Join us as we talk with the Ghost Adventures crew about their upcoming live event on October 30, 2009, what’s coming up in Season 3 of the hit TV show Ghost Adventures, and some of their past investigations.

Guests:
Zak Bagans
Nick Groff
Aaron Goodwin

Interviewers:
Karen Frazier
Cheryl Knight

Podcast bumper music provided by: Kevin Macleod, Incompetech

www.paranormalunderground.net

Paranormal Underground’s October issue will be online during the first few days of October. Here’s a sneak peek at some of the articles that will be included:

–TV Watch: What happens when a vampire, a werewolf, and a ghost cross paths? On BBC Three’s series Being Human (seen in the United States on BBCAmerica), the unusual trio decide to share a rented flat and try to lead normal lives — or as normal as you can get when you’re considered a monster.

–Investigator Update: Paranormal Underground catches up with the Ghost Adventures Crew to chat about their seven-hour live event at the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in Weston, West Virginia, scheduled for October 30 on the Travel Channel. Zak, Nick, and Aaron, also give us an inside look at some of the team’s most bizarre encounters, including their brushes with possession. (You won’t want to miss our podcast with the guys, which will go online Oct. 1 right here on Paranormal Underground.)

–Haunted Sites: Rick E. Hale takes an indepth look at The Curse of Dudleytown, a location that is known as one of the most famous paranormal sites in Connecticut. In the article, Rick also tells the tale of Budd Lewis (lead writer for famed and fabled horror and sci-fantasy publications Creepy, Eerie, and Vampirella) and his travels to Dudleytown.

While these three articles lead off the October issue of Paranormal Underground, this is only the beginning. In this issue, we’ll also feature:

–Haunted History: Hauntings at the Historic Baker Hotel

–Cryptids & Mythological Creatures: Holy Crap! Being Undead Really Sucks

–Are We Alone?: Extraterrestrial Life: Living Creatures Beyond Our Earth

–Diary From a Haunted Hotel: An inside look at what it’s like to work within the walls of a haunted Gettysburg hotel.

–Tales From the Road — The Hunter Speaks: Dave Galvan shares his findings from a recent investigation at The Old Wheeler Inn, a historic B&B on the North Oregon Coast.

–Equipment Update: Avoiding Buyer’s Remorse When Purchasing an Entry-Level Thermal Imager

–Plus! Don’t miss our annual Paranormal Fiction contest winner’s entry, False Reading, by Sandi Kennedy, as well as Michelle M. Pillow’s Paranormal Fantasy Author Spotlight on Mandy M. Roth.

by Karen Frazier, Managing Editor
Paranormal Underground Magazine

“I don’t like orbs, but I think I’ve really got something here.” I’ve heard the words. I’ve uttered the words. Even the big guys fall into the orb trap – seeing some piece of evidence that seems significant and then having it dismissed because there are orbs present.

I get it. Dust in a flash shows up as an orb. Bugs do. Reflections do. Good lord – I bet on one of my PMS fat days, I’d show up as an orb in a photograph.

Because there are a ton of logical explanations for orbs, does that mean that there is no such thing as an orb that is evidence of the paranormal? I dunno. Sometimes I wonder.

Cheryl and I were interviewing Zak Bagans, Nick Groff and Aaron Goodwin from Ghost Adventures yesterday (watch for their interview and podcast in October!). At one point, orbs came up in the conversation – in particular balls of light that were filmed going into both Bagans’ and Groff’s heads prior to what each of them experienced as a “partial possession.”

In the interview, Bagans was quick to point out, “They weren’t bugs. They weren’t dust. We know what those things are, and that is not what those were.”

Another person I interviewed, artist Jody Bergsma, showed me picture after picture of her, surrounded by orbs. The picture taken immediately before with no Bergsma in the shot? No orbs. Put her in the picture and BAM – thousands of orbs all around her. It is an interesting (and repeatable) anomaly, to say the least.

My first orb photo EVER was taken at a haunted location. While I am relatively certain that it was the reflection of the flash off of a reflective surface in a darkened room, it was an interesting coincidence.

My very first orb photo ever - captured at Puyallup Washington's Meeker Mansion. Most likely a reflection of the flash.

My friend, Bill Robards, captured an orb on camera up at Wellington – taken in the daylight with no flash. It looks like a little 3-D pearl, with a tinier 3-D pearl hovering above it. Interestingly, the same big orb/little orb pairing was captured in a few other flashless photos.

Captured at Wellington - no flash used. Bug? Dust? Something else? Notice that if you look really closely, there is a smaller, almost identical orb above and to the left of the obvious one.

