'vi people that are in Avatar. What was that about?

He’s laughing. Says, “They were Martians.”

Do they exist in some other realm? I mean was his dream in high school related to seeing something that actually exists somewhere else, or was it created by his mind? Or do you know?

He said “Be patient.” He’s trying to show me. He showed me Africa. Did Jim Cameron’s father go to Africa? There’s something with an African influence for Jim Cameron – he showed me a mask, something with a mask, obviously we don’t see that in the movie, but it was the same recurring dream over and over again, it’s about helping the planet. He wanted to help the planet.

(Note: The Na'vi are reportedly loosely based on the Ashante tribe of the Ashante Region in central Ghana. "Their singing sounds much like the Na'vi singers from the soundtrack from James Cameron's "Avatar")

I know Jim had a dream about the Terminator while sitting in a pensione in Italy; he dreamed about the skeletal Terminator robot.

He gets those dreams about the future... I just got shown our friend Scott De Tamble (lightbetweenlives.com) Sometimes under hypnosis people can access the future.

But I’m asking does the planet from Avatar exist somewhere?

Yes.

In our universe or in another realm?

Bill is so funny. If I’m interpreting this correctly, he’s saying it does exist somewhere else, and when you’re able to link in, you can get the information from there to manifest itself here.  But more importantly, nature, the trees that exist on our planet have existed longer than any humans.  And what happens in the film, is happening here on our planet. For example, when we take down trees in the Amazon or in Africa we are cutting off the life support in other dimensions.

Okay.  Billy, is there anything you want me to pass along to your family and friends?

Reach out to them, he says.

I know his children are on social media, but I don’t want to be like a creepy uncle reaching out to them. I mean, who wants to hear from some dude who claims he’s talking to your loved one?

“Get over it,” he says.

Give me something to say that your friends and family would know comes from you.

When one of them has a dream about him, that’s him trying to get through. There are changes, or decisions being made, and he wants them to know whenever they ask him questions, he’s there trying to help out.

So your message is; “Listen?”

Bingo.

Should I tell them the Michael Newton method (that Jennifer and I heard in another interview with the Flipside) “Say the name of your loved one, either aloud or in your mind, ask them questions you don’t know the answer to, when you hear the answer before you can form the question you’ll know you’ve made a connection?”

Yes, but without mentioning Michael Newton. (laughs) Whatever it takes; it’s important. He says, "Thanks."  He showed me that Jim Cameron is thinking about doing a project about the afterlife. So if you talk to him, ask him about it.

I will. Thanks Billy.

Medium/Minister Kimberly Babcock

(Note: Some days later, I met with the medium KimberlyBabcock, who is both a medium and a minister from Ohio.  I filmed a long discussion that was freewheeling, and towards the end, I had the thought to mention Bill, who had passed only weeks prior. Conducted in a busy Weho restaurant, it's been edited for time and clarity.)

Richard: Can you bring my friend Bill forward?

Kimberly: “Bill has been waiting for you.”

Hi Bill. What do you want to say to your family or friends?

Was he not able to say goodbye before he passed?

That’s correct.

He’s showing me it must have been quick or there was no closure when he passed.

(Note: Bill was in the hospital for chest pains, reportedly, and a more complex operation was done which resulted in his passing.)

Well, this is a way of helping give some kind of closure; what would you like to say?

That’s it; that I have closure and that “I’m at peace.” He says that they still have that wound, because there was no closure before he passed because he didn’t get to say goodbye.

What does he look like to you?

I don’t see him at all. I sense him. Did he have issues with his chest? I’m feeling like his passing was very quick. He said “I’m sorry.”

To who?

To them (his family).

Okay. Here’s the thing, now this door is open we can have conversations and help them to access you more directly.

Was he on medication or something with medicine?

He was getting an operation, they were working on his heart.

I think it’s more than that; medicine was involved with his health and his passing. He’s showing me a pill bottle, as if they were giving him medicine. 

Okay. So now you’re back home – are you there with your soul group? Who greeted you when you crossed over?

His dad. I see the word “dad” written in the air.

(Note: Same answer to Jennifer’s question.)

Last time we were together was at screening of my film “Cannes Man.” I didn’t talk to you, but I heard your distinct laugh in the audience. How’d you like that film?

When you said "I didn’t talk to you" – he said, “I did talk to you.”

Yes, that's correct, when I called you up to invite you.

When you said “How’d you like the film?” He feels so much like, you and he wanted to do something similar or that you both did similar work – it seems like he saw himself in it.

(Note: Bill and I tried to work together on “You Can’t Hurry Love.”  When he made “A Simple Plan” he called to tell me “I finally got to work with Bridget Fonda” (who appeared in the film.) "Cannes Man" was about a hapless delivery boy who comes to the film festival, and just using hype turns into the “flavor of the moment.” Bill and I spent a few fun evenings in Cannes together over the years so that makes sense he could have starred in it.)

