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Lee Hatfield from S.I.P.A. Paranormal Chronicles on Building a Monster Podcast & Real Hauntings | What’s Kraken Interview
7 Plays2 days ago
Jo goes FULL chaotic energy with Lee Hatfield (S.I.P.A. Paranormal Chronicles) as they unpack how Lee launched a paranormal podcast that exploded in 2025, booked guests until mid-January, and still finds time to get stroked by ghosts in creepy jails. From EVPs that make jaws drop to seeing a full apparition walk past his bed in New York, Lee spills the real tea on scientific investigating, time slips, and why patience + spreadsheets = paranormal gold. Jo admits he’s jealous Lee got ghost-touched and they both roast flashy ghost-hunting gadgets. Whether you’re a skeptic or a believer, this episode will make you think and laugh.
Check out our other shows→ https://linktr.ee/Emptyhell (we’re Amazon Affiliates — if you click our links and buy stuff, we get a little kickback, thank you legends!)
KEY MOMENTS
- Opening chaos – Jo can’t read Lee’s name, blames laundry list, instant friendship roast
- Lee’s origin spark – From one nervous episode with Jo to 47+ bangers and guests booked into 2026
- Behind-the-scenes hustle – Spreadsheets, TidyCal, and the art of never ghosting your own guests
- Personal goosebump story – Lee gets gently stroked by a ghost...no, not that way! + full apparition in NY
- Why it matters – Real investigating means debunking first, wonder second — and that’s how you earn respect
Recommended
Transcript
Intro
00:00:08
Jo
Hey everyone, Joe here with a special guest. What's the, what's I can't see this name anymore. This is very unprofessional, I'm so sorry, i just can't see. Sipping tea. Why are oh, Sippa. Lee, it's you. i should have looked.
00:00:23
Jo
I didn't notice we were top hat off. Usually you're wearing a top hat and like calling down to little children about buying, humbugging.
00:00:32
Lee - S.I.P.A.
You are so smarter you're such a ass.
00:00:32
Jo
How are you doing, Lee?
00:00:36
Lee - S.I.P.A.
I am doing well.
00:00:36
Jo
first
00:00:37
Lee - S.I.P.A.
Actually, I'm not doing well, Joe. I've got a bit of a cold and I've got a bit of a cough. I blame they blame the English people because they gave it to Kelly and then Kelly gave it to me.
00:00:42
Jo
Oh.
00:00:46
Jo
See, you have to declare the border, man. I think it's illegal. You're trying to import stuff.
00:00:52
Lee - S.I.P.A.
I have contacts, I don't have to.
00:00:55
Jo
Oh, yeah. See, that's how it goes. If those of you didn't guess already, Lee and I are friends for a while. so I knew his name. I wasn't actually looking for... i think this my laundry list. Honestly.
00:01:06
Jo
So
00:01:06
Lee - S.I.P.A.
i I have no idea who you are. You just like called me out of the blue. Yeah.
00:01:11
Jo
that is true. It's like, you're just like chilling out, like, you know, eating. I'm like, Hey, get on my podcast. Now Lee is got the super successful SIPA podcast.
00:01:24
Jo
Tell me little bit about your podcast and how how long you've been doing it. And like, what's your adventure there?
00:01:29
Lee - S.I.P.A.
Okay, so Super Paranormal Chronicles, let's get the name right, i was launched in February of 2025.
00:01:40
Jo
Oh.
00:01:40
Lee - S.I.P.A.
I'd been thinking about it for a few months after appearing on somebody else's podcast, and I'm a bit of a perfectionist, so it's like I can do better, and I think I can do this better.
00:01:52
Lee - S.I.P.A.
So I spoke to a friend of mine who's on the other end of this call, And he gave me, yes, you, he gave he gave me guidance of how to create and go forward with a podcast.
00:02:11
Lee - S.I.P.A.
So it was launched in February. joe is Joe actually helped me by coming on the first few episodes just just so that I wasn't talking to myself.
00:02:19
Jo
Yes.
00:02:23
Lee - S.I.P.A.
And we had somebody called Megan as well. And then
00:02:26
Jo
Wait, wait, wait, called Megan or that's her name.
00:02:29
Lee - S.I.P.A.
She's called Megan.
00:02:30
Jo
Called Megan.
00:02:30
Lee - S.I.P.A.
Megan? Yeah, this is Megan.
00:02:32
Jo
They call me Megan.
00:02:33
Lee - S.I.P.A.
I think I'll call you Megan. i'll call I've called you worse. Let's face it.
00:02:36
Jo
That is true. That is true. and And I like how you kind of setting up like, yeah, you helped me.
00:02:38
Lee - S.I.P.A.
Yeah.
00:02:40
Jo
All I remember from that day is we went to a restaurant. We had dinner. some food, but we also drank. and And like it was based on the ice storm.
00:02:49
Lee - S.I.P.A.
Yes, we.
00:02:50
Jo
We didn't like get sloppy, but it was like, you know, the the cars had to defrost while we were inside. So we had nothing else to do.
00:02:56
Lee - S.I.P.A.
Exactly. Exactly.
00:02:57
Jo
Yeah.
00:02:58
Lee - S.I.P.A.
Yeah. So I then decided that the easiest way for me to get guests was to just reach out to as many people as a possible. The idea was to start and do bi-weekly, oh, sorry, bi-monthly, two months.
00:03:14
Jo
right.
00:03:16
Lee - S.I.P.A.
And then all these people started responding to me and said, yes, we would love to come on your show. And I'm thinking, oh, crap. So then after discussing with Joe again, it's like,
00:03:29
Lee - S.I.P.A.
you could you can really afford to go weekly. So i did I went weekly and it's gone from strength to strength to the point where in July, I'd got so many people booked and recorded that I actually did two a week for the entire month of July, just so I could catch up.
00:03:33
Jo
Yeah.
00:03:45
Lee - S.I.P.A.
And currently I've got enough people booked and recorded to last me until mid-January.
00:03:54
Jo
Mid-January. That's amazing. And it goes on to show. I remember like whatever you do, keep to the schedule. If you're saying you're doing, you know, once a month, keep it once a month.
00:04:05
Jo
And if you get more, you can always add more. You can't take away. Like if you start out with once a week and you're like, oh, I can't make it, then we that looks bad.
