Haunting: Australia...Review

Having known someone who resells Apparitions Technologies, I've been hearing about Haunting Australia for some time. While I know the equipment used in the show is good, unfortunately, I felt the Haunting Australia show to be average.

Haunting Australia takes place in well, you guessed it Australia. So far unlike most other paranormal television shows, Haunting Australia on SYFY is not solely based off of the use of equipment. Everything seems similar, doing the deed in the dark, and doing the usual asylums, etc.

Haunting Australia starts off well having a diverse group of investigators. Well, the problem with the researchers is most of it consists of mediums and an exorcist. Now, as far as paranormal television I am not a fan of using mediums. I watch to see if they collect evidence. When a medium says "I feel this" and "I feel that" there's no evidence to be seen. How does everyone know you're not faking it for the show? Hence, I become uninterested.

I did feel amazed at what they called paranormal evidence in the review. They dismissed the first image as matrixing, just to accept the second image as paranormal when it was also matrixing.

I honestly hope the first episodes of Haunting Australia are just a warm up, and the series gets better. Work out all the kinks now, otherwise, Haunting Australia may do what most paranormal televisions shows do and go the way of the Dodo bird.




Roy Weedmark is the Co-founder of Paranormal Discord. Visit us at paranormaldiscord.com

Ghost MIne

With a overfilled and overbooked TV genre, Ghost Mine is somewhat of a breathe of fresh air. With everyone investigating the same locations with the same equipment, at least this show decided to do something a little different. 

As the name implies, mines are getting investigated instead of homes and businesses. If there are indeed spirits and ghosts, there's no better place than old mines where people died from accidents all the time. Places like California and Arizona would be perfect for a show like this.  

While there is paranormal investigations on the show, the show spends a lot of time giving the history of the mine and the surrounding area.  

Like Ghost Adventures the show does try to do experiments, although not really new its more than most groups try. 

For fans of the paranormal looking for something new, check this show out on SYFY

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Skinwalker Ranch

Legends have been coming out of the SkinWalker Ranch by the droves. From Indian Skinwalkers, to  aliens running around all over the property. Much like Area 51, these stories have brought wannabe visitors by the groves to the property.

From the shows like Joe Rogan Challenges Everything, or Jesse Ventura's Conspiracy Theory they delve deep into the stories and help to deepen the mystery. Are there UFOs or aliens running around? Possibly. But the owner Robert Bigelow has his hands in the government space program, as well as MUFON. If he was researching classified technology and didn't want to raise suspicions sure this setting would be great. But why then here? The ranch was previously owned and was famous even before Bigelow bought the property. So one has to assume he is there for so much more than technology.

Skinwalker Ranch is located in Utah, and activity has been reported as early as the 1950's. The Ute Indians have made claims of strange occurances in this area even farther back than that being skinwalkers is an Indian name. Speculation that the Skinwalker Ranch has a thin veil like the Bermuda Triangle and is why strange creatures and thousands of UFOs have been and continue to be seen at the ranch.

Usually there are reasons why the government and big shots like Bigelow move into places like this. The only questions that remain are Do You Believe? Will the government ever disclose the UFO information? Can the public handle the truth? 

Joe Rogan Questions Everything on Syfy

For Joe Rogan fans this is a dream come true. Anyone who listens to The Joe Rogan Experience knows this show is right down his alley. Joe routinely has people on his show who discuss the often hidden side of human nature, or Bigfoot, even robots taking over the world.

Unlike other shows such as Jesse Vs Conspiracy Theory Joe tries to get to the truth instead of accepting and trying to prove that something is real. When it came to attempting to find Bigfoot or battling those who blame HAARP for the weather, he looks at the situation with a skeptical and intellectual mind. The show dives into the science behind it, both for and against it.

For example, anyone who has seen Jesse Ventura's show on HAARP, will recognize the experiment using rain and electricity. JV made the experiment sound legitimate, and Joe Rogan found out it wasn't even the same concept as HAARP and tore it apart!

Same concept when they went to the 2045 conference. The ability to download consciousness into an outside storage or robot is a very controversial subject Joe Rogan did not hesitate to question it. Joe grilled the creator of the real reason he wanted to make humans immortal by transplanting their consciousness into robots. Joe slams the Russian billionaire by calling him a wannabe god.

