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S.I.P.A. Paranormal Chronicles S1 E12 Barri Ghai - Paranormal Investigator & TV Presenter
15 Plays10 days ago
Today i am more than delighted to talk to Barri Ghai, best known for being one of the trio of investigators on the hit UK Paranormal Investigating show, Help my House is Haunted.
Barri is also the creator of SpiritWave, a pioneering ITC application that allows spirits to manipulate a huge database of electronic vocalisations to provide us with potentially intelligent and meaningful responses.
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Transcript
Intro
Introduction of Barry Guy, Paranormal Expert
00:00:12
Lee Hatfield
Welcome everybody to another episode of SIPA Paranormal Chronicles and today I am over the moon to have paranormal royalty in the room.
00:00:23
Lee Hatfield
We have the one and only Barry Barry, welcome.
00:00:27
Barri Ghai
Hi, thank you so much for having me, Lee.
00:00:30
Lee Hatfield
Yeah, so I need to get the elephant in the room out the way first. I'm very disappointed to see that you've not wore your pink tutu or your pink bow.
00:00:40
Barri Ghai
I've got the pink tutu, it's upstairs in the wardrobe. You can grab that one if you want.
Barry's Paranormal Origins
00:00:45
Lee Hatfield
So obviously people know you from Help My House Is Haunted, but what I'd like to do, I'd like to start at the very beginning of your paranormal career.
00:00:57
Lee Hatfield
So we'll crack right in. And if you could tell me how you got involved with the paranormal and some of your very first experiences, please, i should say.
00:01:06
Barri Ghai
Wow, well, I mean, I've had paranormal experiences since I was very, very small. and ah ah think five years of age is when I i vividly remember my first paranormal experience of seeing a man walking through my cousin's bedroom and straight through the wall.
00:01:23
Barri Ghai
so It was from that moment on that I knew there was something a little bit strange taking place in the world. But I've always had this curious fascination with the world of the paranormal.
00:01:34
Barri Ghai
And I come from a family of spiritualists, I guess. I mean, my nan was a palm reader. She was a mystic and in her own right. um right. um And she used to be able to tell people what they were in a previous life just by touching their ankle.
00:01:48
Lee Hatfield
Oh, wow.
00:01:50
Barri Ghai
I think that's pretty cool. So yeah, really interesting.
00:01:52
Lee Hatfield
That is amazing.
00:01:54
Barri Ghai
so So yeah, I guess the the the experiences I've had as a young person and then into my teens, you know, paved the way for me to be, I guess, into the world of the paranormal. I graduated university and I built a website and a forum called the Go to Find a Paranormal Society.
00:02:16
Barri Ghai
So that really kind of spiralled out of control in a few years and we had lots and lots of members from
Growth of Paranormal Teams and Public Engagement
00:02:22
Barri Ghai
all over the place and people contributing to what then was actually kind of like a ah ah bit of a fun subject that was quite niche and there wasn't that many people around doing it you know back in the day I'm talking when there was probably like you know a hundred paranormal teams now we've got like 10,000 paranormal teams so it was at its birth almost and and it was just a brilliant way of of
00:02:49
Barri Ghai
kind of using that curiosity and the experiences I've had as a kid and developing them further because I wanted to find out, you know, there life after death and what it is I've actually seen and witnessed and therefore answered the question I had was, do ghosts exist? Are there such things as spirits?
00:03:10
Barri Ghai
And i'm still on that path. I'm still on that mission.
Professional Paranormal Investigations
00:03:13
Barri Ghai
So, you know, i've I've come a long way since the age of five and now I'm 46 now. So, you know, in 41 years of of having a passion and a curiosity for the supernatural and for kind of investigating places that I've always wanted to investigate, despite them being notoriously haunted or famously haunted, as it were,
00:03:40
Barri Ghai
But also having the privilege of investigating people's homes and helping them with their own hauntings. And that is what I do now. And that is my job. And and I'm lucky enough to be considered a professional paranormal investigator because i I do this for a living. It's my job.
00:04:00
Lee Hatfield
I think that's like, yeah, everybody's dreamed it is to have a job like yours, especially everybody that's involved with paranormal investigating. And I've been in Canada for 12 years and been in the UK.
00:04:11
Lee Hatfield
There was only one TV show on at the time with Yvette Fielding, you know, doing that kind of thing.
00:04:18
Barri Ghai
yeah
00:04:18
Lee Hatfield
And it hadn't kind of like launched a big, what's the word? Yeah, platform as what it is now.
00:04:28
Barri Ghai
Yeah, absolutely.
00:04:28
Lee Hatfield
And it's it's people like you that I think have actually encouraged lay folk to actually go out and join teams or go on investigations and to find what yeah what what the paranormal world involves for that individual.
00:04:45
Barri Ghai
I think you're spot on, Lee. I can tell you now, and and I don't mean this disrespectfully to all those people out there, but for the last 20 years, I've been delivering paranormal events, public events, and, you know, in between the other jobs I've been doing.
00:04:59
Barri Ghai
And and ah ah lots of lots of people that turned up on those events are now running their own paranormal groups. You know, they've they've come on events, seen how I do things, really enjoyed themselves,
00:05:11
Barri Ghai
had a look at some of the equipment that was being used and the explanations, descriptions, asked questions, obviously, followed me for a period of time and then decided, well, now I want to go do that for myself.
00:05:23
Barri Ghai
And I know for a fact there are dozens of people out there with their own groups now. And I come across them from time to time. And I'm thinking, recognize you. Oh, yeah, you came on an event about 18 years ago.
