Syfy's '31 Days of Halloween' Returns for its Eighth Year

We knew Syfy wouldn't let us down this October and now we know for sure. They just announced their eighth annual '31 Days of Halloween' and they're unleashing 600 hours of programming this season. From new original movies, to films and shows we know and love, we're counting down the days until the most wonderful time of the year.

Check out the full press release that includes all the details and highlights....

NEW YORK – September 15, 2015 – Be afraid. Be very afraid. Syfy’s 8th annual 31 DAYS OF HALLOWEEN spook-a-thon will unleash more than 600 hours of blood-curdling programming October 1-31, including ghoulish Ghost Hunters and Paranormal Witness holiday-themed episodes and four spooky new original movies.

HIGHLIGHTS OF SYFY’S 2015 31 DAYS OF HALLOWEEN (ALL TIMES ET/PT)

· Night of the Wild (New original movie, Saturday, October 3 at 9PM) -- When a large meteor crashes into a quiet town, pet dogs become mysteriously aggressive, attacking and killing the residents. Night of the Wild stars Rob Morrow (Northern Exposure), Kelly Rutherford (Gossip Girl) and Tristin Mays (The Vampire Diaries).

Syfy Renews 'Ghost Hunters' and 'Paranormal Witness'

Fans of the Syfy unscripted shows "Ghost Hunters" and "Paranormal Witness" just received an early Halloween present with the renewal of both programs for 2015. Syfy just sent out a press release with all the details and we have a portion of it below:

Just in time for Halloween, Syfy announces the pickups of Ghost Hunters Season 10 and Paranormal Witness Season 4! Both hit paranormal series receive 13 episode orders and will return in 2015 to create a chilling night of original programming for the network.

“We couldn’t be more excited about entering a brand new decade of paranormal investigations with Jason Hawes, a refreshed TAPS team and Ghost Hunters,” said Heather Olander, SVP, alternative series development and production for Syfy. “We also eagerly anticipate the return of a revitalized and scarier than ever Paranormal Witness: True Terror, which features shocking firsthand accounts of truly frightening and skin-crawling supernatural experiences – including the real-life story of the hit movie, The Conjuring.”

To date, Season 9 of Ghost Hunters has averaged 1.7 million total viewers, 841,000 viewers in Adults 18-49 and 983,000 viewers in Adults 25-54 (all data Live +7). The two-hour, 200th reunion episode, which aired October 22, was watched by 1.3 million total viewers and was the #1 unscripted show of the night among Adults 18-49 and Adults 25-54 (all data Live +SD).

'Ghost Hunters' and 'Paranormal Witness' sneak peeks

To get you ready for tonight’s new episodes of Syfy’s Ghost Hunters and Paranormal Witness, we’re giving you some creepy good clips to whet your appetites.

Tonight’s episode of GH takes the team to investigate the Hoover Dam and the nearby Boulder City Hospital. Here is a sneak peek of Steve’s end of the night interview where he hears some unexplained sounds.



A bonus scene from the last episode has Tango attempting to play Kick the Can with a ghost. His goal was to bring out the sounds from the day they were alive in order to stir up activity.



In this scene, Amy and Adam think they may be hearing the ballroom piano playing by itself, however, when they go to investigate, they realize the music is coming from somewhere else inside the building.



Paranormal Witness also returns tonight for a terrifying new episode about an embattled Baptist family from Indiana. Based on this preview clip, their lives are in grave danger. Are demons to blame?



The last episode of Paranormal Witness told the tale of a haunted restaurant. Here is a bonus interview from “Dining with the Dead” that will leave you with chills.

'Paranormal Witness' returns tonight and we've a sneak peek

Whether you buy the stories or not, Syfy's Paranormal Witness has been a reliably creepy show and fun watch. That continues in tonight's Season 3 premiere of the series that combines eyewitness testimony with evidence and re-enactments, airing 10 p.m. EDT.

Titled "The Long Island Terror," the episode focuses on a house in New York that was supposedly infested with demonic activity between 2005 and 2011. According to the synopsis, a widow begins construction and moves into the house following the death of her husband, an NYC Fire Department lieutenant.

But, said the Syfy description, "Unbeknownst to them, the property's original owners were cultists and the widow and her daughters soon find themselves being haunted by an evil spirit awakened by the renovations."

Check out the clip below and tune in tonight ... if you dare ... or if you're home and want to check it out. That works too.



-Aaron Sagers

Summer on Syfy: Expect ghosts, monsters and lots of reality TV

Courtesy Syfy

Brand new programming and returning favorites will shine this summer on the Syfy network. Since Memorial Day is the official start of summer, the network kicks off  the season with the Roger Corman Syfy Original favorites, Piranhaconda and Sharktopus. Of course, Independence Day wouldn’t be the same without the Twilight Zone marathon, with the grand finale being the premiere of the Syfy Original, Independence Day-saster.

