Some of you may be too old to remember the great video game crash from the early to middle 80's. Some of you may be a little too young to know about it, but at the time it was really a major blow to the video game industry. Some even wondered if it would survive at all.

The video game industry was at an all time high for revenue in 1983 but by 1985 it had dropped by almost 97 percent. During this time many big name companies went bankrupt and out of business. Many in the industry went from making money hand over fist to closing up shop and hitting the unemployment line. The main cause of the great video game crash was saturation of market, in laymen terms, the market was flooded with video games and related items.

Many of the games and consoles that flooded the market were very sub par. In other words the games being produced were utter garbage. Take for example, the Atari game E.T. The Extraterrestrial, which was based on the hit movie.  It was massively over produced and is often called the worst video game ever made. The movie was very popular the world over, the video game version came out strong as a Christmas item but quickly became a returned to store gift. Some of these games were so bad it caused reputation damage to the industry as a whole. After all, the ET game was nothing more than an attempt to cash in on the popularity of the movie. The ET game was so over produced and terrible, that the remaining copies were buried in a Alamogordo, New Mexico landfill. Recently, within the last few years, some of the buried ET games were dug up.

So, at this point, I'm guessing some of you are thinking, "what does this have to do with Bigfoot?". Well, let me give you my take on what is going on. In my opinion,we are already seeing a decline within the Bigfoot community. There appears to be less interest and less support than in days gone by. But this is probably only the start of the Bigfoot crash. I can remember when Ghost Hunters first came on TV, I almost never missed an episode the first few seasons. As I was getting kind of bored with Ghost Hunters, I discovered Ghost Adventures. Now I rarely watch either but think they are the better paranormal shows still on. Now you can watch these shows and ones like them at about any time of the day, 7 days a week.

Over the last few years there has been an explosion of Bigfoot and paranormal related TV shows. Many of which fall into the same fate as the ET video game, sub par.  The popularity of Bigfoot and Ghost hunting has been at all time highs over the last few years. This has caused a lot of very bad shows to be put on the air in attempts to grab some cash. It has in effect caused damage to the cryptozoological field in general. For people who do serious research of subjects such as Bigfoot, it has caused an increase in fake reports and plain old hoaxing. Many may see these TV shows and get the idea of faking reports, photos and videos, in attempts to get on TV.

But over the last year or so, there seems to be a declining interest in the subject of Bigfoot. I think this is directly related to overcrowding of "not so good" television shows and other factors. The market has been flooded with misleading and often sub par shows. Some are docudrama type shows, that attempt to pass themselves off as being real. These sometimes brings confusion to the cryptozoology community, when some people believe it to be real.  Producers of these shows should be upfront about the programs contents, to help avoid this confusion.

Now, I'm not against good quality, honest TV shows. In fact, I think if done correctly, it could help advance study of many unknown and unconfirmed creatures. I know of one instant, where a local man had/has a TV show. The producers wanted him to "pretend" he and a rival were about to fight. The producers wanted to build up the fake tension between the two, wanted them to pack guns and act mad. The main person told the producers, he wouldn't be doing any of that fake stuff.

So, has there been a flood of bad Bigfoot and Paranormal shows? I think the answer is yes. Has it caused a decline in interest? I think it has. Will there be a Bigfoot crash? I think there could be at some point.

What will happen after a Bigfoot crash? Well, if we take what we know about the video game crash and apply it to the Bigfoot and Paranormal fields, I think they will survive. The crash, like the video game crash, will shake out many of the "undesirables".  This type of thing happens often when something becomes very popular and it floods the market. Many knockoffs get created and floods the market even more. Then one day it reaches a tipping point and the bottom falls out. Which is not always a bad thing, even though we do end up losing some of the good ones in the process. I think we are moving towards that tipping point in the Bigfoot community.

But, there is some good news. The Bigfoot community and Cryptozoology community in general, has a good core of solid and honest researchers and supporters. This will insure that it will survive and grow in the future. The gaming community was able to save and build the video game industry back up again. And in many ways it became better than it ever was because it pushed the gaming industry into new areas and technologies. This can also happen for the Cryptozoology community. This is achieved by having a good solid base of researchers, artist, fans, supporters and yes, even TV shows.