00:05:32
Lee Hatfield
that
00:05:34
Barri Ghai
you know, it's that kind of thing. So, ah ah maybe you know it's it's a good thing i've inspired others to take up this pursuit of you know uh paranormal progress and pathways and research know some people call themselves investigators or researchers i like that it's good i've inspired people to do what they love doing and and yeah i i feel grateful
00:05:57
Lee Hatfield
Yeah, because when we created our team, we were adamant that we was going to do things by the book, per se. So yeah if you've got noises in your in your attic, we were going to check for rodents. And yeah we're going to look at the EMF. We're going to look at the black mold. We're going to look at any other radiation and stuff like that to eliminate every possible thing that we could before we put our paranormal hats on.
00:06:23
Barri Ghai
yeah and that's exactly right you know I've I've always taught people that go in you know with an objective mindset look for the most logical rational explanation first because nine times out of ten there probably is you know a very small percentage of
00:06:24
Lee Hatfield
and Yeah.
00:06:38
Barri Ghai
of alleged hauntings are genuine. In saying genuine, not because they're being fraudulently provided to us, it's that there are explanations for sounds of footsteps, creaky floorboards, temperature fluctuations, people's moods, or the feelings of being washed, as you well know you know.
00:06:52
Lee Hatfield
Thank you.
00:06:56
Barri Ghai
You're looking at electromagnetic fields, you're looking at temperature changes ah ah that have some you know rationale behind them because of type of property you're in, breezes, open windows, cracks in the doors, all that kind of stuff.
00:07:09
Barri Ghai
There's always things that you can look at first and consider before ever turning to a paranormal explanation. And you might not see me do that on screen as part of my job, but it it had does happen. I do base readings and I do my own recce and I'm checking the location out, but I get provided with cases that I'm going to investigate that have been verified and all the due diligence has been done.
00:07:33
Barri Ghai
I get asked this question a lot. Barry Guy, why is it every single case you go into and do and help my house haunted, there's evidence of paranormal activity.
TV Shows and Paranormal Evidence
00:07:42
Barri Ghai
That's because the production team get presented with 100 cases and we choose one.
00:07:47
Barri Ghai
So out of every 100 cases, there's possibly one there that needs our help genuinely.
00:07:47
Lee Hatfield
Yeah.
00:07:51
Barri Ghai
And but maybe more than that, and I'm sure there are, but only one that stands out, for I guess, for entertainment purposes, because you know the the commissioners and the production company looking for the most entertaining or potentially entertaining uh case to provide entertainment for the masses for me don't give a shit all i care about is that the case is genuine and there is evidence of paranormal activity that is verified tangible enough for me to investigate using the proper techniques experiments and equipment and also
00:08:25
Barri Ghai
the very fact that I need to be able to go in there and say, well, Ian, you like the sniffer dog, go in there, check this out and out and see what's going on, you know?
00:08:33
Lee Hatfield
Yeah, because it's funny you should mention that because we went to a ah home location just before Christmas and this girl was absolutely obsessed to say that my house is haunted, there's spirits all over.
00:08:44
Lee Hatfield
So we thought, okay, we'll turn up. So we we did a ah pre-investigation. We turned up, we'll do the interview and we'll do some baseline ops. And she went, there's one on the so on the on the sofa there now.
00:08:56
Lee Hatfield
And it's sort of like... what What are you using? oh I'm using my cell phone. No, but what are you using on your cell phone? And she went, oh, Snapchat.
00:09:04
Barri Ghai
Oh, right.
00:09:04
Lee Hatfield
it's like...
00:09:05
Barri Ghai
Yeah.
00:09:06
Lee Hatfield
And she it was picking up the crease from her like leather sofa and tried to make it into her face. And it's like, okay, how do I put this politely? yeah yeah Snapchat is not not a paranormal app.
00:09:21
Lee Hatfield
It's just an app that creates like profiles for people's faces. Yeah, but it's like we could not convince her. So it was like, okay, yeah, unfortunately, this is not the case.
00:09:31
Barri Ghai
yeah No, I agree as well.
00:09:32
Lee Hatfield
And it was, yeah.
00:09:33
Barri Ghai
It is very difficult to convince those that want to believe that they have a paranormal case, they have a haunting, they have a problem. It's difficult to provide them with, you know, real answers.
00:09:49
Barri Ghai
I always struggle with that. But if you explain things properly, you take the time to explain things and try to demonstrate so that you are providing a real example it helps and it does help. I mean, the orb debate is obviously something, I'm not going into the orb debate with people right now, but I have come across this daily for the last 20 years.
00:10:10
Barri Ghai
So I refuse now to even entertain images and emails that sent to me and messages, DMs or whatever. When people are saying, please, can you have a look at this video? i think there are spirits because they're all flying all over the screen.
00:10:24
Barri Ghai
i don't I don't want to keep regurgitating the same information over and over again. so Sometimes i you know, sometimes I look at them, sometimes I ignore them. And that's not being rude. That's because I'm a very busy person.
00:10:36
Barri Ghai
I don't have time to reply and respond to every single message that comes my way.
00:10:37
Lee Hatfield
yeah
00:10:40
Barri Ghai
Even my, you know, my management team, they don't do it either. So it's a matter of saying, you know, you kind of have to pick your battles almost. It's like, well, I'm not going to win that one. Because if I provide them with the real answer, they're never going to talk to me again.
00:10:52
Barri Ghai
So maybe, yeah, got to be careful.
00:10:53
Lee Hatfield
That's it. Yeah. Yeah. but Yeah. and yeah It's good that you say that because last night we we set up our DVR system and we had six cameras. And because it's in a mill, you're going to have dust.
00:11:06
Lee Hatfield
And every camera had got orbs left, right and center.
00:11:06
Barri Ghai
Yes. So,
00:11:10
Lee Hatfield
Now, a lot of people would go, oh, this is all spirit activity. But you have to kind of keep your feet firmly on the floor to go, look, we're in a mill. It's a dusty mill. You're going to get this kind of environment. It's not necessarily spirits. And that's a very difficult argument to win, like you've just said.
