Eye on the Paranormal – Issue 4

Well, another week has sped by and it’s time to start the presses, spread the news, and expose deception to the light of day.

First, there is a rumor on the streets that as of press time I have been unable to verify, but since it has appeared on some web sites, I’ll go ahead and share it with you. A&E has pulled the plug on Psychic Kids: Children of the Paranormal, and it seems like Chip and Ryan are not taking it too well. There is even a rumor going around that Paranormal State might not be back for Season 3. Seems the ratings are slipping and A&E is not too pleased about this.

ASK PRS

Each week we will post questions that we would love PRS (Paranormal Research Society) to answer. But we know they never will.

You, my reading audience, are invited to send in questions and we will gladly post them in the following week’s issue. Please send them to my MySpace page email. And please don’t hold your breath waiting for an answer.

Secondly, as we move through both seasons of “Paranormal State,” we will be adding additional names of so-called para-celebrities who have made an appearance on either season of the show, to our “Paranormal Moment of Truth Challenge.”

Here are the questions so far:
~ As a team, how many cases did PRS investigate off-campus prior to the start of the series?
~ How many cases does PRS investigate on a yearly basis, not including those for the TV series?
~ If you do investigate without the cameras rolling, how often do you invite para-celebrities to take part in such investigations? Or are they only there to make an appearance on the show?
~ What kind of training did Ryan Buell receive in demonology, and how was it that he became active with the local archdiocese?
~ What happened to the people who were part of PRS in the pilot episode but mysteriously disappeared from the series?
~ Why doesn’t PRS feature any of the new kids from the campus club on their current season?
~ Why doesn’t Chip Coffey or PRS do any events that we don’t have to pay to see?
~ Everyone knows that the Frank Box is a fake—why did Ryan Buell use it on the show and continue to stand behind the validity of the device?

Here are two new questions:

~ Why does Chip Coffey continue to use the tragedy of 9/11 as a means to promote himself?
~ What happened to the “Lady Vampire” episode? Why did A&E pull it from the broadcast schedule?

THE MAILBAG:

This was sent to my mailbox from a private profile, so I’ll answer it here:

“u a freekin idiot for doing this who made u god & jury ryan bule and chip cofee r th best peple like u they just be jealus fo them so shut up” Anonymous

It’s nice to feel the love from you. It makes me feel warm and fuzzy all over. But in all honesty, I can seriously think of other things I could be doing with my time, energy, and money, than investigating PRS and Paranormal State. There are cases I could be working on, a book I could be writing, and prayers and meditation I could be engaging in.

But as our investigation grows, and the more that is uncovered, I feel that this is a cause that anyone with a clear conscience could not walk away from. I’ll take all the personal and slanderous attacks, threats, and innuendos. Keep writing them and sending them my way.


SOME INCONSISTENT FACTS FROM CHIP COFFEY & RYAN BUELL

In Chip’s case, a recent blog that he posted on his MySpace page entitled “Demons on Paranormal State???” where Mr. Coffey stated that only a handful of episodes dealt with demonic activity in the Paranormal State series. Well let’s put that statement to a test. In Season 1 they did 20 episodes, out of which 10 dealt directly with demons/demonic activity. Now I will be the first to admit that math wasn’t my best or favorite subject, but it doesn’t take a Penn State graduate to understand that 10 out of 20 equals 50%. Now even an old hick like me would say that a handful would be far less than 50%.

As to Ryan, it seems that he gave an interview to the student newspaper, “The Daily Collegian Online” back in 2006 covering his work with the PRS.

As you know, each week Ryan does his best Captain Kirk imitation as the credits roll where he states that as a young child his encounter with the paranormal started a lifelong interest in the subject. And he even told this to young Matthew Seighman, in the series pilot, Sixth Sense. Well folks, it seems that Ryan is somewhat confused, or his story changed in less than a year. He states in the article that his interest began as a teenager with an encounter with a ouija board that moved on its own, and after his mom threw it away it reappeared in his closet.

