Chris Fleming
Encyclopedia
Christopher Fleming is an American medium
Mediumship
Mediumship is described as a form of communication with spirits. It is a practice in religious beliefs such as Spiritualism, Spiritism, Espiritismo, Candomblé, Voodoo and Umbanda.- Concept :...

, paranormal researcher, television personality, and public speaker. He has written numerous articles and produced various print and online publications on the topics of paranormal
Paranormal
Paranormal is a general term that designates experiences that lie outside "the range of normal experience or scientific explanation" or that indicates phenomena understood to be outside of science's current ability to explain or measure...

 activity and psychic
Psychic
A psychic is a person who professes an ability to perceive information hidden from the normal senses through extrasensory perception , or is said by others to have such abilities. It is also used to describe theatrical performers who use techniques such as prestidigitation, cold reading, and hot...

 phenomena.

Fleming has appeared on several paranormal-themed television programs and is best known as the IPA award-winning co-host of the popular series Dead Famous (2004–06) which is still in syndication internationally. Fleming was also the co-host and featured psychic on A&E's Psychic Kids: Children of the Paranormal
Psychic Kids
Psychic Kids: Children of the Paranormal is a paranormal television series broadcast on the A&E television network. Hosted by Chip Coffey, an American psychic investigator, with Edy Nathan, Chris Fleming, and Kim Russo, the show brings together children who report having psychic abilities with...

TV show. Fleming frequently speaks at events, colleges and universities throughout the United States about paranormal topics.

Early life and career

Son of Chicago Blackhawks
Chicago Blackhawks
The Chicago Blackhawks are a professional ice hockey team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League . They have won four Stanley Cup championships since their founding in 1926, most recently coming in 2009-10...

 hockey player Reggie Fleming and Patricia Fleming, Chris Fleming was born in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

, and is the oldest of two children. Raised Roman Catholic, he claims to have been experiencing spiritual and paranormal events since the age of four. He graduated in 1985 from William Fremd High School
William Fremd High School
William Fremd High School, or Fremd, is a public four-year high school located in Palatine, Illinois, a northwest suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. It is part of Township High School District 211, which also includes James B...

 and 1989 from Beloit College
Beloit College
Beloit College is a liberal arts college in Beloit, Wisconsin, USA. It is a member of the Associated Colleges of the Midwest, and has an enrollment of roughly 1,300 undergraduate students. Beloit is the oldest continuously operated college in Wisconsin, and has the oldest building of any college...

 in Wisconsin with a major in fine arts and minors in music and psychology with a specific concentration on Abnormal Psychology
Abnormal psychology
Abnormal psychology is the branch of psychology that studies unusual patterns of behavior, emotion and thought, which may or may not be understood as precipitating a mental disorder...

 and Cognitive Psychology
Cognitive psychology
Cognitive psychology is a subdiscipline of psychology exploring internal mental processes.It is the study of how people perceive, remember, think, speak, and solve problems.Cognitive psychology differs from previous psychological approaches in two key ways....

 as well as Lateral Thinking
Lateral thinking
Lateral thinking is solving problems through an indirect and creative approach, using reasoning that is not immediately obvious and involving ideas that may not be obtainable by using only traditional step-by-step logic...

 and Creative
Creative
Creative is an adjective for things demonstrating creativity.Creative can also refer to:*Creative materials, imagery, or collateral, in advertising**Creative agency*Creative class, a socioeconomic class...

