A&E 'Paranormal State' real ghostbusters; an interview with Ryan Buell

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By April MacIntyre Dec 4, 2007, 19:01 GMT

Paranormal activity believers have an interesting new show to watch on December 10, as A&E network debuts, "Paranormal State," a new series that investigates the actual case files of Penn State University.

In the vein of "Ghostbusters" but with a serious bent, the students who study this science are dedicated and they claim many who are bothered by lingering spirits in their domiciles are helped.

The first episode will air December 10th at 10PM ET/PT with back-to-back episodes, A&E opens the case files of the Paranormal Research Society (PRS), a renowned group comprised of Penn State University college students, in the new reality series "Paranormal State."

They claim that 73% of Americans believe in paranormal activity.

Ryan Buell

Penn State University student Ryan Buell received a call from a client telling him that her eight-year-old son is seeing dead people in the family's new home. It was a similar terrifying childhood eperience that set Ryan off into his paranormal career path.Ryan and the PRS team travel to the client's home, interview the family and child and investigate to determine if there is evidence of paranormal activity or if what they are witnessing is just the imagination of a child. For the Paranormal team, their pro bono paranormal work is a balancing act. Along with his paranormal investigation work, Ryan must be back in time for his Economics class the next morning.Ryan Buell is the director/founder of PRS and the central character in the series. I had a chance to speak with him regarding this exciting new series.The PRS team, which Ryan started in 2001, have worked on cases involving demonic possession and exorcism, assisted law enforcement on missing person's cases, and have brought peace to frightened families.Ryan and the PRS team worked on cases throughout the country. Through the use of Electronic Voice Phenomenon (EVP) recordings, client interviews, video documentation, old-fashioned research and the help from outside experts such as renowned psychics, demonologists and Penn State University psychologists and counselors, Buell and the PRS team delve into other worlds to try and help people who have no one else to turn to.Buell speaks of his childhood in South Carolina, a conservative Christian state, where he was admonished to go to church and forget all ghost business.I asked him why Christian faith and paranormal activity are incompatible to the devout."I personally don't think that the Christian faith and paranormal activity are incompatible. By definition, Christians are supposed to believe in the personification of evil (i.e. demons, spiritual possession, etc.), and therefore, we should believe in the supernatural. After all, what's more supernatural than Jesus Christ casting out demons from men or raising the dead? I think that the incompatibility comes from people who think that believing in the supernatural makes you look crazy or inferior, since it isn't accepted within society. Down south, to be a kid claiming to have a supernatural experience was especially taboo (or for anyone claiming to experience paranormal activity)."In one video clip of the upcoming series, Buell reveals the catalyst that prompted his career as a paranormal investigator. I asked him if perhaps it was possible his imagination in a semi REM sleep state conjured the demonic troll vision - commonly used in children's fairytale literature."It is absolutely possible that I was hallucinating, however, I had not yet fallen asleep when I had this experience so I think the 'waking dream' phenomenon might not apply here. I had just laid down to go to sleep and my mother slept across the hall. I kept screaming for her because of what I had seen, and she would come over to see what was the matter. Around the second or third time, she became frustrated and told me that if I screamed one more time I would be spanked. Unfortunately, I saw this apparition again and I couldn't help but start crying. Whatever I was seeing, it was terrifying enough to bring me to tears and cry out for my mother, whom I knew would be angry with me. I think this rules out me being in a sleep state because I had conscious interactions with my mother and I also recall being so stressed that I could not sleep. Is it possible that it was my imagination? Yes. It would be wrong for me to say it's not possible, but I firmly believe that whatever I was experiencing was not a hallucination nor a product of an interrupted sleep pattern."I asked Buell if his organization was legitimate on campus and within the nationwide academic community."In the eyes of academia, we do not have a reputation. We have conducted research, but not something that has been submitted for scrutiny or testing. I don't mean to suggest that PRS is an academic society, though we do have parts to us that are very academic. I think that we are eventually moving more towards scientific and academic research. You have to understand that I built this society from the ground up. In my mind, when I founded it back when I was 19, I envisioned PRS being an academic department within five years. I've learned patience. I think that we are doing something very unique, and by the time PRS has a full academic wing or department within itself, we will be doing some amazing research.On campus, for the most part I think we have respect. I've heard very little criticism, and most of that criticism is ignorant assumptions about us. We are a very critical society. One of our advisor's was a complete scientist and atheist. We take a more clinical approach in trying to help people understand what is happening to them, and we conduct some research and collect data on the side. But our primary goal is not to collect evidence or ghost voices. We're here to help people. Whenever people on campus find out I'm the Director of PRS, they think it's really cool and they want to tell me stories."I was curious to know how Buell and his group earned money, and if there were normal and customary charges his group billed the "haunted.""We do not charge clients a single penny. NOTHING! All the expenses are paid out of our own pocket. The clients never pay anything to us. I do not feel it is ethical. Even when we bring in psychologists, counselors or doctors, we get specialists who provide their services pro bono. Because we do not charge for our services, we earn our money in other ways. I speak at universities and charge a speaking fee. We have some apparel that we will sell to raise money for equipment and research." Given the subject matter, I wondered if Buell had to weed out a lot of morbid and psychologically unsound types from his organization on campus, and if any psychological tests were adminstered to assess potential members for the Paranormal Society."Oh geez, what a good question. We have definitely had certain individuals join our organization who were questionable to say the least. This is why, whenever anyone wants to become an investigator, we make them go through a series of trials and tests. One, they must undertake a semester of training. There are five exams, quizzes, vocabulary, independent research, a research paper and then they must take a psychological exam (MMPI-2) and then see a counselor for evaluation. They must also submit to a background check. This is because we are going in to people's homes and these people are trusting us. In the past, when PRS was just starting, we had some very shady people join PRS and it wasn't until some time passed that we realized there were some problems. Not all of these former members were mentally disturbed. Some were just bad people or not right for the society. One of the first quacks to join the society were three self-proclaimed witches. One of them claimed to be a psychic. She later had a nervous breakdown during an investigation and claimed that I was possessed by a spirit that wanted to murder her. I later found out that she thought she had spirit children hanging around her and that she was being punished because she was Hitler in a former life. It's a lot more difficult for these quacks to get in to the society. If they do somehow get through, they don't last long!"Make sure to catch Ryan and his team in action December 10 on A&E.

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RalphDec 11th, 2007 - 04:21:09

if they are having such great proof of paranormal activity, show some footage akin to Ghost Hunters. Also, why wouldn't they show the demonic name supposedly invoked. Gimme a break, who was it beezlebub, azazel, mehpistaphales, or the many others, c'mon, this is almost a religious shock therapy after school special. Show some actual footage if you even have any.

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A&E 'Paranormal State' real ghostbusters; an interview with Ryan Buell

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