Sergey Poberezhny: Paranormal State's Tech Guy

I'm a big fan of A&E's Paranormal State. While Ryan Buell gets most of the credit, and rightfully so, Sergey Poberezhny is like Robin to his Batman. Sergey is the resident Russian tech guy, which may be a statement that has never been uttered on the web before. Why is Sergey Poberezhny so important? I'm glad you asked.

Sergey Poberezhny: Making sure nothing's left behind
As frequent viewers of Paranormal State see, there utilize a ton of technical equipment. Whether you're talking about numerous web cams, listening devices, special ghost hunting devices, motion detectors, or whatever, Sergey Poberezhny is there. I know he does more than just simply make sure nothing's left behind, but that has to be a full-time job in and of itself.

Making sure Ryan doesn't freak out, Sergey Poberezhny's second job
Many episodes involve Ryan getting close enough to spirits to actually affect him physically and mentally, whether it's making him physically sick, or affecting his mental processes. Who's always there to make sure Ryan lives to fight another day? Yep, his sidekick, the indispensable Sergey Poberezhny.

When something isn't paranormal, Sergey Poberezhny is the one to call it out
The first thing PRS must do when arriving at the scene is to make sure that what they are dealing with is actually paranormal. More often than not, that requires using the technical equipment Sergey Poberezhny is in charge of. In nearly every show, Ryan says something like, "Hey Serg, what was that?" Sergey then responds, "Um, Ryan, that was the sound of the furnace being turned on." Then Ryan says something like, "Oh, well, how often does that happen." Sergey responds, "Whenever it gets colder than 70 degrees." So, as you can see, Sergey Poberezhny is really the one determining whether something is paranormal or not.

Sergey Poberezhny makes sure batteries are always powered up
Why is this important? As long-time viewers know, a spirit must draw power from alternate energy sources in order to make themselves seen and heard. When all of the electricity is off, the easiest way to do this is to draw down power from batteries, especially from something like a flashlight. On at least 20 occasions on the show, there have been incidents where the flashlight batteries have died very quickly. Inevitably, Ryan turns to Sergey to ask if the batteries had full power before. Sergey Poberezhny always says yes, because it's Sergey Poberezhny's job to make sure the batteries are powered up.

Paranormal State is a heck of a TV show, but it would not be nearly as popular as it is without the indispensable assistance from Sergey Poberezhny. Sergey is the voice of reason among a group of spirit seekers.

Emily Eppig, Interview with Paranormal State's Tech Manager, Suite 101