 Thinking. He played football in high school and college as receiver and running back. While studying fine art in his second year at Beloit, he was the first student to have his own art show Sophomore year. He went on to have two separate art shows his senior year due to his two different art styles; action painting
Action painting
Action painting sometimes called "gestural abstraction", is a style of painting in which paint is spontaneously dribbled, splashed or smeared onto the canvas, rather than being carefully applied...

 reminiscent of Jackson Pollock
Jackson Pollock
Paul Jackson Pollock , known as Jackson Pollock, was an influential American painter and a major figure in the abstract expressionist movement. During his lifetime, Pollock enjoyed considerable fame and notoriety. He was regarded as a mostly reclusive artist. He had a volatile personality, and...

 and Pop Art
Pop art
Pop art is an art movement that emerged in the mid 1950s in Britain and in the late 1950s in the United States. Pop art challenged tradition by asserting that an artist's use of the mass-produced visual commodities of popular culture is contiguous with the perspective of fine art...

 influenced by Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...

 and Kenny Scharf
Kenny Scharf
Kenny Scharf is an American painter who lives in Brooklyn, New York. The artist received his B.F.A in 1980 at the School of Visual Arts located in New York City. Scharf's works consist of popular culture based shows with made up science-related backgrounds...

. Two of his paintings (Titled Major Panic and 4th of July) were leased from the college for three years after his graduation, and one was used as a design for the class of '89's graduation pamphlet. He is a member of the Alpha Zeta
Alpha Zeta
Alpha Zeta is a professional fraternity for students and industry professionals in the agriculture and natural resources fields. Founded in 1897 at The Ohio State University, Alpha Zeta is the first and oldest collegiate society for agriculture...

 Chapter of Sigma Chi
Sigma Chi
Sigma Chi is the largest and one of the oldest college Greek-letter secret and social fraternities in North America with 244 active chapters and more than . Sigma Chi was founded on June 28, 1855 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio when members split from Delta Kappa Epsilon...

 fraternity and was voted historian from 1987-89.

After college, Chris worked as a graphic designer from 1990-1994 at Pioneer Press
Pioneer Press
The Pioneer Press publishes 50 local newspapers in the metropolitan Chicago area. It is a division of the Sun-Times Media Group. Pioneer Press' headquarters is in Glenview...

 in Barrington, IL and then as an art director at Advo, Inc 1995-1997, creating marketing campaigns for companies such as Venture, Pizza Hut, Burger King, and various local and chain stores throughout the chicago land area. He left the industry working as a freelance designer for his fathers company Reg Fleming Industries, Inc., completing commissioned works, and painting murals at such establishments as Harry D's Restaurant in Deerfield, IL. While designing a corporate identity campaign for Sterling Mortgage, Inc in Chicago, IL he was coached by the president on how to be a loan officer. He quickly dived into the mortgage industry while maintaining his graphic design business Artform Graphics, Inc. Late one night, during conversations with other loan officers over pizza, a co-worker told a story about a ghost he had seen the night before. Peers and co-workers from different backgrounds and cultures also shared their personal stories. Listening to their compelling stories gave Chris an idea. After a trip to the local newsstand to pick up the latest copies of Fate (magazine) and UFO Magazine
UFO Magazine
UFO Magazine is an American magazine that is devoted to the subject of unidentified flying objects and the extraterrestrial hypothesis . It was founded in 1986 by Vicki Ecker and Sherie Stark, and is now published by Bill Birnes and edited by his wife Nancy Hayfield Birnes...

, he decided to use his graphic design abilities to publish his own periodical, Unknown Magazine. For the next four years he created and marketed the publication. Additionally, he spoke on radio and television all over the world about his own personal experiences and the other, amazing stories he featured in the magazine. His belief was that people all over the world were having extraordinary experiences that could not be fully explained. Chris continued working in the Mortgage industry of the United States
Mortgage industry of the United States
The Mortgage industry of the United States is a major financial sector. The federal government created several programs, or government sponsored entities, to foster mortgage lending, construction and encourage home ownership...

 from 1997-2010 as a loan officer
Loan officer
A loan officer is a person who serves as an intermediary between lending institutions and borrowers. They solicit loans, represent creditors to borrowers, and represent borrowers to creditors....

 for such companies as Pillar Financial, LLC in Palatine, IL and 1st American Mortgage in Schaumburg, IL, until resigning to concentrate more on his passion for paranormal research, traveling, speaking and book-writing.

