Jonas Elrod: Wake Up

0:00Hi, everyone. It's Katie Couric. And on my podcast, Next Question, we love stories about how women are taking control of their lives. They are increasingly leading financial decisions in their households, yet many say they don't feel fully prepared for the long-term financial choices ahead. Real confidence comes from knowing your financial future is protected whatever happens. Pacific Life has helped generations protect what matters today and prepare for tomorrow with life insurance and lifetime income solutions. It's a promise Pacific Life has kept for nearly 160 years so its customers can keep theirs.

0:42Ask a financial professional about how Pacific Life can help you create a more confident financial future. Pacific Life Insurance Company, Omaha, Nebraska, and in New York, Pacific Life & Annuity, Phoenix, Arizona.

1:00Hi, it's Ashley from OWN. I used to think great work was about being in the right headspace. Then I found a TikTok video that made me think about my physical space. An interior designer explored how things like ceiling height and room size might influence how we think. Now I wonder how much of our environment shapes our work without us noticing. Now I'm looking at my workspace asking what kind of thinking I'm making room for. On TikTok, one idea can change how you see something you thought you knew. Your next discovery is waiting on TikTok. I'm Oprah Winfrey. Welcome to Super Soul Conversations, the podcast.

1:36I believe that one of the most valuable gifts you can give yourself is time. Taking time to be more fully present. Your journey to become more inspired and connected to the deeper world around us starts right now. Ghosts, angels, spirits, are they real or a figment of our imagination? What would you do if you started seeing things? Is there more to life than we can see? My fascinating conversation with the director and star of the documentary, Wake Up, Jonas Elrod. Jonas Elrod is joining us today, and let me tell you about Jonas. He was, for all intents and purposes, an average guy, born in a small, God-fearing town in the South.

2:26In his mid-30s, he was living an ordinary life in New York City with his girlfriend, Mara, until one day, out of nowhere, something very strange happened to him. Welcome, Jonas Elrod. Thank you very much for having me. I appreciate it. I'm so glad you're here. I just want to preface this by saying I understand that your intention in doing the documentary, your intention in coming forward with the story is not to convince people to believe you or to not to believe you. But it is what? You're right. I'm not trying to convince people. Okay. I was a documentary filmmaker before this happened. Otherwise, I might have tried, I don't know, interpretive dance or something.

3:09But it was a very trying process to document the process. So you were a filmmaker before. Right. So you're just an ordinary guy. Whatever that means, yeah. But, I mean, I was a normal, you know, working stiff out of New York, trying to make my way in filmmaking. This kind of landed in my lap. Okay. What happened? I was finishing work on my first documentary, and it was the last night of the shoot. Okay. And it's like 11 o 'clock in San Francisco. I'm labeling tapes and charging batteries and the room got really cold. There was a light that appeared in the corner of the room. What kind of light?

3:46I mean, it was just a light. This popped in the corner of the room and then lights started pouring in and then geometry started coming out of the walls and spirit started. What do you mean geometry? It's really hard to explain. Some things would be squares, triangles, different things stacked up on one another. I don't understand that to this day. Did the lights have color? Was it a bright light? After a couple hours, color started coming in. But this process lasted about 11 hours of just all these spirits coming in. What? Well, it was beautiful and absolutely terrifying. So you were in a room.

4:21Are you alone? I'm alone. The phone won't work. I can't turn on the TV. I walk down the halls to go pace in the parking lot. They follow me. Was it a hotel? I'm sorry. It was a hotel. Ramada Inn in San Francisco. Spirits kept coming in. Some things looked angelic to me, some things looked demonic, and they kept showing me things which I didn't understand. One of the things... Were you... Okay, so the first thing, the first thing I would say is, did you think you were crazy? Did you think you were hallucinating? Did you think you were dreaming? Did you think... had you been up? Had you... first of all, had you done drugs?

