Paranormal TV Shows vs Reality

I have a friend who likes to watch the A&E show Paranormal State but who doesn't have a lot of experience in the Paranormal field. She asked me to elaborate today on what I think about this show in particular, but I'm going to veer into other paranormal shows and even into the paranormal world with this blog.

First, let me start by saying that the Christian worldview totally provides for the existence of paranormal phenomena. Gods who become men, the dead rising, signs and wonders, angels and demons--- it doesn't get more "paranormal" than that. Which is how I got involved in this field in the first place: I had a radical, life changing encounter with the Risen Christ, and through it I've been given the gift of "seeing" a spiritual reality outside the natural world. The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us this:

"The whole of man's history has been the story of dour combat with the powers of evil, stretching, so our Lord tells us, from the dawn of history until the last day. This dramatic situation of the whole world, which is in the power of the evil one, makes man's life a battle."

--Catechism of the Catholic Church: 409

Thus, we know and are made aware of the fact that when it all comes down to it, this life is a battle between good and evil. The Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, in a 2005 letter to the clergy, praised Pope John Paul II's ability to make real to all the notion that evil was not only around us, but organized, into a system. Scripture itself tells us over and over again: Satan has plans, and because they will be foiled, he is doing what he can to enjoy the time he has been given.

Matthew 8:29 And they cried out, saying, "What business do we have with each other, Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?"

Some people, myself included, are painfully aware of the battle raging over each of our heads-- over our buildings, our pieces of land, our homes, our schools, our nations, our children, our co-humans. I say "painfully" aware because this awareness causes two things:

First, supernatural faith.

Because God has equipped us to SEE the evil and the good, He has graced us with the necessary "training" to know what to do about it. This results in radical faith that is often painful because we face humiliation, scoffing, even accusations of poor mental health. :) We struggle to live as soldiers in the battle, but everyone around us acts like we're at a party with nothing to worry about. Those of us who have seen the face of evil know that evil never rests. And like the soldier who keeps watch in the night because he knows that a terrorist is seeking ANY opportunity to catch him unawares, we keep watch.

The second is supernatural intervention. For Charismatics and Mystics, visions, prophetic words, signs, wonders, and other spiritual manifestations of the reality of God and the devil are a relatively common experience. We joke around here that I see God in my microwave-- that the reality of what I BELIEVE is so strong that I cannot differentiate between "real life" and "life in Christ." I can never "lay aside" my belief in God, because it is all too real.

In other words, some persons walking around on this planet are walking examples of the actual reality of the spiritual realm, whether they are willing participants or not.

The paranormal world includes everything from the glory of a Eucharistic Miracles or an Apparition of the Blessed Virgin to the darker side of demonic infestation and possession. And unfortunately, it is the darker side which has forever fascinated people (Imagine that!)

Most paranormal "experts" (the majority of whom are not Christians but spiritualists, and whose ranks are joined by many deceived persons who believe themselves to BE Christians) are of the same opinion about what we call "Ghosts."

They classify hauntings into two categories: Residual (non-interactive) and Interactive, and sub-categorize into human and inhuman haunts. They recognize, even the non-Christians, that some entities are simply so negative that they can only be an in-human spirit. They believe that the spirits that are earthbound are "not at rest" for varying reasons, mostly involving either not KNOWING they are dead, not WANTING to be dead, or being attached or connected to an object or person. There are any number of common factors---- including ritual, burial grounds, or other types of activities or situations which "connect" the spirit beings to the body-bound beings and anchor them.

The two major TV shows which follow these theories from different angles and form the opinions of millions of TV Viewers, molding them into what I call "Armchair experts" seek to popularize the study of the paranormal, which is a mysterious and fascinating field. Thus, across america, as people allow TV to educate them rather than the Word of God, which stands forever, we experience more and more paranormal activity---- we seek it out and put it into motion by our actions.

The reason for this is that there IS, in fact, a paranormal reality. But what we are being spoonfed in pop culture books and TV is NOT the "truth" about the paranormal, and any paranormal education that doesn't begin, stay, and finish firmly rooted in the Bible and Church tradition will be completely and totally false. When it comes to the paranormal-- false can be very dangerous.

And that's where people like me come in. For several years now, I've been meeting with people on an individual and sometimes group basis, helping them deal with a paranormal situation which they feel has gotten out of hand. And time and time again, they got there using perfectly normal and acceptable "techniques," totally unaware that they were actually aggravating a demonic situation rather than turning to God for deliverance. It is my job to "educate" people, particularly Christians, about the paranormal. I do it because if no one would have taught me these things, I would be in hell right now-- and I would have gotten myself there.

Ghost Hunters, which follows the adventures of the Atlantic Paranormal Society, is on the Sci Fi Channel. Ghost Hunters is by far the more popular choice, and is a show which I highly recommend for those interested in the paranormal. Although I do not agree with the VIEWS of the TAPS team, I find that they operate like most of the paranormal teams I have come to respect and appreciate. They take a scientific approach, they remain level headed and go to any lengths to debunk, and they document, investigate, and analyze the evidence thoroughly and consistently. In fact, their level of excellence in paranormal investigation has raised the bar completely here in the United States, and I am encouraged to see them doing a good job of helping others to SEE (and verify) that there is "something" going on that we often can sense, but not see.

