"Haunting in the Heartland"

Paranormal-Television will be with us forevermore.  The reason is simple.  It is relatively inexpensive to produce.  People are intrigued by the Paranormal, so it is a subject matter to which they are attracted.  It is inexpensive to produce television with a built in viewership.

This new Travel Channel series, "Haunting in the Heartland," is intriguing to me.  First, it focuses on the Heartland of the country, and I love stories like this set in small towns and rural areas.  Secondly, I don't know Steve Shippy, but perhaps he'll be fairly grounded and reasonable in his approach.  One can hope, and be optimistic.

A real paranormal investigation or consultation is NOT made for television. These things tend to be fairly long and uneventful.  So, shows such as this one feel a natural pressure to produce something one film that is compelling.  In some cases this means faking events, and in other cases it means using editing and narration to exaggerate everything to a fever pitch...though in the end, very little has happened.

I think there would be room in the market for a paranormal show that follows a very grounded group, as they logically examine legends, anecdotal experiences, and reported phenomenon.  But, to date, I'm not sure we've seen this happen yet.  Perhaps Steve Shippy will buck the curve.  :-)

Though this marketing copy from the article suggests my optimism might not be warranted:  "The alleged evil spirit at work in Merrill may be connected with another haunting. Shippy gets help from a clairvoyant during the episode to ward off the spirit."

Well, even if the show is a completely loopy over-hyped train-wreck, it might still be entertaining.  And really, what more can we ask from a television show than entertainment?

Mark Stinson
Ghost Vigil Investigations

Haunting of Hill House - Sleep Paralysis

This is my second post here about the Haunting of Hill House. But, the Netflix Original Series is being viewed by an enormous amount of people, and since it involves the paranormal, it will to some small degree the mainstream cultures's view regarding supernatural topics.

One such topic is Sleep Paralysis, or as some refer to it, the Night Hag phenomenon. Again, I don't want to spoil this for anyone. I will speak very generally, but if you absolutely don't want any potential spoilers about the Haunting of Hill House, stop reading now.

The character Nell experiences Sleep Paralysis in the show, from childhood up through adulthood. As an adult, she actually pursues medical treatment or counseling for the condition. It being a horror movie, the counseling seems to work for a bit, but in the end, the supernatural nature of her affliction overcomes in the most horrible ways.

If you have never experienced Sleep Paralysis, it can be enormously terrifying to experience. If it is accompanied by the visual of someone or something holding you down, the terror increases exponentially.

The scientific explanation of Sleep Paralysis, in very simple terms, involves a natural process in sleep where the mind in deep sleep cuts off the connection between the mind and body (paralyzing the body) to prevent you from moving around violently as you dream. An abnormal sleep cycle or an interruption of the sleep cycle at a very specific time can cause the mind to wake before the mind has been reconnected with the body (releasing the paralysis). And this results in a person who is awake by paralyzed for a time.

Probably the oddest thing about Sleep Paralysis is the visual component of the experience. Often the paralyzed person sees and feels someone holding them down. Sometimes they see a hag-like woman on top of them, holding them down. Other times, people see a dark figure, someone they know, or even something as odd as an alien. Science explains this as the mind, only recently woken, creating a plausible explanation for the paralysis. Nothing more than a visual hallucination.

This scientific explanation can be comforting for some. For others, the intensity of the experience and the utter reality of their experience leaves the scientific explanation a little empty.

I personally have experienced the phenomenon several times. Everytime, it was enormously frustrating and scary. There is a sense that if you could just move your hand, or turn your head, or scream out that you will be free. But, try as you might, you can't move or call out. Eventually you do...and the whole experience ends. But, it can be quite unsettling.

I was impressed with how the Haunting of Hill House handled the phenomenon. Especially how they explained it scientifically, and had Nell seek out and receive counseling.

Mark Stinson
Ghost Vigil Investigations

Haunting of Hill House - Through Time

It is hard to go to work or talk to friends without someone suggesting the Netflix Original show "The Haunting of HIll House." It has great character development, interesting twists, amazing visuals, and some pretty intense tension. And it has some good scares.

***SPOILERS BELOW***

If you haven't watched the show, you should probably stop reading. Go watch the show and come back! I'm going to speak in general terms, but some of what I write below could spoil parts of the show if you are particularly clever.  :-)

Okay, one of the more mind-bending aspects of the story, is the suggestion that time does not matter. As living beings, we experience time in a linear fashion. But what if linear time is an illusion, and in fact means very little? What if a spirit that survives the death of the physical body drifts from moment to moment, jumping through time, and experiencing moments with little regard for linear time? What if someone dead was actually haunting an earlier (living) version of himself or herself?

