Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Paranormal State / Chip Coffey

Again, it has been entirely too long since I posted in this blog. I wanted to make sure that I had reviewed Paranormal State and gave it chance, since Chip Coffey was so thoughtful in his responses to my comments. So, I set my DVR, and I caught five episodes.

"Devil in Syracuse"
This is the episode that started the conversation below. The first time, I watched only part of it and was turned off by the use of the demonic as paranormal and the exorcism. So, I rewatched it, keeping in mind Mr. Coffey's comments.

Ryan begins the show with a description of why he does what he does, and he describes himself as "haunted" by things / the paranormal. So, he sets the stage at the beginning that his ability to detect paranormal events is a bad thing ("haunted" doesn't sound like fun). You can read more about why he is interested in the paranormal at Bustedhalo.com; the direct link is http://www.bustedhalo.com/features/busted-ryan-buell/.

This episode then is described as a continuation of a previous one in that he senses the demonic force he has recently encountered is involved in the newest case. Ryan and his team make a site visit, and there they find confusion from the "clutter and disarray" in the house to the friend who seems to egg on a sense of fear and danger.

Ryan consults with a team: a counselor who evaluates the children, an Episcopalian priest who has experience with demonic forces, and Chip Coffey who can sense presences and what they are communicating. After a spiritual walk through, Ryan and his team determine that there is a demonic force (the same one Ryan has seen before) bothering this family. Before helping the family, they insist that the house get clean of its clutter and the family get set emotionally. to that end, the family cleans house, goes into counseling, and has the children baptised.

Then, they have an exorcism. The episode ends with Ryan's Director's Note saying that this demonic force may be following him, but for the time being, the force has been "defeated."

All right, so I can summarize the show. But, what does that mean? I really don't know. I agree with Mr. Coffey's comment that if one believes in good forces, evil forces are a logical extension of that belief. However, I generally believe things are neutral until made another way. I'm a nurture over nature kind of gal. I believe we are born neutral and life makes us what we are. And, I'm not a big believer in the devil and demonic forces. So, while they may exist, I'm not real interested (of course my early exposure to Catholicism just suggested to me that I should cross myself after writing that line.) :0)

Moving on, though, Coffey wrote that really only a handful of the episodes of PS have been about the demonic, so here's what else I watched.

"First Contact"
Ryan and his team receive a recommendation from Dave Shraedar (spelling unknown; I will have to research), a paranormal radio host, to investigate Gilliland's Ranch (for which I found the spelling in Ryan's blog), a hotbed of UFO activity and "creatures in the woods." Ryan and his team begin with a tour of the ranch, focusing on reported hot spots. The team also collected first-hand accounts (hey students: primary research) that described multiple paranormal phenomenon. They set up cameras and split up all over the ranch to try to catch something happening.

They saw, filmed, and showed some very strange light activity. So, then, Ryan brings in Chip Coffey to see if he can get a feel on what's happening (interestingly, he describe Coffey as a "psychic" where other shows have described him as a "medium"; is there a difference? are all mediums considered psychics since being a medium is considered a psi ability? who decides these categories?) Coffey is given very little information and asked to see what he feels. Coffey reads that the ranch is full of activity: "ETs," he says, and "look to the east."

That night they set up again, and the lights return. Clearly, the folks find it fascinating. They appear to decide that there was a compelling argument to be made that ufos were visible there!

Again, so what do I think? I thought it was interesting. The lights were there, and they were unexplainable. I'd like to see them.

Random FYI: Ryan's blog says that PS will be returning to the ranch May 15-17 for a field trip. Chip Coffey will be present, according to the blog! More information about the trip can be found on the PRS website at http://www.paranormalresearchsociety.org/fieldtrip.php.

"Hide and Seek" and "The Glove" and "The Fire" were also recorded. I think these episodes comes earlier than the ones above chronologically. Again, these episodes are all a bit more traditional paranormal investigations, in that they were similar to other investigative shows I've watched. In "The Fire" there does appear to be a need to help people, though, and that is what Coffey said separated PS from GH. I definitely saw that in this episode. Of course, Coffey was in. He tends to have the kind of presence in any show I've seen him on.

So, that's my thoughts on the show after further research and watching.

And just as a final shout out: visit Chip Coffey's website: http://www.chipcoffey.com/. And, I from there, I found his current blog: http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.ListAll&friendID=826823. He's way cool. You can see references to our conversations below on his blog, too, on September 29, 2008. (and of course if you read the comments, see how his fans reacted--I think they think I'm evil and certainly "ignorant" and in need of "educating"--too funny)!

And, CC, if you read this one: I hope you get to have that dinner with the movie stars. That excitement was how I felt when you responded to my blog! You are my celebrity. Thanks for that.

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