In addition, new reality shows Exit (June 4), Joe Rogan Questions Everything (July 16), Notorious Hauntings (July 16) and Cosworld (Aug. 27) debut on Syfy this summer. And returning series include Total Blackout (June 4), Paranormal Witness (June 5), Continuum (June 7), Ghost Hunters (June 12) and Face Off (Aug. 27). Two new scripted programs will also be rolled out on June 8: Sinbad and the spinoff Primeval: New World.

For a complete breakdown of Syfy summer programming, go beyond the jump for further details!

Syfy offers tricks, treats in NYC for Halloween

Syfy is taking another bite out of the Big (candied, caramel) Apple this October with another 31 Nights of HalloweeNYC, which brings Syfy's programming to the streets of New York City.

Teaming up with NYC & Company, the city’s official marketing, tourism, and partnership organization, the event will feature a special three-day Syfy Halloween NYC Fest, Oct. 26-28 in New York’s Flatiron Plaza. Events will be cleverly named after Syfy shows. Included are the Hot Set Hands-On Craft Station, Ghost Hunters Goodies Snack Station and the Paranormal Witness Photo Booth. The Face Off Face painting booth will offer the opportunity for visitors to be transformed through make-up effects.

Extended 'Paranormal Witness' tackles Travis Walton abduction story

Travis Walton's story is perhaps one of the most well-known purported alien abduction stories, right up there with those of Betty and Barney Hill, Whitley Strieber and Herbert Shirmer.

The story of an Arizona logger who disappeared in 1975 and turned up five days later, claiming he'd been taken on board an alien craft during the missing time, has been analyzed, criticized and the focus of the movie Fire in the Sky.

And now, Paranormal Witness is tackling it in an extended 90-minute episode, tonight at 10 p.m. on Syfy. Although Walton's story was covered by Hollywood, Walton himself never felt the movie accurately represented his experience - as detailed in his Fire in the Sky book - and has been wanting a chance to tell his story to a mass audience. Thirty-seven years later, this is his chance in a show that combines reenactments, along with interviews including all the principle characters.

Whether you believe Walton or not, his is the perfect topic for a show like Witness. This is a little slice of paranormal pop culture that cannot be missed.

Syfy promises spooktacular fall

Syfy is clearly feeling that autumn chill in the air because they've recently released their jam-packed fall schedule. It promises to thrill us with ghosts, monsters and zombies. Plus, they're bringing back some familiar fan favorites, with the return of Ghost Hunters, Total Blackout and Haven, and some debuts like like Hot Set and Viral Video Showdown. There may not be a Ghost Hunters Live episode this year but there will be the first ever live Face Off where we learn this seasonʼs winner. We can also expect an extended episode of the recently renewed, Paranormal Witness. The popular Syfy Originals movies will be back as well, and includes zombies, haunted houses and Lake Placid: The Final Chapter - starring Freddy himself, Robert Englund.

Hereʼs a taste of what we can look forward to from the official press release:

'Paranormal Witness' renewed for Season Three

Courtesy Syfy

According to a Syfy press release, the network is renewing Paranormal Witness for a third season with a 20-episode order. Expected to air June 2013, the news was announced today by Mark Stern, President Original Content, Syfy and Co-Head, Original Content, Universal Cable Productions.

The news is no surprise since the season two premiere - which aired Wednesday, Aug. 8 - was a Top 10 telecast in the 10 p.m. hour on cable that night. The first three episodes of the season have averaged 1.2 million total viewers.

The show, which airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT, highlights paranormal experiences of everyday people and combines interviews with eyewitness and reenactment footage.

Tonight's episode ties into the Aug. 31 horror movie release, The Possession. In the episode, "The Dybbuk Box," a Portland, Ore., antiques dealer ignores warnings not to open the old curio cabinet he bought at an estate sale. He unknowingly unleashes a dybbuk, a malevolent spirit from Jewish folklore, which begins to wreak havoc on his life.

Paranormal Witness is produced by Raw TV (Locked Up Abroad and Gold Rush: Alaska). Series producers are Mark Lewis and Lucy van Beek. Executive producer is Bart Layton.

-Aaron Sagers

Syfy announces dates for a paranormal summer

Looks like Syfy can't get enough of the unexplained this summer. According to a new press release, the network is rolling out a slew of paranormal-themed movies and shows - including two new ones - to give you chills during the warmer months. Let's dive in and see what they are so you can mark your calendars and set your DVRs now.

JUNE

HAUNTED COLLECTOR
(Season two premiere)
Wednesday, June 6, 9 p.m.
Haunted Collector features eminent paranormal collector John Zaffis, who searches for objects that have become home to paranormal spirits and/or energy. Each week Zaffis and his family help someone who’s terrorized by something strange in their own home, using the latest technology to identify the source of the paranormal activity. On the season 2 premiere of Haunted Collector, the team heads to Warsaw, Kentucky, where a woman’s home is suffering hauntings, possibly from two steamboats which crashed in a fiery collision, killing more than 60 people in 1868. Next, they travel to Huron, Ohio, in a race against the clock to remove the dangerous energy from an abandoned silo, scheduled to be destroyed in 48 hours.

