Perspectives on Para-media: Celebrity Ghost Stories

Medium: Television
Network: Biography Channel
Currently Airing: Saturdays at 9:00 PM EST
Synopsis: Celebrities recount their personal encounters with the paranormal.

Anyone with a television can’t help but notice that paranormal programming has experienced an unprecedented explosion in the last ten years or so; whether this is a good thing or a bad thing is up for vigorous debate. For networks such as Biography and Syfy (home to the phenomenally-successful Ghost Hunters, as well as its various spinoffs and many copycats), it has been a good thing indeed.

Celebrity Ghost Stories is presented in a first-person narrative style, in which said celebrities (term used loosely here, as reality show wannabes are disproportionately represented) recount their personal encounters with the paranormal. Actor reenactments—which almost always detract from whatever organic spook-factor the story might have boasted— illustrate the interviews. Ever-present, of course, is the melodramatic soundtrack this genre has become known for.

The stories themselves vary in their believability, intensity, and likelihood to stand up to skeptical inquiry. Recent tales have involved everything from standard haunted house fare (ex-Pussycat Doll Kaya Jones) to ghostly rape (singer/songwriter Skylar Grey) to promised after-death visits from loved ones (performer Aaron Carter).

The stories are consistently told with conviction, though the package winds up surprisingly devoid of any discernible spook-factor. Nonetheless, herein lies the beauty of the format: Personal experiences don’t require proof in order to entertain. There are no paranormal investigators here, and none are needed in order to make these postmodern campfire tales fly.

Will Celebrity Ghost Stories convince any skeptics? Hardly. It can be convincingly argued that the paranormalists, let alone skeptics, aren’t really the target audience for this type of show anyway.

Are the stories any more compelling coming from the lips of the famous? Not really. An anecdote is an anecdote, regardless of who’s telling it.

Will you be scared? Not in the slightest.

Does it accomplish what it sets out to do? Undoubtedly. If you are willing to suspend disbelief for an hour, you may well be entertained, though doubtfully wowed.

Blog Entry by MGH B-Team Member – CoryJ

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