Paranormal Profile: Branden Wellington

Branden Wellington
Editor's Note: In an effort to get to know some of the recognized and respected people within Paranormal Pop Culture, we're launching the frequent column "Paranormal Profile," which allows these folks the opportunity to introduce themselves to you, in their own words.

This week we'll introduce you to Branden Wellington, a friend who is also one of the reporters on Travel Channel's Paranormal Paparazzi - premiering Sept. 28, 7 p.m.

Who Is Branden Wellington?

If you have that question on your mind, it's fair game. I often find myself asking the same thing. Like ghosts, it would appear I came seemingly out of nowhere and - prior to 2007 - you'd be hard-pressed to find a trace of my existence.

For all my "googleites" out there, you probably dug up Branden Wellington the actor, or the poet, or the model in jeans or underwear showing off his abs. I say that facetiously but it is there. So, what does that have to do with the paranormal? If you can contain your curiosity cats for a few more sentences I'll work it all in.

Unlike a few of my cast members, of whom you might have already met, I don't come from an extensive paranormal background nor does my track record extend beyond a 40-yard dash. When I was asked to join the cast of Paranormal Paparazzi, I thought someone was playing on my phone. However, the aforementioned is the precise reason I'm here. I'm more of the new kid on the block that was brought in to deliver that green curiosity, that fearlessness and the natural "double shot of espresso" energy. As we track down all these wild and crazy stories, I do my best to capture an element of that energy into my work.

As a performer you spend a lot of time looking for new challenges and a way to deploy your skills into fresh experiences. You also spend time trying to relate with strangers while winning the trust of the audience; diving head first into a paranormal entertainment news show was just a matter of stretching that skill set.

I was born in Indianapolis, Ind., (the Hoosier State!). I also spent part of my childhood in South Florida. My curiosity for the unexplained came at a young age. I was about five or six; my aunt had taken me to visit the grave of my great grandfather. While in the cemetery, I saw, in the distance, what appeared to be my grandfather walking with a woman wearing a blue dress. I asked my aunt, “Who is the woman walking with grandpa?” I remember she just stared at me out the corner of her eyes with her mouth half open. She said she didn’t see anyone.

In the environment I grew up in, to see dead people was more of a "sixth sense" that you had about guys on the corner - not a paranormal reference.

However, seeing my grandfather after his death wasn’t a new thing to me; my mom could testify to walking in on me having full conversations with myself and I’d tell her I was talking to grandpa. He also used to visit me in my sleep. Whenever it happened, I’d tell my sister, but my mother asked me to stop sharing those stories because they scared her.

About a year later, my great grandfather’s sister had passed away. On the day of her funeral she wore a blue dress and was buried in the same cemetery! Had my sighting a year previous been a premonition? A glimpse in time? Or was it merely an illusion? I honestly don’t know.

From then on I always believed in the idea of ghost and spirits. Growing up in the church only deepened my belief in the supernatural. Learning about angels, demons, the Holy Ghost, heaven, hell, prophecies and resurrections led me to believe that there must be a world beyond our eyes. Gravity and the wind can attest to that.

Though I do believe in the paranormal and supernatural, I am still somewhat of a skeptic. It is my thirst for more knowledge that allows me to entertain another person’s experience. Whether you believe or not, an integral part of our world today is about the discovery of that which we know not of.

I don’t indulge in the paranormal much, but when I do, I prefer Paparazzi style. Stay curious my friends.