We recently followed up with Cheryl Byrne, the owner of the home featured on the Paranormal State episode "Man of the House."

Cheryl has remained in touch with the PRS since the investigation, and told us that there has been quite a bit of activity since the team came to visit. One of the more memorable events involved her grandson, Andy.

Cheryl saw that Chip Coffey was in the area for a conference and gave him a call to discuss some of what had been happening. Chip listened to her and asked about a child named Joey. Cheryl told him there was no Joey living there, and he said that he was getting strong feelings about the name. Soon after, Cheryl's husband Bill told her that he'd found a bunch of kids' names written in the cement in the back of the garage — and one was Joey. Around the same time, Adam told her he heard a little boy screaming really loud for his mommy.

Jamie Hernandez is a counselor for the Paranormal Research Society and we recently spoke about how her work comes into play during paranormal investigations.

Emily: What is involved in determining whether or not a person is experiencing psychological, emotional problems or a haunting?

Jamie: This is a difficult question to answer, because so often on cases I've worked on, the paranormal goes hand in hand with emotional and psychological issues — it is rarely one or the other. As a paranormal investigator, there have been cases I've worked on where just by doing a phone interview, the client seemed to be disoriented and confused, and so I would recommend that they receive a medical and psychological evaluation before pursuing help from a paranormal investigator. I think you always have to try to find natural explanations first. Additionally, if a client self-reports a history of a psychiatric disorder, or abuse of certain drugs, you'll want to get more information about that before looking at the paranormal.

Case File: 2007.11.41F
Code Name: "THE SENSITIVE"

DIRECTOR'S LOGS
These logs have been condensed and edited, but to the best of our ability, they remain an accurate account of the case.

MY ORIGINAL THEORIES ON POSSESSION
At the beginning of the episode I was entertaining the idea of spirit/demonic possession. This is because, on paper, it looked very much like a classic case with demonic properties. Janice, the mother, felt that Liana had some direct connection with the paranormal phenomena. Then, according to Janice, there were repeated sightings of a black mist that, at one point, actually approached and pressed down on a family member. The phenomenon got so intense that it got to a point where Liana was very emotional about it. Liana claims to have seen the black mist quite a few times and has communicated with something in the house. As discussed on the show, there were some moments of depression and angst that Liana fell in to. The family described her at times of "not being herself." There was additional information that, unfortunately, was not featured on the show.

For the most part, I wasn't sold on the demonic theory. This is why it is discarded rather quickly on the investigation. However, as an investigator, I believe that it needed to at least be looked in to.

Case File: 2007.11.41F
Code Name: "THE SENSITIVE"

SUMMARY OF PHENOMENA
Mother Janice is frightened for her teenage daughter, Liana. They've seen black mists, heard unusual sounds and have experienced movement of objects and doors slamming in front of their eyes. Additionally, Liana is extremely emotional and depressed. They've tried doctors and counselors and they can't find anything wrong. Is there something paranormal at work?

NOTES FOR THE DISPATCHED FIELD RESEARCH TEAM
There seems to be a lot of emotional problems with Liana, according to the mother. We need to consider mental and physical explanations as well. If it is paranormal, my concern is that we may be dealing with a classic case of spirit oppression or possession. The unexplainable depression and mood swings, the black mists, the poltergeist-like activity are all classic signs. However, paranormal activity aside, the emotional problems Liana is demonstrating could very well be attributed to adolescence or something else. It doesn't explain away the paranormal activity, however. So, is it something other than spirit possession?

We will need to find a local psychologist in their area to participate. We'll also bring in counselor Jamie.

We recently checked in with Georgia, the woman whose home was investigated in the "Paranormal State" episode "Shapeshifter."

Georgia and her daughter Katie reported feeling the presence of an angry spirit watching them on their Maine property at night. More recently, Katie had been attacked by a spirit described as half-animal, half-human. The PRS team was called in to investigate.