Team Dynamics and Expertise
00:11:29
Lee Hatfield
And the amount of times that people go, oh, You're a ghost hunter. Now I'm a paranormal investigator. There's a difference. And they don't know the difference between the two. And yeah you probably get that kind of yeah comments every day that people go, yeah, it's absolute BS.
00:11:37
Barri Ghai
Yeah.
00:11:43
Lee Hatfield
But OK, so what evidence do you have?
00:11:44
Barri Ghai
All the time.
00:11:45
Lee Hatfield
Yeah, yeah.
00:11:45
Barri Ghai
Yeah, absolutely. You're never going to convince everybody. But that's that's not my job. My job is to provide the audience that enjoy watching the show with the tangibility and the evidence that backs up why we're in and that property, what we're doing, what we've managed to achieve at the end of it.
00:12:01
Lee Hatfield
Yeah.
00:12:01
Barri Ghai
I love, i mean, that's my passion. You see, I'm passionate about evidence. You know, the case is good, great, but I want to provide everybody, the homeowner, obviously, with real evidence that they're going to go wow, oh my God, and validation, because However compelling evidence is, it has to be backed up by the historical narrative. It has to be backed up by anecdotes and personal experiences. When you bring all of that together, you have a very well-rounded case that is powerful and compelling.
00:12:33
Lee Hatfield
Exactly. And that that's the key. yeah at the end of the day, we are here to help people. We're not here to prove the existence of spirits and ghosts. And like say, we're both on the same on the same wavelength about that.
00:12:46
Lee Hatfield
So, yeah, you mentioned Ghostfinder Paranormal Society and you mentioned that it went from strength to strength. So can you tell us about a couple of significant cases that you have within Yeah.
00:12:59
Barri Ghai
there So many. Okay, so long, long time ago. i mean, Phil's over here, actually. I can probably shout one over. Phil's on my team as well. But we've had lots of cases where I remember one specifically one that stood out, actually. It was in East Sussex in the United Kingdom. It was a farmhouse.
00:13:17
Barri Ghai
And the report was that this woman who owned this beautiful 17th century farmhouse had seen a an apparition. and several times on the upstairs landing, the stairs, the bathroom and the bedroom area of the property.
00:13:34
Barri Ghai
And she really wanted some kind of answers and some validation to some extent. But she also said, my dogs are scared. And those are ah two dogs that used to sleep by the fireplace and that they were always focused their attention on the fireplace area of, of of the downstairs part of the property.
00:13:51
Barri Ghai
So we investigated this case. It was a beautiful property. The homeowner left us alone. We set up DVR cameras. I mean, back in the day, I used them. remember talking probably 18 years ago and and I had four cameras running into a a DVR system and monitoring them constantly.
00:14:08
Barri Ghai
And it was a case where nothing really happened for the first couple of hours. you know, taking taking baseline readings and trying to feel if there was any changes, any physiological effects to us, taking photographs, I remember distinctly.
00:14:27
Barri Ghai
And then walked into the master bedroom and I had, at the time of using ah ah I actually had a K2 meter in my hand, if I remember. I had it had a K2 meter in my left hand and I walked into this master bedroom.
00:14:42
Barri Ghai
And as I entered the threshold to the room, The door was open, by the way, from the hallway. The room was filled with what I can only describe as static from like an old CRT TV.
00:14:57
Barri Ghai
So we're old enough to know that television screens were concave and round and big and fat. And you used to rub your hand on the screen in the morning and get the fuzziness.
00:15:06
Lee Hatfield
You speak for yourself about being old enough. I don't remember those at
00:15:08
Barri Ghai
All right. So... Those, that static, that feeling, that fuzziness, that's kind of like furry and fu and fuzzy, the room was filled with it.
00:15:21
Lee Hatfield
wow
00:15:21
Barri Ghai
The room was filled with it to the point where it was in my eyes and my nostrils and my mouth and I could feel it all over my skin. And I walked into the room and and all the hairs on my body stood up and I was expecting to see or experience a full-bodied apparition any moment, something manifesting itself.
00:15:41
Barri Ghai
And it was like that. The K2 meter, remember, was at red. almost as So that told me that there was a huge change in the electromagnetic field I'd entered.
00:15:52
Barri Ghai
But more importantly, it was an electrostatic field because I could feel it. I could taste it. I could even smell the discharge of electricity. As soon as that happened and I was pulling it off my skin, thinking it was like cobwebs, it disappeared.
00:16:07
Barri Ghai
But it was so meaningful for me and such a a palpable experience that I remember thinking that stood out. And it was it was it was a a validation to me that yes, whenever we're looking for spirit, using something like a Trifield meter or a Mel meter will give us a really good understanding of the factors and variables that are considered when looking for paranormal activity.
00:16:25
Lee Hatfield
Yeah.
00:16:37
Barri Ghai
Because I know firsthand that there is an increase in the electromagnetic field, the energy around us, but also static and electrical energy. There is a combination.
00:16:47
Lee Hatfield
yeah
00:16:49
Barri Ghai
So whether they go hand in hand with every case, I don't know. But I know that from from then on, that was something I was looking for all the time. Other paranormal investigators are just following suit because they've heard that's the case.
00:17:04
Barri Ghai
but I know it's the case because I've experienced it. So that stood out for me. I mean, that just that's just one example of and some of the cases that we we dealt with back in the day. The Ghostfinder Paranormal Society was a group of like-minded individuals like me from all over the place.
00:17:19
Barri Ghai
you know We all came together because we were fascinated with the world of of the supernatural and wanted to gather tangible evidence. you know And it was brilliant. It was a learning experience for everybody.
00:17:30
Barri Ghai
And we managed to investigate lots of different private locations and famously haunted locations across the United Kingdom for for many years.
