Jill Stefko

Jill Stefko PhD has studied the paranormal since 1957, when, as a child, she bought her first parapsychology book, The Unknown Guest. In fall, 1965, she conducted her first investigation. Jill gives workshops and lectures, writes for selected Internet web sites and been a guest on radio call-in talk shows and local TV as one with expertise in the paranormal. Each semester, Bill White's Journalism class at Lehigh University, as a part of their grades, interviews Jill about the paranormal and psychicism. She has given lectures to a psychology class at Lehigh Carbon Community College. Mental health professionals consult with Jill for advice about poltergeists, ESP and other parapsychological phenomena.

She has expertise in other paranormal areas including cryptozoology, anomalies, UFOs and aliens. While some consider demonic possession and exorcism a religious topic, she feels it also belongs in the realm of the paranormal and has done research and written about the subject. In the course of her research, Jill spoke to Father Alphonsus Trabold, the exorcist who was asked to investigate the Smurl case which she wrote about in A "Haunting" in Pennsylvania

FIRE-Psi, the Foundation for the Research, Investigation and Education of Psychic Phenomena, a parapsychological organization, was founded by Jill in 1996. The mission is to adhere to scientific criteria when investigating and researching, educate and counsel people, debunk frauds and alleviate fear of the unknown. She investigates cases of alleged psi, tests people for ESP, telepathy and psychokinesis, PK, the ability of the mind to affect matter. Jill created, hosted and served as an expert in parapsychology for walking ghost tours of a city’s historic district with the local tourism authority until the decision was made to dismember the organization.

Education: PhD Counseling - Thesis theme: the interrelationship between the psychological and the psychic and how to treat the experients. Master’s Metaphysics. Thesis theme: the influence of Western European Shamanism on orthodox religion. BS Psychology major, sociology minor. Reiki Master. LLB. Certified Mediator.

Jill is also a Shamanistic practitioner, Reiki Master, retired mental health counselor and former Suite 101 Feature Writer for Paganism/Wicca. She has done extensive research in Western European and North American Native Shamanism. She has also researched Slavic Shamanism, Vooduon, Santeria and Stregheria, the Italian magickal system.

During her career as a counselor, Jill gained in depth knowledge of personality disorders. Many of her clients were the targets of people with these psychiatric disorders as defined by the DSM IV TR, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, Fourth Edition, Revised Text, published by the American Psychiatric Association. This is the reference mental health professionals use to make diagnoses for billing purposes. What used to be called Multiple Personality Disorder, now, Dissociative Identity Disorder, is very rare and another area of expertise by research and experience.

She‘s a member of the Eastern Pennsylvania Paranormal Society, LLC, a nonprofit organization. http://eppsinvestigations.com/ and http://www.easternpennsylvaniaparanormalsociety.blogspot.com/. EPPS, in adherence with parapsychological standards, provides gratis investigations and information for people upon request. Jill’s also a member of IONS, the Institute of Noetic Sciences. http://www.noetic.org/ , an associate member of CSICOP, http://www.csicop.org/ and a member of International Paranormal Investigators, http://www.international-paranormal-investigators.tk/.

Jill has been in correspondence with prestigious parapsychological nonprofits, including http://www.aspr.com/ and the http://www.parapsychology.org/ . She has met legitimate ghost hunters, among them, Rick Fisher, http://www.paranormalpa.com/, the man who pioneered using electronic equipment in investigations.

She is a member of the Board of Directors for Pennsylvania based nonprofit corporation, North Penn Legal Services, advocates for legal rights. http://www.northpennlegal.org/ She is on the audit and finance and recruiting committees. NPLS provides free legal services to low income people who cannot afford a lawyer for civil issues that don’t involves monetary damages or settlements.

Jill began her writing career as a reporter for Moravian College’s newspaper, The Comenian. Jill wrote and published a book about ghosts from the perspective of a parapsychologist, which included a glossary, cases of documented ghosts and a “for fun” quiz. She also created and published two illustrated books, an AmerIndian Shield and Pennsylvania Hex sign ones with pictures to color for use as wall hangings. The colored pictures decorate her home. Jill created a children’s Hallowe’en coloring book. She, during her career was in the placement industry, illustrated and helped write Job Search Blue Print for the '90s: The Doorway to New Opportunities, a book used in outplacement. She was the editor and a contributing writer for Dolphin Doin's, the Norfolk Submarine Officers Wives Club's monthly magazine and has had articles published in others.

She enjoys writing for Suite 101 because of the camaraderie, sense of community and the fact that the research done to write articles fulfills her quest for knowledge. Jill believes that people can never satisfy their need for learning.

Among her other passions are animals - their psychology, behavior and communication, mysteries of history, psychology, advocacy, law and cooking, especially creating new recipes.

Jill, happily, shares her home with three feline family members, two of which are cats she adopted from an animal shelter who still have disfigurements from being abused and one poltergeist the cats interact with.

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