00:04:09
Lee - S.I.P.A.
For sure.
00:04:13
Jo
But if you start out once every other week, the rest can be special. You know, this is and then you actually build it up to once a week, which is amazing, especially July. You're like doubling up.
00:04:22
Lee - S.I.P.A.
Yeah.
00:04:22
Jo
So you went through this. And one of the things I do admire about you, besides we have the same accent sometimes, I kind of mulled down a bit. No, I know.
00:04:33
Jo
we're different We're different parts. We're different parts still.
00:04:34
Lee - S.I.P.A.
you' You're from America. I'm from England. Come on.
00:04:37
Jo
Oh, geography is not my strong point. Come on. It's the same globe. It's only this far away if you look at the globe.
00:04:42
Lee - S.I.P.A.
Okay. okay
00:04:45
Jo
But it's your tenacity and your ability to get shit done. Oh, you can swear on this podcast, by the way. Is it be able to get shit done? Meaning, you know, the tasks, you break it down into parts, you keep on track, and you did you reached out to all these people. And like I said, maybe they'll say yes, maybe they say no, but they will say nothing if you don't reach out.
00:05:07
Lee - S.I.P.A.
Exactly. And the once you get involved and you embrace this particular subject that I'm doing, obviously the paranormal, there are so many people that want to help you and want to see you succeed.
00:05:23
Lee - S.I.P.A.
I had one individual who gave me five names of five other people to contact. And then i had another individual who gave me 15 names for people to reach out to.
00:05:36
Lee - S.I.P.A.
And it was getting absolutely crazy. And i'd like i was doing two or three interviews a week at one point, and it was getting absolutely crazy.
00:05:43
Jo
right
00:05:46
Lee - S.I.P.A.
But now that I've got more comfortable in podcasting and talking to people, I kind of have the strength and the understanding to spread them out a little bit now.
00:05:58
Lee - S.I.P.A.
So like if if you come and say to me, i want to come on your podcast, I know damn well that I don't have to book you until January.
00:06:07
Jo
Right. Right. and because That gives you a window of If you do a bunch, for those those who don't know, a lot of the shows are pre-taped, right? This is being taped on December 5th, I think that it is a today.
00:06:21
Jo
And it's going to come out Wednesday.
00:06:22
Lee - S.I.P.A.
Yeah. Yeah.
00:06:24
Jo
So whatever next week, Wednesday, you're it, right? But there's sometimes, we'll pre-tape four or five episodes at once. And it won't be not Wednesday, but two months from now. You know, and it whatever it is so it's kind of difficult managing a back catalog and seal and still trying to keep on track with what you're doing soon.
00:06:36
Lee - S.I.P.A.
yeah
00:06:46
Jo
So how do you balance those two? Like, how do you balance the back catalog that you have? And what you're currently going to be recording for interviews?
00:06:54
Lee - S.I.P.A.
And i found that number one, a calendar is my new best friend because I can plan in advance of when I'm going to be doing interviews and stuff like But there's a great app as well. It's called TidyCal.
00:07:14
Lee - S.I.P.A.
You may use that as well, which you can send it to your guests and then the guests can pick times and dates of when they're available.
00:07:14
Jo
Okay. Yeah. Yeah.
00:07:21
Jo
Right.
00:07:23
Lee - S.I.P.A.
So it's a win-win situation. But it's... I've also, because I'm a bit of a stickler for detail, I have a spreadsheet.
00:07:34
Lee - S.I.P.A.
So just by looking at the spreadsheet, i know I can see all my episodes that I've released. I can see who's coming on what day and what time and people that I've reached out to but I have not got a contact with yet.
00:07:51
Lee - S.I.P.A.
So, for example, I've probably got six or seven people on my spreadsheet currently that I've reached out to.
00:07:51
Jo
OK.
00:07:58
Lee - S.I.P.A.
but only in the last few days and then they had yet that they may not have reached out to me yet. After two weeks, if they if those people haven't contacted me, I will take them off that bottom part and put them in a different page.
00:08:11
Lee - S.I.P.A.
So they're still, other yeah, I've still got a list of kind people that I've contacted, but I'm not completely swamping my one glance schedule.
00:08:21
Jo
Right. So they're still in play, but they might, you know, I used to word, decay or melt off, meaning you, you reach out to someone and you might get a response back that's positive sometimes. And then crickets, but not like the game with the bat thing that people run back. I've never really understood that game.
00:08:41
Jo
Not that type cricket, but the one is just kind of like nothingness, right?
00:08:42
Lee - S.I.P.A.
Yeah.
00:08:46
Jo
Like,
00:08:46
Lee - S.I.P.A.
yeah
00:08:47
Jo
best intentions, and even with tidy cow, and you're right, if you make it easier for a person just to click a button and that goes in calendar, great. Less email back and forth is less times you can drop someone off.
00:08:59
Jo
But even then, some people would have the best of intentions and just never follow through.
00:09:06
Lee - S.I.P.A.
i've had a I've had a couple of people that have had initial contact and then they've just fell by the wayside. And i I reached out to a guy in January, and he's a quite high-profile sceptic in the UK, and
00:09:18
Jo
Whoa.
00:09:23
Lee - S.I.P.A.
And after a couple of months, I thought, okay, he's a busy guy. He's not going to reach out. And in June, I got an email from him, a thousand, no, a million apologies for not reaching out earlier.
00:09:35
Jo
yeah
00:09:36
Lee - S.I.P.A.
When can we do this? And he wants to come back for a second episode.
00:09:41
Jo
It's awesome.
00:09:42
Lee - S.I.P.A.
Yeah. So I'm not going to push him for the second episode because I knew that it took six months for the first one to come into fruition.
00:09:47
Jo
Right.
00:09:50
Jo
Absolutely. And some people, it's a patience game. It really is. It's entertainment one-on-one, right? It's hurly up in weight. It is sending out and it's not always your schedule. Something might just pop up and they have to take it and they have to do this. And their time's not their own. Their time is beholden to like a PR company.
00:10:13
Jo
You know, you must do this, this, and this, and this. Like, oh man, I want to do something else now. And so, yeah, just being patient. And do you think because the way you treat people, which is if anyone knows Lee, it's like he's the nicest guy.
00:10:27
Jo
Okay. strict but Strict, but fair.
00:10:32
Lee - S.I.P.A.
