S2E9: REWIND: Talk Tracks Ep. 6: Alzheimer's and Telepathy

Before we head into the final two episodes of Season 2, we’re revisiting episode six of Talk Tracks to bring Dan Goerke’s story back into focus and prepare you for the role it plays in what comes next. His experience communicating with his wife after she lost speech became a crucial clue in our exploration of consciousness and sets up the pivotal return to Dan in our final two episodes, out on Monday, December 22nd and December 29th. -- Can we still connect with our loved ones when memory fades and language disappears? In this tender and eye-opening episode, The Telepathy Tapes coordinator Katherine Ellis sits down with Dan Goerke, whose wife Denise lost her ability to speak due to early-onset Alzheimer’s. What followed was something extraordinary: Dan believes their bond transformed into telepathic communication. As Denise’s verbal language faded, Dan began sensing clear thoughts and emotions from her—deep, complex messages conveyed without a single word. Their story challenges everything we assume about communication, presence, and the boundaries of consciousness. We also explore the emotional realities of caregiving, the lasting nature of love, and how Dan’s experiences have resonated with others navigating dementia and loss. This episode is a moving reminder that connection doesn’t always need words—and sometimes, it transcends them entirely. Thank you to our Sponsors! Visit Etherwell.co http://etherwell.co/ and use the code TAPES25 for 10% off your order. Visit Quince.com/tapes http://quince.com/tapes for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Visit ThriveMarket.com/TAPES http://thrivemarket.com/TAPES to get 30% off your first order and a free $60 gift. Get 40% off your entire order at Lolablankets.com http://lolablankets.com/ by using code TAPES at checkout. Experience the world’s #1 blanket with Lola Blankets. Visit Graza.co/TAPES http://graza.co/TAPES and use code TAPES to get 10% off your order. Visit happymammoth.com http://happymammoth.com/ use code TAPES at checkout for 15% off your first order. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Ky Dickens?

  Today, we're going back to Talk Tracks, episode six, and to the incredible man and husband Dan Gurkey, to bring his story into focus and to prepare you for the role that he plays in what comes next. Dan's experience telepathically communicating with his wife Denise after she lost speech was an incredible clue for us in our exploration of what consciousness really is, where it comes from, and what it looks like at its fullest potential. And next week, on December 22, we return to Dan in a pivotal way as we take a much closer look at how he is able to do what he does and how his story and abilities lead directly into our final chapter of this season, when we push the limits of consciousness in all of us.

• 0:38Speaker 01

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• 1:10Ky Dickens?

  Hi, everyone. I'm Kai Dickens, and I'm thrilled to welcome you to the Talk Tracks. In this series, we dive deeper into the revelations, challenges, and unexpected truths from the Telepathy Tapes. The goal is to explore all the threads that weave together our understanding of reality, science, spirituality, and, yes, even unexplained things like psi abilities. If you haven't yet listened to season one of the Telepathy Tapes, I encourage you to start there. It lays the foundation for everything we'll be exploring in this journey. We'll feature conversations with groundbreaking researchers, thinkers, non-speakers, and experiencers who illuminate the extraordinary connections that may defy explanation today, but won't for long.

• 1:53Ky Dickens?

  So I'm really excited about today's episode because it dives even deeper into our exploration of telepathy, specifically in people with Alzheimer's and dementia. In the last episode of The Talk Tracks, we told the story of a woman in the late stages of cancer, whose consciousness seemed to be traveling to her childhood home when she drift into a sleep state. And then, something caught the eye of our Telepathy Tapes coordinator, Katherine Ellis, as she was going through some of our incoming emails. So Catherine, you started working for me in December, and you have your eyes on our incoming emails and messages, and you kind of flagged something. What did you see?

• 2:31Speaker 02

  Well, what really caught my attention is that we're getting a surprising number of emails about Alzheimer's and dementia. People are saying that they're experiencing thought sharing or telepathy with someone who has dementia or late-stage Alzheimer's.

• 2:43Ky Dickens?

  Okay, and just for clarity, we're talking about caregivers, family members, nurses, right? And they were all describing the same similar experience, which felt like genuine moments of telepathic connection with someone who had Alzheimer's or dementia. So you said that to me, and I have to confess that I thought it was implausible. I had come to believe that yes, telepathy was legitimate and verifiable amongst non-speakers with autism, but how could it manifest elsewhere in such large numbers? But you said something that really hit me in my heart, because it validated what parents of non-speakers had previously been saying.