This photo - also taken without a flash shows the same interesting big orb/little orb pairing as the previous image.

It’s true. Orbs have become the red-headed step-child of the paranormal world. There’s a reason for this. There are just too many logical explanations for what could cause the orb. But what if….what if in some cases what they are is exactly what people believe them to be? Evidence of the paranormal. That what if makes it difficult to dismiss the appearance of orbs out of hand.

If you spend enough time chasing the paranormal, at some point you are going to come face-to-face with an orb. Most often, you will be able to dismiss it. But occasionally, you won’t, and you’ll find yourself joining in with the leagues of those before you who have said, “I don’t like orbs, but….”

What of that? What of Bergsma’s magnetic (orbnetic??) personality? What of the Ghost Adventures Crew’s experiences with these little balls of something? What of your own experiences?

I’m not saying that orbs are paranormal. I’m asking what if? I’ll tell you this. I don’t like orbs, but sometimes I wonder.

Since my first orb capture, I’ve gotten a few more. In closing I will leave you with the best orb photograph I personally have ever taken.

The best orb photograph I've ever taken.

Spooky, huh?

by Karen Frazier, Managing Editor
Paranormal Underground

It’s easy to get caught up in media hype. The newscasters seem so earnest when they come on and read the latest frightening headlines. Even the most intelligent of people can get caught unaware from time to time.

Case in point. I live in Western Washington. You know the place – we have a reputation for being temperate – and let’s face it – rainy. Such is our reputation for cool summers that a friend from the east coast who has never made it this far west said this:

“I heard that nobody in Washington has air conditioning in their cars.”

I have teased her mercilessly since then.

Anyway – back to my story. Yesterday was an uncharacteristically warm day. It hit about 107 in my small town. While temperatures to that extreme are a rare occurrence here, we do usually have wonderful weather in late July, August and early September. We can count on pleasant, sunny days in the 70s to 90s throughout those months. But 107 – that was hot. Especially when you realize that it isn’t a dry heat. It’s muggy.

By 10, it had cooled down to the mid 90s. I was safely ensconced in my air-conditioned home, however, watching the local nightly news when it happened. The earnest talking hairdo came on and showed record-breaking temperature predictions for today. As a matter of fact, it said that my town was going to be 113 today. I panicked!

Jim and I headed up to the attic to dig out an additional window air conditioning unit, since our heat pump cools well, but not in extremes of temperature. The best it could do yesterday was 78 degrees in the house.

Right now, at 1:36 pm, it is 101 at my house. Could it hit 113? Maybe but highly doubtful at this point. Seems like maybe I bought into media hype. It’s never been 113 here before.

About an hour later, I was in bed reading when Tanner came running into the bedroom yelling that the moon was red. I hopped out of bed and looked. Sure enough – it was a red, red moon. Really red. Blood red.

Rapidly my mind rolled through doomsday predictions. Was there something about a blood red moon? Was there? And then, I started thinking about solar flares. Were we about to be annihilated by a rogue solar flare that was burning up our moon as I slept?

That’s when I realized what easy prey we can be to the media. I knew it before, but I always thought that I was immune. I’m not. Fortunately, I caught myself. I slept well and didn’t wake up surprised that we were still here.

That’s how the media is. We watch movies and television. We read books. As a direct result of this, we always have one foot in and one foot out of reality. Movie, books and television – they are dramatic. And yet, people start to expect that drama to play out in real life, as well. Some even generate drama in their own lives as a result – because that is how they believe life should be. Big and dramatic.

Here’s an example. As I mentioned in another post, we took the kids up to the site of the Wellington avalanche disaster this past weekend for a day hike and to give them a flavor of what a true haunting might feel like. Wellington is a pretty active place. It is the place that has pushed me closer to believing outright in ghosts. It’s even tipped Jim in that direction. There is something going on there.

The kids have only experienced the paranormal through television. They’ve watched shows like Ghost Adventures, Ghost Hunters and Most Haunted. They’ve seen movies and read books about hauntings. So they are of the impression that haunted places are dramatically active, with people getting slapped and scratched, disembodied voices everywhere and furniture (or bricks) flying through the air.

While there may be a very few places in the world where those types of things could possibly happen, my limited experience in haunted places – even extremely active ones – is that the activity is far more subtle than that. Paranormal investigation is nothing like you see on TV. There’s a lot of time where nothing happens. There’s a lot of time spent carefully evaluating evidence. Often, investigation is done in broad daylight without the added creepiness of darkness. A great deal of time is spent searching for (and finding) logical explanations for things. And a lot of times, activity is extremely subtle. Sometimes it is a feeling. Or the raising of hair on your arms. If you’re very lucky, then you may even hear a disembodied voice.

