Splintered Spirits

Sam Baltrusis, psychic, medium, paranormal investigator, frequent TV expert contributor, and author of Ghosts of Sleepy Hollow, joins Gary and John to discuss the legendary town made famous by Washington Irving and his tale about the Headless Horseman.

James Underdown has spent over 25 years trying to give away $500,000 to anyone who can prove a paranormal ability under real test conditions, and no one has even come close. In this episode, Gary and John sit down with the executive director of Center for Inquiry West and founder of the Independent Investigations Group to dig into wild claims of telepathy, telekinesis, dowsing, “teleporting” horseflies, and the ghost gadgets that flood paranormal TV, while James explains why he believes science and psychology can fully account for what many people call hauntings.Rather than arguing about who is “right,” the conversation leans into the tension between John’s work documenting spirits and James’s commitment to skeptical investigation, exploring where brain states, belief, culture, and genuine weird experiences collide. If you are fascinated by ghosts, curious about what is really happening during spirit box sessions, or just want to hear a skeptic and a paranormal creator push each other in real time, this episode will challenge your assumptions without killing the thrill of the unknown.If you think you have the abilities to win the $500,000 prize, visit the CIF. Link is in the linktree in our bio.

Ashley from Ghost Gossip Pod joins Splintered Spirits Live for a fun, fast, and heartfelt dive into haunted houses, psychic intuition, and the strange path that led her from the federal court system to full-time paranormal podcasting. She shares how buying a haunted house she didn’t know was haunted, waking up to footsteps and disembodied voices, and feeling “a little crazy” pushed her to start Ghost Gossip as a safe, nonjudgmental space for people to talk about their ghost stories and real-life paranormal experiences.Gary and John dig into her life with a house ghost named Al, a protective haunted doll that “chose” her in a dream, and how intention, spiritual boundaries, and energetic protection matter when you invite spirits and haunted objects into your home. Ashley opens up about being a “human lie detector,” getting crystal-clear psychic hits and clairaudient warnings that prevent real-world harm, and navigating the emotional weight of being an empath who constantly feels others’ emotions—especially her kids’.Along the way, they tackle bigger questions: what spirits might be, why hauntings and ghost activity are just as common in the daytime, and whether intuition is a natural psychic “muscle” some people simply develop further. They also dive into the modern paranormal community and content-creator world—paranormal podcast drama, toxic gatekeeping, clout-chasing, and cancellation gossip—while championing a more collaborative, community-first approach for ghost hunters, investigators, and fans of the unexplained.

One of the most recognizable psychics and mediums on the planet sits down with Splintered Spirits in this candid, no-BS conversation with television legend Chip Coffey. Known from hit shows like Kindred Spirits, Psychic Kids, and Paranormal State, Chip unpacks his near-death–adjacent birth, growing up in genuinely haunted homes, and how a background in acting, counseling, and psychology shaped the way he works with both spirits and living clients.Gary and John dig into Chip’s definitions of ghosts versus spirits, residual versus interactive hauntings, and why he believes our own energy is often the real catalyst for paranormal activity. Chip shares harrowing cases from Paranormal State (including demonic assaults that even shocked hospital staff), explains what TV gets right and wrong about the field, and offers blunt thoughts on skeptics, infighting in the paranormal world, and the fading era of paranormal television.Along the way, he challenges Gary’s beliefs, talks about why he’s retreated from the public eye, and leaves listeners with heartfelt advice for families raising intuitive kids and anyone who suspects they might be psychic themselves.

Gary and John celebrate one year of Splintered Spirits by breaking down their most ambitious experiment yet: a multi-participant Estes Method session that evolves into what they call the Synchronized Estes Protocol (SEP), a group format where multiple blindfolded listeners simultaneously report what they hear from spirit boxes. They unpack synced responses, wild physical reactions (from trance-like sleep to someone walking out after feeling touched), and how group Estes sessions expose personal bias, audio pareidolia, and the blurred line between spirit communication and human expectation.​Along the way, they explore what this experiment means for modern ghost hunting, ITC research, and the core question “What are spirits?”, while teasing upcoming episodes with mediums, skeptics, investigators, and researchers tackling consciousness, haunted locations, and real-world paranormal claims. Perfect for fans of paranormal podcasts, ghost hunting, spirit boxes (Necrophonic, Spiritus, Vox), the Estes Method, and anyone curious about pushing spirit communication experiments to the next level.

