Ghost Whisperer Attracting Paranormal Phenomena

[Slade]

Jennifer Love Hewitt, producer and star of the Ghost Whisperer on CBS, appeared on the Ellen DeGeneres Show Friday morning to share video footage of paranormal activity caught during taping of the show.

This wasn't plot- or story-related material - she shared a photograph and a clip of raw, un-edited footage from the "dailies" - for an episode that hasn't even aired yet.

The soundstage on the Universal lot where GW is filmed was already said to be haunted. Hewitt showed a photograph of a staircase set taken by an ordinary still camera when no one was on the set - later prints of the photo clearly revealed a female entity standing at the foot of the stairs.

But it was the exceptional video footage that truly surprised me. I'm a sucker for any paranormal investigation documentary, TAPS episode, Most Haunted, etc - and statistically disappointed with 99.9% of what those shows manage to capture and "gussy" up for dramatic effect.

With a few notable exceptions, it's all a post-production thang - smoke and mirrors editing - not to mention the unearthly infrared camera effects - which can make an ordinary bleach-blonde host walking through a dark corridor seem other-worldly - retinas a-glow like a cat, etc.

But Hewitt's footage was a simple, interior, color headshot with normal lighting and a dead straight-forward, fixed camera angle. Ellen played the 5 seconds or so for her audience a couple of times - where one can clearly see a human form over Hewitt's shoulder shift position within the frame.

No cuts, or pans. The apparition makes a very noticeable lunge toward the outside of the frame - as if taking a huge step to a mark a couple of feet away, and then disappears.

An editor discovered the frames a day after it was shot and brought it to everyone's attention.

What impressed me was that they managed to capture shots of entities so clear and so convincing and so - commonplace - considering all the bells and whistles and efforts of shows like Most Haunted and Ghost Hunters, which rarely nail anything even close...

At first, it seems a fitting irony that the Ghost Whisperer soundstage would have a haunted past, and while it may be sheer luck that the footage was captured at all, according to Hewitt, the phenomena is escalating in frequency.

When Ellen asked her if she thought the show's subject matter was actively attracting spirit activity, Hewitt said that according to the psychic mediums the show uses as content advisors, ghosts are being drawn to the production crew and the cast because of the subject matter.

Mediums on the set claim that real ghosts are "watching" the show, and feel personally connected to the stories - even going so far as to interfere with aspects they disapprove of. Hewitt cited a scene where an actor portraying a skeptic delivers lines effectively calling belief in ghosts a bunch of hooey - the camera equipment kept breaking down whenever they tried to record that part of the dialogue - it seemed they absolutely could not get it down - the actor finally remarked that he didn't think "someone" wanted him saying "I don't believe in ghosts."

Hewitt has also started to have recurring personal experiences that mirror those of the character she portrays. She reports that she has had to have her own home "ghost-busted" after a spirit entity who doesn't like dogs was causing one of her pets to become repeatedly ill. The vets were mystified, but when she invited a medium to come to her house, the psychic was able to communicate readily with a spirit who had attached himself to Hewitt.

The ghost was said to be a soldier from the 1940s who had been wandering, lost and earthbound, before finally ending up haunting the Universal lot.

The Ghost Whisperer show attracted the ghost's attention, and he began following Hewitt. She had unknowingly taken the ghost home with her.

In a plot that echoes the formula used by writers of the show, this entity told the medium that he had been in such a state of distress for so long, looking for someone to assist him in finding the Light, that he knew if he hung around Hewitt long enough, he had a good chance of drawing the attention of someone who could communicate with him and help him.

While it may seem a likely and obvious media tactic to generate interest in the show - I was struck by how genuinely low key Hewitt was about the whole thing.

She was both excited to share the story, yet claimed very non-chalantly that she had not had experiences like this before. I've often personally wondered if her professional investment in the show was motivated by a personal interest in the subject matter.

But she showed none of the outward signs you might associate with a paranormal enthusiast.

On a totally personal note -
I'm truly not a huge fan of this show - I don't even think it's particularly high quality tv - it's very formulaic and predictable - recalling every other Highway to Heaven- or Touched by An Angel-like show that's ever been on the airwaves. It's hardly like I have to record the show if I think I'm going to miss an episode - but there was a period last winter when I was stuck house-sitting at my mother's on Friday evenings (nursing a sick kitty) and I watched it several weeks in a row...

As I mentioned earlier, this subject matter is a guilty pleasure - partly motivated just to keep tabs on how realistically mainstream Hollywood is portraying the adventures of a psychic - but even the best of this kind of fare rarely delivers...

Still, I have continued to watch the show whenever I happen to catch it on for one main reason - it seems to attract spirits like proverbial moths to flame. I am an intuitive, I have been approached by strange dead people on rare occasions - I'd say, maybe 1 or 2 a year in the last three or four years.

I haven't had cable tv for seven years. I did not watch television from 2002 - 2005.

When I started watching Ghost Whisperer, Most Haunted, and Ghost Hunters - all packed into Friday evenings last winter - uninvited spirit entities started coming out of the woodwork!

It was like everytime I went over to my mom's house, I was throwing a party for restless spirits. Granted, I have logged two decades of spiritualist history in that house... Many of my most notable encounters took place there...

My mother - a very psychic individual who nevertheless does not speak about it - started remarking on the activity she sensed when she walked in the door. I felt like I was a teenager being busted for having a party while the parents are away.

I remember the night she came through the door and, without even seeing the tv, asked me "What have you been watching?"

It felt like an accusation. When I told her the truth, and that the house was crawling with spooks, she winced and said "I don't even want to know."

(Another weird coincidence - this is exactly how the Melinda Gordon character's own mother might respond...)

I assumed there might be a certain degree of conditioning going on in my perspective - that I was sensitizing myself, priming the pump so to speak - putting myself in the mood and calling them...

But this phenomenon does NOT resemble in any way my normal process of conducting a Reading.

Has anyone else noted a connection in the timing of spirit sightings with what's on the tube?

I, for one, plan to watch tonight... my antenna fully extended this time...

Thanks for listening, y'all : ) I was going to email a few friends about this, then I thought I might blog about it on my own site, but this felt like a better place to discuss.

[Erin Pavlina]

Very interesting. I wish I had seen the Ellen show.

[Slade]

Well, Erin, you were one of the first people I thought of wanting to call up and say "Hey, turn on the TV!"

But, of course, the segment was so brief, and went by in a flash.

I thought of your Criss Angel appearance and immediately: "Hmmm, wonder who these Content Advisors/Mediums are, working on the Universal lot, and going home with Jennifer Love for coffee, girl talk, and a little medium action?"

Sounds like somebody has a pretty cool gig in tv land that I hadn't thought about...

I could SO see you, Erin Pavlina, moonlighting in that capacity...


PS - I'm manifesting some industrious Tivo-enhanced Youtuber who will either upload or at least find the segment floating on the web and link to it for us all here.

Anyone? Anyone?

[Erin Pavlina]

Actually I will be turning some of my attention towards writing and possibly developing a tv series, movie, or something similar. I've been feeling pushed and nudged in that direction and I have a lot of great contacts in hollywood. So it could happen one day.

I would love to be hanging on the ghost whisperer set (or Medium's for that matter) and chattin with fellow mediums.

[Slade]

Awesome!

I guess that validates my immediately thinking of you and my impulse to write to you about it - specifically.

Consider it another nudge of encouragement!