Paranormal State

Paranormal State comes to an end …

It may not be new news but it’s still worth bringing up. Back in January Ryan announced (on his blog) that he wouldn’t return for another season of Paranormal State and the Scooby Gang would disperse to pursue separate interests. It is interesting to read Ryan’s post and many of things he includes. I wasn’t aware the Catholic Church would forego all their trained clergy and look to a TV celebrity to perform an exorcism. I thought they had their own private little city full of people who could handle such things if they were really warranted. I also wasn’t actually aware the Catholic Church acknowledged, believed in, sanctioned or even discussed exorcisms any more. Certainly not without a hell of a lot of research and counseling. And I don’t think they would do it for TV and ratings.

I can’t say I’m surprised over bringing the show to an end. I haven’t been a fan for some time (morbid curiosity keeps me watching plus I liked Serge, Chip and Katrina. Chad was a dunce) and I sort of feel others may be in the same boat. It lacks the appeal the first two seasons had. It turned from investigation into grief counseling and journeys into mental illness. I don’t believe any of the PRS cases showed any real signs of the demonic or even of the paranormal. Quite frankly I’m not sure what they showed. I feel bad for the clients of the show because I don’t think they got the help they really deserved or needed.

What’s also interesting is the Wikipedia article on Paranormal State and some of the claims that are being made against the show. Sure a lot of this type of thing is typical, but it does make you wonder.

And you have to ask, in all the years that Paranormal State has been on what evidence did they capture that would be considered proof of paranormal activity? Of the demonic? Inmy opinion they didn’t capture anything of the sort.

In a way I’ll miss the show. I think they started off with good intentions but got derailed by ratings and DVD sales. They have a few more episodes to air later this year to finish off the season and that will be it. A&E appears to have a spinoff ready to go. We’ll have to see what happens with that one. I don’t have high hopes.

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Paranormal State – Bedroom Eyes – S05E13

Ryan and the team head to Pennsylvania to investigate a farm where the couple sees figures wandering around their home. They also have claims of being touched and they notice the dog seems to bark at things that aren’t there. All the activity seemed to start when Mike asked Kelly if they could visit his mother’s grave so he could get permission for them being together. They both have the impression that the events are being caused by Mike’s mother.

As they research the investigation, they come to find out that Mike’s mother may have been murdered. A relative feels that she was killed in her trailer and then the trailer was blown up with natural gas. The story is a little light on the who and the why, but there is a claim of murder. Oddly, Mike doesn’t mention any of that.

With that, we head back to the house for Dead Time. During the night the lamp cover partially falls, but when Ryan pulls on it, he can’t make it budge. He also hears scraping, like metal on metal. There isn’t much to go on, but Ryan feels there is a lot more to these dust covers moving.

In a bizarre twist, Ryan brings in a hypnotherapist to talk to Kelly. This interview seems really short and really doesn’t yield too much. But for the next Dead Time, Ryan wants Mike and Kelly to attend so they can talk to his mother. It’s funny how they have no evidence to support any spirit being in the house let alone his mother, yet they completely support the client’s claims. Way to stay objective guys!

At Dead Time, Mike talks to his mom and says he knows she’s there and that she would want him to be happy. If there is a message she wants to deliver he is more than ready to listen. Around this time there is a lot of jumping around as Mike and Kelly claim to get touched. Nothing really tangible happens, just the claims of being touched.

For the final analysis, Ryan comes out of the blue and says he feels Kelly has psychic abilities. Oddly, she doesn’t bat an eye or question it at all. It’s like he said the sky was blue. She just accepts it and moves on. I found that whole interaction to be pretty weird.

And then the team packs up and heads home. I really can’t say that they uncovered anything on this one. Some falling lamp covers does not a paranormal investigation make. It was all pretty lame. As with so many of these that Ryan looks into, it seems like the clients are having issues with a death. As we see, Mike’s mom died decades ago but yet he still heads to her grave to ask for permission about his lady friend? And from the way I listened to things, their relationship was pretty sketchy at best. I can’t say that any of this struck me as paranormal. Considering the lack of evidence, Ryan was once again playing the role of counselor.

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Paranormal State – Haunted Homecoming – S05E13

For this investigation PRS is involved in a pretty sad case where a boy was shot and killed on Halloween night while out trick or treating. Unfortunately he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Interestingly, Chris Cook, who happens to be writing a book about the incident, brings PRS down and also claims to see a glowing figure on the front lawn while he was doing research. There really aren’t any other claims, but Ryan does talk to the current resident who claims he keeps getting locked out of his house. Bad lock couldn’t possibly cause that.

