A&E show to feature Penn State students
Thirteen-episode series to focus on paranormal
From CDT staff reports

A reality series that features the exploits of college students probably
would be entertaining. But when those students investigate paranormal
phenomena on the side, it makes for a show unlike any other on
television.
A&E network has announced it will air a 13-episode, half-hour series
that chronicles the life of Penn State student Ryan Buell and other
members of one of the first university-sanctioned Paranormal Research
Societies, under the working title "Paranormal U."

Filming begins next month in State College, and the show is expected to
air in 2007.
Elaine Frontain Bryant, one of A&E's executive producers, said the
network found the premise of the show too exciting to pass up.
"I think there's great interest in the paranormal. The fact that these
kids at Penn State are really these college-age kids ... and then they
go out and solve cases, it's just much more different than anything else
we've seen out there."
Although shooting hasn't started yet, demo tapes have given Bryant an
idea of what the audience will see.
"The tone is very atmospheric and suspenseful. It almost plays like a
real-life 'X-Files,' " she said.

Buell, Paranormal Research Society director and a consulting producer
for "Paranormal U," said a childhood paranormal experience in South
Carolina prompted him to "do serious research in this field."

When he arrived on the Penn State campus in the fall of 2001, he found
there was no outlet to explore these issues, so he founded the Penn
State Paranormal Research Society.
"Ghost-hunting" doesn't accurately describe what the group does, Buell
said. "Our approach is more scientific, more investigative."
When clients claim to have paranormal experiences, the group often works
with psychologists to rule out psychosis or mental factors.

"We weed out all logical explanations until we turn to more radical
ones," Buell said.
There is about a 50/50 balance of cases that the society considers to be
genuine paranormal phenomena, and those in which people may be
role-playing fantasies, he said.
Buell isn't expecting to change anyone's opinions through "Paranormal
U."

"We not trying to prove this stuff is real. How can you?" he said.

Rather, he hopes the show will bring comfort and validation to people
who may be experiencing paranormal phenomena.

"I'd like for them to look at this and say, 'I'm not alone,' " Buell
said.