A century-old textile factory, a notorious spirit named Peter, whispered rumors of blood rituals from 1997, and a room full of blindfolded guests wired into the unknown might be Splintered Spirits’ most ambitious experiment yet. In this first ever SEP Test (Synchronized Estes Protocol Experiment), Gary and John return to John’s former office inside a massive 1860s factory to attempt what they believe is the first multi-person Estes Method session, using silent-disco headsets provided by Silence Activations ( silenceactivations.com) sensory deprivation to separate real spirit communication from audio pareidolia.Across the night, the group appears to connect with documented entities like Peter and the mask-bound spirit Sam, hears chilling references to long-whispered rituals, and witnesses a bizarre “F you Lisa” moment that lands just as John’s wife stands up to leave. Some guests feel touches and intense presence, others slip into deep calm or nod off entirely, leaving listeners to decide whether this was coordinated contact from the other side or just our pattern-seeking brains working overtime.

Splintered Spirits is live talking about ghost hunting, upcoming guests, the pod's one-year anniversary, and a call-to-arms to save one of Paranormal's Most Valuable Assets - John's Tooth!

Drag queen paranormal investigator and author Monique Toosoon joins Splintered Spirits for a wild dive into ghosts, hauntings, and high‑camp horror. From legendary haunted locations like The Conjuring House, Wilson Castle, and historic asylums to sold‑out overnight ghost hunts, Monique shares how investigating in full drag as “the ghost-ess with the mostest” turns her into a powerful trigger object that supercharges spirit communication and EVPs. Gary and John explore what spirits are, queer visibility in the paranormal field, and how glamour, energy, and $20K of ghost‑hunting equipment transform a traditional ghost hunt into a live paranormal experience. Fans of haunted locations, real‑life ghost stories, paranormal investigation, drag, and horror will find plenty to latch onto in this conversation.Links to Monique and her latest book can be found in the linktree in our bio.

Author, witch, and medium Melissa St. Hilaire joins Splintered Spirits for a live deep dive into real signs from the afterlife, everyday magic, and what it truly means to live as an “American Witch.” She shares how spirits communicate, the most misunderstood “signs” people receive, and how her work as a psychic, spellcaster, and animal communicator helps bridge the gap between the living and the dead. All of it circles back to our favorite big question: What are Spirits?Links to Melissa and her book can be found in the linktree in our bio.

On this episode of Splintered Spirits, we’re crossing over into the Realm of Darkness.Our guests are the duo behind one of the most atmospheric, boots-on-the-ground shows in the paranormal true crime space: producer, writer, and investigator Ashley Moreno and filmmaker, investigator, and storyteller Nate Cogar. Together, they’ve built Realm of Darkness and The Dark Travel Chronicles into a journey through haunted locations, unsolved histories, and the lingering echoes of lives cut short, blending meticulous research with firsthand encounters in some of the most unsettling places you can visit.In this conversation, we’re digging into how Ashley and Nate got pulled into the paranormal, how they balance true crime with the ethics of real-world tragedy, and what it actually takes to chase ghosts and dark history across the country with cameras rolling. We’ll talk investigations that changed them, locations they’ll never forget, and how their work has reshaped what they think spirits might be.https://www.youtube.com/@RealmOfDarkness04

In this episode of Splintered Spirits, we’re joined by Lauren Hellekson, the mind behind Lauren Haunts (laurenhaunts.com), a paranormal investigator, equipment builder, author, and physics student who lives at the intersection of curiosity and skepticism.Lauren approaches the paranormal from an angle we don’t often see. She designs and builds her own investigative gear, grounding her work in concepts like electromagnetism, static fields, and energy theory, while still leaving room for the unknown. With a background that blends hands-on electronics, spiritual inquiry, and formal studies in physics and astronomy, she challenges how ghost hunting is usually done and asks harder questions about what we’re really measuring when we say a place is haunted.We talk about custom-built paranormal equipment, the role of science in investigating unexplained phenomena, common mistakes investigators make, and how belief, bias, and environment can influence results. Lauren also shares what drew her into this work, how her academic studies have reshaped her thinking, and what she believes the future of paranormal research could look like if curiosity and rigor finally meet in the middle.Whether you’re a skeptic, a believer, or somewhere in between, this conversation digs into the gray area where data ends and mystery begins.Subscribe, follow, and join the conversation as we continue trying to understand what ghosts might actually be, fractured memories, energy, or something we haven’t named yet.

