DEAD Talks

If your parents own a house, have this conversation while they're still here. Most families wait until it's too late, and it can cost them the home, a fortune and each other. 

Parents, this one's for you too. If the house is yours, the best thing you can leave your kids isn't just the home. It's a plan, and a conversation they don't have to start. 

David Ferrugio sits down with Kelly McGinnis, a former President at a Fortune 100 company who now helps families navigate mortgages and inherited homes after a death. We get into a reverse mortgage nightmare that ended with a 100-year family home auctioned, why siblings fight over Mom and Dad's house, whether you can assume your parents' mortgage, probate, and what to do if you're already in it. 

Kids: send this to your parents. Parents: send this to your kids. Whoever goes first wins. 

About Kelly: 25+ years leading finance and strategy, including as President at a Fortune 100 company. Today she's building Homera, an independent mortgage review that helps homeowners catch costly problems before they sign and for the life of the loan. 

Homera: https://www.joinhomera.com

Kelly: https://kellymcginnis.com 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leadwithkelly 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kellyamcginnis/ 

If DEAD Talks has ever helped you, please leave a 5-star rating and a one-line review. It takes ten seconds and helps the next person who's grieving find us.

📖 You're Not Dead Yet: How Grief and Loss Can Teach You to Live:

Learn more and order David’s book at ⁠DeadTalks.net/Book⁠ or on Amazon: https://a.co/d/0hMdRlrb

Sign Up For E-Mail Updates Here: https://www.deadtalks.net/signup

Support the Show

Join the DEAD Talks Patreon for just $2 to support the mission—and get episodes early & ad-free: https://www.patreon.com/cw/deadtalks

Hats, Shirts, Hoodies + More: https://cottonbureau.com/people/dead-talks

Exclusive Discounts

10% off Neurogum – powered by natural caffeine, L-theanine, and vitamins B6 & B12 to boost focus and energy: https://neurogum.com/deadtalks

About DEAD Talks

DEAD Talks with David Ferrugio approaches death differently. Each guest shares raw stories of grief, loss, or unique perspectives that challenge the “don’t talk about death” taboo. Grief doesn’t end—it evolves. After losing his father on September 11th at just 12 years old, David discovered the power of conversation. Through laughter, tears, and honest dialogue, DEAD Talks helps make it a little easier to talk about death, mourning, trauma, and the life that continues beyond it.

Connect with DEAD Talks (@deadtalkspodcast)
YouTube | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok | www.deadtalks.net

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Gabe Poirot cracked his skull in an electric skateboard crash at 20 and spent 18 days in a coma. He says he spent that time in heaven, face to face with Jesus.

Now a viral evangelist and author of 18 Days in Heaven, Gabe joins David to talk about leaving his body, why 18 days felt like 10 seconds, waking up to a family that had already started grieving him, and the strangers he says he’s been able to read ever since. David asks the hard questions too: why near-death experiences contradict each other, how Gabe’s gifts differ from psychics and mediums, and what his story offers anyone grieving someone they love.

🔗 Gabe Poirot: https://www.gabepoirot.com/

📖 You're Not Dead Yet: How Grief and Loss Can Teach You to Live:

Learn more and order David’s book at ⁠DeadTalks.net/Book⁠ or on Amazon: https://a.co/d/0hMdRlrb

Sign Up For E-Mail Updates Here: https://www.deadtalks.net/signup

Support the Show

Join the DEAD Talks Patreon for just $2 to support the mission—and get episodes early & ad-free: https://www.patreon.com/cw/deadtalks

Hats, Shirts, Hoodies + More: https://cottonbureau.com/people/dead-talks

Exclusive Discounts

10% off Neurogum – powered by natural caffeine, L-theanine, and vitamins B6 & B12 to boost focus and energy: https://neurogum.com/deadtalks

About DEAD Talks

DEAD Talks with David Ferrugio approaches death differently. Each guest shares raw stories of grief, loss, or unique perspectives that challenge the “don’t talk about death” taboo. Grief doesn’t end—it evolves. After losing his father on September 11th at just 12 years old, David discovered the power of conversation. Through laughter, tears, and honest dialogue, DEAD Talks helps make it a little easier to talk about death, mourning, trauma, and the life that continues beyond it.

Connect with DEAD Talks (@deadtalkspodcast)
YouTube | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok | www.deadtalks.net

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Your loved ones are still trying to reach you, and most of us talk ourselves out of the signs. Psychic medium and animal communicator Susan Allen explains the most common signs from the other side (cardinals, feathers, butterflies, songs, license plates and dreams), how to know if a sign is real, and how to ask for one and actually let go.

Ten minutes after I asked my dad, who died on 9/11, for a sign, a stranger on a New York street started screaming "I love you, David." Susan thinks it was him.