00:17:37
Lee Hatfield
Yeah.
00:17:39
Barri Ghai
And it's still in you know in existence today. I still run the Ghostfinder Paranormal Society, but I have an events branch of that in terms of obviously a business model.
00:17:50
Barri Ghai
Paranormal events is delivered by Ghostfinder Paranormal Society. So the same people that I've worked with for ah two two decades still work with me. That's Phil Measy, Kate Ray, who you spoke to i recently, and and a few others.
00:18:00
Lee Hatfield
yeah
00:18:03
Barri Ghai
And now, you know, my fiance, Emma, she's ah she's in charge of me, really manages me, but she's also on the team as well. Exactly. say even but she's But she's also a budding investigator with a really good ability to sense and feel energy changes, fluctuations in an empathic way, which I find quite quite nice and reassuring.
00:18:26
Barri Ghai
We work very, very well together. And she understands exactly what I'm about to do and vice versa. So it's quite a good way of of them of working, actually. it's ah It's an effective system that we have.
00:18:39
Barri Ghai
But my team are brilliant. you know I've got so many investigators that I work with. And that we're all friends. The key is we've stuck together for two decades. And why is that?
00:18:48
Barri Ghai
Because we don't, I'm going to say this now, far quite frankly, we don't bitch and moan and fight and There's no paranormal politics involved. We're just people that get on well as friends.
00:18:49
Lee Hatfield
Yeah.
00:19:00
Barri Ghai
okay We understand the ethic, the ethos, the motivation. We want the same thing, and therefore we pursue the same thing in the same way. And I think that's really important.
00:19:11
Lee Hatfield
Yeah, because it was interesting talking to Kate yesterday about the fact that about the non-human entities and you use her expertise when it's not necessarily going to be a spirit or a ghost.
00:19:26
Lee Hatfield
And like she blew my mind yesterday. And it's like some of the things she was coming out with yeah and yeah the fact that she talks about that. yeah cla quite openly because she's got this ability and like it was it was mind-blowing because like not many people understand that there's it's not just ghosts and spirits there's many different entities that can be involved
00:19:48
Barri Ghai
Correct. Yes. I mean, Kate is very well read. She comes from a background of of the Fae and elemental energy. And I've used her before, especially, you know, when I've been filming and Help My House Is Haunted, I contacted her because she had a specialism with the Fae. And one of the cases I was working with actually related to the world of pixies, you know, piskies, pixies, however you want to call them.
00:20:11
Barri Ghai
But That is a branch of the elemental world that Kate is so well versed in. So she's an excellent spiritualist, it so it has psychic abilities and mediumship abilities.
00:20:23
Barri Ghai
I've used her expertise on many cases where i've I've asked for guidance from a spiritual perspective.
00:20:31
Barri Ghai
And it's important because every case is different. And is' and you as you said, and for those you know listening to this, you know, there aren't just spirits that are intelligent, conscious human spirits or ghosts, which would be your residual input imprint there.
00:20:31
Lee Hatfield
Right.
00:20:47
Barri Ghai
You also have your non-human entities, your demonics, your lower vibrational entities, your elemental spirits that were never human and actually are just nature spirits.
00:21:00
Barri Ghai
And We're surrounded by them all the time. Now, obviously, not many people have come face to face with gnomes, pixies, or imps, or elves, or fairies, whatever.
00:21:15
Barri Ghai
But i believe that they exist. And I believe that based on the evidence that I've received through instrumental trans communication methods in certain different locations and in certain cases.
00:21:28
Barri Ghai
So I'm very open-minded and I'm very open to that because I've got, I've experienced a fantastical. So, you know, keep yourself open-minded and embrace that and look out for these things.
00:21:37
Lee Hatfield
sure
00:21:40
Barri Ghai
If you do, you might be surprised.
00:21:43
Lee Hatfield
That's right. And we do refer to ourselves as yeah skeptics with an open mind, and that's most important.
From Ghostfinder to TV Stardom
00:21:49
Barri Ghai
Yeah.
00:21:50
Lee Hatfield
So you mentioned Help My House Is Haunted. How did you go from GPS to then get a TV show that is loved by thousands and thousands and thousands of people?
00:22:01
Barri Ghai
I would say little bit of luck, pinch of stardust.
00:22:06
Lee Hatfield
Yeah.
00:22:08
Barri Ghai
Well, ah ah ah to be honest with you, i back in 2009 or I can't remember when, ah there was ah ah he TV pro a company called Living TV that was back in the UK.
00:22:24
Barri Ghai
They used to show Most Haunted, which was the popular ghost show of the day. and And Most Haunted used to a live program every year. So that was around Halloween.
00:22:34
Barri Ghai
Well, that was seemingly benched and they wanted something different and new. And was asked if I would be interested in auditioning for a live paranormal TV show called Paranormal Investigation Live.
00:22:48
Barri Ghai
Great title. Yeah, so it was Paranormal Investigation Live. So myself, Phil, and a few other members of the Ghostfinder Paranormal Society at the time got the gig, and we did this live TV show in Scotland on Living TV.
00:23:02
Barri Ghai
And that was the first television I'd done, and it was live. it was thrown straight into the deep end, you know, doing something that was completely normal for us in terms but not on television. But it was it was good. it gave me a foundation there to...
00:23:18
Barri Ghai
to do more on television, I guess. And I suppose once I'd done the one thing, then I was always looked at by other people across the world to say, oh, well, Barry's been on telly before, you know, would he be good for this?
00:23:30
Barri Ghai
And that's what happened. Essentially, I worked day job. I worked in education. had a very normal job, a full time normal job. I was paid quite well because I was a senior manager.
00:23:41
Barri Ghai
But I also got an email around 2016 from Back to Back Productions, with my production company. Back to Back contacted me and it was an email to say, el would you be interested in and new paranormal TV show? And I said, yeah, why not?
