Well hey all you cool cats and kittens. Been a long time since I’ve made a blog post. But life sure has been busy. And strange. Yeah… let’s go with strange.
First and foremost, PRS has a new website coming out at the end of summer. You’ll be able to read articles, watch exclusive videos and pour through all kinds of hauntingly good content. And we’ll be regularly posting about strange and unusual news. We’re really excited for it. Once it’s up, I’m sure you’ll hear about it.
People keep asking if I have any new projects coming up. There are some really cool things I’m working on. But it takes time. A lot of time, actually, to develop something. All I can say is that it will be worth the wait.
So, let’s get to the now. As a friend told me, “it’s 2020. Anything goes.” He wasn’t lying. The world has gotten stranger. And I suspect by the time the year is done, we’ll have to adjust what our definition of “strange” is, if we haven’t already. Fires, impeachment, earthquakes, civil unrest… Covid-19. At the beginning of the year, PRS and I had a lot of plans for 2020. But a lot of that had to be put on hold. Like you, we’d had to adjust to this new normal. Quarantine was interesting for a moment… until it wasn’t. Shops, bars, restaurants closed. Goodbye summer movie season. Goodbye travel plans.
We hosted our first event of the year right as Covid was entering the United States. We took a group to Savannah at the end of February and investigated three separate locations. Then we launched our Spring event, Return to Point Pleasant, WV. Like many other paranormal events, we were forced to postpone. West Virginia and many other states shut down for business. But we later found an opening in June and decided to brave it. We honored the social distancing restrictions put in place, but man it was a strange event. Seeing everyone wear masks. Seeing Point Pleasant, which has quite a lot of tourists in the summer, as a ghost town. The Lowe Hotel, which is known to be haunted, was gracious enough to open for us so we could host the event. Many attendees, however, weren’t able to make it due to concerns with the virus. It was a bummer, but we still made the most out of it. I even got to travel to Trans Allegheny Asylum with some of our regular attendees.
The future is uncertain for now. Our plan was to host a paranormal event every two months. We may try for one more to finish out the year, but as many of you know, Covid cases are spiking again. We just don’t know. So, we are turning our attention online. Focusing on the new website and projects we can do within it.
Personally, 2020 has been a struggle. As a recovering addict, it’s best to stay busy and attend meetings. For a while there, meetings weren’t an option. Then zoom meetings became a thing. And that’s helped, for sure. My volunteer work was put on hold as the facility temporarily closed down. So what to do with all this new time? I started rereading some of the classic paranormal research books. Took one a couple new hobbies. Been working out like crazy. Hell, I’m getting better at cooking. Reconnected with some old friends and even forged some new ones. As crazy as this year has been, it also hasn’t been terrible. I’m sure a lot of you can relate to that.
But the stress is real. People seem more irritable. And we’re only halfway done with the year. I think there’s a part of me that thinks that life will return to normal once 2020 is done. Truth is, I think we need to start making peace with the fact that there is no going back. We adapt and move on. In terms of the paranormal, I have a strong suspicion that we’re going to see a large spike in claims of paranormal activity. After all, people are stuck inside. If their house is haunted, they have a lot more time to experience it.
It has been somewhat refreshing to take a break from my travels investigating haunted hotspots. Don’t get me wrong, I do love it. Our events keep growing every year. And I am overwhelmed by the support of my fans and supporters. That keeps me going. But this quarantine time has given me the opportunity to shift focus a little bit. Think about what I want to do differently once this Covid thing ends (if it ever ends). Life is too short to only focus on the dead and their spirits. It’s healthy to maintain a balance. I often look at Ed and Lorraine Warren for inspiration there. Despite their decades of work in the field, they still kept a normal life. Had friends, family, a little farm. And for those asking, yes, I did attend Lorraine’s funeral last year. It meant a lot that I got to pay my respects and see her laid to rest next to the love of her life. I never met Ed, but through Lorraine, I felt like I did.
2019 was a great adventure. I’m sorry I didn’t chronicle it more via my blog, but if you follow me on Facebook or Instagram, I’m sure you’ve seen all the travels we had. 2020 is an adventure, too, just a different one. It feels like the year of inward inspection. Soul searching. The good kind, if we allow it to be.
Once the new PRS website goes live, the next task will be to completely overhaul my personal site. It’s definitely time. 2020 feels like the year to change a few things. I hope to whomever reads this blog, you’re doing well and hanging in there. We’re all in this together.
Me and Kennedy. Quarantine and chill.