Yeah, so I am supposedly now a skeptic. I need proof to believe in things and trust in stories told to me by strangers. Why then, am I now getting goose-bumps and the "heebie-jeebies" by watching Paranormal State on A&E? I am spooked.
The show is basically following a group of students at Penn State University. The leader of the group, Ryan, claims to have had dealt with the paranormal as a child, and it scared him. This led to his investigations of paranormal claims as an adult.
The stories they follow vary from outright demons who possess people and kill animals, to hauntings from land owners of the past. It never fails that Ryan and his investigative team call upon a psychic or two (one of them actually helped with the real Amity horror house) to give them clues as to what is going on. The information usually matches what the family said in prior interviews, which leads me to wonder if the show isn't feeding these "psychics" the information they need to make the show a little more chilling...
Tonights episode shows a woman and her family who have been haunted in their own home since they moved in. She actually moved in the home when she was about 10, if I remember correctly, and she immediately noticed a lot of activity that scared her. She saw a man in "an Abraham Lincoln suit," and he looked to be solid. Not a see-through ghostie like most describe. She also had a dream about the man, and soon came to call him Edward. During the dream he was crying and telling her not to let her father on the roof... this will come to play later on in the story.
Ryan and the crew call in a psychic, this week the guy has an accent and has his own psychic partner. I think that is a sure sign that something is up, because people are more likely to believe their story if they back each other off and feed off each other. There I go being a skeptic again...
These psychics walk directly into the woman's childhood bedroom where she witnessed her closet door shake violently and slam open and shut as a child. They felt "drawn" to the room. Again, call me crazy, but it would be so easy to give this info to the psychics... just to make the show better. I dunno about that.
He also sends Elfie, the wiccan, to do research on the past owners of the home/land. Surprise surprise... she finds out the land was once owned by a man named Edward. Guess what else? He fell off the roof...
By the time Elfie is shown giving the news about the history search, the home owner has been told by the psychics that the owner has died by falling off the roof. This makes it look as if there is no possible way for the psychics to have already had this information. It's simply not the case... who knows what order these scenes were shot in, and who knows if the psychics did research on the home without the show's knowledge. Lets face it, getting tons of "hits" on a psychic reading on national television will throw tons of business your way, won't it?
The woman who owned the home met with a professional sketch artist, and described Edward to her. The sketch artist did her best, and when the owner saw the eyes on the sketch she was drawn to it. She knew the eyes were right. The rest was close...
Later that night, the research crew leaves for the day. They set up overnight cameras to try and catch any paranormal activity just in case... the video shows the home owner obsessively staring at the sketch and making small changes to the drawing. She felt like she was being told what to change... the whole thing is creepy! It still freaks me out a little. It's just weird.
Anyway, by the end of the show Ryan invites a Catholic priest to bless the home and rid it of evil spirits and everyone moves on...
The review of the show:
Very scary at times, maybe it's just because I am alone and watching it close to midnight and my cats are staring into corners of my apartment like they see something that I don't. It's enough to make me pull out the Bible I no longer believe in!
At times, it seems staged and over-produced. It's still good to watch and great story-telling. Not too bad.
Andee