Living with the Dead (Part One)

The mystery of what happens after death has haunted humankind for centuries. Perhaps this is the reason for the current reality-television trend of paranormal investigation shows. Rising stars of the genre, Resident Undead Paranormal, are looking to raise the bar of paranormal investigations with straightforward presentation of evidence and innovative techniques for stirring the spirits. One of their trademark techniques is "A Ripple In Time," which involves using historical reenactment to draw out the ghosts.  

Resident Undead is YouTube’s most popular paranormal show and winner of the premier episode of the Travel Channel's "Paranormal Challenge." The current line-up of the Resident Undead team consists of Daniel Hooven, Jordan Murphy and founding member Adam Kimmell. Although Kimmell accepts his role as the group’s founder, he has said that he doesn’t like being referred to as the leader.
“Yes, I am the founder, but without Dan and Jordan, I’m nothing,” Kimmell said.

The full spectrum vortex modifies a regular camera to take
pictures in the full spectrum of light, only part of which
is visible to the human eye. Kimmell says that most of his
results show that spirits tend to be visible in the ultraviolet
spectrum.

              Kimmell said that he has always been interested in the paranormal and was dissatisfied with what he saw on popular ghost hunting shows. One night, he decided to take a camera and a voice recorder to Nazareth Cemetery in Mercer, PA. That night, he captured a ghostly apparition on his camera and a voice saying “help” on his recorder. This, he says, was the defining moment in his decision to pursue paranormal investigation.

            “I’m one of those people that once something’s there that I can’t figure out, I will pursue it further to figure it out,” Kimmell said.           

            Kimmell considers the most concrete evidence available to be electronic voice phenomena (EVP). EVP occurs when voice activated recorders capture anomalous voices where no human voices are present. One of the things that sets his team apart from others, he says, is the guarantee of capturing paranormal activity.

            “We’ve got it down to an art that we can capture EVP on the spot,” Kimmell said. “We believe that ghosts are everywhere.”

           

            Kimmell said that the most common question he gets is why investigations are almost always done at night.

            “Honestly, there’s no reason,” he said. “You can get paranormal activity during the day. We prefer the night time. It’s just more thrilling for us personally and I do feel that the activity is higher at night. With night vision, you have more of a distance to see stuff. It’s much easier to make out those shadows. With light, you’re going to have a more limited view.”

                  

Kimmell says that ghosts are everywhere, not just in
"haunted" locations. This EVP session was conducted
in a typical Slippery Rock, PA residence

            

           
             Kimmell believes that some ghosts are bound to certain locations while others are free roaming.

            “There are two kinds of people in this world when it comes to ghost hunting: those that do talk to spirits and those that don’t,” Kimmell said. “If spirits know that I’m trying to openly communicate with them, most likely they’re going to follow me because they know I’m trying to talk, compared to a person who rules it out. Why would a ghost waste their time on that person?”

            A graduate of Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania with a degree in political science, Kimmell turned down an internship in Washington D.C. to pursue paranormal investigation.

            “The way I look at it is, in life, you’d better pursue what’s fascinating to you, because life’s too short,” Kimmell said. “You can do this routine that may make you money or pursue something where you can actually have fun in life and actually die with a smile on your face. And to this day I have no regrets about the decision I made.”

Coming next week in Part Two, Adam will take us on a trip to Snyder Cemetery, the location that started it all.