Many people have had inexplicable experiences that some believe could point to the paranormal, and often, are either too embarrassed or too skeptical to tell others. Whether their experiences are evidence of hauntings or simply fabrications of their own mind is always open for debate. Ryan Buell, founder of the Paranormal Research Society at Penn State University and the star of docu-drama reality show Paranormal State on A&E, has immersed himself in the world of the paranormal for many years, with the hope that he can bring solace to those who consult the PRS for help with what they believe to be hauntings.

In the midst of filming season two, Ryan took a break from investigating a Virginia haunting to chat with us, and give us a look inside the world of a paranormal investigator?

How did you get your start investigating the paranormal?

When I was teenager, and I started to learn a little bit more about ghost hunting. It was my junior year in high school, and I had written for the high-school newspaper. I decided that, for Halloween, I was going to do an investigation of one of the local haunts in the area, Salem Black River Church. I went and did an investigation there and found it to be fascinating. Eventually I came to Penn State and formed the Paranormal Research Society, and I decided at that point that I really wanted to pursue this on a more serious level. I formed PRS and I had others joining me, and I started to realize that there are a lot of people out there that are experiencing something that?s frightening to them, and they didn?t want that anymore.

How did your fellow investigators become involved?

They have an interest in joining the club, and, if they want to actually investigate, they have to take a training course. It?s about a semester long because we do have to weed out the interest, because some people come in there just looking for a thrill. Others come in, and at the slightest sound they?ll freak out and run out of the house screaming. You can?t have that when you?re dealing with clients that are emotionally afraid for what they?ve already been experiencing. If the ?experts? come in there and they start freaking out that?s just going to do even further damage to these people.

You were obviously doing this long before the television show but what are some of the benefits, or challenges, of being backed by the resources of the television show?

I think that a benefit is, we went from having four to five people on a team to about 25 people on the team. They?re there to document, but it?s our show. I?ve heard horror stories about people who do shows and they?re treated like cattle, but our show is a collaborative process from the beginning to the end. The producers are people who enjoy what they?re doing. There are a lot of other shows out there that pay a lot better but this show is a little more honest and genuine, and they like that. That makes me feel better because I know that the people I?m around truly are invested in this.

The only real big problem is it?s hard for the clients to open up on camera like they would if it was just us. Now they are a little bit more conscious because they have cameras on them, and they don?t know what to say. The big thing is we try to have our clients be as open as possible so sometimes it takes a while to break that defense down because they think we?re there to embarrass them or sensationalize things. But they learn that we?re not, and now that the show?s out there, people really know that we?re not out there to make people look crazy.

The benefit again is they help us! I have extra people to turn to and can talk to experts and scientists that normally wouldn?t give us the time of day.

How involved are you with the post-production? Does PRS have a say in what goes on air?

I have a little bit, but it?s more of an honor code than a contractual thing. Honestly, there was once or twice when the producers had thought I meant something and were taking the show in a different direction and I said ?No, that?s not what I meant.? It was expensive, but they went back and fixed it because I told them what they thought was a little difference was actually a big difference. I know that the whole process is just an adaptation of what we do. It?s just like when filmmakers come in and adapt a book to a movie. We could have the same documentary team, but have three different editors and it will all turn out differently. I just look at it as their interpretation, because obviously we can?t fit everything we do into 22 minutes; but overall I?m very happy with what we do.

The show seems to draw on religion and belief in higher powers. How important is that in investigating the paranormal?

I think it?s very important because you?re dealing with the unknown, the supernatural, spirits and alleged demons out there. What the hell is your thermal-camera going to do to get rid of these things or confront these things? It doesn?t make any sense. Many people say you should leave religion out of it, but I think religion is a big part of it. It?s not about a Christian God, it?s just about a belief system. It all comes down to belief in the supernatural. There?s a lot of evidence out there about the paranormal, but a skeptic will not believe until he truly has an experience. Right now the supernatural is very much an anomaly. You can?t reproduce this in a laboratory. We can?t scientifically prove there?s an afterlife.

Another thing is that the clients are genuinely frightened. These people know their houses are haunted. They don?t need a team to come in and say ?yup, congratulations your house is haunted, have a nice day.? That?s not why they bring us in. They bring us in because they want whatever it is resolved, and they want to go back to their normal lives. Most of these people don?t think it?s cool to have a haunted house.

