Holly Stevens and I interviewed last night, on the red carpet at the 2009 Atlantic Film Festival opening gala at the Halifax Metro Centre, about our upcoming television series Ghost Cases, which will begin airing on October 18, 2009 on Eastlink TV in Canada, and which has international distribution through Breakthrough Entertainment.

The clip from Ghost Cases that they aired was from a rough cut of the first episode, as the series is still in post-production.

Paul Kimball

Wow, Holly is a real doll, Paul. You're looking pretty "Hollywood" in the clip too.

I have a work colleague in Ontario - I may have to see if he'll record an episode of Ghost Cases for me (although he still pokes fun at me for requesting he record Best Evidence off of space). Think they'll stream an episodes on the web?

S

Skeptical wrote:Wow, Holly is a real doll, Paul. You're looking pretty "Hollywood" in the clip too.

I have a work colleague in Ontario - I may have to see if he'll record an episode of Ghost Cases for me (although he still pokes fun at me for requesting he record Best Evidence off of space). Think they'll stream an episodes on the web?

S

I doubt it Joe... at least not for free.

Here's a pic of Holly and I at the film festival opening gala.

Man, I want your life!

S

Here is a photo from an actual shoot in the UK.

So, aside from getting to work with a really hot redhead, did you collect any really compelling pieces of evidence during the tapings? I know you don't want to give too much away but did the experience have any real impact on your thoughts and opinions on the paranormal?

S

I'd be interested to see what Paul's core beliefs on ghosts are. The same goes for fairy creatures.

Paul, have you read "The Good People: New Fairylore Essays"? There's an essay "The Lutin Tradition in Newfoundland Culture" that examines French Canadian lore.

My observation with most fringe authors and researchers today is that their theories affect their experience. It's rarer for someone to start out with a particular theory and then have the evidence change their mind. At any rate, ghost shows can be interesting but all they lead to in the end are ambiguous readings and camp theater.

Still, if one must do camp theater, make it work and having a pretty girl as a fellow researcher isn't bad.

What I'd like to see is a real life equivalent to the anime "Ghost Hunt". What would such a mix of worldviews lead to in a paranormal investigation?

Somer,

Camp theatre? Well, I suppose, but I find people who so readily dismiss television to be a little... well, pretentious would be the word, I guess.

By the way, that "pretty girl" you seem to casually dismiss (why else refer to her as "a pretty girl" in the context of your post) has a Bachelors degree in biology, and a pretty sound understanding of the scientific method, as well as a true openeness to the experience of the paranormal. More than just the eye-candy that you imply.

As for my core beliefs re: ghosts, I don't really have any, other than to say that after 13 episodes, I remain an open-minded skeptic.

Paul

Ye olde opening title sequence.

Skeptical wrote:So, aside from getting to work with a really hot redhead, did you collect any really compelling pieces of evidence during the tapings? I know you don't want to give too much away but did the experience have any real impact on your thoughts and opinions on the paranormal?

S

Joe,

What people think of the evidence will probably depend on their preconceptions about ghosts, or the type of evidence. There are of course the obligatory orb photos and footage, almost all of which I dismiss as explainable, but we did catch one that I found to be genuinely anomalous given the circumstances surrounding it, an opinion shared by some very level-headed paranormal investigators in the UK that we showed it to (they called it the best footage they had seen in over 35 combined years of paranormal investigation between the two of them). We have some audio anomalies that, again, given the circumstances, are quite strange. And some other stuff too.

The debunkers will say it's all hooey, of course... and the believers will take it as gospel. Me? I just find it... intriguing.

Paul

The first commercial teaser.

Paul

Not sure I'd want to "call-out" any ghosts. Seen this occur on Ghosthunters where they actually try to provoke a spirit and it seems risky, especially considering how little we know about what we're dealing with. Paul - did you find that this approach actually worked - did you piss a ghost off enough to get it to respond?