"We appreciated them coming out," Georgia said. "When [the PRS] was here, the energy was very low. When they left, it felt like it's decreased, but not gone." However, Georgia felt very empowered by the procedure of verbally ordering the spirit out of her home, as shown in the episode, and is no longer afraid of the spirit. The blessing ceremony the team performed on the property also helped.

Case File: 2007.11.42F
Code Name: "KNICKERBOCKER"

SUMMARY OF PHENOMENA
Peg Knickerbocker and her husband own the Knickerbocker Hotel, a 100-year-old building set in a small town in Northwestern Pennsylvania. They have spent a lot of money renovating the place, hoping to build a place where people can enjoy happy moments such as weddings, anniversaries, etc.

Then comes the haunting. Family members are frightened to stay on location. Some, they claim, have been pushed down steps. Others have been scared by some unexplained force watching them or calling out. The worst, however, came after a dinner party. Suddenly bad things happened to many of the individuals who attended this dinner party. Peg is worried that there is something negative in the hotel.

NOTES FOR THE DISPATCHED FIELD RESEARCH TEAM
We've been investigating cases for some time now. I think we all share an uneasiness about the fact that Peg has invited numerous psychics in to her hotel to conduct séances and other spiritual devices. Even though we have become more skeptical of paranormal claims, we must give Peg an open an objective investigation.

• Is there a connection with the supernatural activity and the dinner party?

• If there is something supernatural going on, is there a dark force? If so, what is it?

NOTE
I won't be providing a postmortem for this episode. I'd prefer the episode to stand on its own.

Case File: 2006.11.27F
Code Name: "Freshman Fear"

DIRECTOR'S LOGS
These logs have been condensed and edited, but to the best of our ability, they remain an accurate account of the case.

LAUREN'S CASE
Lauren's case seemed rather typical. However, we wanted to look in to the activity as best as possible. The only problem was the location. We're used to houses or, at the very least, small apartments. This was a tiny dorm room. We experimented with placing the surveillance system around the dorm, but we kept running in to difficulties since there was no place to store the computer.

Katrina Weidman is the interviewer for the Penn State Paranormal Research Society and I recently spoke with her about her interest in the paranormal field and her experiences as a PRS member and college student.

Emily: What inspired your interest in the paranormal?

Katrina: Growing up in a house with activity got me interested; also my mom's side of the family has had a lot of experiences, so I grew up with the idea that there is something more to this life on Earth. My brother passed away in '97 and that too showed me there was more to this life. It was most likely the combination of all those things that made me want to learn more about the paranormal, I just remember being about 10 years old and reading books on the paranormal.

Case File: 2006.11.27F
Code Name: "Freshman Fear"

SUMMARY OF PHENOMENA
Penn State University is rich with urban legends and ghost stories. From haunted Schwab Auditorium to the unexplained deaths of a few university students, these tales are passed down from generation to generation. But is there any truth to these legends? Penn State student Lauren is a freshman who's been living on campus for just three months. She claims that her dorm room is haunted. Her friends are willing to corroborate her claims. According to her, the haunting began after she played a terrifying Japanese game — 100 candles. Is her dorm room truly haunted, or is this a result of campus legend and psychological fear?

NOTES FOR THE DISPATCHED FIELD RESEARCH TEAM
• Is Lauren truly experiencing a haunting?

• How could campus legends affect her emotional state?

• What is the truth behind the 100 Candles legend?

Case File: 2007.02.37F
Code Name: "Mothman"

DIRECTOR'S LOGS
These logs have been condensed and edited, but to the best of our ability, they remain an accurate account of the case.

FIELD TRIP!
I've always wanted to visit Point Pleasant, home of the infamous Mothman. I remember reading John Keel's book, The Mothman Prophecies, in my late teens. It was a powerful book. In my mind, no other journalist has deeply investigated the supernatural like Keel.

Nevertheless, the story of the Mothman has had a major impact on many lives across the globe. What I found fascinating wasn't the actual sightings nor the testimony. It's this whole theory about ultra-terrestrials.