Correct.
00:10:32
Jo
Strict, but fair, right?
00:10:32
Lee - S.I.P.A.
That's Yeah.
00:10:34
Jo
And to a guest, always the nicest guy. That's what I'm saying. Like to a guest, treat him like the guest, right? So you think it's the way you treat people that makes them want to come back versus sometimes you go on a podcast and like,
00:10:48
Lee - S.I.P.A.
Absolutely. Yeah.
00:10:49
Jo
Yeah.
00:10:50
Lee - S.I.P.A.
Everybody has those podcasts where it's like pulling teeth.
00:10:53
Jo
yeah
00:10:54
Lee - S.I.P.A.
Yeah, you will speak to somebody, you'll ask them a question, and they go, yes And then that's it. And then you you have to try to force the information out. But then you have other podcasts where you've got tears streaming down your face because you're laughing so much and you're having an absolute blast of a time. And it's those kind of people that say, i' would love to come back for a second episode.
00:11:19
Lee - S.I.P.A.
When can you have me? i know this guy but And out of all the people, and tonight I released episode 47.
00:11:20
Jo
Right.
00:11:27
Jo
Wow, good for you
00:11:27
Lee - S.I.P.A.
Out of all those people, that I've interviewed this year so far, I must have at least 20 that want to come back for another, for yeah season two, which, FYI, January the 1st.
00:11:40
Jo
And that's amazing. And I like the concept of your podcast because if anyone doesn't know, you can catch a sip of paranormal chronicles on Facebook and YouTubes and Spotify's and apples and iTunes. Is that still thing?
00:11:53
Jo
I think it's still a thing. It's you don't just hit. one area of the paranormal it's not just a boogeyman boogeyman boogeyman it's the whole plethora of and and that's why I really appreciate when you're doing the research for it and trust me Lee did his research this is not just going I want to do something today like he's being modest he did a lot a lot of research first like a lot
00:12:16
Lee - S.I.P.A.
i think I think you and I were talking for maybe three months before and then i was so nervous about doing those first few and you can see you can see it in the early episodes how nervous I am and then I got my first big guest and it was like oh my god
00:12:21
Jo
yeah
00:12:34
Jo
Right. Cool.
00:12:35
Lee - S.I.P.A.
Yeah, I see it. And then you're right in what you say about I cover all aspects. Like, for example, a couple of weeks ago, i interviewed one of the biggest UFO investigators in the US, Preston Dennett, who if everybody knows UFOs, knows who Preston Dennett is.
00:13:00
Lee - S.I.P.A.
And I released that episode a couple of weeks ago. A week tomorrow, I'm interviewing somebody, and this is not really as well a known story, but the Dyatlov Pass in Russia, where nine hikers mysteriously died.
00:13:20
Jo
Yeah.
00:13:21
Lee - S.I.P.A.
And, know, people are... There's so many different ideas of what happened, whether it was a yeah the government got involved or UFOs or an avalanche or Bigfoot Yeti kind of thing.
00:13:38
Lee - S.I.P.A.
So there's so many different stories about that that I actually reached out to i was Googling Dyatlov Pass and I found this person and they they actually live in...
00:13:51
Lee - S.I.P.A.
Austria or somewhere like that. So like seven, eight hours difference. And yeah, next Saturday, I'm interviewing them. And I think that's good. And she actually said to me we may have, we may not be able to do just one episode because there's that much information.
00:14:07
Jo
That's wonderful. How do you cut up your episode? You just kind of do like a cliffhanger part two? Or do you kind of like this is part of the conversation? And then next week, we'll do another part? Or what?
00:14:17
Lee - S.I.P.A.
Well, I've already warned her that what what I may do is when we get, because most of them so far have been between 45 minutes and an hour.
00:14:26
Jo
Right?
00:14:27
Lee - S.I.P.A.
Excuse me. And if I know that she's only a third of the way through the stories, I'm going to warn her in advance before we go on air to say, after an hour, I'm going to say, okay, we're coming to the end of part one.
00:14:47
Lee - S.I.P.A.
We'll say our goodbyes and then I will immediately contact her again to carry on that recording in the same day.
00:14:54
Jo
The same day.
00:14:54
Lee - S.I.P.A.
but But then that will be episode two and maybe depending on how much there is, there could be an episode three as well.
00:14:55
Jo
Okay. Yeah.
00:15:02
Jo
Okay. That makes sense. So basically you you chain them. We used to do that with whatever the podcast was, let the right one in with Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Yeah, sometimes it's like a day of recording was the same person, but you know, it's like, Oh, this is the first week, the second week, would you release them one, two, and three like that?
00:15:19
Jo
Or would you kind of like one space to space three? Okay.
00:15:23
Lee - S.I.P.A.
That's a very good question and not something that I've really thought about yet because I'm i'm literally going to be playing it by ear.
00:15:29
Jo
See how it shapes up then.
00:15:29
Lee - S.I.P.A.
good luck yeah Because I think the the longest one I've had so far is like 90 minutes and that was a guy talking about poltergeist.
00:15:30
Jo
Okay.
00:15:38
Lee - S.I.P.A.
But I released that as as one episode. I could have broke it down into two, but i haven't I haven't had to do that so far.
00:15:42
Jo
Right.
00:15:47
Jo
That's interesting. So you're talking a lot about the paranormal. And of course, for SIPA Paranormal Chronicles, it's got the... You say SIPA. I have an accent. I say SIPA. SIPA?
00:16:01
Jo
Or in what would it be in the UK? SIPA? Schedule? No?
00:16:06
Lee - S.I.P.A.
You're only an hour and a half down the road. I will come and kick your ass.
00:16:10
Jo
I know, I know. No, but how did you get involved with the SEPA people?
00:16:19
Lee - S.I.P.A.
So that's actually quite a funny story. Well, I think it is anyway. So I was with a another group that unfortunately turned out to be not very proactive.
00:16:33
Jo
Right.
00:16:34
Lee - S.I.P.A.
And as I've said, I always want to do things the right way. I kind of knew that this group wasn't going to be going anywhere. So started thinking about how how to move forward.
00:16:47
Lee - S.I.P.A.
And February of the previous year, 2023, twenty twenty three My wife, Kelly, decides that she was going buy me by me, as in a single ticket, to a ghost honed ghost to ghost walk, I think it was.