S

Skeptical wrote:Not sure I'd want to "call-out" any ghosts. Seen this occur on Ghosthunters where they actually try to provoke a spirit and it seems risky, especially considering how little we know about what we're dealing with. Paul - did you find that this approach actually worked - did you piss a ghost off enough to get it to respond?

S

Can't say for sure, but from at least a couple of episodes it seemed like my tactics did indeed get a reaction. It's true what you say, however, that if there is something going on, such tactics might not be the smartest thing to do.

Unfortunately, Paul, the field for this type of TV show seems to be getting crowded. Apparently the Discovery Channel is about to tee-up another one called Ghost Lab. Here's a blip from a San Antonio, TX Entertainment mag. From comments I heard, the Klinge brothers aren't particularly liked in paranormal circles - but there are so many petty jealousies (like in UFOlogy), it's hard to know what to believe.

S

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"San Antonio may not have its own "Ghostbusters," but it does have a couple of serious ghost testers.

So serious, in fact, that Discovery Channel is devoting 13 hours to the Klinge brothers' spectral investigations.

The new show is called "Ghost Lab," and it airs at 9 p.m. Tuesdays on Discovery. The hook is these S.A. siblings use high-tech equipment and gather all kinds of data to unearth restless spirits all over the country. Their gadgetry includes infrared cameras, audio recorders and temperature and humidity data loggers for detecting ice-cold spectre spots.

A future episode is set in San Antonio. Brad and Barry Klinge will take viewers inside the Guerra DeBerry Coody Marketing & Communications building on Houston Street, where employees have noted ghostly activity, Brad said. You know, strange noises, voices and apparitions.

Former mayoral candidate Trish DeBerry-Mejia certainly had some eerie stories to tell about the building, which, she said, dates back to the 1860s. She personally hasn't witnessed any weirdness, she said, but nine years ago, two cleaning crews quit because of late-night sounds and chills. Even today, people who work into the night there share tales of odd noises and spectral images. One employee even felt, DeBerry said, "something pull her ponytail."

Brrr. I'll let you know later when that installment airs.

Brad, a computer expert, and his older brother Barry, who previously taught special education, founded their S.A.-based business Everyday Paranormal two years ago. The team, Discovery reports, has explored more than 70 locations with haunted reputations.

At the top of "Ghost Lab," the hosts dramatically declare their purpose: "We are the Klinge Brothers, and we believe science holds the key to unlocking the secrets of the dead. Our mission: visit the most haunted places in America and find evidence and test new theories to probe the existence of the afterlife."

Last week, Brad shared a "life-changing encounter" of 20 years ago that set him on his present career path. He was on a family vacation in Gettysburg, Pa., he said, when on the way out of town in his dad's truck, he spotted a small group of union soldiers walking through a field.

"I thought they were doing a re-enactment," he said, and he told his dad to stop. "I jumped out with my old VHS camera and ran after them."

When he tried to get closer, they disappeared, he said.

Last week, the siblings and team examined two locations in Louisiana — the Shreveport Municipal Auditorium, which they said was famous for helping Elvis get his start, and Myrtles Plantation, "The Super Bowl of paranormal." In both places, they found what they termed spectral evidence. In the former, a door opened by itself. Moreover, a spooky audio recording was deciphered as saying: "They saw the light."

At the plantation, the brothers shared a recording that they suspected contained voices of Civil War soldiers talking.

On Tuesday, they visit Tombstone, Ariz. and, as Discovery's Web site states, try to bring a violent old ghost town back to life.

OK, OK, but you don't necessarily have to believe to enjoy "Ghost Lab." Part of the fun is that S.A.'s Klinge brothers.

Clad in baseball caps and T-shirts, they joke, laugh and call each other "dude." Hey, it's kind of like "Amityville Horror" meets Larry the Cable Guy."

Darn it, I just talked to my Canadian friend and he tells me he doesn't get the channel that Paul's show will be on. I was hoping to con him into recording Ghost Cases for me but no luck. Paul, let me know if the episodes will be posted anywhere after they premiere on Eastlink.

S