Fatal Attractions in the Paranormal World

Can ghost hunting be fatal? Join us on Strange, Strange Beyond Insane as we uncover the shocking reality behind the ghost-hunting world, including the tragic story of Mark and Debbie Constantino, renowned paranormal investigators who met a heartbreaking end in an apparent murder-suicide. We also discuss the alarming case where exasperated ghost hunters set fire to the historic Labou Plantation House in New Orleans. These incidents highlight the dark side of ghost hunting, marked by unintended consequences such as arrests, injuries, and even fatalities.

Explore the precarious nature of paranormal investigations, from the risks of exploring train tracks and cemeteries to the hazards faced by researchers on popular shows like Ghost Hunters. We stress the importance of safety measures and share our personal approach to ghost hunting, emphasizing intuition and awareness of the dangers posed by living individuals. Dive into stories of researchers falling into graves and encountering squatters, all while we underscore the need to be vigilant and prepared. Don't miss this spine-chilling episode filled with eerie tales and essential safety tips for every aspiring ghost hunter out there!

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Deadly Consequences of Ghost Hunting

Speaker 1 0:00

Hey everyone , it's your host , melissa at Strange , strange Beyond Insane . So tonight we have another ghost hunting gone wrong Another episode . I love these . This starts off as a couple featured on ghost adventures . They were found dead in an apparent murder-suicide . This was like recent , last , recent years , I think , like seven years ago .

Speaker 1 0:29

So self-styled paranormal investigators , mark and Debbie Constantino , and a third , still unidentified man , were killed yesterday in Sparks , nevada , when a domestic violence incident turned deadly . So the Constantinos marked themselves as electronic voice phenomenon experts and made frequent appearances on reality shows about the supernatural , most notably recurring on Travel Channel's Ghost Adventures . The couple were estranged and Debbie Constantino had been living with two roommates . According to Nevada's police department , at approximately 8 am Tuesday the police were called to her apartment after one of her roommates found their male roommate dead and Debbie missing . Police eventually discovered that she was being held hostage by Mark Constantino in an apartment belonging to one of the couple's adult children . Attempts at negotiating Mark Constantino's surrender failed and around 1 30 pm a SWAT team breached the apartment door and found both people dead . So Nevada police reports say that the Constantinos have recently had numerous run-ins with the local law enforcement due to complaints of domestic violence , most recently , in August , mark Constantino was charged with kidnapping , domestic battery by strangulation and domestic battery against Debbie , following an incident in which their daughter was also charged as an .

Speaker 1 2:06

Wow . Okay , so another headline , november 28 , 2013 . 10.18 am , and this is by Benjamin Radford , live science bad science columnist . A group of ghost hunters has been arrested for allegedly setting fire to a historic mansion near New Orleans , perhaps inspired by the hit sci-fi television series Ghost Hunters and its many imitators and its many imitators . The men climbed through a hole in a fence and broke into the Labou Plantation House near the Mississippi River on November 21st . According to the St Bernard Sheriff's Office , the men were looking for ghosts . Though nobody was harmed , the fire shines a light on the dark side of the ghost hunting world , a side that seems to be only gaining in popularity . The mansion was built in the 1850s and it had survived through many incarnations , operating as a boarding house , a hotel and even an illegal gambling house through the mansion . I'm sorry , though the mansion had been shuttered in recent years , its owner , the Arlene and Joseph Maru Charitable Foundation , had plans to renovate the building . Wow , all right . So the Bell Witch to Slimmer 10 most famous ghosts and ghouls around in the New Orleans area . Which Bell Witch is not in New Orleans ? That's weird . Okay , so ghouls around in New Orleans . The New Orleans area has a rich history of ghosts , voodoo and mystery . The New Orleans area has a rich history of ghosts , voodoo and mystery .

Speaker 1 4:05

Laboo Plantation House is only one of the dozens of gothic mansions and plantations rumored to be haunted . Some are more famous than others , such as the Myrtles Plantation north of New Orleans in St Francisville , a prime destination for ghost hunters that is said to be one of America's most haunted homes . Even so , it's hard to find a significant old plantation house in Louisiana that does not have at least one ghost story associated with it . Legends at Laboe , labay whatever , tell of a ghostly woman in a long white dress walking on the upstairs porch a ghostly woman in a long white dress walking on the upstairs porch , and other stories describe spooky lights in the hallways or the voices of long dead slaves .