While the crash may come, some of us will still be here after the smoke clears. We will put back on our backpacks, load up our cameras,strap on our boots and hit the woods. Guaranteed!

Thanks
~Tom~




This post by Thomas Marcum, Thomas is the founder/leader of the cryptozoology and paranormal research organization known as The Crypto Crew. Over 20 years experience with research and investigation of unexplained activity, working with video and websites. A trained wild land firefighter and a published photographer, and poet


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Let me start by saying Happy Halloween to everyone and be safe. I thought today, with it being Halloween, that I would feature 4 of the top haunted places in Kentucky. So here we go!

Waverly Hills Sanatorium - This building has been featured in many paranormal TV shows and is visited by thrill seekers on a regular basis. Waverly Hills was originally a tuberculosis hospital from 1910-1961. There are claims that over 63,000 people died while staying at Waverly. While that large number of deaths is disputed, no one can deny that the facility did have a large number of deaths and questionable treatment methods for patients. Waverly is among the most haunted places in the world, according to most list.



Bobby Mackey's Music World  - Located in Wilder, Kentucky. According to one legend two Satanists murdered and beheaded a woman named Pearl Bryan in 1897. Her body was found minus her head, it was never found.  Famous ghost hunter, Zak Bagans called Bobby Mackey's " the most haunted nightclub in America". There are various tales associate with this area. One such tale is that the original building use to be a slaughter house in the 19th century. There is also a tale about a pregnant dancer named "Johanna" committing suicide in the building. Bobby Mackey's is also said to feature a "Gateway to Hell", referring to the old well in the basement. The old well is said to be where the slaughter house threw all the bones and guts of the dead animals. Some say that is also where Pearl Bryan's head ended up.


 Gates of Hell - Grandview Cemetery - Grandview Cemetery, aka Kasey’s Cemetery or the Gates of Hell, contains the graves of people from the 1700s and 1800s as well as the ruins of an iron and stone gate. Some say one time an enormous green orb appeared here, hovered a short time, then shot straight up and out of sight in a second. Others say they’ve heard screams, seen shadow figures, and had car trouble while on the grounds. There are lots of reports from this cemetery and one report comes from a ghost hunting team. The team was in the cemetery conducting an investigation and discovered the remains of three dogs, a puppy, two cats, a calf and a deer scattered around the cemetery. Some believe that satanic worship is being conducted in the old cemetery. A scary place indeed.


Jailer's inn Bed and Breakfast  - A nice bed and breakfast that use to be a jailhouse back in the 1800's. It has everything a person could ask for in a bed and breakfast. It is even said to have permanent guest in the form of ghost. These ghost are said to be former inmates from the old jailhouse. Many patrons of the inn have been known to feel the haunting presence of these previous inmates. Some even report hearing the sound of chains and shackles.
Located in Bardstown, KY.

  

This is just a very small sample of the many haunted places and areas here in the bluegrass state of Kentucky. I know just here in my local area there are numerous cases of hauntings and tales of a freakish nature. I hope to feature some of them in the future.

If anyone, from any state, has experienced or captured ghostly activity, then feel free to tell us about it by using the form found here!   

If you are going out to conduct paranormal investigations in buildings or private lands, please have the owners permission.

Everyone have a great and safe Halloween!

Thanks
~Tom~


This post by Thomas Marcum, Thomas is the founder/leader of the cryptozoology and paranormal research organization known as The Crypto Crew. Over 20 years experience with research and investigation of unexplained activity, working with video and websites. A trained wild land firefighter and a published photographer, and poet


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The Ocean State ParaCon is an annual event that brings the paranormal and metaphysical communities together in supporting a selected charitable cause.

This year, they are honored to announce that all monies raised will be donated to Wounded Warrior Project.

I'm happy to say that our very own Jason Morse will be at this event representing The Crypto Crew.
Make sure to stop by his table and get the latest scoops.

There is an impressive line up for this years event. Check out some of the guest.
 
