Featuring Niagara haunts
May 1, 2009
By JOHN LAW
The Niagara Falls Review
In the upper loft of the 4555 Cafe on Queen Street, people are auditioning to be scared.
Pretend you're in a room, they're told. You'll feel a chill. Through your ear piece, a producer says she saw something move behind you. You investigate but find nothing.
All the while, four producers are filming you, taking notes and deeming you worthy of a good haunting.
They file in and out to audition for History of a Haunting, a new made-in-Niagara paranormal show debuting online Aug. 29. Despite a show pushing 'realism,' they're trying out for the part of team leader. They go into houses, report what's so scary, and - oh yeah -keep the audience entertained.
It's hardly groundbreaking: Shows like Ghost Hunters, Paranormal State and Ghost Trackers have beaten the concept into the grave. Creator Jerry Potter of Niagara Falls worked on one called Haunted Hamilton, poking around spooky steeltown haunts for CHTV.
Hamilton is fine, he figured, but when it comes to ghostbusting, it can't touch Niagara.
With its historic battlegrounds, vintage neighbourhoods and eerie locales, the region has enough material for several seasons of a TV series. For now, he's fine-tuning the pilot in the hopes History of a Haunting becomes an online hit. Then, he'll worry about TV.
"Real people, real situations, real locations," he says. "We'll implement the actual history of the Niagara region."
To do so, Potter has assembled an all-Niagara team to put it together. Four of them spent last Friday auditioning people (which earned them a snide mention in a Toronto-based paranormal blog), some of whom are a complete waste of time.
Michelle, 30, is asked why she would make a good team leader.
"I really enjoy hauntings and I like to narrate," she responds.
Continued After Advertisement Below
Advertisement
When she starts to ramble, the interview is cut short. The next one isn't much better: A 14-year-old kid has showed up, and he's automatically disqualified because of his age. Not wanting to be rude, they let him audition anyway.
When he's asked to improv a scene, he wanders around the room like he's lost.
"I don't really know what I'm doing," he says.
"It's great you had the guts to come out and do this anyway," says executive producer Nathan Chamberland.
Up next is a 24-year-old actor who drove from Toronto. He shows promise and looks good on camera.
"If something happens on your watch, you have to take responsibility," he says. "If the team leader is acting with hysteria, it'll be obnoxious for the rest of the team."
One of the 20 or so people who showed up for auditions will likely be the face of the show, and try to separate History of a Haunting from the pack. To that end, Potter has brought aboard a 'transmedium' to communicate with any boogeymen and get some answers.
That would be Sayge Flannigan of St. Catharines, who for six years has gone into paranormal hot zones and channeled what he believes is an 18th-century Jesuit priest named Zoltach.
He doesn't care about doubters. He simply lets Zoltach do the talking.
"I let the information I channel speak for itself," he says. "The info will either resonate, or it won't."
He claims Zoltach warned one family there would be a fire in their home soon. For four months, the children slept in their clothes, ready to flee at the first whiff of smoke. Sure enough, four months later, there was a blaze and they all escaped.
"My body acts like a lightning rod," says Flannigan, who has no recollection of each session. "I become the voice for the spirit."
Potter knows the hazards of a show like this - if nothing happens, it's a boring episode. There's also the temptation to stage things for the cameras.
None of that will happen, he insists. Keeping it real is key to History of a Haunting.
"We don't want to go in there and start making up things," says Chamberland, who recently won a Niagara Music Award and will also compose the show's score. "People who are dedicated to these kinds of things - and there are a lot of them -will appreciate that. As soon as they start seeing that things are fake, they'll turn it off."
"What sells is the fear of the unknown," adds Welland's Todd Brown, another executive producer. "Once it's known, it's not fearful any more."
The show's teaser trailer can be seen at www.historyofahaunting.com.
To have your home featured on the show, email historyofahaunting@gmail.com or phone 905-650-6297
 |
Vince says: | 2009-07-13 21:18:24 |
| History of a Haunting is fake. Just google it and you will see all the evidence against this show. They are frauds. | ||
Comments: 1