All in a Night’s Work

"I don't necessarily think you have to be a believer to work on these shows, but the bottom line is you have to at least respect the field," says paranormal investigator Katrina Weidman.

"For the 15 years I've been doing these shows, I've known quite a few crew members and production members who started out as very strict non-believers, but after they went through a couple of experiences they were like, 'You know what? Maybe there's something to this.'"

Back while working on Paranormal Lockdown, Weidman says a director quit because of what he experienced. "He did one episode and was like 'I'm out, I'm done.' As far as I know, I don't think he's worked on another paranormal show."

Travel Channel GM Matthew Butler would have defined himself as a skeptical believer just a few years ago. "But after watching a lot of these shows, I'm becoming more and more of a true believer," he says, adding, "It's hard not to. You watch a marathon of Caught on Camera — some clips are so strong you just can't help but believe."

Two years ago Abbi McCollum, Travel Channel's vice president of convergence and social media, experienced something strange while overseeing the social media feeds for Haunted Live.

"I'm based in Knoxville, and we were working with the Tennessee Wraith Chasers, who are from around Nashville. We did live investigations for 11 weeks, so my team and I joined the Wraith Chasers each week. We would literally be doing four Facebook Lives [at each location], and had cameras in all of the haunted locations," McCollum recalls.

"One of the places I was in was a haunted mansion, like an estate. We did our post interview in the cellar of this house. It was so freaky. I have never felt an energy like that before in any location. It's hard to be a complete skeptic when you've been in these places and have seen what the investigators found, in person, with your own eyes."

Butler had a peculiar experience in 2008, during Most Haunted Live in Gettysburg.

"It didn't freak me out, but was something I couldn't explain. I basically watched an orb go up, but not go down. It was just a little ball of light that went up, touched a mirror, and went up through the roof. That was it," Butler says. "I'm still waiting for that concrete moment where you're just like 'Oh my God. That's a ghost.' Or a UFO."

For more on the Travel Channel's paranormal fare, click HERE.