MY FAVORITE EPISODES part five

Good evening, and welcome to a very special edition of MY FAVORITE EPISODES. Tonight we'll be going back to October 30, 1991 to revisit the 7th episode of the 4th season of Unsolved Mysteries - an intense hour of television, but notably one of the most pivotal moments of my entire life. Join me and perhaps you may be able to solve a mystery. Or perhaps you may encounter one that simply cannot be explained.

I hope the italics helped you to hear that in Robert Stack's voice.

It's fun to reminisce on old TV and bask in the enduring sentimentality of the program blocks that built my castle. But this is bigger and badder than some arbitrary Brady Bunch or Beakman's World, because this brought on a chain reaction following my first (and only) viewing that a more dramatic person could refer to as "past trauma." 

Around this time, both Unsolved Mysteries and Rescue 911 were huge -- in general popularity, but more specifically with me. They were pretty similar in tone and subject matter (and coincidentally hosted by Airplane! alumni) and I'd certainly not seen much like them before; I suppose they were kinda "Docuseries" or "Reality TV," but personally, the concept of "based on true events" always hit me in profound ways. Both series played out like mid-career Scorsese flicks, with voiceover testimony describing the onscreen action - and done with nearly the same amount of finesse. And while 911's standout achievement was its phenomenal stunt work (some of the best I've ever seen to this day actually) the reenactments on Unsolved Mysteries were largely focused on detail and mood (understandably). Both shows were terrifying in cautionary ways ("don't play with fire" vs. "don't talk to strangers") but the cerebral horror of UM is what kept me up nights. So for several years, I apprehensively allowed it to earn my trust, and the night before Halloween in 1991 when I was 8 years old, it took advantage of that trust.

Episode 7 of Season 4 told us of a missing person, a wanted thief, and some psychic phenomena (all par for the course). But I don't really remember any of those, because the episode kicks off with a segment called "St. James' Ghost," and nothing in my life after that felt interesting or relevant. I don't particularly recall any ghost-related "mysteries" up until this episode - and the thorough effect it had on me further confirms that. 

The St. James Hotel in Cimarron, New Mexico was built in 1880 and accumulated a history of a kinda Wild West violence involving gunslingers and gamblers and lawmen and loose women. It was bought again and refurbished in 1985, and the new owners and staff immediately and consistently began "having experiences" involving sounds, voices, moving objects, electrical curiosities, and actual apparitions. 

I'd never heard grownups confess with such conviction and legitimate fear that they'd believed in, interacted with, and were afraid of ghosts. This show had been about real people, real crimes and tragedies - and now it was telling me real ghosts; the thing from movies that I was assured was a product of fiction. There was always a chance that Freddy would suck me into the bed and turn me into a geyser of Ocean Spray, but intellectually I knew that wasn't possible. I had questions: what are ghosts? What do they do? How do I deal with this? And within a matter of minutes, this abstract psychological awakening brought on by this show presented a very explicit and vivid image that left a prominent scar. 

Although "scar" would indicate healing - really it's still an infected open wound. A janitor at the hotel testifies on camera to seeing a deformed child in the empty barroom early one morning. And the reveal in the reenactment became one of those things - a face on the Mount Rushmore of my own personal kindertrauma. And while it wasn't much more than a crude mixture of colored lights and stage makeup, the clout of the context crushed one of the remaining corners of my childhood innocence. The Boogeyman was real, and I'd found him. 

As I stated, the remaining segments in the episode aren't anywhere in my memory - not because the power of the St. James story was so distracting, but because the rest of the evening evolved into a family discussion immediately following the trauma that occurred. This is the part I've already told you about some time ago (which you can/need to read here), but it was during this, my most vulnerable existential crisis I'd yet to experience, that my closest loved ones chose that moment to assure me that Unsolved Mysteries was not lying; that there actually was such a thing as ghosts. They regaled me with amazing stories of their own experiences with the paranormal - all of which occurred in the apartment that we lived in until I was 3 years old. 

Naturally their vivid descriptions and the graphic images from the TV were inseparable in my mind, and I was shackled with an uneasiness that never entirely lifted over any course of time. I was led to believe that this is what ghosts looked like, and I'd apparently spent a portion of my life living in close proximity to these monsters - during my most defenseless years, no less. I couldn't help but wonder if my soul had been compromised at some point by these unseen forces that occupied my living space. My psyche may've been molested, or possessed, or replaced by the boy in the bar of the St. James Hotel in a splash of neon lights and ectoplasmic residue. How could I ever sleep again? 

