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Trends

VIP with your RIP: ‘Brunched by an Angel’ lets you grab a bite with a dead relative

By Charlie Sawyer

Oct 25, 2022

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If you’ve ever wanted to sit down and enjoy one last meal with a deceased loved one, you might be in luck. A new experience has officially launched in Las Vegas, US where guests will be offered the opportunity to sip mimosas, sample some french fries, and receive a consultation from one of the event’s three trained mediums—all poised to reach out and contact a dead family member.

According to UNILAD, ‘Brunched by an Angel’ is set to launch on 12 November 2022 and will continue for a period of two days, including two daytime shows—one at brunch and one in the afternoon—supposedly to aid families to gather their thoughts and order a selection of cocktails from the bar to calm their nerves.

Hosted in the Palms Casino Resort, Brunched by an Angel’s website teases that the spirited meal will be spearheaded by “three of the world’s most gifted psychic mediums: Reginald Lewis, Loriann Mans, and Christopher Allan.” All three mediums are allegedly gifted in connecting diners to their loved one—alongside providing music, food, and a fun time…

One of the angels due to make an appearance at the event, Lewis, took to Instagram to share his excitement with his followers, writing: “I look forward to sharing evidential spirit messages on stage and changing many lives along with my amazing psychic medium friends.”

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A post shared by Reginald Lewis The Soul Teacher (@reginaldlewis)

For those guests who are super keen for an intimate reading, VIP tables can be reserved for up to eight people. With this high-ranking ticket, families are ensured to receive top notch treatment and a chance to address unresolved conflict or say their final goodbyes.

The website concludes: “No other psychic medium show gives the audience better odds at getting read, but isn’t that what Vegas is all about, the best odds?”

For a chance at this out of this world—pun intended—experience, tickets start at $75. So, will you jump at the opportunity to dine with the departed? Or will you be sticking to the ouija board?

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AI

Woman comes back from the dead to speak to family at her own funeral, thanks to AI

By Sam Wareing

Aug 22, 2022

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A recently-deceased woman has been able to speak with her family after her cremation, thanks to the power of artificial intelligence.

Marina Smith, 87, passed away in June 2022 and, thanks to startup company StoryFile, was able to have a fully fledged conversation with her family using its ‘holographic conversational video experience’.

The company was actually created by Smith’s son, Stephen, and was originally made to preserve the memories of Holocaust survivors. Utilising 20 different cameras, Smith was asked around 250 questions prior to her death and this information was fed through a piece of software that was able recreate her virtually after her passing.

What’s even more amazing is that this software isn’t just for the ‘rich and privileged’, as one may think. Ranging from a free trial sporting 33 questions and one-minute video answers to a $499 one-time premium package, anyone can gain access to the technology and use it to create these videos however they see fit. The company even has special ‘Story Pack Bundles’ starting at $49 which can be gifted to your mum, dad or someone special.

As you can imagine, being able to converse with the dead must have been quite a shock to the attending family, as Stephen was able to have a conversation with his late mother in real time and even opened the floor to questions from the rest of her family.

Speaking to The Telegraph, Stephen said: “Mum answered questions from grieving relatives after they had watched her cremation.”

“The extraordinary thing was that she answered their questions with new details and honesty,” he continued. “People feel emboldened when recording their data. Mourners might get a freer, truer version of their lost loved one.”

However, Smith isn’t the only who has been brought back from the great beyond with the help of AI. Elf star Ed Asner was also able to answer the questions of mourners at his funeral earlier this year. Asner’s son, Matt, told Axios last month: “Nothing could prepare me for what I was going to witness when I saw it.” Matt went on to mention that others were “a little creeped out by it” because it was “like having him in the room.”

Not only has StoryFile provided a product to let you connect with loved ones who are no longer here, they have also used it to bring history alive in the form of their Black Voices Collections. From American poet Nikki Giovanni, to civil rights activist and one of the original Freedom Riders, Hank Thomas, this collection allows you to ask questions and dive into Black history like never before.

While this new method of communicating with the dead is extremely impressive, if a little creepy, StoryFile isn’t the only company working on such technology. In 2022, tech giant Amazon showed off a new feature on its Alexa device of a dead nan reading her grandchild a bedtime story.

A little unsettling if you ask me, however, this type of technology seems to be picking up and, who knows, maybe in a few years time the dead will only be a phone call away?