News Post Leader: Ghost hunters release book
TWO unlikely soul mates have come together to produce a new ghost hunting book.
The Psychic Biker, Paul Green, and the Extreme Ghost Hunter, Stephen Lambert, who are both from Blyth, have joined forces to create a new book that takes a candid look at the world of ghost hunting and the paranormal.
In The Psychic Biker meets the Extreme Ghost Hunter, Paul and Lambert have undertaken the task of spending many days and nights searching for something, which, for the most of us, is not part of everyday life experience.
The book is released on Monday.
Paul said: “We reveal our thoughts on ghosts and haunting, as we willingly seek to experience the things most people would run from in terror.
“Locations are extreme and often previously un-examined.”
The Psychic Biker meets the Extreme Ghost Hunter is available to pre-order form Amazon and other bookshops.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
CT: Ghosthunting workshop offers spookiness at Deep River Library
The Middletown Press: Ghosthunting workshop offers spookiness at Deep River Library
DEEP RIVER – With a few screams and a lot of panting, a group of kids and teens rushed out of the dark reaches of the library basement and into the comparative safety of a meeting room.
“Holy crap-a-moley,” said Alexis Hartman, 11, of Deep River, recounting her experiences in the basement. “That was like… I had a big experience with that.”
Hartman and several of her friends were participating in a ghost hunting workshop at the Deep River Public Library on Saturday evening, and before they fled, had been listening for ghosts in the basement with an adapted radio. The ghost hunters at Haunted New England Paranormal Research hosted the workshop for kids and teens to show how they search for spirits. The kids had a chance to see the ghost-hunting equipment – cameras, digital voice recorders, and electric meters – and then hunt for ghosts inside the library.
So is the building haunted? HNEP founder Mike Krause and his colleagues think so. He said they’ve visited numerous times, and they’ve captured multiple voices, belonging to men, women and children. The library building, built in 1881, was once the home of Richard Spencer, his wife, Julia, and their children.
Over multiple visits, Krause’s team has also captured a picture of what looks like a woman in a purple dress, which they think might be Julia and a face that looks like Richard coming out of a wall.
“Whatever’s here likes it here,” said Rodney Wilson, one of Krause’s colleagues. “If they’re attached to a place, they’re gonna come back to the place.”
After demonstrating the equipment, Krause, Wilson and coworker Tina Listro broke the audience up to teams and took them to different parts of the building. In the attic, Listro tried to speak to the Spencers, particularly the children. On a previous visit, she explained, she left flour on the floor of an unused room to see if the flour was disturbed by any ghostly presences.
In the pitch-black, dusty basement, things got spookier. Using a device created from a radio, which scans through different frequencies for a split-second at a time, Listro and the audience thought they heard a voice responding to their questions. The voice, which might have been one of the Spencer children, identified himself as “Nick.”
“I’m interested in ghosts,” said Grace Martorelli, 11, of Deep River. “I wanted to know if they’re really with us. I’ve seen a lot of ghost shows and know what they look like.
Old Lyme resident Zach Welch, 12, said he enjoys watching shows like ‘Ghost Hunters.’
“I watch those shows a lot,” he said. ‘It kinda seems real. It makes you want to feel it and see what it’s like.”
“It’s validating some of the things I’ve seen or heard,” added Zach’s mom, Lisa, who went to the attic and basement to look for ghosts. But, she added, “I’m still a little skeptical.”
Krause said he got into ghost hunting as a teenager, when his family moved into a Victorian house in Manchester.
“From day one of being in that house, I had an uneasy feeling,” he said. Sometimes, he said, he was awoken at night by a shadow moving back and forth in his bedroom. When the shadow was there, he said, he couldn’t turn on the lights or open the door. If he started yelling, the shadow would leave, and the lights would come on.
Spooked by the experiences, Krause moved out within months to stay with a friend, and his parents moved out within two years. After moving out, Krause did some research on the house, and became intrigued with ghost hunting. He officially started his business in 1992, and it’s expanded to have a team of eight ghost hunters, including Listro and Wilson. The researchers don’t charge money to investigate a possible haunting, so all of them are involved because they’re genuinely interested in the paranormal.
In the last five years, Krause said, the percentage of hunts that have turned up paranormal activity has increased, which he thinks is because of his team’s increased knowledge.
“Once the bug catches you, you can’t get rid of it,” said Wilson.
Listro said that while she sometimes got nervous with her early ghost experiences, she’s gotten used to it. The job, she said, “is like anything else.”
“I don’t believe that there are things out there that really want to hurt you,” she said.
Still, some of the people who participated Saturday said they were intrigued, but despite assurances from the researchers, a little nervous.
“I think I was just totally interested in it,” said Deep River resident Mary Beth Kiely, one of the adults who tagged along on the tour. “I’ve always been interested, but a big chicken.”
“I might get a little freaked out and sleep with the lights on,” she added.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Ghost hunting dog joins the TAPS cast on 'Ghost Hunters'
Hartford, CT Examiner: Ghost hunting dog joins the TAPS cast on 'Ghost Hunters'
A ghost hunting dog joins the reality show, “Ghost Hunters” this week and she is ready to find the things that are there, but people cannot see. Maddie joins TAPS for the first time this week at the Alex Johnson Hotel. Her perception is helpful to the “Ghost Hunters” investigation.
Maddie, the ghost hunting dog, has gone through special training for this field of paranormal work. This is similar to dogs that train to help the blind or disabled. Another field that dogs senses are utilized is in forensics or drug investigations. Their sense of smell is much more developed than humans
This week Maddie goes through this hotel with the TAPS team members, Jay and Grant and she does prove to sense a presence that is not seen. When she won’t enter an area, this tells the team that something is there. Maddie on the job could eventually lead the team right to the hot spots in the investigation, without having to roam through large buildings looking for the paranormal activity.
Connecticut fans of the show “Ghost Hunters” can tune in on Connecticut’s Sci-Fi Channel on Wednesday nights. The new episode airs at 9pm EST, but previous episodes are available from 7pm until 9pm EST.
A ghost hunting dog joins the reality show, “Ghost Hunters” this week and she is ready to find the things that are there, but people cannot see. Maddie joins TAPS for the first time this week at the Alex Johnson Hotel. Her perception is helpful to the “Ghost Hunters” investigation.
Maddie, the ghost hunting dog, has gone through special training for this field of paranormal work. This is similar to dogs that train to help the blind or disabled. Another field that dogs senses are utilized is in forensics or drug investigations. Their sense of smell is much more developed than humans
This week Maddie goes through this hotel with the TAPS team members, Jay and Grant and she does prove to sense a presence that is not seen. When she won’t enter an area, this tells the team that something is there. Maddie on the job could eventually lead the team right to the hot spots in the investigation, without having to roam through large buildings looking for the paranormal activity.
Connecticut fans of the show “Ghost Hunters” can tune in on Connecticut’s Sci-Fi Channel on Wednesday nights. The new episode airs at 9pm EST, but previous episodes are available from 7pm until 9pm EST.
Friday, June 24, 2011
http://www.ghostweb.com/
I think I've shared this website before, but I'll share it again since its a slow newsday.
http://www.ghostweb.com/
Drs. Dave and Sharon Oester offer free membership in the largest (12,080 members) Paranormal Research Society on the Internet. Email Drs. Dave & Sharon.
Tons of links here to the paranormal.
http://www.ghostweb.com/
Drs. Dave and Sharon Oester offer free membership in the largest (12,080 members) Paranormal Research Society on the Internet. Email Drs. Dave & Sharon.
Tons of links here to the paranormal.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Ghost Watching Clubs: The Tampa Ghost Watchers
This is an interesting site... but it doesn't appear to have been updated since 2007. Nevertheless, I'll share it, just in case you want to take a look at it, and if you're in Tampa, resurrect it. [An attempt at a pun, there!]
The Tampa Ghost Watchers
www.tampaghostwatchers.com
Monday, June 20, 2011
Rhode Island: Ghost hunters explore Westerly Armory
The Westerly Sun: Ghost hunters explore Westerly Armory
As videos go, the beginning was pretty dull.
A group of people were outside the Westerly Armory Saturday night, huddled around a computer monitor with an air of anticipation. On the screen were surveillance images of the armory's kitchen. In the greenish glow of the infrared night-vision camera, furniture and walls were visible, and not much else.
But then the camera went dark. Footsteps and banging noises were recorded, in a room that was supposedly empty.
"There's an intelligent, right there," murmured one member of the group.
The video was recorded by a paranormal research team called G.H.O.S.T. during an investigation of the armory. They were intrigued by the unexplained video - it seems the camera light had been physically snapped off - and they returned to investigate.
John Austin of Warwick, the lead investigator, brought a team of six people and several thousand dollars worth of equipment to Westerly for the group's third attempt to document paranormal activity at the armory. The video is but one piece of evidence they've collected that someone, or something, is haunting the armory.
"I know there's something here, but I can't explain it yet," said Austin. "I want to determine if it has any type of intelligence, any type of reaction."
Before sunset, the group placed night-vision cameras and audio recorders in strategic places around the armory. Two cameras, one at each end of the room, were placed in the kitchen, the site of the previous video.
The goal for this visit was to collect electronic voice phenomena, or EVP, Austin said. The investigators hoped to capture a voice on the audio recorders in response to questions they would ask.
Electromagnetic
In addition to the recording devices, investigators would also search for evidence. The plan was for one team of three to enter the armory at a time. As they entered each room, they would take still photos, shoot video from a hand-held camera, and take temperature and electromagnetic field readings. A sudden drop in temperature, or a sudden increase in the electromagnetic field, could mean there is a ghost present, said investigator Jamie Rogers of Warwick.
After the readings and pictures, they planned to spend about 10 minutes trying to get any spirits in each room to speak with them. The second team would later repeat the work of the first team.
"It's a very patient thing to do," Austin said. "It takes a lot of time."
Austin's group is the Rhode Island branch of Ghost Hunters of Spirit Transcommunications, a New England organization based in Kennebunk, Maine, that pursues "science- based" paranormal research.
Footstep sounds
The video wasn't the only evidence that the armory is haunted; there is also some first-hand experience. Bob Watz, a member of the armory's executive board, said he and his wife were putting a mailing together in the boardroom one day when they heard footsteps upstairs in the band room. He ignored it, but then it happened again. Knowing that they were alone in the building, he decided to investigate.
"I go upstairs, and there's nobody up there," he recalled.
He told his fellow board members about his experience, and another member approached him afterward with a similar experience. Hope Benn said she was alone in the band room when she heard the door to the outside open and close, and footsteps heading up the stairs. She also looked out and checked; there was no one there. She never mentioned it until Watz told his story, she said, because she thought it all sounded so crazy.
It's doubtful that those stories would sound crazy to Austin, who said his hobby of hunting the paranormal evolved from experiences in his own home, which he said is the most haunted building he's ever researched. Among the activities he's witnessed are his livingroom couch being flipped upside down and a 70- pound television set being rotated 180 degrees every time he left the room.
Rogers said he once tried to provoke the entity in Austin's house and got hit in the face by a washer. Austin recalled the time he and Rogers were barricaded in the basement, which he described as the only time he's been scared.
"It's been doing this for years and years and years now," he said.
Paranormal activity has also been witnessed by Austin's 8-year-old daughter, Cassidy, who is the youngest ghost hunter in the group. She has seen the image of a little girl and an old woman in her house, Cassidy said, and snapped a picture of the little girl with her iPod.
Cassidy was on her second ghost hunt with her father, and already has plans to become the group's leader. When Austin goes into a building, the fearless Cassidy tags along and lets her father know if any of the rooms make her feel uncomfortable. She doesn't enter those rooms, and her father investigates them more closely.
Children are more sensitive to the paranormal, Austin said, due to their open-mindedness.
Hauntings are actually pretty common, Austin said, and in his 11 years of investigating old buildings, mostly in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, he's struck out only once. Most people don't see ghosts, he explained, because they don't want to. Spirits are like people, he said. If you pay more attention to them, they will pay attention to you. If you ignore them, they will ignore you.