00:23:59
Barri Ghai
Great. So I replied. didn't hear anything back for almost a year. All right.
00:24:04
Lee Hatfield
Wow.
00:24:04
Barri Ghai
Seriously. Then all of a sudden, all of a sudden, something just clicked and it was like,
00:24:05
Lee Hatfield
That's crazy.
00:24:11
Barri Ghai
It all spiralled out control. i ended up finding out that Zach Bagans, who heads up Ghost Adventures, wanted sorry, he was the creator of a new TV show.
00:24:23
Barri Ghai
They were looking for specifically a British paranormal investigator, someone from Europe, female preferably, and a psychic medium. And they'd picked me, they'd come to me first.
00:24:34
Barri Ghai
And now I i said, okay, well, why me? And they said, well, Zach's seen you and what you've done and he thinks you'd be great. And went, really? Okay. it but side
00:24:45
Barri Ghai
So it went from there to, to doing a bit of a, like a bit of a casting tape. And I had someone come around and and follow me with a camera for a little bit. Anyway, it was fine. I didn't worry too much about it. I wasn't,
00:24:45
Lee Hatfield
Yay!
00:24:57
Barri Ghai
totally like, oh my God, this is mind blowing. I just did what I do You know, I did it as normal, but I got the job almost straight away. And from there, they wanted me to then pick the two remaining people for the team that I was meant to lead this paranormal team on TV.
00:25:10
Lee Hatfield
Wow.
00:25:12
Barri Ghai
And I thought, I don't know who to choose here because they wanted this female paranormal investigator but they'd had in mind sandy lapdar who's a french paranormal investigator now she had worked with zach before so i didn't really have much to do with that because they kind of just said barry what do you think and i said yeah okay fine so i didn't really know anything about her ah ah they just threw us together but they asked about a psychic medium they said do you do you have anyone in mind
00:25:33
Lee Hatfield
yeah
00:25:40
Barri Ghai
And I pitched a few names. I won't mention that now. but i think that would cause too many rifts and and problems. But I pitched a few names. And Chris Fleming was the one that they were most keen on because he was American. He would help with that audience and that market.
00:25:56
Barri Ghai
But he was also very well known, very good at his job. And Zach knew him as well. So Zach had final say. he's exactly He was the executive producer in Series 1. So it was Chris, Fleming, myself and Sandy.
00:26:08
Barri Ghai
We were thrown together. And within a matter of about 12 months from that moment, we were filming Episode 1 of Season 1, which, believe it or not, was What was Episode 1?
00:26:20
Lee Hatfield
Oh, wow.
00:26:20
Barri Ghai
I've got to think this. It was the cage in in St. Osip, Essex.
00:26:26
Lee Hatfield
oh wow
00:26:26
Barri Ghai
the cage was episode one that we filmed episode one. I don't believe it transmitted as episode one. And then we went to Chillingham Castle. So it was almost like I just started two weeks of traveling around filming these episodes.
00:26:38
Barri Ghai
I didn't know. I just followed the lead of the director and I did my job. And it it just came together so well. And I was so enamored with the way Chris Fleming worked.
00:26:49
Barri Ghai
I thought he was brilliant at what he did. i specifically liked his approach to trying to debunk things to be rational, to be open minded, but skeptical.
00:27:03
Barri Ghai
And he also took what I'd already developed as a as a as a ah kind of skill, a personal skill, which was instrumental trans communication, and electronic voice phenomena, he took what I did, and he amplified it.
00:27:10
Lee Hatfield
we...
00:27:20
Barri Ghai
i I just became a better investigator as a result. And I will always be thankful to Chris Fleming for that. And after that, it just became a bit of a whirlwind. And and that was about eight years ago.
00:27:32
Barri Ghai
And now I'm here after finishing series seven and another series now. And, and, and yeah, and we've helped. Well, you know what? I worked out. I've done 119 episodes of Help My House Is Haunted.
00:27:45
Lee Hatfield
That is crazy.
00:27:45
Barri Ghai
Yeah. Yeah.
00:27:47
Lee Hatfield
And it it's really weird because like yeah obviously I do my research about yeah what you did when you were five and this kind of stuff. And yeah you type in Barry Guy. don't know if you do it. You Google yourself.
00:27:58
Lee Hatfield
But it comes up as yeah one of the most like biggest investigators in the UK. Do you consider yourself one of the biggest investigators in the UK?
00:28:09
Barri Ghai
listen I'm not going give myself any kind of titles I still stay humble you know what I do my job I love my job I'm very fortunate to be able to be paid to do what I love when I hear the word expert or Barry Guy is expert and I'm not I'm just experienced and I have enough experience to provide information and guidance to others I believe that I have pioneered certain approaches to things and I've helped to progress the field of what we do on and off screen.
00:28:47
Barri Ghai
Now lots of people would consider what I do to be just entertainment. Yes course it's entertaining. It has to sell otherwise people don't watch it and then there's no more help my house is haunted.
00:28:57
Barri Ghai
So it's that circle there but I do my job and I'm good at it and I've helped so many people
00:28:58
Lee Hatfield
yeah
00:29:06
Barri Ghai
You know, I've helped so many people with all their cases that have truly taken their toll on me. What people do not understand, Lee, and to share this with you now so that everybody that watches and listens to this will understand.
Challenges and Sacrifices of the Job
00:29:20
Barri Ghai
It is not just fun and games and me traveling around wearing a tactical vest and some torches and apps and voice recorders. It doesn't work that way.
00:29:32
Barri Ghai
Every case takes a little bit away from you. It chips away at your ah ah your mental health. It chips away your physical health. It takes a huge spiritual toll on you.
