Portals to Hell: A Short and Sweet Review

Portals to Hell on the Travel Channel is the next installment in an already saturated Paranormal Television market.

Starring Katrina Weidman (Paranormal State, Paranormal Lockdown), and Jack Osbourne (Son of Ozzy: When did this guy start being a ghost hunter?). We follow the investigative duo as they travel to notoriously haunted locations around the country in search of (you guessed it,) the portals to hell.

Portals to Hell seems to try to differentiate itself from other Paranormal "reality" shows but falls a bit short. The investigators seem to fall into the same traps as other shows such as relying too heavily upon unscientifically proven equipment causing Jack and Katrina to jump to conclusions to fit the narrative. Much like other shows everything thing that happens from sounds to equipment cutting out is paranormal related.

Portals to Hell even manages to fall short on some of the basics such as fully explaining what equipment is being used and what and how it works. Too many times I had to stop and wonder what device Jack and Katrina were using, and how they were able to decipher the messages they were receiving.

In reality, there are really only so many different ways to represent ghost hunting on television. It's understandable that viewers want to see spirits, and in a niche market that is ghost hunting, there are only so many different "haunted" locations, and so many pieces of equipment to use.  Paranormal State, Ghost Hunters, and Ghost Adventures really took off due to being some of the first shows of this genre, so many new shows will follow the same cliched path leading to a lack of innovation.

My Experience with Paranormal Television: Not what You Would Expect

Remember that paranormal television was born from some kind of true event. Ghostly events do happen, just not as often as entertainment would like you to believe. During my time I have seen some truly terrifying things, all unexplainable, none on television.

Having been in the paranormal field since around 2010, I have been both lucky and unlucky enough to have been in the situation to be on television (some voluntary some not). While it does bring some excitement to your investigations, it also reveals the entertainment aspect of the paranormal.

We were followed by a News crew on one of our investigations, where some things happened but mostly it was a quiet night. The news piece that aired seemed to be mostly accurate, of course, they took some liberties to make the situation a bit creepier than it really was. Fast forward a few years and several episodes later, I have changed my mind on the experience.

On several occasions, after viewing the new episodes my opinion has changed. Viewing the shows on television events would be shown that never actually happened, or were in heavy debate among the team. Obviously, these incidents were included by the production company in order to make the program worth viewing.

During my time investigation, I have had plenty of events I would deem as paranormal, just not anything since the television experience has started. Every time I am involved with something that ends up airing on television, I end up irritated knowing that half the events that were shown never happened. These events along with years of experience have soured any kind of paranormal television for me.

Don't get me started on those that star in most of these one story shows. Do you what you love for the experience and education of the unknown, not for the possible fame.

Ghostland Tennessee..Seen It Yet? Wish I Hadn't

Ghostland Tennessee....As a "writer" as well as a paranormal investigator I try to remain neutral when watching paranormal television. In this instance however my neutrality lasted about 5 minutes before it changed into "Ghostland Tennessee is whats wrong with paranormal television shows." I now consider this the front runner in terrible television.

As I have previously discussed in reviews, many paranormal groups have adopted their standards for paranormal investigation from paranormal television. Same ideas will be adopted by people interested in the paranormal, even clients.

Ghostland Tennessee takes your stereo typical investigation and amplifies it several times over.

Before the investigation even begins, the group lets them know that they believe its a spirit that's attached itself to the family. Of course after that everyone starts to spout the paranormal's most common phrase: "It's Demonic." All of this occurs before the investigation ever takes place...

The K2 meter for example, should not be used during investigations. The K2 meter can give false positives depending on the location of the building being investigated. Ghostland Tennessee chooses to ignore this and uses them for the investigation. Whether aware or not, the group perpetuates the idea that every flicker is a spirit trying to communicate. If you own a K2 or are interested in it, do yourself a favor and research them. Here I am almost assuming they do not know how to use them properly.

So many people may not know about the Devils Toybox. Ghostland Tennessee uses it as a ghost trap, and claims to have actually caught something inside. This would be the first time I have ever heard of something being trapped inside. Thousands of investigators have assembled these devices and tried them out, to no avail. Ghostland Tennessee apparently appears to have been the first group to capture something, and on television no less!

I always have a hangup about trying to provoke a "spirit" in someone's home. All it takes is someone stirring up whatever is there and leaving, then the residents have to pay the price of your actions. Please think it through before this is done. Ghostland would have everyone believe this is an acceptable practice. This is most definitely not.

Beware to people that watch paranormal television shows, that these should be taken as entertainment only. Unfortunately, they are not. Just because Ghostland Tennessee chooses to use a Devil's Toybox or discuss with a client what is in the building before and investigation doesn't mean anyone should.