For those who would dismiss any notion of the paranormal, Austin said that just because they can't see it doesn't mean it's not there. He compared the paranormal to the laws of physics, which you can't actually see but no one doubts.
"You can't see gravity, but it's there," he said. "You really can't dismiss it. You don't know."
After spending the afternoon and evening at the armory, the group planned to be out of there by midnight. It will take weeks to go over all of the data and check all of their devices, Rogers said.
Ron Brunelle of the armory's executive board said he hopes the groups find something paranormal, because that could create more interest in the armory.
As videos go, the beginning was pretty dull.
A group of people were outside the Westerly Armory Saturday night, huddled around a computer monitor with an air of anticipation. On the screen were surveillance images of the armory's kitchen. In the greenish glow of the infrared night-vision camera, furniture and walls were visible, and not much else.
But then the camera went dark. Footsteps and banging noises were recorded, in a room that was supposedly empty.
"There's an intelligent, right there," murmured one member of the group.
The video was recorded by a paranormal research team called G.H.O.S.T. during an investigation of the armory. They were intrigued by the unexplained video - it seems the camera light had been physically snapped off - and they returned to investigate.
John Austin of Warwick, the lead investigator, brought a team of six people and several thousand dollars worth of equipment to Westerly for the group's third attempt to document paranormal activity at the armory. The video is but one piece of evidence they've collected that someone, or something, is haunting the armory.
"I know there's something here, but I can't explain it yet," said Austin. "I want to determine if it has any type of intelligence, any type of reaction."
Before sunset, the group placed night-vision cameras and audio recorders in strategic places around the armory. Two cameras, one at each end of the room, were placed in the kitchen, the site of the previous video.
The goal for this visit was to collect electronic voice phenomena, or EVP, Austin said. The investigators hoped to capture a voice on the audio recorders in response to questions they would ask.
Electromagnetic
In addition to the recording devices, investigators would also search for evidence. The plan was for one team of three to enter the armory at a time. As they entered each room, they would take still photos, shoot video from a hand-held camera, and take temperature and electromagnetic field readings. A sudden drop in temperature, or a sudden increase in the electromagnetic field, could mean there is a ghost present, said investigator Jamie Rogers of Warwick.
After the readings and pictures, they planned to spend about 10 minutes trying to get any spirits in each room to speak with them. The second team would later repeat the work of the first team.
"It's a very patient thing to do," Austin said. "It takes a lot of time."
Austin's group is the Rhode Island branch of Ghost Hunters of Spirit Transcommunications, a New England organization based in Kennebunk, Maine, that pursues "science- based" paranormal research.
Footstep sounds
The video wasn't the only evidence that the armory is haunted; there is also some first-hand experience. Bob Watz, a member of the armory's executive board, said he and his wife were putting a mailing together in the boardroom one day when they heard footsteps upstairs in the band room. He ignored it, but then it happened again. Knowing that they were alone in the building, he decided to investigate.
"I go upstairs, and there's nobody up there," he recalled.
He told his fellow board members about his experience, and another member approached him afterward with a similar experience. Hope Benn said she was alone in the band room when she heard the door to the outside open and close, and footsteps heading up the stairs. She also looked out and checked; there was no one there. She never mentioned it until Watz told his story, she said, because she thought it all sounded so crazy.
It's doubtful that those stories would sound crazy to Austin, who said his hobby of hunting the paranormal evolved from experiences in his own home, which he said is the most haunted building he's ever researched. Among the activities he's witnessed are his livingroom couch being flipped upside down and a 70- pound television set being rotated 180 degrees every time he left the room.
Rogers said he once tried to provoke the entity in Austin's house and got hit in the face by a washer. Austin recalled the time he and Rogers were barricaded in the basement, which he described as the only time he's been scared.
"It's been doing this for years and years and years now," he said.
Paranormal activity has also been witnessed by Austin's 8-year-old daughter, Cassidy, who is the youngest ghost hunter in the group. She has seen the image of a little girl and an old woman in her house, Cassidy said, and snapped a picture of the little girl with her iPod.
Cassidy was on her second ghost hunt with her father, and already has plans to become the group's leader. When Austin goes into a building, the fearless Cassidy tags along and lets her father know if any of the rooms make her feel uncomfortable. She doesn't enter those rooms, and her father investigates them more closely.
Children are more sensitive to the paranormal, Austin said, due to their open-mindedness.
Hauntings are actually pretty common, Austin said, and in his 11 years of investigating old buildings, mostly in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, he's struck out only once. Most people don't see ghosts, he explained, because they don't want to. Spirits are like people, he said. If you pay more attention to them, they will pay attention to you. If you ignore them, they will ignore you.
For those who would dismiss any notion of the paranormal, Austin said that just because they can't see it doesn't mean it's not there. He compared the paranormal to the laws of physics, which you can't actually see but no one doubts.
"You can't see gravity, but it's there," he said. "You really can't dismiss it. You don't know."
After spending the afternoon and evening at the armory, the group planned to be out of there by midnight. It will take weeks to go over all of the data and check all of their devices, Rogers said.
Ron Brunelle of the armory's executive board said he hopes the groups find something paranormal, because that could create more interest in the armory.
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Haunted tales
Deccan Herald: Haunted tales
Rocky and Mayur are on a spooky trail with ‘India’s Most Haunted’. This show is their quest to decipher the world of the paranormal, writes Nafeesah Ahmed
There are hunters and then there are ghost hunters. And by the end of my tete-a-tete with the ghost hunting duo, abound with stories of the paranormal and inexplicable tales, I knew that I was in for some sleepless nights. Best friends, business partners, co-anchors of the popular show Highway On My Plate, and now ghost hunters, Rocky Singh and Mayur Sharma don’t need any introduction. While their quest for good food has taken them all across the country, India’s Most Haunted, a new reality series launched by NDTV Good Times, fuels their quest to decipher the world of the paranormal and supernatural, taking them to myriad haunted locales with untold tales of the feared and the unknown. “Stories of the supernatural are part of the very culture and fabric of our country,” says Mayur, “everyone has some story or legend to share.”
Rocky, who incidentally is also the director of the show, reveals, “India’s Most Haunted is something that I have been passionate about for a very long time. Through the show, we tell wonderful, colourful stories of India with the respect and authenticity that these tales deserve.” The show is essentially a scientific probe into the realm of the unknown, with the sole objective of uncovering the truth behind each of these tales. Rocky goes on to elaborate, “It is not glorification of the supernatural. Our brand of reality is brutally honest and real. If there is nothing out there, we will come back with nothing.”
The opening episode of India’s Most Haunted recreates the events of the fateful night when Rocky and Mayur, along with some friends, visited Jamali Kamali, a heritage site located in the Archeological Village Complex in Mehrauli, New Delhi. A first hand account of what happened 20 years ago, narrated by Rocky, and how it became a turning point in his life, gave me goosebumps. A dark shadowy figure, earlier spotted by Rocky on a wall, jumped onto the roof of their jeep, and seemed to take fancy to one of their friends, who had dared to look out to see what had landed on their vehicle. This particular friend, Vikas, was apparently slapped, held by the neck, while a dozen invisible hands pulled and threw him into the back of the jeep.
It was only when Rocky reached out to help him with his hands stretched out did the ‘thing’ finally fly out through the window, into the night, giving the impression of “gallons of oil flowing out”. The imprint of the hand that had slapped Vikas, stayed on for a few days but the experience lingers on in their minds till date. While the incident left everyone shaken, it sparked off an interest in Rocky, who then spent the next 15 years of his life researching and travelling to places which were reputed to be haunted. These travels provided fodder for many an article that he has written on the subject.
Apart from Rocky’s treasure trove of knowledge, what’s crucial to the team’s mission are the tools of the ghost hunters’ trade. They work with infrared cameras that can capture footage in pitch black darkness and even record what the naked eye can’t see. Then, there are the Electronic Voice Phenomenon (EVP) recorders that pick up sound waves that would otherwise be inaudible to humans. Add to that, motion sensors, infrared laser thermometers and tri-field natural electromagnetic meters.
But shooting a series on the supernatural and paranormal comes with its inherent set of challenges. “Late nights, desolate locations, snakes, spiders and the exhaustion of shooting 23 hours at a stretch,” reveals Mayur. While the TV crew has been extremely brave, I am sure when it comes to us, most of us would happily decline the offer to spend the night in the supposedly ‘haunted city’ of Bhangarh in Rajasthan, especially when you have huge stones being hurled at you, “coming out of nowhere”. Nor would there be many willing takers for solo investigative sessions, like the ones conducted by Rocky and Mayur inside Tunnel 103 in Shimla, or in the Abbey in Uttarakhand, where locals narrate their experiences with apparitions.
The suspense during these solo sessions is nerve-racking. To add to the spook factor, we see Rocky trying to communicate with the spirits, urging that they come forth and reveal themselves. However, one imminent question running through everyone’s mind is whether the duo is ever scared? While Mayur is candid enough to admit that he is one of us, petrified on most occasions, Rocky says that he doesn’t let fear affect his composure.
He goes on to share an interesting theory. Rocky believes that “if a person’s aura is radiating, which means if we are convinced about our identity and have a certain level of grounding and presence, then our aura strengthens and begins to radiate. At that time, it is very difficult for anything to come close.” Without debating this theory, I can clearly see how he manages to hold the unit together and as executive producer of the show, Monica Narula, says, “Rocky gives a lot of encouragement and infuses strength into the show.”
If you are the kind who appreciates honest tales of supernatural beliefs, then, go right ahead and indulge your senses.
Rocky and Mayur are on a spooky trail with ‘India’s Most Haunted’. This show is their quest to decipher the world of the paranormal, writes Nafeesah Ahmed
There are hunters and then there are ghost hunters. And by the end of my tete-a-tete with the ghost hunting duo, abound with stories of the paranormal and inexplicable tales, I knew that I was in for some sleepless nights. Best friends, business partners, co-anchors of the popular show Highway On My Plate, and now ghost hunters, Rocky Singh and Mayur Sharma don’t need any introduction. While their quest for good food has taken them all across the country, India’s Most Haunted, a new reality series launched by NDTV Good Times, fuels their quest to decipher the world of the paranormal and supernatural, taking them to myriad haunted locales with untold tales of the feared and the unknown. “Stories of the supernatural are part of the very culture and fabric of our country,” says Mayur, “everyone has some story or legend to share.”
Rocky, who incidentally is also the director of the show, reveals, “India’s Most Haunted is something that I have been passionate about for a very long time. Through the show, we tell wonderful, colourful stories of India with the respect and authenticity that these tales deserve.” The show is essentially a scientific probe into the realm of the unknown, with the sole objective of uncovering the truth behind each of these tales. Rocky goes on to elaborate, “It is not glorification of the supernatural. Our brand of reality is brutally honest and real. If there is nothing out there, we will come back with nothing.”
The opening episode of India’s Most Haunted recreates the events of the fateful night when Rocky and Mayur, along with some friends, visited Jamali Kamali, a heritage site located in the Archeological Village Complex in Mehrauli, New Delhi. A first hand account of what happened 20 years ago, narrated by Rocky, and how it became a turning point in his life, gave me goosebumps. A dark shadowy figure, earlier spotted by Rocky on a wall, jumped onto the roof of their jeep, and seemed to take fancy to one of their friends, who had dared to look out to see what had landed on their vehicle. This particular friend, Vikas, was apparently slapped, held by the neck, while a dozen invisible hands pulled and threw him into the back of the jeep.
It was only when Rocky reached out to help him with his hands stretched out did the ‘thing’ finally fly out through the window, into the night, giving the impression of “gallons of oil flowing out”. The imprint of the hand that had slapped Vikas, stayed on for a few days but the experience lingers on in their minds till date. While the incident left everyone shaken, it sparked off an interest in Rocky, who then spent the next 15 years of his life researching and travelling to places which were reputed to be haunted. These travels provided fodder for many an article that he has written on the subject.