00:29:45
Barri Ghai
So much so that I was ready to leave the show and hang up my boots two seasons ago.
00:29:51
Lee Hatfield
wow
00:29:51
Barri Ghai
had experiences that changed my perception. I've had experiences that have have broken me inside. It's very difficult to talk to you about it. And I i find I struggle all the time.
00:30:02
Barri Ghai
When I talk to people, When I do my paranormal masterclasses and I talk about my journey into this, it's a bit in bit more detail with more anecdotes, obviously, you know, time constraints, et cetera. But I, there are two specific things that stand out to me that have really just changed everything.
00:30:21
Barri Ghai
And it's, it is tough. I just want people to understand that it's not just for show this, the stuff is real. It is genuinely scary.
00:30:31
Barri Ghai
It is taxing to the point where you it turns you into a different person. It really does.
00:30:38
Lee Hatfield
yeah
00:30:38
Barri Ghai
You come home and you take baggage with you.
00:30:39
Lee Hatfield
and
00:30:41
Lee Hatfield
Oh, yeah. And you mentioned it about it being entertaining. And one of the episodes that's just been on over here in Canada is you running through the field at the farm. And it's like, oh, no, it's chasing me.
00:30:53
Lee Hatfield
And it's sort like, you I've got tears streaming down my face. It's like, so so when you are filming an episode, we only see an hour.
00:30:58
Barri Ghai
Yeah.
00:31:03
Lee Hatfield
So how long does it take from...
00:31:03
Barri Ghai
Yes.
00:31:07
Lee Hatfield
the moment you arrive to the moment you depart.
00:31:10
Barri Ghai
Oh, I'm going to ruin the magic of TV now, aren't I? Three days. It takes three days to make one episode and it takes four to five days to complete the episode in terms of travelling and logistics.
00:31:16
Lee Hatfield
Wow.
00:31:23
Barri Ghai
So you can imagine how many days I've spent on the road living with Chris, Sandy, Ian james and the rest of the crew.
00:31:24
Lee Hatfield
Yeah.
00:31:31
Lee Hatfield
Yeah, and i and like Emma's going, oh, no, it's coming home this weekend. i've got I haven't got any peace and quiet anymore.
00:31:37
Barri Ghai
Oh, well, no, she gets she gets time yeah to get time away. But to be honest with you, I don't leave her alone. know I talk to her every day.
00:31:44
Lee Hatfield
Yeah.
00:31:44
Barri Ghai
As soon as i'm I arrive location, and I'm on the phone to Emma. We talk and she really helps me through. but it's It's a lonely world working in telly.
00:31:54
Lee Hatfield
Oh, I can imagine. Yeah, for sure.
00:31:56
Barri Ghai
Yeah, it's lonely. you need You need your loved ones.
00:31:57
Lee Hatfield
Yeah.
00:31:58
Barri Ghai
You need to you need your family. You need you know the people that care about you around because they keep you grounded for a start. They keep you sane.
00:32:04
Lee Hatfield
Yeah.
00:32:05
Barri Ghai
and keep you safe and you know you're loved and protected.
00:32:08
Lee Hatfield
So you mentioned that you've done more than 100 episodes. Do you have one particular favourite? or not what Not a favourite, one that's like the most memorable.
00:32:20
Lee Hatfield
Because I know there's been ones where you've been partially possessed. We know ones where you've we've seen you break down. we've now We've seen ones where you've been chased through the field and everyone's crying of laughter.
00:32:33
Lee Hatfield
So what would you say is the most memorable episode?
00:32:34
Barri Ghai
Yeah.
00:32:39
Barri Ghai
so many memorable for different reasons, obviously, as you've just alluded to, you know, there's memorable because they're scary.
00:32:42
Lee Hatfield
Yeah. Yeah.
00:32:48
Barri Ghai
Memorable because I've been attacked and it's changed me as a person. don't want to talk about that one.
00:32:55
Lee Hatfield
So sure.
00:32:57
Barri Ghai
Memorable.
00:32:59
Barri Ghai
Oh, God. So. so There's one episode in series five in the... Oh God.
00:33:12
Barri Ghai
and Where was it? I can't remember now. My brain's going blank. and An old medieval house, Tudor house. Two guys lived there, Stefan and Peter.
00:33:25
Barri Ghai
And we identified a young girl and... She wants to be reunited with her father. And cut a very long story short, the case was good. and it was To me, it was another standard case of we've got this female spirit, we've got this male spirit, we've got names, we had some brilliant evidence and validation.
00:33:49
Barri Ghai
And then it came to the crossing over at the end. Ian is is doing prayer. And I had my eyes closed. Jane sat to my right, ian sat to her.
00:33:59
Barri Ghai
to her right and i just remember visualizing this little girl being reunited with her father and i'm going to say this and it's going to sound like ah ah i'm just going to say it quickly because it i'll get too emotional if i talk about it too much i don't want to think overthink it so she was uh the little girl was reunited with her father and and as ian said as ian said yeah uh like God bless you, amen, I heard her, I heard this little girl's voice right next to me saying thank you.
00:34:34
Lee Hatfield
Oh, wow. That is amazing.
00:34:37
Barri Ghai
So I heard it as a real-time DVP. I remember opening my eyes I looked to my right to see Jane. And Jane had her eyes closed. and then and And I thought, that's not her.
00:34:49
Barri Ghai
It wasn't Jane. I just knew. And I know what I heard, it was as clear as crystal.
00:34:55
Lee Hatfield
Yeah.
00:34:55
Barri Ghai
It was like it was like the girl was stood on my shoulder and she just whispered in my ear and went, thank you. And she said it to me and yeah, it's it ruined me.
00:35:04
Lee Hatfield
that
00:35:09
Lee Hatfield
yeah So, but yeah, that's that pretty amazing.