What if you could hear a voice and see its color? What if a single touch revealed someone’s soul?In this live episode of Splintered Spirits, we’re joined by The Blue Bodhi, known to her followers as The Godmother of Magic. A shamanic medium, aura artist, and spiritual advisor with over 600K followers on TikTok, Bodhi has a rare neurological condition called synesthesia that allows her to see sound, touch, and even letters as color. She uses this gift to read the layers of a person’s aura and reveal what lives beneath the surface.After surviving two near-death experiences at nineteen and later being diagnosed with temporal lobe epilepsy, Bodhi began connecting ancient spiritual traditions with modern neuroscience, exploring why seers, shamans, and oracles throughout history shared similar neurological traits.She’s drawn aura portraits for celebrities like Dustin Diamond, Ray Park, and Vinnie Appice, hosts twice-weekly live Reiki healing sessions for thousands around the world, and runs the Black Horse Project, a spiritual initiative designed to help people feel safe at night.Let’s Dive into the Conversation.

Amber Copeland from hauntedatx.com, a haunted tour guide in Austin, TX, joins the pod and shares some of her ghostly evidence. Gary and John catch up and talk about what's to come in 2026. And Gary has a new theory on what spirits may be.

In this episode of Splintered Spirits, Gary sits down with Matthew Botsford, whose life changed forever in 1992 when a stray bullet struck him in the head. His heart stopped. Doctors fought to save him. But while his body lay in a coma, Matthew says his consciousness went somewhere else… and it was not peaceful.Matthew describes a realm of darkness, agony, and malevolent entities, a place he believes was “hell,” and the profound moment something reached into that darkness and pulled him out. We explore what he experienced, what he believes spirits truly are, whether these realms are psychological, spiritual, or something we don’t yet understand, and how it reshaped his entire life.Whether you’re skeptical, spiritual, fascinated, or unsettled, this conversation forces you to confront a question we ask every week: What are spirits… really?

Happy New Year, Splintered Spirits Society! On this episode Gary talks about everything he's learned in 2025 and what's to come for Splintered Spirits on 2026!

On this week’s episode of Splintered Spirits, Gary and John go off-script and deep into the tension between believers and professional skeptics in the paranormal world. They unpack their conversations with skeptic heavyweights. From what it would actually take to convince a skeptic—a levitating grandfather clock, maybe?—to how evidence is judged in science versus ghost hunting, they probe why some people need something almost cinematically impossible before they’ll even consider spirits might be real.They also pull back the curtain on the cottage industry of rage‑bait creators who build channels by tearing down mediums, investigators, and even grief counselors, using Gary’s mind‑bending reading with psychic medium Cathy Nadal as a case study.  Along the way, they tease a loaded slate of upcoming episodes: a conversation‑driven Shanley Hotel deep dive, a sit‑down with REM pod and SB7 inventor Gary Galka, another skeptic interview with Benjamin Radford, an intimate look at sexual energy and spirits with an adult film star, and a full Turkish‑coffee reading with Cathy that will delight believers and make skeptics grind their teeth.

Splintered Spirits goes live with Mandy Cummings of the Ghost Sisters, an all‑female paranormal investigation team from Ohio known for their raw, unfiltered ghost hunting across some of the most haunted locations in the Midwest. In this episode, paranormal investigator and medium Mandy shares how her years as a corrections officer shaped her approach to investigating haunted prisons, jails, and infamous hotspots like the Mansfield Reformatory and the Bel Air House. From capturing a full‑body apparition of a guard in solitary confinement to hearing intelligent “cat‑call” responses echo through abandoned cell blocks, she breaks down how law enforcement instincts, psychic mediumship, and hard evidence collide in real‑world investigations.The conversation dives deep into one of the Ghost Sisters’ most disturbing residential hauntings, a TV‑level case involving possible demonic activity, attachments, and a terrified family living in an active haunted house. Mandy explains her process as a psychic medium doing cold walkthroughs with no prior research, using tools like the Estes Method and spirit boxes only after she’s mapped the energy of a location. Along the way, the team tackles cursed objects, haunted dolls and stuffed animals, secret‑society vibes, and even cryptid territory—Bigfoot and Grassman footprints, howls in the woods, and crossover between ghost hunting and cryptid research. If you’re into paranormal podcasts, ghost hunting shows, real haunted house stories, or female‑led paranormal teams, this episode is packed with eerie evidence, emotional stories, and practical insight into what spirits might really be.Link to The Ghost Sisters in the Linktree in our bio.