Everyone who can, go out and support this event, it is for a good cause and you can meet some really awesome people.

Thanks
~Tom~





This post by Thomas Marcum, Thomas is the founder/leader of the cryptozoology and paranormal research organization known as The Crypto Crew. Over 20 years experience with research and investigation of unexplained activity, working with video and websites. A trained wild land firefighter and a published photographer, and poet.



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TCC's booth at Paranormal for Paws

For those who may not know, Paranormal for Paws is an event that brings together the paranormal field and the animal care field in an effort to raise awareness of the work done by no kill animal shelters in New England.

Even though TCC was a late addition to this event, we think the cause is great and are proud we were able to take part. I also want to send a special thanks to the gang over at S.T.U.R.S. for all their help, they were phenomenal!



Here is a picture of S.T.U.R.S.'s booth.

I also invite you to like their facebook page - Click here to go to it.









Our buddy Jonathan Wilk from Team Squatchachusetts was also at the event.










I would also like to thank TCC team member Jason Morse for all the work he did getting ready for this event and the time he took to represent us.


Here is Jason with Shannon Silvia from Ghost Hunters International.


We have plans of participating in several other events this year. Please watch this page and our Facebook Page for details. If all goes well maybe some of you can stop by at some of these events and say hi to us.









Also a big thanks to the folks at Paranormal for Paws for having us on board this year. We wish them continued success.

Thanks
~Tom~

 

This post by Thomas Marcum, Thomas is the founder/leader of the cryptozoology and paranormal research organization known as The Crypto Crew. Over 20 years experience with research and investigation of unexplained activity, working with video and websites. A trained wild land firefighter and a published photographer, and poet.




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SCP's Kevin Vaughn

This post by Thomas Marcum, Thomas is the founder/leader of the cryptozoology and paranormal research organization known as The Crypto Crew. Over 20 years experience with research and investigation of unexplained activity, working with video and websites. A trained wild land firefighter and a published photographer, and poet.




I thought it would be good to expand our interview series and include ghost hunters and those that research the spirit world. So, I hit up my longtime facebook buddy Kevin Vaughn and he agreed to the interview. Kevin is the Co-founder and Lead Investigator of Scioto County Paranormal. SCP investigates paranormal activity around Scioto County, OH and the Tri-state area. They run SCP as a non profit/volunteer organization. Their investigations are free and done professionally and discretely.

- Start Interview -


TM:  How long have you been researching/studying the paranormal?

KV:  I started watching horror movies at the ripe old age of 5, watching chiller theater on TV. As I got older I started watching shows like in search of, unexplained mysteries. sightings. But I would say doing research, maybe I was 10, reading the books about UFOs, ghost, and Bigfoot. Just whatever I could find, I've been interested ever since. So, that was about 30 years ago.

TM: What got you interested in ghost, Was there a particular event that got you started?

KV: While growing up I heard all the local ghost stories and legends, I wanted to know more and see what I could find out for myself.
I lived in a house were a man was killed and his house keeper was tied up. He was shot one morning through his front door and died. At certain times of the year you could hear gun shots, his house keeper screaming, the loud thud of something hitting the floor and on occasion you could see a black shadow cross the upstairs grate in the floor to the attic door. We later learned he kept his money hid in the attic.

TM: During your research/studying of the paranormal, have you ever encountered aggressive behavior or felt in danger from a spirit?

KV: Not anything aggressive yet, there was my hair stroked and another team mate felt someone grab his leg walking down some stairs at a clients house.

TM: It seems Skeptics are always doubting the paranormal field, and make claims of evidence being faked, How do you deal with it?

KV: I try not to push my beliefs on other people. If they wanna believe fine but I'm not gonna force them. Most people don't believe until something happens to them.

TM: What do you feel is your best evidence of the paranormal?

KV: We haven't really caught anything I would consider to be good evidence, a few personal experiences but nothing to back up the accounts. (9 out of 10 times you catch nothing, its not like on TV were they catch something every time they go some place. That just doesn't happen.)

TM: Do you have a favorite place you like to investigate?

