Hans Holzer at 100: America’s First TV Ghost Hunter Still Haunts Paranormal Community

BY AARON SAGERS
(Originally published at Den of Geek)

Born in Vienna on January 26, 1920, Hans Holzer was like many children, fascinated by the ghost and fairy stories he heard in his youth. But those tales, told by his Uncle Henry, which he retold at school to the disapproval of adults, stayed with Holzer. Ghosts became his life’s work as one of the world’s most famous figures in the paranormal field.

Before his death in 2009, at age 89, Holzer authored nearly 140 books on the paranormal, extraterrestrial life, witchcraft, and more, beginning with 1963’s Ghost Hunter. During a career that famously involved the “Amityville Horror” house case in 1977, Holzer also taught parapsychology at the New York Institute of Technology, and both appeared on, and consulted for, Leonard Nimoy’s late 1970s show In Search Of… And interestingly, actor Dan Aykroyd claimed an obsession with Holzer, which inspired him to write Ghostbusters.

The paranormal subgenre of reality television exploded around 2005 – a trend that continues today with numerous series on networks such as Travel Channel, and A&E, and which has expanded online. Four decades prior, Hans Holzer was one of America’s first famous ghost hunters, preceding Ed and Lorraine Warren.

“He was the king of all paranormal media,” says Dave Schrader, lead investigator of Travel Channel’s unscripted series The Holzer Files, which re-examines Holzer’s cases, and host of the popular paranormal radio show Beyond The Darkness. “He was like the Howard Stern of his time, and was on TV, wrote for movies, and wrote books.”

Ouija Celebrates its 125th Anniversary in Baltimore: OuijaCon 2015 Wrap-Up

BY LARISSA MRYKALO

This past weekend in Baltimore, Maryland, an eclectic mix of individuals descended upon the Baltimore Harbor Hotel to celebrate the 125th anniversary of Ouija. Whether you're a skeptic, a believer, a collector, or undecided, Charm City was the place to be and I was lucky enough to be invited. Thanks to the efforts of Robert Murch and the Talking Board Historical Society (TBHS) along with paranormal researcher and author,  Jeff Belanger, their inaugural event, OuijaCon, was quite the success.

We all know that films like The Exorcist have given Ouija a bad reputation but delving into the rich history of the boards was the goal here. To quote from the TBHS page, "The Talking Board Historical Society began in 2008 as a loose affiliation of talking board collectors and enthusiasts, brought together by talking board historian Robert Murch to bring recognition to the forgotten founders and history of the enigmatic Ouija." This wasn't an event to scare, obviously, it was an event to educate, create discussion and, of course, celebrate. 

The event opened on the evening of April 23 with a meet and greet in the Talking Board Museum and  family members of prominent Ouija founders, including William Fuld were present. Just to be clear and honest, this was quite the education for me. I do own a beautiful Fuld board and when I was a kid, I did dabble with a board my brother and I got from the local toy store but other than that, I'm a Ouija novice. The variety of boards/spirit communication devices in this museum blew my mind. I see these pieces as not only bits of amazing paranormal history but as beautiful pieces of art.

The Ouija Files: Murch Discovers Exclusive Fuld Artwork

BY BOB MURCH

Ouija spells F-U-L-D-F-A-M-I-L-Y-F-U-N! The board is said to be “more interesting than a mystery story,” I couldn’t have said it better myself. Last month I had the amazing opportunity to help promote the new movie and Winning Moves’ Ouija Classic when Jeff Belanger and I spoke at an event for them in Salem, Massachusetts. I finally got to meet Irena who handles marketing for Winning Moves. She was awesome! She introduced me to her husband Steven who used to work at Parker Brothers. He had some great stories to share.

And then he dropped a bomb. He said that when Hasbro bought Parker Brothers in 1991 and consolidated its files it threw out a bunch of stuff. I’d heard this before and it always makes my heart sink. He saw the look on my face and said “Yup, they threw out a ton of stuff but I did save one piece of Ouija artwork, if you’re interested in it I could mail it to you?” I was dumbstruck, hell yeah I’d love to see it. So, we texted back and forth a few times and the following week the artwork he sent, arrived. I nearly fell off my seat when that iconic image of a man and woman came into focus! Here's a better look at that picture (below). That’s not a print; it’s the actual drawing.

