Haunted Hollywood Tours

'American Ghost Hunter: the Tour' to appear in Savannah

Chad Calek grew up in a haunted house — a very, very haunted house.

“It forced the two families who lived there before us to move out,” he said. “The most intense paranormal activity you can imagine happened to my family.”

With “Paranormal State” co-star Ryan Buell, Calek will bring “American Ghost Hunter: The Tour” to Savannah on June 14. The documentary describes the investigation the two undertook into the haunting of Calek’s childhood home.

Buell was the executive producer and Calek the director of the reality series, “Paranormal State,” which has been a hit for the A&E Network. But in January, they announced they wouldn’t return for the series’ sixth season.

The two, who are best friends, instead created their documentary, in which they claim to have recorded the “most compelling ghost evidence ever captured.”

They are bypassing the Hollywood system of studios and film festivals, instead embarking on their own tour to present their film. Their experimental distribution plan, which includes a social network site created specifically for the film, has resulted in a lot of Internet buzz and anticipation by fans.

The film features footage Chad shot over a 20-year period, including footage shot by Calek’s family. “There’s nothing else like it,” he said. “No one has ever done anything like this.”

The tour will visit 41 cities across the United States, with later tours planned for Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia. As an added bonus, each event will take place in a “notoriously haunted” location — in Savannah, that means the Marshall House.

There are three levels of passes that can be purchased. The level of pass purchased determines what activities the guests can participate in, with the VIP level allowing them to attend a private dinner with Buell and Calek.

After growing up in a haunted house, Calek became a paranormal investigator at the age of 12. With Buell, he returned to Persia, Iowa, to try to end the paranormal activity he says has nearly destroyed his family.

“It got to the point where I feared for people’s lives,” Calek said. “Here I was, covering other hauntings for ‘Paranormal State,’ when I needed to go help my own family.”

Calek was born in Florida but moved to Iowa with his family at age 12. At times, the paranormal activity was so intense, the family, which included Calek, his parents and his brother, turned to local clergy for help.

Haunted Hollywood: Dialing Diane Linkletter « Jill Marie Morris

It forever amazes how something like this happens; little did I ever anticipate blogging about Diane Linkletter (deceased daughter of Art Linkletter). Even more intriguing is how this whole thing has circled-round.

Last spring, I had the pleasure of taking a much-needed cruise vacation with my husband, my youngest son and a dear friend of mine, along with her daughter. At the time, my family and I lived in Southern California. My friend and her daughter had flown west from Georgia and had planned a little bit of an extended vacation post-cruise. One of my friend’s requests was to do some Hollywood sightseeing. OK – no problem. We were all up for it and it was a great way to end our trip to the Mexican Riviera.

Prior to this tour stint, I had only twice driven through the Hollywood hills with my husband, not so much to sight-see, as to pick up on the vibe I have so often read and heard of. With no set course or star-gazing itinerary at the helm, our willy-nilly adventures always led us to Dog Park to view the Hollywood sign and absorb the tranquility and history of the surrounding area. Sure, I was able to ‘read’ some interesting, even unsettling energies on our drives, but have to say that I was clueless as to whose homes we had passed when I picked up on them. One thing is certain; due to the random route, I can safely say that not all homes with peculiar energies were inhabited by celebrities.

Never having taken an official Hollywood ‘tour’, we all decided to book the haunted Hollywood type. Aside from my friend’s self-professed morbid curiosity, my personal take on this was to see if I could read into anything that we stumbled upon during the tour. Expecting some, or most of the tour to be sensationalized, I really was not sure what to expect as my motto is to keep an open mind and let ‘whatever’ happen – happen. Either way, after conducting some research, we booked the “Dearly Departed”