Apart from Rocky’s treasure trove of knowledge, what’s crucial to the team’s mission are the tools of the ghost hunters’ trade. They work with infrared cameras that can capture footage in pitch black darkness and even record what the naked eye can’t see. Then, there are the Electronic Voice Phenomenon (EVP) recorders that pick up sound waves that would otherwise be inaudible to humans. Add to that, motion sensors, infrared laser thermometers and tri-field natural electromagnetic meters.
But shooting a series on the supernatural and paranormal comes with its inherent set of challenges. “Late nights, desolate locations, snakes, spiders and the exhaustion of shooting 23 hours at a stretch,” reveals Mayur. While the TV crew has been extremely brave, I am sure when it comes to us, most of us would happily decline the offer to spend the night in the supposedly ‘haunted city’ of Bhangarh in Rajasthan, especially when you have huge stones being hurled at you, “coming out of nowhere”. Nor would there be many willing takers for solo investigative sessions, like the ones conducted by Rocky and Mayur inside Tunnel 103 in Shimla, or in the Abbey in Uttarakhand, where locals narrate their experiences with apparitions.
The suspense during these solo sessions is nerve-racking. To add to the spook factor, we see Rocky trying to communicate with the spirits, urging that they come forth and reveal themselves. However, one imminent question running through everyone’s mind is whether the duo is ever scared? While Mayur is candid enough to admit that he is one of us, petrified on most occasions, Rocky says that he doesn’t let fear affect his composure.
He goes on to share an interesting theory. Rocky believes that “if a person’s aura is radiating, which means if we are convinced about our identity and have a certain level of grounding and presence, then our aura strengthens and begins to radiate. At that time, it is very difficult for anything to come close.” Without debating this theory, I can clearly see how he manages to hold the unit together and as executive producer of the show, Monica Narula, says, “Rocky gives a lot of encouragement and infuses strength into the show.”
If you are the kind who appreciates honest tales of supernatural beliefs, then, go right ahead and indulge your senses.
Zak Bagans creates a 'Paranormal Challenge' for local ghost hunters
Examinor.com National: Zak Bagans creates a 'Paranormal Challenge' for local ghost hunters
They call him the “Chairman” but there’s never been a boss like Zak Bagans on reality television before.
Clad in all black, military-esque fatigues, he nearly blends into the cavelike surroundings. Like a hybrid of Batman and Captain Kirk, Bagans possesses an intense sense of calm, standing with hands clasped behind his back as he peer at the nerve center, the setup of scaffolding and audio/visual equipment. Occasionally he looks over the heads of his “Chief Judge” and celebrity guest judges at a bank of monitors and calls out directions to “listen in” to the onscreen figures, illuminated only in nightvision.
Bagans deliberates with his judges, listens thoughtfully and asks questions, the most important of which is not, “Do ghosts exists?” but instead, “Which paranormal team is the best at finding them?”
Zak Bagans is a true believer of ghosts, and this is his world of “Paranormal Challenge,” a new reality series premiering tonight, 9 p.m. ET, on Travel Channel which merges the popular paranormal investigation programs with competition shows. Serving as executive producer and star – similar to the double duty he performs on Travel’s “Ghost Adventures” - “Challenge” pits two ghost hunting teams against one another for bragging rights at some of the nation’s allegedly “most haunted” locations.
For the 34-year-old former DJ, ghost hunting is a way for the living to find answers about the afterlife, but also “allows the dead to find their answers” through communication. His pursuit garnered him millions of fans since he co-created the “Ghost Adventures” documentary with Nick Groff in 2004 (where he appeared to catch on film a brick lifted and hurled at him by an unseen force), which aired on the erstwhile Sci-Fi Channel (now Syfy) in 2007 before Travel Channel picked up the show about a year later.
Now, although Bagans is a leader in a crowded field of TV investigators, he insists he doesn’t have a monopoly on the paranormal community.
“Just because I'm on television - or other people are on television - doesn't mean that this is our community and that we lead it; this is something that belongs to the world,” says Bagans - hence his idea for “Challenge.”
Not only is the show a unique evolution in the paranormal-TV genre, what makes the new program especially notable is that Bagans hopes to share his fame with regional investigation teams who often pursue evidence of the afterlife but may not have a venue to show off their work – and lack access to these well-known haunted hotspots.
“’Paranormal Challenge’ was created to spark unity - to not just showcase ‘Ghost Adventures’ guys, not just showcase all these other shows, but to allow these other teams that have been researching the paranormal for so long, and allow them now to come into the spotlight.”
While Bagans emphasizes that “Challenge” is a small way to give back to fans and give props to other spook seeking organizations, he acknowledges it is still a competition show, which means there has to be judging criteria to determine a winning team.
“We do not tell [contestants] how to investigate,” he says before adding, “I've come up with the categories that are essential building blocks of the fundamentals of paranormal investigating which are the use of history, teamwork, technology, and the evidence … those are things that can easily be judged.”
Plus Bagans points out that winning the challenge doesn’t mean “big cash prizes.” He says he tells all of his teams it’s all about having fun, and taking part in a shared goal to “find answers.” That’s why he says the victors only get bragging rights. Even with the categories the teams are analyzed on, he says he can’t claim to tell a group that there are right and wrong ways to investigate. Besides, he adds, he already respects and appreciates every team who shows up to pursue the unknown.
Along for the ghost ride with Bagans is “Chief Judge” Dave Schrader – the host of the “Darkness At The Edge of Town” Internet radio show and paranormal tourism event organizer – as well as a rotating stable of notable figures within the paranormal community, including authors, journalists, historians, psychics, inventors and personalities from other reality shows. As established in the premiere episode at Rolling Hills Asylum in East Bethany, N.Y., and followed by an investigation at Philadelphia’s Eastern State Penitentiary, Bagans and his judges monitor the competing teams live through a system of robotic and static cameras, as well as one cameraman per group.
Advertisement
Compared to the small “Ghost Adventures” investigative crew of Bagans, Groff and Aaron Goodwin, who get “locked down” alone in haunted locales, “Paranormal Challenge” is a larger production. But Bagans says it is necessary to avoid an illusion that competing teams were alone in a building.
“I’m not a big fan of paranormal television with tons of camera crews unaccounted for because audio evidence is one of the most important things we are searching for … to have unaccounted crew members in a location where investigators are is like going to a homicide scene, having a bunch of kids walk around without gloves on.”
In addition to a larger scale, another difference between “Adventures” and “Challenge” is that Bagans isn’t in the midst of the action. He says he’s used to the excitement of investigating but relishes hanging back as the “Challenge” Chairman where he oversees the judges and observes the teams in action.
But, he adds, he does occasionally have the temptation to join the investigation with the groups.
“I'm like a little kid sitting on the other side of a chain link fence watching my friends go ride a Ferris wheel at the fair. It's hard as s--t for me not to get out there.”
Statements like this perhaps reveal how much of a big kid Bagans really is. Though a serious enthusiast of the supernatural, and despite his reputation as the guy on TV who runs down dark halls shouting at demons, Bagans isn’t afraid to have fun and goof on himself. He’s lampooned his persona - and host Joel McHale’s - on E! Entertainment Television’s “The Soup.” He also thinks the paranormal community would benefit from relaxing a little, and dismisses critics who claim a competition show will compromise the credibility of paranormal investigations.
“We need to get away from the seriousness of paranormal investigations; there's people in this industry so protective of it that they think they own it - And that's not right.”
In fact, Bagans says anyone can and should research the paranormal and ignore haters who try to claim it or dictate how it must be done.
And though he says he’s been dealing with his own paranormal challenge of executive producing and appearing on two shows - as well as working on his September 2011 biography “Dark World: Into the Shadows of the Lead Investigator of the Ghost Adventures Crew” and being a main attraction at paranormal conventions - Zak Bagans can’t think of a better way to live.
“It’s what I love to do,” he says. “And the biggest gift is that the audience loves what we're doing.”
“I wish I could go out and hug every single one of them … Those are the people I'm here to work my ass off for.”
The “Paranormal Challenge” and “Ghost Adventures” star Zak Bagans pauses for a moment before continuing with a now-classic, Chairman-appropriate joke: “Winning.”
They call him the “Chairman” but there’s never been a boss like Zak Bagans on reality television before.
Clad in all black, military-esque fatigues, he nearly blends into the cavelike surroundings. Like a hybrid of Batman and Captain Kirk, Bagans possesses an intense sense of calm, standing with hands clasped behind his back as he peer at the nerve center, the setup of scaffolding and audio/visual equipment. Occasionally he looks over the heads of his “Chief Judge” and celebrity guest judges at a bank of monitors and calls out directions to “listen in” to the onscreen figures, illuminated only in nightvision.
Bagans deliberates with his judges, listens thoughtfully and asks questions, the most important of which is not, “Do ghosts exists?” but instead, “Which paranormal team is the best at finding them?”
Zak Bagans is a true believer of ghosts, and this is his world of “Paranormal Challenge,” a new reality series premiering tonight, 9 p.m. ET, on Travel Channel which merges the popular paranormal investigation programs with competition shows. Serving as executive producer and star – similar to the double duty he performs on Travel’s “Ghost Adventures” - “Challenge” pits two ghost hunting teams against one another for bragging rights at some of the nation’s allegedly “most haunted” locations.
For the 34-year-old former DJ, ghost hunting is a way for the living to find answers about the afterlife, but also “allows the dead to find their answers” through communication. His pursuit garnered him millions of fans since he co-created the “Ghost Adventures” documentary with Nick Groff in 2004 (where he appeared to catch on film a brick lifted and hurled at him by an unseen force), which aired on the erstwhile Sci-Fi Channel (now Syfy) in 2007 before Travel Channel picked up the show about a year later.
Now, although Bagans is a leader in a crowded field of TV investigators, he insists he doesn’t have a monopoly on the paranormal community.
“Just because I'm on television - or other people are on television - doesn't mean that this is our community and that we lead it; this is something that belongs to the world,” says Bagans - hence his idea for “Challenge.”
Not only is the show a unique evolution in the paranormal-TV genre, what makes the new program especially notable is that Bagans hopes to share his fame with regional investigation teams who often pursue evidence of the afterlife but may not have a venue to show off their work – and lack access to these well-known haunted hotspots.
“’Paranormal Challenge’ was created to spark unity - to not just showcase ‘Ghost Adventures’ guys, not just showcase all these other shows, but to allow these other teams that have been researching the paranormal for so long, and allow them now to come into the spotlight.”
While Bagans emphasizes that “Challenge” is a small way to give back to fans and give props to other spook seeking organizations, he acknowledges it is still a competition show, which means there has to be judging criteria to determine a winning team.
“We do not tell [contestants] how to investigate,” he says before adding, “I've come up with the categories that are essential building blocks of the fundamentals of paranormal investigating which are the use of history, teamwork, technology, and the evidence … those are things that can easily be judged.”
Plus Bagans points out that winning the challenge doesn’t mean “big cash prizes.” He says he tells all of his teams it’s all about having fun, and taking part in a shared goal to “find answers.” That’s why he says the victors only get bragging rights. Even with the categories the teams are analyzed on, he says he can’t claim to tell a group that there are right and wrong ways to investigate. Besides, he adds, he already respects and appreciates every team who shows up to pursue the unknown.
Along for the ghost ride with Bagans is “Chief Judge” Dave Schrader – the host of the “Darkness At The Edge of Town” Internet radio show and paranormal tourism event organizer – as well as a rotating stable of notable figures within the paranormal community, including authors, journalists, historians, psychics, inventors and personalities from other reality shows. As established in the premiere episode at Rolling Hills Asylum in East Bethany, N.Y., and followed by an investigation at Philadelphia’s Eastern State Penitentiary, Bagans and his judges monitor the competing teams live through a system of robotic and static cameras, as well as one cameraman per group.
Advertisement
Compared to the small “Ghost Adventures” investigative crew of Bagans, Groff and Aaron Goodwin, who get “locked down” alone in haunted locales, “Paranormal Challenge” is a larger production. But Bagans says it is necessary to avoid an illusion that competing teams were alone in a building.
