PORTLAND, Maine — Update: You can watch season 8 of Haunt ME here.
A web series that explores some of Maine's most haunted places has attracted worldwide attention; which is why Season 7 of "Haunt ME" took the crew to locations beyond the state for what they've deemed, "Haunt US."
The team, which features Ty Gowen, Anna Halloran, and Carol Cleveland; among other cast members and production team members, flew to different places around the country; until COVID-19 hit. It worked out alright though since the team had already entered the editing phase of production.
So how does a typical episode come together? "It starts off with us kind of talking to the people who are a part of this location; what they’ve experienced, what they are curious about, what has been maybe bothering them," explains Anna Halloran. "We take that information and explore the location. Sometimes we end up debunking a lot, which you’ll see in one of our episodes this season, we realize that a lot of the activity was just the building."
"Other times we get our pants scared off," says Halloran; and the team laughs and agrees.
"We have our pack of electronics basically; your K-II meter, your EMF; all of these pieces that you’ll see on TV frequently, and those are our baseline tools. From there we really utilize ourselves and our experiences in determining what’s happening," Halloran says, explaining that a lot of research goes into each exploration. "Really the best barometer of a paranormal experience is yourself."
Halloran joined the team a few seasons into the web series. Ty Gowen says ultimately everyone involved in the sometimes 9-person crew sort of fell into the work. "Eight years ago we got together; we had just graduated into the great recession. So I’m fresh out of college living at home, not a real job to speak of, looking for something to occupy my time, and Nick [Nordfors] had actually just graduated from New York University with a film degree. We met up with our co-founder Ashleigh Brooks who was like. 'This is happening on TV. I love these shows; we’ve all had experiences; we all have interest; why don’t we go a little bit further and show those stories to our friends and family?' So that’s really what Season One was all about."
"At the end of Season 1 we were watching the subscriber count go up and I was like, 'I don’t know that many people, who’s watching this? Why would they watch this?'" Gowen laughs about their humble beginnings. "Here we are now in Season 7 and we flew out to L.A. two years ago to accept a web series award. People that we never would have made connections with before have reached out."
"We have fans from England and Australia constantly just saying, 'Hey, we love your show!' and that’s I don’t think anything I ever would’ve expected," Halloran adds.
The stories have evolved over the years from being scared, to making connections with spirits. "These entities that we’ve had experiences with are more than blips on a K-II meter or audio files that we capture and share with our friends and viewers," Gowen explains. "Sometimes they have needs and sometimes those needs are reaching out for help, and when you are able to do that you make a really human connection."
"It’s actually changed my perception so much that when we use the word 'ghost' I feel so disrespectful," Cleveland says.
To watch 'Haunt ME,' learn more about it, or to help support the web series, click here.