00:35:10
Barri Ghai
up
00:35:12
Lee Hatfield
And I can understand how you can get emotional
Future Investigation Aspirations
00:35:14
Lee Hatfield
with that. So let's make it a little bit lighter. a location that you've never been to that you wish you could go to, where would it be?
00:35:26
Barri Ghai
A location that I wish, oh, wow. Oh, there's so many. be honest with you, I've done most of them in the UK and and yeah there are places across the world that I do want to travel to.
00:35:36
Barri Ghai
I want to investigate Alcatraz. I've always wanted to investigate Alcatraz. I like the idea of the prison system there and and the fact that the the notoriety that it holds just to see who and what might well be haunting that location.
00:35:44
Lee Hatfield
yeah
00:35:55
Barri Ghai
The Myrtles Plantation. I've always been interested in that. Pendle Hill, actually, Emma's just mentioned. Pendle I've never been to, and that's in the UK.
00:36:04
Barri Ghai
So that's somewhere that I want to try and go to investigate. And I might just go for a day trip and have a look around. But But Pendle has an area.
00:36:11
Lee Hatfield
ah yeah
00:36:13
Barri Ghai
But also the suicide forest in Japan. Sounds morbid, I know. but but yeah it has a... allure and an attraction people go there for a certain thing why what is it about that is it something to do with ley lines is it electromagnetism is it a pull factor is this something dark and demonic that work they're almost sucking energy in i.e human life forms anyway it's just there's so many amazing places in this world i'm never going to get to do them all in this lifetime i'm sure but i'm gonna have a good go
00:36:24
Lee Hatfield
Thank you.
00:36:51
Lee Hatfield
Yeah. So if ever you come to Canada, let me know and we'll make sure that we can involve you in an investigation in Canada.
00:36:58
Barri Ghai
So where in Canada would you recommend Lee?
00:37:00
Lee Hatfield
So there's a few good places. there's There's two jails that are close to us. One's called Cornwall, but it's ah ah it's a town, not a county.
00:37:11
Barri Ghai
Yeah.
00:37:11
Lee Hatfield
And it's called the SDG jail. And that's got some really good paranormal activity. I've had some really good EVPs there. And then the other one is another. It's the second oldest jail in Canada.
00:37:25
Lee Hatfield
It's called La Réginelle. It's a French jail, but it's still in Ontario. And that's infamous for paranormal activity as well, to the point that when I went there to help a friend out do a public event, I'm walking around and this I was in this particular room that was sterile.
00:37:31
Barri Ghai
Wow.
00:37:44
Lee Hatfield
It had just been decorated, so there was no cobwebs, and I just got this nice little stroke here.
00:37:47
Barri Ghai
and like
00:37:49
Barri Ghai
wow
00:37:50
Lee Hatfield
down my face and it's sort of like there's nobody around me and it was like amazing.
00:37:51
Barri Ghai
so like
00:37:57
Lee Hatfield
So those two places are really good. The mill we went to last night as yeah is known for a lot of paranormal activity as well.
00:38:06
Barri Ghai
Right. Okay. Yeah.
00:38:07
Lee Hatfield
So there are different locations but the only problem that we have in Canada is a lot of these buildings are owned by the city.
00:38:16
Barri Ghai
but
00:38:17
Lee Hatfield
So that makes it a little bit more difficult to to get and investigate. But we do our best.
00:38:22
Barri Ghai
yeah
00:38:22
Lee Hatfield
But we are going to a small place in the US next month for my birthday. So my birthday is a little bit older than your birthday, but let's not go there. So there's three of us going away for a boys weekend, and we're and we're investigating there as well.
00:38:37
Lee Hatfield
So yeah, there's a lot of places.
00:38:38
Barri Ghai
Sounds fab. Now you're going to to tell everyone, Lee. So when's birthday and how old are you going to be
00:38:43
Lee Hatfield
it's ah ah It's a big birthday. It's at the end of June, and it's a big six big six zero.
00:38:46
Barri Ghai
Yeah.
00:38:49
Barri Ghai
See, I would not.
00:38:49
Lee Hatfield
I know I don't...
00:38:50
Barri Ghai
No, you don't. Honestly, genuinely, do not look 60. But happy birthday for for next month, all right? Yes.
00:38:56
Lee Hatfield
Thank you. Thank you very much. So, your new toy that's... I'm not going to... Sorry, I corrected it. It's not a toy, but it's your new baby.
Innovation in Paranormal Technology
00:39:04
Lee Hatfield
Let's talk about Spirit Wave.
00:39:06
Barri Ghai
Yes. Okay. What do you want me to talk about Spirit Wave?
00:39:08
Lee Hatfield
So...
00:39:09
Barri Ghai
Okay, fine.
00:39:10
Lee Hatfield
Tell you what, yeah, you're the you're the guest.
00:39:10
Barri Ghai
Spirit Wave. i mean
00:39:12
Lee Hatfield
I'm the host. You talk about.
00:39:14
Barri Ghai
I'm used to presenting, aren't I? So, sorry, Lee.
00:39:16
Lee Hatfield
yeah
00:39:18
Barri Ghai
No, so Spirit Wave is my brand new ITC application. It was only launched recently. We're talking March 31st. It is available on the App Store, and that's for your iPhone ah products there, and also Google Play for the Android platforms as well.
00:39:35
Barri Ghai
Okay. So Spirit Wave is and a way of communicating with spirit, exactly that. It has a huge database of electronic vocalizations, harm harmonics, phonetics, partial words.
00:39:50
Barri Ghai
It allows spirits to manipulate this huge database of electronic sounds to communicate to us and with us. Now, here's the key.
00:40:02
Barri Ghai
You might think, Well, that doesn't sound like something pioneering and new because there are other applications that are similar to that, which you've seen me use on television before.
