Mediumship
From Lostpedia
Mediumship is the ability to communicate with the dead. Mediumship is prominently exhibited in Miles Straume and Hurley Reyes (though through different methods), though other characters have occasionally been shown to see and communicate with apparitions of the dead.
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Known mediums
Miles Straume
Miles Straume exhibited his ability as a medium for the first time as a boy, when he heard the voice of Mr. Vonner calling from inside a closed apartment. Going inside, Miles discovered that Mr. Vonner was dead, though he could still hear Vonner's voice calling for his wife. ("Some Like It Hoth")
Though Miles was able to focus and use his ability, he remained unaware of its source. He eventually capitalized off of his ability by becoming a spiritualist, and began contacting people's deceased loved ones for large sums of money. One such case was that of a murdered drug dealer whose grandmother contacted Miles when the spirit of her deceased grandson would not leave the house. Miles then entered the boys room, turned on his ghostbuster device, and spoke to the boy's spirit, finding out the location of a hidden stash of money before telling the spirit that it could "go now." ("Confirmed Dead")
Another case involved Russell Gray, the son of Howard Gray, who had been killed in an automobile accident. His father contacted Miles in an effort to make sure that his dead son was aware of his love, though Miles was unable to make contact with Russell's spirit due to the fact that the body had been cremated and the ashes spread. Miles instead lied, telling Gray that he had been able to contact the boy, in order to keep the large fee which he had just collected. ("Some Like It Hoth")
After the completion of the Gray case, Miles was met by Naomi Dorrit, who offered him a job interview at a nearby restaurant. Miles agreed, and was taken to the body of Felix and asked to find out all he could. Miles discerned that the body was that of a messenger who had been taking several documents regarding the faked Oceanic Flight 815 wreckage to Charles Widmore. Satisfied that Miles' ability as a medium was legitimate, Naomi offered him $1.6 million to come to the Island aboard the Kahana, to which Miles readily agreed. Having gained such a large sum of money, he returned to Howard Gray and gave him a refund, admitting that he lied. ("Some Like It Hoth")
Several days after his arrival on the Island, Miles was traveling with Sawyer and Claire when he began hearing the voices of Danielle and Karl, who had been killed by the mercenary team only a few hours before. After brushing aside a few leaves, Miles uncovered the corpses of Danielle and Karl shallowly buried in the mud. ("Something Nice Back Home")
Miles' ability was not known to have been used again until three years later, after time flashes had placed him in 1977, where he began working for the DHARMA Initiative in security. On Horace's orders, Miles delivered a body bag to Radzinsky, who in turn placed Alvarez's corpse inside the body bag, telling Miles that Alvarez had fallen into a ditch. Miles, skeptical of Radzinsky's claims due to the nature of Alvarez's wounds, waited until Radzinsky had gone to invoke the spirit of Alvarez, whom he discovered had died due to his fillings being ripped through his head due to the electromagnetic properties of the area he had been working out (which was at that time being developed into the Swan).
Hurley later accompanied Miles in the DHARMA bus on its way to deliver the body to Pierre Chang at the Orchid. Hurley, after finding the body, questioned Miles about it. When Miles revealed that he knew what happened to the body, Hurley easily accepted the fact that Miles was a medium, telling Miles that he was could talk to dead people as well, and sometimes played chess with them. Though Miles argued that his powers did not work in the manner Hurley described, Hurley wrote this off as Miles being jealous because Hurley's powers "were better" than Miles'. ("Some Like It Hoth")
Hugo Reyes
Hurley, a man who had once been sent to a mental institute for seeing an imaginary friend, first began seeing dead people after his escape from the Island. It is unknown whether these apparitions are real or imagined by Hurley. He first saw the corporeal manifestation of his dead friend Charlie in a convenience store. Hurley became so scared of this apparition that he fled in his Camaro, engaging in a high speed chase that ended with his arrest. While in an interrogation room, Charlie once again appeared, sending Hurley into a state of panic. He was then admitted once again to the mental health institute, where he was once again visited by a corporeal manifestation of Charlie (also seen by Lewis), who tried to convince Hurley to return to the Island. However, Hurley would not listen, and instead counted to five, causing Charlie to disappear. ("The Beginning of the End")
Charlie continued to visit Hurley, however, even forewarning Hurley of Jack's visit. Charlie's appearances caused Hurley to begin questioning his own sanity as a result, and he began to believe that the survivors were all dead, and that they were living in an afterlife. ("Something Nice Back Home")
After a failed escape to a safe house, Sayid was knocked unconscious by several darts. Hurley began driving, and at one point swerved erratically. Sirens flared behind him, and he was pulled over by a police car, which was revealed to have been driven by Ana Lucia Cortez, who warned him to be more careful and less conspicuous. ("The Lie")
Hurley later revealed his ability to Miles Straume, who possessed a similar ability. ("Some Like It Hoth")
Other Occurrences
- Christian Shephard's body was aboard Oceanic Flight 815 when it crashed, and his body went missing after the crash, though his empty coffin was found. Christian then began appearing to the survivors of the crash, though first to his son, Jack Shephard. ("White Rabbit") He later appeared to his daughter, Claire Littleton, and took her with him to Jacob's cabin, where she has remained. ("Something Nice Back Home") He has appeared to John Locke on multiple occasions ("Cabin Fever") ("This Place Is Death"), and also appeared to Michael shortly before Michael was killed in the Kahana's explosion. ("There's No Place Like Home, Parts 2 & 3") He later appeared to Sun and Frank in 2007. ("Namaste")
- Several other dead people on the Island, including Yemi and Ana Lucia, appeared to Eko in visions and dreams, and once in reality. ("The Cost of Living")
- At one point, Locke sees the spirit of Horace Goodspeed, who had died in the Purge in 1992, in a cyclical motion, chopping wood. Horace speaks to Locke about the cabin, and gives Locke clues on where to go next. ("Cabin Fever")
- Locke was guided by Boone in a vision quest. ("Further Instructions")
- A young Ben saw his mother on the Island at least twice, despite her being dead since he was a baby. They also interacted. ("The Man Behind the Curtain")
- Michael has brief vision of Libby both off the Island and on the freighter, although these may have been brought on due to his guilt over her murder. ("Meet Kevin Johnson")
Trivia
- In a deleted scene from "The Economist", Miles uses his ability to determine that the sonic fence was off. However, since this scene was deleted, the canonicity of this is disputed.
- In The Turn of the Screw, a literary work that has been referenced on Lost, a young boy named Miles is able to see spirits of the dead.
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