My husband and I make GH our date night. There is nothing more enjoyable for us than to follow along on the investigations of some of the places I've dreamed of going, and then at the end to shout at the screen when we think they are doing something that will aggravate the haunting or mislead the client.
Taken with this notion in mind: That TAPS are not Christians and do NOT have a Christian worldview of the paranormal, and watching it only from the viewpoint of "proving" the existence of a paranormal reality, we highly recommend this show. I've had the opportunity to work IRL with members of the TAPS family and have always found them to be professional, thorough, and well trained.

Then there is Paranormal State. The Penn State Paranormal Research Society is a HUGE hit, particularly with the teenage crowd, who love and relate to the crew and don't know much about the paranormal. The members of PRS are far more approachable and far less jaded-- they are still gaining the years and years of experience that the TAPS team has built. Like Jason and Grant from TAPS, Ryan Buell started the society when he reached a point in his life when he was totally preoccupied with trying to UNDERSTAND some of the paranormal events he had experienced that had terrified him. PRS takes a more "touchy feely" approach, frequently forsaking hard scientific evidence for mediumship, seance-type settings, and even even occult practices. Although Ryan and the team have been used as consultants on everything from police cases to Church determinations of the need for exorcisms, they are missing three key elements of a career in the paranormal: Caution, Humility and Experience.

Although many of the PRS members are actually Catholic, they frequently employ methods condemned by the Church to communicate with, "feel out" and even banish the entities they come into contact with. I know a person who's name I cannot repeat here who works with the International Assocation of Catholic Exorcists, an organization approved in Rome. He was once called for assistance in a PRS case and had a very bad experience, being made painfully aware of the inexperienced mistakes that the PRS team made over and over again.
Although some of the cases PRS takes on are legitimate, others are the result of very inconclusive research. Ryan employs psychics and mediums whose gifts are questionable-- not in the sense that they don't have a gift, they obviously do, but in the sense that the SOURCE of those gifts (Godly or demonic) is questionable.

Chip Coffey, the psychic he uses most frequently, is an amazing and interesting fellow. I get the sense that he genuinely loves God and that his gift is from God, but I also see how he has been tempted to use it in ways that are not approvable (for instance, he makes a living doing psychic readings, charging hundreds of dollars for helping people communicate with their dead. This is a condemned practice, scripturally.) It is my personal opinion that although I do believe that the Lord gave him a very specific, very beautiful gift-- to be able to help others learn to pray for those souls who need prayer and to be able to discern a demonic entity's presence, he has, in a sense, opened himself up TOO much, and allowed Satan to overtake this gift and use it for something other than the glory of God.
Other psychics he has used have been of VERY questionable moral fiber.

The Church approves the use of sensitives to assist in demonic cases. Sensitives are people who, like me, are able to "tune into" the surrounding spiritual reality and detect information about what God or Satan are doing in a situation. More specifically, sensitives are keenly aware of a presence that is "not right" and specific information about that presence.
The line between a psychic and a sensitive is very thin, but very solid. A "psychic" will often foretell future information. While a charismatic is able to prophecy by the Spirit of God, a demonic Spirit is also able to provide information about future events, and so using this gift to foretell future events for personal use is condemned. A psychic recieves personal information about a person. Again, both God AND Satan are able to do this, so it requires caution to accept the information given. A psychic frequently uses his/ her gifts to make a living, charging large amounts of money to foretell the future, to connect people with the spirits of their dead loved ones, and to tell thrill seeking people intimate information about themselves. A sensitive, while "aware" of his/her gifts, is not inclined to use them for personal use, but rather for the aid of others. A sensitive will not charge and will not step outside the boundaries of what would be considered a condemned "occult" practice.

In other words, a sensitive has a legitimate psychic gift, given by the Spirit of God, to read souls or situations,for the purpose of advancing the kingdom, whereas what is commonly called a psychic has a gift which either comes from an demonstrably demonic source, or which comes from God but has been exploited by Satan and fleshly temptations to frequently employ for a non kingdom-advancing purpose.

MANY persons who exhibited strong psychic tendencies, once they have been exorcised, no longer exhibit any psychic tendencies whatsoever. the question then, to ask yourself, is "How attached to this gift am I?" A solid Christian response is to love the giver, and not the gift.

Ryann also employs a self-proclaimed Wiccan as an "occult specialist." In older episodes, he often allowed her to attempt to banish an entity at the request of the client by using occult methodology. In religious demonology, we know well that this results in furthering and increasing the demonic activity in the area--- while it may appear to stop for a while, it will return with a vengeance. Thus, I (and the Church) WHOLLY disagree with the employment of ANY occult techniques for any reason. Furthermore, there have been cases where Ryan chose to specifically keep from a Christian client the fact that he was allowing a Wiccan Witch to assist them, a fact that would infuriate me, had I been the client at the time.