While Joe Rogan Questions Everything is still new, I believe I can redeem myself after liking Mountain Monsters by telling everyone who is curious about nature to tune into the SYFY channel.

Haunted Collector? Really?

As I’m watching the not so new show The Haunted Collector I cant help but wonder, do they hand pick places that they think have haunted items, or do they plant them? I seemingly doubt that it would be that easy to find places that happen to be haunted by items. Trust me it doesn't happen as often as they may make it seem. Let alone they seem to find the item in a night or two, which really doesn't happen in real investigations. Let alone find the exact item and having the client let you take it such things don’t really happen without priority agreements or false placement.

Most times in investigations we tell the clients that it usually takes a few investigations to really be able to determine what they are experiencing, and how to get rid of it. I've had some clients where it took three or four investigations to even capture anything.

Now I can’t say that this is what’s going on, as John is supposed to be a reputable member of the paranormal community. But I can’t help but ask those questions and I always bring up the fact that these shows always seem to find evidence when there are plenty of times you can travel to a known haunted place and get nothing.

This again just like my review of Deep South Paranormal, these are the things that give us a bad name as the paranormal community. First these shows are not any different from each other, they make it seem like you’ll always get evidence every time you go out. People, this is simply not true. Most of the time it’s like watching paint dry. You may get nothing at all for eight hours. You may get one noise, or you may have an evening so packed that it forever changes your life.

Needless to say just as I have stopped watching The DSP show, this one is next. There are only so many crappy shows I can fit into my schedule. 

Classifications of Hauntings UnHollywood Style

Movies, TV and even books can make you forget your rational thought when confronted with something you cannot readily explain. We always recommend trying to find the causes to things you may hear or see before considering a place to be haunted. If after investigating you cannot explain things still, here is a quick reference guide for the classifications of a haunting. Note: We do not recommend doing paranormal investigations on your own residence unless you know what you're doing. You can mistakenly and unknowingly make things a lot worse.

There are many different classifications for a haunted place. I'm sure for those of us that are fans of some paranormal TV shows know some about this subject. Well, maybe some of the basics as the answers to the different kinds of hauntings and how to identify them vary greatly depending on who you ask. Now keep in mind that all of these are Theories, as nothing has been proven beyond the shadow of a doubt.

A Residual haunting is best described as a movie. No matter how many times you see it, it never changes. The outcome stays the same, and the movie doesn't know you're watching it. These scenes can play out daily, weekly but are usually at the same time every time. Theories can range from DNA being transferred to an object or place from a traumatic event, to a spirit being stuck and having to play out the same scene over and over.

An Intelligent haunting is typically considered to be a ghost, spirit, or otherworldly being that knows you’re present and can respond to you. They can make noises, move things etc. Now these types of hauntings are not typically what you see on TV or in the movies, as nothing is going to grab you and pull you down the hallway. These entities are usually non violent and may be lost, relatives, projections, you name it. There are even theories that these types don’t even need to be a dead person, but can be living projections.

Sub Categories? Why not? There are both what’s called Benevolent and Malevolent spirits. These are basically good and bad spirits. Can you have both at the same place? Absolutely. For good cannot exist without evil. This is just another classification of an intelligent haunting, a way of going into further detail.

Here are some tools you can use to identify an Intelligent haunting:

Yes you can use a KII. Unless it responds directly to your questions, you should dismiss any other activity.

You can also use audio recorders, and there are different ways to use them as well as different classifications for voices you can capture.

There are under used items such as the touch lamp, and the Mag Lite flashlights. If the touch lamp turns on there is less doubt than the KII. The flashlight on the other hand is somewhat controversial. This tool again, can only be used if it is responding directly to questions being asked. Too many people use these and the KII and take every light or response to be paranormal.

Poltergeists! Scary! Again, don’t let the movies and TV shows get to you. Unlike the movie Poltergeist these hauntings are usually caused by the subject themselves. Per the Parapsychologist handbook, there are two different classifications of Poltergeists. The first is caused by someone under lots of stress, anxiety, depression, anger, etc. These types of stresses can cause someone to unknowingly move something with their mind, project their feelings outward in the form of a mist, sometimes even an entity. It doesn't even have to be that extreme.

