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By Susan King

Ryan Buell founded the Paranormal Research Society as a student.

Vampires may be getting all the glory these days, but when it comes to day-in, day-out spooky family entertainment, it’s hard to beat ghosts.

The popularity of ghost and paranormal stories are nothing new — from the King’s ghost in Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” to Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” to the phenomenal box office last fall for “Paranormal Activity.”

But it’s on the small screen that ghosts are most alive — a staple of the medium, so to speak. The first two hours of CBS’ Friday night lineup are devoted to “Ghost Whisperer,” now in its fifth season, and “Medium,” which joined the network last fall after five seasons on NBC. Both dramatic series revolve around women who can see dead people.

Several of the cable networks have built their lineups around ghost/paranormal reality shows. These series follow investigators going to residential homes, historical locations, abandoned hospitals, prisons and even aircraft carriers that are supposedly haunted. They claim to use scientific methods and equipment, such as digital tape recorders to capture EVPs (electronic voice phenomena), which are believed to capture the voices of spirits.

Thanks in part to the success of these shows, ghost hunting has become a big business. Several Internet sites including Amazon offer equipment for sale for the budding paranormal investigator.

So why are so many willing to see spirits?

“Some people would say it’s a trend, but I think it’s always been a trend, this borderline between the apparently civilized world and the wider, larger, scary world whether it’s literally the wild or unseen,” says Marjorie Kaplan, general manager of Animal Planet.

The network has two paranormal series, “Lost Tapes” and “The Haunted,” the latter about people whose pets feel the presence of spirits; it began in November and returns to the lineup with new episodes Jan. 15.

Ian Sander, an executive producer and director on “Ghost Whisperer,” believes these shows give audiences hope that there is an afterlife. “We live in a time, God knows post-9/11, that people need to believe in more,” Sander says. “They want to be optimistic.”

The majority of these series attract more females than males. “Women love horror movies and haunted shows about the afterlife,” notes Mark Stern, executive vice president of programming for Syfy, home to the popular “Ghost Hunters” series.

“If you look at these shows, they deliver a real mix of emotions — a visceral one about the investigation and another about who might still be here and what happened to them.”

Here’s a look at several of the most watched cable paranormal series:

‘Ghost Hunters’

(Syfy)

The cable network has the top three paranormal series on the air. “Ghost Hunters,” which begins its sixth season in March, averages 3 million viewers weekly.

The show’s spinoffs “Ghost Hunters International,” returning Wednesday, and “Ghost Hunters Academy,” which concluded its first season in December, also have performed well. Another popular paranormal show, “Destination Truth,” is on hiatus.

“Ghost Hunters” is led by Roto-Rooter Rhode Island plumbers Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson, who formed the Atlantic Paranormal Society about 20 years ago after what they say were personal paranormal encounters. They investigate homes and hotels like the Stanley, the basis for “The Shining.” They also have done live investigations over the seasons.

“Ghost Hunters,” says Stern, takes a “very sober-eyed” view of the paranormal.

“Their success rate [at finding ghosts] is so low that in the beginning it was counterintuitive for us. There was a concern if they were not finding a ghost in every episode why are people watching the show. But we quickly found that that is what gave them total credibility.”

Hawes and Wilson, who still work as plumbers, are surprised they are heading into their sixth season. “I never thought we would survive past 10 episodes,” jokes Wilson.

“None of the other shows can probably say this, but Grant and I have Pentagon clearance to get into some of these [government] locations,” says Hawes of their investigations of military bases and even battleships.

‘Paranormal State’

(A&E)

This 30-minute weekly series, now in its fourth season, revolves around the case files of the Paranormal Research Society, a group that began several years ago with Penn State University college students.

Ryan Buell, the soft-spoken director-founder who says he had his first paranormal experience as a child, leads his teams in investigating cases of possible haunting and possession.

Spinning off from the series is “Psychic Kids: Children of the Paranormal,” in its second season. Atlanta-based psychic-medium Chip Coffey appears in both series. And set for a Jan. 19 premiere is “Paranormal Cops,” about a group of ghost-hunting Chicago police officers.

Coffey says these shows have brought paranormal activity into the open. “When I was a kid 50 years ago, people didn’t talk about it publicly if you were living in a haunted house,” he says. “Now it’s almost fashionable. There are websites that sell haunted houses, and people buy them. In some states, if you think your house is haunted you have to disclose it to your real estate agent if you sell.”

Buell compares ghost hunting to detective work: “It’s like trying to solve a mystery. There isn’t just one type of phenomenon out there. We have dealt with monster-type hauntings, abusive spirits and suicide spirits.”

‘Ghost Lab’

(Discovery)

Discovery entered the paranormal series field in October with this hourlong show, which features Texas brothers Brad and Barry Klinge, who operate their Everyday Paranormal inside a 24-foot “ghost lab” filled with scientific equipment. The places they visited include Alcatraz. The series concluded its first season Dec. 29.