00:17:05
Jo
Right.
00:17:06
Lee - S.I.P.A.
So for for Valentine's Day, she bought me one ticket, which like everybody laughs at. It's sort of like, didn't you want to come with you? No, not in February.
00:17:14
Jo
No, that was her Valentine's present to herself.
00:17:14
Lee - S.I.P.A.
was two two Yeah, exactly.
00:17:16
Jo
You thought it you.
00:17:17
Lee - S.I.P.A.
Yeah, so she stayed at yeah she stayed at home and ate pizza and stuff like that.
00:17:18
Jo
It's like, get him out of the house.
00:17:22
Jo
Oh, that's a good idea.
00:17:23
Lee - S.I.P.A.
So my two colleagues, my two co-leads, Volta and Logan, actually attended this event as well. And they bought a couple of pieces of equipment with them.
00:17:35
Lee - S.I.P.A.
So I literally stuck to them like a magnet going, oh, how yeah what how do you use this? What do you do? Yeah, I knew what the equipment was, but I just wanted to know what what they were going to do with it on that particular evening.
00:17:48
Lee - S.I.P.A.
I got their contact details at the end of the evening. And we met up in a pub. Joe knows that pub. we We have our meetings in there frequently.
00:17:58
Jo
I can't park by the pub for some reason, but yes, I know what.
00:18:01
Lee - S.I.P.A.
Yes, because you've been barred from the pub.
00:18:04
Jo
think so.
00:18:06
Lee - S.I.P.A.
And we just basically had a notepad with us. We were toying with the idea that we wanted to kind of go down the scientific route. And what I mean by that is...
00:18:18
Lee - S.I.P.A.
We're not ghost hunters, we're investigators. So we investigate electric magnetic fields, we'll investigate black mold, we'll investigate carbon monoxide, and we'll do all the logical things first before we then decide that, okay, we can't debunk any other natural phenomena.
00:18:37
Jo
Right. That's very
00:18:40
Lee - S.I.P.A.
So now we can have a little bit of fun and we can get the spirit box out and all that kind of stuff. So yeah, it was literally in a pub one night, talking to Logan and Volta.
00:18:51
Lee - S.I.P.A.
I really can't remember how the name came about, but we knew that we wanted like paranormal and investigating in it. And then it just kind of started up as IP, and then it grew into SEPA as it now is.
00:19:07
Jo
That's amazing. How many times have you gone on in the field with these guys?
00:19:12
Lee - S.I.P.A.
Oh, ice we've got, so we've got an investigation tomorrow night.
00:19:17
Jo
Oh, cool.
00:19:18
Lee - S.I.P.A.
And we've got to have done at least in the last year alone, maybe a dozen or more.
00:19:27
Jo
Yeah.
00:19:28
Lee - S.I.P.A.
And we've even been stateside, we've been to New York State and we and we were there for a weekend at one location as well.
00:19:36
Jo
Oh, that's right. Is there any location that you went to that you really want to go back to?
00:19:42
Lee - S.I.P.A.
Yeah, there's a couple. Funnily enough, they're both jails. one of them is yeah One of them is called the SDG Jail in Cornwall, which is about an hour away.
00:19:46
Jo
can arrange that.
00:19:53
Jo
Right.
00:19:53
Lee - S.I.P.A.
And this was the very first location that Volta, Logan and myself did as a team.
00:20:00
Jo
Cool.
00:20:00
Lee - S.I.P.A.
we We knew that there was going to be an investigation, a public investigation. We reached out to the guy and he said, because you're a team, I'll let you basically do your own thing. And that's where I got my, as a team, that's where I got my first EVPs.
00:20:20
Lee - S.I.P.A.
And I was doing the review and I heard this double breath and Joe knows about the double breath EVP. And we broke it down, we've examined it, and it wasn't me.
00:20:35
Lee - S.I.P.A.
i've got I've got a background in that in the emergency services.
00:20:35
Jo
Thank you.
00:20:38
Lee - S.I.P.A.
I know how people breathe normally. But after I stopped speaking, there was a double breath. So that was pretty cool. And then a couple of months later, we went back again.
00:20:49
Lee - S.I.P.A.
And in the same location, i got another EVP that I heard on review, not with my own ears at the time. So that was pretty cool as well. And then the other jail is a place called Hawkesbury, which is about an hour or so, an hour and a half.
00:21:06
Jo
That's pretty close Cornwall, yeah.
00:21:07
Lee - S.I.P.A.
Yes, it's closer to you than what it is to me. And yeah, at that location, i got stroked down the side of the face, which was pretty cool.
00:21:20
Lee - S.I.P.A.
I can't explain it. The room was being repainted. So there was decorators boards on the floor, cans of paint. so there's And the decorators had been in that day.
00:21:33
Lee - S.I.P.A.
So there was no way that a spider or anything was gonna have time to create a web and hang down from the ceiling because it was being whitewashed.
00:21:33
Jo
Right.
00:21:41
Lee - S.I.P.A.
So that was pretty cool. And then we did an investigation there a few months later, which you actually came on.
00:21:48
Jo
Oh, that was the same place. here
00:21:49
Lee - S.I.P.A.
Yeah, yeah. And that's where we had the medium. And she was coming out with interesting in facts that we didn't know about as well. So those two locations are probably on my favorite list right now.
00:22:03
Jo
Yeah, that that that second one was the one I was on.
00:22:04
Lee - S.I.P.A.
So.
00:22:07
Jo
It was was pretty cool. And and thank you again for inviting me, by the way. That was that was wonderful. And it was weird because get there. I forgot what was the six.
00:22:17
Jo
What time we would be there?
00:22:17
Lee - S.I.P.A.
Yeah, about 6 PM, yeah.
00:22:19
Jo
Yeah, I'm like, I i had a date. I'm like, okay, 6 p.m. It's like an hour drive. I'll be back by 9 or 10. I was not.
00:22:30
Lee - S.I.P.A.
No. I think we left like 1 AM, 2 AM, something like that.
00:22:33
Jo
Yeah, it was like 1 a.m. in a snowstorm.
00:22:36
Lee - S.I.P.A.
Yes, yeah, was heavy snow.
00:22:36
Jo
goinging yeah It Honestly, it was a nice drive.
00:22:37
Lee - S.I.P.A.
after Yeah, driving driving back in the snow. Yeah, that was fun.