4:58Those are all the right questions to ask and if any of those things would have happened, I would have felt better about it. No, I was not doing drugs. I had not been up. I didn't smash my head against the wall 15 times. You know, I was on a job working, so I'm very professional and just getting my job done and this happened out of nowhere. And I'm thinking would you run out of the room? Would you? Well, some of it looked very beautiful to me and really moved me in a positive way. Uh-huh. And it didn't seem scary when my rational brain kicked in. I was like, what the hell's going on? This is terrifying.

5:35But you just said 11 hours. It lasted. I mean, not a full-on thing, but, you know, I'm doing everything I think that you do. So I get the Bible and I'm reading the Bible and trying to get out of the room. And then after time, it kind of becomes comical. I mean, it doesn't sound comical, but they kept showing me these different things and visions and these spirits. I don't really know how to explain it. Did you know what they, you're calling it spirits now, but did you know that that's what it was? Is that what you said when you first saw the light and the geometry and the colors and the stuff?

6:07Did you say, oh, these are spirits? Well, some of them, some of them like what you said. They like silhouettes. Some of it like masses of energy. It would just kind of come in the room, come to a wall. Some of it looked like people. And it was just kind of a mishmash of a bunch of things that showed up. But I didn't know what any of this meant in the beginning. It was just very overwhelming to say the least. So for a couple of days, it's intense and you're feeling it and seeing it. And what do you think? What do you say to yourself? I was never afraid. I never thought I was losing my mind. I never thought I'd gone crazy.

6:41You never did. My fear was, how do I stop this? That was my big fear. You wanted to stop it. Well, I didn't really want a laser light show around me 24-7. I was like, I have to go to work. I have to do this. I can't have all this around. That was my big fear. You could see lights coming out of people? Well, people call them auras. So I would see, like, I'm looking at you and I see like a small outline around you. And I think a lot of people see this at times in your, you know, I would see that off people. So they're talking, they kind of move real quick. I would see almost like an imprint of where they were or just lights.

7:15In time, color started to come into that, I guess auric field. I didn't know any of this at the time. I didn't know about auras or any of this stuff. I had to research and got a lot of teachers in WICOP that really kind of explained this stuff to me. So it was moving and beautiful, but it was also horrifying. You know, we had a guy on Soul Series once. One of my favorite stories on Soul Series was a gentleman who was involved in a horrible plane crash, and the plane caught on fire. Most of the people were killed, and as he was exiting, it's one of my favorite stories, actually, on the Oprah show and here, as he was exiting, this was a person who was not a religious person at all, and he said he turned to look back at the fuselage and everybody was buckled in their seatbelts and all on fire because he happened to be in first class.

8:01But he saw the auras rising from their bodies, the light rising from the burning bodies and what he realized was some were brighter than others, he said. And he said, I'm not a religious man but I made a decision after I got out. that I want to live so that my aura burns brightly. That's beautiful. Yeah. So there's something to that aura thing. There is. I mean, from my point of view, certain people give out a certain energy. And women, like Mary, she can really feel it. So were there ever, you know, dark entities? Yes. I mean, I saw things I consider angelic, higher vibrational entities, and I definitely saw lower-level stuff.

8:49What were the bad spirits or the bad energy or the lower vibrational frequencies you were seeing? I mean it was... I talk about this a little bit, but what happens is people get kind of anxious and fearful and I definitely don't want to bring that out, but you know I saw different things like walking shadows or things like black flying trash bags, just really strange and these energies put out something and so you feel it and it feels wrong. So we were to shake hands, you would feel in some degree where I was. Oh, that feels right, that feels wrong. These energies felt bad. And that's when I brought the Bible and I was, you know, doing verses and whatnot and then more light would come in and it was really mind-boggling to say the least.

9:36Were you religious before this happened? I always went to Sunday school or wanted to go. It was never pushed on me. I used to go to the neighbors because I was always very curious about God and then as time went on I had issues with the things I was taught but I've always been a seeker I suppose three four years before this happened I just kind of gave up would you consider yourself before this happened a Christian a certain type of Christian I mean the following the works of Christ yes absolutely I think it's what is so fascinating to me about your story is that you are quote an ordinary guy, as people would say, you know, it's not, you know, it's not, I think it's really exciting that you weren't on this path, that you weren't somebody who's been saying forever or seeking forever or wanting to know or were, quote, new age.

