'Ghost Hunters,' 'Ghost Lab' investigate haunted Chicago

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Maybe it's the Halloween season. Maybe pop culture is getting tired of vampires.

But ghosts--and paranormal activities of all sorts--are having a moment.

Moviegoers are flocking to theaters to see the creepy "Paranormal Activity," an amateurishly shot, surprise hit film about a demonic force plaguing a couple in their San Diego home. At least seven TV shows on different cable channels are devoted to paranormal research, including Bio channel's "Celebrity Ghost Stories," which was the most-watched premiere in the network's history and the subject of an "SNL" spoof. A&E, Bio's sister network, premieres two specials this month--"Extreme Paranormal: New Mexico State Penitentiary," which kicked off Monday, and "Extreme Paranormal: Pennhurst Insane Asylum & Manchac Swamp," which begins next Monday.

TV's most popular ghost hunting franchise, which already includes Syfy's popular "Ghost Hunters" and "Ghost Hunters International," is about to get bigger. Syfy will debut a spinoff, "Ghost Hunters Academy," on Nov. 11. The new show will focus on aspiring ghost hunters who investigate "some of the most haunted locations in the country and around the world," according to Syfy.

With all that paranormal activity hitting the little screen, the Windy City's haunts were bound to get attention. "Ghost Hunters" and Discovery Channel's "Ghost Lab" are back in Chicago this week to investigate two potential hauntings.(FInd more scary Chicago spots at the Haunted Chicago blog.)

GHOST LAB
9 p.m. Tuesday, Discovery

Brad and Barry Klinge, the founders of Texas-based Everyday Paranormal, bring their team to the Liar's Club, 1655 W. Fullerton Ave. According to legend, three murders--two done with an ax--have occurred in this Bucktown club.

Local paranormal investigator Ken Melvoin-Berg explains to the Klinge brothers that in 1958, a woman hacked up her abusive hubby with an ax in one second-floor corner. In 1968, Melvoin-Berg says, the place was a homeless shelter where two residents fought, with one bludgeoning the other to death. Then, in 1986, a man hacked his abusive wife to death in the same corner, the Chicago investigator claims.

With that info, and reports that people have seen and/or felt the presence of spirits in different parts of the building, the Klinge brothers and their team decide to investigate whether energy from violent activity can "imprint" itself on a building, thus causing more violent behavior.

The Bio-Cam readings offer up some creepy, compelling evidence.

GHOST HUNTERS
8 p.m. Wednesday, Syfy

Jason Hawes, Grant Wilson and their team from The Atlantic Paranormal Society set up camp at the Congress Theater, 2135 N. Milwaukee Ave., where workers and visitors claim to have seen apparitions, shadowy figures and balls of lights, heard footsteps and felt strange presences.

"A lot of weird stuff happens all the time throughout the building," building manager Dylan Castle tells the investigators. "Everywhere you go, there are just little things that creep you out. It's a pretty scary place."

After a tour of the theater, the TAPS team sets up for a long night of paranormal activity. I always assume this stuff is bunk, but after watching this episode, I wasn't ready to shut off the lights and go to bed.

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1 Comment

steve said:

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It is good to move as chance bring new things in life, paves the way for advancement, etc. But it is well known to everyone that moving to new location with bulk of goods is not an easy task to move or shift from one place to other place because I have experienced about that because I face the problem of vacation There I go to village near to my city faced that problem there

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