• 3:25Ky Dickens?

  They were terrified to talk about it openly, because they didn't think they'd be taken seriously.

• 3:30Speaker 02

  Exactly. Some of the people who wrote in even said they were afraid they were going crazy, but that they were absolutely certain that something real was happening, that their loved one was somehow communicating with them beyond words. And one name kept popping up as someone who had been through it and really put language to the experience: Dan Gurkey.

• 3:48Ky Dickens?

  Okay, so tell me about Dan.

• 3:52Speaker 02

  Dan wrote a book called Unforgettable Unbelievable about his wife Denise, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's at just 56 years old. As her disease progressed and she lost the ability to speak, Dan says he began communicating with her telepathically. And now he's become a kind of sounding board for others who are going through similar things and don't know where to turn.

• 4:09Ky Dickens?

  So Catherine asked if it would be okay to do an interview with Dan herself to check this all out. And it ended up being so fascinating and so important that we're featuring this interview today. So others out there going through the same thing won't feel so alone. So here we go.

• 4:24Speaker 02

  Okay, I'd love to hear a little bit about the moment that you and your wife Denise found out she had Alzheimer's disease.

• 4:29Speaker 03

  So Denise was diagnosed when she was just 56 years old. When, that was in 2012. And it was a challenge to get the diagnosis. It took about a year and a half before we got an affirmative diagnosis of what was going on. I was shocked that somebody 56 years old could have Alzheimer's. I had no idea she could have that. Or anyone could have that at that young of an age. Denise's reaction was somewhat muted. I was a little surprised. She didn't show any emotion. She just sat there. We talked a little bit about the disease and kind of next steps, which for him, for the doctor, wasn't much.

• 5:11Speaker 03

  He just wanted us to come back in a few months and do a follow-up checkup. So on the way out of his office, there is a rack of flyers and brochures. And Denise comes storming out of the office and she is grabbing every flyer and every brochure about Alzheimer's, this treatment, that treatment, this therapy, that therapy. And we had a stack of papers. And that was really no different than how she handled life in general. It was this just take-charge attitude and we're going to find out more. We're going to do something about this. And I know her attitude and thought was, I'm just going to keep living my life as much and as well as I can.

• 5:57Speaker 03

  That was the day of the diagnosis.

• 5:59Speaker 02

  So then as Denise's disease progressed, she gradually lost her ability to speak. But what happened next was something Dan never expected. So Catherine, tell us what happened in the silence that followed. As Denise's disease progressed, she gradually lost her ability to speak. But what happened next was something Dan never expected. A new kind of communication began to emerge, one that didn't rely on words at all. Dan reports that once Denise became nonverbal, he began to read her mind and communicate with her telepathically. At first, he was shocked.

• 6:31Speaker 03

  So, we were about two and a half years into the diagnosis and into the disease process. She was still at home and I was her full-time caregiver. And at the same time, I was still working full-time and leaving the house in the morning and coming back worrying about her. But yet, that's the way it had to be. So, I had had a particularly hard day getting her up and around and getting her places. One of the biggest issues we were having at the time was her toileting. And that was everything from getting her in the bathroom. And I just could not get her to sit down.

• 7:14Speaker 03

  And that transferred out to getting her in the car and all kinds of different things. I was just exhausted. I had had a particularly really hard day at work, very stressed out from the day. And we get home and, you know, the questions from the Alzheimer's patients just tend to go in circles. It's that same question coming up every minute or two minutes.

• 7:39Ky Dickens?

  This behavior is incredibly common in Alzheimer's patients and is linked to the breakdown of short-term memory. The hippocampus, the part of the brain responsible for forming new memories, is one of the first regions affected by the disease. This can be incredibly disorienting and emotionally draining for caregivers.

• 7:56Speaker 03

  You just have to take a deep breath and give the same answer over and over again. So, she decided, you know, it's about time for bed. So, she goes back to bed and I said, "I'll be back in a little while." I just had to decompress. I had to just be away from her, be away from the Alzheimer's for a little bit.

• 8:17Ky Dickens?

  So, after a bit of decompressing, Dan goes to bed.

• 8:20Speaker 03

  I was exhausted. I was laying there next to her and I remember hearing myself, I said to myself, you know, if I could only talk to you and you could communicate back, that would help this situation. In somewhat thing of frustration, I said that. And in my mind, I heard her voice, the intonation of her voice say, well, talk to me.

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• 9:35Ky Dickens?

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• 10:00Speaker 02

  Wow. Okay. So what was your reaction?

