JENELLE JANCI | Staff WriterWhat does it feel like to have a conversation with the dead?
For starters, it’s nothing like the movie “The Sixth Sense,” says Tyler Henry, star of the E! television show “Hollywood Medium with Tyler Henry.” Henry describes the experience as a “walking daydream.”
“I always say my sixth sense uses the other five senses to communicate,” Henry says.
That might materialize as a faint smell, a quiet sound or a vision. The trick, Henry says, is separating the feelings that are messages from his day-to-day experiences.
“Being able to really listen to your body, and listen to your mind, and being able to identify what is yours and what’s not,” Henry says. “I think that’s really the key of being a good medium.”
On his reality show, Henry is known for being the medium-on-call for celebrities, from actors Chrissy Metz and Megan Fox to musicians such as Moby and Iggy Azealia. But through Henry’s latest endeavor — a touring stage show — he’ll give readings to everyday people.
Henry will visit the Strand Theatre at the Appell Center for the Performing Arts in York on Wednesday.
Henry says he first became aware of his abilities at age 10, when he had a feeling his grandmother was going to die. Just a short while later, his family received a call with the news of her death.
Initially, his mother brushed off the premonition, not sure what to make of it. But Henry kept having these strange experiences, mostly as dreams. Some were about people he knew, and others of those he didn’t. For the latter, he’d later find they were connected to individuals he was meeting during the day.
Because he was raised by a conservative family in a similarly conservative part of California, sharing his gifts posed particular challenges. He had to confront his father when he turned 16 and wanted to pursue a career as a medium.
“I told him what a medium was, and he didn’t even know what it was before, at that point,” Henry says. “So, it was a really transformative experience for him.”
Now, Henry says, his parents are his biggest fans. His mother is a fixture of “Hollywood Medium,” often seen chatting with him in the car as she drives him to appointments.
Starring in a television show wasn’t how he planned to use his gifts, though. He graduated high school at 16 with the goal of becoming a hospice nurse, to comfort those near death and their families.
But word began to spread of his abilities as far as Southern California, where he eventually moved. Given the area, his clientele began to include celebrities. His first famous client was Sarah Paulson, known for her work on “American Horror Story” and the new M. Night Shyamalan movie “Glass.”
“It was a total shock, and it was a phone reading, so the entire time my hand was shaking,” Henry says. “When I got off the phone, my palm was all sweaty. It was intense.”
Henry’s first television appearance was in 2015 on an episode of “Keeping Up with the Kardashians.” The following year, “Hollywood Medium” debuted just after Henry’s 20th birthday.
As Henry’s profile grew larger, so did criticisms about the validity of his work.
Skeptics claim he utilizes cold reading and hot reading techniques to give the illusion of receiving personal information. Cold reading employs guessing information based on context clues, and hot reading utilizes previously researched information unbeknownst to the client.
Some critics even say Henry’s work is exploitative of people who are grieving.
Henry’s response to the criticism is that each industry has individuals with less-than-pure intentions that can make a bad name for the whole group.
“I think in sharing my readings, being validation-based has really been my focus. … My goal is to bring up specifics so that the person leaves knowing they heard from their loved one,” Henry says.
After the first season of Henry’s show aired, he received more than 175,000 requests for private readings.
“I knew that unless I planned on cloning myself, there’s no way it’s possible to do all these readings,” Henry says. “But I did know that a good compromise would be to hit the road, go across the country, and try to read people in group audiences.”
Henry says the first half of his show focuses on the life lessons he’s learned as a medium. He goes into the audience to do readings in the second half. Where he is pulled is random, so buying tickets in the front row doesn’t necessarily guarantee a reading. In fact, Henry often finds himself running all over the theater.
“I always say it’s like a workout,” Henry says.
The fourth season of “Hollywood Medium” will debut in February. Henry’s celebrity clients on the upcoming season include Jill Zarin from “The Real Housewives of New York” and actress Rebel Wilson. Henry says there will be more behind-the-scenes footage in this season, including an episode where celebrity medical practitioner Dr. Drew scans Henry’s brain during a reading.
Henry also is working on a second book, the followup to 2017’s “Between Two Worlds.” He’s also hoping to set up a charity or scholarship for children who have lost a loved one.
“I just see a lot of kids who have experienced loss … and there just aren’t a lot of resources for people in that age range who experience this, Henry says. “And people who are able to maintain amazing grades and maintain that academic excellence while still going through personal devastation, to me is just like incredibly inspiring, and I think that should be rewarded.”
