'Paranormal State' host gets earful of ghost stories from locals

It's not every day that you meet folks who see dead people, hear voices, or have demons living in their homes - unless you are a paranormal researcher.

Ryan Buell, host of A&E's "Paranormal State," got an earful of ghost stories today at the Tampa stop on a 10-city promotional tour.

For example, Buell, 27, heard from a Thonotosassa woman who says she is being terrorized by a demon; a Lutz woman who "feels" the presence of a dark foreboding spirit in her home, and from members of Tampa area paranormal groups who conduct similar investigations.

"I've been doing this for seven years and I learned that you can't just dismiss accounts of unexplained experiences; there are too many of them," says Buell, who founded his Paranormal Research Society in 2001 while he was a student at Penn State University.

"So far on this tour, we have hear some fascinating stories and met some credible people such as a scientist, a psychologist and a prison guard," he says. "Skeptics think these stories come from bored housewives with overactive imaginations but that's not the case."

More than a dozen people - fans and those who have experienced unexplained events - were among the first to gather outside a "Paranormal State" tour bus parked at the University Mall on Fowler Avenue when it opened at 10 a.m. today. More were expected throughout the day.

The fourth season of "Paranormal State" debuted Friday. The series follows Buell's PRS team as they investigate cases and try to collect data on what might be causing the problem. The current tour is to promote the new season and collect possible investigations for next season (if it is renewed).

"I just want someone to help get rid of a demon that is terrorizing us," said a woman named Jennifer who declined to give her last name.

She says she has had four previous paranormal investigations of her Thonotosassa home and the last group pulled out when it revealed to them that powerful demon was there. She says the demon has attacked her and her 7-year-old son and has become increasingly aggressive with each investigation.

Accompanied by a Tampa-based filmmaker who is doing a documentary on her, the woman said she wanted to share her story with Buell and his team to see if something could be done.

Another woman named Brenda, who didn't want to share her name for fear of being ridiculed, says she is an "empath" who has the ability to communicate with the dead. She says there is a dark force causing mischief in her home, opening and closing doors in her Lutz house and leaving strange smells (rotting flesh and rose pedals) as well as making whispering noises.

"I don't want to be on television," she says. "I just want someone to help me determine what it is."
Michael W. Burton, of the Tampa-based Phantom Realm Research Society, met Brenda at the tour stop and agreed to help her.

Burton, who grew up in Tampa (in a home he says was haunted by a deceased doctor), says he came out to meet Buell and offer assistance if needed.

"We are all local people who have conducted numerous investigations in the Tampa area and we could help verify if a case is worthy of being on the show," he says. "Or we could help people who don't get 'Paranormal State' to investigate their case; and we would do it discreetly and free of charge."

"We are just concerned that people who need help, get it," he adds.

LeAnna Quinnell and Christina Luettich, of the local Haunted Hunters PSI group, also came out to meet Buell and share some of their stories.

"I have had lots of paranormal experiences," says Quinnell, who as a child was visited by a pipe-smoking ghost named Bob (the deceased previous owner of her family's home).

Quinnell, a student at the University of South Florida, says the Haunted Hunters is group of people interested scientific paranormal research. The group has conducted experiments in paranormal detection at the Belleview Biltmore and the Don CeSar Hotel.

Buell says that during the past few years there has been a boom in paranormal research groups that apparently were inspired by TV series such as "Paranormal State" and others.

Burton says believers in the paranormal out number skeptics. "I think at least 73 percent of the American public believes in the possibility of the paranormal," he says.