Lastly, there is the famous case of Shannon Sylvia. Shannon, who at one point worked for TAPS, was seen as a client on Paranormal State, which immediately raises some questions. Why would a paranormal investigator who appears on TV call another paranormal investigator who appears on TV for help? In Ryan's Blog, he addresses the issue by saying that this particular instance was when Shannon Sylvia decided to make her way into TAPS and become a paranormal investigator herself. TAPS has never correlated the story, and Shannon no longer works for TAPS, although she frequently does podcasts about her involvement with TAPS in the paranormal and now works with her own group, NEP. So, hmmm.

Personally, I believe that Ryan has the right idea, but lacks the experience and spiritual maturity to fully grasp what is going on around him. Those demonic haunts that he has dealt with and recognized have been compelling visual examples of the types of things I've seen IRL and are, I believe, not scripted. A perfect example is the episode "I am Six," which made waves around the Christian paranormal world because it dealt with the possession and torment of a young woman in a very percievable, realistic way. That being said, Ryan frequently choses an episcopalian priest over a Catholic priest for an exorcism because he is not able to provide the signs of possession required by the Catholic Church for a Bishop to allow the Rite of Exorcism. Ryan is also, because of his inexperience, under persistant and constant spiritual attack. He recognizes it as such but feel powerless to battle it, and this is because he has not been spiritually equipped for the warfare he is stepping into, all the while convincing himself he is "Armored up."

He borders on the superstitious at all times with his involvement withe demonic entities, and, quite frankly, is not as cautious as he needs to be with what he considers to be a "mundane" haunting and which, in my experience, is a demonic haunt in disguise.

From Wikipedia:

As of January 3, 2008, Ryan Buell claims the demonic entity is no longer following him, but Chip Coffey is. In a Q&A section of the Penn State Paranormal Research Society's forums, he responded to a question on the topic by stating, "I haven't been troubled by any bunnies [the PRS calls demons "bunnies"] as of late. There came a point in my life where I let go of some of that baggage. When it comes to that whole side, there's a back story that involves my group dealing with a case three years ago. I kind of reached a resolution with that. Coincidentally, the bunny tried to make another cameo appearance when we were filming the final investigation of the season, but we just told it to go to you-know-where. I hope it makes the cut!"[21]

The demon following was later revealed to be Belial.

This isn't Constantine. Real world Demons are far craftier than that,unrelenting, and anyone who knows and has had experience with them knows how well they know us and how easily we are duped and just how real the dangers are.

The last show I will discuss is on The Discovery Channel and is called "A Haunting." It is the least popular and yet the most thorough. It covers true ghost stories from across the United States, providing somewhat cheesy but definitely creepy re-enactments. I LOVE "A Haunting" because it doesn't fill itself with theories and ideas about the paranormal, it simply presents the facts as they exist in the story and allows the viewer to come to his / her own conclusions.

A perfect example is The story of the Sallie House, one of my favorite demonic haunts.

In this episode, the re-enactment is the story of the young couple who first moved into the Sallie house and discovered that there was ghost living there, allegedly a young girl named Sally. The couple make peace with the idea of living with a ghost and do what they can to welcome this sweet little child's spirit, and soon realize they are actually dealing with a very deceptive demonic haunt, flee, and leave the home abandoned. To this day, the Sallie House is one of the most interesting "haunted houses" across America, riddled with demonic activity, and the kind of place that makes a great and classic example for the ACTUAL Christian worldview of the paranormal, which is that "spirits" which DO, in fact, exist (and we are so easily fooled because we want to believe) are 90% demonic entities seeking an entry way into human life/existence for the purpose of torment and 10% souls in purgatory in need of prayer. But OH, how easily we are fooled.

Those actual, human souls which God allows us to see (such as the man who asked St Padre Pio for prayer for release from purgatory) are usually shown to us with an express message to PRAY. When we do not get this message, but are simply being drawn to communicate with this allegedly dead human person, it is crucial to remember that no matter how compelling the evidence may be that we are, in fact, dealing with a HUMAN soul, demons are as tricky as can be and have been around a very long time-- long enough to know how to imitate voices, access personal information, and fool us into thinking that they are perfectly harmless disembodied people.

You can go to the Sallie House's website here: http://www.thesalliehouse.com/ and get more information about this fascinating paranormal case.

As for me, I recommend that if you have an interest in the paranormal (and many of us do) you seek out a REAL education by studying scripture, the teachings of the Church, and the stories of the Saints who have gone before you. Grounded in that, you will never doubt, nor be deceived, nor succumb to the lies of the Enemy, who seeks to destroy your soul.

If these shows are causing you to seek out, participate in, or otherwise partner with evil, I would say it's time to turn off the TV and pick up your bible. If these shows are helping you to come to terms with the REALITY of evil that exists, then by all means, watch away. But don't let a Paranormal research Society composed of college students, Wiccans, Reiki Masters, etc be your authority. let God be your authority. Always.

And if nothing else, let these shows remind you to pray for the souls of the faithful departed:

Requiem aeternam dona ei, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat ei. Requiescat in pace. Amen
(Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.)