Case File: 2007.02.37F
Code Name: "Mothman"

SUMMARY OF PHENOMENA
For over 40 years, the legend of the Mothman has haunted the residents of Point Pleasant, WV. What took place in this small town so many years ago? Eyewitnesses described seeing a winged creature with bright red eyes. Others felt that this creature was appearing to warn people.

What really happened? We'd like to shed light on this mystery.

NOTES FOR THE DISPATCHED FIELD RESEARCH TEAM
• PRS needs to start from the beginning and interview as many eyewitnesses as possible.

• Did the Mothman cause the collapse of the Silver Bridge?

• What is the Mothman? Hoax? Alien? Something else?

Case File: 2007.11.43F
Code Name: "Asylum"

DIRECTOR'S LOGS
These logs have been condensed and edited, but to the best of our ability, they remain an accurate account of the case.

OVERRULED
Originally, we turned down the idea of investigating the old asylum. My team, myself excluded, thought it was overdone and cliché. "What is the moral or scientific benefit of doing a nearly abandoned building?" Eilfie and the gang asked. I understood where they were coming from, so I didn't hold their decision against them. We've all seen the countless television specials of investigators going in to abandoned buildings and running out screaming towards the end. My team didn't want to be a part of that genre. The core of the problem, especially with Eilfie, came down to respect. An asylum, for instance, has many terrible and sad memories. Eilfie and the gang didn't want to go in and desecrate the memories of the dead. I assured her that we wouldn't do that, because that's not what PRS is about. If we went in to the asylum, I said, we would treat the place with the utmost respect. And like all cases, we would see if there was anything we could do to help.

Case File: 2007.11.43F
Code Name: "Asylum"

SUMMARY OF PHENOMENA
From the mid-19th century until the early 1990s, the Willard Center was an asylum. The first patient arrived naked in a cage. Ultimately, over 5,000 bodies were buried in an unmarked field. Now a drug-treatment prison, several guards and employees claim to experience supernatural phenomenon on the grounds. A few guards fled the quarters after seeing the spirit of a woman screaming at them. The superintendent of the facility has requested PRS to come on site and conduct an investigation.

On a side note, PRS is bringing in Chris Moon, a paranormal researcher and operator of a controversial new tool called "Frank's Box." This box, developed by Frank Sumption, is being hailed as a "telephone to the dead." PRS has decided to experiment with using the box on this investigation and see what insight it provides.

NOTES FOR THE DISPATCHED FIELD RESEARCH TEAM
• Can we explain away the Willard Asylum haunting?

• If Willard is truly haunted, why are the spirits still remaining?

• How can PRS resolve a case that does not involve any living clients?

• Is Frank's Box a legitimate tool?

Case File: 2007.10.40F
Code Name: "Requiem"

DIRECTOR'S LOGS
These logs have been condensed and edited, but to the best of our ability, they remains an accurate account of the case.

THE STORY OF JIM BARNES
Jim Barnes committed suicide on the Warren's property on October 27, 1992. He was in the military, retired. The town residents spoke very highly of him. According to friends and family, Jim committed suicide upon learning that he had Alzheimer's. Jim's widow, Ruth-Anne, told me that Jim watched his father deteriorate with Alzheimer's. He didn't want to put his family through the same thing, so, according to Ruth-Anne, he just ended his life one morning. When Ruth-Anne arrived home from work that morning, she found his beret lying in the driveway. She said she sensed something was wrong. She found her husband and called the police.

We spoke with a specialist who regularly works with Alzheimer patients. He explained to me that depression is not uncommon with those who are newly diagnosed. There has been a lot of progress in the treatment for Alzheimer's since the early '90s. This specialist explained that the medication and treatment available today was not available back then. Counseling was usually one of the steps involving those who were diagnosed with Alzheimer's, but for Jim, he never got that far. He died within a week or so after being diagnosed.

