Ghost hunters hope for small screen hit

It is approaching the time of year when people’s minds turn to all things ghoulish and ghostly - or at least to fancy dress and trick or treating.
Lee Roberts ghosthunting at The Village in Mansfield with Derek Acorah.Lee Roberts ghosthunting at The Village in Mansfield with Derek Acorah.
Lee Roberts ghosthunting at The Village in Mansfield with Derek Acorah.

But for two Sutton men, the paranormal has become much more than something just to think about at Halloween.

Lee Roberts and Paul Stevenson both run businesses that investigate and explore the paranormal world and are now hoping that they can use their expertise to launch a new TV programme which will fuse entertainment with the scare factor.

The pair’s idea combines a ghost hunt at a haunted location led by themselves and other paranormal investigators, with celebrity guests and public involvement through social media.

Called #HAUN7ED, Lee and Paul are in negotiations with several Sky television channels about bringing their idea to fruition and hope to launch it this time next year following a marketing campaign to build the brand.

Lee, who runs paranormal events company Haunted Events UK, said: “We have some quite advanced gadgets and equipment which will bring the paranormal kicking and screaming into 2016.

“We have some exclusive equipment that no one else can use which will modernise it and we will bring in some well known names as well.”

In addition to the use of social media, the difference between #HAUN7ED and other shows in this genre - such as the very successful Most Haunted - is that Lee and Paul will not use a medium to contact spirits.

Their ghost hunts will be much more scientific in nature, focusing on technology to detect the unexplainable.

Paul, the editor of Haunted digital magazine, said that there is a huge audience for shows like #HAUN7ED.

A recent spur of the moment live ghost hunt streamed on Lee’s verified Facebook page from The Idlewells Shopping Centre in Sutton had 16,200 viewers in just two hours.

The videos now have had over 90,000 views.

“Paranormal has changed, Paul said.

“When I first came into it there was a small handful of people who did events. There was one show, Most Haunted.

“Since then paranormal has taken a massive leap forward. Every other week there’s a new group popping up and there are ghost events around the country most weekends.”

Lee said that they cannot guarantee that each episode will be full of ghostly sightings or unexplained events but they will go to new locations that have not been investigated on television before.

“If nothing happens, nothing happens,” he said.

“We want it so if that is the case, there’s still entertainment.”