There is yet another potential paranormal reality television series in the works. The keyword here is “potential”, mind you. The show, if it comes together, will be comprised of a ghost hunting team of horror movie professionals. The project is called Hollywood Ghost Hunters.

Kane Hodder and Rick McCallum head up the all-male investigative team. You may not know who these men are, unless you are true slasher film enthusiast. Hodder is a stuntman who was one of the many men behind the hockey mask that “Jason” wore in four of the Friday the 13th films. McCallum, also a stuntman, took on the role of the title character in the film Darkwolf, as well as the portrayal of the monster in Deep Dark Six. The two stuntmen discovered their common interest in ghost hunting while filming a movie at the haunted Mansfield Prison in Ohio. Both men state that they each possess many years of ghost hunting experience.

“We are thrilled with the renewed national interest in the paranormal and we would love to be able to find some new and undiscovered locations to visit and ghost hunt,” – Kane Hodder, Hollywood Ghost Hunters

It isn’t a shocker that the team is comprised of a total of 13 men, who are all connected through their various individual contributions to the horror film genre and their common interest in the paranormal. Some of the men on the team are skeptics, but they would love to find evidence to perhaps change their beliefs.

Hodder, McCallum and company are currently accepting submissions from owners of haunted locales, preferably in Southern California. However, the team is willing to consider locations outside that area. Team member Louis Horowitz has two Arizona paranormal investigations under his belt, including one in the “paranormal” Old Pueblo. If a Tucson case is interesting enough, it isn’t that far from Southern Cal.

The team claims to be the most qualified group to investigate the paranormal. Director/producer/team member Richard Friedman supports this claim by stating: “…who better to delve into the truth and reality of ghosts, than people who create the illusion of the supernatural for a living,”

Their Hollywood Ghost Hunter’s website presents video evidence gathered at an investigation in June, at the David Oman house in Beverly Hills. For those who don’t recognize the location, this is a home constructed a few doors down from the scene of the 1969 Manson family massacre of Sharon Tate, Jay Sebring, Abigail Folger, Voytek Frykowski and Steven Parent.

David Oman, the home’s owner, is the creator/writer/producer of a film called House at End of the Drive, a slasher/ghost story loosely based on the 1969 murders. Oman claims that his home is haunted by its proximity to the murder scene. SyFy’s Ghost Hunters investigated the Oman home in 2007. Parapsychologist Dr. Barry Taff also investigated the home. When discussing the case with George Noory on Coast to Coast AM in 2005, Taff said he was uncertain if the home was haunted or if there was a geophysical explanation for the unusual activity in the home, similar to the Oregon Vortex.

It’s not surprising that the horror movie professionals investigated the home of another horror movie professional. The team does feature additional investigations outside of Southern California on their website, including the Sloss Furnace in Alabama and the South Pittsburg Hospital in Tennessee.

The team is currently accepting submissions of “new and undiscovered locations” via their website.

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Animal Planet is the latest cable network to offer a weekly series focused on the paranormal. This show, which premiered last Sunday, is called The Haunted.

This 10-part series presents true stories of paranormal pet experiences. The show’s tagline: “If animals believe, should you?”

Some of the program’s segments feature pet owners who believe that their deceased pets have come back to haunt them. Other segments interview people who believe that their living pets have experienced brushes with dead people (or demons). In these segments, the pet owners serve as witnesses to this ghostly phenomena on behalf of their pets.

The show is entertaining, especially for paranormal enthusiasts who also love animals. Re-enactments involving animals supplement each segment. It presents the stories as they are told and some of the stories do get you thinking. 

The basis of the contemplation stems from the fact that some animals do appear to sense certain things that people cannot. Some animals can sense when a person is about to experience a seizure. Other animals appear to sense earthquakes, weather changes or even disasters, before the events occur.

In Indonesia in 2004, before the tsunami disaster, eyewitnesses observed elephants running to higher ground. It is said that many other animals were observed exhibiting odd behavior just prior to the tsunami. Many human victims of the tsunami, on the other hand, did not grasp the visual cue of the giant wave forming (ocean water receding from shore). Mainstream science does not venture often into the paranormal, but scientists have studied the so-called sixth sense in animals.