00:22:42
Jo
it was just pretty. i mean, it wasn't like a dangerous snowstorm. was just like it was coming down enough to be, oh, okay. Got to clear my car off now. But it was cool because I saw the amount of like energy you you all put in to investigations.
00:22:59
Jo
What people do not see when they're watching whatever series on T&E channel, they don't see the prep work. They don't see the hours that go by. They don't see the thing. They just see that the clip shows. It's the the highlight reels. That's all they see, really.
00:23:14
Jo
And just the amount of professionalism and still fun. that you guys did was really nice to see because there' there's some places I won't mention, but they're just shit shows.
00:23:25
Jo
You know, it's just like, oh, is this is going to be horrible.
00:23:26
Lee - S.I.P.A.
yeah and Yeah, and that's a very good point because it it could literally take us a good two hours to set everything up, to set up.
00:23:35
Jo
Just set up. Yeah.
00:23:37
Lee - S.I.P.A.
And then you've got pull down at the end as well.
00:23:39
Jo
Yeah.
00:23:41
Lee - S.I.P.A.
But yeah, and you're right about there are there are certain TV shows or yeah YouTube channels where you just go, oh my God.
00:23:51
Jo
Yeah.
00:23:51
Lee - S.I.P.A.
And it is so like painful to watch because yeah for those people that don't know, if you've got a REM pod, it can be activated by walkie-talkie or a cell phone or some other pieces of electrical equipment.
00:24:10
Lee - S.I.P.A.
So we always try to keep those those kind of devices away from anything that's going to activate them. Anybody that's got a cell phone on the investigation has to put it in airplane mode or they have to leave it at the base station. yeah People cannot carry phones around because if they get close to any of the devices, it could set them off. So we try to keep things as sterile as possible.
00:24:37
Lee - S.I.P.A.
So, yeah, apart from all the setup and the pool, yeah, that kind of, like, now is the evening, so you've really got to be quite intense on, you know, okay, we have a plan of action throughout the evening, want to do A, B, C, and d so we try to plan it accordingly so we get to do this, yeah, at all these locations.
00:24:52
Jo
Right.
00:24:57
Jo
And bathroom breaks.
00:24:59
Lee - S.I.P.A.
Exactly, yeah.
00:24:59
Jo
but Right.
00:25:00
Lee - S.I.P.A.
Yeah.
00:25:00
Jo
People don't forget, but you're there for a couple hours. You need to go to the bathroom sometime.
00:25:04
Lee - S.I.P.A.
Yeah, and snack breaks as well.
00:25:06
Jo
yeah Yeah, absolutely.
00:25:06
Lee - S.I.P.A.
We'll, we'll bring snacks.
00:25:07
Jo
Snack breaks.
00:25:09
Lee - S.I.P.A.
Yeah.
00:25:10
Jo
When you're doing this, has there ever been... I don't want to say unexplained things that like, Oh, too spooky. But has there ever been something that's scared just like straight out? You're like, Nope, we're gone.
00:25:24
Jo
We're good.
00:25:25
Lee - S.I.P.A.
Actually, No. And something did happen in New York. So we were there for two nights.
00:25:33
Jo
Okay.
00:25:35
Lee - S.I.P.A.
It's a beautiful, old, oldie worldie, Scottish themed hotel.
00:25:42
Jo
Oh, wow.
00:25:43
Lee - S.I.P.A.
And I say it's an amazing place. i highly recommend it. It's called the Brer Lock-In. It's about an hour and a half over the border. And we were given the full run
00:25:51
Jo
Cool. Right.
00:25:56
Lee - S.I.P.A.
of the building the bar closed at midnight and the owner said if you want to stay down here until people turn up for breakfast you're you're most welcome to do so there were guests there on the saturday night but on the sunday night we were the only people that were staying in there so we had we had the run of the entire location and on the first night we're setting up
00:26:12
Jo
right
00:26:22
Lee - S.I.P.A.
And in the room that I was in, you all these rooms have got four poster beds and old fashioned blankets and stuff like that. Setting the cameras up and this there's a cabinet with a TV on and the door creaked open by itself.
00:26:38
Lee - S.I.P.A.
So our initial thought was, OK, it's got a dodgy catch on it.
00:26:42
Jo
Wait,
00:26:43
Lee - S.I.P.A.
So for the next half an hour at least, we're trying to reset the latch. We're banging the side of the cabinet. We're banging the top of it. We're jumping up and down the floor. And we could not get this cabinet to open no matter what.
00:26:57
Lee - S.I.P.A.
And it was only a wooden latch. So we was putting like a millimeter from it opening. And it was that tight. It was not opening. So that was weird. and then
00:27:07
Jo
wait wait. I have a question now. Imagine you are the, we'll say ghost. And someone came into your room and started just trashing the crap out of your dresser. Like, dude, I was trying to get my clothes out of this thing. And you guys are like, what?
00:27:23
Lee - S.I.P.A.
yeah Yeah, in hindsight.
00:27:27
Lee - S.I.P.A.
But on the second night, we'd finished about two o'clock in the morning because we'd got a drive back to Canada.
00:27:33
Jo
Right.
00:27:34
Lee - S.I.P.A.
And like I the two guys were sharing one room. I was in the other room by myself. And like I said, it was a four-poster bed with the old-fashioned blankets, like like your grandmother used to have.
00:27:47
Jo
Yeah.
00:27:47
Lee - S.I.P.A.
And... and Anybody that's got old blankets on the bed, once you get into bed and you get your comp you get yourself comfortable, if you've moved your leg, the blanket will kind of like settle where the space where your leg used to be.
00:28:03
Lee - S.I.P.A.
So I'm kind of like get myself comfortable. i felt the blankets settle, which, yeah, you that that happens all the time.
00:28:15
Lee - S.I.P.A.
And then, no word of a lie, about 30 seconds later, I got this really heavy sensation on the side of the bed to the point where I thought one of the guys had come into the room and sat on my bed.
00:28:26
Lee - S.I.P.A.
So I opened my eyes, not expecting to see a white apparition going past the bed.
00:28:34
Jo
Really? Oh man. Right?
00:28:36
Lee - S.I.P.A.
Yeah, and like that absolutely blew my mind. And I was so excited. I'm watching it and it literally walked the full length of the bed. I knew that my phone was to the right of me. So as I moved my arm out to get my phone, i looked back and it had gone.
