March 25th, 2009 by CVPI

Source: http://www.southcoasttoday.com/
Listen: horror-film-draws-unwanted-visitors-to-conn-house

A Hollywood horror film that depicts the alleged haunting of a former funeral parlor in central Connecticut is turning into a nightmare for the home’s current owners and their neighbors.

The movie, “A Haunting in Connecticut,” doesn’t open until Friday, but curious fans are already making a beeline for the Southington home that inspired the movie.

“It’s just been really, really stressful,” said Susan Trotta-Smith, who bought the home 10 years ago with her husband. “It’s been a total change from a very quiet house in a very quiet neighborhood to looking out the window and seeing cars stopping all the time. It’s been very, very stressful, and sometimes worrisome.”

The family has never seen anything unusual inside their five-bedroom, two-family white wood-frame house and does not believe the property was haunted.

“It’s got beautiful woodwork, and there is a nice warm feeling to the house,” Trotta-Smith said. “Because it was a funeral home, the upstairs apartment is much more spacious. It’s like two full houses, and it has a beautiful yard, too.”

The movie, starring Virginia Madsen and Kyle Gallner and released by Lionsgate, is loosely based on stories that revolved around the house in the 1980s.

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Popularity: 57% [?]

March 25th, 2009 by CVPI

Source: http://www.marshallnews.com/
Listen: paranormal-task-force-educates-on-ghost-hunting-history

The Paranormal Task Force’s Saline County Career Center-sponsored class on ghost hunting Saturday night, March 21, started with some “mood music” before presenters began to give attendees information on classifications of hauntings and the possibilities within each.

A haunting, explained Investigator Jeremy King, is a “repeated weirdness in one location.” Such occurrences might include a strange sight, sound, smell or an emotional or physical feeling. Visual stimuli are the least common and auditory the most, he said.

They are not always associated with ghosts, he said, and each haunting is a unique instance from any other, “like snowflakes.”

King, who said he had grown up in a haunted house, gave the audience a brief history of humanity’s belief in the supernatural. It began, he said, with animism, the theory that souls dwell not only within humans and animals, but also plants, rocks, water and anything else from nature. Then came the unavoidable question, “What happens to these souls once their home becomes destroyed?” Gods offered afterlives for their flocks, but King said Pliny the Younger was the first, around 200 A.D., to write a story documenting what people had reported for millennia — a spirit trapped on Earth.

King asked the audience what they believe causes hauntings. They answered, “Energy,” and “A suspended soul.” To their list, he added residual energy, a disembodied spirit, an inter-dimensional being or even an alien life form, a theory that King said he does not disbelieve.

Whatever their cause, most reported hauntings can be grouped into five categories, King said, listing “traditional” hauntings, residual hauntings, poltergeists, demonic hauntings and portal hauntings.

Traditional hauntings are the least commonly reported, he said, and the most commonly shown on television or in Hollywood movies. “Intelligent” ghosts that interact with humans are quite rare, King told the audience.

Most common are the residual hauntings, what King called “an imprint of energy … that just keeps recurring.” He related the theory that such hauntings are caused by energy being stored by a location and “played” later.

King explained that poltergeists are caused by emotional people who probably do not realize what they are doing.

Demonic possession is quite rare, King said, though he added that PTF President Greg Myers had at least one experience dealing with a demonic force, and even experienced an attack while filming for the upcoming documentary “The Haunted Boy.” Using thermal imaging cameras, said King, the crew captured on tape a spot of heat on Myers’ neck that increased to over 350 degrees Fahrenheit, the hottest level the cameras would measure.

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Popularity: 11% [?]

March 16th, 2009 by CVPI

Source: http://www.pnj.com/
Listen: chip-off-the-old-block

Unlike the ghost-besieged boy in the movie, “The Sixth Sense,” Chip Coffey does not see dead people. Well. Not often.

Usually, spirits and wandering souls communicate to the Atlanta psychic through energy, mental imagery or by speaking to him, he explained.

“It’s rare for me to see them as a full apparition,” said Coffey, who will speak at the Circle of Life Expo this weekend at the Pensacola Interstate Fairgrounds. “But it happens.”