“Discovery has been involved with paranormal shows for a long time but not as a series,” says general manager John Ford.

“We can’t come from the true-believer side,” Ford says. “We want to come from more of the impartial-science stance. And the Klinge brothers have erected and assembled this toolshed of measuring devices to allow them to measure things like extreme temperature changes and other things they think are indicators of paranormal activity.”

Locations are handpicked by the brothers. “A place has to have some sort of history to it,” says Brad Klinge, who says he had a paranormal experience with his brother in 1990 at Gettysburg battlefield.

“Then we have to look a little bit deeper — are the stories recent, are the people reputable?” says Brad. “That’s when the investigation really starts. We do real-time analysis inside our ghost lab. When we find things are happening, we go immediately back to the spot to see if we can get more evidence.”

‘Ghost Adventures’

(Travel Channel)

The network’s entire Friday-evening lineup is devoted to ghostly tales, with this spooky show anchoring the evening. The one-hour series, which premiered in 2008, chronicles the investigations of documentary filmmaker Zak Bagans, who says he had an encounter of the ghostly kind some six years ago, along with those of his cohorts Nick Groff and Aaron Goodwind.

Each week they are locked overnight in a haunted location — recently they visited the Linda Vista Hospital in Boyle Heights. Bagans antagonizes and berates spirits to get evidence. When “Ghost Adventures” goes on hiatus after Jan. 22, the long-running British ghost series “Most Haunted” returns for a new season Jan. 29.

“What is really interesting about ‘Ghost Adventures’ is that it is driven by these three personalities who are impassioned insiders,” says Travel’s senior vice president of content, Michael Klein. “When they are investigating and searching for answers, their curiosity comes from a real place of truth inside of them, and that resonates with the audience.”

“Ghosts are real. It’s not my job to try and persuade skeptics,” declares the formidable Bagans. “We are getting very much involved now in scientific research. You can’t persuade somebody with just a feeling. We have so much scientific equipment now; it’s hard to ignore what’s happening. I will stop at nothing to prove that ghosts do exist.”

The Los Angeles Times

Chip Coffey blindfolded during Psychic Medium walk through.

“Hooray, Chip Coffey was back on Paranormal State!”

Read the Review and Post Your Opinions in Our FORUM.

Lynne Olson of Seattle, WA is available for private readings. Send an e-mail to angelzhands@yahoo.com.

“Today’s lesson boys and girls is don’t mess with witchcraft nor summon demons to amuse your friends and family.”

Read the Review and Post Your Opinions in Our FORUM.

Lynne Olson of Seattle, WA is available for private readings. Send an e-mail to angelzhands@yahoo.com.

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Ryan Buell and Sergey Poberezhny

Ryan Buell formed a paranormal investigation club as a student at Penn State and today he’s touring the country, gathering tales of the unknown for his own TV show.

Buell, director of the Paranormal Research Society and star of the A&E TV series “Paranormal State,” visited the Locust Walk area of the University of Pennsylvania Thursday as a part of the Paranormal State Tour.

The tour began on Nov. 30 in San Francisco, and hit 10 cities before the last stop on Friday in New York City.

“We’ve heard a few good stories,” Buell said. “The tour has been great so far. It’s a lot more personal. Instead of just an ad campaign, we’re getting out there and meeting people.”

He started the team when he was just 19 years old.

“PRS has been together since 2001, so when the show came along, we told them ‘this is what we do, but you can come along for the ride,’” he said. “The show kind of built up around us.”
PRS Managing Director Sergey Poberezhny said he has heard many interesting stories along the way.
 
“We referred a few to investigative teams who are closer to where they live, and have gotten some information from some people to possibly revisit them,” he said.

Tour Director Mark Anderson said about 50 fans — eager to tell their stories — approach the team at each stop.

“They’ve gotten some amazing stories,” Anderson said.

Buell told the story of a woman who mysteriously lost her mother.
 
“They didn’t know how she died,” he said. “She said while she was preparing for her mother’s funeral, she sat down exhausted and said out loud, ‘Mom, I just wish I knew what happened to you.’”

At that moment the lights dimmed and a strange shadow appeared on the wall.
 
“There was a rocking chair there, but the shadow of the rocking chair was rocking, and her mother was sitting in it,” said Buell.

The woman then saw a man’s shadow approach her mother in the chair and kill her, he said.
“She went to the police and told them she had reason to believe her mother had been killed,” he said. “They asked her why she thought that, and she told them she just had a feeling.”

An autopsy revealed the woman had indeed been murdered and upon further investigation, it was discovered the man was a burglar.

“Apparently the man didn’t think anyone was home,” Buell said. “He was surprised that she was there and killed her out of panic.”

The police caught the killer, he said.
 
(Editor’s Note: Buell didn’t explain how the woman had been murdered in a manner that, at first glance, had escaped police notice.)

Buell said there are many facts to consider before performing a formal investigation.