In this episode of Splintered Spirits, Gary heads into the heart of Hollywood “magick” to sit down in person with psychic medium and self-described good witch of Hollywood, Patti Negri. From hosting her first childhood seance in Southern California to becoming one of TV’s most recognizable witches, Patti traces how a secret magical life ran parallel to her Hollywood career until a single reality TV seance blew the broom closet door wide open.Patti gives Gary a crash course in practical witchcraft and divination—dowsing rods, tarot, crystal balls, black mirrors, and everyday spells for money, protection, and emotional balance—while explaining why she believes light, high-vibration magic will always outlast the dark arts. They dig into her work on Ghost Adventures and with top paranormal influencers, the rise of witchcraft and alternative spirituality in chaotic times, and how she juggles being an entrepreneur, teacher, and witch through Paraflixx and her international school, University Magickus.Along the way, Patti shares intense encounters with so-called dark witches, haunted dolls, portals, and demonic energy, but always comes back to empowerment: reclaiming intuition, working with the elements, and remembering that you help create the spiritual world you have to live in.

How do you know when you come across an evil spirit that it's not necessarily a demon, but just an "asshole"?In this episode of Splintered Spirits, Gary sits down with demonologist and author James Annitto to answer that question. James, a former ordained Old Catholic deacon and founder of the Dominion Ministry, brings over two decades of experience investigating the dark edges of the paranormal.James is known for his objective approach, often looking through a psychological lens before jumping to supernatural conclusions. In this interview, he shares terrifying case files that blurred the line between mental health crises and true evil, including a premonition of murder that almost made him quit the field.In this episode, we cover:The Difference: Distinguishing between a haunting, a demonic infestation, and a spirit that is just a jerk.The Nightmare Case: A harrowing story where James dreamt of dismembering a family—only to arrive the next day and find them wearing the exact clothes from his dream.The "Wall Puncher": The time James caught a lonely elderly woman staging poltergeist activity on CCTV.True Possession: A violent encounter in Salem, MA involving physical transformations and a rosary that instantly oxidized.Pop Culture: What movies like Nefarious and Insidious actually get right about the paranormal.Featured Book:James Annitto’s new book, The Psychological Dimensions of the Paranormal, is available now:  https://amzn.to/47duJBsTimestamps:0:00 - Intro: What are spirits?2:15 - From Deacon to Demonologist8:45 - Defining a Demon: Evil Spirit or Fallen Angel?22:45 - The Nightmare Case: A Demonic Infestation40:30 - Debunking the Wall-Punching Ghost51:00 - The "Trifecta" of Evidence1:04:00 - Advice to a Young DemonologistAbout Splintered Spirits:Hosted by Gary, Splintered Spirits explores the strange, the haunted, and the theories that might explain it all. We are trying to find the answer to one question: What are spirits?

Marie Jackson, the fearless creator behind Ghost Link Productions and Paranormal Impact, joins Gary and John on Splintered Spirits Live! With more than 100 investigations across haunted homes, abandoned sites, historic locations, and active hotspots, Marie brings lived experience, emotional truth, and cinematic storytelling to the world of the paranormal. She has become a powerful voice in a space that has not always been inclusive, using her work to uplift underrepresented communities and reshape how paranormal stories are told.In this conversation, Marie shares how growing up in a haunted home shaped her perspective, what she believes spirits truly are, how trauma and healing intersect with the supernatural, and why representation matters in paranormal media. We also dive into her upcoming TV series Supernatural Sistas, her books TEN FEET UNDER and TEN FEET ABOVE, and how she bridges spirituality, investigation, creativity, and cultural identity.If you care about authenticity, powerful storytelling, inclusivity in the paranormal world, and redefining what it means to encounter the unknown, this episode is for you.Links to Marie's Insta and Book can be found in our Link Tree:https://linktr.ee/splinteredspirits