Brandon Alvis

Last updated
Brandon Alvis
Brandon Alvis Haunted Discoveries 1.jpg
Brandon Alvis on the set of Haunted Discoveries
Born
Brandon Josef Alvis

(1987-06-22) June 22, 1987 (age 36)
Occupation(s) Television Director
Paranormal investigator
Television host
Television producer [1]
Author
OrganizationAmerican Paranormal Research Association
Website www.brandonjalvis.com

Brandon Alvis (born June 22, 1987) is an American paranormal investigator, filmmaker, author, and television personality. Alvis is the producer, director, and lead investigator for the television series Haunted Discoveries , which began airing on Canada's T+E network in 2023. [2] Before that, he was a co-investigator and paranormal technician on the A&E Ghost Hunters reboot from 2019 to 2021. [3]

Contents

Early life

Brandon Alvis was born in Bakersfield, California, on June 22, 1987. [4] Even from an early age, he was drawn to ghosts and hauntings. "I can remember reading anything I could get my hands on that was related to ghost stories and encounters of a haunting. I was the type of kid that would walk by the local haunted house hoping to get a glimpse of said apparitions." [5]

However, beginning in 1995, his interest in the paranormal changed following the death of one of his brothers to cancer and another to suicide in 2004. [6]

"I began reading everything I could about ghosts and hauntings," Alvis says in his book Elements of a Haunting. "I wanted to make sure I had proper understanding and knowledge of the subject prior to stepping out to conduct field research." [7]

Career

At age 17, Alvis worked as a stagehand and sound technician at the Buck Owens Crystal Palace in Bakersfield. [8]

As his interest in the paranormal grew, Alvis formed the American Paranormal Research Association (APRA). With APRA, Alvis claims to have investigated over 200 allegedly haunted locations, many of them historic locations. [9]

In 2017, Alvis produced a limited series on YouTube called Ephemera that explored the forgotten history of California. [10] Then in 2019, he premiered a one-hour documentary Cemetery Park, at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. [11] Cemetery Park criticizes the City of Ventura's decision to flatten one of the city's oldest cemeteries to create a dog park. [12]

In 2019, Brandon Alvis became the tech specialist for a new incarnation of Ghost Hunters (TV series) that aired on A&E from 2019 to 2021. After the series ended, Alvis and Ghost Hunters co-investigator Mustafa Gatollari wrote Elements of a Haunting: Connecting History with Science to Uncover the Greatest Ghost Stories Ever Told, published by Llewelyn Press in 2022.

Haunted Discoveries

Following the release of their book, Alvis and Gatollari formed A & G Creative. They also partnered with Stargazer Television, and began production on Haunted Discoveries (2023), a paranormal docu-series that explores haunted historic landmarks in and around Kentucky. [13]

The first season aired on T+E network during "Creep Week" in October 2023. [14]

Alvis told Collider, "Bringing our research to Kentucky, a place that many consider to be the most haunted state in America, has been a paranormal investigator's dream." [15]

He says that Haunted Discoveries utilizes a more scientific and history-based methodology that makes it unique to the television genre. "With many shows, there is a specific formula that is always adhered to, oftentimes for the sake of legitimate paranormal research. Haunted Discoveries proves that science can be scary, and is a pure documentary where history and methodology take precedence over manufactured jump scares and blinking lights." [16]

See also

Related Research Articles

A haunted house, spook house or ghost house in ghostlore is a house or other building often perceived as being inhabited by disembodied spirits of the deceased who may have been former residents or were otherwise connected with the property. Parapsychologists often attribute haunting to the spirits of the dead who have suffered from violent or tragic events in the building's past such as murder, accidental death, or suicide.

John Zaffis is a paranormal researcher born and based in Connecticut, United States. He starred in the SyFy paranormal reality TV show, Haunted Collector, and runs the Paranormal and Demonology Research Society of New England, which he founded in 1998.