Speaker 1 4:53

The fire at la bay broke out at about 2 am local time , friday , november 21st , and the building was almost completely destroyed by the time firefighters arrived . The ghost hunters had been trying to produce a reaction from the spirits and they assumed that resided there , obviously by doing what TV ghost hunters call , basically provoking and essentially making loud noises , yelling taunts at the ghosts and banging on the walls . Frustrated that their efforts failed to yield any spirits , the group decided to light a fire , whether this was intended to smoke the spirits out or simply burn the place down . The resulting flames soon reduced the mansion to ashes and four brick chimneys . Wow , that's so fucking sad . I mean . Can you imagine you're pissed off because you're not getting evidence and you want to be famous on TV so you burn down history , like all this talk is like how important this place was and they just completely fucking ruined it . You know , and it's like this is what happens a lot Like people ruin it for us that actually are passionate and love the history and love the historical sightings . You know , oh , but anyways , um , it did say something about the bell witch and actually Christina and I are talking about doing a trip to I believe it's in Tennessee the cave of bell witch . So I just wanted to put that in there , since this article was talking about that , and if you guys have any suggestions or anyone out there has ever um the Bell Witch Cave , please come forward and talk to me about that , because I want to know all about it .

Speaker 1 6:42

All right , so , moving on , while many ghost hunters engage in harmless and fruitless fun , as this case shows , there can be a dark , dangerous side to the pursuit , to the pursuit . In the wake of popular ghost hunting TV shows , police across the country have been I'm sorry , have seen a surge in people being arrested , injured and even killed while looking for ghosts . Wow , so I always say , like , if it doesn't feel right , like wherever we're going out , um , we just turn around and leave , because that is our , you know , our guides telling us like don't fuck with this place , or this place is dangerous , or there's dangerous people around the area or inside the area . Because , remember what we always say we do not fear the dead . Well , of course , we get a little scared , right , I mean , that's the fun part of it , but the living scare the shit out of me . Like you never know when someone's going to that's actually alive , is going to come out of the dark and do something to you , you know . So it is dangerous being out in the field or get there , like you know , get to a location a different day and kind of , you know , do some recon and walk around and kind of get a feel for the place and for the terrain and everything around it . Excuse me , that's just my thoughts on that . So , moving forward , in 2006 , a woman was critically wounded looking for ghosts in a private house near a cemetery . She and a friend were trespassing and the house owner mistook them for vandals and shot them . Holy shit .

Speaker 1 8:27

In 2010 , a North Carolina man died while ghost hunting with a group of friends hoping to see the ghost of a train that crashed years earlier . With a group of friends hoping to see the ghost of a train that crashed years earlier . The ghost train did not appear , but a real train came around a bend and killed one man who couldn't get out of the way in time . Again , you guys , trains are way , way faster than they look . Trains are gangster , just like the water's gangster . I always say the water's gangster like trains are gangsters . Like don't try to play chicken , don't mess on a train track , don't mess around . You know you never know if you're going to slip and fall . You don't know if you have enough time . I mean it's super dangerous . I mean that is so stupid and could have been completely , completely different if the urge and the high of the ghost hunting wouldn't have obviously polluted this man's brain .

Dangers of Paranormal Investigations

Speaker 1 9:25

Again , I will say this , though train tracks do hold a lot of evidence and usually you have a lot of different sightings and even like noises you know that you can capture . You know you got to remember the material of the train tracks , right , with dousing rods . Unfortunately , a lot of people do die on train tracks and there's a lot of different kinds of cargo inside the cargo containers and I'm sure there's been a lot of people jumping trains that have died , and you know , goes on and on and on . There's a lot of history . Um , so your train tracks are really , really cool to get to go ghost hunting by and to , you know , obviously get good evidence , but I do not recommend any active train tracks . There's a lot of train tracks out there that trains don't run on anymore . Wow , that's crazy .

Speaker 1 10:23

Okay , so as for why people consider shows such as Ghost Hunters and Ghost Adventures to be , you know , lights of truth , one researcher thinks it's all in the wording . The hosts of these shows often sprinkle into their tales An array of technical jargon and references to tech-wide instruments such as ion generators , electromagnetic field detectors and video goggles with built-in speech synthesizers . Such science lingo adds undue credibility to paranormal investigators , said Paul Brewer , a professor of communication at the University of Delaware . Luckily , no one was hurt in the Laboo I don't know how that's pronounced blaze which could have killed someone or spread to neighboring buildings . Seven men from Texas and Louisiana , ranging in age from 17 to 31 , were arrested on charges related to the case , including arson , simple burglary , trespassing and criminal damage worth more than $50,000 . I mean , was that really worth it ? I just I can't believe you would be such a dumb shit to light a fire at a historic plantation Like why , why would you do that ? All right , so crew members on ghost hunters were left clubbed , beaten and bloodied after a paranormal hunt taps .

