New Hampshire Mirror



Written by: Rebecca Levoie
October 2010

Raven Duclos
Psychic medium, ghost hunter
By Rebecca Lavoie

Raven Duclos sees dead people.
As a professional psychic medium and ghost hunter, it’s her job. And it’s not one she does for entertainment or because it makes her rich. She does it because she’s compelled to, both by the human world and the spirit realm.

"I’ve been seeing spirits since I was 5 years old,” said Duclos, who lives in Manchester. “When I was 11, I began telling people what the spirits of the dead were trying to say.”

As you’d imagine, an ability to see and speak with the dead was frightening to Duclos. As a child, she often pretended just to be like everyone else, but was scared stiff by the encounters she had every day with souls that had passed. Despite the fact that her Native American grandmother also had the gift, it was something her family didn’t discuss. It was terrifying and powerful, but it also made her different.

At 46, Duclos has been professionally helping people connect with the spirits of those who’ve died for more than a decade. Usually her consultations are a matter of closure, or unfinished business.

“Understand this,” she said, “spirits of the deceased have the same emotions they had when they were alive. So if my clients feel there’s something left to be said, most likely, so do they.”

Duclos said when she works with a client, many spirits, both animal and human, come to the room to try and make contact. While your particular concern might be with someone who’s recently passed, the spirits of everyone you know who has died may have something to say to you, and they all know Duclos can translate.

“There is a lot of information exchanged among spirits about who can do what I do,” she said. “If someone you know wants to make contact with you, they know their best chance is if you’re sitting with me, because I can see and hear them.”

Duclos said very often the strongest voice in the room is that of the recently passed, someone whom the living client needs to speak with, either to say goodbye, make amends or give a message to. She will never ask a client who they want to communicate with, but will instead see which spirits arrive, and then work with the client to make the right connection.

Duclos said she loves this part of her work, reuniting people with the dead to bring peace to both parties. The work she does has dissolved her childhood fear as she’s seen the difference it makes in the lives of the people who come to her for consultation.

The other part of Raven’s work is with an organization called Ghost Quest, a team of paranormal investigators who research hauntings in New Hampshire. When she visits a site that might have spirits present, Duclos works with a second psychic. They sweep the space separately and compare their findings at the end.

“Our experiences might vary,” she said, “but if there’s a strong presence there, two independent psychics will find it. Similar to the one-on-one work I do, there’s a filtering process that takes place in a physical space. The strongest voices will always be the ones we hear the loudest.”

Duclos is available for individual consultations, but also works at private and corporate events. For more details, visit www.ravenduclos.com. Ghost Quest is New Hampshire’s only paranormal research society. To learn more, visit www.ghost-quest.org.

Rebecca Lavoie is a freelance writer who lives in Hopkinton.