Paranormal State & Psychic Kids: Children of the Paranormal on A & E

Paranormal State is an American paranormal reality television series that premiered on the A&E Network on December 10, 2007. The program follows and stars the Pennsylvania State University Paranormal Research Society, a student-led college club. The show features the group's investigations of alleged paranormal phenomena at reportedly haunted locations. It is in a group of paranormal television programs that have come under huge scrutiny about the staging and faking of the evidence it gathers much of which has been proven by private sources. The show is produced by Four Seasons Productions International and Go Go Luckey Productions (which produced MTV's Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County and Newport Harbor: The Real Orange County, and A&E's now-cancelled Rollergirls). Gary Auerbach and Julie Auerbach (who head Go Go Luckey Productions) and Betsy Schechter (Four Seasons) are the executive producers. The show was tentatively titled "Out There", "Dead Time" and "Paranormal U" before being called "Paranormal State." Every episode of the show is outlined by the production team first, co-executive producer Tina Gazzerro has stated, to ensure that a producible episode will result. "We try to identify where we get our discovery moments, our 'Ah-ha!' moments", Gazzerro told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Information about the event under investigation may also be held back from the students in order to create dramatic tension, and only situations which will have a conclusive outcome are investigated. "We may have information we don't give to [the PRS team]", Gazzerro said, "but we need to make sure [the episode is produceable." Story arcs are also outlined for each "character" on the show, and the production team has publicly expressed its hope that a romantic relationship will develop between the research team leader Ryan Buell and one of the women on the series. The production team and the show's researchers say that no pressure is put on the research team to act in certain ways or make paranormal discoveries. A&E had high hopes for the new series. Cable television reality shows about the paranormal require only about a quarter of the budget of a scripted show of the same length. They also draw much-coveted younger viewers, and lean slightly more female than male
As of January 3, 2008, Ryan Buell claims the demonic entity is no longer following him. In a Q&A section of the Penn State Paranormal Research Society's forums, he responded to a question on the topic by stating, "I haven't been troubled by any bunnies (the PRS calls demons "bunnies") as of late. There came a point in my life where I let go of some of that baggage. When it comes to that whole side, there's a back story that involves my group dealing with a case three years ago. I kind of reached a resolution with that. Coincidentally, the bunny tried to make another cameo appearance when we were filming the final investigation of the season, but we just told it to go to you-know-where. I hope it makes the cut!". On May 4, 2010, A&E confirmed that Paranormal State was renewed for a fifth season for a total of 20 episodes. On July 27, 2010, A&E Home Video released a 2-DVD set featuring 12 episodes from season two entitled Paranormal State: The Complete Season Two. On January 6, 2011, Ryan revealed on his personal blog that Paranormal State will, in fact, be ending for the members to pursue other things. As of recent, Paranormal State is airing new episodes.

