I look forward to paranormal Wednesdays! Although I love the new series “The Dead Files” with Amy Allen that shows on Fridays on The Travel Channel, it’s a welcome addition to the paranormal research offerings.
The original Ghost Hunters comes on Wednesdays on the SciFi channel, they were the first group to bring rational thought and methods to active paranormal research. People associated with this group have developed different para scientific methods for detecting the presence of paranormal energy from EVPs to electrical manifestations. “Paranormal Witness” looks promising, and “Haunted Collector” has been fun. “School Spirits” is also a new one that is fun to watch.
What you will often find in paranormal research is dedicated to near obsessed people searching for life on the other side and there is often a particular reason for this. Most if not all of them have had an experience that crossed the boundaries of “normal” physics as we understand them. They can become haunted by it and must seek an answer or explanation to what they seen or heard that was beyond the normal, it was paranormal. It can leave a hint of cognitive dissonance that intelligent thinkers can’t just accept.
It takes a bit of research and personal experience to see the fakes from the authentic in this genre. Then there are those of us who have seen and experienced enough to spot the fakes or misguided. Some people who may not be emotionally grounded seem to be attracted to the paranormal seeking mystical experiences or powers. Almost all “orbs” and plays on light are not paranormal, but if you want something to true hard enough you will see ghosts in every closet.
So yes, I am borderline obsessed with the paranormal because I grew up in a “haunted” house as a child. It was absolutely normal to live in a haunted house, I didn’t know I was supposed to be afraid of the spirits that lived there. I didn’t even know it was not normal to hear them walk up the stairs even when I was the only one home, until a girlfriend came to play with me after school one day.
Little red haired Joanna and I went upstairs to play in my room after school, no one was home yet, we were 9 year old latch key kids from Gardena California. We both were in the same grade at 186th Street School in 1969. The familiar footsteps came up the stairs, followed by voices downstairs. I knew these people were not like us but I also knew they were some kind of beings. When I asked about the noises early on I was told that the house was settling. As a little girl that was enough for me, I just couldn’t figure out how the invisible people made the house settle. It wasn’t enough for Joanna.
Joanna asked me who was home. We heard the front door open, voices, footsteps. I knew the different sounds of the spirit people from the physical people so I told her, “no one.” She froze until the footsteps came up the stairs down the hall and stopped at my bedroom door, then she panicked. She, ran down the stairs, looked into the family room to check for people to connect to the voices, screamed when she saw the apparitions and ran out of the house. She never came over again to play. That’s when I learned it was not “normal” to live with spirits without bodies.
The Dead Files http://www.travelchannel.com/tv-shows/the-dead-files
Ghost Hunters http://www.syfy.com/ghosthunters/
Haunted Collector http://www.syfy.com/hauntedcollector
School Spirits http://www.syfy.com/schoolspirits
Paranormal Review 