• 10:04Speaker 03

  I was somewhat taken back. Yet, I said, all in my head, I said, okay, all right, how do I get you on the toilet so that it's easier for both of us? She starts explaining, and again, I'm hearing her voice and I'm looking down next to me, right? She's, she's fast asleep, not moving a muscle, not saying anything. It's all what I hear in my head. She explains, "Well, okay, so you gotta position me, grab my hips and turn me this way." And at the same time, I now know she was showing me pictures, right? Images in my

• 10:46Speaker 03

  mind of what to do. Turn me this way, push me down, do this, do that, right?

• 10:52Speaker 02

  That is so cool.

• 10:53Speaker 03

  I'm like, "Okay, thank you." I get up the next morning, I'm excited. I like, "Okay, I have a new method to get her in." So, we go into the, into the bathroom, and within 30 seconds, I've got her sitting down, and I am like raising my hands, whooping it up. It's like the NFL player scoring the touchdown. So, the next night comes around, that, that same night, then I, I go back and I thought, "Okay, okay, let's see if this works again." I thought, "Denise, I need help getting you in the car. How do we do that so it's easier for both of us?"

• 11:33Speaker 03

  Same thing. She tells me what to do telepathically in my mind, shows me the images of how to maneuver her to get in the car. And guess what? Same thing the next day, in the car in 20 seconds, and I'm, you know, I'm doing the victory dance around the car as I go toward the, toward my door. So, that's how it started.

• 11:57Speaker 02

  So, how do you reconcile with that? What do you think is going on in the brain that, you know, if she can't speak and if she's unable to remember things and communicate with you? Like, why is she still able to communicate with you telepathically in a coherent way?

• 12:14Speaker 03

  I've come to believe that who, who I am communicating with is Denise's higher self, her soul, said another way, right? That is who I'm communicating with, and that higher self and soul is all-seeing, all-knowing, all-loving. And so, I also think that with Denise and with other Alzheimer's patients, that-

• 12:40Speaker 03

  They become withdrawn in the physical world and actually become more connected with their higher selves and whatever it is on the other side, just because they lose all the sensations and the physicality of being in the bodies that we're in and their minds go and stay in this, this place and the higher self kind of kicks in and says, yeah, we're here. And that, that was the communication, the person, so to speak, I was communicating with.

• 13:15Speaker 02

  Yeah, I've heard from some other people in emails, a similar theory that they feel like their loved one is slowly almost slipping into the next realm or the other side and that their physical body is still just kind of here, but that that's not really a true representation of them anymore.

• 13:32Speaker 03

  Yeah, very much so. And, and I've heard plenty of stories and experienced this somewhat with Denise. It was probably a year and a half or so between, before she passed away. I walked into her room and she is just staring off into the corner of the room and I had this immediate, because I had this connection with her, I immediate sensation that, oh, she's talking to her parents. I, I would feel her mom or her dad come and be with her from time to time. And she was, she was most connected to her dad in this physical lifetime. So that connection was not surprising to me. And I, I thought that was something that was going on, just a sense I had.

• 14:13Ky Dickens?

  Okay. So Catherine, at this point in the story, what were you thinking?

• 14:17Speaker 02

  Well, I really couldn't stop thinking about why Dan was able to communicate with Denise telepathically. I mean, there are so many people with Alzheimer's out there.

• 14:24Ky Dickens?

  Right. Because it's like, why does this one guy get to telepathically communicate with his spouse with Alzheimer's when there's so many people who probably can't. So Catherine did some fact checking and Catherine, how many Americans are living with Alzheimer's?

• 14:39Speaker 02

  In 2023, an estimated 6.7 million Americans were living with the disease and the number's expected to more than double by 2060.

• 14:48Ky Dickens?

  So huge numbers of people are impacted by Alzheimer's. And how was that reflected in our inbox? Like, did we get five to 10 emails from people saying they experienced non-verbal telepathic communication with their loved ones with dementia or Alzheimer's? Or was it like way more than that?

• 15:05Speaker 02

  If I had to guess, it would probably be a little bit more than 20.

• 15:08Ky Dickens?

  Okay, so this phenomenon really does seem like a bit of a key, maybe, to the question of whether telepathic communication is available to anyone.

• 15:18Speaker 02

  Right, like, are we getting a glimpse of higher consciousness with this population? And is there some part of ourselves that remains even if memory and language fade away? Or are we all just ignoring something that's always been open and available to us?