School House Haunting Case In the episode entitled "School House Haunting", which first aired on January 28, 2008, the "client" whose home the team investigated was Shannon Sylvia, a cast member of another paranormal show, Ghost Hunters International. On January 29, 2008, Ryan Buell posted an entry to his blog on the Official Penn State Paranormal Research Society website concerning his view of psychics and, in particular, the inclusion of psychic Chip Coffey on the show.[19] In the comment section of the blog, several people questioned Sylvia's inclusion in the series, asking why a high-profile paranormal investigator would hire the Penn State Paranormal Research Society to investigate her property when she essentially has a team of her own. Later on she declared members of TAPS as well as other high profile investigators have indeed investigated her home and were pleased with the EVP results. Though, in his blog, Buell mentions that it was his visit which brought her into the study of the supernatural as an investigator herself. Kelli Ryan and the "Messenger" Case There has also been some speculation as to the fabrication of entire episodes. A self-proclaimed exorcist, demonologist, and spirit liberator, Kirby Robinson, has accused those involved with the show of fraud on his blog, going so far as to request that the staff of the show take lie detector tests on the Fox Network's show, "The Moment of Truth", to prove the credibility of both themselves and the show. In the eighth issue of his blog, Robinson was contacted by two former guests and clients of the show, Kelli and Riley Ryan (from the episode, "The Messenger"). In the written account, Kelli, a self-proclaimed medium, claimed that they had contacted the PRS after Bill, their ghost, had asked for help. She alleges that, besides Bill statements and accusations with comments or rebuttals" but would say that the "blog that is posted on the Internet, with supposed comments from this woman, is FILLED with inaccurate accounts of the events that occurred during the case and is FRAUGHT with total, outright lies." Coffey went on to suggest that Kelli Ryan and her husband were attempting to launch a "smear campaign against Paranormal State and everyone involved in its production" and that, if they attempted such a thing, "they may very well get much more than they bargained for. On November 16 2008, Chip Coffey, Ryan Buell, and Michelle Belanger appeared on "Darkness Radio", a taped paranormal "talk show" where interaction between the guests and the public is limited. During this show, the cast of Paranormal State attempted a sort of "rumor control". Buell claimed that Kelli Ryan's statements against the show were "exaggerations" but did not make clear which statements were exaggerated. He claims that Kelli made no attempt to contact the PRS after the show despite A&E's callback after she had, in fact, made the attempt. Buell claimed that he was a "professional" and, as such, had been "called in on a regular basis" to "perform exorcisms" for the Catholic Church, despite never being trained in demonlogy or witnessing a live exorcism. Buell clarified that he respected the church, despite seemingly violating their rules in the infamous "I Am Six" episode. He also claimed not to read any of the blogs that were against the show, despite the fact that he responded directly to accusations from those blogs and websites and also that he "had not viewed the episode" after it was finished and would not admit that the "cold spot" had been faked, though he did say it was "a refrigerated item". The host of the show, Dave Schrader, claimed that all the "dissenters" and people who did not believe the show or the activity portrayed were "jealous" and that the show "Starsky & Hutch" is not a bad show just because they did not show the life of a cop as it truly was. In response to this, Kirby Robinson stated that "Starsky and Hutch is fictional" while "Paranormal State portrays itself as a documentary". During the interview, Chip Coffey maintained that the case was never about the ghost of Bill as "he was not causing the family any trouble" and then claimed that Kelli's "spirit guide told her never to take it on". Coffey also stuck with his "reading" that the "darker" spirit was Kelli's grandfather and that Kelli, had in fact, cried when he brought that up and insinuated that Kelli was attracted to the public spotlight. Michelle Belanger stayed largely mute on the alleged "outburst" between Kelli Ryan and Chip Coffey and claimed that the "long journey through the mountains that barely got us there in time for the second 'Dead Time'" was what pushed Michelle to walk out on the show. Coffey also dismissed the notion that he ever received information about Kelli Ryan or her case in advance or that he ever met with A&E's Eric Leven. This runs contrary to Leven working alongside Coffey in several episodes and also is contrary to interviews given by Coffey where he clearly states that he meets with producers to learn and strategize about how to proceed with walkthroughs. In response to the interview, Kirby Robinson attempted to contact host Dave Schrader and was told that Michelle and Chip effectively denied that a "feud" ever took place between anybody that day and said that Kelli "would have her day in court" if she had "a legal leg to stand on". According to Kirby, Kelli Ryan attempted to pursue legal action against the show.



Psychic Kids: Children of the Paranormal is a paranormal television series broadcast on the A&E television network. Hosted by Chip Coffey, an American psychic investigator, with Edy Nathan, Chris Fleming, and Kim Russo, the show brings together children who report having psychic abilities with adult psychic/mediums, with the stated purpose of "show[ing] them how to harness their abilities and, ultimately, [showing] them that they're not alone in this world"[1]. The series debuted in summer 2008 with a premiere episode entitled "Fear Management." Later episodes feature content in correlation with another A&E paranormal series Coffey has appeared on, Paranormal State, with Ryan Buell. The show has been renewed twice, with its second season premiering on December 15, 2009, and the third season premiering on October 17, 2010, both on A&E. Some years before the series' development, A&E aired an episode of Biographies called "Psychic Kids" about children and young people with the same alleged abilities described in the show (e.g. crystal children).