Speaker 1 11:57

Steve Gonzalez revealed the very real dangers of going on a paranormal investigation that some of the ghost hunters and crew members experienced , leaving them totally injured . Steve Gonzalez says Okay , this is what I'm talking about . This is what literally petrifies me , because you don't know what the fuck is out there in the dark . You don't know what sick twisted people or person are out in the woods or lingering in the dark or are sitting behind a tombstone . Carissa and I did an episode . It had to be well over , probably about seven months ago , six or seven months ago , about you know how people have died in cemeteries . I mean one girl was murdered . Kids have died playing on the tombstones like little toddlers . I mean one girl was murdered . Kids have died playing on the tombstones like little toddlers . I mean there's a lot of shit . Actually there was a couple that actually got electrocuted doing the nasty in a cemetery . But you guys can check out that episode . If you haven't , it's very interesting , you know , and not just cemeteries , like anywhere where you're out at nighttime , in the dark , late at night . You just , you just don't know . So Steve Gonzalez revealed what injured some ghost hunters and crew members , and this is a article by West Entertainment and Showbiz Reporter . So this was five o'clock , I'm sorry , 5 pmober 31st 2023 . Very recent reality show ghost hunters is known for its terrifying haunts I'm sorry , hunts , but fans . Well , haunts and hunts , but fans may not know that some crew members actually got very injured during its filming .

Speaker 1 13:44

Steve Gonzalez confessed during a New York Comic Con panel that the paranormal investigations are dangerous , but not always due to the ghost . According to the Atlantic Paranormal Society member and reality star , the team needs to be careful due to potential run-ins with squatters at the establishments that they investigate . Again what I was just saying you really , really have to be mindful . You have to be present like very clear , like mind . You know , have a clear mind and know what is around you and what's going on and you know if someone , you know , if you have a couple people running apps , you should always have somebody that has nothing going , nothing on their ears and just kind of like looking and you know listening and you know rotate , doing that , like basically somebody always being on watch , right , he explained when they come at you . He explained when they come at you with you know items and they're trying to hurt you . So he I don't know if he couldn't say that publicly , but he basically just said and when they come at you , you know and they're trying to hurt you with something . We've had crew members get clubbed and beaten and bloodied . In fact , he even said they've been chased out of paranormal hotspots with guns wielded by the homeless . Thankfully , he also clarified that more recently , the teams have been better and safe about how they approach their work . However , the risk is always there . Considering the team heads into I'm sorry , considering , like where the team heads into some strange places in the dark while on hunt for ghouls . So again , you guys , it's a living . Okay .

Speaker 1 15:42

So John Tini , um , he is like a famous um paranormal researcher . He's like an author . He used to write for um , um , unsolved mysteries . Um , we went and seen him a few years back at a bookshop in Mount Clemens and he was talking about in the early 90s they were out he was , you know , writing a article about I don't know if it was that cemetery or a cemetery around , but anyways , they were walking on foot around the cemetery right , and he actually caved like the ground , like completely caved in , and he fell into literally a grave on top of a casket .

Speaker 1 16:32

And it does happen . And that's another thing too . You want to check the terrain , you want to check the surroundings , you want to know if there's houses , is there abandoned buildings , is it like an industrial area , is it heavily wooded ? I mean there's . There's a lot to really think about being in the field , for you know , all these years and like more so researching than just investigating , coming with , you know , the territory that comes with the research is also the recon . And like Tom always says , three is always better than two , and then four , five , six is even better , like you should never go out just you and another person unless you know the area really well . You're there a lot and you , you know , you know , like the surroundings of it . But yeah , um , this is the kind of shit that can happen and , um , yeah , I just thought it was a fun little know , little article about you know what can happen and the um , the scary parts and the realistic parts of being out in the middle of the night , I mean , what's what's the worst that can happen , right ? So , um , if you guys watch my TikTok , um , I was just on TikTok live when Christina and I were in Indiana in a historic cemetery , and we do have a couple more followers .

Speaker 1 17:57

You know these young ladies in Michigan here and they would like to meet up with us and do some paranormal stuff . Of course , you know we're all into spooky shit Because all of us girls are crazy , right , wink , wink . Anyways , I did tell them on the live . I said , just to let you know , we are not like an official group , we're not like we don't have waivers to sign

Exploring Abandoned Places and Cemeteries

Speaker 1 18:21

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Speaker 1 18:21

Like you , you walk out as soon as you get out of your vehicle and you walk into these places . You are at your own risk and you have to understand the you know consequences of walking into abandoned buildings or historical places or cemeteries and even like extremely old cemeteries that are not kept up . And they all , you know , they all said , oh no , no , we understand that , we get that . It's just I still have to put that out there for , like anyone that we take out or that goes with us , because in you you do kind of feel responsible , right , especially people that don't get out there a lot in the field and do this like we do . But yeah , so um , again , that was a fun little quirky episode and , uh , you guys , stay tuned and we'll be chatting soon , thank you .