10:28Hi, it's Ashley from OWN. This episode is sponsored by Dispatches from the Divide, a new limited series podcast. When conflict pushes us apart, what does it take to choose compassion instead? Dispatches from the Divide shares powerful true stories of ordinary people facing extraordinary divisions and finding unexpected ways to lead with empathy, courage, and humanity. It's a moving look at what can happen when YouTube's curiosity over conflict, even when it's hardest. Find Dispatches from the Divide wherever you get podcasts.

11:03Hi, everyone. It's Katie Couric. And on my podcast, Next Question, we love stories about how women are taking control of their lives. They are increasingly leading financial decisions in their households. Yet many say they don't feel fully prepared for the long-term financial choices ahead. Real confidence comes from knowing your financial future is protected whatever happens. Pacific Life has helped generations protect what matters today and prepare for tomorrow with life insurance and lifetime income solutions. It's a promise Pacific Life has kept for nearly 160 years so its customers can keep theirs.

11:45Ask a financial professional about how Pacific Life can help you create a more confident financial future. Pacific Life Insurance Company, Omaha, Nebraska, and in New York, Pacific Life and Annuity, Phoenix, Arizona.

12:04So was there a trigger in your life that you think opened you up to this? I have no idea. I mean, if I'd gone through a bout of depression or I lost a job or won the lottery, if something extreme had happened, I could trace it back and say, maybe this is a ripple effect, but it just happened spontaneously. Who was the first person you told after it all started? The first and really the only person I told was my friend Rob Brees. And he was agnostic. And I still had my Christian belief system. And I still have some of that. But honestly, you know, God fearing from the South, if you're not down with Jesus, well, you know, there's going to be a problem.

12:43So let's just talk about, first of all, your agnostic friend, Rob, who'd been your friend for how long? um 15 years 15 years somewhere around there he was your best buddy he was yeah he was your gail you don't have a best buddy he was my gail he was your gail all right so did he judge you or did he just say hey man you're crazy or what no he was very curious and we would have great discussions and philosophical and metaphysical and meaningful life discussions and he would share his beliefs and i would share my experiences and my beliefs not in an aggressive way but just i understand where he's coming from.

13:17For me, I'm more heart-centered, so if it feels right, you know, I'm open to it. For him, he was in his head with it. And so I shared these experiences with him for three months. And then? One night, I flew from New York to Georgia to do a music video, and we met, and we had a conversation, and I told him some more experiences. And this light opened up in his chest and rushed at me, and I told him what had happened. He was like, well, that's strange, and I've seen so much stuff. It's just, okay, another thing, I have no idea what it means. The next morning he was coming to meet me at set, and he got, he was riding a Ducati motorcycle.

13:54A car hit him and put him in the hospital. And then a few months later he died. What did you feel at the moment when you're sitting with your friend and the light from his body, from his chest, you said, rushed you, came rushing at you? It was just overwhelming. and I normally don't tell someone every time I see something, but I told him right away and he's like, well, you know, weird. And we're both like, what do I do with that? And then the next morning, like I said, he got in the wreck and so I'm out there shooting a music video, waiting on him, waiting on him, and then it dawned on me he's not going to make it.

14:34And so I went through a lot of mixed emotions and definitely sadness and anger and confusion on, and my take is I saw that before it happened. So tell us how you met Mara. I met Mara, don't get me crying Oprah. I met Mara at Rob's funeral.

14:58It's okay. I've been crying all week. I knew when I saw her that I was connected to her, that there was something about her and it scared me. And I'll let her tell her side of it. I met her at a funeral and I fell in love with her at sight. You fell in love with Mara at your best friend's funeral. Right. And that's how that connection started. Yeah. Wow. So it was, you know, I thank him every day. It was quite a gift what he brought to me. That's pretty amazing. Yeah, I feel like the luckiest man on the planet. I'm sure you feel similar. But Rob's death happening the way it happened, he did two things for me.

