Andrea Bowen Guest Stars In Sorority Hazing Incident

I have always been a fan of Jennifer Love Hewitt, known as Love to her friends and some of her fans.  As a result, I have watched her show, Ghost Whisperer on ABC since the beginning.

Note: Unfortunately no images of Andrea Bowen without the sack on her head were provided by CBS from this episode).

If you don't follow Jennifer Love Hewitt's TV Show - Ghost Whisperer on CBS - she's a gorgeous antique store owner by the name of Melinda Gordon, who just happens to communicate with earthbound spirits and  ghosts who cling to the living.

The spirits hang around because they have unfinished business that prevents them from moving beyond the familiar plane of existence that we call life.

Inspired in part by the work of famed medium James Van Praagh and of Mary Ann Winkowski, a real-life communicator with spirits, Ghost Whisperer explores the spiritual side of life and death.

Melinda navigates among the dead and the living in her sometimes chilling, sometimes heart-rending and sometimes amusing attempts to act as an intermediary between the ghosts and those they haunt.

For her part, Melinda accepts her unique abilities as a blessing and sometime curse, but always helps her clients, alive or dead, find emotional closure.

Melinda's Dead/Reborn Husband Jim

Earlier this season Melinda's handsome husband Jim, tragically dies.  With Melinda standing by, Jim's spirit refused to cross over. Instead, Jim pops into some other guy's body by the name of Sam.

Although Sam survives, the spirit of Jim is basically possessing Sam's body which results in neither Sam nor Jim really remembering their lives.

Confused?  Yeah, me too.  I have to admit my head was about to explode with all the Jim/Sam reincarnation stories.

Jumping The Shark?

I honestly thought the show had jumped the shark with the Jim/Sam storyline but somehow they managed to put it out of the quagmire, and what was total confusion has turned into a brand new love story for Melinda with Jim who is now Sam.

Greek Tragedy Co-Starring Andrea Bowen

Meanwhile, the "Greek Tragedy" episode on Friday the 13th kicked off with Melinda spotting a ghost, played by Andrea Bowen (Desperate Housewives) standing on the lawn of a sorority house on campus in the town where she lives.   The ghost was dressed only in a black slip with a burlap sack over her head.

After talking with the ghost, Melinda discovers a recent pledge hazing occurred at the house with the ghost and that one of the new sorority pledges was missing in the woods.

Ghost With Untimely Death

During the investigation of the mystery of the ghost and the missing pledge sister, it was discovered the ghost was actually from a pledge class years before.  The ghost told the story of her own untimely death and helped lead Melinda to the still alive missing girl.

The episode was interesting on a number of levels because it co-starred a dark brunette haired Andrea Bowen, revealed more about the Melinda and Jim/Sam storyline.

My Own Pledging Memories

As a former pledge of Alpa Xi Delta, the extent of our pledge hazing, if you could even call it that, involved being kidnapped at the crack of dawn from our warm beds and taken in PJs to the local pancake house.

Yes, we were freezing in our PJs and a little embarrassed to be out in public that way, but ultimately it was fun and our big sisters even paid for our breakfast.

The hazing activities on Ghost Whisperer involved taking sorority pledges out into the freezing dark woods in their slips with a burlap bag over their heads, forcing them to find their way with just a flashlight.

Does this type of sorority hazing really does occur?  I certainly hope not, but I wonder since it came up on the show.  Often the writers are inspired by real events. If so, my embarrassment at eating pancakes in my PJs during my pledge years pales my comparison.