By Paula Bianchi –

After my daughter and I got rid of our ghost, I tried to learn more about what we experienced. I read many ghost stories, but I had to wait for more than a decade before a show called, MTV’s Fear, debuted. This was the first ghost show I watched. It featured individual contestants investigating haunted places, and they would win some cash if they lasted through the whole investigation.

Another ghost show called, Scariest Places on Earth, was hosted by Linda Blair. Different families would volunteer to strap cameras on their bodies, so we could watch them investigate a haunted location. When I watched this show, it was never for the ghosts. I was too busy laughing at the reactions of these family members as they imagined most of their fearful experiences.    

The first real ghost hunting show, which premiered on the Travel Channel, was called, Ghost Hunters. This show was the longest running ghost hunting show when the last episode aired in 2016. I enjoyed watching Jason Hawes, Grant Wilson, and their crew as they hunted ghosts. Now, Grant is back with a rebooted Ghost Hunters, and Jason is back with his ghost hunters’ crew in, Ghost Nation.

I never missed an episode of Ghost Hunters much to my husband’s dismay. He’s a skeptic through and through, but he will believe the ghostly activity if the evidence supports it. The one thing he can never get past is if it’s all staged for TV. I understand his point of view, but I also feel that the people who are investigating want to present legitimate, factual evidence for their show, so I give them the benefit of the doubt, while I always try to keep an open mind.

The next ghost hunting show I watched, also on the Travel Channel, was called, Ghost Adventures. Of course, I started watching, but I didn’t like how Zach, Nick, and Aaron would antagonize the ghosts. It was after watching this show that I started to feel bad for the ghosts. I don’t mean the dark or evil ones. I’m talking about the everyday people who are out of their bodies and don’t know where to go or what they should do now.

Because of this, I stopped watching the show for quite a while, then one day I tuned in, and I was very surprised to see they were no longer challenging the ghosts. I later learned, from articles I’ve read, the reason they stopped doing it was because of the scary stuff they experienced in their own homes after a bad investigation. Some of the ghosts they called out, followed them home and caused frightful things to happen there. It was a quick lesson to show some respect, even for ghosts.

The feeling I had about showing respect to these spectral souls was validated with the premiere of, The Dead Files, again on the Travel Channel. This show is by far my favorite ghost show. The writer in me can visualize everything psychic, Amy Allan, describes on her walks around the haunted locations. Most importantly though, Amy tells her clients how to rid themselves from these unwanted specters. She goes into detailed instructions on what to do and who they’ll need to help them. (Wish she’d write a book about her haunting solutions and cures.)

I enjoy watching The Dead Files because you don’t have to listen to the paranormal investigators asking the same questions over and over again. Amy’s never happy with people who’ve turned their property into ghost hunting attractions because she can see what it’s doing to these people. Yes, they’re still people. They just don’t have their bodies anymore. For whatever reason, these people have chosen to stay here. Not only are they still trying to win their mind games, but now they have to endure nightly or weekly ghost tours of people invading their space and showing them no respect. How would like it if uninvited guests were coming in and out of your house every day?

My husband watches The Dead Files with me because of Steve DiSchiavi. His investigations into the history of the location always validates what Amy’s sensing and seeing. The best part of the show is during the reveal. Watching Steve’s face, as Amy checks off all the boxes in his research, is priceless.  

I don’t know why, but after watching Steve and Amy’s show, my empathy for Earthbound spirits grew. After my encounter with our ghost and setting him free, I wanted to help more ghosts crossover. That’s when I decided to try ghost hunting.

I investigated two houses before my father, through the pendulum, told me not to do it anymore. On both investigations, I received EVP’s. I know we didn’t help the ghost in the first house, but in the second one, I helped the ghost crossover to the other side. How do I know it worked? Because my psychic friend, Lexi, relayed a message from him saying thank you to me, he also wanted to let me know some family members came and helped him crossover. It was exactly what I had prayed for him. I had never told Lexi what I had done until after she gave me that message.

Knowing Lexi, has allowed me to take a glimpse at the other side through her eyes. When I go to public places with her, she describes what she’s seeing around her. This can be difficult for her because she doesn’t want the spirits to realize that she can see them. Once they do, they’ll come to her with the hope that she can help them.

I’ve often wished I could see what Lexi was seeing. Then again, I have to be careful what I wish for. This point was driven home after watching a new ghost show called, Ghosts of Morgan City. One of the cast members put some kind of contraption on his head which was going to allow him to see spirits. The reaction he has when he turned the thing on, speaks volumes to what the experience of seeing spirits would really feel like.

He was turning his head this way and that with a look of disbelief on his face as his brain tried to understand what he was seeing. He blurts out, “They’re everywhere!” The psychic cast member gets him to focus in on one ghost that she’s seeing and when he does, he describes exactly what the psychic had described earlier in the show without him being there. It was fascinating to me. This same team also recorded the clearest apparition on film that I’ve ever seen. You could definitely tell it was a woman dressed in a white Victorian dress as she walked across a doorway.

Because I’ve been watching these shows pretty much since they started, I have seen how the equipment they use has evolved over the years, and I am impressed with the new equipment that the investigators are using now.

Ghost Adventures uses this one camera that I love where it maps in stick figures of ghosts. They wave on command and suddenly disappear from view. Sometimes these figures are standing right on top of Zach, Aaron, or the rest.

I use an Ovilus X, that I’m borrowing from my friend, Cricket, while I use my pendulum. I can turn it on and leave it on my desk all day, and it won’t speak a word, until I use my pendulum. My Mom and Dad have used the Ovilus for me, but it’s not something I do all the time because I don’t want to abuse my connection with them. There are times when I’ll turn it on, but it never says a word, even if I’m using the pendulum. When it comes to connecting to the other side, for me, less is best.

I could go on and on about this subject. It’s something that will always pique my interest because I can sit here and just imagine what life is like for those souls who chose to remain here earthbound. The more I think about it; the more I feel a story coming on. Stay tuned.

In my next mind games article, I’ll write about worry. I’m grateful for your visit. Have a great day. Bye for now.

Email: Remyel@hotmail.com

Picture courtesy of: Pexels.