The soft-spoken 54-year-old said he has been psychic “since childhood,” and a professional medium and paranormal investigator since 2001. Most would recognize Coffey, with his trademark buzz cut and glasses, from his frequent appearances on the A&E cable series, “Paranormal State,” which follows a team of investigators from Penn State University’s Paranormal Research Society.

Organizers of the Expo, a physical, metaphysical and spiritual festival, say they are excited to present the celebrity psychic.

“I watch Chip on ‘Paranormal State’ just like everyone else,” said Cindy Greene, event organizer and owner of The Mystic Cottage, a metaphysical gift store on Mobile Highway. “So many people are interested in the paranormal and in Chip. He’s so down-to-earth.”

Coffey certainly is matter-of-fact when it comes to discussing what he believes are his God-given abilities.

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Popularity: 34% [?]

March 16th, 2009 by CVPI

Source: http://www.eonline.com/
Listen: who-got-jennifer-love-hewitt-pregnant

Jennifer Love Hewitt is having a baby!

OK, maybe not in real life, but her Ghost Whisperer character, Melinda Gordon, is finally preggers.

So who’s the proud papa? Jim or Sam? All signs point to…Jim!

(

Bet the tabs wish it were J.Love’s real-life love interest, Ghost costar Jamie Kennedy!)

“Do the math,” says Ghost Whisperer show runner P.K. Simonds, “less time has passed for our characters than has passed in the broadcast calendar…basically, time slowed down in the aftermath of the big events at the beginning of the season. [The 12 episodes] since Jim died have taken less than 12 weeks in terms of Jim and Melinda’s lives.”

Whaaa?

Read on for more about the pregnancy, Melinda’s dead husband and tonight’s epic episode…

So Melinda could’ve been pregnant this whole time without realizing it? Says Simonds, “Sometimes you don’t notice something like that. Especially going through what she’s gone through—the cycles [can be] interrupted by traumatic events.”

Simonds wants fans to remember that the season “started with [Jim and Melinda] trying to become pregnant, trying very hard [and] facing some obstacles. And just as they seemed to get past those obstacles, tragedy struck.”

Tragedy, of course, being Jim’s death—and his amnesia after being reincarnated in Sam’s body.

And the final blow Sam delivers to his new girlfriend after she at last confides he is really Jim: He believes Melinda Gordon is a mentally unstable widow who is using him as a substitute for her dead husband. (Jim, how could you?!)

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Popularity: 37% [?]

March 11th, 2009 by CVPI

Source: http://www.dose.ca/
Listen: david-conrad-wont-give-up-the-ghost

For most people, the day they find out they’re going to die is the worst day of their life. But David Conrad’s reaction was one of bemusement.

After three seasons playing Jim Clancy on Ghost Whisperer, the CBS supernatural series about a woman who talks to ghosts, the writers sat down with Conrad and told him that his character was going to die in Season 4. In a shocking episode, Jim is fatally shot, leaving his psychic wife Melinda (Jennifer Love Hewitt) to help his spirit cross over to the other side.

“The head writer said, ‘Hey, we really need to have a meeting.’ And I was like, ‘Oh, boy. Here it comes,’” Conrad remembers. “It was funny, actually – he was like, ‘We’re going to kill you off, but… you’re still on the show.’”

One of the perks of starring on a supernatural-themed show is that a character’s death doesn’t necessarily mean the actor should start looking for work. In this case, Jim refuses to go into the light; instead, he enters the body of another recently-deceased man, who wakes up with no memory of his past life. While other characters can only see the other man, when Melinda looks at him, she – and the viewers – see Jim, meaning Conrad gets to keep his day job.

But not everyone reacted to Jim’s death and rebirth as well as Conrad did. When news of the storyline first leaked last September, fans immediately took to the Internet to voice their intense displeasure, with most threatening to stop watching the show altogether. Even as the plot unfolded throughout the season, viewers continued to express anger towards.

“The new story line is a flop. I think Melinda and Jim need to be together to make the show work, not with this crazy thing of Jim’s spirit in someone else,” one viewer posted on a Dose.ca forum. “I always looked forward to watching on Fridays, if they don’t bring Jim back (in the flesh), I will find another show to watch.”

