Is Tyler Henry Writing in Tongues?
My family has been speaking in tongues since the Welsh Revival of 1904, back when my great-great-grandfather was a coal miner and Methodist lay preacher in the Forest of Dean. This was before the Spirit moved across the waters with Evan Roberts’ message, igniting the Azusa Street Revival and giving birth to Pentecostalism as we know it.
The other day, my uncle — who’s a bit of a black sheep (or maybe a red sheep, since he’s something of an anarcho-Marxist ex-Pentecostal) —shared an article about Azusa Street. He hasn’t called himself a believer for decades, but that hasn’t stopped him from engaging in the practice of glossolalia (the technical term for tongues). One day, I asked him why. Why would someone who doesn’t believe in the Holy Spirit still speak in tongues?
He told me:
“I’ve experimented with different forms of religious experience, though not widely. When I practiced Buddhist meditation, I felt like Buddhists had created a long, difficult path to reach a place that Pentecostals get to almost instantly through speaking in tongues — a state where ‘thoughts’ are no longer the brain’s focus. I still find glossolalia useful, especially for overcoming insomnia. Religious experiences are real in the sense that they are measurable brain events, though they don’t happen regularly without effort. They can be beneficial, but they don’t tell us whether the universe is filled with supernatural beings.
What caught my attention about the video and article he shared wasn’t just the history of Azusa Street, but a lesser-known fact: early Pentecostals didn’t just speak in tongues — they also wrote in tongues. This “glossographia” was once a common practice, though it eventually faded. The Pentecostals at Azusa became uneasy with it, largely because of its similarity to automatic writing, a practice popular among Spiritualists.
That’s when things got interesting. My uncle provided a link to some historical samples of tongues writing from Azusa Street. Agnes Ozman, whose experience helped launch the modern Pentecostal movement, reportedly could not write in English for three days and produced what appeared to be Chinese characters.
Looking at these historical samples, something about the symbols seemed familiar. I had seen something like this before.
Then it hit me.
Scrolling through YouTube one day, I had stumbled across a video of celebrity psychic Tyler Henry doing a reading for Jackass star Steve-O. Henry, famous for his supposed ability to communicate with the dead, has an unusual technique — before his readings, he rapidly scribbles on a notepad, almost in a trance-like state, claiming it helps him “tune in” to spiritual impressions.
What Happens in Tyler Henry’s Brain?
Not long ago, Dr. Drew — yes, that Dr. Drew from Loveline — got curious about Henry’s abilities. Drew doesn’t accept the premise that Henry is talking to dead people — preferring the idea that consciousness is co-created by people. But, after a successful reading of his own, he set up a study at the Peak Brain Institute with Dr. Andrew Hill to examine his brain activity during a reading. The results were surprising.
To test what was happening in Tyler’s brain, neuroscientist Dr. Andrew Hill conducted a quantitative EEG (qEEG), a method that measures real-time electrical activity across different brain regions.
First, they recorded Tyler’s resting brain activity as a baseline. Then, they recorded it again while he was doing a reading for Jackass star Steve-O.
As the reading began, Dr. Hill immediately noticed something unusual:
“He’s making such huge brain waves that I had to adjust the scale. His brain looks completely different now.”
The data showed that Tyler’s brain had shifted into an altered state similar to dreaming — even though he was fully awake and speaking. His frontal lobe, which controls decision-making and conscious thought, became less active, while his visual processing areas shut down.
This was especially strange because Tyler described “seeing” things during his reading. Normally, when someone visualizes an image, their visual processing areas activate. But in Tyler’s case, they became less active, as if his brain was processing information in a completely different way.
Dr. Hill also noticed a mix of beta waves (associated with active thinking) and alpha waves (linked to relaxation and trance states). This combination is unusual and suggests that Tyler was in a deeply altered state — both highly focused and disconnected from normal awareness.
While the brain scan showed real, measurable changes, it didn’t explain where Tyler’s information was coming from.
Dr. Drew remains skeptical that Tyler is communicating with spirits. Instead, he offers a different explanation:
“Consciousness is co-created,” he argues. We don’t just exist as isolated individuals — we shape each other’s minds through relationships, memories, and interactions.
In this view, people leave behind emotional and mental imprints on those they were close to. So when Tyler does a reading, he may not be talking to the dead — he might be accessing psychological remnants that still exist in the minds of the living.