The Haunted isn’t Ghost Hunters, for sure. Jason and Grant, and most paranormal investigators, decline cases where the family pet serves as the primary eyewitness to paranormal phenomena. I think, however, that a dog would be a fine addition to any paranormal team, due to their acute senses. I would take Fido along on a ghost investigation if given the chance. The K9′s reaction might be more sensitive than that K2 meter, as an effective ghost hunting tool. My canine would have to exhibit more bravery than Scooby Doo, though.

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Watch The Haunted on Animal Planet, every Sunday through December 20, 2009 at 10:00PM ET, check your local listings.

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When I had car trouble a few years ago, I called my sister to pick me up from work. She wasn’t feeling up to taking me all the way home that day. I hung out with her for a while and called my dad for a ride home. My dad arrived at my sister’s house in his full-sized pickup truck with a shell, with his friend Carly by his side in the passenger seat. My sister came outside with me to see me off. We both noticed a boy, who we identified as Carly’s son Jimi, in the back of the truck. He looked out of the truck’s shell at my sister and me. He looked happy to see us and gave us a huge smile. My sister and I commented about how we liked Jimi. I hugged my sister goodbye.

As I approached the truck, Carly slid to the middle of the seat to allow room for me. I climbed in and took the passenger side seat. I greeted my dad, gave Carly a hug, and turned around to greet Jimi. Jimi wasn’t there.

I turned to my dad and Carly and asked, “Where’s Jimi?”

Jimi was at his dad’s house, they said. I was quite confused, but insisted that there was a young boy in the back of the truck. The boy smiled at my sister and me. My dad said I was seeing things. As we pulled away, I noticed my sister still outside, waving her hand and smiling at us. A confused look came over her face before she turned around and went back inside her house.

I called my sister later that night to tell her that there was no one in the back of the truck. She was as surprised as I was. She added that as we pulled away, she waved at the little boy, he waved back.

Months went by, during which time my sister and I received some ribbing about the ghost boy. Then it was forgotten, for while. Others started “seeing things” in the back of the truck, inside that  shell.

My dad worked as a contractor for a time for Qwest Communications, arranging for service and towing. One hot summer day, my dad answered a call for a broken down truck at Kolb and Valencia. The driver of the disabled vehicle was sitting against a fence when my dad pulled up. It was too hot for him to wait for my dad inside the vehicle. My dad examined the disabled truck, while the driver looked on. The driver asked if it was maybe a little too hot to let the kids stay in the back of the truck with no air conditioning. My dad said there were no kids in his truck. The driver took a closer look, and thoroughly examined my dad’s truck to satisfy himself. He said he distinctly saw kids looking out the shell windows.

Several months later, my dad took a job at a roofing company. One day, he arrived at the roofing yard, parked out front and walked in. Someone at the yard asked if the kids in the back of the truck were his grandchildren. My dad said that there were no children there. The inquirer decided to go outside to make sure. A couple other workers refused to even get near the truck at the mere thought of ghosts, particularly at the thought of ghostly children. The inquirer continued to insist that he saw kids looking out the window, and had even commented to another worker as my dad pulled in, saying that he was probably on his way somewhere with the grandkids.

Once since then, my sister and I joined my dad on a camping trip. Since we had other commitments, we only visited with him for a few hours and ate a steak dinner around the campfire. By nightfall, I kept my back to the truck, as I felt that someone was watching me. So did my sister. We drove back to Tucson through the Coronado National Forest late that night, feeling rather creeped out and quite jumpy.

My dad since removed the camper shell to install a tool box in the back of his truck. The  shell sits on my uncle’s property, reserved for occasional camping trips. I don’t know if the “children” are attached to the truck or to the camper shell. It could be a defect in the glass, but that would be an eerie defect, to say the least. My uncle hasn’t reported any activity associated with that shell stored in his yard. There’s seemingly no paranormal activity attached to the truck either.

One day soon, I will take a full camping trip with my dad. Perhaps those kids might come along with my dad. Although the kids in the truck look quite happy and not menacing in any way, I think I’ll keep my back to the truck again and let them play in peace.