All week the haunted headlines have been buzzing about the new Canadian docuseries, Hotel Paranormal, starring Dan Aykroyd of Ghostbusters fame. It’s set to premiere tonight, May 15, on T+E, which stands for Totally Entertaining. It’s a channel that broadcasts all sorts of dramas and series, including ones about the paranormal and supernatural. (A lot like Travel Channel or A&E.)
Similar to what Robert Englund did with Travel Channel’s True Terror with Robert Englund, Aykroyd will be narrating the 10-part Hotel Paranormal series. Akroyd, a Canadian himself, will share reenactments of the times travelers found themselves face-to-face with restless spirits who hadn’t checked out.
I’m pretty sure this is the series a producer from T+E for an unnamed-at-that-time show had contacted me about my spooky stay at the Shilo Inn. It was one of my first posts when I launched the blog eleven years ago, and was one of the reasons I started haunt jaunting over twenty years ago to begin with.
However, my story wasn’t scary enough for them. My memory of the experience has changed over time. Sort of.
I couldn’t have been that spooked back then, though, because I didn’t ask to change rooms.
Then again, I wasn’t even thinking it could be ghosts at first. Not when it happened.
When I got back to Phoenix and learned about the murder-suicide, though…that’s when I started wondering if I’d had a ghostly encounter with the dead children. To this day remembering learning about the hotel’s tragic history, especially after what happened in my room that night, still raises the hairs on my arm.
Skeptic-Busting
Anyway, Aykroyd made an interesting comment that I saw in an ET Canada article:
“I was excited to come on board and narrate T+E’s ‘Hotel Paranormal’ because I think the show is going to be a real skeptic-buster and as a believer in ghosts that makes me happy,” Aykroyd said in a statement about the series. “I’ve been watching T+E’s paranormal programming for years and when you marry a great channel with gripping and entertaining real-life ghost stories, such as those told in ‘Hotel Paranormal’, I’m on board.”
I love a good haunted hotel story, probably because of my own experience in one (and now two, which I haven’t yet written about), but I’m not sure trying to convert skeptics is ever a good goal. Neither is trying to convert believers. So this actually turned me off a little.
Not that I can watch anyway since I’m in the U.S., but I’d rather watch with an open mind, hear the stories, examine the hotel’s history, and even have a chance to investigate for myself before I decided if a place is haunted or not.
Way too many factors can affect claims of paranormal experiences. Had they been drinking? Stressed from a long flight or tired from a full day? Are there any allergen triggers in the room? See where I’m going with that?
For instance, how do I know it wasn’t something I ate that was causing me to have weird dreams about giggling children in drawers when I stayed at the Shilo Inn? What if it had just been a dream and I could retrofit it to thinking it had anything to do with seven children being thrown from one of the windows? It could’ve been a giant coincidence that I was thinking I was hearing children in the drawers of my room at all.
Until we know more about ghosts and why some claim to have experiences while others don’t, I’m neither trying to prove nor disprove anybody. I’m strictly seeking to understand.
And be entertained when possible. Hotel Paranormal does sound entertaining. I have a feeling we may see an incarnation of it on Travel Channel or the like in the future. Not sure whether Aykroyd will be involved in that endeavor or not too, but time will tell.
Hotel Paranormal Trailer
For More Info
Visit T+E Hotel Paranormal‘s page: https://www.tandetv.com/hotel-paranormal/
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Courtney Mroch is a globe-trotting restless spirit who’s both possessed by wanderlust and the spirit of adventure, as well as obsessed with true crime, horror, the paranormal, and weird days. Perhaps it has something to do with her genes? She is related to occult royalty, after all. Marie Laveau, the famous Voodoo practitioner of New Orleans, is one of her ancestors. That could also explain her infatuation with skeletons.
Speaking of healing, to learn how she channeled her battle with cancer to conjure up this site, check out HJ’s Origin Story.