We also get into:

• Whether our loved ones are watching us (and when they're not)

• What the afterlife looks like day to day

• The life review and what happens to evil people when they die

• Did we choose this life? Past lives, karma and Ho'oponopono

• Animal communication and what pets say from the other side

• Whether pets forgive us for euthanasia

• Coping with grief, and what people get wrong about mediums

For more on Susan Allen: https://susanallenmedium.com/

📚 My book, You're Not Dead Yet: How Grief and Loss Can Teach You to Live:

📖 You're Not Dead Yet: How Grief and Loss Can Teach You to Live:

Learn more and order David’s book at ⁠DeadTalks.net/Book⁠

Sign Up For E-Mail Updates Here: https://www.deadtalks.net/signup

Support the Show

Join the DEAD Talks Patreon for just $2 to support the mission—and get episodes early & ad-free: https://www.patreon.com/cw/deadtalks

Hats, Shirts, Hoodies + More: https://cottonbureau.com/people/dead-talks

Exclusive Discounts

10% off Neurogum – powered by natural caffeine, L-theanine, and vitamins B6 & B12 to boost focus and energy: https://neurogum.com/deadtalks

About DEAD Talks

DEAD Talks with David Ferrugio approaches death differently. Each guest shares raw stories of grief, loss, or unique perspectives that challenge the “don’t talk about death” taboo. Grief doesn’t end—it evolves. After losing his father on September 11th at just 12 years old, David discovered the power of conversation. Through laughter, tears, and honest dialogue, DEAD Talks helps make it a little easier to talk about death, mourning, trauma, and the life that continues beyond it.

Connect with DEAD Talks

📺 Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@deadtalkspodcast

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rachel’s ten-year-old daughter Kenadie got a headache on Christmas Eve. A month later, she was gone. Rachel thought that was the end, until two things happened she still can’t explain: a hummingbird in her garage, and a playing card that shouldn’t exist. Today she shares both, and how she and her husband Shane turned their loss into For11, a community helping people stay connected to the ones they’ve lost.

Join the For 11 Community: https://community.for11together.com/community-join

Social Media:

Instagram, TikTok & YouTube: @for11_together

Facebook: For 11

📖 You're Not Dead Yet: How Grief and Loss Can Teach You to Live:

Learn more and order David’s book at ⁠DeadTalks.net/Book⁠

Sign Up For E-Mail Updates Here: https://www.deadtalks.net/signup

Support the Show

Join the DEAD Talks Patreon for just $2 to support the mission—and get episodes early & ad-free: https://www.patreon.com/cw/deadtalks

Hats, Shirts, Hoodies + More: https://cottonbureau.com/people/dead-talks

Exclusive Discounts

10% off Neurogum – powered by natural caffeine, L-theanine, and vitamins B6 & B12 to boost focus and energy: https://neurogum.com/deadtalks

About DEAD Talks

DEAD Talks with David Ferrugio approaches death differently. Each guest shares raw stories of grief, loss, or unique perspectives that challenge the “don’t talk about death” taboo. Grief doesn’t end—it evolves. After losing his father on September 11th at just 12 years old, David discovered the power of conversation. Through laughter, tears, and honest dialogue, DEAD Talks helps make it a little easier to talk about death, mourning, trauma, and the life that continues beyond it.

Connect with DEAD Talks (@deadtalkspodcast)
YouTube | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok | www.deadtalks.net

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gary Sturgis doesn’t believe in acceptance or closure. “How do you accept the fact that you lost someone you love?”

In 2013, Gary’s husband Rob was diagnosed with stage four metastatic melanoma. Gary had spent his career in a bank and suddenly became a full-time caregiver. After Rob died, he couldn’t find the support he needed, so he started a Facebook page to share his story. It grew into one of the largest grief communities online. Gary went on to write Surviving: Finding Your Way from Grief to Healing and now leads grief workshops and support groups.

In this conversation, we talk about:

Find Gary:

Book: SURVIVING GRIEF - 365 Days A Year: https://sgrief.com/sg365/

📖 You're Not Dead Yet: How Grief and Loss Can Teach You to Live:

Learn more and order David’s book at ⁠DeadTalks.net/Book⁠

Sign Up For E-Mail Updates Here: https://www.deadtalks.net/signup

Support the Show

Join the DEAD Talks Patreon for just $2 to support the mission—and get episodes early & ad-free: https://www.patreon.com/cw/deadtalks

Hats, Shirts, Hoodies + More: https://cottonbureau.com/people/dead-talks

Exclusive Discounts

10% off Neurogum – powered by natural caffeine, L-theanine, and vitamins B6 & B12 to boost focus and energy: https://neurogum.com/deadtalks

About DEAD Talks

DEAD Talks with David Ferrugio approaches death differently. Each guest shares raw stories of grief, loss, or unique perspectives that challenge the “don’t talk about death” taboo. Grief doesn’t end—it evolves. After losing his father on September 11th at just 12 years old, David discovered the power of conversation. Through laughter, tears, and honest dialogue, DEAD Talks helps make it a little easier to talk about death, mourning, trauma, and the life that continues beyond it.

