A Haunting: Paranormal TV on the Discovery Channel

A Haunting is a television series that is currently in its fourth season of airing on the Discovery Channel. The basis of the show is a dramatic reenactment of real-life encounters with the paranormal. Each episode includes interviews (generally anonymous) with persons involved, along with a spine-tingling reenactment by professional actors of what happened.

How did A Haunting begin?

A Haunting was originally just a two episode series. The first episode, "A Haunting in Connecticut" was about a family that moved into a former funeral home and their son, who was receiving cancer treatment at the time, began seeing ghosts and demons. His health began to decrease and for his behavior became abnormal and erratic. The second episode, "A Haunting in Georgia", began with a family moving into a home where the youngest child began talking to an invisible friend named Mr. Gordy. Mr. Gordy seemed friendly enough, but then the children started getting scratches in the night and the family realizes that there are more malevolent beings there than just Mr. Gordy.

This is where the series began for me as well. I happened to be sick around the time these were airing, so I was home that evening watching television with my mother, and we've always enjoyed watching paranormal shows and such (Beyond Belief is one of our favorite shows). We saw that this was playing, so we decided to watch it and we LOVED it. The recounts were enough to send shivers down our spines and the way the story unfolds just feels like you're part of the show. You want it to be resolved just as much as they do. The second show I actually watched as a rerun late at night with my grandmother, and she absolutely loved it, too. Now it's a show that our whole family enjoys watching together.

When Can I Watch A Haunting?

Reruns of A Haunting can be seen every day at both 2:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. (except for the weekends) on the Discovery Channel.

If you'd like to see specifically what episodes are playing when, you can find a list here and you can find descriptions of the previously played episodes here.

How Do I Know If This Show Is For Me?

Well, there's not really any way to know if you'll like this show until you watch it.

However, that being said, if any of the following things are true, you might be interested in watching this show:

- You are interested in the paranormal or the unexplained

- You enjoy other television series such as Ghost Hunters or Beyond Belief

- You enjoy watching the Sci-Fi Channel

- You are a skeptic that likes to find out what people are claiming is paranormal these days

- You don't have an opinion on the paranormal, but you do want to be entertained

You should NOT watch this show if:

- You are easily frightened and prone to nightmares

- You don't like scary shows

- You are a child under the age of thirteen (in most situations)

I Don't Believe It's Really As Good As You Make It Sound...

That's fine, you don't need to take my word for it. I highly encourage you to go out and form your own opinion of this show.

However, I do think it is a show that is highly entertaining, if nothing else - which is generally the purpose of television. My favorite episode, besides the first two, would be "The Unleashed", in which the father gets a new business job, which forces the family to move into a new house. The father finds that the house is on an Indian burial ground and he becomes interested in the occult. In his attempt to conjure these spirits, he opens a portal to the darker side of the paranormal. I really liked this episode because it highlights the beauty of the show. They open with the background story in a sort of interesting way that doesn't bore the viewer, and then they gradually work into the story - either the first sights of the paranormal, or the event that causes the paranormal (in this case, unearthing the burial ground). The show is really easy to follow and very easy to get into.

Again, you don't have to take my word for it. In fact, I'd prefer if you didn't. What entertains me doesn't necessarily entertain everyone else, so remember to watch it the next weekday you get a chance at either 2 or 3 p.m. on the Discovery Channel, and see for yourself what it's all about.