Who Are These Paranormal Investigators?

What do they really know about the "ghost hunters" and the equipment they are using to do their investigations with? Are their shows strictly for entertainment or is there some validity behind the investigations and evidence they find? Or, are they just clever in using television to help people who are curious about the question, “is there life after death”, and making a buck doing so? I would like to believe that they are trying to find that answer too and are helping us in doing so. I do know that these shows have increased the interest in unexplained activities by seen or unseen sources, spawning many paranormal investigating societies, blogs and websites all over the world. I put together a short history of some of these investigators to get an idea of what may have started their interests in investigating the paranormal and to see what type of paranormal experiences they may or may not have.

Ghost Hunters: Jason Hawes & Grant Wilson
Jason Conrad Hawes was born in Canandaigua, New York. His family moved to Avon, New York when he was still small. In 1979, when Jason was about 7 year old, his father was offered a position at a company in Rhode Island, and the family relocated to Warwick. His very personal paranormal experience is shrouded in mystery but it caused Jason to do more than just wonder about the afterlife and ghosts. He founded The Atlantic Paranormal Society (TAPS) and started it from a spare room in his apartment. He has varied interests outside of TAPS, which include the fine arts, deep-sea fishing, martial arts, camping, hiking, cooking, writing books, and four sci-fi/thriller screenplays. He also spends a great deal of time participating in charity events, raising money for everything from Cure Kids Cancer to Papers in Education. He and his wife, Kris, have five children, three girls and twin boys. His wife, respect TAPS' mission, but has asked her husband not to bring his paranormal work home.
Grant Steven Wilson grew up in Warwick, Rhode Island. After having a personal experince he and fellow friend/co-worker for Roto Rooter Jason Hawes started TAPS. He doesn’t go into detail about his personal experience as well. He and his wife, Reanna, have three sons and his hobbies include writing and illustrating fantasy characters and role-playing game characters, in addition to web design which includes the TAPS website. He also plays piano and guitar and he is also a composer who previously launched a Music Myspace account with some of his piano compositions. In the future, he aspires to work on an album. He is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and served a two-year mission in Italy. Ultimately, he became part of the reality series Ghost Hunters as one of the producers and the lead investigator as well. Recently he and Jason bought and share ownership of the Spalding Inn, which just happens to be haunted. http://www.thespaldinginn.com/

Ghost Hunters International: Robb Demarest
Robb Demarest is a native of Albany, N.Y., and joined the Ghost Hunters International team after three years with Florida Ghost Team (an associate of The Atlantic Paranormal Society). Robb's is currently the assistant director for the team, and participates in speaking engagements on behalf of the group. At an early age, Robb has always been curious about the unknown and life beyond death which started his interest in becoming involved in the field of paranormal investigation. He found it captivating, and say, it "was like reading a mystery that had the last page cut out." He hopes to push the limits of current knowledge in the field and approach these mysteries with the open-minded skepticism for which his TAPS counterparts are known. He has a background in psychology and business administration, and has worked as an ESL teacher and a professional tutor. A practicing martial-artist, he also has a passion for traveling, which Ghost Hunters International is a perfect outlet.

Most Haunted: Yvette Fielding
Yvette Fielding made her first appearance on British television screens at 13 years old in the acclaimed BBC children's sitcom "Seaview." She was soon snapped up by another flagship BBC show, the long running "Blue Peter," becoming the program's youngest presenter at 18. Her efforts were rewarded when she received an "SOS Award" for the "Most Popular Woman on Television." She left "Blue Peter" in 1992, and went on to present or appear in an amazing range of shows, and also tried her hand at home improvement in "Simply DIY" and "A Weekend's Work." She was a host for the game show "Under Offer" and "Dear Denise,” and made appearances on other shows. Yvette is best-known as the face, heart, soul and scream of the world's leading television ghost hunt. Along with her husband, Karl, she started Antix Productions, the company behind the global success that is "Most Haunted” and they have two children. She leads a group of “experts” from the paranormal field, and attempts to find different methods and experiments to communicate with the dead. The team is determined to prove the existence of life after death.