As the investigation begins, Ryan feels he is being grabbed. He also claims to see balls of light moving around the room and that he feels the bed move as he’s sitting on it. Christina, who barely says anything during this whole episode claims to see the curtain move. We’ll completely discount the idea of a car driving by and a gust of wind.

While looking over the evidence there are claims the radio goes berserk, but unless I missed it, none of that was captured on film. All we see is the boombox after the fact. Ryan even says he had to unplug and clearly none of that was shown.

For the next Dead Time, they walk around the house trying to talk to TJ. Truth of it is, there are no bangs, or footsteps or noises of any kind. It’s basically just a quiet house.

I really don’t know what message Ryan thinks he got and is delivering. As far as I can tell nothing actually happens. I can’t say they caught evidence of anything. How can they say they made contact of any sort?A bed that gave a slight bounce?

It’s a very sad story, but I don’t see that this episode had any sort of paranormal angle to it.

And if you’re going to bring a guest on to the show, perhaps they should actually do something …

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Paranormal State – Dwelling of the Dead – S05E11

For this episode the team heads off to Kentucky to investigate a house where a mother claims she and her son are plagued by spirits. And not just that she hears noises and footsteps, but that this entity has held her down and choked her. She claims aggressive and hostile contact with something. Also, her son sees black shadows and ghosts all over the house. And not just once or twice, but all the time. David draws pictures of them and says they live in the basement.

After gathering up a whole slew of events that have happened in the house, Ryan and team start to check it out. For this investigation they’ve brought in Chad, who basically just makes me laugh. It’s almost comical how he challenges spirits and dares them to do something, then inevitably starts to swear and panic as he sees shadows or feels something move.

This investigation proves to be no different, but the interesting thing is that Chad swears he feels the bed moving. It doesn’t look like anything is happening, but he is dead set that there is a vibration. I think that’s interesting especially in regards to some of things that happen later.

Michelle makes an appearance and does a walkthrough of the house. She feels a presence that is heavily connected with antiques and taking care of the place. There is also the sense of a woman who might want to pass along a message.

We do find out that two deaths took place in the home. It turns out that an older couple lived in the home and passed away at different times, due to old age, although peacefully. The PRS team manages to find the daughter and she says the father was rather strict, wanted things to be orderly and took great care of the furniture and antiques in the home. However, there is no mention that he was ill tempered or unleashed his wrath on anyone even though the team seems to be hinting that might be the cause of the experiences.

That line of research doesn’t yield much so the team goes with Dead Time, this time with Chad in the house by himself. He starts going crazy over a door that opens on its own, only to find out it just happens to swing open if you step in the right place. But there is an interesting part to Chad being in the house. He once again feels that things are vibrating. He talks about the computers and monitors that seem to be moving. It’s nothing definitive, but again, he feels a vibration.

Ryan heads down to the basement with David since he says the ghosts live down there. They don’t find anything, but they do find that there are some EMF surges coming from the electrical wiring. It’s an unfinished basement with lots of exposed wires so that could certainly be something.

But they don’t comes across anything while in the basement with David, so Ryan feels that it would be best to have Mary reclaim her home. This leads to her shouting wildly at whatever may be stressing her, telling it to go to hell and stay there. As you might expect some blessed medals are handed out to try and return peace to the home.

For this episode the evidence of anything supernatural is almost completely lacking. They do get some bangs and creaks, but that seems like nothing more than an old house settling. One thing they completely seem to pass on is that Chad feels vibrations. He felt them upstairs while sitting on her bed and again downstairs around the kitchen. It would seem something is causing that whether it’s heavy traffic from something nearby, or perhaps faulty wiring, perhaps something amiss with the plumbing or mechanical device. It could have been a shaky foundation, something running close to the house, even a railroad somewhere nearby. Depending on what it is, it could be causing Mary’s experiences. If nothing else it seems like it could be affecting her sleep which in turn is causing her to misinterpret things. Ironically, Ryan says her feeling of being held down and choked was more than likely sleep paralysis.

Personally I’m thinking that she has a sleeping disorder, coupled with some exposed wiring and some sort of odd vibration is all making her feel like something is going on. Plus, I’m sure she’s worried about her son and his learning difficulties which is just making a wildly stressful situation. This is further complicated by an old house that creaks and pops and just adds to the experience. I really didn’t get the impression anything was actually going on. But rather, problems brought on by stress and the environment.

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