“We’re looking for current claims that can be investigated,” he said.

Also, Buell said, the team has to be careful weeding through all the stories to get to the real experiences and those people who need help.

“One woman told me she has a ‘high ranking demon’ in her house,” he said.
 
Though the woman may have a real haunting, more than likely it would turn out to be debunked, Buell said.

“Some groups investigate a place, say ‘congratulations, your house is haunted,’ and that’s it,” he said. “But some people want help and that’s what we try to do.”

For the most part, Buell said, the tour has been incredible.

“It’s really cool to meet the fans,” he said. “It was an ingenious yet simple idea to just go out on tour.”

In addition to collecting paranormal experience stories, Buell and Poberezhny are promoting the premier of the fourth season of “Paranormal State” on A&E Dec. 15.

“We were in the Atlanta airport parking lot and a guy walked by and sang ‘December 15th,’ and just kept walking,’” Ryan said.
 
Poberezhny said the man didn’t stop to meet them, he just chanted the date of the premier and disappeared.

“It was great,” Poberezhny said.

Paranormal Research Society is headquartered in State College, Pa.

nj.com

A&E’s hit series “Paranormal State” will kick-off a search for America’s most compelling paranormal experiences with a 10 city nationwide tour beginning in San Francisco on Monday, November 30 and ending in New York City on Friday, December 11. The series star, and founder of the renowned Paranormal Research Society (PRS), Ryan Buell is issuing a call-to-action and traveling across the country to invite America to share their own paranormal experiences with him personally. The most compelling stories will have a chance to be featured on future episodes of “Paranormal State”.

“Paranormal research has always been a passion of mine,” said Buell. “Since the launch of our A&E series, we’ve been getting thousands of calls from people wanting us to investigate their homes. Although we’d love to, we can’t possibly visit everyone. This is our effort to cover more territory, talk to more people and ultimately find answers to the unexplainable.”

Buell, and his right-hand tech specialist and PRS team member Sergey Poberezhny, will travel coast-to-coast in a branded “Paranormal State” tour bus, taking the show on the road and visiting fans in popular U.S. destinations to gather first-hand accounts of the supernatural. The best stories will be profiled on the tour’s interactive website www.paranormalstatetour.com, which aims to provide fans and enthusiasts further topics of debate concerning the paranormal.

The “Paranormal State” tour will travel through 10 major U.S. cities in 14 days, each city will have the team on-site for one day at key locations, often with a story of its own to tell. Beginning November 20, fans can log on to the interactive “Paranormal State” tour site and join the official “Paranormal State” Facebook Fan Page and Twitter feeds, all in advance of the tour. Throughout the tour fans can come to the tour location to meet Ryan, be videotaped on the tour bus sharing their paranormal stories, create a photo of themselves as a “paranormal investigator” to share with their friends, and receive “Paranormal State” branded giveaways. Fans not near a tour site can participate by submitting their stories online at www.ParanormalStateTour.com. A key feature online will allow fans to upload paranormal stories, which will then appear pinpointed on an interactive map, creating a real-time visual account of where in the U.S. paranormal activity occurs most.

The “Paranormal State” tour will travel to the following major U.S. cities and locations:

November 30, 2009 – San Francisco, CA – Embarcadero Center

December 1, 2009 – Los Angeles, CA – California State University, Fullerton

December 2, 2009 – San Diego, CA – Westfield Mall (Gaslamp District)

December 3, 2009 – Phoenix, AZ – Tempe Marketplace

December 5, 2009 – Austin, TX – Highland Mall

December 6, 2009 – New Orleans, LA – Harrah’s Casino

December 7, 2009 – Tampa, FL – University Mall

December 8, 2009 – Atlanta, GA – Atlantic Station

December 10, 2009 – Philadelphia, PA – University of Pennsylvania

December 11, 2009 – New York, NY – Madison Square Park

Events will be open to the public from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with giveaways, prizes and the chance to tell your story to the series stars. To track the tour and find out more information about each location and its haunting facts visit: www.paranormalstatetour.com

Founded by Buell in 2001, while a student at Penn State University, the PRS works on cases across the country and is one of the most recognized paranormal societies in the nation. A&E’s “Paranormal State” was one of the first shows of its kind following Ryan Buell and his team of investigators as they attempt to unravel inexplicable paranormal phenomena including sixth-sense experiences, ghost sightings, demonic disturbances, and brushes with the darkest areas of the unknown.

Past seasons have included cases such as a Pennsylvania couple besieged by paranormal activity in their home, an aggressive poltergeist in Maryland, and a ghostly hag nicknamed the “Lady Vampire” by the Texas family she torments. Through the use of Electronic Voice Phenomenon (EVP) recordings and video documentation, and with the help of renowned psychics, demonologists, psychologists and counselors, the PRS explores these bizarre cases in the hopes of helping frightened people who have nowhere else to turn.

PRNewswire via COMTEX