Connect with DEAD Talks (@deadtalkspodcast)
YouTube | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok | www.deadtalks.net

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What do you say to someone who's grieving? According to Richard Greene, who has coached presidents and prime ministers, the answer is almost nothing.

Richard is a communication strategist, TED speaker, and Tony Robbins' former attorney. He studied how Bill Clinton made everyone feel like the only person in the room, and he breaks down the listening shift that helps someone who's hurting let their guard down and actually grieve.

Then it gets personal. One week after his father died, Richard got three signs he puts at one-in-a-billion odds, and Bill Nye isn't buying it. We also talk about the six hours his family spent with his father's body, why the bravest souls may choose the hardest lives, and why Einstein's E=mc² might point to a new definition of God.

In this episode:

📖 You're Not Dead Yet: How Grief and Loss Can Teach You to Live:

Learn more and order David’s book at ⁠DeadTalks.net/Book

For more on Richard Greene:

Author: "Words That Shook The World" (https://www.amazon.com/dp/0735202966)

TEDTalk: bit.ly/RichardGreeneTEDTalk

Website: http://www.richardgreene.org

Sign Up For E-Mail Updates Here: https://www.deadtalks.net/signup

Support the Show

Join the DEAD Talks Patreon for just $2 to support the mission—and get episodes early & ad-free: https://www.patreon.com/cw/deadtalks

Hats, Shirts, Hoodies + More: https://cottonbureau.com/people/dead-talks

Exclusive Discounts

10% off Neurogum – powered by natural caffeine, L-theanine, and vitamins B6 & B12 to boost focus and energy: https://neurogum.com/deadtalks

About DEAD Talks

DEAD Talks with David Ferrugio approaches death differently. Each guest shares raw stories of grief, loss, or unique perspectives that challenge the “don’t talk about death” taboo. Grief doesn’t end—it evolves. After losing his father on September 11th at just 12 years old, David discovered the power of conversation. Through laughter, tears, and honest dialogue, DEAD Talks helps make it a little easier to talk about death, mourning, trauma, and the life that continues beyond it.

Connect with DEAD Talks (@deadtalkspodcast)
YouTube | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok | www.deadtalks.net

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A Catholic Priest Who Helps Souls Cross Over: Afterlife, Trauma & Grief with Father Nathan Castle (#281)

What happens to people who die suddenly and traumatically, and what can their stories teach those of us still grieving?

Father Nathan Castle, O.P., is a 70-year-old Dominican priest, author, and podcast host. For nearly 30 years he has had an unusual calling. More than 700 people who died in car crashes, floods, violence, and other sudden tragedies have come to him in dreams. With his prayer partners, he helps them find peace and move forward in the afterlife.

Whether you're a believer, a skeptic, or somewhere in between, this conversation offers a hopeful and surprisingly human view of death, grief, and what might come next. Most of all, it carries one message: don't let the worst thing that happened to you define you.

Connect with Father Nathan Castle:

📖 You're Not Dead Yet: How Grief and Loss Can Teach You to Live:

Learn more and order David’s book at ⁠DeadTalks.net/Book⁠

Sign Up For E-Mail Updates Here: https://www.deadtalks.net/signup

Support the Show

Join the DEAD Talks Patreon for just $2 to support the mission—and get episodes early & ad-free: https://www.patreon.com/cw/deadtalks

Hats, Shirts, Hoodies + More: https://cottonbureau.com/people/dead-talks

Exclusive Discounts

10% off Neurogum – powered by natural caffeine, L-theanine, and vitamins B6 & B12 to boost focus and energy: https://neurogum.com/deadtalks

About DEAD Talks

DEAD Talks with David Ferrugio approaches death differently. Each guest shares raw stories of grief, loss, or unique perspectives that challenge the “don’t talk about death” taboo. Grief doesn’t end—it evolves. After losing his father on September 11th at just 12 years old, David discovered the power of conversation. Through laughter, tears, and honest dialogue, DEAD Talks helps make it a little easier to talk about death, mourning, trauma, and the life that continues beyond it.

Connect with DEAD Talks (@deadtalkspodcast)
YouTube | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok | www.deadtalks.net

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Twenty-five years after 9/11, the legal fight for answers is still ongoing.