Ghost Adventures: Zak Bagans
Zak Bagans host and is lead investigator along with his paranormal investigation team, Nick and Aaron, travel to both domestic and international locations rumored to be haunted in search of evidence proving the existence of the supernatural. After graduating from film school in Michigan, Zak moved to Las Vegas to pursue a career in documentary filmmaking. There he met Nick and Aaron, his co-host and fellow investigators for Ghost Adventures. Their first paranormal investigations as a team took place all over Nevada, and the footage they captured led to an award-winning, nationally-televised "Ghost Adventures" documentary. In the introduction of each episode, Zak states: “My name is Zak Bagans. I’ve never believed in ghosts until I came face to face with one. So I set out on a quest to capture what I once saw onto video. With no big camera crews following us around, I am joined only by my fellow investigator Nick Groff and our equipment tech Aaron Goodwin. The three of us will travel to the some of most highly active paranormal locations, where we will spend an entire night, being locked down from dusk until dawn . . . Raw . . . Extreme . . . These are our Ghost Adventures.”

Paranormal State: Ryan Buell
Ryan Buell founded the Paranormal Research Society the first month he arrived on campus in September 2001. Ryan always knew he was interested in the paranormal ever since he could read. He would read books ranging from poltergeists to the Bermuda Triangle. A native of Sumter, South Carolina, he began investigating at the age of 15. His first investigation was on the Salem-Black River Church just outside of his hometown. After three years as Director of the PRS, he was invited to speak at colleges and high schools, offered two book proposals, as well as several television opportunities. In 2005, he was approached by producer Betsy Schechter during spring break and was instantly interested in working with him and his group for a TV series. Later that year, A&E pick up the show, and a year later filming began for "Paranormal State,” for which Ryan was made a producer of. This half-hour docu-drama accounts the happenings of PRS and their investigations into the paranormal. Ryan got his first degree in May 2006, and is now finishing another degree while working on the first season of "Paranormal State." Besides possibly writing a book, Ryan love to travel the world, is an avid movie junkie and is a freelance journalist.

Psychic Kids: Children of the Paranormal: Chip Coffey
Chip Coffey is a clairvoyant, clairaudient and clairsentient psychic, as well as a fully-conscious medium. He is the great-grandson of famed Native American medicine woman, Minnie Sue Morrow Foster, whose own amazing gifts were widely hailed in the early part of the 20th century. Chip is blessed to have the God-given ability to provide others with insight, guidance and direction. As a medium, he is also able to reconnect his clients with loved ones who have crossed over. Chip has a Master's Degree in Counseling and works extensively with hospice organizations, providing spiritual support to patients and their families. He is also a certified paranormal investigator and frequently consults with victims' families and law enforcement agencies on unsolved murder and missing person’s cases.

Destination Truth: Josh Gates
I added Josh because some of his investigations have been of the paranormal kind along with searching for myterious creatures. Josh Gates is an explorer, adventurer, photographer, and hails from the small town of Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts. A graduate of Boston's renowned Tufts University, Josh holds degrees in archaeology and drama. His work and travels have taken him to more than 70 countries around the world. Josh is an avid SCUBA diver, has participated in sub-sea archaeological excavations in the Mediterranean, and his work as a photographer has taken him from sweltering African villages to the icy heights of the Himalayas. Josh was recently inducted into The Explorers Club, a prestigious organization dedicated to the advancement of exploration and field research. Recently, Josh scaled "the roof of Africa" on Mt. Kilimanjaro and climbed on Aconcagua, the tallest mountain in the Americas. From the Far East to the Wild West, Josh is passionate about exploring and photographing the unique places he visits and the diverse people he meets along the way.

It seems to me that there are many more paranormal investigating teams that we don’t even know of that probably have more experience and knowledge in this field. These people either were smart enough to sell their ideas to the production companies and programming studios, or they simply knew someone. I also noticed that Chip Coffey is the only one that is a certified paranormal investigator.