There is another "haunt" in the story that has a very odd appearance. It is suggested that this odd appearance has its origins in how the spirit viewed himself when he was alive. This is sort of an interesting take on Psi theory, where we see spirits with our mind rather than our physical eyes. In which case, "seeing" a spirit is actually a communication from the spirit to the mind of the living of how they look. The interesting part here, is that in the show, a spirit looks a certain way, to be the opposite of some insecurity or flaw he felt while he was alive. Like an over-compensation, influencing how the spirit communicates what he looks like to the living.

In the dialogue of the show, there are a lot of interesting thoughts on the nature of ghosts, and what they can represent. It really is a rather intelligent script.

Anyhow, "The Haunting of Hill House" is first and foremost entertainment. But, like all good entertainment, it provides us with some interesting things to think about.

Mark Stinson
Ghost Vigil Investigations

Supernatural Television Show

I was watching the television show "Supernatural" the other day, and I saw the episode with the "Ghostfacers" ghost-hunting group for the first time. Honestly, it was brilliant. I mean, it was a raging exaggeration...but it hit on all the right notes.

When Ghost Vigil Investigations was very active and very public a few years ago, we met a lot of other ghost-hunting groups. Sorry, "paranormal investigation groups."

Anyhow...whoever wrote that episode did their research...or personally knew some ghost hunters. Because it was perfect.  :-)

Mark Stinson
Ghost Vigil Investigations

Historic Locations Credibility

Historic locations that do promote the haunted nature of their location, and then charge money for tours, investigations, and other forms of access to their site aren't doing anything wrong. it is incredibly difficult to maintain an historic site. It can be hard to find a method for raising money to support the staff, maintenance, and other costs associated with such a location. If a site has a legendary status as a haunted location, and there are people willing to tour it or investigate it, then it is only fair that those people help financially support the location.

The only real concern, is how honestly the paranormal nature of the location is portrayed or explained in order to market access to the location. If marketing becomes full of lies and half-truths, this is damaging to the Truth of the location.

Mark Stinson
Ghost Vigil Investigations

Children are Impressionable

I can say with confidence, that every private investigation that Ghost Vigil Investigations has conducted that involved children experiencing the paranormal, the children had watched a number of Ghost Hunters episodes or some other paranormal television show.

I am not saying that ghost-television causes children to experience or imagine paranormal experiences in every case. Clearly that’s not true, because children have been experiencing paranormal phenomenon long before ghost-television. But, children are impressionable and imaginative.

When I was a child, there were scores of television shows and movies about Big Foot. I could hardly go into the woods, without imagining that big hairy lug being around the next bend on the path. One time there was a loud sound while I was in the woods, and I breathlessly ran a full mile home...sure that Big Foot must be right at my heels.

It is important when interviewing a child that has experienced the paranormal, to keep in mind the influences on the child, and to what subject matter in media (television and internet) the child has been exposed.

Mark Stinson
Ghost Vigil Investigations

Paranormal Amusement Parks

There are reported paranormal hot-beds (old asylums, tuberculosis hospitals, abandoned prisons, homes where people were murdered) around the country that charge for people to come and investigate the paranormal. We used to joke that these places were the equivalent of “Paranormal Amusement Parks.”

I don’t mean to say that these places are fake, or that no paranormal activity takes place in these locations. But, with the popularity of ghost television shows, a paranormal industry sprung up. Incredibly scary looking locations with dark histories were commercialized, and turned into tourist destinations for the many paranormal investigation groups that began springing up.

I don’t necessarily think it is a bad or negative thing, but I’m unsure it is a good thing either. It can lead to claims of paranormal activity that have their origins in marketing strategy, rather than credible evidence.

Mark Stinson
Ghost Vigil Investigation

Ghost Vigil Television Pilot

Way back when, a production company approached Ghost Vigil Investigations about shooting a pilot for a television show. The producer had also produced Ripley's Believe it or Not for television, and was interested in producing a paranormal television show.

We went to the Strawberry Hill Museum in KCKS with the film crew, and shot pilot footage. In the long run, the production company ended up not producing the show. But, it was an interesting experience for us...and gave us some idea of what it must be like to have to produce a whole season worth of interesting ghost-television footage...

Mark Stinson
Ghost Vigil Investigations