“I’m not a big fan of paranormal television with tons of camera crews unaccounted for because audio evidence is one of the most important things we are searching for … to have unaccounted crew members in a location where investigators are is like going to a homicide scene, having a bunch of kids walk around without gloves on.”
In addition to a larger scale, another difference between “Adventures” and “Challenge” is that Bagans isn’t in the midst of the action. He says he’s used to the excitement of investigating but relishes hanging back as the “Challenge” Chairman where he oversees the judges and observes the teams in action.
But, he adds, he does occasionally have the temptation to join the investigation with the groups.
“I'm like a little kid sitting on the other side of a chain link fence watching my friends go ride a Ferris wheel at the fair. It's hard as s--t for me not to get out there.”
Statements like this perhaps reveal how much of a big kid Bagans really is. Though a serious enthusiast of the supernatural, and despite his reputation as the guy on TV who runs down dark halls shouting at demons, Bagans isn’t afraid to have fun and goof on himself. He’s lampooned his persona - and host Joel McHale’s - on E! Entertainment Television’s “The Soup.” He also thinks the paranormal community would benefit from relaxing a little, and dismisses critics who claim a competition show will compromise the credibility of paranormal investigations.
“We need to get away from the seriousness of paranormal investigations; there's people in this industry so protective of it that they think they own it - And that's not right.”
In fact, Bagans says anyone can and should research the paranormal and ignore haters who try to claim it or dictate how it must be done.
And though he says he’s been dealing with his own paranormal challenge of executive producing and appearing on two shows - as well as working on his September 2011 biography “Dark World: Into the Shadows of the Lead Investigator of the Ghost Adventures Crew” and being a main attraction at paranormal conventions - Zak Bagans can’t think of a better way to live.
“It’s what I love to do,” he says. “And the biggest gift is that the audience loves what we're doing.”
“I wish I could go out and hug every single one of them … Those are the people I'm here to work my ass off for.”
The “Paranormal Challenge” and “Ghost Adventures” star Zak Bagans pauses for a moment before continuing with a now-classic, Chairman-appropriate joke: “Winning.”
Friday, June 17, 2011
Girls versus Ghosts ... and Guys
DailyNewsOnline: Girls versus Ghosts ... and Guys
Rachel Hoffman is not afraid of any ghosts.
She is, however, nervous about tonight's premiere of "Paranormal Challenge," a new ghost-hunting series that features her all-female team of paranormal investigators. The episode, airing 9 tonight on the Travel Channel, digital cable channel 77, was filmed at Rolling Hills Asylum in East Bethany.
"It would be more terrifying to sit and watch than being locked in the Asylum at 2 a.m.," Hoffman says in a telephone interview this week.
"I'm nervous as all can be," she says. "As an all-female team going out searching for the paranormal we don't want to hurt our credibility. But we know we're not perfect."
Hoffman and her team, Paranormal Xpeditions, includes her skeptical sister Danielle Minacapelli, and Tina Storer, a believer. They are pitted against Resident Undead, a trio of tough-talking guys from Philadelphia who like to taunt the ghosts.
After a night of ghost hunting, the teams present their findings -- two visual and two audio examples -- to show host Zak Bagans and his panel of paranormal experts, who select a winner based on the teams' teamwork, use of technology and the evidence collected.
There is no big prize, but something more important at stake, Hoffman says.
"It's a unique thing to be part of this community," she says. "We do it more for the bragging rights, no to win a prize."
The premiere episode filmed at Rolling Hills during the course of a week in March and April. The teams had 4 hours inside the building -- each taking a different "zone" for 2 hours, then switching -- in which to gather evidence of spirits.
"A lot of people say are you crazy to do this, to lock yourself up in a place like that, but it was amazing," Hoffman says.
The spring taping was Hoffman's first visit to Rolling Hills, but the facility's reputation -- Bagans says in the episode calls Rolling Hills "a nuclear power plant of hauntings" -- reached Hoffman.
"I had seen it on television a few times," Hoffman said. "The history is so rich there. It has tons of spirits."
Rolling Hills opened in 1827 as the country poor farm. It has been a mental institution, nursing home and craft mall. "Paranormal Challenge" plays up the darker history of the facility.
"I'd love to go back to Rolling Hills and have the whole place to ourselves," Hoffman says.
Hoffman talks about her team, ghost hunting and her experience at Rolling Hills:
THE DAILY NEWS: How did you get involved in ghost hunting?
HOFFMAN: "I could always see spirits ... Then I learned that there was equipment available to monitor what I was experiencing. As the field of equipment expanded and it was easier to shed light on my experiences, it became my mission to prove to people what I was seeing and bring them to light and show that these things exist."
TDN: How was your team chosen to participate in the series?
HOFFMAN: "We had to qualify, like an audition. We had to present documentary evidence of other investigations that we had done."
TDN: Tell me about the members of your team.
HOFFMAN: "I'm sensitive; I've been seeing ghosts all my life."
"Danielle, my sister, is more forward. She gets right into things, but she's definitely a skeptic even as things happen around her." (Watch for her reactions as she explores a dark tunnel -- alone. --Ed.)
"She's so straightforward, but wants to dig deeper into the stories. We have fun proving her wrong.
"Tina is scared to death. She's had her own experiences. She's been to Ireland. She believes. We call her 'Brave Tina' because she still so scared to death." (Watch for her reaction in the morgue when she says someone "whispers" in her ear. --Ed.)
TDN: There's a scene in the episode where you looked really scared -- "wierded out," the judges said. They suggested you were feeling an extremely cold presence; your eyes were wide open and you were shaking. Do you remember the scene?
HOFFMAN: "I wasn't scared, it was just my particular sensitivity. But I was affected by a strong presence. I felt like something evil was all around me. I can't describe how much pressure I felt."
TDN: In the episode your team goes about its investigation quite differently from the guys. I thought they were kind of mean, much more antagonistic in trying to attract spirits. What did you see?
HOFFMAN: "There are many ways to try and bring out spirits. They did the obnoxious approach. It conjures up a very different kind of spirit when you do that; it can be extremely aggressive. My team is more compassionate."
TDN: Your team got off to a rough start, dropping -- and breaking -- a digital video recorder only a few minutes into the program. Later, the judges chided your team for referring to equipment such as "the thermal-thingy."
HOFFMAN: "As girls we like to have pet names for our equipment, but we did know how to use them."
(The judges did acknowledge their skills with the devices, in paricular a Melmeter, which measures changes in frequency in an effort to detect different presences. -Ed.)
"In the emotion of the moment you can lose sight of what's happening around you. At times I can find myself so sensitive to what is happening that I'm oblivious to everyone else. When she got aggravated, my sister swore; I didn't remember that happening."
"And we're new to this investigating as a team."
TDN: How does Rolling Hills compare to other places you've investigated?
HOFFMAN: "We're Boston based and tend to go local. We chase everything from legends to facts to myths. We just did a vampire legend in Rhode Island.
"Rolling Hills ... it's so cold in there, like being in a refrigerator, everywhere. It's is so large. We had the advantage of going through the facility and getting the story of its rich history. It seemed like a pretty torturous place to live."
Rachel Hoffman is not afraid of any ghosts.
She is, however, nervous about tonight's premiere of "Paranormal Challenge," a new ghost-hunting series that features her all-female team of paranormal investigators. The episode, airing 9 tonight on the Travel Channel, digital cable channel 77, was filmed at Rolling Hills Asylum in East Bethany.
"It would be more terrifying to sit and watch than being locked in the Asylum at 2 a.m.," Hoffman says in a telephone interview this week.
"I'm nervous as all can be," she says. "As an all-female team going out searching for the paranormal we don't want to hurt our credibility. But we know we're not perfect."
Hoffman and her team, Paranormal Xpeditions, includes her skeptical sister Danielle Minacapelli, and Tina Storer, a believer. They are pitted against Resident Undead, a trio of tough-talking guys from Philadelphia who like to taunt the ghosts.
After a night of ghost hunting, the teams present their findings -- two visual and two audio examples -- to show host Zak Bagans and his panel of paranormal experts, who select a winner based on the teams' teamwork, use of technology and the evidence collected.
There is no big prize, but something more important at stake, Hoffman says.
"It's a unique thing to be part of this community," she says. "We do it more for the bragging rights, no to win a prize."
The premiere episode filmed at Rolling Hills during the course of a week in March and April. The teams had 4 hours inside the building -- each taking a different "zone" for 2 hours, then switching -- in which to gather evidence of spirits.
"A lot of people say are you crazy to do this, to lock yourself up in a place like that, but it was amazing," Hoffman says.
The spring taping was Hoffman's first visit to Rolling Hills, but the facility's reputation -- Bagans says in the episode calls Rolling Hills "a nuclear power plant of hauntings" -- reached Hoffman.
"I had seen it on television a few times," Hoffman said. "The history is so rich there. It has tons of spirits."
Rolling Hills opened in 1827 as the country poor farm. It has been a mental institution, nursing home and craft mall. "Paranormal Challenge" plays up the darker history of the facility.
"I'd love to go back to Rolling Hills and have the whole place to ourselves," Hoffman says.
Hoffman talks about her team, ghost hunting and her experience at Rolling Hills:
THE DAILY NEWS: How did you get involved in ghost hunting?
HOFFMAN: "I could always see spirits ... Then I learned that there was equipment available to monitor what I was experiencing. As the field of equipment expanded and it was easier to shed light on my experiences, it became my mission to prove to people what I was seeing and bring them to light and show that these things exist."
TDN: How was your team chosen to participate in the series?
HOFFMAN: "We had to qualify, like an audition. We had to present documentary evidence of other investigations that we had done."
TDN: Tell me about the members of your team.
HOFFMAN: "I'm sensitive; I've been seeing ghosts all my life."
"Danielle, my sister, is more forward. She gets right into things, but she's definitely a skeptic even as things happen around her." (Watch for her reactions as she explores a dark tunnel -- alone. --Ed.)
"She's so straightforward, but wants to dig deeper into the stories. We have fun proving her wrong.
"Tina is scared to death. She's had her own experiences. She's been to Ireland. She believes. We call her 'Brave Tina' because she still so scared to death." (Watch for her reaction in the morgue when she says someone "whispers" in her ear. --Ed.)
TDN: There's a scene in the episode where you looked really scared -- "wierded out," the judges said. They suggested you were feeling an extremely cold presence; your eyes were wide open and you were shaking. Do you remember the scene?
HOFFMAN: "I wasn't scared, it was just my particular sensitivity. But I was affected by a strong presence. I felt like something evil was all around me. I can't describe how much pressure I felt."
TDN: In the episode your team goes about its investigation quite differently from the guys. I thought they were kind of mean, much more antagonistic in trying to attract spirits. What did you see?
HOFFMAN: "There are many ways to try and bring out spirits. They did the obnoxious approach. It conjures up a very different kind of spirit when you do that; it can be extremely aggressive. My team is more compassionate."
TDN: Your team got off to a rough start, dropping -- and breaking -- a digital video recorder only a few minutes into the program. Later, the judges chided your team for referring to equipment such as "the thermal-thingy."
HOFFMAN: "As girls we like to have pet names for our equipment, but we did know how to use them."
(The judges did acknowledge their skills with the devices, in paricular a Melmeter, which measures changes in frequency in an effort to detect different presences. -Ed.)
"In the emotion of the moment you can lose sight of what's happening around you. At times I can find myself so sensitive to what is happening that I'm oblivious to everyone else. When she got aggravated, my sister swore; I didn't remember that happening."
"And we're new to this investigating as a team."
TDN: How does Rolling Hills compare to other places you've investigated?
HOFFMAN: "We're Boston based and tend to go local. We chase everything from legends to facts to myths. We just did a vampire legend in Rhode Island.
"Rolling Hills ... it's so cold in there, like being in a refrigerator, everywhere. It's is so large. We had the advantage of going through the facility and getting the story of its rich history. It seemed like a pretty torturous place to live."
Monday, June 13, 2011
Las Vegan turns ghost hunting into competition
Las Vegas Review-Journal: Las Vegan turns ghost hunting into competition
Zak Bagans isn't overly protective. He's not whizzing all over the cable landscape to mark his territory. If he had his way, everybody would be doing his job.