<i>Ghost Hunters</i> (TV series) American paranormal reality television series

Ghost Hunters is an American paranormal and reality television series. The original series aired from October 6, 2004 until October 26, 2016 on Syfy. The original program spanned eleven seasons with 230 episodes, not including 10 specials. The series was revived in early 2019 and aired its twelfth and thirteenth seasons from August 21, 2019, to May 27, 2020, on A&E, after which it was cancelled and then revived for its fourteenth season only months later on Discovery+, which started airing on October 31, 2021. Season 15 began October 1, 2022 on Travel Channel. Season 16 of Ghost Hunters is set to release on Travel Channel on April 6, 2023.

Paranormal television is a genre of reality television that purports to document factual investigations of the paranormal rather than fictional representations seen in traditional narrative films and TV. Over the years, the genre has grown to be a staple of television and even changed the programming focus of networks like the History Channel and the Travel Channel. By highlighting beliefs in topics ranging from Bigfoot to aliens, paranormal television continues to elevate popular interest in the paranormal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ed and Lorraine Warren</span> American paranormal investigators

Edward Warren Miney and Lorraine Rita Warren were American paranormal investigators and authors associated with prominent cases of alleged hauntings. Edward was a self-taught and self-professed demonologist, author, and lecturer. Lorraine professed to be clairvoyant and a light trance medium who worked closely with her husband.

Proof Positive is a reality television paranormal investigation show broadcast by the SciFi Channel beginning on October 6, 2004, through December 8, 2004. It was shown as part of the "SciFi Wednesday" evening schedule line up in the United States along with other reality television programs as Scare Tactics and Ghost Hunters. Proof Positive ran for ten episodes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ghost hunting</span> Investigating reportedly haunted locations for ghosts

Ghost hunting is the process of investigating locations that are purportedly haunted by ghosts. Typically, a ghost-hunting team will attempt to collect evidence supporting the existence of paranormal activity.

<i>Truth or Scare</i> American TV series or program

Truth or Scare is an American television series on the Discovery Kids network. The show aired from October 25, 2001, to January 1, 2003. It was hosted by Michelle Trachtenberg in a style similar to Maila Nurmi as horror host "Vampira" and Cassandra Peterson as horror host "Elvira, Mistress of the Dark." The series first aired on Discovery Kids as a part of the network's Scary Saturday Night Sleepover lineup. After the series ended, reruns of the show aired on The Hub until October 29, 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary King's Close</span> Underground streets and tourist attraction in Edinburgh

Mary King's Close is a historic close located under the Edinburgh City Chambers building on the Royal Mile, in the historic Old Town area of Edinburgh, Scotland. It took its name from one Mary King, a merchant burgess who resided on the Close in the 17th century. The close was partially demolished and buried due to the building of the Royal Exchange in the 18th century, and later closed to the public for many years. The area became shrouded in myths and urban legends; tales of hauntings and murders abounded.

<i>A Haunting</i> American TV series or program

A Haunting is an American paranormal drama anthology television series that depicts eyewitness accounts of alleged possession, exorcism, and ghostly encounters. The program features narrations, interviews, and dramatic re-enactments based on various accounts of alleged paranormal experiences at reportedly haunted and mostly residential locations.

<i>Ghost Adventures</i> American paranormal reality television show

Ghost Adventures is an American paranormal and reality television series that premiered on October 17, 2008, on the Travel Channel before moving to Discovery+ in 2021. An independent film of the same name originally aired on the Sci-Fi Channel on July 25, 2007. The program follows ghost hunters Zak Bagans, Aaron Goodwin, Billy Tolley, and Jay Wasley as they investigate locations that are reported to be haunted.