Here’s a link to the story, but I’ve posted it below for your convenience.

http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/2006/04/04-14-06tdc/04-14-06dnews-06.asp

Friday, April 14, 2006
“Paranormal Research Society founder set to graduate”
Ryan Buell said he will still pursue paranormal research and has plans for a TV show based on his experiences.
By Elaine Hughes – Collegiate Staff Writer

In about three weeks, Paranormal Research Society (PRS) Director Ryan Buell will exchange his thermometers and ghost-tracking equipment for a cap and gown.
However, his ghost-investigating and demon-searching days aren't over, Buell (senior-journalism and anthropology) said.
"I started this organization because of my personal interest and also because I wanted to do something serious," he said. "I intend to stay with it."
Buell started PRS four years ago after he discovered Penn State had no paranormal organizations.

As a teenager, an incident with a Ouja board sparked his interest in the paranormal.
"After my mom bought the board for me, I started noticing things moving on their own, and I felt as though I was being watched," he said. "Then, my mom claimed she threw out the board but found it in my closet later that day."

Following this incident, Buell read books about everything from poltergeists to the Bermuda Triangle.
At Penn State, Buell's first investigation involved a 1969 murder in Pattee Library and didn't go as well as he hoped, Buell said.
"A bunch of self-proclaimed witches came to the site and claimed I was possessed by the murderer's spirit," he said. "After that, I started training people in scientific investigation."
Each year, PRS receives more than 100 claims about demons, ghosts and UFO sightings on the East Coast.
The club works with a psychologist to rule out psychosis and conducts investigations to check each claim's legitimacy. PRS accepts about a dozen cases each year and travels to the haunted sites to conduct interviews and set up equipment, such as video cameras and thermometers for detecting cold spots.
"It's a very military setup, and there's a plan for everything which happens," Buell said. "The whole case itself produces over 100 pages of evidence analysis."
Buell said his creepiest encounter occurred while investigating a western Pennsylvania demonic case that involved bent crucifixes and writing on walls.
"Each case affects everyone differently," he said. "The whole time, I felt as though I wanted to attack my teammates and overcome by this feeling of depression."
Then the psychologist went into another room and said he felt something creepy.
"Then, these deep claw marks materialized on his head," Buell said. "It disappeared a few minutes later and didn't hurt the guy. We got the whole thing on tape. After that case, a lot of investigators said they won't do demonic cases any more."
On campus, PRS has investigated claims in Schwab Auditorium and the Old Botany Building.
While the group didn't find ghosts in Schwab, it recorded voices in the Old Botany Building's basement.
"There's a test where you run a tape recorder and ask questions. Then, you play back the tape and can hear a voice responding," Buell said. "We did this in the basement of the Old Botany Building and picked up a gravelly voice which sounded like someone who smoked a lot."
Buell devotes several hours each week to PRS investigations and activities.
Twice, he tried to quit the organization because of stress.
"I kept getting drawn back into it," Buell said. "I decided I was meant to do this."
While his parents support his interest, they refuse to go on a haunting investigation, Buell said.
"My dad's a cop and deals with bad guys every day, but he says that he could never do this with me," he said. "He says that in his line of work, he can use his gun to protect himself, but couldn't use a gun against a ghost."
After graduation, Buell said he will keep busy.
Currently, he's working on proposals for a reality television show about PRS and a television drama based on his experiences as a teenage paranormal investigator.
He also gives lectures at colleges and universities and recently finished writing a 280-page fiction book.
But PRS members said Buell will continue to act as their leader.
"He's so diligent on investigations," PRS member Sergey Poberezhny said. "He kind of acts as our boss. He's going to stick around, and people will still go to him for advice."


ANALYSIS OF PARANORMAL STATE SEASON 1, EPISODES 5-8

We now continue to do an episode-by-episode overview of season 1. As we do, the numerous para-celebrities that make an appearance on the show will be added to the Paranormal Moment of Truth Challenge each week.

VEGAS - Episode 5

The title should have been Crapshoot. Sometimes you roll sevens and sometimes snake eyes.

It’s the story of a 14-year-old teenager named Savannah who’s the daughter to Stephanie, a single mother. Once again we encounter this reoccurring theme throughout the series. The daughter claims she’s seeing a dead girl’s spirit, as in the pilot episode, and is troubled by it, as in the pilot.