• 15:32Ky Dickens?

  So Catherine, let's go back to your interview with Dan.

• 15:35Speaker 02

  Dan, why do you think you were able to do this with Denise?

• 15:38Speaker 03

  I think part of the reason the communication with Denise continued was because I was open to it. And I remember saying to her, "Tell me more. I'm open to hearing more." I think also because of that thought, mentality, and what I was putting out to the universe, other Alzheimer's people started coming to me. It was as if I had literally opened the door and these people saw that I could hear them and talk to them.

• 16:07Speaker 02

  Wait, what? You gained the ability to telepathically communicate with other people with Alzheimer's?

• 16:13Speaker 03

  So, see if I can describe this. So the Alzheimer's person loses their ability to talk quite regularly, okay? So, a lot of the people that were in Denise's memory care facility could not speak.

• 16:28Speaker 02

  Dan describes how individuals in Denise's memory care facility seemed to know that Dan was able to telepathically engage with them. People he had never met started coming up to him, somehow recognizing he was able to receive what they were thinking.

• 16:40Speaker 03

  Their higher selves would recognize that, "Hey, this guy Dan, he can hear you."

• 16:46Speaker 03

  The physical Alzheimer's person would stand there next to me and look at me. And, and I knew immediately, oh, oh, this guy wants to communicate with me. And so I would start that conversation. It was so cool, but it was, again, this door opening. And to this day, I see people, I know they're Alzheimer's people out there in the universe that want to talk to me and they're coming because they recognize, hey, hey, this guy is listening. He can, he can hear us, whereas no one else hears us.

• 17:19Speaker 02

  That's so amazing. Wow. So this is wild. So nowadays you'll just randomly be somewhere and hear someone with Alzheimer's coming in. How does that work? Do you ever think like, who the heck is this?

• 17:29Speaker 03

  Shortly after I started communicating with Denise, I wanted to talk to other people. A lot of times there is somebody, you know, I could be in a, in a restaurant. I could be out driving in the car and I just hear people starting to talk to me. And a lot of times what I'll say, okay, tell your loved one, tell your loved one that you want to connect with me. And so sometimes I get a call, sometimes I don't, yet I encourage that person's higher self to somehow, let's foster that connection. I still am very active in the senior world. I'm, go into memory care communities. And again, the people in the community come walking up to me and they know I can talk to them.

• 18:10Speaker 03

  So a lot of times I'll go to the memory care director, give them my card and say, hey, I know this is sounding a little weird, yet Mary over there wants to communicate telepathically with me. Can you pass this along to her caregiver? Or her loved one, whoever that is, daughter, whoever. And sometimes it resonates with that caregiver, sometimes it doesn't.

• 18:36Speaker 02

  So just breaking in here, Catherine, what's so wild about this to me is it reminds me of the teachers who said that they were able to start hearing multiple non-speaking students telepathically.

• 18:49Speaker 02

  I know, it really seems like, once the floodgate is open, it's totally accessible. Was there a moment of telepathy experience with Denise that you found to be extraordinarily profound?

• 19:02Speaker 03

  Oh, she asked. So, this was so cool. We were about, oh, two, three months after I started communicating telepathically with her. My dad started coming in. So, almost 20 years after he passed away, never, never had any communication with him before, he starts popping in and, and saying, you know, telling me what's going on, how beautiful it is. He loves sports cars, and I would see these images of him being in a sports car, driving down the road. And it was just so, so heartwarming to, to see my dad again after all these years. And Denise and him start showing up together.

• 19:47Speaker 03

  My dad passed away 10 years before I even met Denise. They never knew each other, okay? Denise also was an adventurous person, loved fast things, including, guess what, fast sports cars. So, I see the image of the two of them, Denise is in the car with my dad as a passenger. He is flying down the highway, her blonde hair is flying in the wind. And they've just got the biggest smiles on their faces and just loving it. And I'm just like, smiling, beaming to see both of them having fun.

• 20:25Speaker 03

  And especially for Denise, because she wasn't having fun in life at that point. She was three or four years into the diagnosis. It was not a fun time with her. So, to see her have fun was, was so heartwarming. So, one night, I'm putting Denise to bed. She's got her eyes closed. And I'm tucking her in, she always loved to be tucked in. She opens her eyes and she says to me, "I am so looking forward to getting to know your dad." And I'm, I was speechless. And I'm like, I did not need validation that I was speaking to Denise or speaking and seeing my dad. But here it was, right in my face.