00:28:54
Lee - S.I.P.A.
So I wasn't i wasn't tired. We hadn't been drinking. yeah though I'd only been literally in bed for two minutes maximum.
00:29:07
Lee - S.I.P.A.
Yeah, I was wide awake and I felt the sensation. And then I felt I saw this apparition go past the bed. Somebody said to me, what did you do? about I was so impressed. i thought, that's cool.
00:29:20
Lee - S.I.P.A.
Nighttime, rolled over, went to sleep.
00:29:23
Jo
That's good. we bad
00:29:24
Lee - S.I.P.A.
Yeah.
00:29:24
Jo
So you saw this and do you want to then investigate like historical records to see what could have been or?
00:29:35
Lee - S.I.P.A.
Well, we do kind of know the background of the location.
00:29:38
Jo
Right.
00:29:39
Lee - S.I.P.A.
And it is on the the New York State list of haunted locations. But it's also renowned for having time slips as well.
00:29:50
Jo
Oh, okay.
00:29:51
Lee - S.I.P.A.
So it's got this oldie worldie staircase. And then you've got the corridor going to the reception and to the restaurant and stuff. And at the bottom of the staircase, it's got a big black door.
00:30:03
Lee - S.I.P.A.
This door has been sealed shut for like 40 or 50 years. But if you go just past it, you can then walk in behind it and it's part of the dining room.
00:30:16
Lee - S.I.P.A.
So it's it's actually, they've closed it to to form part of the wall.
00:30:18
Jo
Okay, cool. All right.
00:30:21
Lee - S.I.P.A.
And was talking to the owner and she said, oh yeah, about a year ago, two people came down the stairs looking for the owner to ask them a question about something. As they got to the bottom of the stairs, that door was open and there was a black tie party going on.
00:30:40
Lee - S.I.P.A.
So because they're looking for the owner, they thought, well, she might be at the black tie party. We'll come back later. Turned around, went back upstairs. couple of hours later, they came down again to find her, found her and said, oh, how was the party? So I'm like,
00:30:57
Lee - S.I.P.A.
What party? Well, through the black door, there was a black tie party. That black door's been sealed for like 50 years, 40, 50 years. So it's like, that's pretty cool.
00:31:10
Jo
That's amazing. i I talked to Andrea Perrin a bit ago, and she was talking about time slips in, we'll call it the Conjuring House. Did not give the any publicity to which the house is called now.
00:31:25
Jo
But she said it wasn't just a haunting. It was time slips as well. And what you described kind of matches up what she was saying. It could be from this year, this year, or even from another year. And it's just a matter of like, they didn't like they being the entities didn't know even what year it was. was just always now.
00:31:43
Jo
Just like how we experienced it, but they just shifted throughout time. Is that your idea? What happened? Or...
00:31:51
Lee - S.I.P.A.
Well, I'm fascinated by time slips. And it's the kind of thing where if somebody tells you a story of what they consider a time slip, I want to experience that exact time slip or something similar.
00:32:10
Jo
Right. Yeah.
00:32:11
Lee - S.I.P.A.
It's very difficult to actually define what a time slip is because you're particularly you're kind of looking through a window of a different age.
00:32:23
Lee - S.I.P.A.
This black black tie party, like you said, it could have been 50 years ago. It could have been 100 years ago. So is it still a ghost? yeah Is it residual or, well, yeah, it kind of yeah stone tape theory situation?
00:32:42
Lee - S.I.P.A.
Or are you actually traveling back in time? But if you're stood on this stairwell or this staircase and you're looking into that room where that black tie party is, you're still in kind of modern times on this.
00:33:00
Jo
Right.
00:33:01
Lee - S.I.P.A.
But what's happening is the other side of the door, like I say, could be 100 years ago.
00:33:04
Jo
Interesting.
00:33:07
Lee - S.I.P.A.
So is it the is it like residual energy that's causing it, yeah like the stone tape theory? or Is it actually a time slip?
00:33:19
Lee - S.I.P.A.
so
00:33:19
Jo
So you're using a lot of scientific or experimenting words like, the you know, the time slip versus the stone. Where did you learn those from? Right.
00:33:32
Lee - S.I.P.A.
So one thing that I like to do, it if i if I enjoy doing something, i like to get as much information as I can on a particular subject.
00:33:46
Lee - S.I.P.A.
So there's a company that are in Halifax that are called PPRI, which is a long name. So I think I can't remember what the full the full pseudonym is, but it's called PPRI for short.
00:34:01
Lee - S.I.P.A.
ppe r i for short
00:34:02
Jo
Cool.
00:34:03
Lee - S.I.P.A.
And I found this group and they do courses on poltergeist, on ghosts and spirits and hauntings and yeah introduction to demonology and cryptozoology.
00:34:17
Lee - S.I.P.A.
So I started doing all these courses and I bought loads of books on various subjects as well. So i always excuse me I always like to get as much information as I can.
00:34:33
Lee - S.I.P.A.
So if somebody invites us to do a a domestic dwelling program, you need to be able to back up what you're talking about. You can't just, go, well, I think it might be.
00:34:45
Lee - S.I.P.A.
You need to really emphasize the fact that you know what you're talking about.
00:34:49
Jo
need be the expert in the room.
00:34:49
Lee - S.I.P.A.
So exactly, yeah.
00:34:51
Jo
Yeah.
00:34:52
Lee - S.I.P.A.
But yeah in this in this line of interest, no such thing as an expert. It's just people with plenty of experience.
00:34:59
Jo
There you go, experience.
00:35:00
Lee - S.I.P.A.
Yeah, yeah. so
00:35:01
Jo
So that's cool. youre you're You learned it through PPRI. And in fact, if I know correctly, and I probably did, you are going to do a webinar for them December 18th, 7 p.m.
00:35:13
Jo
Whatever the hell Atlantic time is, you guys figure that one out. Joe knows mountain and eastern and central. He's an American. Oh, Atlantic time? Is that like, that's mountain time then, right?
00:35:25
Jo
No, Atlantic time, that's eastern?
00:35:25
Lee - S.I.P.A.
He's, yeah, he's on it's on the East Coast.
00:35:27
Jo
I don't know. Is that Saskatchewan? It's like the half hour bullshit?