The trusty team of intrepid investigators arrive at the home.

One issue that PRS needs to address is you never ask leading questions when doing an investigative interview. Repeatedly, they indicate the answers they want from Savannah.

Savannah claims she wants to know what happened to the girl, Emily, and how it happened. Which she already knew prior to the team’s arrival. But more on this later. The picture she draws is a very nondescript drawing that could easily match many females. In addition, both mother and daughter describe “evil looking spirits” yet none of this is ever shown. Emily the spirit girl has brown hair which is one of the most dominant hair colors.

To our surprise PRS finds Emily just as Emily was found by Savannah on the Internet prior to the team’s arrival. All details that Savannah gives the team was always present on the www, for the entire world to see, even the pregnancy issue.

When they show Savannah the photo, they don’t do it line up style, which would have been a way to test her psychic abilities. Ryan sends investigator Katrina down to San Antonio, TX to investigate the case there while Ryan has a parapsychologist, George Dalzell, come in and interview Savannah. When the parapsychologist asks for a reading the only thing she can bring up is California and Los Angeles. Nothing else comes from her about him. I don’t think that’s any great sign of psychic ability and she almost has the type of reaction that a person has when they guess something and it’s correct. It’s interesting that no one on the team, including the parapsychologist, ever sets up any kind of testing to see if she has a measurable gift.

Meanwhile, Katrina starts her investigation down in San Antonio. She gets a phone call from Ryan and there’s bad editing here: daylight, nighttime, daylight again, as she drives to meet the family of the deceased girl.

An interesting note here is when Katrina meets the family for the first time after one phone call she says: “It’s nice to finally meet you.” That’s a phrase that is used if you’ve been contacting someone for quite some time without a face-to-face meeting. Not one that you use only after just one phone call with a person, which was earlier that day.

Chip Coffey shows up and of course he ends up in Savannah’s bedroom, which is something that he does quite regularly throughout the Paranormal State episodes. He comes up with the most profound statement: “the person just can’t quite get it together.” Which describes how many teenagers? Then suddenly he wants to shake the bed. How many times have you ever walked by a bunk bed and shook it a little?

Then we have a special effects trick editing creepy music scene concerning Emily – but nothing happens.

Please remember as the hours tick by in this episode Katrina is still meeting with the family down in San Antonio.

Chip confronts Savannah and asks her if she’s telling the truth. Yes, she says, so Chip and Ryan accept it to be 100% valid. In addition, if you notice the scenes with Chip and Ryan in the kitchen, those scenes were shot at the same time due to having exactly the same lighting – which spells one word: scripted.

Now don’t forget that it’s been about 24 hours since Katrina started her meeting with the family down in Texas.

They have the deadest dead time of the series by far. And Emily produces very little of any type of action only contacting, supposedly, Savannah. Emily says, “she misses mom and dad.” Nothing about the loss of the baby or the murder. Chip asks for a sign and then the phone rings. And guess what? It’s Katrina who has just left the family in San Antonio, which means that her meeting with them not only lasted for 36 hours, but the meeting broke up sometime after 3 in the morning. Why the producers, Chip and/or Ryan never anticipated that folks would think this logically is beyond me. But we have another Paranormal State deception uncovered. And we realize it’s another false case.

But sadly, the $64,000 question never gets asked or answered. For if it did, it would propel Chip, Ryan, Paranormal State, and Savannah to the heights of celebrity within the paranormal community. And that is asking Emily who killed her? What we are left with is just a mother and a daughter in need of some publicity. Ryan and Chip and Paranormal State are willing to give it to them, and the audience is left feeling dirty and used.

PET CEMETERY - Episode 6

Borrowing off the title of Stephen King’s famous horror novel concerning dead pets that are killed on the local highway that happen to be buried in a creepy graveyard and well, please read the book or watch the movie for yourself.

In this case a single woman, again, has property that her dog hates to go on, and the second story of a house seems to have a presence.