Case File: 2007.10.40F
Code Name: "Requiem"

SUMMARY OF PHENOMENA
The Warrens call in PRS to investigate their home when their daughter, Kristy, confides in them that she is terrified to stay in the home. Kristy is regularly bothered in her room where she feels something pressing down at the foot of her bed. They've heard heavy breathing. The family discovered that a man committed suicide on the property in the '90s. Is this man still lingering? If so, what does he want?

NOTES FOR THE DISPATCHED FIELD RESEARCH TEAM
• What exactly is happening in the Warren's home?

• Why is Kristy being bothered more so than the others?

• Does the man who committed suicide on the property have anything to do with their haunting?

We checked in with Carolann Crowley, the subject of the "Paranormal Intervention" episode of "Paranormal State," to see how things have gone since the PRS came to visit.

As noted in Ryan's postmortem, Carolann recently started recording EVPs again after quitting for about six months. "Mary," the ghost of the woman who committed suicide in Carolann's garage, is still around and has started making contact again.

"It didn't calm anything down. In fact, things started getting moved around in the house, which never happened before." She described wine glasses mysteriously appearing on high shelves in the kitchen, too high up for someone to put them there without a ladder. Other objects have been found in unexpected places.

Case File: 2006.12.28F
Code Name: "Woman in the Window"

DIRECTOR'S LOGS
These logs have been condensed and edited, but to the best of our ability, they remain an accurate account of the case.

THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN CONNECTION
According to the family, only two people have seen the apparition: Larry and Brandon. Both Larry and Brandon happen to be African Americans. Since we didn't have any African American investigators on hand, we brought in my long-time friend, VJ, to the property. We told him very little about the haunting. He participated in DEAD TIME down in the basement, and according to him, he felt the presence of a female spirit.

The big question we had at the beginning was, "Why is a spirit only appearing to African Americans?" Was the spirit a racist? Someone who did not approve of African Americans coming in to their home?

Case File: 2006.12.28F
Code Name: "Woman in the Window"

SUMMARY OF PHENOMENA
A family in Pittsburgh owns a home that was built in the early 1800s. The daughter's boyfriend, Larry, has seen the apparition of a woman staring at him. Only one other person has seen the woman, another male. Both males happen to be African American. The family believes that their house was once part of the Underground Railroad. Is this haunting somehow historically linked?

NOTES FOR THE DISPATCHED FIELD RESEARCH TEAM
• Can only African Americans see this spirit?

• What is the history of the property?

• Was it truly part of the Underground Railroad?

• Are there any other explanations for the phenomenon?

Case File: 2007.02.35
Code Name: "The Haunted Piano"

DIRECTOR'S LOGS
These logs have been condensed and edited, but to the best of our ability, they remain an accurate account of the case.

HAUNTED OBJECTS & HAUNTINGS IN GENERAL
I have only done a handful of cases involving haunted objects, but in my short experience, I find it incredibly hard to validate a haunted object case. Usually the phenomenon itself going on with the client or within the house can be documented the same as any other case, but the theory of what determines where a haunting comes from, well... it's theory only. I've done cases where we eventually come up with a theory that an object might be the agent, but with this investigation, the clients are already explaining to us that it's the piano.

We didn't want to rule out other possibilities, so we investigated the clients just the same. We found that there was more of a history with Nadine and the supernatural, but a lot of that was very personal and she didn't want to share that on camera, which we respected.

Case File: 2007.02.35
Code Name: "The Haunted Piano"

SUMMARY OF PHENOMENA
The PRS is called in to investigate the claim of a haunted piano plaguing clients Nadine and John who are antique collectors. According to Nadine, she felt sick almost the moment the piano was brought in to the home. Within the next few days, they noticed a mouse infestation within their home. Nadine feels as if she's being watched. She feels that there is something attached to the piano and they want it removed.

NOTES FOR THE DISPATCHED FIELD RESEARCH TEAM
• What is the piano's history?

• How can we determine if the piano is truly haunted?

• Can we explain the mouse infestation?