15:40he connected me with my soulmate, and he proved this without a shadow of a doubt, that this is real, that this is happening because of the cause and effect. Yeah. Now, what's interesting is that you had seen the entities, you'd been having conversations with Rob about it, and it's only after his death and meeting Mira and knowing for sure inside yourself that his death hooked you up with her, that it's confirmed for you in a way that you cannot deny. You know what is interesting, I always say this about my life and everybody else's, is that the universe tries, universe, I use universe and God interchangeably, tries and tries and tries to get us to see the best of ourselves in every way, in every experience, in everything that's happening every day to everybody.

16:28Every experience that you're drawing into yourself is there for that purpose. And when you don't, it gets stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger until you finally pay attention. And so for you, it is your best friend's death and meeting Mira. Yeah, I would agree. I mean, no, I subscribe to that, that they can tap you on the shoulder or whisper you in your ear. Yes. You know, wake up, look at this. Or knock you in the head. Yeah. Why do you think you were chosen to have this incredible experience? And are there other people who are having the same experiences who see things?

17:04I see dead people. Oh, Lord. Of course, everybody said that to you. Yeah, I was waiting to be that guy. Hey, Mr. I see dead people. I mean, it's so much bigger than that. But do other people have this? Absolutely. I think a lot of people have these experiences. And, you know, Maren always talked, women's intuition. It's just a thing you say in the South, but it's a real thing. You just don't think about what the words are. So we have intuition all the time. Mine happens to be visual. The why me question, I searched and chased that answer for many years. And my answer is I don't know. And my answer now is I don't care.

17:42I don't care why me. Because it's been given to you. Do you see anything here now? You know, I didn't think you would ask me that, but I do. You do? But it's different. You know, when I hear about I see ghosts, I think of the Sixth Sense. I think of Scooby-Doo. It doesn't look that way to me. What I see are masses of energy. Okay, what do you see right now? Tell me. I don't know what it is, but I see formations and things of energy back behind that camera. And I see your aura pop up here and there. But I'm not looking at you and you have your yellow sweater with this aura. Ta-da! I see it occasionally.

18:18Is it a good aura? It's great. Okay. Your energy is violet, and the whole Roy G. Biv thing, that's when I started learning that this really is something, can reflect where someone is. But you can also be having a terrible day, and it can look a certain way. So when people are bright and have bright energy, I'll go shake their hand, talk to them, hang out, get coffee, grab a beer. If it's splintered and dark and all mashed up, you know, God bless them and send them on their way. but I was in a similar event that you were in years ago. It was Spike Lee had a cruise, and they were celebrating his life's work, and I saw you come out.

18:57I didn't say anything to you, but I really saw your energy then. It was just huge and violent, and fans were coming up, wanting their pictures taken, and, you know, it was about a 30-second exchange, and I was like, good, because not projecting, but all the works you've done and who you are, and there's always going to be projection on you. I wanted to believe that you were a great person, And when I saw, you know, just this wall of beautiful energy come out, I was like, oh, great. Nice. Yeah, I never, ever thought I'd be having this conversation. This is, you know, I thought my life was surreal.

19:27Why didn't you think I would ask you? Because it's an obvious question to ask, do you see anything now? Because I think people are like, what do you see? What can you tell me? It wasn't like that. I just wanted to know. Oh, no. Do you still see it? I do. And I think people are more curious now than ever because the systems that we have are falling apart. People are suffering. and people are looking. So, you know, for me, documentaries are a way to get out information. It was a hard process, but I could not feel more blessed being able to do this. Well, the film is called Wake Up. This is just the beginning, and the reason why Jonas did this is so that everybody not necessarily believes what he said, because he doesn't care at this point whether you believe it or not.