The series is streaming just about everywhere right now, so if you or someone you know Wants To Believe (or at least get a visual sense of the most menacing campfire tale I've ever been told) then seek out my favorite episode... of Unsolved Mysteries. (cue music)

- Paul

WEIRD STUFF :: 408 Kimball Street

If they do it right, parents can create an impenetrable veneer of a safe, idealistic world for their children, where wishes came true, Santa Claus was real, and there were no monsters under the bed. This was the environment my parents presented to me; we were a family who lived within our means, but I was spoiled with love and a mutual trust.

On October 30th, 1991, the night before Halloween, my parents - and my sister - informed me with a blunt nonchalance that ghosts were, in fact, real. And after regaling me with stories of firsthand accounts built upon that established trust, I had no reason not to believe them.
I was in the third grade; my biggest concerns were stranger danger, Freddy Krueger, and long division - but those were all manageable. Now I had this to contend with.

The story - or stories - was that the apartment building they lived in from 1975 to 1986 (and that I actually lived in for the first three years of my life, which gave me discomfort) was haunted, and they each had their own unique, vivid, and admittedly cool experiences to share.
And share they did!

The next day at school I felt a heightened sense of reality, seeing through other dimensions. I felt entitled - I had a secret that I enjoyed keeping to myself. And I did! I kept the safety on that weapon most of my life, until every once in a while I'd find myself in a conversation about the afterlife or the existence of the paranormal, and those were the times when I'd lock 'n load.

About the Video

This movie was produced in the fall of 2002. The original intention was to find & shoot something interesting about the City of Fitchburg, Massachusetts - but the only interesting thing I knew about Fitchburg were the spooks of Kimball Street. So I pitched the stories I knew to our producer, who promptly sought out the current owner of the building and ultimately facilitated the entire production (like any strictly competent producer should do). Our editor/videographer went out capturing b-roll (including aerial footage from a plane!), and I assembled the cast of interviewees (which was easy 'cause I was living with some of them at the time).

The premise was to get all the previous tenants back into the haunted dwelling & tell their stories on camera. Following that, we were to research the history of the house in the hopes of finding some morbid or mystical explanation as to why it was the way it was.
This idea and setup was my contribution, which got me a Director credit. But in the end, the final cut has a different look and vibe than what you may be used to from Bennett Media (though I did choose the music). Also, note our original handle, "Blue Sky Productions," before Disney acquired it (as they do with everything).

At the very least, we're left with documented accounts of a few of those unbelievably believable stories to tell in the dark that had haunted me since I was 8.

- Paul

SEARSTOWN

In the spring of 2011, Eileen Janowicz, a PhD in Forensic Psychology and Industrial Organizational Psychology, and her colleague, Keith Richard (not Richards), a PhD in Parapsychology, concluded after an eleven year experiment that spanned four continents, that ghosts, are in fact, real. However, their findings and what they determine as the definition of "ghosts" is pretty loose. But if that weren't enough, what they did discover and prove beyond a reasonable doubt is far more fascinating and shocking. Of course, what's more shocking than scientific proof of life after death?
"Everything we think we've known about ghosts up till this point has come from films and literature," says Janowicz. "I think the biggest misconception - which I shared up until very recently - is that they're deceased."
And with that miraculous claim, Janowicz and Richard are in full agreement that some ghosts... are alive?!
"Once you accept that, you can begin to understand how the rest of it falls into place," Richard says coyly. So, what is 'the rest of it?'
"This isn't just about ghosts," says Richard. "This also covers telepathy, astral projection, time travel, past lives, telekinesis, and maybe even the existence of a higher power." He confesses this with such casual abandon, it could either hurt his credibility as someone who's not taking it seriously, or, he believes in it with such certainty that it must be true.
Janowicz is quite the opposite - at least in demeanor. Her timidness is due, somewhat, to the fact that this amazing discovery received almost no notice from the press or public. The reason for this is strangely coincidental. "When we began the process of testing and gathering data and gaining some credibility and momentum, the attack on the World Trade Center happened," she says. "When we finally reached a conclusion, and wanted to share it with the world, the very next day, Osama bin Laden was killed." Once again, Public Enemy #1 had overshadowed the possibility of the world's potential for galactic enlightenment. "Something like that," laugh Janowicz. "I've reached a point where I'm just happy being aware of it, and I'm less concerned with spreading the word, as it were."
Well, perhaps just this once, they'll make another attempt to spread the word - at least to us. At the very least, how about an explanation into what any of this is. What is this amazing discovery?
"The bigger picture is what's important here," says Janowicz. "What we've determined is that, basically, every square inch of this planet is haunted." While 'haunted' conjures up a lot of gothic imagery to you and I, it ended up being the key word amongst Janowicz, Richard, and their team of nearly two dozen researchers. "In every home, school, office, shopping mall, or wide open space, there is some level of paranormal activity. There are some people in the [parapsychology] field who will agree with that. What we've determined is that we - you and me, who are still alive - can add to or even create this activity with our presence, and that it will linger once we've left that space."
This is what this scientific team refers to as The Metaphysical Footprint.