DEAD Talk host, David Ferrugio (who lost his father on 9/11) sits down with attorney John Eubanks of Motley Rice, who represents 9/11 families in the long-running litigation against Saudi Arabia, to break down where the case stands today, what evidence has emerged, why key government documents remain classified or heavily redacted, and what could happen next.

They discuss alleged Saudi connections to individuals who assisted two of the 9/11 hijackers, the fight to obtain documents from the U.S. government, the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA), the upcoming federal appeals process, and why — nearly 25 years later — families are still seeking accountability and the full truth.

📖 You're Not Dead Yet: How Grief and Loss Can Teach You to Live:

Learn more and order David’s book at ⁠DeadTalks.net/Book⁠

Sign Up For E-Mail Updates Here: https://www.deadtalks.net/signup

Support the Show

Join the DEAD Talks Patreon for just $2 to support the mission—and get episodes early & ad-free: https://www.patreon.com/cw/deadtalks

Hats, Shirts, Hoodies + More: https://cottonbureau.com/people/dead-talks

Exclusive Discounts

10% off Neurogum – powered by natural caffeine, L-theanine, and vitamins B6 & B12 to boost focus and energy: https://neurogum.com/deadtalks

About DEAD Talks

DEAD Talks with David Ferrugio approaches death differently. Each guest shares raw stories of grief, loss, or unique perspectives that challenge the “don’t talk about death” taboo. Grief doesn’t end—it evolves. After losing his father on September 11th at just 12 years old, David discovered the power of conversation. Through laughter, tears, and honest dialogue, DEAD Talks helps make it a little easier to talk about death, mourning, trauma, and the life that continues beyond it.

Connect with DEAD Talks (@deadtalkspodcast)
YouTube | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok | www.deadtalks.net

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jay Winuk lost his brother Glenn on 9/11. Glenn was a lawyer, volunteer firefighter, and EMT who helped evacuate his office before heading toward the World Trade Center to help. His family later learned he entered the complex, but exactly what happened in his final moments remains unknown.

Jay and I reflect on 9/11 from two different perspectives: I lost my father, who was working on the 105th floor of the North Tower, while Jay lost his brother after Glenn ran toward the danger to serve others.

We discuss grief, unanswered questions, funerals without remains, and how Glenn’s legacy ultimately inspired Jay’s work with 9/11 Day and its mission of service and remembrance.

📖 You're Not Dead Yet: How Grief and Loss Can Teach You to Live Learn more and order the book at ⁠DeadTalks.net/Book⁠

Sign Up For E-Mail Updates Here > https://www.deadtalks.net/signup

Support the Show

Hats, Shirts, Hoodies + More: https://cottonbureau.com/people/dead-talks

Exclusive Discounts
10% off Neurogum – powered by natural caffeine, L-theanine, and vitamins B6 & B12 to boost focus and energy: https://neurogum.com/deadtalks

About DEAD Talks

Connect with DEAD Talks (@deadtalkspodcast)
YouTube | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok | www.deadtalks.net

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Twenty-five years after losing his father in the September 11 attacks, DEAD Talks host David Ferrugio sits on the other side of the microphone for one of his most personal conversations yet.

World-renowned grief expert David Kessler interviews David about losing his father at just 12 years old, growing up as “the 9/11 kid,” the guilt that followed, and what it means to grieve a death the entire world continues to watch and remember.

They explore the memories David has lost—and the ones he has spent years trying to recover—the pressure he felt to become “the man of the house,” how grief changes over decades, and why sadness and joy don't have to be mutually exclusive.

David also opens up about the experience that brought his childhood grief full circle when his mother nearly died in 2023, the lessons behind his new book, You’re Not Dead Yet: How Grief and Loss Can Teach You to Live, and why continuing to live fully can be one of the greatest ways we honor the people we’ve lost.

This is a conversation about September 11, grief, loss, trauma, guilt, mortality, legacy, healing, meaning, and what it looks like to keep living when someone you love is gone.

You’re Not Dead Yet: How Grief and Loss Can Teach You to Live is available now wherever books are sold.

📖 You're Not Dead Yet: How Grief and Loss Can Teach You to Live Learn more and order the book at ⁠DeadTalks.net/Book⁠

Sign Up For E-Mail Updates Here: https://www.deadtalks.net/signup

Support the Show:

Hats, Shirts, Hoodies + More: https://cottonbureau.com/people/dead-talks

Exclusive Discounts
10% off Neurogum – powered by natural caffeine, L-theanine, and vitamins B6 & B12 to boost focus and energy: https://neurogum.com/deadtalks

About DEAD Talks

Connect with DEAD Talks (@deadtalkspodcast)
YouTube | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok | www.deadtalks.net

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices