Theresa Caputo may be able to communicate with the dead, but that doesn't mean she can see into the future.
For example, she isn't really sure what will happen at her upcoming live show at the Johnny Mercer Theater in Savannah on Oct. 14, but she's excited to do it.
"I cannot wait," Caputo says. "I have never been to Savannah. I hear it is the most beautiful place.
"I'm touring as much as I can to connect with fans and give them the opportunity of experiencing what I do live. We really don't know what is going to happen.
"Spirit has their own agenda," she says. "I always tell people to expect the show to last two hours with no intermission, no breaks, just straight through, and it may go over."
Born and raised in Hicksville, N.Y., a town on Long Island, Caputo has been a practicing medium for more than 10 years. She is a certified medium with the Forever-Family Foundation, which is dedicated to connecting science with the afterlife.
It was Caputo's friend, Victoria Woods, who told her she should be on television. Woods' sister, Courtney Mullin, and friend, Jonathan Partridge, are producers who began putting the show together, and now Caputo is followed by cameras as she lives out her life, giving out spontaneous readings.
Her hit reality TV show, "Long Island Medium," can be seen on The Learning Channel. It also features her husband, Larry, and two grown children, Larry and Victoria.
Caputo's first book, "There's More to Life Than This," debuted at No. 2 on the New York Times Bestseller List in 2013. Her second book, "You Can't Make This Stuff Up," was released Sept. 30.
Caputo calls her experience with the dead by the singular "Spirit," even though she sometimes means more than one entity.
"I give a quick little speech in case there are people there who don't know what to expect," Caputo says. "I give them a couple of examples of answers to the most frequently asked questions. Then we get down to spirit communication."
Growing up with her ability, Caputo didn't realize she had a gift.
"From the age of 4, I thought it was normal to see and hear things other people don't," she says. "I was the oldest child, the oldest grandchild. I had so many blessings in my life."
Despite the blessings, Caputo suffered from acute anxiety.
"My anxiety became increasingly worse," she says. "When I was around 28, I had gone to a healer. I had tried everything else, including therapists and doctors who said, 'There's nothing wrong with you.'"
Once Caputo accepted her gift of mediumship, she says the anxiety disappeared.
"I try to explain that it is so much more than me communicating with people who have died," she says. "It's about giving people faith in themselves and their family, about them being reunited.
"Who is to define what's normal? The most valuable gift I've learned from being a medium is that you are responsible for your own happiness.
"We have to learn to honor and love and respect ourselves," Caputo says. "We must embrace ourselves and love ourselves and be the best the person we can be. Once people accept that, their life has changed."
As is often seen in her television show, Caputo can do spontaneous readings, no matter where she is.
"I can be in a store," she says. "It happened last night. I was standing with two gentlemen when all of a sudden, this young male stepped forward.
"I said, 'Your brother tells me he passed in a tragedy. He's showing me an eagle tattoo,' and pointed to my arm in the exact spot. He said he had just lost a friend who was like a brother.
"The next gentleman's mother comes through and starts talking about the crazy things he did," Caputo says. "Spirit often talks about common sense."
Spirit often shows Caputo "a lot of common things in life, a lot of things there's no way I would know."
"For people who decide to come to the live show, it's about believing in themselves," she says. "I believe everyone could connect with their own loved ones. Everyone can hear a song on the radio, or smell a loved one's perfume, or get a whiff of their cigarette smoke."
It's hard for Caputo to explain what happens when she gets a message because she sees, hears and feels things differently than people do in the physical world. She describes what happens as "a sixth sense — a kind of feeling and knowing" or "strong intuition or recall."
Signs and symbols also appear in Caputo's visions. She has developed a vocabulary to go with the images so she can interpret them.
Although Caputo delivers the message, it's up to the client to determine how its meaning is significance. Her hope is that, "Spirit gives them a message that brings them the most peace at that moment."
Getting an appointment for a personal reading requires a long wait. Caputo was booked two years ahead before the show ever aired, so all new clients must be placed on a waiting list.
A practicing Catholic, Caputo says she does have a strong faith.
"Spirit has shown me what I believe to be heaven," she says. "I'm just sharing with people what I learn.
"I say I'll find out for sure when I get there. This is what they're showing me.
"I've had experiences where I'm reading someone and they'll say to me, 'I had a moment in heaven with my mother' or 'I was just in heaven with my son.'"
Caputo believes what people tell her and that their experiences are in response to something that has happened to them.
"Life is overwhelming," she says. "To me it's the same thing — it's Spirit."
Despite her many devoted fans, Caputo has been publicly challenged by several detractors, including professional skeptic James Randi, who dismisses Caputo's gift as "cold reading" and says that her show is edited to air more hits than misses.
She doesn't let that bother her.
"I never claim to be the sharpest tool in the shed," Caputo says. "It is what it is. Never, from day one, even before "Long Island Medium,' people have something to say about mediums.
"With any occasion in life, somebody has something negative to say about anyone and anything," Caputo says. "People have the right to their own opinion.
"What's disheartening is when people get ugly," Caputo says. "God don't like ugly. This is so much more than me speaking to dead people. I'm not here to prove anything to anybody."
The only difference "Long Island Medium" has made in Caputo's life is that people often recognize her.
"Instead of just Spirit following me around, I have Spirit and cameras," she says. "People knew who I was before 'Long Island Medium,' but now it's crazy.
"I can just walk through a mall and they'll say, 'How's Larry?' It is so amazing.
"I am so proud of 'Long Island Medium.' It's not a reality show, it's a factuality show."
Even when the cameras are off, Caputo is still doing readings.
"People think this is set up," she says. "Nothing is set up. Spirit has their own agenda.
"I'm still doing everything I did before. I'm doing group meetings, readings at restaurants, all types of readings.
"I cannot imagine myself doing anything else but this," Caputo says. "But I never thought it would be to this magnitude."
Although Caputo charges for personal readings, it's not about the money, she says.
"I want to give back to the community," she says. "My parents do volunteer work and I always knew I would follow in their footsteps. I just never thought it would be cross-country."
Everyone has some psychic ability, Caputo says.
"I feel that everyone has that connection," she says. "Everyone has intuition, a Jiminy Cricket that speaks inside.
"Many people have had experiences. I talk in my first book about how my husband saw his grandmother sitting on his brother's bed one night. He now knows that his grandmother was watching over his brother, who was sick at the time. That is such a beautiful gift."
IF YOU GO
What: Theresa Caputo Live! The Experience
When: 7:30 p.m. Oct. 14
Where: Johnny Mercer Theater, Savannah Civic Center, 301 W. Oglethorpe Ave.
Cost: $39.75-$89.75
Info: 912-651-6550, 800-351-7469, www.savannahcivic.com/events
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