• 21:15Speaker 02

  Well, I love that story so much, Dan. I want to ask you, what is your advice for someone who's looking to tap into the side of themselves that would be open to this kind of communication?

• 21:27Speaker 03

  I think so much of it starts with meditation. Just taking a little bit of time every day, minute, two minutes, and just sit in a quiet place. A lot of people think, oh, meditate. You've got to sit there for an hour to two hours and, you know, say om a hundred thousand times. No, no, no. It starts with a minute or two. Build that up to three to five, build it to 10, 15, if you want to. But yet it's more about quieting your mind, opening your mind and your heart to what is out there in the universe and what messages you get back. The universe, I believe, wants to help us.

• 22:10Speaker 03

  And it gives us these messages either through telepathy, through meditation, through intuition. And they want to help, and that's where these messages come from. Yeah.

• 22:23Speaker 02

  Do you ever experience other people coming into your head who are not Alzheimer's? It's like people who are nonverbal in other ways?

• 22:32Speaker 03

  I have come across a lot of people that have passed along. Some are Alzheimer's people that have passed away. And they want to come back and, you know, please tell my wife I'm okay. And a lot of times I hear, please tell her she was unbelievable in her caregiving and thank her from me. Because it's a doubt that a lot of caregivers have. We doubt sometimes what we're doing. Is this the right thing? And there's so many decisions you've got to make during a day. You begin doubting yourself. So it's really heartwarming to hear that from the person saying, God, you did a great job. Thank you.

• 23:10Speaker 02

  That's important. I'm glad we're bringing up the role of the caregiver because I think it's, unless you've sort of experienced this, it's a little bit overlooked on how emotionally, mentally, physically draining it can be. What would be a big piece of advice that you have for someone who maybe has a recent diagnosis and, you know, you're maybe tasked as being the caregiver?

• 23:33Speaker 03

  One of the first things I heard after our diagnosis was, this is a disease about the caregiver. And my first reaction was, no, it's not. It's a disease about Denise. It, she's got the disease. It's about her feelings, her emotions, her well-being and all that. And six months later, I did a 180. After experiencing just a little bit of the disease, I realized, oh, my gosh, this is a disease about the caregiver and how important it is for the caregiver to take care of themselves. And, and what I mean by that is that for caregivers not to go stick their head in the sand, so to speak, don't isolate yourself, get out there and join a support group. That was one of the first things we did.

• 24:17Speaker 03

  Actually, from one of the flyers that Denise grabbed after the diagnosis, I found out about this class, which also had a support group. And it is so heartwarming and validating to hear other caregivers talk about their journey. Because a lot of caregivers go to themselves thinking, oh, I got this. I can do this. I'm big and brave and I said, until death do us part. And it's like, no, this is not like any other disease. You are going to get worn out. You're going to get frustrated beyond measure.

• 24:57Speaker 03

  There's a lot of statistics out there that the caregiver passes away before the person with the disease because of the stress and strain of, of being the caregiver. So don't, don't isolate yourself and accept help.

• 25:11Speaker 02

  I really love that approach. I think so many of us have become isolated and afraid to ask for help. But more often than not, people will surprise you by showing up. It seems like despite the incredible hardship of Denise's illness, you came out of it with some truly beautiful insights about life and connection.

• 25:31Speaker 03

  Oh, Catherine, this disease changed my outlook and, and consideration of life. I was very much, you know, you live life one day at a time. Through that whole disease, I learned to live one moment at a time and to be in this present moment, because all the Alzheimer's person has is this exact moment. They don't have anything else. And that's what I tell people these today is that live life fully because you don't know what your diagnosis is tomorrow and what life has to deal for you later on today. So live life fully, have fun, laugh, be with friends as much as you can, family and friends, and go see the world.

• 26:16Speaker 02

  I wanted to end the episode by mentioning that if you're caring for a loved one with Alzheimer's or dementia, please remember you don't have to go through it alone. Support groups can be life-changing. They offer a space to share, connect, and feel understood by people who truly get it. Whether you're looking for emotional support, practical advice, or simply a reminder that you're not alone, help is out there. You can visit the Alzheimer's Association at ALZ.org to find local and virtual support groups as well as resources for caregivers. The National Institute on Aging also has excellent information and tools at NIA.NIH.gov. I'll be sure to link both in the show notes.

• 26:54Ky Dickens?

  We'll be back on Monday, December 22nd, as we begin winding down with the final two episodes of the Telepathy Tapes, Season Two.