Chris continued sports in local communities playing mens softball and full contact Flag football
Flag football
Flag football is a version of Canadian football or American football that is popular worldwide. The basic rules of the game are similar to those of the mainstream game , but instead of tackling players to the ground, the defensive team must remove a flag or flag belt from the ball carrier to end...

. In the late 90's he coached and played on a full contact Flag football
Flag football
Flag football is a version of Canadian football or American football that is popular worldwide. The basic rules of the game are similar to those of the mainstream game , but instead of tackling players to the ground, the defensive team must remove a flag or flag belt from the ball carrier to end...

 team he put together called The Raptors in Lake Zurich, IL. Over three years they went 34-5, losing the championship their first year. Their second year they went undefeated and in their third year, lost four games. An unfortunate, season-ending knee injury in his third year made him leave sports entirely.

In the early 90's he began investigating with local ghost gunting groups around Chicago land and at local haunts visiting such sites as Red Lion Pub in Chicago, IL and Bachelor's Grove Cemetery in Midlothian, IL.

Career as a Medium

In Fleming's publications, and in his television and public appearances, he claims that he has been having psychic and paranormal experiences since the age of four. He claims that their movement via thoughts and their telepathic
Telepathy
Telepathy , is the induction of mental states from one mind to another. The term was coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Fredric W. H. Myers, a founder of the Society for Psychical Research, and has remained more popular than the more-correct expression thought-transference...

 abilities eventually became more of an interest of study rather than a fear. Over a period of time he claims he was in contact with a spirit named Henry that would warn him about other ghosts and entities as well as tell him things about the universe and people he knew. One conversation with Henry, in particular, stands out in Fleming's writings and lectures. Fleming claims that when he asked Henry if there was any life on planets in the Solar System
Solar System
The Solar System consists of the Sun and the astronomical objects gravitationally bound in orbit around it, all of which formed from the collapse of a giant molecular cloud approximately 4.6 billion years ago. The vast majority of the system's mass is in the Sun...

, the response was on "Europa" and when asked what type of life, the response was, "Plant and bacteria." Fleming claims to have conversed with Henry on the Ouija
Ouija
The Ouija board also known as a spirit/fire key board or talking board, is a flat board marked with the letters of the alphabet, the numbers 0-9, the words "yes", "no", "hello" and "goodbye", and other symbols and words are sometimes also added to help personalize the board...

 board from 1975–79 before Henry stopped interacting with Fleming. It wasn't until the late 1990s that Fleming overheard on CNN that scientists now believe there is life on Europa
Europa (moon)
Europa Slightly smaller than Earth's Moon, Europa is primarily made of silicate rock and probably has an iron core. It has a tenuous atmosphere composed primarily of oxygen. Its surface is composed of ice and is one of the smoothest in the Solar System. This surface is striated by cracks and...

, one of planet Jupiter
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet within the Solar System. It is a gas giant with mass one-thousandth that of the Sun but is two and a half times the mass of all the other planets in our Solar System combined. Jupiter is classified as a gas giant along with Saturn,...

's moons.. Chris currently travels around to speak at events, colleges, and universities about various paranormal topics.

Television and radio appearances

In 1985, Chris won a contest on WVVX 103.1 (Now known as WVIV-FM
WVIV-FM
WVIV-FM and WVIX are a Spanish radio simulcast in Chicago, Illinois. They are part of the family of Univisión Radio, a division of Univisión Communications. Studios are located at 625 North Michigan, right in the heart of downtown Chicago.-103.1 and 93.5 FM History:The 103.1 FM frequency was...

 ) for the Angus Young
Angus Young
Angus McKinnon Young is a Scottish-born Australian musician, and the lead guitarist, songwriter, and co-founder of the rock and roll band AC/DC. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame along with other members of AC/DC in 2003 and is known for his energetic performances,...

 look-alike contest. He appeared on stage with AC/DC
AC/DC
AC/DC are an Australian rock band, formed in 1973 by brothers Malcolm and Angus Young. Commonly classified as hard rock, they are considered pioneers of heavy metal, though they themselves have always classified their music as simply "rock and roll"...

 during their Who Made Who
Who Made Who
Who Made Who is a hard rock album by Australian band AC/DC, released in 1986 as the soundtrack to the Stephen King movie Maximum Overdrive...

