Founders of Everyday Paranormal and stars of the show “Ghost Lab” release new book “Chasing Ghosts: Texas Style – On The Road With Everyday Paranormal” and shows fans how the group and the show came about.
Article by Suzanne Philips
Book photo copyright St. Martin’s Press. Other photos copyright the Discovery Channel
If you are a fan of paranormal tv shows, chances are you have seen episodes of “Ghost Lab”. One of the major players in the paranormal scene, the show followed brothers Barry and Brad Klinge whose Everyday Paranormal group have a very scientific approach to ghost hunting. The Klinge brothers have just released a new book, “Chasing Ghosts: Texas Style – On The Road With Everyday Paranormal”, that gives fans a look at some of the groups early cases and how they developed their very unique investigation style.
The book is narrated by both Brad and Barry, who switch off telling portions of their story. Readers will get a sense of sitting down with the brothers one on one and having them share the re-telling of their lives and how their paranormal careers have evolved along the way. The book is a very easy and interesting read with a healthy amount of tips for people interested in doing their own paranormal investigations peppered in the pages. The authors seem approachable and their senses of humor really come across on the page.
CFM recently had the chance to catch up with the Klinge brothers to talk about their new book.
The first question we had for the brothers was, why did you decide to write a book? “When we went on TV and did the whole “Ghost Lab thing”, people didn’t know us where we were before the TV show. They only know us from “Ghost Lab”. There is a lot more to us than what you saw on the tv show so we wanted to do something to tell everybody how it all started” says Barry Klinge. “It was our opportunity to allow people to really get to know us and where we came from before we had the show.” Brad Klinge echoes that sentiment “We wanted them to know that what you saw on the Discovery Channel wasn’t a manufactured group and TV show. What people saw on TV was truly us, and the theories and processes we kick around now were developed back when we were starting out in investigation. Plus, it is sort of a diary that we wanted to put together for personal reasons.”
The Klinge brothers have a very scientific approach to their investigations. They have a lot of theories that are based in science to explain the paranormal phenomenon that they investigate. What do they consider to be the best piece of evidence that they have discovered that backs up and validates one of their theories? “By far, our Era Ques Theory” says Brad. “This is a word we coined although not a new concept. Alot of people call it the Singapore Theory, but what we did with it was attempted to fully define the reasoning behind it and what the appropriate times to use it are. In a nutshell, if you provide era specific stimuli, you can tap into that era and either communicate with it or record pieces of it. The most important thing that we found is that you only use it in moments of extreme high emotion and turmoil existed. In Deadwood, we recreated the scene of Wild Bill’s murder. We stopped the actors at key moments during the scene and asked questions and made comments. We asked the question if Bill had any last words, and a distinct voice came across saying “tell my wife I love her”. We came to find out after that Bill was indeed a newlywed at the time of his murder, and he left her to go to Deadwood. The perfect theory, the perfect experiment, and a mind blowing result.”
Barry adds “One of my favorites is when we were at an old library in Boerne, Texas and we were in a stairwell- at the very top of the stairwell- and we caught a voice that sounded like 2 little boys having a conversation. One of the boys says “See? See them at the top?” Like they are commenting on us. It goes into our parallel universe theory. They are looking at us like we are the ghosts. Somehow these times have come close enough together that we are getting glimpses of them and they are getting glimpses of us. So that kinda showed that whatever was there in the building was commenting on us. Like to them, we were the ghosts. So that kind of supports some of our theories on parallel universe/quantum physics, that sort of thing.”
Even though the Everyday Paranormal team is very much based in science and data, they don’t discount their own bodies as a paranormal tool. “I always tell people that your eyes and your ears are your best tool. We’ve been nauseous, we have gotten headaches, we have been pushed. There are a lot of physical things that we have experienced. Our thing is, if we can back that up with evidence so that if something physically happens to me, what were the readings like? What was the temperature? If we could find some data to go along with that, that is what we are really after. Brad is a little more sensitive to those things that I am. I am a little more skeptical. I really have to see all the data, before I draw a conclusion. Brad seems to have more personal experiences than I do. I don’t know why. But we do use our physical senses as well as our gadgets.”
And Brad concurs “Your senses are very important. Scientifically speaking, our bodies are some of the most sensitive pieces of equipment. Shifts in environmental conditions can be sensed and this can key you to take tangible measurements. We have found that paranormal activity will cause these environmental shifts, so if your body can sense them, you know your chances are good for capturing data.”
In the book, the brothers detail some of the investigations that they have been on where they have brought in outside investigators and those curious about the paranormal to investigate with them. Does this change the energy in the space or does it make it harder to investigate?
“Most non team members we bring along are actually the people reporting the experiences” says Brad. “We feel that they may be the catalysts for the activity, so we want them there almost as bait. In addition, we like people to experience data being captured real time–especially skeptics. There is nothing like seeing someone become a believer based on hard evidence presented to them that they witnessed being gathered.” Barry feels “90% of our investigations are me and Brad and a couple of our team members. We do events all over the country where people get to investigate with us. It makes it a little harder because it’s not as sterile as you thought it was, you’ve got people walking around and it makes it very difficult. We like doing it with small groups to show people what ghost hunting is really what it’s all about. A lot of people see it on movies or television and they have a kind of one track mind that this is how it’s done. I’m a school teacher and it brings out the educator in me to educate people on how we do things and how things really are. We do a lot of teaching in the moment. It’s almost like a giant classroom where we show people how its done. It seems like we are pretty successful at it and people come away with a different perspective on what ghost hunting is all about. ”
We had to ask, what would be your dream location to investigate? Both Barry and Brad agreed on a location “Ironically, the Alamo which is practically in our own back yard” says Brad. “Nearly impossible to get in there because it is a Texas shrine. Also, the White House. So much history there, so much turmoil, AND ghost sighting being reported by reputable people in history.”
So what does the future hold for the Klinge brothers and Everyday Paranormal? Brad says “We have alot going on. We are doing events all across the country, and Barry and I are starting our own film projects. Who knows, you may even see us on the tube again.”
“We have a lot of stuff coming along” says Barry. “We are going to make our own tv show. Discovery channel is a very big channel and it’s a great channel but we kind of got lost in the masses a little bit. We want to do things the way that we want to do them. We are going to form our own internet network to show not just our own shows but other shows as well. We are going to kind of give the public what they want. A lot of the shows right now is not what they really want. We are not going to be driven by ratings, we are going to be driven by what does the consumer want. They want to see a lot of ghost hunting, they want to see a lot of action. We are going to put humor in it. We are really personable and approachable and we want people to see that. You are going to see that probably within the next eight months”.
“Chasing Ghosts: Texas Style – On The Road With Everyday Paranormal” is now available in your local bookstores or at www.amazon.com. It’s an approachable read and very entertaining for anyone interested in the paranormal.
Keep checking back with CFM News for any new developments with the Klinge Brothers.
I started reading Chasing ghosts and found that it’s hard to put down. I think it’s a really good book love the encounters