Then again, you'd probably welcome others, too, if your chosen profession involved staring down more evil than Rush Limbaugh's proctologist.
"You've gotta understand, the paranormal is like the air we breathe," the longtime Las Vegan and star of Travel Channel's "Ghost Adventures" reasons. "It's the trees on this planet. It's a part of everybody's life. Nobody owns the paranormal."
It's that more-the-merrier attitude that led him to create "Paranormal Challenge" (9 p.m. Friday, Travel Channel), a competition for up-and-coming Scooby gangs.
"With the explosion of paranormal television, there's been an explosion of paranormal teams and organizations developing in every little town across the world. They're everywhere," Bagans says. "... They all have their own logos, their own T-shirts. And it's great. It's all these vigilante investigation teams. Some of them have been doing this for so long, and I just wanted to give the opportunity to give that spotlight to these teams. Let them go in front of the world and showcase their investigation skills. Show us what you can capture. That's what it's all about."
But while "Paranormal Challenge" is a competition, it's no "America's Next Top Ghostbuster." There are no fancy eliminations, no ruthless alliances. And the only reward is satisfaction.
"We didn't want to have a cash prize or anything like that. It's simply for bragging rights for the team," Bagans says. "And by doing so, I think it just goes to show everybody that we're just out there together trying to find answers together."
Each episode follows two three-person teams -- modeled after Bagans' Ghost Adventures Crew, there's a lead investigator, a secondary investigator and an equipment tech -- as they explore some of the paranormal world's favorite haunts.
And the histories of these places, presented like old Nine Inch Nails videos, are every bit as chilling as the evidence they uncover. Pennsylvania's Eastern State Penitentiary isn't just an abandoned prison, it's a "gothic temple dedicated to depravity, isolation and torture." And the nearby Pennhurst State School becomes "an unthinkable wasteland of suffering, abuse and neglect."
"Paranormal Challenge" outfits the teams with an array of equipment -- night vision cameras, thermal imaging cameras, full spectrum camcorders and still cameras, digital recorders, infrared camcorders and something called a Mel Meter, which measures electromagnetic energy and temperature -- and gives them two hours to investigate each of two ghostly hot spots.
Their every move is monitored from inside a nerve center and critiqued in real time by Bagans and a rotating panel of judges he calls "very, very respected and renowned in the paranormal industry." It's also the only three-judge TV panel you're likely to see without a cranky British guy.
The judges, made up of a mix of inventors, scientists, skeptics, psychics and parapsychologists, grade each crew on its teamwork, technological skills and use of the site's history, as well as the quality of their audio and visual evidence.
"It's a very informative show," Bagans says. "And it's going to let people know at home the basis of paranormal investigations and what you should and shouldn't do."
One of the most crucial things the judges point out is the care investigators must take in marking their recordings whenever they shuffle their feet or bang into something, so they don't mistake it for something ghostly later on. But to an untrained ear, the teams on the two episodes sent for review seem to be mishearing all sorts of things. Most of the audio evidence is so garbled that what's presented as disembodied voices saying things like "get out" or "just leave" could just as easily be saying "Jeremiah was a bullfrog." Or those sounds could just be a breeze.
But Bagans reports that one of the teams in Friday's premiere (which wasn't available in time for review) presents "an audio piece of evidence that even had the camera operators on set pretty much drop to the ground. I remember listening to it and looking back at some of the crew, and it sent shockwaves through all of us. It's one of the most chilling audio pieces of evidence that I've ever heard in my life."
And Bagans seems legitimately excited that viewers are getting to experience what he says is just more proof of the paranormal, whether that evidence comes from his Ghost Adventures Crew or some regular Joes off the street.
"I want them to see how easy it can be to communicate with a spirit. That's the point of this," he says. "And how we need to, together, start paying attention to these voices.
"This stuff is really happening. And I think by bringing in these different teams that aren't on television, they're just your next-door neighbors, by bringing these teams on and seeing the evidence that they're capturing, it's going to blow a lot of skeptics' minds away."
Zak Bagans isn't overly protective. He's not whizzing all over the cable landscape to mark his territory. If he had his way, everybody would be doing his job.
Then again, you'd probably welcome others, too, if your chosen profession involved staring down more evil than Rush Limbaugh's proctologist.
"You've gotta understand, the paranormal is like the air we breathe," the longtime Las Vegan and star of Travel Channel's "Ghost Adventures" reasons. "It's the trees on this planet. It's a part of everybody's life. Nobody owns the paranormal."
It's that more-the-merrier attitude that led him to create "Paranormal Challenge" (9 p.m. Friday, Travel Channel), a competition for up-and-coming Scooby gangs.
"With the explosion of paranormal television, there's been an explosion of paranormal teams and organizations developing in every little town across the world. They're everywhere," Bagans says. "... They all have their own logos, their own T-shirts. And it's great. It's all these vigilante investigation teams. Some of them have been doing this for so long, and I just wanted to give the opportunity to give that spotlight to these teams. Let them go in front of the world and showcase their investigation skills. Show us what you can capture. That's what it's all about."
But while "Paranormal Challenge" is a competition, it's no "America's Next Top Ghostbuster." There are no fancy eliminations, no ruthless alliances. And the only reward is satisfaction.
"We didn't want to have a cash prize or anything like that. It's simply for bragging rights for the team," Bagans says. "And by doing so, I think it just goes to show everybody that we're just out there together trying to find answers together."
Each episode follows two three-person teams -- modeled after Bagans' Ghost Adventures Crew, there's a lead investigator, a secondary investigator and an equipment tech -- as they explore some of the paranormal world's favorite haunts.
And the histories of these places, presented like old Nine Inch Nails videos, are every bit as chilling as the evidence they uncover. Pennsylvania's Eastern State Penitentiary isn't just an abandoned prison, it's a "gothic temple dedicated to depravity, isolation and torture." And the nearby Pennhurst State School becomes "an unthinkable wasteland of suffering, abuse and neglect."
"Paranormal Challenge" outfits the teams with an array of equipment -- night vision cameras, thermal imaging cameras, full spectrum camcorders and still cameras, digital recorders, infrared camcorders and something called a Mel Meter, which measures electromagnetic energy and temperature -- and gives them two hours to investigate each of two ghostly hot spots.
Their every move is monitored from inside a nerve center and critiqued in real time by Bagans and a rotating panel of judges he calls "very, very respected and renowned in the paranormal industry." It's also the only three-judge TV panel you're likely to see without a cranky British guy.
The judges, made up of a mix of inventors, scientists, skeptics, psychics and parapsychologists, grade each crew on its teamwork, technological skills and use of the site's history, as well as the quality of their audio and visual evidence.
"It's a very informative show," Bagans says. "And it's going to let people know at home the basis of paranormal investigations and what you should and shouldn't do."
One of the most crucial things the judges point out is the care investigators must take in marking their recordings whenever they shuffle their feet or bang into something, so they don't mistake it for something ghostly later on. But to an untrained ear, the teams on the two episodes sent for review seem to be mishearing all sorts of things. Most of the audio evidence is so garbled that what's presented as disembodied voices saying things like "get out" or "just leave" could just as easily be saying "Jeremiah was a bullfrog." Or those sounds could just be a breeze.
But Bagans reports that one of the teams in Friday's premiere (which wasn't available in time for review) presents "an audio piece of evidence that even had the camera operators on set pretty much drop to the ground. I remember listening to it and looking back at some of the crew, and it sent shockwaves through all of us. It's one of the most chilling audio pieces of evidence that I've ever heard in my life."
And Bagans seems legitimately excited that viewers are getting to experience what he says is just more proof of the paranormal, whether that evidence comes from his Ghost Adventures Crew or some regular Joes off the street.
"I want them to see how easy it can be to communicate with a spirit. That's the point of this," he says. "And how we need to, together, start paying attention to these voices.
"This stuff is really happening. And I think by bringing in these different teams that aren't on television, they're just your next-door neighbors, by bringing these teams on and seeing the evidence that they're capturing, it's going to blow a lot of skeptics' minds away."
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Full Moon Paranormal Ghost Hunting
My4News: Full Moon Paranormal Ghost Hunting
Virginia City, Nev.--It's something that's been gaining popularity through movies and TV shows--the search for proof of the paranormal.
Here in Northern Nevada, a ghost hunting team, Full Moon Paranormal along with News 4's Cassandra Duvall searched for proof at The Chapin House nestled on the main street in Virginia City; and even the studio of News 4.
The Chaplin House, you can't miss its blue color, and its sense of history. This almost 150 years old home was owned by dozens; used for many things; including a boarding house for most of the time. But during the fire of Virginia City in 1875, it was used as a triage center--and even a morgue.
The newest owner of the property, Ellen Miller has an interesting hunch about the house and hunted houses in general.
"Generally, if there's a house with spirits, you don't find the house --the house finds you,” said Miller owner of the property for about a month.
She explains something kept drawing her inside.
"And I thought, okay, something's trying to get my attention," Miller said.
Specifically, a small toy. She said the toy kept moving from one spot of the house to another. Each time she’d visit, the small toy would be in a different place.
And now she and her husband are ready to find out exactly what was pulling at her to buy the home.
"Overall I'm a skeptic,” Miller explained. “Things have to be a little blatant for me."
So, to prove her point a team of investigators from Full Moon Paranormal came in to investigate.
Full Moon came in and set up their equipment. Cameras on every floor of the old home, and voice recorders, to capture anything we might miss.
We also set up objects in different rooms to see if they moved. We placed pennies with tape under them to document their starting location. And we placed toys in a small room in the basement that many people said they felt a strong presence in.
And then it was time to get to work. But before we started the investigation, we wanted to give the home a chance to release any extra energy we might have brought in. So we went outside, but before we officially started investigating--that’s when things started happening.
While we were outside knocking could be heard inside.
Two team members asked if there was anyone in the room to knock. No response.
Then, when they asked if there was anyone in the room with them.
Something rattled a door for about 10 seconds, according the recordings.
After which, they went to another level of the home and asked if there was anyone with them, to knock again. A second door shook, this time with a little more force.
In order to avoid any immediate dangers, during our investigation, we each split up with a group leader, tackling each level of the house.
And so the investigation of the house continued for more than 7 hours. We thought that was the most activity at the Chapin House that night.
Yet, when the team sat down to review the tapes, a little more than what meets the eye occurred.
Full Moon Paranormal say they found an “orb” in some pictures. An “orb” is what some ghost hunters say is a spirit that's captured in a picture.
Something seemed to move the camera all on it's own in the dining room, when no one was in the room, according to investigators.
Similar things occurred when Full Moon Paranormal set up cameras on News 4's second floor offices, our sports office and our set.
On camera they caught an “orb,” or what some investigators say is a spirit that's captured on camera. The "orb" can even be seen on camera floating near our Sports Director, Bryan Samudio, as he walks down the hallway on the second floor.
Then, in our sports office a faint voice saying, "got to go."
And in our studio, some of our anchors say they've heard what sounds like wind or whispers. Investigators say it was more like someone yelling, or turning up the volume on our recorder.
Still much more can be discovered from our investigation here at News 4 to put the news team at ease. But, we'll leave paranormal investigations to investigators like Full Moon Paranormal.
To learn more about them, or to do an investigation of your own, visit their Web site, www.fullmoonparanormal.net.
After the investigation of the chaplin house owned by the Miller's, Mrs. Miller said she's not worried anymore now.
“If I felt uncomfortable, I wouldn't have bought [the house]," she said.
Virginia City, Nev.--It's something that's been gaining popularity through movies and TV shows--the search for proof of the paranormal.
Here in Northern Nevada, a ghost hunting team, Full Moon Paranormal along with News 4's Cassandra Duvall searched for proof at The Chapin House nestled on the main street in Virginia City; and even the studio of News 4.
The Chaplin House, you can't miss its blue color, and its sense of history. This almost 150 years old home was owned by dozens; used for many things; including a boarding house for most of the time. But during the fire of Virginia City in 1875, it was used as a triage center--and even a morgue.