Added another: “The writers of this plot twist should be FIRED! …This all better be a dream or something! If this plot isn’t done and over by the first epi of the next season, I am done with the show!”

Yet, surprisingly, Ghost Whisperer’s ratings have gone up. So far, the fourth season is averaging 10.5 million US viewers, up from 9.3 million last year; its Feb. 28 episode earned 11.54 million viewers, putting it in the No. 15 spot in the Nielsen ratings and beating out hit shows like Lost and The Amazing Race. Not bad for a Friday-night show whose fans keep threatening to revolt.

“I think they’re angry in the sense of, ‘This chicken’s terrible! And it comes in such small portions!’” says Conrad. “They’re pissed about something but only while they’re watching it. I think the writers irked people just right – and they did it in few enough episodes that viewers followed it to get what they wanted.”

The 40-year-old actor isn’t phased by any of the negative fan reaction, focusing instead on the new challenges brought on by the story line.

“The thing that was most interesting about it, to me, was what it gave us the opportunity to do. If I lost my memory completely about Melinda, there was the idea that they could start flirting again and courting each other,” he explains. “It was weird – when you’ve worked with someone day in and day out for a few years, it’s neat to suddenly play a scene where we don’t know each other. Playing a supportive husband and wife translates into Jennifer and I watching each others’ backs on the set. To be in a scenario where you’re not supposed to be doing that is a little awkward; a little strange. It felt sort of alien, but kind of cool.”

That attitude is exactly how Conrad approached acting in the first place. The Pittsburgh native never intended to become an actor but fell into the industry almost by accident.

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Popularity: 31% [?]

March 5th, 2009 by CVPI

Source: http://popwatch.ew.com/

Last night, as I was waiting for the subway, I noticed a poster for the upcoming horror flick, The Haunting in Connecticut (in theaters March 27). It wasn’t the absurdly geographically specific title that caught my eye, but the nasty picture of a kid barfing up what looks like part of the faun in Pan’s Labyrinth. Then I saw the tagline: “Some things cannot be explained.” Um, yeah — some things like how a marketing person convinced studio execs that that disgusting picture should be the poster image! Anyway, I watched the trailer (below) today and discovered more horror-movie clichés in that one short clip than you could ever dream of trying to cram into an entire movie.

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Popularity: 29% [?]

March 5th, 2009 by CVPI

Source: http://www.examiner.com/

Listen: waverly-hills-earns-its-reputation-as-one-of-americas-most-haunted

Waverly Hills Sanatorium – The Holy Grail for ghost hunters. Any ghost hunter worth their salt must, sometime in their paranormal life, make the pilgrimage to Louisville, KY to investigate this shrine. The journey begins at the bottom of the hill. You can barely make out the building through the trees as you ascend the driveway. An old iron gate stands as a reminder that this is no ordinary place. Once through the gate you are greeted by a gargoyle standing guard at the corner of the building. As you pull over into the parking lot you begin to see the enormousness of the building. Its menacing presence reminding you of the staggering death toll tallied in this one place. Although the records are unclear, it is estimated the between 5,000 and 14,000 people lost their life in this building. At its peak, the death rate was one per hour. So much death that they began to use the tunnel that was built originally to bring supplies up the hill in the winter to transfer the bodies downhill. This was to help with the morale of the patients. Imagine being a patient with TB and seeing 20-24 hearses per day taking away bodies of your friends that just died of the same disease.

This building served as a TB hospital for more than half a century before a short stint as a geriatric hospital. It stood vacant for 25 years before being bought by Charlie and Tina Mattingly. They are the ones who have undertaken the monumental task of restoring this fine old building.
I am lucky enough to be friends with Charlie and Tina and been a volunteer at Waverly for 3 years. I have spent a lot of time alone in the building and have some incredible personal experiences. I have been scratched, heard voices, screams, footsteps, crying moaning, laughing and the unmistakable sounds of someone smothering. I’ve seen shadow people and full body apparitions. I have experienced about every type of paranormal phenomenon that you can imagine.
Perhaps the most profound experience occurred years ago while I was on my first overnight investigation. It was about four in the morning and I was walking with a coworker who had reluctantly joined me that night. We were on the first floor and had just passed the morgue when, without warning, my partner screamed and ran. I had no idea what had happened. I chased her down and asked what was wrong. “Something grabbed my leg” she said with a trembling voice. The reached down and felt of her pocket. “My cigarettes are gone. Oh my God, something just pulled my cigarettes from my front blue jean pocket”. I went back and found the pack laying just inside the morgue room. I then escorted her out and watched her drive off rather quickly. The thing you need to keep in mind is the significance of cigarettes being removed from someone in a TB hospital, TB being a disease that attacked the lungs. I went back inside to continue the investigation glad that I never took up smoking.