KV:  I have none that really stand out. I'd like to investigate any and every where we can. You never know, just because one place has nothing, across the street might be loaded with activity. So none I'm not particular, just any and every where.

TM: Do you have a place you would like to investigate but haven't got to, yet?

KV: Bobby Mackey's in Wilder Ky,  heard its got a lot of activity, has a warning sign telling customers its haunted. A lot of places really, but most are very expensive, and theres no such thing as a money back guarantee you'll catch something. Ghost don't respond every time you want them too, if they do maybe its faked.

TM: What would you be doing if you wasn't researching/studying the paranormal?

KV: Its hard to say, but nothing as exciting or interesting as the paranormal I'm sure. Maybe try writing a book on local legends and stories.

Thanks for the interview Big K! Good Luck on finding ghost.
Links to SCP -  Twitter and Facebook




- End Interview -

This concludes our 15 interview in the series. I have enjoyed doing them and find the various answers intriguing. I hope to bring you more interviews in the near future. Again, a big thanks to Kevin for doing the interview. We all wish him and SCP the best of luck in their search for the truth.

Thanks
~Tom~   




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The Haunting of Whaley House

This fictitious movie is loosely base on the haunted folklore of the real Whaley House. During the making of this film the real Whaley House was considered for shooting the film but after going into the real Whaley House the director seen that the rooms were just too small to fit the cast, crew and equipment in them.

Now my thoughts about the movie. My wife and I sat back tonight and wanted to watch a decent scary movie, so we picked The Haunting of Whaley House. The basic premise of the movie is what got our attention, a small group of amateur ghost hunters spend a night in the haunted Whaley House.
The movie starts off pretty good and the set up is decent enough, the set up being that a tour guide at Whaley House don't believe the house if really haunted. It's not too long into the movie that the non believing tour guide is talked into taking her friends into the Whaley House for a night visit. There are several gruesome deaths during the movie and a few "jumpy" parts. The acting is decent enough but there is some weak and/or over acted scenes and in some of the scenes the lighting is not the best and the results is a too dark scene but it really don't effect or change the enjoyment of the film.


Overall we found the movie entertaining and my wife actually stayed awake until the end, which rarely happens. If you are a fan of ghosting hunting shows, which is the fan base this film seems geared towards, you might like this movie. While this movie is not a homerun or a must watch by any means, it is a decent film for a cool October night. The movie should be enjoyable for both believers and non believer in the paranormal. Check out The Haunting of Whaley House on Facebook by Clicking Here.

The Haunting of Whaley House is presented by The Asylum, who recently made some waves with the movie Sharknado.

Rating: 3 out of 5

 Thanks
~Tom~

[Links: Real Whaley House, Whaley House Movie]



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Recreation made at actual area where Girl in White was seen

This is a guest post by Tim Cornett. Tim is a amateur Kentucky historian and author.
Tim has worked as a reporter, publisher, editor and photographer.
Find out more about Tim by Clicking Here



One night several years ago (in the 1990s) I was on my way back to Pineville, KY. after having been to see my fiancée. She lived at Black Snake, KY. which is just off of US 119, about nine miles from Pineville. I say night but it was actually around 2:00 a.m.

    The area where the Light House Mission is located has been different things – a garage, a restaurant, etc. At that time some of the coal truck drivers where parking their trucks in the lot around the building that was there. As I approached this place I noticed there was a young girl in a long white dress standing on the step on the driver's side door. It appeared that she was looking in the truck.

     I realized that no one should be around those trucks at that time of morning. I had already passed the area, but I was only 40 or 50 feet from it. I turned around to go back and see if the girl needed help or what was going on. When I pulled into the lot my head lights swept the truck she had been on, but she wasn't there.

     I got out of the car and looked around the trucks and the lot, but the girl was nowhere to be found. I realized then that it had been a dissatisfied spirit that I had seen. I got back in the car and went on home.
     A few weeks later I was going to my fiancée's. I was driving along US 119 , headed toward Harlan, KY.  It was about 8:00 p.m. and was dark and dreary, as there was a light drizzle of rain falling. As I passed the lot where the trucks were parked I again saw a girl in a long white dress. She was standing on one of the trucks , looking in the window.
     I stopped my car in the middle of the road to look back at the girl. But when I turned my head to look she was gone.
     I just saw this apparition twice and have never heard of anyone else seeing her, but I believe The Girl In White roams that area looking for something or someone.

