Our reviews of Television and Webcast shows are based on a number of factors:

• Believability - If it is a reality type show, is it believable?  If it is a show based on pure fiction, could it happen?
• Originality - Is this an original concept, or does it seem like I've seen it before?
• Entertainment - Was the show entertaining enough to keep my attention or did I lose interest before it was over?
• Content - Is the content of the show pertinent or do they just advertise it to be paranormal based to catch our attention?
• Production - Is the show produced in a way to allow the viewer to absorb all of the intended information?
• Follow up - Does the show have a web site or are their episodes available on tape in order to keep up or catch what we missed?
• Viewer opinion - Cast your votes, they do have an impact on our ratings.

1 BONE

  Okay folks, if you're looking for a good, professional ghost hunt to watch on TV, this show is not for you!  This is more like a game show.  Scariest Places brings in families to their chosen haunted locations and straps a camera to their chest, pointed directly at their faces, and sends them off alone to hunt for the ghosts.  They make every effort to scare the hell out of these people.  You almost feel sorry for the contestants until you remember that they asked to be there.  The families are given tasks to complete, many of which border on witchcraft, others are meant to provoke the spirits they are seeking, and if they are able to make it through the night and complete the tasks given, they win... something.  I was so disgusted by the end of the show(s) that I have no idea what the families won!

  The equipment the contestants are given include typical investigation equipment like walkie-talkies and EMF detectors.  They are also given very pricey equipment to use on occasion like thermal imaging cameras.  Then there are the things like the magnetometer (what the heck is a magnetometer?).  The problem with giving the contestants all of this equipment is that you cannot see what they are doing with it!  Remember the camera strapped to their chests pointing at their faces?  This is what you get to watch.  There is lots of screaming and squealing, so turn down the volume because if they hear a bump or a disembodied voice, you're not going to hear it because they are busy screaming in your ear.  If this was all there was to it, I would rate this show 1 Bone.

  However, every so often this show surprises us with a great episode.  Yes, you guessed it, there are no contestants!  They bring in actual paranormal investigators and visit some of the most famous haunted locations in the world.  One episode was about ghost towns, where the crew(s) visited haunts such as the Goldfield Hotel in Nevada.  Another featured the Mummy's Crypt in Guanajuato, Mexico and the Hellfire Club in Ireland (although that may have been the same show as the ghost towns, I can't remember).  They did send students into some of these locations but their only task was to go in and spend some time.  No cameras were strapped to them and you were actually able to experience what they were experiencing.  They also give an extensive history of the locations on these shows, which I very much enjoy.  I'm not sure how often they make the good shows, I've only seen one or two of them.  My guess is more often it's the game show, which I have suffered through too many of this type, so the best I can give Scariest Places on Earth is 2 Bones.

Airing on Saturday mornings on The History Channel is UFO Files.  This is a documentary type series covering different UFO stories, many of which are taken from government files in the United States and abroad.  Both sides of the stories are discussed, believers and skeptical, and it's obvious that the show is meant to appeal to the believers - or at the very least to those who are on the fence about UFOs and alien encounters who just need a little nudge to fall over to the believer's side. 

I love that the show gets into the government files and feel this is pretty compelling evidence in itself, but they don't stop there.  The show talks to many experts and credible, relevant witnesses as well.  The stories are good, thorough and keep my interest.  The reenactments are well played and sometimes a bit frightening, which I enjoy.  I especially like the historical photographs and footage that the show displays, as well as the fact that they more often than not will show several home movie clips that the regular Joe caught and give us background on them.

If you are a fan of UFO stories, these are some of the best and I would highly recommend taking the time to watch this show.  The only thing keeping me from giving UFO Files 5 bones is that I think it's a little one sided, meaning they don't really give us the skeptical point of view, or at most it's very brief.  Therefore I give the show 4 Bones.

  Each show centers around a new crime, usually a murder.  Allison (Patricia Arquette) helps to solve the crimes by talking with the deceased or dreaming about the victim and/or perpetrator.  But it's not just about crime and punishment, the show is about the struggles of raising a family while dealing with the gift that not only Allison has, but also her young children seem to have as well.  I especially enjoy watching her good humored husband, Joe (Jake Weber), try to sensitively deal with what must be very tough situations, not to mention many nights of broken sleep.

  If you haven't seen Medium yet, I strongly recommend you find time on Monday evening to catch it.  You don't have to buy the first three seasons on DVD to catch up because each show starts a new crime, although if you want to know what's going on with the family, how Joe was almost killed on the job, how Allison learned her daughter also sees dead people, etc. I would recommend it.  You'll also want to see the first episodes to see how Arquette earned a SAG Award nomination for the show!