The newest owner of the property, Ellen Miller has an interesting hunch about the house and hunted houses in general.
"Generally, if there's a house with spirits, you don't find the house --the house finds you,” said Miller owner of the property for about a month.
She explains something kept drawing her inside.
"And I thought, okay, something's trying to get my attention," Miller said.
Specifically, a small toy. She said the toy kept moving from one spot of the house to another. Each time she’d visit, the small toy would be in a different place.
And now she and her husband are ready to find out exactly what was pulling at her to buy the home.
"Overall I'm a skeptic,” Miller explained. “Things have to be a little blatant for me."
So, to prove her point a team of investigators from Full Moon Paranormal came in to investigate.
Full Moon came in and set up their equipment. Cameras on every floor of the old home, and voice recorders, to capture anything we might miss.
We also set up objects in different rooms to see if they moved. We placed pennies with tape under them to document their starting location. And we placed toys in a small room in the basement that many people said they felt a strong presence in.
And then it was time to get to work. But before we started the investigation, we wanted to give the home a chance to release any extra energy we might have brought in. So we went outside, but before we officially started investigating--that’s when things started happening.
While we were outside knocking could be heard inside.
Two team members asked if there was anyone in the room to knock. No response.
Then, when they asked if there was anyone in the room with them.
Something rattled a door for about 10 seconds, according the recordings.
After which, they went to another level of the home and asked if there was anyone with them, to knock again. A second door shook, this time with a little more force.
In order to avoid any immediate dangers, during our investigation, we each split up with a group leader, tackling each level of the house.
And so the investigation of the house continued for more than 7 hours. We thought that was the most activity at the Chapin House that night.
Yet, when the team sat down to review the tapes, a little more than what meets the eye occurred.
Full Moon Paranormal say they found an “orb” in some pictures. An “orb” is what some ghost hunters say is a spirit that's captured in a picture.
Something seemed to move the camera all on it's own in the dining room, when no one was in the room, according to investigators.
Similar things occurred when Full Moon Paranormal set up cameras on News 4's second floor offices, our sports office and our set.
On camera they caught an “orb,” or what some investigators say is a spirit that's captured on camera. The "orb" can even be seen on camera floating near our Sports Director, Bryan Samudio, as he walks down the hallway on the second floor.
Then, in our sports office a faint voice saying, "got to go."
And in our studio, some of our anchors say they've heard what sounds like wind or whispers. Investigators say it was more like someone yelling, or turning up the volume on our recorder.
Still much more can be discovered from our investigation here at News 4 to put the news team at ease. But, we'll leave paranormal investigations to investigators like Full Moon Paranormal.
To learn more about them, or to do an investigation of your own, visit their Web site, www.fullmoonparanormal.net.
After the investigation of the chaplin house owned by the Miller's, Mrs. Miller said she's not worried anymore now.
“If I felt uncomfortable, I wouldn't have bought [the house]," she said.
Friday, June 10, 2011
Ghost conference to be held in Jacksonville, IL
The State-Journal Register: Ghost conference to be held in Jacksonville
JACKSONVILLE — Troy Taylor used to tell reporters that his mother’s death and subsequent haunting at the age of 12 was what pushed him into the business of hunting ghosts.
“But then I told that story in front of a group of people I was talking to, and my mom was there and got really upset,” Taylor said. “So I stopped using that reason.”
In reality, Taylor just likes it.
To that end, he has been organizing ghost hunter conferences for 15 years, mostly in central Illinois. This year’s will be Friday and Saturday in the McGaw Fine Arts Building at Illinois College.
Organizers expect about 150 people to convene in Jacksonville this weekend to attend the annual Haunted America Midwest Conference, presented by the American Ghost Society.
Laura Richter, of the ghost society, said Jacksonville was chosen because some people think it is “one of the most haunted places in the prairie.”
The conference will feature lectures, workshops on ghosts and ghost hunting, late-night paranormal investigations and a tour of allegedly haunted locations in Jacksonville.
“We do a lot of ghost hunts there, and Illinois College has so many ghost stories dating back to the Civil War era,” Taylor said.
Taylor said attendees take the conference seriously.
“There aren’t people in costumes or anything. We keep it as down to earth as a ghost conference can be,” Taylor said. “
Along with conference host Taylor, speakers will include Patrick Burns of TruTV’s “Haunting Evidence;” purported psychic and author Tiffany Smith Johnson, who has starred on TV shows like A&E’s “Psychic Kids” and TLC’s “Ghost Intervention; author and radio host Rosemary Ellen Guiley; and paranormal journalist April Slaughter.
Tickets are no longer available online, but may be purchased at the door for $60.
For more information, visit www.americanspookshows.com/midwest.html.
JACKSONVILLE — Troy Taylor used to tell reporters that his mother’s death and subsequent haunting at the age of 12 was what pushed him into the business of hunting ghosts.
“But then I told that story in front of a group of people I was talking to, and my mom was there and got really upset,” Taylor said. “So I stopped using that reason.”
In reality, Taylor just likes it.
To that end, he has been organizing ghost hunter conferences for 15 years, mostly in central Illinois. This year’s will be Friday and Saturday in the McGaw Fine Arts Building at Illinois College.
Organizers expect about 150 people to convene in Jacksonville this weekend to attend the annual Haunted America Midwest Conference, presented by the American Ghost Society.
Laura Richter, of the ghost society, said Jacksonville was chosen because some people think it is “one of the most haunted places in the prairie.”
The conference will feature lectures, workshops on ghosts and ghost hunting, late-night paranormal investigations and a tour of allegedly haunted locations in Jacksonville.
“We do a lot of ghost hunts there, and Illinois College has so many ghost stories dating back to the Civil War era,” Taylor said.
Taylor said attendees take the conference seriously.
“There aren’t people in costumes or anything. We keep it as down to earth as a ghost conference can be,” Taylor said. “
Along with conference host Taylor, speakers will include Patrick Burns of TruTV’s “Haunting Evidence;” purported psychic and author Tiffany Smith Johnson, who has starred on TV shows like A&E’s “Psychic Kids” and TLC’s “Ghost Intervention; author and radio host Rosemary Ellen Guiley; and paranormal journalist April Slaughter.
Tickets are no longer available online, but may be purchased at the door for $60.
For more information, visit www.americanspookshows.com/midwest.html.
Hollywood horror star going ghost hunting at Rolling Hills
The Daily NewsOnline: Hollywood horror star going ghost hunting at Rolling Hills
Actor and stuntman Kane Hodder has done a lot of scaring in his day.
He has appeared in more than 100 movies, most famously playing hockey-mask wearing Jason Voorhees in four different films.
But this weekend, Hodder is hoping to be scared himself.
Hodder will be a guest for weekend events hosted by Rolling Hills Asylum that will including leading his own ghost hunts at the former county home, said to be among Genesee County's most-haunted locations.
"I've always heard good things about Rolling Hills so I welcome the opportunity to do a ghost hunt there and I'm very excited about it," Hodder said in an interview at paranormalpopculture.com.
A few tickets remained Thursday afternoon for the event, which begins Friday night at the Travel Lodge, 8204 Park Rd., Batavia, and concludes Saturday at Rolling Hills in East Bethany.
Friday's activities include a meet-and-greet and question-and-answer session with Hodder, a live auction, dinner and investigation.
Saturday's activities include a daytime historical tour of Rolling Hills, an afternoon ghost hunting lecture with Hodder -- who formed Hollywood Ghost Hunters about five years ago with fellow stuntmen Rick McCallum and R.A. Milhailoff -- and a night time ghost hunt with Hodder.
A variety of ticket packages are available. For ticket information, go to www.rollinghillsasylum.com.
Actor and stuntman Kane Hodder has done a lot of scaring in his day.
He has appeared in more than 100 movies, most famously playing hockey-mask wearing Jason Voorhees in four different films.
But this weekend, Hodder is hoping to be scared himself.
Hodder will be a guest for weekend events hosted by Rolling Hills Asylum that will including leading his own ghost hunts at the former county home, said to be among Genesee County's most-haunted locations.
"I've always heard good things about Rolling Hills so I welcome the opportunity to do a ghost hunt there and I'm very excited about it," Hodder said in an interview at paranormalpopculture.com.
A few tickets remained Thursday afternoon for the event, which begins Friday night at the Travel Lodge, 8204 Park Rd., Batavia, and concludes Saturday at Rolling Hills in East Bethany.
Friday's activities include a meet-and-greet and question-and-answer session with Hodder, a live auction, dinner and investigation.
Saturday's activities include a daytime historical tour of Rolling Hills, an afternoon ghost hunting lecture with Hodder -- who formed Hollywood Ghost Hunters about five years ago with fellow stuntmen Rick McCallum and R.A. Milhailoff -- and a night time ghost hunt with Hodder.
A variety of ticket packages are available. For ticket information, go to www.rollinghillsasylum.com.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Ghost Hunting in County Durham, with Simply Ghost Nights
As the Simply Ghost Nights team attempted spirit communication, they were staggered and amazed at what they witnessed at this 17th century old Manor House.
Yorkshire, United Kingdom, June 07, 2011 --(PR.com)-- On a recent ghost hunt to The Manor House Hotel, West Auckland, County Durham, the Simply Ghost Nights team experienced at first hand paranormal activity from the world of spirit that shook them to the core. The group consisted of eight participants waiting in earnest for the ghostly occupants of The Manor House Hotel to commence their spirit communication.
The history of the hotel is chequered to say the least, with numerous sightings of figures dressed in clothing from a time long gone, monks are said to haunt the hotel and spectral children are also seen on a regular basis by staff and hotel guests a like.
They commenced the paranormal investigation after turning all the lights off in the dining room to begin the seance, in this 17th century Manor House that was now converted into a hotel.
The group were all holding hands in a circle, with bated breath when Stuart called out, "Is anyone there?" The group of all women were all very uneasy, smiling innately at each other in the subdued torch light.
"Show yourself as a light," he called out again hoping for some light phenomena, "light up the chandelier," he asked, the chandelier hung from the ceiling like a huge stalactite. Then "Wow!" they all shouted as the chandelier lit up like a candle for only a couple of seconds.
There was no light entering the room at all, and no torch light could have made that whatsoever. They investigated every avenue of the light been in fact a normal incident but they actually had to come to the conclusion this had been in fact some sort of paranormal phenomena.
As a group they loved the light phenomena that the spirits of this old Manor house had provided that night. Stuart stated that he has witnessed this kind of activity with Simply Ghost Nights on a few occasion occasions, but when he as he still finds it amazing when he can witness this level of paranormal activity.
Yorkshire, United Kingdom, June 07, 2011 --(PR.com)-- On a recent ghost hunt to The Manor House Hotel, West Auckland, County Durham, the Simply Ghost Nights team experienced at first hand paranormal activity from the world of spirit that shook them to the core. The group consisted of eight participants waiting in earnest for the ghostly occupants of The Manor House Hotel to commence their spirit communication.
The history of the hotel is chequered to say the least, with numerous sightings of figures dressed in clothing from a time long gone, monks are said to haunt the hotel and spectral children are also seen on a regular basis by staff and hotel guests a like.
They commenced the paranormal investigation after turning all the lights off in the dining room to begin the seance, in this 17th century Manor House that was now converted into a hotel.
The group were all holding hands in a circle, with bated breath when Stuart called out, "Is anyone there?" The group of all women were all very uneasy, smiling innately at each other in the subdued torch light.
"Show yourself as a light," he called out again hoping for some light phenomena, "light up the chandelier," he asked, the chandelier hung from the ceiling like a huge stalactite. Then "Wow!" they all shouted as the chandelier lit up like a candle for only a couple of seconds.
There was no light entering the room at all, and no torch light could have made that whatsoever. They investigated every avenue of the light been in fact a normal incident but they actually had to come to the conclusion this had been in fact some sort of paranormal phenomena.
As a group they loved the light phenomena that the spirits of this old Manor house had provided that night. Stuart stated that he has witnessed this kind of activity with Simply Ghost Nights on a few occasion occasions, but when he as he still finds it amazing when he can witness this level of paranormal activity.