He should have been in "Cannes Man."

He feels like it (the story) represents him...

(Note: Bill stopped by to see his agent Brian Swardstrom's Oscar nominated film "Just Call Me By My Name" on his way to Cannes.  That film is dedicated to Bill.)

Billy I just wanted to open this door, I thought this would be a fun chance to say hi.

He says... It’s funny it feels like he’s such a smart aleck! He says, “You always have a chance to say hi, you don’t need her.” He’s very funny.

I’m just seeing if I can help you in some way to connect with your loved ones, and don’t hesitate to stop by.  Let me ask, so were you impressed when we spoke to Jesus a few moments ago?

(Note: Just prior to my asking questions, I asked Kimberly about her visions where she has seen Jesus during some of her mediumship sessions, and we spoke about her journey to this work.  I segued from “talking to Jesus” to asking him to bring forward “my pal Bill.”)

He’s razzing you. He says... um, he’s like “Jesus and I, we go way back, what are you talking about?” He’s like “Where are you?” He’s kind of beating you up.

(Note: She could not possibly know that’s our relationship.  Glad to hear he’s still enjoying the mutual razzing.)

So Billy, when you’re looking at us in this restaurant in West Hollywood, what do you see?

He looks at a watch, he’s like looking at his watch...  did he smoke?

I don’t remember. He may have.

It’s like he’s got a cigar, something bigger than a cigarette.

Tell him he’s very missed.

He feels like the kind of guy (well loved); it’s like “He knows no stranger,” that kind of person.

That’s accurate. So what’s the biggest thing you learned passing over?

That there is no time, there is no death. He didn’t realize how much fear he had until he died, until he came here. “There is no fear; there is no time.”

Did you have your past life review already?

He says “A long time ago.”

(Note: A “past life review” is something that’s common among people who have near death experiences, but it’s also in the reports from people under deep hypnosis. I’ve filmed 45 sessions, done 5 myself and examined thousands from Dr. Helen Wambach and Michael Newton.  People talk about “seeing their council” and then having a review of all the good or bad things they’ve done in their lifetime.)

Any of the highlights... (laughs) or low lights you want to share? Anything you were surprised to see?

(aside) Wow, that’s an interesting perspective. He says that he realizes... he says... I’ll just say it verbatim as if I’m him; “I’ll say this. I realize the fear that I carried within myself planted fear in others and for that I shed remorse. I acknowledge my remorse and I know I have to heal in that way.” He’s showing (me) the collateral damage he did, he’s giving an example; here’s an example; “If we walk around (during our lifetime) saying “I’m so worried,” like “I’m so worried about my heart (or other fears) because then we believe in our fears.” And it created this collateral damage. He didn’t realize how much he did that. Like he “Just worried about stuff that was minute,” he says.

So how’d you like your memorial service?

He stood up and did a salute.

Some of your friends have written some wonderful tributes on Facebook. Are you aware of them?

No, it feels no connection. He says to tell you that he can connect emotionally (directly) to his friends, like when it goes to (appearing on) social media it has an emotional imprint; but it’s almost invisible to them (on the flipside).”

Is there any one thing you want me to tell you friends and fans?

He’s funny. I really like his personality; he’s one of those people who’s going to give you a little bit... just enough to make you want more. When you said, “Is there anything you want me to tell your friends and family?” He literally said “I can fly.” (laughs) He’s playing the song “I can fly, I can fly”... (The Peter Pan version). He’s laughing because it’s like, “I know they want more... but this is what I’ll give them: I can fly.”

(Note: This is the same thing he said to Jennifer Shaffer.)

Can you tell Kim your last name?

Kimberly laughs. (to Bill: “Why?” She then gestures with a “zipped lip.”) That’s what he did. I said “Are you sure?” He’s checking his pockets (as if looking for a wallet.)  He said “Nope.” He zipped his lip and then pointed to you.

 

I have other friends named Billy who are on the other side, just to be sure, tell her which one of my Billy’s is this? (trying to trick him into revealing it to her)

He said, “Whichever one had the heart issues.” Now he’s pulled his energy back.

(Note: He's the only one who had heart issues.)

We ended the interview, and then moments later Kim’s father called from Ohio to see how she was doing on her trip out West. She asked him what he was doing and she later told me;  “My father told me he just had this desire to check in on me. He was watching this old film called “Twister.” 

At that point I told her who Bill Paxton was, and how he was the star of that film.  She wasn't "that familiar" with his work, she said she was surprised, but not as much as I was at the clever way he revealed his identity. 

I mean “What are the odds that I would be chatting with him and her dad would call to say he was watching his film?”  

All I can say is “Well played Bill.  Well played.”

Excerpts from the upcoming book with Richard Martini and Jennifer Shaffer interviewing people on the Flipside.