(Episodes available at Amazon.com - click on the ad at the bottom of the page)

  This new Sci Fi Channel show is hosted by Josh Gates, an internation traveler (according to Sci Fi’s DT page) whom I first watched on a recent episode of Ghost Hunters International.  I really enjoyed him as a guest on GHI for his quirky sense of humor as well as his ability to admit he doesn’t know it all but is most certainly willing to give it a try.  I was ready for more of Josh, and more I got!  He is serious when he needs to be and just plain fun the rest of the time.  His personality jives with the rest of his crew and sometimes even with the locals he encounters on his travels – and sometimes not so much.  He is respectful of the lands he travels and local culture and traditions and gives the viewers first hand insight of people and places we may never otherwise see.

  The show is done much like Ghost Hunters in that they first introduce the mission and the crew, then travel to the location and set up equipment to try to capture hard evidence.  They describe personal experiences they have during their hunts.  They then review the evidence they have and make a logical determination if their subject may or may not exist, while making the audience aware that when dealing with paranormal subjects there is often not much definitive when it comes to evidence.  One thing they do that I’ve not seen done on Ghost Hunters, and I really appreciate, is take their findings to outside experts in related fields for further examination and explanation.

  I’ve been studying the paranormal for many, many years and am well aware that there is quite a lot out there that I hadn’t yet heard about.  It seems this show may just introduce me to some of it, like the Mongolian Death Worm.  Who knew?  Not me!  I look forward to seeing what they search for next week (Wild Man and Swamp Dinosaur).  I’ll be watching!  5 Bones!

Everyday at 2 and 3pm est. time you can see A Haunting on the Discovery Channel. This show tells the terrifying “true” stories of experiences with the paranormal through interviews and re-enactments.

Besides the bad actors, which, lets face it, who has actually seen a good re-enactment cast? The show is very interesting and has good thrilling stories that keep you watching till the end. I would recommend this show to anyone who has some free time during the day and wants a little spook!

(Episodes available at Amazon.com - click on the ad at the bottom of the page)

  The History Channel signed for the name first but the creators of “Ghost Hunters” on the Sci-Fi Channel believe it should belong to them since they “came up with it first”. Which do you think? I however, believe that it should go to Sci-Fi because they already have the whole “hunters” theme going and have for a long time now. You can catch UFO Hunters on the History Channel every Wednesday’s at 10pm/ 9c and UFO Hunters on the Sci-Fi Channel ….well their next episode is still to be announced! I believe we might have a winner on our hands…um, congrats History Channel! Both of the series did pretty much the same things, they looked for and located old UFO spotting and crash sites to search for evidence and back up their theories. Although I watched both of them, I was more interested in the History Channels first airing mainly because it took place only minutes from where I live! Then again, the Sci-Fi Channel’s episode intrigued me when they put the supposed “alien abducted man” through hypnotherapy! All in all, I rather enjoyed watching both shows and since they were pretty much the same in the way they research, I have to give them both 3 bones. Maybe with time they will find more definite proof of our extraterrestrial neighbors!

  I really enjoy watching this show on the SciFi channel every Wednesday evening because the crew investigates with all the latest equipment and explains throughout each show what they are doing and what they are looking for, which they sometimes actually find!  Their main objective is to debunk the paranormal happenings at each location, and when they cannot debunk it then they will call it possibly paranormal (but not haunted).  I'm not sure what the difference is between a haunting and ghostly paranormal happenings, but apparently there is because it takes lots of evidence captured on tape in order for this crew to say that "maybe" it's haunted.  That's one of the few issues I take with this show, almost every location has paranormal activity yet almost none are "haunted".  hmmm. 

  I also wonder why the producers of this show think it's necessary to play the haunting music throughout the investigation.  How are we supposed to hear what they hear, or maybe hear something they've missed, with all that background noise?  That bugs me!  I've also read around the internet that people are getting a little tired of all the personal drama played out on the show.  I personally enjoy it but I agree that it does tend to cut into the time that could be used to show us more of the investigations.

  I enjoy this show quite a bit, and thoroughly agree with the T.A.P.S. crew's mindset when it comes to an investigation (i.e. debunk first then move on to the paranormal), this is how every investigation should be carried out by each and every paranormal investigator.  In my opinion we could all take some notes and learn a thing or two from watching this show.  I give it 4 BONES!  Congratulations Ghost Hunters!