00:35:31
Lee - S.I.P.A.
now Yeah, he's he's over East Coast, that neck of the woods.
00:35:34
Jo
Yeah. So what's this webinar you're doing for PPRI on the 18th?
00:35:36
Lee - S.I.P.A.
Yep.
00:35:39
Jo
Right. Cool.
00:35:40
Lee - S.I.P.A.
So the full name is Paranormal Phenomena Research and Investigation. And the owner, guy called Elliot Van Dusen, we've actually become really good friends through me doing the courses.
00:35:55
Lee - S.I.P.A.
And I actually teach a course for his company now. I teach it on paranormal equipment. So because I'm from England and because...
00:36:08
Lee - S.I.P.A.
Christmas ghost stories kind of originated in England. He thought it would be a great idea for me to be the start of his new is brand new webinar series that he's doing to talk about Christmas ghosts.
00:36:24
Jo
Wonderful.
00:36:25
Lee - S.I.P.A.
So, yeah. So he actually called me Ebenezer Lee Hatfield. So if you want to come and look at it on the 18th of December, You may or may not see me dressed as Scrooge. That has been undecided yet.
00:36:39
Jo
Oh, please say yes.
00:36:39
Lee - S.I.P.A.
However, ha but I'm basically going to be doing the history of Christmas ghost stories, where it's all come from, Charles Dickens. And then I've actually got three or four or five ghost stories to actually yeah to actually talk, well, to give.
00:36:57
Jo
That's an amazing event. and If you want to find it, we just go to PPRI, just Google that, PPRI webinar in 18th.
00:37:04
Jo
And we can look at your Facebook page, right? beautiful You're putting our Facebook page, right?
00:37:09
Lee - S.I.P.A.
I believe I have. i think it's on on the SEPA Facebook page, but if not, it will be within the next few days when we start advertising it.
00:37:17
Jo
so it's going to be S-I-P-A.
00:37:17
Lee - S.I.P.A.
But
00:37:19
Jo
And we put that into Google because... You press enter and then it pops up your Facebook page. Now, have you, have you thought about where the ball is going? Like where are you going? you've You've done podcasting, you've done your investigations, you've you've done the training and as a teacher now, where do you want to go now?
00:37:46
Jo
Where's ball going?
00:37:48
Lee - S.I.P.A.
That's a very good question. And the real answer is I don't know. However, what I do know is I still want to keep enjoying what I'm doing.
00:37:54
Jo
Good. There you are.
00:38:00
Lee - S.I.P.A.
So there's a another company that in the UK that I become friends with a few of the people that run it. I did a another webinar.
00:38:11
Lee - S.I.P.A.
a few weeks ago for them. And that was about haunted Canada, but haunted Ontario. And then in January, through the same people, there's a 48 hour webinar where people can talk for an hour at a time and it goes for 48 hours solid.
00:38:35
Jo
Really?
00:38:37
Lee - S.I.P.A.
So people from all different places of the world could join in. And I'm actually doing a an hour on that 48 hours as well.
00:38:46
Jo
That's very cool. Do you think your podcast experience is making a better guest too? And vice versa?
00:38:54
Lee - S.I.P.A.
I do. I do. like I've never been shy for talking. Most people that know me will agree with that.
00:39:02
Jo
Tested at.
00:39:03
Lee - S.I.P.A.
Yeah. But... I enjoy talking about to these people on so many different subjects.
00:39:10
Jo
Right.
00:39:11
Lee - S.I.P.A.
I've spoken to people that have been abducted. I've spoken to people that have seen Bigfoot and Sasquatches. I've spoken to people that have seen fairies out of death experiences.
00:39:23
Lee - S.I.P.A.
And every single person has got their own story to tell. No two ghost stories are the same. No two UFO stories are the same. And the fact that you can't say that that person is not telling the truth because it's that personal experience. Yeah.
00:39:43
Lee - S.I.P.A.
I got stroked on the face. Nobody else got stroked on the face at this jail. So that's my personal.
00:39:48
Jo
I'm jealous now.
00:39:49
Lee - S.I.P.A.
Yeah. that That's my personal experience. So, the fact that you're talking about their personal experiences or things that they believe in or yeah write about and and stuff like that, that's the fun part about it. And these people, as everyone does, loves talking about what they what they're passionate about.
00:40:11
Jo
And you're a good host.
00:40:12
Lee - S.I.P.A.
And
00:40:13
Jo
One of the reasons I really like your show... is because you give them an honest and enough space to talk about their experience about the judgment hammer. because they're I'm guessing that lot of them get judged throughout their lives, right?
00:40:30
Jo
And you give them that openness to just have this conversation, and it's probably relieving to them, but it's entertaining as well.
00:40:38
Lee - S.I.P.A.
Yeah, and because I'm now doing it by myself, I don't have to create a list of questions that I i give to the to the other host or stuff like that.
00:40:51
Lee - S.I.P.A.
If I if i have a question in my head, I can just come out with it straight away.
00:40:54
Jo
Just go for it.
00:40:56
Lee - S.I.P.A.
And that's that's what makes it more fluid.
00:40:56
Jo
Yep.
00:41:00
Lee - S.I.P.A.
As well, because they can they can say one particular sentence and that will immediately put a question in your head.
00:41:07
Jo
Yeah.
00:41:08
Lee - S.I.P.A.
So as soon as they've stopped that sentence, you then ask that question and that could take it on a completely different tangent.
00:41:14
Jo
becomes a conversation.
00:41:15
Lee - S.I.P.A.
Yeah, exactly.
00:41:16
Jo
Yeah.
00:41:16
Lee - S.I.P.A.
And that's what makes it more of a an everyday conversation rather than I ask you a question, you answer. I asked you a question. Yeah.
00:41:25
Jo
Yeah.
00:41:25
Lee - S.I.P.A.
And it's not like an interrogation. It is too.
00:41:28
Jo
Yeah. Crossing off as they go.
00:41:29
Lee - S.I.P.A.
Exactly. It is like two friends having a kind of a conversation rather than interrogation.
00:41:30
Jo
Yeah.
00:41:35
Jo
That's brilliant. Now, I'm to ask you two questions. After we do this on the interview, big conversation. Well, I'm asking questions. And one question i don't ask many people, but, you it's topical for you.
00:41:47
Jo
What advice would you give budding paranormal investigators?