If that’s the case, Tyler’s altered state might help him tune into deep subconscious connections that most people don’t consciously access. This idea of accessing unusual mental states made me think about other practices where people report similar experiences of “tuning in” to something beyond normal consciousness.
Speaking in Tongues vs. Writing in Tongues
When researchers scanned the brains of people engaging in glossolalia, they found that their frontal lobe activity dropped — suggesting they weren’t consciously controlling what they were saying. Their normal language control patterns shifted, while regions associated with emotion and intuition became more active. The brain essentially shifted into a state where normal self-awareness was dialed down, allowing something more automatic or intuitive to take over.
And that made me wonder — could Tyler Henry’s scribbling be a modern form of glossographia? The brain states seemed similar, but I needed visual evidence to support this connection.
Comparing the Scripts
I went looking for samples of Henry’s “automatic” writing, the scrawls he produces while preparing for his readings. When I compared them to the historical Azusa Street glossographia, the resemblance was striking. Both featured erratic, looping patterns that didn’t form coherent words but seemed to emerge from an altered state of consciousness.
So what’s going on here?
A Shared Brain State?
At a neurological level, speaking in tongues, writing in tongues, and even Henry’s psychic scribbling all seem to tap into the same altered state — one in which conscious control is loosened, and something deeper, more intuitive, takes over. The interpretation of these experiences, however, depends on the context. Pentecostals believe they are channeling the Holy Spirit. New Agers think they are tapping into higher dimensions. Spiritualists and psychics claim they’re receiving messages from beyond. Scientists see them as unique but explainable shifts in brain activity.
Yet across traditions, the underlying phenomenon remains eerily similar.
Maybe the Pentecostals at Azusa Street were right to be unsettled by their resemblance to the Spiritualists. Not because one practice was divine and the other demonic, but because they were — whether they liked it or not — barking up the same tree. This realization points to an even bigger question about the nature of religious experience itself.
Conclusion: What If the 60s Ecumenical Movement Was Onto Something — But Didn’t Go Far Enough?
Back in the 1960s, there was a hope that the Holy Spirit could be a force to unify fractured Christian denominations. This ecumenical movement suggested that, despite doctrinal differences, all Christians shared access to the same divine presence. But what if they were onto something even bigger than they realized?
What if it wasn’t just the Holy Spirit that was universal — but the underlying experience itself?
Across religious traditions, moments of deep spiritual connection — whether speaking in tongues, meditative trances, or spontaneous mystical encounters — share strikingly similar characteristics. Science has begun to map these experiences, showing that they alter consciousness in predictable ways. So what if what we call consciousness is what the world’s religions have always called the soul?
And what if the reason the Holy Spirit seemed to show up unpredictably wasn’t because of some cosmic whim, but because the process itself has never been fully understood — let alone taught?
Imagine a manual of soul work — a process that teaches people how to connect with their own consciousness, their deeper self, and even, perhaps, the consciousness of others. Some traditions call this the “spark of God” within every person. If we could agree — not on doctrine, but on the simple idea that we all have a soul, and that this connection is available to everyone — maybe, just maybe, the potential for unity could extend beyond Christian denominations.
Maybe it could extend across the entire world.
Notes and References
[1] The foundational study on glossolalia brain activity: Newberg, A. B., Wintering, N. A., Morgan, D., & Waldman, M. R. (2006). The measurement of regional cerebral blood flow during glossolalia: A preliminary SPECT study. Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, 148(1), 67–71.
[2] For historical documentation of glossographia and early Pentecostal writing in tongues, see Charles A. Sullivan’s detailed analysis at https://charlesasullivan.com/9604/early-pentecostal-tongues-part-3/
[3] Agnes Ozman’s experience was widely reported at the time, including documentation of her glossographia in “Agnes Ozman’s Writing,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 27, 1901, p. 32.
[4] Dr. Drew’s study of Tyler Henry’s brain activity can be viewed at “Inside the Brain of Hollywood Medium Tyler Henry,” The Dr. Drew Podcast, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpoTe5sDlng
Image Credits:
- Agnes Ozman’s writing in tongues: Charles A. Sullivan Collection
- Tyler Henry’s scribbles: USA Today