20:07At this point, I don't. Yes. What he's here for is to get you to start exploring your own path. Thank you. This has been a blast. Wow, thanks. Now, my conversation with Mara Evans, co-star, girlfriend, and resident skeptic from the film Wake Up. I'm joined by Mara Evans, featured prominently in the documentary Wake Up. She's talking about her partner, life mate, Jonas Elrod, who started having experiences that were abnormal to most of us. He started seeing things. He started seeing light and auras. in people, in situations, and walking down the street, bombarded by images, geometric figures, other entities.

20:54And Jonas' girlfriend, Mara Evans, played a pivotal role in this film. She was the skeptic, like I'm sure so many of you would be. She loved her boyfriend. She supported him. But she was like, what is going on? She was questioning these experiences. Welcome, Mara. Thank you. When he first told you about it, what did you think? It took me a second. It definitely took me a second. I remember sitting in his kitchen in Brooklyn and him revealing something. I could tell he was nervous about, you know, he'd been building up, like, okay, it's tonight. I'm going to tell her tonight. And I was ready for him to come out with it.

21:32Like, what is this? You can tell me anything. Did you think it was some other woman or something? I wasn't sure. I wasn't sure, but I was preparing my heart for whatever it was that I'm going to be ready for this no matter what, and I can work through it. And then when he told me... How long had you all been together, by the way? We had been together for probably a couple of months. Wow, okay. A couple of months. So he wanted to go ahead and come out and tell me. And as he revealed in our conversation, he had met you at his best friend's funeral. Yes, that is correct. Yes, and felt that the best friend who had died had put you all in each other's path.

22:09Yeah. We absolutely felt that way, and it both hit us that Rob gave us a gift. And it was like his, like, hey, guys, I love you and be together. I was just so in love with him from the moment I saw him that it really wouldn't have mattered what he told me. It did floor me. What did he tell you? Do you remember? It was something along the lines of simply, I see things, I think is how... And he's sitting at your kitchen table? We were sitting at his kitchen table at the time. And you said, I see things. I'm like, what do you mean you see things? And he explained it to be, I see geometric patterns.

22:56I see squares, triangles, circles in the sky. I see colors. I see entities coming in and out of walls. I see things and then sort of, you know, catching my eye and waiting for the reaction. Waiting for, are you crazy or what? Yeah. Waiting for, I'm out of here. Yeah. Yeah. And, okay, fella. I thought about, you know. That's that moment where you go, okay. It was a little too good to be true. I needed a second. I needed a second. But since meeting Jonas for the first time and having that full body experience that I talk about in the film, of knowing this individual as soon as he walked in to that funeral home.

23:42Knowing, like, I just had lightning going through me, and I'm like, okay, if this type of miracle can happen, then what else is out there? So I kept having to keep the mind open, keep the mind open. It got hard at times for me, because I didn't understand where I fit in with this journey. You know, I couldn't tell anybody. We kept it a secret for a long time. I didn't talk to my family about it and there was no you know guidebook for this at all why didn't you talk to your family he had asked me not to for a while and so I respected that of course I needed to talk to somebody yes I know when you're carrying something like this you need to share it with somebody yeah at least just one other person for me that's always Gail just if one other person knows you feel like okay I've let go of some of that burden just one another person.

24:33Yeah, right, right. And, and I can understand from watching the film that you would feel where is my place in all of this? Absolutely. Where is my place? And, you know, kind of coming from my own ego place a little bit of, well, this is all great for you, but what about me, you know? And then I would, you know, oh, don't think that, don't think that this is an amazing experience he's having. And, and then some days I just want to do the laundry, you know, I don't want to have to deal with you know four entities moving through the living room or could you see or feel them no i i never i i can feel things when i need to leave a store i can feel things like this is the wrong neighborhood i'm driving through i you know i think most of us can have these sensations i've definitely worked on it i've i've asked for it i've prayed for it at times going through the journey with him.

25:29Like, okay, if he can see it, why can't I see it? Let me have an experience too, because I want to join him. And so yeah, I struggled bouncing around trying to find, well, is it okay that I'm skeptical sometimes? Is it okay that I get frustrated with this? Because you were so skeptical. I think skepticism is really appropriate here. As I learned. Yes. Skepticism is really appropriate. That's why you were there. Hi, everyone. It's Katie Couric. And on my podcast, Next Question, we love stories about how women are taking control of their lives. They are increasingly leading financial decisions in their households.