00:41:54
Jo
What advice would you give
00:41:54
Lee - S.I.P.A.
Okay, so first and foremost, don't buy flashy and spark sparkly or the equipment.
00:41:55
Jo
Right.
00:42:05
Lee - S.I.P.A.
The basics of what you need to be a successful investigator is literally a notepad, an audio recording device, and a camera. Because a lot of what you see and hear, you can either hear live with your own ears, but you've got a recorder, so you're recording it as well.
00:42:27
Lee - S.I.P.A.
Or if you're walking around with Canva, you'll see it yeah in the video evidence. There's so many companies out there now that are selling all these gadgets that they can speak to the ghosts. They can do this. They can do that.
00:42:43
Lee - S.I.P.A.
But at the end of the day, if they've got the word spirit or ghost at the front of it, then you can expect to pay more money.
00:42:51
Jo
Yeah, it's amazing.
00:42:51
Lee - S.I.P.A.
I'm not – yeah.
00:42:53
Jo
yeah
00:42:53
Lee - S.I.P.A.
yeah so Yeah, stick to your basics. Learn about what you want to do. Because there's a difference between ghost hunters and and paranormal investigators. Ghost hunters want to go out on a Saturday night just to get scared. They have a giggle and they come home.
00:43:13
Lee - S.I.P.A.
Whereas a paranormal investigator... wants to try to prove the existence of X, Y, and z And like say, we've got a lot of scientific equipment, we call it, but it's it's not scientific.
00:43:21
Jo
Yeah.
00:43:27
Lee - S.I.P.A.
It's just basic equipment that people use in construction, like an electromagnetic field reader or your yeah your black mold reader. You can go down to a hardware store buy these because they're used in construction. so it's And if you've got a high...
00:43:45
Lee - S.I.P.A.
electromagnetic field in your house, like if you've got bad wiring and it causes high EMF, as we call it, that can cause you to have headaches, nausea, hallucinations.
00:43:52
Jo
Yeah.
00:43:58
Lee - S.I.P.A.
So it doesn't have to be of a paranormal nature. It could be of a natural phenomena. Having ores and metals in the ground can also create people to have hallucinations and stuff like that. So you've got to try to rule out as many natural things as you can before you decide that, okay, I think this may be of a paranormal nature.
00:44:26
Lee - S.I.P.A.
This is what I'm going to do. But like say, you don't need the bells and the whistles. You just need to... Do some research of what you want to do, whether you want to do it for fun, or you want to be serious about it.
00:44:39
Lee - S.I.P.A.
And in this day and age, there's so many people that when you see it on TV shows, yeah you know, it's fake.
00:44:49
Jo
Yeah.
00:44:49
Lee - S.I.P.A.
So you've got to do things that make you respectable in your field for people to take you seriously.
00:44:58
Jo
Yeah, it becomes the trap of reality TV. I remember when reality TV first came out during Writer's Strike, and it's not reality. It's TV, but it ain't reality.
00:45:14
Jo
It's set up, it's scripting, it's all those things, and you can absolutely, it's you know The gotcha. Oh my god, everything's a major fine in something that ghost shows. No, not everything's going to be a major fine.
00:45:24
Lee - S.I.P.A.
Yeah, and not everything's a demon.
00:45:25
Jo
I was like, you can't. Yeah. Almost nothing is a demon. If there are that many demons on Earth, we got problems.
00:45:30
Lee - S.I.P.A.
Yeah.
00:45:34
Jo
the no The show wouldn't have to exist.
00:45:34
Lee - S.I.P.A.
Yeah, exactly.
00:45:35
Jo
but We would just know. We would know.
00:45:37
Lee - S.I.P.A.
Yeah, exactly.
00:45:38
Jo
Now, there's a question I ask all my guests. And again, if you want to catch Lee, it's going to be P-P-R-I webinar, December 18th, 7 p.m.
00:45:50
Jo
Atlantic time. You Google that shit. You will find them on SIPA, Paranormal Chronicles on YouTubes and internets and interwebs and Facebooks and audibles and all of these sorts of things, all that and more.
00:46:04
Jo
Go find them, go locate them. And as you do that, have one last question for you. If you can go back and give young you, and I mean young, I mean like preteen or below.
00:46:17
Jo
So 12 years and below. You advice, what would it be?
00:46:21
Lee - S.I.P.A.
Don't drink. that's a very That's a very good question. When I was young, I kind of had an interest in what I do, but I didn't really believe it.
00:46:35
Jo
Yeah.
00:46:37
Lee - S.I.P.A.
If I knew then what I knew now, it would be a completely different story. But if you want to go down the road of being a paranormal investigator or even do a podcast, it doesn't matter on what subject it is, do your research first.
00:47:00
Lee - S.I.P.A.
and Don't just go, okay, today's Friday, I'm going to start a podcast and you've got no idea what you're doing. Do your research on no matter what you are doing.
00:47:07
Jo
Right.
00:47:11
Lee - S.I.P.A.
Yeah, I've spent over 30 years in various uniforms. So I've always had a professional head on my shoulders. But you've never really been in a position to to do fun stuff like being paranormal investigator.
00:47:30
Lee - S.I.P.A.
So do your research, learn about what you want to do, read all the all the books, but take it with a pinch of salt because some of them are just write books on the paranormal just for the sake of writing the books and making money.
00:47:44
Jo
Right. but yeah And that's what it is, right?
00:47:46
Lee - S.I.P.A.
So, yeah. So, yeah. Do your research, figure out what you want to do. Don't rush into it. And the that old fashioned saying of learn to walk before you can run.
00:47:57
Jo
This sounds good. That's amazing advice. And for more and better detail, go to PPRI webinar December 18th at 7 p.m. Atlantic. Check him out. He better be dressed as Ebenezer Scrooge. I dress as woman Wonder Woman.
00:48:12
Jo
You can dress as Scrooge.
00:48:14
Lee - S.I.P.A.
i I witnessed that and that that is a time of my life that that I will never, never unsee.
00:48:17
Jo
Burnt in your hide.
00:48:22
Jo
You can't. It's too glary. All right. Thank you very much for coming on. It's been a pleasure. Always love talking to you. And but behalf of myself and Lee, we bid you good day. by everyone.
00:48:33
Lee - S.I.P.A.
Take