The first sign of paranormal activity is the dog barking wildly as Ryan ascends to the second floor and the second is that the property has exchanged hands many times since 1893.

Current owner Sybil Howe bought the home from her daughter who had two dogs killed in freak accidents on the property. In reality, they were killed on a highway. Nothing very freaky about that. One thing that is never investigated is that a young child claims she is seeing a spirit dog, but that is never followed up on.

We then have another Chip and Ryan song and dance routine, which I’m not going to bother to describe in detail except to mention that Coffey has a Styrofoam cup of coffee next to him that he did not take with him upstairs. One big thing is that Chip pulled out of the ether waves the name Margaret, which again, is used to prove Chip’s great abilities. And we later find out that Margaret owned the property in the 1960’s, which Chip and PRS already knew because they had the deed history.

Lorraine Warren, clad in a navy blue dress, is again brought in to declare her favorite line from the “The Name” episode: “Who would want to live in this house?” Now, remember what she’s wearing folks, it’ll come into play later.

We then get Dead Time, of course nothing happens outside of dogs barking and noises in the woods. And Chip does put his stage training to work as he performs a “channeling” of a spirit of a dog. We learn nothing outside of the fact that Chip can cry on command. A nice performance.

Then all of a sudden they stumbled onto an unmarked grave of a dog. And they just happen to have enough surgical masks and rubber gloves for all the PRS team to wear.

Just as in the Vegas episode, there begins to be big lapses of time and logic. When Ryan, wearing a black t-shirt, hurries into the house to give the information to Loraine Warren, who suddenly appears on the second floor, and she just happens to be wearing a different dress than the one she wore earlier that night.

We then see Ryan and gang burying the dog and Ryan now suddenly has the short-sleeved blue shirt back on and Lorraine, not to be topped by a young upstart such as Ryan, does a sudden costume change [white skirt, medium blue blouse, white short-sleeved jacket] as well. Which clearly establishes that all the outside shots were taped in one evening, out of order, hence faked and scripted. All the inside shots are done on a different day as well. Which means, as in any other TV production, scenes are shot out of order which indicates there is an intended sequence of scenes to develop the story line, hence, the story is not real at all.

THE CEMETERY - Episode 7

This one is one of the false demon episodes that Chip and Ryan are trying to distance themselves from.

It concerns the caretakers [Matt and Chandra Franson] of a small cemetery with claims that a spirit is haunting the family and causing the wife undue pain. The exam for Chandra was way too simplistic and should have been far more comprehensive in nature.

There are 3 aspects of the case that get slighted or overlooked.

1 ~ The activity increased when the wife moved into the house overlooking the cemetery. What was her spiritual background prior to her arrival?
2 ~ Matt had the urn of ashes on a shelf for 5 years prior to burying it only in his front yard with no ceremony whatsoever and showing elements of greed because he wouldn’t be compensated.
3 ~ The couple, not to be judgmental, both appear to be out of shape physically, overweight, and their physical movements are indicative of older individuals – yet they are in their 20s. If you listen to their vocal patterns and mannerisms they appear to be very unhappy people. Could this be poltergeist activity due to such physical conditions?

If you notice that the kitchen interviews that are spread throughout the episode, none of the clothing that the two PRS girls and client wear never change. Hence they were all filmed at the same time. Which again means they were shot out of sequence, scripted, and the audience duped.

They toss the word ‘demon’ about in a manner that clearly identifies that neither Ryan nor anyone in PRS has had any training to deal with the demonic. One issue that really troubled me is why didn’t Ryan call in a minister to perform the gravesite service?

MAN OF THE HOUSE - Episode 8

The case concerns an older couple, Cheryl and Bill, who are in the process of remodeling an older New England home. Ghosts are walking the halls-- which should be no surprise. Now we are told that PRS investigates only the worst hauntings but there is not indication whatsoever that these spirits ever pose a threat to anyone within the home by their presence.

There are issues in the family you can tell there are unresolved ones between the older couple, and once again you have a single mother, Diane and child, Adam.

As in “Pet Cemetery” you really get the feeling that much of the dialogue has been rehearsed, particularly when it comes to the little boy. It’s interesting to note here that Adam is being tormented by a lady spirit, but he’s not interviewed by a mental health professional.

