Brian Clune Shares Insight Into Local Paranormal Activity By Writer and Contributor Emily McGinn
Paranormal investigator Brian Clune has had some connection with the paranormal for much of his life, growing up in a house in Torrance that was haunted by his father. However, his interest in paranormal investigation did not spark until much later, when he and his son found connection through a shared fascination for the paranormal.
Clune recalls watching the 2000s show “Scariest Places on Earth” with his son. The reality show followed groups of people dropped in the scariest places around the world who then had to navigate their way back to each other.
“They would take normal people and put them in a haunted location somewhere in the world,” Clune recalls. “What they would do is they would separate the people, and the first task was they would have to find each other, and then they would have to investigate. My son and I would always laugh at the way they responded. We would just have a good time watching that show together.”
As his son grew up, Clune sought new ways to connect with him, and they found a shared interest in ghost hunting. Now, Clune has been investigating the paranormal for more than 25 years, looking into cases across California and sharing his findings. He co-founded Planet Paranormal, which links authors, radio hosts and other media figures all related to paranormal investigation.
Paranormal investigation is much different in practice than what one might see on television. His goal is not to prove the existence of ghosts, but to better understand them. He seeks to answer questions like: Why are they still here? Can they pass on? Do they choose to stay here?
Clune will be sharing some of his findings and local lore in an upcoming lecture as part of the Lectures with Lianne series. To mark the spooky season, the lecture will take place on Oct. 10. During the lecture, Clune plans to share about spirits on board the USS Iowa, where he has volunteered for more than a decade, as well as the ghosts of the Queen Mary. He will also delve into the most famous local paranormal case: The Haunting of Jackie Hernandez that took place in San Pedro in 1989 and garnered national attention.
Over the years, Clune himself has had multiple interactions with the paranormal, including one spooky incident he recalls when spending the night on Alcatraz in the San Francisco area.
“It was probably somewhere between 2 and 2:15 in the morning. We were in the medical isolation ward, which is normally off limits even to daytime tours,” Clune says. “We were sitting in these metal folding chairs, and my buddy Bob had said, ‘You know, if you guys don't want us here, just let us know and we'll leave.’ Right after he said that, my other friend Ash, his chair slid back about three feet and hit the wall. He got knocked out. While the chair was sliding, we heard a voice say, ‘Get out.’ That was probably the most spectacular thing we've ever had happen.”
When sharing his findings, Clune understands and expects the skepticism that many people have regarding the paranormal. In fact, he welcomes it.
“It's a matter of belief. If they don't want to believe it, that's fine,” Clune says. “Even though I grew up in a house that was haunted by my father, I was still skeptical about everything else, until I actually had something happen. So I understand that if they've never had anything happen [to them], it's hard to believe.”
He feels that this disbelief is exacerbated by people’s interactions with paranormal ideas in the media. For example, many television shows featuring the paranormal focus on entertainment rather than truth and portray ghosts and paranormal events without accuracy.
“There's a difference between actual paranormal investigation and entertainment, and these TV shows show stuff that just is not true,” Clune said. “So that kind of perpetuates the myth that ghosts don't exist.”
In fact, in his interactions with the paranormal, Clune has discovered something entirely different from the way ghosts are often portrayed.
“I’ve learned that ghosts are just people,” Clune says. “They're just people who are in a different realm of existence, and you treat them just like you would a living person.”
This view of ghosts determines how one should interact with them. Clune discourages provoking spirits in the place where they reside, comparing it to someone entering his house to bother him. He tells people that like real people, ghosts can be kind or mean — it all depends on the type of person they were in real life.
Regardless of whether or not people believe in the paranormal, Clune finds that people have a general fascination with it. He feels that it stems from a feeling many people possess: a fear of death.
“Everybody is, at the very least, apprehensive about it,” Clune says. “So I think the reason that a lot of people become interested in it is to try to alleviate that fear that, yes, we do go on.When he does his lecture on Oct. 10, Clune hopes that people will walk away with more knowledge of the paranormal, whether they remain skeptical of it or not.
“I hope they take away a little bit more of a belief if they are skeptics. I never want to have people stop being skeptics. A true skeptic keeps an open mind. I am very skeptical of what people tell me happened to them, but I keep an open mind that it could have happened,” Clune says. “This is going to sound weird, but my main goal is that people have a good time. I hope they have fun.”
Bio:
Emily McGinn is a journalist based in the Los Angeles area. She enjoys reporting on and writing about a variety of topics from lifestyle to news, especially in her areas of specialty, environmental science and political science