Ghost Loop - A Review

                                            Ghost Loop – A Review

There is a new paranormal TV show on the Travel Channel – Friday nights at 10:00 pm. This one hasn’t been promoted very widely. I accidentally tripped over it online. I have seen the first five episodes of Ghost Loop, and I find it to be different, which is a very good thing, considering how many shows there are. Different can be good or bad. In this case I think it’s good.


The team is called, “Spirit Hunters”. There are five members of the team; Sean Austin, Chris Califf, Matt Lytle, Eric Vitale, and Kris Star.


Sean Austin is the lead investigator and medium of the group. He has been on a show called “The Demon Files” with Ralph Sarchie, a former NYPD police officer whose character was the inspiration for the film, “Deliver Us From Evil.” The film was based on his life. (I wrote a review of the film and gave it high ratings.) Sean is also a singer/songwriter.


Chris Califf is the researcher of the group. He is from Salem, Mass, and this is his first TV Show. He is also responsible for Tech advising.


Matt Lytle is an investigator in training. He has an extensive resume as a professional football player. He has also done some TV, “Into The Other Side” in 2016.  On The Ghost Loop he is being mentored by Sean and the team as the rookie investigator.


Eric Vitale: investigator and engineer. I could not find anything further on Eric.


Kris Star: Investigator and empath. Other than several YouTube videos featuring her investigating, I could find no biographical details about her. I have no idea what her history or credentials are as an empath.


The focus of this team and show is to help clients who are experiencing a specific type of haunting. They call it a ghost loop. This is a term unfamiliar to me.  It is usually referred to as a residual haunt, which is when an entity repeats a cycle of activity over and over again, at the same place and often at the same time. In a residual haunt, the entities are not actually there. It is more like a recording, mindlessly replaying. There is no interaction with the entity. However, in this show’s take, a ghost loop is an intelligent entity who repeats activity over and over again but with some form of intelligence. The entity can communicate.

The team attempts to end this cycle for the sake of the clients and for the entity who is stuck in the loop. Their ultimate purpose is to “cross them over” or get them to leave the location and “go to the light” or wherever they want to go, as long as they leave, and the activity loop ends.


The show is in the typical format that we expect in a paranormal TV show. We meet the team as they head to the site of the haunting. They discuss the case. They arrive at the site, meet the clients, discuss what the client is experiencing, then are given a tour of the location. They usually spend at least three days at the location.


Here is what is different about this show. They not only speak to historians; they visit relevant locations and may even do short investigations in these locations. It could be the location of the death of a person suspected to be the source of the haunting, or related in some way.

They recreate a location within the house that duplicates the historical time and place that the suspected entity lived and experienced. They do an amazing job of the recreation; using vintage and antique furniture, clothing, and decorations. They recreate an 1800’s railroad car, a vintage still, a vintage nursery, an infant’s grave, and a murder room. All this authentic recreation of period environments is to function as a trigger for the entity to be drawn to and interact with. I have seen recreations like this on Ghost Hunters and Ghost Adventures, but none this elaborate. It makes the show more interesting to watch.

The purpose for all of this is to lure the entity to the trigger location in the loop, to communicate with the entity through the ghost box, and, ideally, get them to agree to leave, go to the light, cross over. If the team gets any hint of compliance from an entity, they conclude success, the house is cleansed, the entity declared gone, and peace descends for the client.


The team is overtly and openly Christian and Catholic. Sean blesses with holy water, prayers are said invoking angels and saints, and team members perform a kind of location exorcism. It reminds me of the movie, Deliver Us From Evil. The focus is completely on ridding the entity from the location for the sake of the clients. Often, the entity is considered evil in nature. They do seem to have empathy for the trapped spirits, but it is secondary to forcing the spirit out of the location.


The team has an intensity about it. The investigation feels risky, even dangerous. The team, I feel, works well, in sync with each other. However, there is a lot of running around yelling, emoting, and leaving the house to pull themselves together. Often, an effected member is prayed over.


Kris, the empath, is the most unconvincing member of the team. I have no idea what or who she is or what function she plays, other than being the only female team member. If by empath, they mean a person who can psychically tune in to the emotions of others and feel what others are feeling, including ghosts, I don’t see that in her at all. She seems the same as the other team members. Some of the other team members seem to be more empathic than she is.


I have the same problem with this show that I have with most others. They do not use any semblance of scientific method. They are not in the location long enough. They use emf meters to communicate with entities, which is filled with problems, and they jump to baseless assumptions far to rapidly. I also do not personally believe that ghosts can be moved on to the light or crossed over in this manner. I believe in exorcism, but if this is exorcism, it's "exorcism-lite". 


What I do like about them is probably a bias on my part. They are not sentimental about ghosts. They are not fooled. Unlike the show, Kindred Spirits, they are not there to make friends with an unknown entity who could have evil intent or nature. This team believes they could be dealing with something spiritual in nature who has the intent to deceive, to mock, to lie and to mimic others.  So, voices of little girls, females in distress, infants crying, or other vulnerable people, are assumed to be disingenuous. There is a sense of a spiritual battle going on between good and evil, even possibly demonic. Although, this team never assumed that things are demonic or that they are automatically dealing with a demon, a la Bagans. 

I tend to believe that  most ghosts or hauntings do not involve human dead spirits who are somehow trapped in an earthly location. It just doesn't fit with my spiritual views. If it's true, it's incredibly cruel. Do some choose to be there for some personal reason? Unfinished business? Confusion? Earthly extreme truama as in violent murder? Maybe. 


If you can overlook the bad procedural methods, and like the idea of an investigation being a spiritual battle, you will like this show. I recommend it for its entertainment value. It should also give one food for thought about the nature of spirits and hauntings and at what risk we are taking by attempting to interact with entities unknown to us; their nature and intent. 

Just remember; it's TV. It's entertainment. 
Don't attempt this at home.

Information about the show from The Travel Channel Website. Biographical info on Sean Austin from his website. Information about Kris Star from YouTube. Photo from the Travel Channel site. All other information was gathered by me watching the show and my own personal experiences. This article is my opinion only.

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