The second classification is an actual ghost.

Demonic. These happen much less than you may realize. Most cases where there is said to be a demonic presence there is someone under tons of stress, a teenager undergoing the pains of growing into an adult, or a bad marriage. In these cases it is usually classified under the poltergeist. But, there are the few that have a demon waiting in the wings with the foul odors, unexplained evil, occult practice, and by some standards devil worship. Again this occurs probably in 1% of all cases. The same would go for possession. What is thought to be possession in most cases is not in fact.

These are the simple classifications and start to some tools you can use. Any further questions please don't hesitate to ask! 

Deep South Paranormal: An Unfortunate Review

I managed to catch the first episode of Deep South Paranormal on the SYFY Network. This new Ghost Hunter show takes place down in the south (duh hence the name) and plays up the Louisiana angle.

I usually get excited when a new show comes out, kinda hoping something different will be brought to life. Im the kind of person that is really interested in three things: Helping people, showing "true" ghost hunting and working towards getting scientific evidence of the hereafter. Now regardless of the reputation, y favorites include Paranormal State and Ghost Adventures. I can say at least Paranormal State tried to help people. They brought in people to help treat the family, and tried to get at the root cause of the problem. Ghost Adventures kind of shows the behind the scenes goofiness and some new technology that gets introduced into the field.

Unfortunately within about 15 minutes I was ready to change the channel. Literally. This is the same show as Ghost Hunters, GHI, Haunted Collector or (Insert show name here). The only thing that seems to be any different is the Louisiana connection. The annoying thing was the playing up of small occurrences to try to make the show scarier, like hearing noises in the ceiling and seeing hanging boards swinging (its a ghost!). One thing that I do not appreciate very much is the provoking unnecessarily. I have used this technique in the past and gotten very unwanted results, including being growled at, touched, and having things thrown. The show makes this out to be something that anyone should do to get a rise out of a "spirit". This can be dangerous and not to be attempted by anyone but a seasoned investigator.

Again they perpetuate the myth of tv ghost hunting by using k2 hits exclusively as evidence to the proof of the  paranormal. Im sorry but there was a scene where a investigator was on a cutting machine and he was using a thermal camera and he caught a glimpse of something and instead of trying to debunk it at all he over-reacted and called for backup. At this point I dont think I could keep my eyes from rolling.

I did however manage to make it through the entire episode, only to be further disappointed by the clips for next weeks show. Again, they're showing them being chased out of a building for the sake of ratings. Would I recommend this show and watch it again? The answer is an obvious NOPE. I have much better things I can be doing...Like watching paint dry.

*This show has been canceled. I'm guessing I wasn't the only one who didn't care for the show

Sanctuary No more

We all tend to do it. Believe that what we see on TV is actually the way things happen. We forget that things are swayed to be more entertaining or details getting left out due to time constraints, etc. You dont get to see the after effects of what doing this does to some of the personalities at home.

We watch all the Paranormal shows on TV that trivialize 'ghost hunting' and make it look as if its safe for just anyone to purchase some equipment and go investigate! While I do encourage people who are curious to decide and find things out on their own, I do caution everyone who is interested in doing this. Please do some research before doing your first investigation. Look into what can happen when spirits and demons follow you home. It is not pleasant. Your sanctuary gets taken away from you and your home turns into a battleground. Instead of going to places to investigate and then just being able to leave and go home, you are now confronted 24/7.

Contact any serious Paranormal Investigator or Paranormal Team and Im sure that at least a few of them can regale you with stories of spirits following them home. Im sure that none of them are good. I've met several people that have been dealing with this for years. Some cases are small. I myself have been touched, heard footsteps, banging and had food thrown. That's really nothing compared to what you'll hear from others. Especially if you have children at home. They can be an easy target for spirits.

Now please dont think Im trying to scare you away from doing this. Im just trying to make you aware of the potential life changing events that can arise from this lifestyle. If you do decide to pursue this, take caution and the necessary steps to protect yourself. Blessing yourself and holy water does not protect you from spirits following you home.

You need to know that every time you go out on an investigation, or to a private home to help, you are putting yourself in danger. There are many life long investigators that choose to live alone due to the danger of spirits following and hurting the ones they love.

Please be careful, and happy hunting.

Roy