"Try and think of a place - a physical space or dwelling - where you had an intense emotional experience. Or perhaps several experiences. Maybe your childhood home. What we're stating, very plainly, is that the house you grew up in is currently haunted. By you."
If this statement by Janowicz doesn't perfectly illustrate the discovery, Richard has a similar, broader take.
"It's like The Shining," he says. "Everything leaves a trace of itself behind - whether you've left the Earth or left the room. Simply put, if you're feeling something, having an emotion, and you're standing in this spot, you're leaving a bruise on the ground. And anybody who passes over that spot after you can feel it, like a bruise."
A theory such as this sounds like it's more suited to geological surveyors than psychologists.
"Oh, we've covered that," Janowicz says with an almost laugh. "We left nothing to chance. We've thought of everything."
So, what of the ghosts we always thought were there, but weren't sure? Do we 'haunt' after we die?
"Technically, yes," says Richard. "But, it's part of your living self that's doing the haunting. Speaking in physical terms, if you leave dirty dishes in the sink, and then you died, the dishes are still in that sink. You leave behind more than you take with you."
Does this provide an explanation for every and any ghost sighting claim in history?

"The legitimate ones, yeah!" says Richard. "Most claims have been seeing people - faded images that - that float or move in nonspecific ways. Additionally, and notably, they're always clothed. If these are 'souls' that have passed on, why are they dressed? Did their wardrobe die with them? When someone is fortunate or perceptive enough to see a ghost, what they are seeing is... it's like, a home movie of someone's memory. They may be dead, or still alive somewhere. It may be a conscious memory or subconscious, but they are witnessing the past."
There have been claims - many claims, in fact - of people communicating with the dead, even interacting. If these are not souls that have passed on, but just moving memories, how exactly is this possible? Are we manipulating the past by 'contacting spirits?' Is there such a thing as an intelligent haunting? What about mediums and those who claim to speak with the dead?
"We never set out to prove the validity of any of that stuff," says Janowicz. "Based on what we've found, all of that seems highly improbable. But, if it is true, then it must somehow exist alongside what we now know to be absolutely true."
They are very, very certain of their claims. But in this short interview format, what we've been told raises more questions than answers.
Apart from the apparent 9/11 curse, there must be some larger reason as to why this kind of find isn't on the news every single day.
"It clashes with most religious beliefs," says Richard. "Like a lot of science, that's always gonna be a tough sell."
That makes sense. Janowicz has an even more realistic, sobering explanation.
"It's like climate change. If it doesn't present an immediate, tangible obstacle in people's lives, they either don't believe it or they don't care."
Ironically, that is very true, except when it comes to religion. Dean Keith Simonton, Professor Emeritus of Psychology at UC Davis points out, "Most articles published in the sciences are never cited by anybody. Most compositions are not recorded. Most works of art aren't displayed."
Apart from maybe being too fantastic to believe, people may be disheartened to learn that, perhaps, the afterlife is just a recording for others to watch. "It's simply palpable nostalgia," says Richard. "People already dislike nostalgia - it stifles progress." Janowicz adds, "It illustrates the strength in the fabric of our existence - that we're all connected. We all want to be remembered after we're gone; to leave our mark. We're here to say that we all do!"
At the end of the day, after all of this, we're left with the two biggest questions: what were the methods used that led to this conclusion, and, what exactly is the proof?
Janowicz and Richard both remain vague on these two points specifically, for reasons that aren't entirely clear. It may perhaps be bitterness regarding the lack of attention their efforts have garnered. (Janowicz's book on the subject, Our Own Shadow, has yet to find a publisher). Of course, a more skeptical person could claim that there never were any answers. The latter seems unlikely, especially if one takes the time to do some digging.
In the timespan of the experiment (2000-2011) there are many recorded instances of experts and students alike in various scientific fields conducting seemingly bizarre or random tests all over the globe - all contributing a piece to The Metaphysical Footprint. Sandra Waters of Oxford University may or may not have been conducting experiments utilizing animal torture and the possibility of distress transference from subject to subject. Rex Jung, a neuroscientist from New Mexico, mapped our neural networks between previously unrelated parts of the brain. There was someone by the name of Shawn (could be first or last) who may or may not have been a geologist who visited Alcatraz, The Bermuda Triangle, Pompeii, Auschwitz, Buchenwald, and lastly, Disney World. The purpose of these visits or what kind of data was gathered from these locations is not entirely clear. Most of the reports of these instances are just as nonspecific, or even more so. The bulk of the details are in the yet-to-be-published book, which Janowicz is wisely guarding as unsolicited property.
As for proof? Richard says, "Go down to your local shopping mall. That's all the proof you'll ever need."