'Paranormal Witness' recap: Mansfield Mansion

BY AMANDA POOLE


Paranormal Witness is a reenactment program airing on Syfy at 10 p.m. on Weds and highlights stories taken from everyday people's encounters with the paranormal. Using a mixture of intimate first-hand testimony, actual home video and gritty realistic drama, Paranormal Witness transports viewers into a world turned upside-down by extraordinary, terrifying and sometimes life-threatening paranormal events. To read more about life after the eyewitness accounts, visit Syfy's follow-up interview segments.

Instead of telling two stories, this installment of Paranormal Witness focused on one family and the terror they experienced after purchasing a Connecticut home in 1994.

Amy Moore and her daughter Alyssa were in search for new house to call home when she found a beautiful old house up for auction. It was slightly falling apart, but Amy saw a lot of potential. She toured the house with the property manager, and as they went into the basement, noticed a concrete slab in the middle of the floor, with no reason on why it should be there. They then went inside of the house. The house was dirty and pretty messy, with a lot of old beds, wheelchairs and unusual equipment, but she could picture the possibilities. She also saw an old sign: "Mansfield Training School."

'Paranormal Witness' producer Mark Lewis on Syfy's new hit

BY AARON SAGERS

Syfy's Paranormal Witness is a bona fide hit for the network, and brings chills from the world of the unexplained into the living room through spooky reenactments and intense eyewitness interviews. Instead of relying on recurring characters or a host, Witness begins fresh each week with a new story ranging from hauntings to demonic infestation, alien encounters, cryptozoological run-ins and angelic interventions. If the audience doesn't buy into either of the two stories presented in each episode, Witness encourages them to try again the following week with the question, "Do you believe?" The show is entirely story-driven and breaks from a current trend of evidence-based paranormal investigative reality-TV programs.

So without evidence or a familiar cast, why does Paranormal Witness connect with viewers? The answer to that question is likely due to the involvement of series producer Mark Lewis. Lewis - whose documentaries have appeared on the BBC, Discovery, the History Channel, National Geographic, Spike and more - brings high quality to a show that could easily be all cheese.

To get the facts behind the frights, we spoke with Lewis about his approach to filmmaking, the pursuit of stories and his own beliefs in the paranormal. Listen to the embedded audio or read the transcripts after the jump.

  Paranormal Witness Producer Mark Lewis, Part One by ParanormalPopCulture

  Paranormal Witness Producer Mark Lewis, Part Two by ParanormalPopCulture

'Paranormal Witness' recap: The Poltergeist/Watch In The Wilderness

BY AMANDA POOLE

Paranormal Witness is a reenactment program airing on Syfy at 10 p.m. on Weds and highlights stories taken from everyday people's encounters with the paranormal. Using a mixture of intimate first-hand testimony, actual home video and gritty realistic drama, Paranormal Witness transports viewers into a world turned upside-down by extraordinary, terrifying and sometimes life-threatening paranormal events. 

The first installment this week focuses on Susan Lewis and her family who moved into a new California home in 2006. As you could guess, the dream home turned into a nightmare. First the family noticed objects being rearranged and stacked atop of each other. One day Susan's daughter Jamie was cleaning up spilt coffee - which was mysteriously thrown on her bed - when she set a bottle of bleach on the dresser. After briefly turning away, her dressers drawers were pulled open and the bleach was knocked over, pouring over all her clothes. Jamie yells for her mother, and when Susan entered the room, things began to launch off the bookshelves.

The family gathered they might have a poltergeist in the home, but say they had no clue that things were about to get a lot worse. Doors began to slam, lights flickered on and off, objects continued to be stacked and rearranged.

Witness then shows actual photos and video taken by the family of these events. This is a first for the show. There are images of writing on the walls, of objects strangely arranged throughout the house, and food thrown all over. One of the creepier images is of a footprint on the kitchen floor - a very inhuman-looking footprint, I might add.

'Paranormal Witness' recap: Haunted Highway/Kentucky UFO Chase

BY AMANDA POOLE

Paranormal Witness is a reenactment program airing on Syfy, which highlights stories taken from everyday people's encounters with the paranormal. Using a mixture of intimate first-hand testimony, actual home video and gritty realistic drama, Paranormal Witness transports viewers into a world turned upside-down by extraordinary, terrifying and sometimes life-threatening paranormal events. Already the show is a hit for Syfy, netting 1.63 million viewers for the 10 p.m. ET timeslot.

Now in its second week, the Sept. 14 episode focused on Christine and Nick, a woman and son who went missing in Southern California in 1994. They were last seen stopping for gas before driving off onto the twisting and winding roads up the mountain.

A few days after Christine’s and Nick’s disappearance, Deborah Hoyt, who was staying at a family member’s house, woke up in the middle of the night, with a strong urge to head home. She woke her husband and they began their drive. They were coming around a bend on HWY 50 when Deborah noticed a naked woman laying lifeless along side the road.