Another issue that one thinks about when watching this episode is that Ryan constantly challenges spirits to move to the light but he makes no effort to assist them whatsoever. Eilfie, with her occult training, should have been exposed to this ceremony and feel comfortable doing it.

The most intriguing scenes are at the bar directly across the street from the house. They have their team briefing there and the bartender does not offer any of his knowledge about the house whatsoever? And that he simply waits for Ryan to make a special trip over there asking questions about the case?

They make much to do about the family identifying the ghosts from the pictures and once again they fail to follow proper procedure by only showing them one picture to choose from at a time.

Dead Time produces very little. Much is made about the woman who smells pipe tobacco, and in reality that’s not a sign of paranormal activity at all. Memories can trigger smells related to those memories. A handprint on the wall is supposed evidence of spiritual presence. All that means is that somebody put a handprint on the wall [this will come in to place in season 2].

Finally, once again, why wasn’t a professional brought in to help the spirits move along?

Next week we will cover: BEER, WINE & SPIRITS, SHAPE SHIFTER, PARANORMAL INTERVENTION, and SCHOOL HOUSE HAUNTING.

CRYPTIC MESSAGE:
To the one that I had not talked to in a few months you’ve gone from public to private. I think you’ve been used and I think you know you’ve been used. We’ve exchanged private emails and you know my intentions are above board. If you need additional proof I’ll put you in contact with others.

THE PARANORMAL MOMENT OF TRUTH CHALLENGE

Dear Ryan Buell, Chip Coffey, Lorraine Warren, and Sandra & Keith Johnson:

I have expressed concerns about how you conduct your investigations and the validity of those investigations, where anyone with a clear and discerning eye can see that they are not authentic. I have also witnessed heavy-handed tactics being used against people who question your alleged authority within the paranormal community and dared to raise questions concerning the validity of appearing on the A&E shows, Paranormal State, and Psychic Kids: Children of the Paranormal. I can no longer sit by in silence. That is why I came up with The Paranormal Moment of Truth Challenge, which will benefit you, your organization, the paranormal field, and a charity that would be assisted from the donation of the prize money.

1 ~ It would silence your critics if you are determined to be telling the truth about all your claims and how they are presented. There can be no one left to challenge your honesty and integrity.

2 ~ It would not only benefit your organization, but it would also help the entire paranormal field. Because if such evidence is true, it will be brought to a much wider audience, which hopefully would fuel additional legitimate investigations. So it’s a win-win situation for everyone.

3 ~ The charity of your choice would have the prize money donated to them. If the truth is being told, that prize money could reach $500,000.

So, what is The Paranormal Moment of Truth Challenge? I am sure you’ve heard of the Fox Network program entitled The Moment of Truth. This is where a contestant is hooked up to a lie detector test and asked 50 questions, of which 21 of them are used on the actual show. As long as you tell the truth, you keep on winning money -- up to $500,000. The production company, Lighthearted Entertainment Inc., would jump at an opportunity of doing a show with the two of you. And I will put my personal credibility on the line and appear, as well. For if you visit my Free All Spirits page (www.myspace.com/freeallspirits), you’ll notice that I personally make what some would call outlandish claims concerning my work as a Demonologist/Exorcist/Paranormal Investigator/Caring Spiritual Adviser.

If you would like to be "one step closer to the truth" then this is a way to achieve your goal. If interested, please contact me at this email address and I will get the ball rolling as soon as possible.

Your friend in spirit,

Kirby

To date, this is the response that I’ve received from them.

Why not do the show? Only you, the paranormal field, and a charity of your choice would benefit.

INFORMATION REQUEST: If anyone wants to share any information with their experiences involving the PRS, Ryan Buell, Chip Coffey, and any other para-celebrity that has made an appearance on Paranormal State, whether it is good or bad, I would like to read it. Your confidentiality is 100% guaranteed.

NOTE: Please feel free to copy and paste this and place it all over the web. And, unlike any of my other blogs, you can even repost this under your own name!