(Episodes available at Amazon.com - click on the ad at the bottom of the page)

  From the creators of Ghost Hunter’s comes Ghost Hunter’s International or GHI. Some of the original T.A.P.S. (The Atlantic Paranormal Society) family members took on the mission of investigating the famous hauntings of Europe. They include Andy Andrews who has good debunking skills but can at times get under your skin and on your nerves. Donna LaCroix who was T.A.P.S. researcher and knows a lot about getting the history of the places they visit. Then of course there is Brian Harnois who was at one time the Tech Manager for T.A.P.S. until he decided to leave the team. Although he came back he was demoted to just a Specialist. Now as GHI’s Tech Manager we will have to see how long it takes for him to quit this team, since he seems to leave about once every season! Robb Demarest is the leader of GHI bringing 3 years experience with Florida Ghost Team, an affiliate of T.A.P.S. You might remember Barry Fitzgerald from the 3^rd season of Ghost Hunters and is back as an investigator for GHI. With 17 years of experience under his belt he brings a lot of knowledge to the group but tends to think that everything is evil or demonic! Newest member is Shannon Sylvia who is usually working alongside Donna and gets very impatient at times. Shannon, ghosts don’t work on cue, have patience!

  As for the quality of this show, it is very interesting to see someone investigating the haunted Europe that we all know and love but might not be able to see for ourselves. Although they are very interesting places with a lot of haunted history, we haven’t seen much from this show. Aside from a few good EVP’s, they have yet to capture something that made me go “WOW!” As for the EVP’s, I wish you would stop putting the words into our head! They need to give us some time to listen and come up with what we think it is. There have been many times when they play an EVP and I will think it said “HELP” but then they tell me that the EVP actually said for example “GET OUT!” I understand that they are doing what we the viewers are doing at home but at least give us some time to listen before you automatically put the words into our minds. All in all this show still captivates me and I haven’t missed an episode yet but we will have to see if it gets better with age! That being said, I give this show 3 bones…don’t get discouraged guys you’re still babies and your rank can (and likely will) change!

  Airing Saturday mornings on the Biography channel, this reality based ghost hunting show gets specific!  Gail Porter, the skeptic, and Chris Fleming, the psychic, venture off to find the ghosts of famous people by talking to those who knew the departed and learning about their favorite haunts (pardon the pun) when they were alive.  Gail and Chris then visit these places and conduct everything from a traditional ghost hunt to seances with Ouija boards.  While they often find something paranormal in their quest, they rarely will say that maybe they found who they were looking for. 

  I like this show for the entertainment value.  They go hunting for the ghosts of celebrities that we all have known and loved, like James Dean or Elvis, even the great debunker himself, Harry Houdini.  Just hearing what their living friends and families have to say about the celebs is entertaining enough to keep my attention, but throw in a ghost hunt and I'm hooked!  Now this show isn't as scientific as the others, and I tend to have some doubts to whether the occasional possessions of the cast members by ghosts are legit, but overall I do enjoy this show quite a bit and catch it as often as I can.

  Friday nights at 10pm on the Travel Channel you will find Most Haunted which follows a team of investigators, psychics, and parapsychologists. Of these you will find host and lead investigator Yvette Fielding who started Antix Productions, the company behind 'Most Haunted.' Other than a list of BBC shows that she has starred in, the only experience she has as a “ghost hunter” is on this show. Karl Beattie, Yvette’s husband, is the lead investigator for the show and helped to start Antix Productions. Psychic David Wells found his abilities when he was ill with severe pneumonia and is often “possessed”. Dr. Ciarán O'Keeffe, the teams’ parapsychologist and investigator, whose role in Most Hunted is using a wide range of paranormal equipment and experiments which helps to determine whether the team's experiences could are paranormal or just normal.

  First off I would like to say that I see this show as being nothing more than for entertainment value only! This team tends to do a lot of séances to try and “reach out” to the paranormal, as they do catch some unexplainable things, I’m not a big sucker for possessions. Especially when the one being possessed looks like a really bad actor, I can’t help but to laugh! I do like how they don’t block our senses by playing background music like other popular shows. They also visit very interesting places and it is fun to sit and see how many times Yvette can scream in one show. I will say, though, that I have caught myself staying up all hours of the night when they air their live shows and integrate them with the live web cams, that’s just too much fun to pass up! All in all this show is still pretty good, I give it 3 bones, mostly based on the entertainment value!

(Episodes available at Amazon.com - click on the ad at the bottom of the page)

  Possibly the most famous haunted house in the world is the Amityville Horror home. Some say it’s a hoax and others swear that it’s the real thing. The truth we may never know but the history of the house is as fascinating as the Lutz story. This documentary from hauntedbritian.net dips into the history of what might have happened to the DeFeo family which could help explain what supposedly happened to the Lutz family. There are interviews with Ronnie DeFeo the supposed killer of his own family to George Lutz himself. Also interviewed were DeFeo’s lawyer, a number of psychics and parapsychologist’s that investigated the house after the Lutz got “ran out”. The evidence provided in both cases is incredible and captivating!  I believe that there could be something in the house from the brutal murders that took place there but the evidence makes me wonder if it all was a hoax. You will not want to miss out on this webcast, a MUST SEE! I give you 5 bones, awesome!