Ghost Whisperer

Character background

Melinda has the ability to see and communicate with ghosts. She moved to Grandview after she married Jim Clancy, a paramedic who knows of her ability. She had always been able to speak with the dead, or "earthbound spirits" as her grandmother (with whom she shared this ability) called them. Her mother, Beth Gordon, possesses the same gift, although she denies it.

Apart from her husband, Jim Clancy, Melinda shared her secret with quirky Professor Rick Payne, an expert in occult beliefs and history who thrives on helping her gain insights into the more baffling paranormal phenomena she encounters. Other individuals who are aware of her gift include Andrea Marino (killed in the first season's finale), Delia Banks and her son, Ned Banks, and the latest addition to the cast, Eli James.

Abilities

Melinda is at least a fourth-generation medium (as her great-great-great-grandmother, Tessa, was also a ghost whisperer). She is able to communicate with the spirits of those who are dead. She can see and speak with the earthbound spirits that reach out to her for help. She then helps them to cross over, either by speaking to loved ones or by doing things for them which they died before they could do/finish, giving them peace.

As a result of her abilities, Melinda often receives visions of things concerning the ghost(s) she is trying to help. For example, in the first season finale, Melinda kept receiving messages from ghosts on a plane that hasn't crashed yet. In another episode, her powers transported her from Grandview to a rain forest. In the second season finale, she sees people staring at her, looks out her window and sees that her house is under a large body of water and that a boat is sinking, is transported to a tunnel, and sees a large bridge in the sky with cars falling everywhere around her.

An inscription said : "you are the one". At the end of the second season, she is "designed" by four children from all over the world, one child drew a lantern, one sculpted a heart like pendant, another drew her out of chalk with the pendant and the lantern (the fourth child drew a field). They did this to help her, they said it had to exit of them, all of them died in separate occasions but were revived (near death experiences).

At the end of Season 4, the Book Of Changes and the Watchers both revealed Melinda's son can do much more. In Season 5, Melinda has to deal with both parenting and crossing ghosts into the light. It is also revealed in the season premiere that Melinda is connected to her son Aiden Lucas who the Watchers revealed that he is an Empath. With this, Melinda is able to receive visions from Aiden.