26:08Yet many say they don't feel fully prepared for the long-term financial choices ahead. Real confidence comes from knowing your financial future is protected whatever happens. Pacific Life has helped generations protect what matters today and prepare for tomorrow with life insurance and lifetime income solutions. It's a promise Pacific Life has kept for nearly 160 years so its customers can keep theirs. Ask a financial professional about how Pacific Life can help you create a more confident financial future. Pacific Life Insurance Company, Omaha, Nebraska, and in New York, Pacific Life and Annuity, Phoenix, Arizona.

26:55Are you still a skeptic? You know, I can't even decide. I question if my deodorant is right. You know, I question everything. I can't help but doing that. And now... I find that Mitchum Clear and Dry is really good. Oh, great. I will try it. I, now I know that it's, that's me and that's okay to be me. And to have that gift given to me, be you, that's cool. You know, and here I thought this whole time, you know, the film's going to come out and I'm going to look like a, like a, you know, a bad person. I thought, I thought everybody would not like me because I'm the one that's not, you know, really along for the ride.

27:45I think a lot of people tend to... I think it makes the film more credible, actually, because if you had been the kind of person or girlfriend, supporter, who's like, oh, my God, this is so great, I think this is wonderful, then everybody would be even more suspicious. I think that you play the role of the skeptical viewer or the discerning viewer or anybody would be, you know, Most people are not open or not on the same vibrational frequency that they're seeing things. So of course we would question. And so you present that voice for us, the viewer, in the film. I've always been that type of person.

28:25I certainly have seen people in relationships absorb into the other person without question. You know, all of a sudden they like that band or they play that video game with that person without question. And that's okay. But when you start losing pieces of yourself, that's what's so great about it. You held on to yourself. Yeah, you held on to yourself. So what now have your friends, how they reacted? What have they said? What has been their response? I tell people you're a pre-movie friend or a post-movie friend. Oh, really? So I have these relationships with people and and then they see the film.

29:02And all of a sudden, sitting down with me and locking eyes with my new friend. I call them. They open their hearts more to me. They open their experiences more to me. They have they share with me their past experience, like I said, and tears in their eyes I've seen. And I've also seen people just say, well, that's cool. That's cool. I'm all right with that, too. You know, but I can definitely feel a difference in my relationships with pre-movie and post-movie. Wow. What has being a part of this experience done for you as a human being? It's taught me that your wake-up experience doesn't have to look like anyone else's.

29:50It doesn't have to look like Jonas's. It doesn't have to look like mine. It doesn't have to look like Oprah's. It can look like your awake experience. And if you're open to it, you know, it's there. And it's there for everybody. It always comes back, I think, to Glinda the Good Witch. You always had the power. Always had it. Always had it. And it's right here for everybody. Absolutely. Yeah. Delightful to see you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I'm Oprah Winfrey, and you've been listening to Super Soul Conversations, the podcast. You can follow Super Soul on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

30:27If you haven't yet, go to Apple Podcasts and subscribe, rate, and review this podcast. Join me next week for another Super Soul Conversation. Thank you for listening.

30:42Hi, everyone. It's Katie Couric. And on my podcast, Next Question, we love stories about how women are taking control of their lives. They are increasingly leading financial decisions in their households. Yet, many say they don't feel fully prepared for the long-term financial choices ahead. Real confidence comes from knowing your financial future is protected, whatever happens. Pacific Life has helped generations protect what matters today and prepare for tomorrow with life insurance and lifetime income solutions. It's a promise Pacific Life has kept for nearly 160 years so its customers can keep theirs.

31:24Ask a financial professional about how Pacific Life can help you create a more confident financial future. Pacific Life Insurance Company, Omaha, Nebraska, and in New York, Pacific Life and Annuity, Phoenix, Arizona.