So-Called Indigo Teen Says She Can Read People

July 24, 2006 — -- Sandie Bershad says she's always felt different than other kids and generally prefers the company of adults.

At age 12, Sandie, now 17, says she went into a deep, two-year depression because she felt that no one understood her.

She was treated for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder with medication, but as she grew up, she said, she realized that she had special gifts and abilities, including the ability to see angels and hear voices.

"I see dead people. I see my grandmother. She visits me all the time," Sandie said. "I have always been visited by spirits. For the past two years, I have been on a spiritual path, and I have come to help a lot of people with my psychic abilities."

Sandie is one of the so-called "indigo children" -- named for the blue aura some say they see surrounding them.

Indigo children are described as highly accomplished, deeply spiritual, and gifted with psychic abilities.

As with most paranormal experiences, this is more about faith than science. For parents Tammy and Aaren Glover, their children are the proof.

"All three of the older children remember vividly previous lifetimes that they have had," Tammy Glover said. "And Maielaya, for example, lives in lucid, vivid memory of being my mother."

They often talk about speaking with God, angels, or people who have died. Believers say indigo children are often rebellious to authority, nonconformist, extremely emotional, and sometimes physically sensitive or fragile.

"Indigo children have access to human experience at a larger level, at a greater depth than most people do," said Neale Donald Walsch, author of "Conversations With God."

Most have piercing blue eyes -- though Sandie does not. Skeptics, however, believe these children may be autistic, have attention deficit disorder, or suffer from some other behavior disorder.

"No rigorous scientific tests have proven the existence of these so-called paranormal gifts," said psychology professor David Stein.

However, Marjie Bershad, Sandie's mother, says she knew her daughter was different "in utero."

"She was a force to be reckoned with," said Sandie's father, Tom Bershad. "She never acted like a child. She was sophisticated and in charge. It's the same with other indigo kids."

Sandie said her most memorable experience was when her friend's recently deceased father appeared to her.

"I called my friend and she was crying -- had no idea this could have happened to her and her father. I described what he looked like and she's like, 'Oh, my God. That's my dad,' Sandie said. "He contacted me so I could give messages to her family and her friends."

Sandie said that the father had revealed some private things to her that no one could know about his marriage.

"I had to keep that back for a while because I didn't want to say anything when he first died," she said.

Sandie says she can do an accurate reading of a person and tell what is troubling them and often advise them on how to fix it.