<P> In addition to being an empath, Aiden is able to see and communicate with ghosts like his mother and grandparents do, and he is psychically connected to Melinda . Melinda does not tell Aiden this because she wants him to have a normal life . </P> <P> Aiden is able to see things Melinda can't, namely the Shinies (which Aiden refers to as "faceless" and made of "light") and the Shadows, which can be defeated easily by the Shinies, but the Shinies are too afraid of them to do so . </P> <P> Beth Gordon (portrayed by Anne Archer), Melinda's mother and Aiden's grandmother, has the ability to communicate with ghosts, but chooses not to . She never came to terms with her mother or Melinda when it came to their gifts and prefers not to speak of anything that has to do with ghosts, or her husband Tom Gordon . Before she met Tom, she was in a relationship with a man named Paul Eastman, whom she was having a baby with when he went to jail . Once he died, Beth married Tom and never told Melinda about her real father . In "Pater Familias", Paul convinces Beth to tell Melinda the truth . She is then invited to watch the tall ships come into the harbor with Melinda, Jim and their friends, Rick, Delia, and Ned . She appeared in the episodes "Melinda's First Ghost", "The Vanishing", "The Underneath", and "Pater Familias". </P> <P> Mary Ann, (played by June Squibb) - Melinda's grandmother and Aiden's great grandmother, now deceased, was a person who spoke to ghosts . It was she who gave lost spirits the title "earthbound ." She helped them cross over into the Light (Heaven). Her gift was passed down to Melinda, the current "ghost whisperer ." Mary Ann crossed over into the Light so she is currently a "Light" Spirit . She helps Melinda bring ghosts to peace through dreams in two episodes: "Voices" and "The Gathering". It is later revealed, in Season 3, that Melinda's maternal great - great - great - grandmother, Tessa (Amy Acker), could also communicate with ghosts and Melinda helps her cross over . When Melinda tells Tessa the fate of her daughter (in "Weight of What Was"), it is revealed that Mary Anne was the granddaughter of Julie Lee Lucas . Her married name was Patterson, according to Melinda . Melinda was in high school when her grandmother died and Melinda did not realize it until her grandmother said something about presence and then it dawned on Melinda that her grandmother was talking about her death and Melinda's loss of her grandmother . </P>

Who played melinda gordon's mother on ghost whisperer