Monday, June 6, 2011
Ghost Hunters Recap Episode 7.10: Pearl Harbor Phantoms
411Mania.com: Ghost Hunters Recap Episode 7.10: Pearl Harbor Phantoms
Posted by Ron Martin on 06.04.2011
New opening.
They waste no time with fake phone calls or fake plumbing assignments, they are just in Hawaii from the get go. They also waste no time in letting us know that Steve will not be investigating because he doesn't like to fly. I feel him. I hate flying and try to avoid it as much as possible. For a free trip to Hawaii…I might make an exception. Wait! Is that Britt in the backseat? He of the "said bad things on internet radio and shall never be seen again" fame? I guess maybe enough time has passed they think the thing has blown over. Doesn't bother me. I've always thought Britt was a solid investigator.
Jason and Grant kick it to Amy, whose hair seems even redder than normal. It's always surprising to see how red her hair is because we're so use to the night vision version of her. Amy gives them the what's up on Pearl Harbor. She says they'll be investigating Hangars 37 and 79. There's a gift shop in Hanger 37, which will always make me bring up Grant's famous line from the Lizzie Borden House and I paraphrase, " No place with a gift shop is haunted." I say that both because I like the Lizzie Borden House and think it is haunted and because I'm a shit stirrer. It's what I do. Anyways, these Pearl Harbor hangers are haunted in all the usual ways, plus a moving mannequin.
Jason pulls up and exclaims, "There's Gates." However, he doesn't mean they have to drive through gates, just that Josh Gates is randomly hanging out in Hawaii, so why not investigate with the team? Gates wastes no time in rubbing in the fact that last time he investigated with the team is was in a rundown, freezing prison in Jersey. For a guy with the means of a Josh Gates, this is more his style.
Posted by Ron Martin on 06.04.2011
In a week where summer welcomes us and remember those who have fallen while protecting our country, TAPS is back with a special Memorial Day themed investigation of Pearl Harbor. We know it's a special because they even have Josh Gates tagging along. Is Pearl Harbor haunted? There's only one way to find out.
What? What? Just like you weren't expecting a Ghost Hunters episode to just pop up a month after the finished their season, you weren't expecting me being to be here to cover it. Admit it! That's alright, I forgive you. It's not like I've been exactly reliable this past season. However, I am down to one job now as the bank business is always treacherous. Yes, a big old nasty bank bought the bank I had been working for the last five years and out I go. They did give me lots of extra pay on the way and ironically, I got to pick out a prize off a website on my last day as they gave me a five years of service appreciation award. Ah, my life. You don't want it.
I know you have two questions. How have I been spending my free time and why the f@ck wasn't this recap up earlier if you don't have a day job you no-talent sack monkey?!! I appreciate the first question, but I understand you are just asking it to be polite so you can bombard me with the second question. Answer to question #1 is that I have been sleeping a lot, spending a lot more time on the house that I own (which was something that was sorely needed), cleaning my fish tanks and getting drunk…a lot. In fact, I'm drunk now. Well, not really – but soon, my friends, soon. The answer to the second question is that I do still work at the bar, though due to it being slower in the summer, I'm only working Tuesdays and Wednesdays. My one man crusade to get Syfy to move Ghost Hunters to a day more convenient for me has somehow fallen on deaf ears. I know, right?
There you have it. Unfortunately, in my lazy, unemployed summer days, I haven't been keeping up with all things ghost hunting. I need to get back into proper ghost hunting recapping shape. Though, I would like to tell this story. Late last night, around 3 AM, I slipped on my Ghost Hunters International shirt to go to the gas station for a snack. Some kid (when I say kid, I mean this guys was probably old enough to be a high school graduate but not yet old enough to drink. Legally.) was pumping gas. As I walked by he got wide-eyed and we had a mini-conversation:
PUMPING GAS GUY: Are you a ghost hunter?
ME: I have ghost hunted before, so yes, I am a ghost hunter.
PUMPING GAS GUY: Wow, that's amazing. Crazy, man.
ME: Yeah, I know.
I don't know why wearing a GHI shirt is the most amazing thing this kid's ever seen. Maybe he thought I was on TV. Then again, this is a pretty small town I live in.
And I am awesome.
On to more important things. I don't know if this was a one of special celebrating Memorial Day for Ghost Hunters or if Jason and Grant have decided to take back the summer months that are usually reserved for GHI. I guess we'll find out on this very special episode of…The Ghost Hunters.
On This Episode of Ghost Hunters
This episode was preceded by an all day Ghost Hunters marathon because why not? What else are they going to show in the afternoon on a Wednesday? TAPS is investigating Pearl Harbor. Josh Gates is here just so you know it's an extra special episode. And because I would guess Steve didn't make the trip because an airplane would have to be involved. This just reminds me that I need a better nickname for Adam. But, Rookie Scum is good for now – until he earns his wings.
Case #1: Pacific Aviation Museum, Pearl Harbor, Honolulu, Hawaii
THE INVESTIGATION
Anne, the director of marketing is our tour guide. Both hangars that they'll be investigating were standing during the attack. It should be noted Anne is white -- of course, they're trying to keep the Hawaiian people down! Without Steve, Tango gets to go on the tour. Tango is not nearly as good at looking like he is writing stuff down as Steve. Damnit, Tango! This is why you don't get to go on the tour more often. Josh also gets to go on the tour because he is a special guest. They get to meet a mannequin named Kramer who is sometimes moved around at night. This guy looks nothing like Michael Richards, so I just don't get it. At least give the guy a military uniform with a KRAMER name tag. Josh is the first to ask a question. Alpha Team doesn't like that so they ask a question to. Way to take back the night, guys! Anne shares her ghost experience in front of a plane flown by Bush Sr. Ghosts sometimes watch movies in the theater. I wonder if they'll get a private screening of Hangover 2. Let's take some time to look at the sky. Okay, now back to ghost hunting. There are bullet holes in the window from the Pearl Harbor attack. That is actually really cool. The bullet holes, not the attack, that is. This is the longest tour in history. The guys will have about 5 minutes to investigate when it is over. We get a "spooky" shot of books on a shelf that actually made me laugh out loud. And I am by myself, right now. Tour's over? Okay, so the tour ended with a witness account. No good byes or good lucks or anything of that nature. I think she took a swing at Jason on account that she figured out he's evil because of his goatee. That's got to be it. Or Josh Gates was asking too many questions, so Jason put the kibosh on that!
Ghost hunters getting ready montage. Oooh --- we almost saw Britt! Grant says he was taken aback by the amount of respect for the dead in this area. Tango acts all reluctant to take over the Tech Manager role while namedropping Steve a couple dozen times. Josh thinks it's really incredible to be able to investigate the hangers as they were on the day of the attack.
Scene that shall not be mentioned. Britt is there but he is not allowed to talk.
Alpha Team Truth is in Hangar 79. Josh talks about how dark it is. On his show, they don't turn out the lights for TV purposes. Most of the places he goes to don't have electricity. They immediately hear an animal and make the observation that animals could get in pretty easily because most of the windows are shot out. With no luck on the ground floor in one minute, they decide to move to the second floor. They find a secret military robot which causes bad Lost in Space jokes. Careful, Grant, you're aging yourself. They hear…wait for it…wait for it…footsteps. Jason asks the footsteps if they remember December 7th. The K-II starts going crazy as the trio's eyes play tricks on them. Jason says it looks like things on the ground floor are moving so he goes don't while leaving the other two upstairs. Don't be a hero, Jason! You're the guy who gets killed in every slasher film I've ever seen. And Jason hears…footsteps. A window pane blacks out for a second, which is good enough to way overdue...
COMMERCIALS.
We're back! They surprisingly don't get too long with the "before the commercial" replay. One of the window panes blacked out like someone walked by one of them outside. Jason walks back and forth in front of the window panes, but it doesn't re-enact what Josh saw, which was just one window pane black out for a brief second. Sounds like eye tricks to me.
Tango and Britt are in the artifacts trailer, which if it was on the tour, I totally missed it. Britt gets to talk! As long as you're on your best behavior, Britt, we'll let you play! Tango and Britt immediately try to debunk the reports of metallic clangs by insinuating the stairs are very shaky outside which in turn, could be the wind causing them to rattle. Time for EVP work. Britt takes control during the EVP session because his tattoos go further down his arm than Tango's. They try to get the ghosts to turn off the equipment. The ghosts aren't having it. Then Britt TURNS ON THE LIGHTS?!!!! WTF!!!! YOU WILL BE EXPOSED!!!!! NOOOO!!!!! This is not a good way to get back into Pilgrim Films good graces, Mr. Britt. I went to bat for you, man. I believed in you, man! This is how your repay me?! He actually turned the lights on to see if the fluorescents had anything to do with the high EMF reading. The ‘speriment actually sort of proves that fluorescents in the room did cause the high EMF readings which could be messing with the people working in there. Okay, Britt, you win this time but you mind your Ps and Qs, mister!
Amy and Rookie Scum are in Hanger 79. Amy explains to us things they're looking for just in case we forgot since the tour. She also assures us that they bought equipment. Phew! Am I relieved to hear that. They hear footsteps in the catwalk area, so they fall in a back-to-back stance as if fighting off a team of evil ninjas. That's the think about evil ninjas. You never know when they'll attack. They start some EVP work, but Rookie Scum interrupts with all these sounds he's hearing. This leads them to a light on the second floor that lit up the area for a second. Amy has an idea! Bing. She gets on the horn with Britt and Tango and has them shine a flashlight from the trailer towards the hangar. Of course, they're in a trailer, so that would be virtually impossible. This causes Rookie Scum to go into convulsions scream whispering "WHAT?!! WHAT?!!!" That's a candidate for quote of the night. This freaks both Amy and Scum out. Perhaps we should ask the same questions of one of the many crew that are on premises, presumably some that have light? Instead…
COMMERCIALS.
The replay of before commercial time is a bit longer this time, but not so much as to be annoying. Britt lets Amy and Scum know that Tango is going to go outside and shine his little flashlight around. His words, not mine. That's not very professional, Tango. Rookie Scum recaps the events of the last twenty seconds. The lights are shined in the windows of the building, but Amy and Scum can see nothing. They will spend the rest of the program saying "WHAT?!!" and "I don't know what we saw." They have help groups for this sort of thing. Britt is so impressed with their story that he grabs a FULL SPECTRUM camera and places it in the area they saw the light. Uh-oh. I hope you're paying some royalties to Barry or there is going to be Mortal Kombat.
Alpha Team ditched Gates and decides to go it alone in Hangar 79. They have the thermal camera. Some sort of sound is coming from behind them. The sounds get louder and more intense the closer they get to it. It sounds like someone running on a catwalk. This is happening in the same area of the mysterious, dumbfounding light. Alpha Team thinks about it, but decides they ain't afraid of no ghosts and goes up to the second floor to investigate. They are looking for animals with the thermal. As always, the sounds stop once they get there.
Josh Gates is with Team California, thus filling out the team since he is based out of Los Angeles. They are in Hangar 37, which is also the museum. Josh gives a little history lesson, complete with photos. It's creepy to think that there are still 1100 bodies sealed up in the Arizona. Team California decides the vaunted flashlight experiment is in order. It takes all of half a second for one of the flashlights to come on. Which leads us to…
COMMERCIALS. GHI is back on July 13. I guess this Ghost Hunters is just a one off special. Will I have a job before GHI comes back? The race is on. Looks like the same cast, which would be a small miracle for Ghost Hunters International.
Back to Hangar 37 and a bunch of flashlights. Replay the light coming on. Even Amy remarks it was really fast. The camera almost gets a close up of the flashlight, but we quickly change shots. Frustrating. The flashlight technique freaks Josh out, but give him a chance to namedrop his show. It's funny how at home Amy is with Britt and a flashlight that goes on and off by itself, but how she is freaked out by a flash of light when investigating with Rookie Scum. Amy starts talking to the ghosts, but one of the flashlights decides to roll across the bench into another of the flashlights. Britt moves the flashlight back. The ghosts rolls it right back into the second flashlight. Josh is tired of the flashlight tricks and wants the ghost to move Kramer. This causes Josh to start talking to the mannequin. I fear Josh will never be the same.
