Hello, everyone.  I hope everyone is having an awesome holiday.  I can’t believe that 2008 is days away.  I’m sorry for not posting since the show came out.  It’s been a whirlwind month to say the least, but I have actually been working on a number of things (including a few posts), so expect to see a post at least once a week (I hope).

Now, I won’t do this often because I didn’t create this blog to ...

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Ladies and Gentlemen,

Thank you for coming on to our website and visiting my blog.  Here, you will find postings based off of our research, the television show as well as additional commentary on the paranormal as a whole.

I want to devote this blog to PARANORMAL STATE.  Over a thousand people have reached out to me (and the numbers constantly grow each day).  There's a lot of praise, a lot of questions and some criticism.  While watching PARANORMAL STATE and judging the show and/or our society, please consider the following:

This show isn't about the evidence!!!
Geez, people, can we make this any more clear?  We're not "Ghost Hunters."  Why would you want a carbon-copy of another show?  This show is about the people who are experiencing paranormal phenomenon and they have nowhere else to go.  Almost all of them have involved some assortment of counselors, psychiatrists, doctors, neurologists, etc.  They didn't find any answers.  They brought us in as a last resort.  We DO CONDUCT research on the case, but the show focuses on the human and story element.  So if you want to take something out of this show, stop waiting for "the reveal" and think about how you would handle these clients and how would you have helped them cope with their experiences?

This show is not about the demonic!
A&E decided to air what they thought were compelling and creepy episodes first.  The events that happened on THE NAME and DEVIL IN SYRACUSE are indeed real.  However, there are other investigations that we've conducted, including: a haunted bar, haunted objects, a teenage girl seeing a murdered victim, the Mothman, a location with possible ritualistic-abuse on animals, etc.  This show is very diverse and we cover many elements.  By doing so, I think that people will see more elements about what we do.

This show has a religious/spiritual element to it.  Get used to it.
Some of the criticisms have been on us using religion and spirituality, proclaiming that we've gone back to the Dark Ages.  Okay, let's play fair for a minute.  IF we were truly dealing with the demonic, what the hell is a scientist or a thermal camera going to do to help the family?

We try to conduct as best of an investigation as we can.  But if a client wants the spirit to leave the premise, or if they feel they are being harmed by something, what can scientific evidence do at this point to stop it?  We do our best to rule out mental illness, lying and other physiological factors (like hallucinations) before filming the investigation.  We've also made more of an effort to show some of this in future episodes. 

However, there comes a time when we've gone as far as we can with investigative tools.  We then turn to the client's spiritual beliefs to try and bring a positive atmosphere back in to their lives.  There is nothing wrong with a positive, spiritual belief system.

I'm so baffled at PARANORMAL INVESTIGATORS being OFFENDED by the use of religion.  If we believe in spirits, don't we believe in a God? 

That being said, when it comes to the case, people need to focus on the clients' needs, not the needs of your organization!  That's at least what we do.  Help people first.

You Will See More Investigation and Different Techniques.
Yes, it's true.  And not all of them involve Holy Water or psychics!

Hey guys, big revelation: THIS IS A TV SHOW!!
I do not own A&E Network nor am I the executive producer.  But I trust my producers and they have ultimately honored our journeys into the paranormal and the stories of the clients.  Are things sometimes over-produced?  Over-edited?  It's a freakin' TV show guys.  Trust me, I'd LOVE to have a five-hour documentary on one of our investigations.  But at this stage, we haven't had that opportunity.

So please be mindful that you're watching a television show.  Try to sort through the creepy music and the edits and you might find some interesting materials.  Like with Matthew from SIXTH SENSE... what if there really are kids out there who can speak to the dead?  How would your organization deal with a child claiming to see dead people?  These are the thought-provoking questions that I think we should look at, not "A&E got the Kreiger Family Murders facts wrong!!!! FAKE!!!"

Just for the record, if you listen to Director's Logs or go to Paranormal Insider to read my post-mortems, you would know that PRS put the information out there that the murders did NOT happen in Pa. 

Please visit Paranormal Insider for my Post-Mortems!
I post a lot of commentary about the investigation, and additional information that was left out of the show.  For a lot of people who feel that there is a lot left out, you aren't the only one.  This is why I have created these "post mortems."  And they are just part of what we're doing to make the experience more thought-provoking.

www.paranormalinsider.com
Post Mortems are posted every Tuesday after a new episode.

Here is a link to the SIXTH SENSE post-mortem and for THE NAME.

Evidence & Case Studies.
Even though this show is NOT about the evidence, we will be posting some collected data for peer review, as well as case reports from specialists who went on the case.  Investigators such as myself will also include additional information.

We ENCOURAGE debate/constructive criticism.
It's true.  Please visit our message boards: forums.pennstateprs.com to discuss various aspects of the paranormal.  Likewise, you may also email me at ryanb@pennstateprs.com .  I will try to answer emails as soon as possible, but keep in mind it may take up to a week or two.

Many thanks for all of you who watched the show.  2.5 million viewers is quite a lot of people! 

        

Ah, updates!  Trying to get back in to the habit of updating regularly.  Apologies to anyone who subscribed and found nothing but archives to read!

Paranormal State. I guess this is the biggest news right now.  It's been a little over a year since we started working on "Paranormal State" (formerly "Paranormal U").  A&E has been more than supportive.  I can't begin to tell you how fun and creative this process has been.  And now, the promotion for A&E is literally just beginning.  The official website has just opened.  www.paranormalstate.com . We are also going to a few conventions/paranormal groups to promote it.  According to the website, "Paranormal State" debuts in December.  That's three short months from now.  Gulp.

UNIV-CON.  I can't believe that it's less than a month-and-a-half until UNIV-CON.  I can't wait to see ya'll.  We're working full-time on the conference right now.  It's insane here in the office.  Sergey is workin it pretty well.  This will be his third year as conference manager.  We can't wait for people to be a part of this conference.  Heck, I can't wait.  If you haven't been to the UNIV-CON website, check it out: www.univcon.org

Penn State Football.  Did anyone see Penn State whoop Notre Dame on Saturday???  I was expecting it, but it was still awesome to watch.  Now we're ranked at Number Twelve (at least on the AP).  A lot of people are talking about how we have a good shot at being the Big Ten champs.  However, that depends on how we deal with Wisconsin and Ohio State.  I'm gonna do my best to attend the Ohio State game.  So far I've had to miss the past two home games.

Dragon Con.  An amazing event.  I thought it would be interesting to go to a convention but I never put much thought in to it.  However, we finally convinced ourselves to go.  We also got to do a Q&A panel for "Paranormal State."  It was a lot of fun and I got to see a lot of familiar faces: Dave Schrader, Patrick Burns, Chip Coffey, Jason Hawes (didn't get to see Grant), Steve, and others.  I also got to meet Spike, Commander Riker and Darth Maul!  Crazy!

The Paranormal Counselor.  Has anyone been over to Jamie's PRS blog?  jamie.pennstateprs.com .  It's very thought-provoking and a great read.  For any paranormal investigators, I highly suggest you taking the time to read it.  It has a lot of good material.

Welp, that's it for now.  Take care.

        

Wow. Four months and all I can think of to describe how i feel is the cliche: this is been one of the best experiences in my life! But I truly feel that way. << MORE >>