 Tour at Poplar Creek Music Theater
Poplar Creek Music Theater
Poplar Creek Music Theater was a concert venue located in Hoffman Estates, Illinois from 1980 to 1994. The amphitheatre hosted a variety of popular musical acts during its 15-season existence...

 for the opening number "Who Made Who
Who Made Who
Who Made Who is a hard rock album by Australian band AC/DC, released in 1986 as the soundtrack to the Stephen King movie Maximum Overdrive...

" and was selected the winner out of 8 finalists. He appeared on the WVVX radio show with Scott Loftus afterwards and won a replica of Angus Young
Angus Young
Angus McKinnon Young is a Scottish-born Australian musician, and the lead guitarist, songwriter, and co-founder of the rock and roll band AC/DC. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame along with other members of AC/DC in 2003 and is known for his energetic performances,...

's Gibson SG
Gibson SG
At the launch of the SG in 1961, Gibson offered four variants of the SG; the SG Junior , the SG Special, the SG Standard, and the top-of-the-line SG Custom. However, Gibson's current core variants as of 2010 are the SG Standard and the SG Special...

 guitar and their entire AC/DC
AC/DC
AC/DC are an Australian rock band, formed in 1973 by brothers Malcolm and Angus Young. Commonly classified as hard rock, they are considered pioneers of heavy metal, though they themselves have always classified their music as simply "rock and roll"...

 catalog.

For three years(2004-2006), Fleming was the co-host of the popular TV show Dead Famous, where he joined co-host Gail Porter
Gail Porter
Gail Porter is a Scottish television presenter.- Life and career :Porter attended Portobello High School. She studied a BTEC HND in Media Production at West Herts College...

 in search of celebrity ghosts across the United States. Their search took them not only to grave sites, but to some of the most reportedly haunted locations in the U.S. The show is still being broadcast in over fifteen countries, including the Bravo network in Canada, Living TV in the UK, and The Biography Channel in the U.S. The three season span consisted of 26 episodes, two "Return" specials and three live episodes.

In 2007, Fleming made a guest appearance on Syfy
Syfy
Syfy , formerly known as the Sci-Fi Channel and SCI FI, is an American cable television channel featuring science fiction, supernatural, fantasy, reality, paranormal, wrestling, and horror programming. Launched on September 24, 1992, it is part of the entertainment conglomerate NBCUniversal, a...

's Ghost Hunters during the Manson Murders episode that sparked controversy with the introduction of the K-2 meter (EMF meter
EMF Meter
An EMF meter is a scientific instrument for measuring electromagnetic fields . Most meters measure the electromagnetic radiation flux density or the change in an electromagnetic field over time , essentially the same as a radio antenna, but with quite different detection...

) and Fleming's method of communicating with the present intelligent
Intelligent haunting
In the terminology of ghost hunting, an intelligent haunting differs from a residual haunting, being a haunting in which a spiritual entity is aware of the living world and interacts with or responds to it...

 energy. Eventually it was taken more seriously and accepted as a new form of investigation with EMF devices
EMF Meter
An EMF meter is a scientific instrument for measuring electromagnetic fields . Most meters measure the electromagnetic radiation flux density or the change in an electromagnetic field over time , essentially the same as a radio antenna, but with quite different detection...

 and electronic equipment called the "Direct Response Method." It is theorized that an alleged ghost or spirit energy present can affect and manipulate the device(s) to signal "yes" or "no" through ambient fluctuations in the EMF field.

In addition to Psychic Kids
Psychic Kids
Psychic Kids: Children of the Paranormal is a paranormal television series broadcast on the A&E television network. Hosted by Chip Coffey, an American psychic investigator, with Edy Nathan, Chris Fleming, and Kim Russo, the show brings together children who report having psychic abilities with...

