Centralia Woman Turns Gift of Foresight into Business

Andrea Lochbaum dubs herself a psychic medium because those are the world’s terms. 

The Centralia native said she can communicate with the dead and experiences clairvoyant vision beyond what most others perceive. 

“I just use my gift from God,” said Lochbaum, who considers herself Christian. “I try to help people get through life with the fewest bumps and bruises possible.”

Because she doesn’t have a way of describing her unusual ability other than it comes from the left side of her brain, Lochbaum said, she uses psychic medium to characterize herself, despite the connotations often associated those terms. 

“I don’t want people to feel creepy or uncomfortable like it’s something scary because it’s not that at all,” she said. 

As a child, Lochbaum said, she thought everyone had extrasensory abilities. Over time, the 41-year-old said, she realized her ability was far from normal.

“I didn’t want to come out of the psychic closet,” she said.

Fearing judgment, Lochbaum said, she hid her foresight until she decided to go into business with it four years ago. 

“It’s none of my business what other people think of me,” she said. “I feel like I’m doing God’s work, so I’m okay with it.”

Today, Lochbaum said, she performs psychic medium work for clients around the globe, including Cambodia, Russia and Germany, from her Centralia home.

During a $150 one-hour session, Lochbaum doodles on a notepad with her eyes closed, seemingly deep in thought. 

She said signs appear, such as a toy Tonka truck, which symbolize certain conditions. In the case of the Tonka, she said, it means the client will end up in a wheelchair. Lochbaum said the symbols come from childhood associations. 

Lochbaum said she also receives information through feelings, smells or visions similar to movie clips. But, most often, she said, she obtains knowledge through direct communication with the dead and spirit guides, also known as guardian angels. 

Clients, she said, have told her she accomplishes in an hour what years of counseling sessions have not.

Lochbaum has used her abilities to bust cheating spouses, help a repo man find missing vehicles, and aided a real estate agent in finding successful listings, she said.

Lochbaum also does psychic sessions for pets, even reading for a cow on one occasion.

“Only in Lewis County would you read a cow,” she said, laughing.

The former crime scene decontamination specialist said she also works five missing persons cases a year, without charging fees.

“I give people the information. What they do with it is none of my business either,” she said.

Mary Gundy, of Longview, credits Lochbaum with finding her missing family member. 

The two women worked at Human Response Network in Chehalis, when Gundy’s brother, a long-haul truck driver, went missing in 2008. Gundy said Lochbaum came to her with information, not knowing the family was growing increasingly concerned.

Lochbaum knew he was in a place called Jefferson and provided a detailed description of the area, Gundy said. Lochbaum said she felt Gundy’s brother, Bart Costi, was experiencing pain in his right ankle in a rowdy place.

Gundy said she found Costi a week later in Jefferson Parish, in suburban New Orleans.

“The things that she had described, it was almost like I had deja vu,” Gundy said. “I never, ever have witnessed anything like that in my life, ever.”  

The Onalaska trucker went off route for Mardi Gras, Gundy said, but had a fall. Costi sprained his right ankle and was recovering in a hotel, unaware the family was looking for him, Gundy said. 

Though Louisiana police, local news coverage, and Costi’s employer assisted, Gundy said, they would not have located him as quickly without Lochbaum.

“She’s not one of your typical carnival sideshows. She definitely has a gift,” Gundy said. “I truly believe it’s a gift from God.” 

Unlike many other self-proclaimed psychics, Lochbaum said, she does not encourage clients to elaborate on her perceptions. 

Skeptics often point to a scam technique called cold reading, where a so-called psychic will provide vague details the client then looks for a connection with and offers more. 

Lochbaum sets herself apart from purported psychics, such as Sylvia Browne, who has misused her ability by extorting money from grieving people, she said. Lochbaum does not use tarot cards, pendulums, palms or Ouija boards in her work.

Still, she can make inaccurate predictions. 

“It’s never a slam dunk. You can never bank on it 100 percent,” Lochbaum said. “ But it can be guidance.”

Lochbaum communicates directly with a client’s spirit guide and lost loved ones to obtain specific details relevant to their lives, she said.

Emily Marecle, of Centralia, said she was skeptical of Lochbaum at first.

But, Marecle said, Lochbaum has since given her readings and messages from her father, who died when she was 13.

“She gets messages from him that are so specific to his personality,” Marecle said. “It’s almost like going to see a really good counselor that just happens to know everything before you told them.”

The former victim advocate said Lochbaum last winter gave her a statue of a Hindu god. Lochbaum said Marecle’s father insisted she buy it.

“She had no idea what it represented,” Marecle said, noting the statute held significant personal meaning to her. “It’s continuously mindblowing.”

Lochbaum said with stories like those of Marecle and Gundy, she knows she’s in the right line of work.

“If the gift was gone tomorrow, I’d know I did something,” she said.

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Amy Nile: (360) 807-8235

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