Thanks
~Tim~

©The Crypto Crew




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The TAPS Team from Syfy's show Ghost Hunters captured a possible ghost in a graveyard on IR camera.

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Actual Court House Building

This is a guest post by Tim Cornett. Tim is a amateur Kentucky historian and author.
Tim has worked as a reporter, publisher, editor and photographer.
Find out more about Tim by Clicking Here



Over the years I have actually been involved in some ghost "sightings." Here I'd like to tell you about one of the earliest ones.

Back in the 1980s I was Supervisor of Bell County Dispatch which handled telephone and radio calls for the Bell County Sheriff's Department, the Pineville Police Department and the Bell County Volunteer Fire Department. At that time Dispatch was located in the basement of the Bell County Court House.

The person who worked the midnight shift, from 12:00 midnight to 8:00 a.m., was a lady named Pat Whitt. Pat had told me that two or three times during the last month or so she had heard someone on the upper floors opening and closing doors. There wasn't supposed to be anyone else in the building during those hours except for the state police troopers who had an office next door to dispatch who would come into the building occasionally to do paper work.

I discussed this with Bell County Volunteer Fire Department Chief Earl BeBusk, who also had office space close to dispatch. We decided to have a group of volunteers on stand-by and the next time Pat heard the doors opening and closing she was to call me and we would search the building from top to bottom.
 

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Ghost in the basement?

This photo was reportedly taken in the 1930's by a widow woman who's husband had died of a heart attack several years prior. Did her husband show back up in the basement?
Is the photo real or fake?
I ran the photo with some software I have and it came back as a possible photoshopped detected for the image. While the analysis was not 100 percent for certain it was a photoshopped image it did point to some type of photo manipulation.
So most likely this is a fake.

Thanks

[Source:Ghosts n Ghouls]


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This photo was taken by the Midwest/Minnesota Paranormal Society at the Colfax Cemetery.
MMPS was there doing an investigation into a  local legend called "Timber Lake Road".
The story goes that there have been many sightings of red eyes in the forest, screams, dogs barking, moans from a woman, and strange shadows. Just all kinds of weirdness. There is also a claim of  piles of dead rats being found in the winter time.
The photo was taken on the night of July 26, 2009, it was take with a Cybershot 7.2 megapixel.
I have zoomed in on the figure in one of the following photos.

Colfax Cemetery Ghost photo

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Dark figure

The shadow in the background is said to be the submitter’s late husband. It seems the husband died of cancer and now haunts his former home and is appearing as a shadowy figure.


So do you think it could be real?

[Sources:GhostStudy , Ghosts n Ghouls]


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Horror or Hoax ?

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Could this be a ghost? (video)
After shooting some video at Hensley cemetery I noticed something that kind of looked odd to me upon review.
At first, I thought it was bugs going by the camera, but after going frame by frame I was able to rule out bugs. I also thought it might be sunlight reflecting off the lens but it does not do it the other times I pan the camera. Plus it does not happen anywhere else in the video.
Could this have been a ghost?

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This is a deeper look at a photo shared with us by Khristey Henderson.
The picture was taken at Green Lawn Cemetery in Ohio in 2011.
There is a few things of interest in the photo, one of which is a little ghost girl.
Hope you enjoy the video.

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According to TAPS founding members Grant Wilson and Jason Hawes there is some things to look fot that may increase your chances of seeing a ghost or having paranormal activity.

Here is what they say to look for in finding a good place:
- Running water
- Railroad tracks
- limestone

Still, Wilson and Hawes are quick to point out that while a ghost is a sign of paranormal activity, not all paranormal activity is a ghost.
"Paranormal activity is anything above the norm of what we are used to," said Hawes, who, with Wilson, works as a plumber for Roto-Rooter in New England.

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