“Halloween may be over, but for the paranormal television industry anytime of the year is good for a scare or two,” reports Jeremy Davis for The News Record. “Just like any popular trend in TV, be sure that once a hit is apparent, you can expect a saturation of copy-cat shows to cash in on the latest TV niche .”

“Ghost Hunters, which debut on the Syfy channel in 2004, is perhaps the one show that can claim credit for the recent explosion of interest in hunting the paranormal – Ghost Hunters follows The Atlantic Paranormal Society or TAPS as they investigate locations that are reported as haunted,” reports Davis. “They search for evidence by using scientific equipment such as infrared cameras, EMF detectors, voice recorders and other tools thought to assist in hunting Casper and friends. TAPS founders Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson lead a team of paranormal investigators as they try to either verify or debunk claims of other-worldly encounters.”

“Due to the popularity of the show it remains on the SyFy channel – Now in its sixth season, it has even spawned a number of spin-offs,” reports Davis. “The show’s first spin-off, which also airs on SyFy, “Ghost Hunters International” debuted in 2008 and has enjoyed moderate success. Unfortunately, the success of the original series didn’t spread to its next spin-off, “UFO Hunters” (not to be confused with the History Channel’s show of the same name), which only lasted one episode.”

“Ghost Hunters Academy, a third spin-off set to premiere on Nov. 11, will feature Steven Gonzales and Dave Tango of TAPS as they train a group of college students aspiring to be ghost hunters,” reports Davis.

“Travel Channel’s Ghost Adventures slightly tweaks the formula set down by shows like Ghost Hunters. This show is centered around host Zak Bagans and fellow investigators, Nick Groff and Aaron Goodwin, who not only investigate supposed haunted locations, but lock themselves within those locations for hours into the night,” Davis reports.

Read the full article here