To sum up my experiences at Waverly Hills, the place does live up to its reputation. It is one of America’s top 10 most haunted buildings and should be on every ghost hunter’s wish list of places to visit. Waverly does offer 2 hour tours on weekends as well as 4 and 8 hour overnight investigations for the brave. For more information, they can be reached at 502-933-2142.

Popularity: 13% [?]

March 3rd, 2009 by CVPI

Source: http://www.monstersandcritics.com/

Listen: delusions-of-grandview

“Ghost Whisperer” features new episode “Delusions of Grandview”
this Friday, March 6 @ 8pm ET/PT on CBS.

Just as Melinda (Jennifer Love Hewitt) goes way out on a limb by agreeing to show Sam/Jim (David Conrad) what she actually does, a bizarre and dangerous case falls in her lap.

Seems a brand new elementary school is haunted by its former residents — the dead inmates of the insane asylum, which once occupied the same building decades ago.

Melinda and Sam’s delicate new bond is stretched to the breaking point when Melinda is finally forced to tell him the truth about where his strange memories have been coming from — and who he really is.

Popularity: 26% [?]

March 2nd, 2009 by CVPI

Source: http://www.tribune-democrat.com/

Listen: paranormal-investigators-plan-portage-seminar

Rege Huschak wasn’t afraid of rousing the goblins when he told the ghost hunters they could investigate the Portage Station Museum.

Heck, he figures, taxes and the recession are a lot scarier.

“Of all the other things that are happening, I’m not worried about someone who passed through the station

70 years ago,’’ he said Friday.

Huschak is president of the Portage Area Historical Society, which operates the museum – an old train station.

Huschak told the Southwestern Pennsylvania League of Apparition Technologists it may address the public

March 15 at the museum, speaking of its findings and taking questions.

One of those who will speak will be Walter Hutsky, 26, of Windber, an IT worker for Zamias Inc. and hobbyist ghost tracker. He has gone on more than 25 spectral investigations and hasn’t come upon any firm evidence of paranormal events thus far.

Yes, the ghost guy is a skeptic.

“I’m still open to the possibility. I like being involved in the scientific aspect of it and local history,’’ Hutsky said.

SPLAT is booked solid on requests to do its free investigations.

Hutsky said all kinds of callers are dialing them up.

“Basically, there’s unexplained phenomena that happened at their house or to themselves,’’ he said. “They have to prove to others that they’re not crazy.’’

Even after subtracting out the large number of flakes who call, Hutsky said, plenty of promising situations remain.

That’s when SPLAT investigators march in with their audio and video recording equipment, temperature sensors and infrared gear.

Investigators sometimes find that’s what’s behind so-called paranormal events are such things as the wind, an electrical short or radio wave interference. Most often, the unexplained occurrences remain so.

“We haven’t been able to catch them using multiple electronic devices,’’ Hutsky said.

One of the spectral sightings that has gained some credence is the spirit of a young child wandering what is known as Dane Castle in Strongstown, Indiana County. That report, as the others, has not produced proof.

Huschak said the team came up empty at the museum despite old tales of footsteps and toilets flushing. Another person saw shadowy movement on the stairwell.

“You always hear stories,” he said. “It’s just like anything else. It’s a matter of people wanting to know.’’

Though spook tales don’t creep Huschak out, SPLAT itself gave him the heebie-jeebies.

“I once called them ghostbusters and I regretted it,” Huschak said.

“They don’t like that.’’

Popularity: 9% [?]