<i>My Ghost Story</i> American TV series or program

My Ghost Story is an American television series on the paranormal, which premiered on July 17, 2010, on the Biography Channel. The series features ghost stories told from a person's own supposed experience with the supernatural. Each episode features claims of encounters at reportedly haunted locations all over the United States, as well as a few locations in other countries. A spin-off series My Ghost Story Asia premiered on the Biography Channel (Asia) on 16 August 2012 featuring stories from Singapore and Malaysia. The fifth season started on October 5, 2012, on Fridays at 9/8 Central. The sixth season which began on August 12, 2013, aired on the Biography Channel, the original broadcast channel, but halfway through the season the broadcast channel was changed to the Lifetime Movie Network (LMN).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gaurav Tiwari</span> Indian ghost hunter (1984–2016)

Gaurav Tiwari was an Indian paranormal investigator, UFO field investigator and ParaNexus representative in India who appeared on television shows such as MTV Girl's Night Out with Rannvijay Singh, Haunted Weekends with Sunny Leone, Aaj Tak, Live India, News 24, Star TV, Zee TV, Fear Files: Darr Ki Sacchi Tasvirein, Syfy's 'Haunting: Australia', and Sony TV's Bhoot Aaya. Tiwari was also a guest on paranormal radio shows and CEO and Founder of the Indian Paranormal Society.

Destination Fear was a Canadian paranormal television series that premiered on May 5, 2012 in Canada and September 3, 2012 in the United States. The program features ghost hunters and practical jokers who visit paranormal hotspots reported to be haunted. Guests are unaware they were set up by friends or loved ones to experience staged, frightening encounters. The show was cancelled in July 2012.

Ghost Asylum was an American paranormal television series that aired from September 7, 2014, to June 5, 2016, in the United States on Destination America. The series features a group of professional ghost hunters that try to "trap ghosts" in the country's most haunted abandoned asylums, sanitariums, and mental hospitals. The show was renewed for a second season of 15 episodes, which premiered on April 5, 2015, and aired in two halves with the second half airing in late-2014.

Haunting: Australia is an Australian paranormal television series that premiered on 3 February 2014 on Syfy. The series was commissioned by SF in July 2013, with production beginning in August 2013 and set to premiere on the network in 2014. However, following the closure of SF on 31 December 2013 and the launch of Syfy as its replacement, the series instead premiered on the newly launched Syfy channel on 3 February 2014.

<i>Haunted Discoveries</i> American TV series or program

Haunted Discoveries is an American paranormal and documentary television series. It premiered in North America on October 6, 2023, on T+E as part of the Canadian network's "Creep Week" Halloween programming.

Mustafa Gatollari is an American paranormal investigator, actor, author, and journalist. He is a co-producer, and co-lead investigator for the television series Haunted Discoveries, which currently airs on Canada's T+E network in 2023. Before that, he was a paranormal historian and site analyst on the A&E Ghost Hunters reboot from 2019 to 2020.

References

  1. "Brandon Alvis". IMDb .
  2. T+E TV
  3. Brandon Alvis Bio - A&E
  4. FilmFreeway Website
  5. Alvis, Brandon; Gatollari, Mustafa (January 8, 2022). Elements of a Haunting: Connecting History with Science to Uncover the Greatest Ghost Stories Ever Told, p. 5. New York: Llewellyn Publications. ISBN   978-0738768229.
  6. Elements of a Haunting (Alvis and Gatolarri), pp. 5-8.
  7. Elements of a Haunting (Alvis and Gatolarri), p. 8.
  8. Elements of a Haunting (Alvis and Gatolarri), p. 8.
  9. Brandon Alvis Bio - A&E
  10. "Brandon Alvis IMDb
  11. "Santa Barbara International Film Festival Lineup: 63 World Premieres". Indie-Wire. Retrieved 28 Jan., 2024.
  12. Cemetery Park IMDb
  13. 'This is a very active paranormal site'". WHAS-TV. March 7, 2022. Retrieved 28 October 2024.
  14. "T+E Serves Up Scares With Seventh Annual 'Creep Week' Event". Higgy Pop. Retrieved October 5, 2023.
  15. Hussain, Tania. ‘Haunted Discoveries’ Investigators Brandon Alvis and Mustafa Gatollari Talk Paranormal Series and “Manufactured Jump Scares” Collider. Published Oct. 26, 2023
  16. Hussain, Tanya. Collider.