The Ouija Files: Murch on His 'Ghost Adventures' with the ZoZo Demon

BY BOB MURCH

I've known Zak, Nick, and Aaron a long time. I first met these guys back at a paracon just before their show aired six years and ten seasons ago. I eventually got to work with them in Mansfield, Ohio where they invited me to speak at one of their Ghost Adventures Crew conferences. That's where I met Billy Tolley. I've known Jeff Belanger even longer! I met Jeff back when he was researching his second book of which I somehow made it into. I love that book!

A few months before we filmed the ZoZo episode I got a call from Jeff asking that if "Ghost Adventures" did a Ouija episode, what cases could they consider. Jeff is the writer and a researcher for the show so it made perfect sense. I gave him my top ten Ouija cases and they picked ZoZo.

Darren Evans and I go way back too. I try to chronicle every Ouija case I can and so we met through ZoZo. Darren had a pretty serious run in with an entity that called himself ZoZo and it sent him off on a lifelong journey to understand what ZoZo is and if others had similar experiences. He setup a website and an Internet radio show. Along the way, Darren became the Zozologist. After all these years of phone calls and emails I finally got to meet him and he didn't disappoint.

Travel Channel Presents 2014's Ten Best Halloween Attractions

The Travel Channel just enlisted the expertise of a panel of advisors to come up with ten of the best haunts in the country. Our own Paranormal Pop Culture Expert and host and co-executive producer of Travel Channel’s "Paranormal Paparazzi," Aaron Sagers, was one of the contributors. Also included on the panel were, Lead Investigator for "Ghost Adventures," Zak Bagans; Author, TV Personality, and Paranormal Expert, Jeff Belanger; Video Project Manager, TravelChannel.com, Arthur Hsu; and, Owner, HauntWorld.com, HauntWorld Magazine and Halloween Productions, Larry Kirchner.

Drum roll please! Here are the ten haunts that made the 2014 Travel Channel's Best: Halloween Attractions...

Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor – Long Beach, Calif.
The Queen Mary was built in the early 1930s as a luxury trans-Atlantic ocean liner, but was pressed into military service to carry troops during World War II where hundreds died in and around the ship. This Halloween, the haunted ship is offering its Dark Harbor tours with four new attractions – the Soulmate maze, the B340 maze, Voodoo Village and Monster Midway, which features a freak show, a mechanical monster and a new ride, the Sinister Swings. Travel Channel’s “Ghost Adventures” recently did a lockdown investigation aboard the Queen Mary for the show’s season 10 premiere, uncovering chilling paranormal evidence. So keep your eyes open, because those ghostly apparitions you see may not just be another special effect.

HuffPost Live: 'Aliens! Zombies! Ghosts!' ...And Aaron Sagers

Miss our little debut on HuffPost Live today? Well fear not, dear reader, for we have embedded the glorious (or gory) video below of editor Aaron Sagers chatting about his book The Paranormal Pop Culture Collection -- on sale now -- with host Josh Zepps, author Jeff Belanger, journalist Lee Speigel and blogger Tony Kim.

It was a fun time -- we think. But you'll only know for sure if you watch the video below!

'Ghost Adventures' Live Blog from Eastern State Penitentiary, Friday June 4

Watch this space because, beginning tomorrow night, I will be joining my buddies the Ghost Adventures GAC team (along with John Zaffis, Mark and Debby Constantino, Dave Schrader and Jeff Belanger) at Eastern State Penitentiary for a live blog investigation with audio, video, polls and interviews. It will be tomorrow, June 4, from 10:30 p.m. -2 a.m. and is not to be missed!

And if you'd like a handy reminder, just pop in your email address below and we'll shoot you a note to tell you when to tune in!

AFTER THE EVENT: If you'd like to watch the replay of the blog, click on the "LiveBlogs" tab at the menu on the top lefthand part of this page.  This will take you directly to the replay, and just hit the "play" icon (as shown here).