This is what I wanted the kids to see – that the paranormal isn’t what you see on television. But that it is cool, nonetheless.

Tanner has always had a fascination with ghosts. He’s also had a lot of fear. And yet, he begged us to take him on this day hike/investigation. And so, we did.

We gave the kids equipment to carry around. Recorders and cameras, mostly, although we also gave them a very simple EMF detector. The walked around asking questions and describing sensations they got. At one point, Matthew felt as if someone had pushed him in the back. We heard footsteps. We heard a very faint disembodied laugh. We walked. A lot. The kids felt various sensations in different locations. Dizziness. Nausea. Anxiety. A tightness of the chest. A tightness of the head. Goosebumps. Cold spots.

It was all very subtle. No bricks flew. No one was scratched. We didn’t see a single full-bodied apparition. And yet, the kids had a terrific time. They loved every minute of it.

Later, when we got home, I asked Tanner how he felt about ghosts now that he had actually been to an active location and experienced what it felt like. His response? He is now less afraid of ghosts. The experience was far more subtle than he could have imagined, and yet he feels convinced that there was definitely something going on there.

Away from media influence, the real world awaits. It may not be as dramatic or frightening as we see in movies or on TV. Even reality TV is overblown and dramatic. But real life still has a lot to offer in the way of experience and emotion.

Which brings me back to the red moon. What causes a red moon? Typically, it is caused by particles in the earth’s atmosphere that filter the light, causing the moon to look red. Is that exciting or dramatic? No. But, if you think about that explanation, it is still pretty cool – the properties of light and the properties of the atmosphere. When the natural world has such amazing things that happen – like a moon turning blood red – why on earth do we need to add additional drama? I don’t think we do. The universe in which we live with all of its infinite possibilities is dramatic enough, all by itself.

by Karen Frazier, Managing Editor
Paranormal Underground e-Magazine

Join us in chat for our Ghost Adventures season two premier party – 8 Eastern.

Since Ghost Adventures premiers tonight, I thought I’d take the time to share a few thoughts about my interview with Zak Bagans. You can hear 90% of that interview on our podcast. The other 10% was pretty much administrative details we took care of that I didn’t feel it was necessary to subject you to.

The first thing that struck me about Zak Bagans is the absolute passion with which he pursues the Ghost Adventures project. I believe Zak has had experiences that he genuinely feels are paranormal – many which have showed up on Ghost Adventures. Zak Bagans believes in ghosts. He has a passion for the paranormal that just can’t be faked. It comes through in what he says and does. He is a man who is blessed enough to be quite successful at pursuing those passions.

I think the back story of Ghost Adventures is true. Zak, Nick and Aaron were three guys who got in a car and took off with cameras to see what they could find. They stumbled on something that was entertaining and, at times, genuinely spooky.

When you watch Ghost Adventures or listen to Zak Bagans talk, you can see the emotional energy that the three of them – especially Bagans – take into an investigation. I don’t know what level of creative control they have over the finished product, but Bagans is all about preserving the rawness of the investigation and bringing it to you so that you can get a sense of what happens when investigating darker hauntings.

The crew at Ghost Adventures know that there will be skeptics. But they go into each investigation in an attempt to help the living. There is much that goes on after their lock-down that isn’t seen on camera – follow-up by those who have the ability to help.

We are all drawn here to this site – and to the paranormal – because we have an intense interest in the subject. In this way, you are no different than Zak Bagans. You pursue your passion in your way. Zak Bagans pursues it in his. The result is pure entertainment.

Join us as we talk with Ghost Adventures’ Zak Bagans about the upcoming season (starting June 5 on the Travel Channel), his personal paranormal experiences and his philosophy on ghosts and ghost hunting.

Talk about Zak in our paranormal forums!
Read our interview with Zak in our June e-Magazine!

Interviewers:
Karen Frazier, Managing Editor
Scott Mannen

Special Guest:
Zak Bagans

Don’t have time to listen online? We’re available for download on iTunes. Go to the iTunes store and click on the podcasts link. Search Paranormal Underground presents. Click on our logo, and you should come upon all of our podcasts. Download is free!

No iTunes? Go to our podcast site. There are download links for each podcast.

Our paranormal podcasts are FREE! Not only that, but they feature great guests like Shannon Sylvia, Stanton Friedman and Ghost Adventures’ Zak Bagans (coming in June). What are you waiting for???

A special thanks to Kevin McLeod for the music.