BOO-b Tube

Ha-HA! Couldn't resist...

The TV world has never been able to resist a good paranormal show, but lately they are everywhere. The paranormal's never been hotter. There are still the great documentary-style shows that come on like Haunted Travels, Haunted History, Unexplained Mysteries, and all those other haunting specials that come on the Discovery channels and A&E during Halloween season. Hit shows Ghost Hunters (SciFi) and Medium (NBC) are returning and will be entering their 2nd seasons. Riding on the popularity of those two shows are a fresh bumper crop of supernatural shows:

1. Supernatural (WB): Two brothers hunting "the thing" that killed their mom as well as their missing "hunter" dad and encountering some strange stuff along the way. Pretty fun show.
2. The Ghost Whisperer (CBS): Jennifer Love Hewitt doing the Medium thing. Hmm...I dunno. Will have to watch and let you know despite the many guys out there who must be saying "Don't you say nothin' about my Jennifer Love Hewitt!"
3. Nightstalker (ABC): A detective starts investigating crimes that seem supernatural in nature
4. Most Haunted (Travel): Relatively new to the U.S., this British import goes to different haunted spots in Europe with a team--the host (who my group members love to imitate) screaming all the way.

These are the ones that deal more with the paranormal as their focus. Speaking of screaming, there's Scariest Places on Earth, which drives me nuts because some female member of the family always ends up having a 5-min. nonstop screaming total meltdown. There are also shows like Psychic Detectives (CourtTV), Lost (ABC) or even Charmed (WB), with paranormal elements and Invasion (ABC) and Threshold (CBS), which are more alien-focused (not my thing at all).

Happy watching, you couch potatoes!

Ghosthunter Chic

Hmm...now there's a topic that's probably not brought up too often. As a ghosthunter, clothes aren't "necessarily" something on your mind during an investigation, yet as a female ghosthunter, it brings up interesting issues--esp. if you're used to being relatively fashionable in your "normal" life. I don't wear khakis or cargos or polo/golf shirts, yet this is my ghosthunting uniform. I'm usually climbing up into attics (although I'm scared of heights), on the floor, and up & down stairs a lot--I'm pretty active on investigations.

There are other weird little considerations too, especially since we'll be filming occasionally for The Haunteds project. Things like wearing makeup out in the country when you're being swarmed by gnats. Makeup or no makeup? I went without and boy, it shows, lol. I always feel a little frumpy on investigations. I have long hair so I wear it ponytailed. No scented products as I pick up on paranormal smells a lot (perfume, cigars, etc.). No dangling earrings or jewelry that would resemble being touched. You often look at investigation photos like, "That's what I looked like?" LOL.

If anything, the biggest things to consider are professionalism, comfort, warmth (or coolness), how dirty you'll get (and I've been in some pretty dirty dusty locations), and pockets. Definitely pockets. Haute couture for the discerning ghost hunter...

Decatur House

We just did an investigation at the Decatur House last night, a famously haunted historical site in D.C. (and one of my favorites) located across from the White House. I've been waiting for years for a chance to investigate it. The dream home of Commodore Stephen Decatur and his wife Susan, their lives together were cut short when he was mortally wounded in a duel. It has had at least 3 main family owners: the Decaturs, the Gadsby family and the Beale family with many illustrious tenants. During the Civil War, it was a Union warehouse and offices. It was the first and last privately owned residence on Lafayette Square.

A beautiful, deceptively large place, and two staff members, the director and her daughter and their two husbands were present. As you know from my last posting, I'm always concerned when there are lots of other folks present, but in contrast to that other investigation, the place is so well soundproofed that you couldn't hear a thing from one floor to the next. The group was very quiet and conscientious about letting us do our thing--which I know I appreciated. They were excited and active participants in the investigation and I found out a lot about staff experiences there. It was pretty active and we got some great EVP. If anything, having the Decatur House staff there helped to serve as validation for the EVPs as they heard and reacted to the noises as well.