“Good News, Everybody… I’m Going to Prison!” – Doing Time at a PRS Field Trip
by Brian Lutz

When people find out that I work with the cast of Paranormal State, I am often asked if there is a way to join the PRS on one of their investigations. On the surface, this seems like a silly question. After all, you can’t bounty hunt with Dog, you can’t bust bugs with Billy and you definitely can’t rock on stage with Gene Simmons.

Amazingly, you CAN hunt for ghosts with Ryan Buell, Sergey Poberezhny, Katrina Weidman, Eilfie Music, Heather Taddy and the entire Paranormal Research Society.

Due to popular demand, the PRS have started a series of Field Trips, where they return to the locations of some of their most famous cases. Fans are able to attend these trips, where they’re encouraged to conduct their own investigations (bring your own EMF meters!), while getting full access to the PRS and their expertise.

Night falls over the prison. Insert spooky laughter here.

I was asked if I was interested in attending the ninth Field Trip (officially known as “Field Trip 9”), taking place at West Virginia State Penitentiary. Fans of the show know that this is the location featured in Darkness Falls one of the most famous (and scary) episodes of the show. How could I say no? A short flight to West Virginia later and I was ready to rub elbows with paranormal royalty.

I was actually one of the last people (or, as they prefer to be called, “Field Trippers”) to arrive at the penitentiary. Several junior members of the PRS were handling registration, and I was immediately struck by the fact that everybody (Field Trippers and PRS alike) already seemed to know one another. I soon found that that the vast majority of attendees had already participated in one or more previous field trips, and there were many that had attended EVERY one to date. In fact, I think I may have been the only person to have never attended a field trip… a paranormal virgin, if you will.

Ryan Buell reads excerpts from his book.

Before the main PRS members arrived, the Field Trippers were given a full tour of the penitentiary. All of the key locations were visited and we learned about the horrible events that had taken place in the prison. Hey, you don’t get a rep for being haunted without hosting a few bloody murders. Okay, a lot of bloody murders.

Once the tour wrapped up, it was time for a series of lectures held by the main members of the PRS. FTers were allowed to pick and choose which lectures they wanted to attend based on their own interests, and everybody seemed happy with their choices. These lectures were followed by a dinner break. I’d like to point out that while West Virginia has some beautiful scenery, their pizza is utterly horrific.

After our meals, everybody returned to the penitentiary for the main activity of the night. The main members of the PRS all went into the prison itself, each one picking a key paranormal hotspot. The junior PRS members then split us up into groups, taking us from location to location, where we would learn more about the paranormal goings-on. This went fairly smoothly until several thousand bats decided to start their nightly comings and goings. The tours had to halt for about 30 minutes while the bats did their thing (which primarily seemed to be swooping down at our heads). During this time, I was stuck in the solitary confinement wing with Josh Light and a few chiroptophobic (“afraid of bats,” and yes, I had to look that up) Field Trippers. I’ve got to say, it was fun watching the FTers dodge and weave, while Josh stood there, refusing to give an inch.

The solitary confinement wing during a brief break from bat attacks.

I eventually left solitary (and my assigned group) and made my way over to the maximum security wing, where Michelle Belanger was holding court. She was asking questions of the spirits and encouraging Field Trippers to do the same. My question (“do you like that we’re here?”) went unanswered.

Michelle holds court in maximum security.

After several FT groups had gone through maximum security, I went upstairs to the medical wing. It was insanely hot (heat rises, who knew?), and I didn’t have all that much fun during this segment of the tour, even though Katrina and Eilfie were great tour guides. I did lie down on an examination table, which in retrospect was probably kinda iffy.

My final stop was in the infamous “sugar shack.” I honestly don’t remember exactly why it was called that, but considering it was a giant room placed beneath the ground at a maximum security prison, it was probably meant to be ironic. Prison humor. Heather Taddy was in charge of this area, and we wound up standing in the dark for extended periods of time while people attempted to capture Electronic Voice Phenomena. During one of these blackouts, something tapped me on the back, even though no people were within 20 feet of me. Of course, those pesky bats were still everywhere, so I’m guessing one of them was to blame. After all of this (it was 2am), I left the building and headed back to my hotel.

Heather Taddy presents the Sugar Shack. Tah dahhhh!

Day two was more of the same (and I mean that in a good way). There were several lectures from the members of the PRS, Ryan reading excerpts from his book (available at the A&E shop! ). Ryan also showed previously unseen footage from the fifth season of Paranormal State. I work for A&E, and have been a part of Paranormal State since day one, and even I hadn’t seen this video. Afterwards, when FTers would ask me about these clips, I played it cool, acting as if it was old news to me. I hope I sounded convincing.

There were two final activities on the second night – an advanced ghost hunt, designed for people with a great deal of past paranormal experience, and a table tipping workshop, lead by Michelle Belanger. I started the night off with the table tipping demonstration, but somehow I found myself leading groups back and forth between the main meeting room and the Michelle’s demonstration. I’m actually amazed at how quickly I learned the layout of the prison, and that’s a statement I never thought I would make.

As much fun as the table-tipping was (one Field Tripper tried to annoy ghosts by screaming “does the smell of your burning flesh bother you?” which, for the record, did not get a response.), I decided to try an advanced ghost hunt of my own. These hunts were supposed to be restricted to those that had undergone previous training, but hey, I’ve seen every episode of Paranormal State. That counts, right?

I made my way into the prison and I immediately understood why every single ghost hunter had one of those little headlight lamps. It gets incredibly dark inside of an abandoned prison. I wound up using my cell phone as a makeshift flashlight.

I have no paranormal cred, I know.

I actually wound up wandering around the prison alone for most of my “hunt.” I had previously fallen in love with the graffiti in the maximum security wing, so I returned there to take some pictures for my Twitter feed. Among the scribbled skulls and pentagrams were a ludicrous number of references to Guns ‘N Roses and Johnny Cash. It reminded me a lot of my locker in high school.

Seriously, this was the most disturbing graffiti in the entire prison.

Eventually I realized that it was 2am, I was wandering around an abandoned prison and that I had a flight home in under 8 hours. There was a formal wrapup session the next morning, but I would have to miss it. It was time to say my goodbyes, so I ran around trying to find as many PRS members and FTers as possible. Twitter information was exchanged and my field trip was officially over.

I offered a shiny new nickel to anybody that would lie down on one of these mattresses. There were no takers.

Overall, it was an interesting experience. There’s a definite sense of community amongst Field Trippers, and it was cool to see that in person.

Now I just have to get the taste of West Virginia pizza out of my mouth.