, Dead Famous, and Ghost Hunters, Fleming has also made appearances on Born Country, Ghost Adventures
Ghost Adventures
Ghost Adventures is a weekly American paranormal television series that premiered on October 17, 2008 on the Travel Channel. Currently produced by MY-Tupelo Entertainment , the program follows and stars ghost hunters Zak Bagans, Nick Groff, and Aaron Goodwin, as they investigate locations that are...

, Larry King Live
Larry King Live
Larry King Live is an American talk show hosted by Larry King on CNN from 1985 to 2010. It was CNN's most watched and longest-running program, with over one million viewers nightly....

, Reality Obsessed
Reality Obsessed
Reality Obsessed is a Canadian half-hour documentary television series produced by Peace Point Entertainment Group that airs on TVtropolis. In each episode, host Murtz Jaffer attempts to demystify the underpinnings of reality television by trying to recreate events that took place on Big Brother,...

, Scariest Places on Earth
Scariest Places On Earth
Scariest Places on Earth is an American paranormal documentary reality television series that originally aired from October 23, 2000 to October 29, 2006. The program was produced by Triage Entertainment for the Fox Family Channel, which is now ABC Family and owns the rights to the show...

, Showbiz Tonight
Showbiz Tonight
Showbiz Tonight is an American entertainment news program on HLN .Showbiz Tonight is hosted by A.J. Hammer at CNN New York. The show reports and debates celebrity entertainment news stories and controversies, along with social networking segments involving viewer interaction via social networks and...

, The Haunted
The Haunted (TV series)
The Haunted is an American paranormal documentary television series that premiered on November 22, 2009 on Animal Planet. Produced by Picture Shack Entertainment, the program features ghost stories and paranormal investigations involving animals. With similar title and motion graphics, the show is...

, Coast to Coast AM
Coast to Coast AM
Coast to Coast AM is a North American late-night syndicated radio talk show that deals with a variety of topics, but most frequently ones that relate to either the paranormal or conspiracy theories. It was created by Art Bell and is distributed by Premiere Radio Networks. The program currently...

 with George Noory, and Paranormal Challenge
Paranormal Challenge
Paranormal Challenge is an American paranormal competitive reality spinoff television series that premiered on June 17, 2011 on the Travel Channel...

.

In 2009, Fleming received the International Paranormal Acknowledgment (IPA) Awards for Best Spiritual/Psychic Medium Male TV Personality, Best National Spirit Medium Male, and Best International Paranormal TV Program winner: Dead Famous.

Fleming documented his father, Reggie Fleming from 2007-2009 while his father attempted to recover from a stroke and heart attack. He resided at the Claremont Rehab and Living Center in Buffalo Grove, IL before he passed on July 11, 2009. The videos can be seen on You Tube and have been seemingly praised by children and parents across the globe in their comments and responses. It has sparked Chris to begin writing a book about his father and the last years they shared together.

In 2011, Fleming made an appearance with the Paranormal Cops
Paranormal Cops
Paranormal Cops is an American paranormal reality television series that premiered on January 19, 2010 on A&E. The program is produced by NorthSouth Productions for A&E...

 on an Italian TV series called, "Voyagers." They investigated the allegedly haunted building known as Casa Madrid in Chicago, IL and their voices were dubbed in Italian.

Unknown Magazine

After months of being approached and hearing others talk about their own amazing experiences, Fleming chose to document these by creating his own publication called Unknown Magazine: Real Experiences of Unusual Phenomena, which ran from 1997 to 2001. As publisher, art director, writer, and editor, Fleming set out to create a magazine for people across the globe through which to share their first-hand encounters.

In 1997, Fleming launched UnknownMagazine.com. In 2001, he stopped production of Unknown Magazine, but continued his work solely through the website. Fleming currently hosts and produces a monthly, online podcast, Spirit Talk. This podcast focuses on supernatural, paranormal, and spiritual topics with some of the worlds most intriguing experts and pioneers.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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