Josh goes back to Alpha Team in Hangar 37 and the safer, less thrilling K-II Meter. Grant immediately notes the glass wall that could reflect people in the gift shop. Jason hears people walking which causes Grant to start yelling Japanese. Josh is attracted back to Kramer. He is obsessed with this mannequin. They inspect the mannequin and give any number of explanations as to why it may be moved.
Grant: "They should just get a security camera, have him in it and they'll get the answer to their questions."
So….why don't you guys have a camera on it? Just asking.
Maybe Grant realized this because he immediately draws their attention to sounds in another part of the hangar. Grant wants a ghost to tell him the story of what happened. Grant – Josh can tell you. He knows a lot! Grant sees something just in time for…
COMMERCIALS. I need to see Haunted Collector.
It's a low shadow in front of one of the exhibits. Grant says there's no way it could be light play. He also declares it's not an animal. Just because.
Tango and Britt are in Hangar 79. They are inspecting an airplane that people see ghostly feet under. They ‘speriment and from a certain distance, you can see feet under the plane if someone where standing on the other side. They are not impressed. They are more impressed with the bullet holes. I must say that I would be as well. When they talk about bullets, they are getting sounds which Britt says sounds like something running off to hide. Tango admits yelling "BULLETS!" sounds crazy, but if it's working, you know. Britt gives TAPS exit excuse #79 for the first time tonight.
Alpha Team ends things up in Hangar 37. They are tired and their EVP work indicates it. They make sure they ghosts know they're not afraid. They're Alpha Team for crying out loud! They again hear someone running.
Whoa! Tango, Britt and Josh are in Hangar 37. Bonus round. I figured Alpha Team would clean things up. Britt makes a stab at being my best friend when he makes a Godzilla joke while walking on top of a map. All three team members see a light in the back corner, so we're going to …
COMMERCIALS.
Wow. There's like 5 minutes left in the show and they're still going. And they're still replaying 30 seconds worth of footage. They investigate strange lights on the other side of the hangar. There's nothing there. Josh is compelled.
Alpha Team is in what I am assuming is Hangar 37 because there's a recreation of a cockpit. "Fun-loving ghost hunters" starts to play which means they have to assume position of pilot and co-pilot and start pressing buttons. They even make race car sounds. When there are race car sounds, that means it's time to call it a night.
Jason gives thanks to Josh and Britt. Josh loves working with the Ghost Hunters team.
Cartalk?! They discuss some of the things they saw and how emotional the entire experience was before we learn it was all just a set up so Steve could call and earn his paycheck this week. Apparently a call came in involving a four-year-old which immediately makes Alpha Team give us "serious eyes." They decide then and there to abandon everyone in Hawaii and get the first flight out.
FIN.
This was apparently a "special," thought not live or purported live (like the Alcatraz show). It was basically a huge cliffhanger for the beginning of next season complete with "to be continued August 24th." Look for that episode consisting only of Alpha Team, Steve and RJ. I guess we'll get the evidence and reveal for Pearl Harbor then as well.
MY THOUGHTS: I can't really blast anything here as I don't know what they're going to use as evidence when they meet up with Anne. They certainly had a lot of personal experiences, but that doesn't always translate into real evidence. As I stated before, I don't know why they didn't out a camera on Kramer. Grant even suggested it. The flashlight thing is beginning to bother me. It's not as bad as the K-II, but every time they use it, the flashlight comes on. I got a little excited when the camera almost got a close-up of the flashlight when it went off because I'd love to see the actual head of the flashlight turning while this is going on.
Amy is an interesting cat. It's incredible how her personality mutates to the ghost hunter she is ghost hunting with. I have said before and will probably say again that Amy seems most at home and does her best ghost hunting with Britt. I don't know the relationship between the two, but seeing as they are both from California, my guess is they hunted together quite a bit before Amy became a regular on Ghost Hunters.
I don't want to read too much into this, but the fact that Britt (a once shunned cast member) got exponentially more amount of TV time than Adam (who was only in one segment) can't be a good sign. I've only seen two episodes with Adam, so I don't know how solid of a ghost hunter he is. My guess is with the cancelling of Ghost Hunters Academy, he was just in the right place at the right time. If Pilgrim Films decides they can get behind Britt again at some point, Adam may be in trouble.
I don't have a problem with this one off special. I don't even have a problem with the strange format. Was Jason and Grant really called away from Hawaii on such short notice that they had to grab RJ? I doubt it, but it's possible. With no GH or GHI episodes scheduled between early May and July 13, this one off gives SYFY fresh material for a week and the ending draws interest for the fall season premiere. Regardless of whether Jason and Grant caught the next flight from Hawaii or they filmed the segment while driving around a back road in Rhode Island, it's a good idea that can only help ratings. With TVs oversaturated with paranormal shows, ratings of all the shows are slipping so anything that helps out is a good thing.
By the way, it's not lost on me that SYFY.com is now offering "full recaps" of episodes. They're quite a bit smaller and less "colorful" than mine, but it's nice to know that I'm loved. Talk to me SYFY. We can work something out.
Quote of the Night
Josh Gates: "I'm standing in the dark hanger with a haunted mannequin behind me. Everybody likes that."
Until July 13…BOO!
New opening.
They waste no time with fake phone calls or fake plumbing assignments, they are just in Hawaii from the get go. They also waste no time in letting us know that Steve will not be investigating because he doesn't like to fly. I feel him. I hate flying and try to avoid it as much as possible. For a free trip to Hawaii…I might make an exception. Wait! Is that Britt in the backseat? He of the "said bad things on internet radio and shall never be seen again" fame? I guess maybe enough time has passed they think the thing has blown over. Doesn't bother me. I've always thought Britt was a solid investigator.
Jason and Grant kick it to Amy, whose hair seems even redder than normal. It's always surprising to see how red her hair is because we're so use to the night vision version of her. Amy gives them the what's up on Pearl Harbor. She says they'll be investigating Hangars 37 and 79. There's a gift shop in Hanger 37, which will always make me bring up Grant's famous line from the Lizzie Borden House and I paraphrase, " No place with a gift shop is haunted." I say that both because I like the Lizzie Borden House and think it is haunted and because I'm a shit stirrer. It's what I do. Anyways, these Pearl Harbor hangers are haunted in all the usual ways, plus a moving mannequin.
Jason pulls up and exclaims, "There's Gates." However, he doesn't mean they have to drive through gates, just that Josh Gates is randomly hanging out in Hawaii, so why not investigate with the team? Gates wastes no time in rubbing in the fact that last time he investigated with the team is was in a rundown, freezing prison in Jersey. For a guy with the means of a Josh Gates, this is more his style.
UK: Ghost Hunting at Cusworth Hall, Doncaster, with Chris Conway and the Simply Ghost Nights Team
The whole team have experienced some amazing paranormal phenomena on their previous visits to this enchanting old hall. Items have been thrown such as chalk, coins and keys.
Yorkshire, United Kingdom, June 06, 2011 --(PR.com)-- Ghost hunt with TV’s Chris Conway at Cusworth Hall, take part on a paranormal investigation, seances and attempt spirit communication too.
Simply Ghost Nights return to familiar terriortry at Cusworth Hall, Doncaster. The whole team have experienced some amazing paranormal phenomena on their previous visits to this enchanting old hall. Items have been thrown such as chalk, coins and keys, and laughter as been heard from empty rooms, and more shockingly in the empty attic there was the sound of heavy furniture being dragged across the room.
There was spikes on the K2 meters as well, and many ghost hunters felt as though something had pulled their hair, or clothes. The team are expecting a full house and hopefully the spirits will duly oblige and entertain everyone with paranormal activity.
So join them at Cusworth Hall, Doncaster for a ghost hunting event with Chris Conway and the Simply Ghost Nights team.
Yorkshire, United Kingdom, June 06, 2011 --(PR.com)-- Ghost hunt with TV’s Chris Conway at Cusworth Hall, take part on a paranormal investigation, seances and attempt spirit communication too.
Simply Ghost Nights return to familiar terriortry at Cusworth Hall, Doncaster. The whole team have experienced some amazing paranormal phenomena on their previous visits to this enchanting old hall. Items have been thrown such as chalk, coins and keys, and laughter as been heard from empty rooms, and more shockingly in the empty attic there was the sound of heavy furniture being dragged across the room.
There was spikes on the K2 meters as well, and many ghost hunters felt as though something had pulled their hair, or clothes. The team are expecting a full house and hopefully the spirits will duly oblige and entertain everyone with paranormal activity.
So join them at Cusworth Hall, Doncaster for a ghost hunting event with Chris Conway and the Simply Ghost Nights team.
Friday, June 3, 2011
Ghost Hunters: Exclusive Interview with Adam Berry
Reality Wanted: Ghost Hunters: Exclusive Interview with Adam Berry
by Gina Scarpa
Last year, Adam Berry competed on Ghost Hunters Academy and won the opportunity to join TAPS and the cast of Ghost Hunters. He's been filming new episodes for season 7 and the show has just been renewed with SyFy for an eighth season. Tonight, a new episode airs and we spoke to Adam today in an exclusive interview about what the last year has been like as well as his experiences being a part of Ghost Hunters.
Q. Gina, RealityWanted: When did your interest in the paranormal begin and what brought you to try out for Ghost Hunters Academy?
A. Adam: As a child, I had things that happened in my home that I culdn't explain. I kind of blew it off to just strange occurrences and narrowed it down to a paranormal occureence. I went to Pennsylvania and experienced things at night and heard gunshots, battle cries, and all kinds of things. That pushed me to figure out what was going on. I didn't know you could investigate the paranormal until I saw ghost Hunters. I would go out with my friends and started a group. I saw an ad for GHA on SyFy and I was lucky to be one that was picked. It was the craziest experience. It was really tough. I learned the TAPS ghost hunting ways.
Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What has it been like to join the cast of Ghost Hunters and become "official"?
A. Adam: It's been graet. Honestly, I don't have to worrya bout people trying to steal my spot. I'm not competing. I'm investigating with a great group of people that know what they're diong. I spend more time with Amy and Steven than anyone. I learn a lot from them every day. Ghosts just kind of flock to Amy. I learn a lot. It's been great.
Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What is the shooting schedule like and how do you stay awake?
A. Adam: We shoot 10 months of the year. I'm lucky enough to live on the East Coast so I go home more frequently than Amy. The shooting schedule is really crazy. It's great, though! It's never boring, that's for sure. I sleep late. I try to sleep as late as possible but I usually can't. I'm up around noon or 1 and then we start our day. We go until 5 of 6 in the morning. There's some coffee. We eat lunch in the middle of the night. It's naturally exciting. Your adrenaline is pumping. Things are happening. You want to be there. It's a natural energy that helps us.
Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Especially since season 7 started airing, have you been getting recognized?
A. Adam: Yeah, a little bit... here and there. I'm definitely the newbie, that's for sure, but I don't mind that. I still have my privacy and I can still have a good time. I enjoy meeting fans of the show though. Season 8 just got picked up so people watch the show. We love to ghost hunt and if we weren't on the show, we'd still be doing that. I love to talk to people who watch the show. It's always good to hear someone's opinion, even if it's a negative one.
Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Do you talk to your fans on Twitter?
A. Adam: Oh yeah, absolutely! Especially during the episodes, Amy and I watch it just so that we can relive what's going on. We don't see the episodes before they air. When fans, people, my family, and friends tweet me during the show, i talk to them. I answered them
Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Was there anything that you've found while filming season 7 that scared you?
A. Adam: Never scared. I don't think we're ever scared. I think intense is a good word or maybea little on edge. Anytime there are crazy sounds.. that can really send you over the edge but nothing that would maek you run.
Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What are you up to now?
A. Adam: I'm doing a lot of residential cases. There's a lot to look forward to. Tonight's epsiode, we're using new equpment. We have a lot of great evidence that I think people are really going to like.
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