Again, how can a thermal camera fend off these spirits? If we do want to help them, we reach out to their religious beliefs. Not my religious beliefs, but theirs. On the show you?ve seen the Christian, the Catholic, the Pagan, Jewish, and Muslim belief systems. We try to honor everyone?s belief systems. Whether it?s paranormal or not the bottom line is when we implement the religious or spiritual belief system, they feel more empowered and therefore they?re not so afraid. Next thing you know, the phenomena goes away. So is it all in their head? Maybe. Or does calling upon archangels and doing a house blessing or sprinkling holy water on a doorway actually remove spirits? Honestly I don?t know. It could be either/or, but it?s helping. What harm is it to sprinkle holy water on a door? We bring it in to help them with resolution.

So whether it?s reaching out to someone?s beliefs, helping someone, or finding something you connected with on a paranormal level, over the years, what has been your favorite investigation?

Honestly some of the most rewarding ones were on the show. I do like scary or creepy investigations, but when I think about my favorite, my favorites tend to be the ones where we either uncover something really big or we just help resolve the situation and it?s over and done with.

The ones that have the biggest resolutions are the ones that I really like. The Dark Man is one of them. The one in Las Vegas with Savannah, the girl who was seeing the dead spirit of Emily, we were really able to really connect the dots and talk to the family of the supposed victim.

I did a case way back before the show with a family that supposedly had a demonic haunting. We helped them, helped connect them with a priest. The Catholic Church approved an exorcism, and the family literally turned around. They went from being on the verge of hysterics to being calm and happy and being able to move on with their lives.

Have you had your own paranormal experiences?

I?m very private about mine, and that?s why I was just telling the client we were working with today that they are brave for what they do. Most people follow, they don?t lead. It?s a huge taboo to talk about the paranormal. But thanks to the clients in season one, the taboo is breaking down. People who I thought would never claim they had a paranormal experience?I?m talking about lawyers, good old-fashioned southern boy lawyers talking about their paranormal experiences. I went to my chiropractor, and he was telling me about his paranormal experience. Everyone has a story, and if you think about it we?re all connected in that sense, and there?s a piece of the unknown that most of us have been touched with. It?s part of the human experience. We realize that there?s more to what we see and we try to rationalize and deal with that.

People responded overwhelmingly to season one. What can they expect in season two?

I?m hoping you?ll see more scary and frightening cases. I don?t mean that in a sensational level. I mean frightening to the client too. I?d like to go into a case that?s frightening, and then at the end it?s all fine. We?re bringing in some new technology that hasn?t been [used] before. The thing about our show is, people try to label it as something. People thought the show was right-wing Catholic propaganda and then the next show we had a pagan banishment ritual. And then people were like ?What is this show?? We want to continue to break down the barriers because at the end of the day, no one truly knows anything about the paranormal, so we?re entertaining all aspects. We?re not trying to say that there?s one way to do it.

Are there any new locations you could tell us about?

Well, we just started. In season one you saw us primarily based in the northeast. This time around, America is fair game. We?ll definitely be going all over the place, but right now we?re just starting to formulate. Right now we?re in Virginia and we?ll probably do some more southern areas and then go out west.

There are a few other paranormal shows out there that are quite different from Paranormal State. How do you feel your show differs from them?

I think Ghost Hunters is great in the sense that they try to look at it with skepticism. I guess the audience respects that skeptical viewpoint. With us, we?re not coming in to debunk, we?re coming in to understand. Some people like to think that we believe what people are experiencing. In some ways, we want to believe our clients. We?re going in there with the assumption that what our clients say is real. We treat it kind of clinically. If a patient comes in and says, ?I?m thinking about hurting myself,? you don?t say ?Are they truly going to hurt themselves? Let?s find out if they truly mean this before we react.? We act as if they really are being hurt by a spirit. There have been times on the show that you see that it?s not that way and we address that. In one case, we thought maybe there was a possession and it wasn?t that way. The thing at the end of the day was, maybe she was just sensitive. We didn?t say she was, but just maybe. We just want to bring peace of mind to these clients and at the end of the day we let the viewers decide. We don?t care if its haunted we just want to leave the client in a situation that?s better than it was when we arrived.

The show is geared towards easing or confronting people?s fears, so what is your own biggest fear?

I?ve been thinking about that a lot. What is it that scares me? There?s always something that scares everybody. In the paranormal world I guess it?s someone not being there to help in this arena. Obviously we shouldn?t be focused on death and the afterlife because we?re here to live. But my biggest fear is that if there is something out there, and there are spirits that are trapped, is there anything that?s available to them that could help them? Potentially it goes back to the religious or spiritual?is there something out there and is it good?

Be sure to check back May 7th for the Paranormal State Trivia Challenge, in which you could win one of three Paranormal State Season One DVD Box Sets!!