00:40:12
Barri Ghai
Well, here's here's a clinch. This is powered by the amazing Alice algorithm. The Alice box and the Alice ITC application is is run by this program.
00:40:25
Barri Ghai
Well, Spirit Wave is powered by Alice. And as a result, we found that it has provided people with some amazing validations over the last month. I've had so many amazing anecdotes. I've had emails, messages, DMs. There's a Spirit Wave Facebook group that I've set up and specifically for people to share their experiences and ask questions as a bit of like Q&As and stuff.
00:40:52
Barri Ghai
Well, some of the stuff I've heard is absolutely mind-blowing. Chris Fleming, he used it. He used it recently on his first investigation since his diagnosis with cancer, unfortunately.
00:41:01
Lee Hatfield
Wow.
00:41:04
Barri Ghai
So he's, you know, he's well enough to go back out there. And he said, Barry, I want to use Spirit Wave. I gave him a little demonstration, sent him the link. Boom. He used it.
00:41:14
Barri Ghai
It blew him away. He turned it on as a bit of a test. And the first thing it it said was, Chris. All right.
00:41:20
Lee Hatfield
wow
00:41:21
Barri Ghai
The first thing it said, It also then started talking to him about his cats and other information that was relevant and pertinent to him and his situation.
00:41:32
Barri Ghai
He then used it during the event with with lots and lots of guests. And he had some incredible results. I think he he posted on his story, on his Instagram story, an anecdote yeah to describe exactly what happened.
00:41:46
Barri Ghai
He said it's mind-blowing, blew him away. But Ian Normans used it. You know, I've got other people around, lord Jane Harris has used it. Other people have commented, including other investigators, of how amazing it actually has been. I can't tell you, I know this sounds like i'm I'm totally plugging my own app. I am, but I'm telling you this because if it didn't work, I wouldn't put my name to it.
00:42:10
Barri Ghai
If it wasn't good, wouldn't be plugging it. I don't want to provide the world with something that doesn't work and is meaningless. I wanted to invent something that was going to change paranormal investigation through the app market because I have used applications to communicate with spirits effectively, as you've seen on Help My House Is Haunted, as well as my more traditional methods of communication, which is through digital voice recorders and the means of electronic voice phenomena.
00:42:43
Barri Ghai
But using ITC applications like Necrophonic and Echovox, for example, But now Spirit Wave, I am changing the way we investigate forever.
00:42:54
Barri Ghai
And so have thousands of other people who have now started using Spirit Wave. I know speaking to you earlier that you actually used it for the first time. so you enjoyed it, didn't you?
00:43:04
Lee Hatfield
yeah Yeah, that's right. And one of the first things that came out last night when we used it in investigation was my own name, which is sort of like, no, it didn't.
00:43:16
Lee Hatfield
And like my colleagues going, yeah, it did. And because we was in a room that we thought there was a negative entity, we kept going like, leave, go. But yeah so it wasn't as active as what I wanted it to be, but I don't know what my expectations were because it was the first time I've used it in an investigation.
00:43:38
Lee Hatfield
But my colleague's got it on his cell phone. I've got it on my tablet because I actually reached out to you guys to say, well, yeah can we use it in airplane mode?
00:43:41
Barri Ghai
yes
00:43:48
Lee Hatfield
And I think Emma responded to me on the Facebook.
00:43:48
Barri Ghai
yeah
00:43:51
Lee Hatfield
And that's important to me because if he's turning on airplane mode, you've not got any internet. So you can't have the internet connected.
00:43:56
Barri Ghai
but
00:44:00
Lee Hatfield
affecting Spiritwave. And last night was a perfect location in a mill with no internet nearby. it was on airplane mode and I was still getting responses. And that was like impressive.
00:44:12
Barri Ghai
Now, that's key to know as well. and And that's why that Facebook group is so very important, because and we can answer those questions from users that have downloaded it, not specifically paranormal investigators, but anybody who's downloaded it and wants a bit more information.
00:44:26
Barri Ghai
You know, the simple thing is to remember this. it's been It's built, it's an application, therefore it's a program. It's a computer program. But here's the kicker. Spirits I know are able to manipulate the electromagnetic spectrum of sound.
00:44:41
Barri Ghai
but also able to manipulate those electronic banks through the applications that we're using, through our phones and other devices. And I know this, we know this. from look at the Look at the examples that have already been provided through evidence that yourself, myself, other investigators have have produced.
00:44:57
Barri Ghai
So with that in mind, Spirit Wave has somehow managed to connect with Spirit, or they've connected the other way around, and they found a platform for them to speak to us.
00:45:10
Barri Ghai
It isn't a spirit box. It's not a radio scanner. It's not a spirit box in the conventional sense of an SB 711, whatever. It allows the spirit to select vocalizations, I guess, and communicate messages to us through some intelligent means.
00:45:31
Barri Ghai
And I can't even tell you how that works because no one knows. Spirit Wave wasn't what wasn't just created by myself. It was my idea, yes, but it was created in partnership with Joanne Sol, who is the inventor and creator of the Alice box and the Alice application and algorithm, and the brilliant Matt Howlett, who from Voodoo Creative built Spirit Wave.
00:45:54
Barri Ghai
He's the designer. He's the man who put that you know idea and turned it into reality. and Without all three of us as this sort of trio, it wouldn't work. But then you've also got Tracy and you've got MO in the background there that have been supporting the development of this application properly for God, a long, long time now. It's taken that long to, to you know, put it out there to the world.
00:46:18
Barri Ghai
But I'm so glad that it is there available now. People are using it and they're giving us rave reviews. It's just incredible.
00:46:25
Lee Hatfield
Yeah, and this is I'm going to even plug it even more because I've just finished teaching a course on paranormal equipment. And it was a four week course. First week was cameras and audio. Second week was monitoring the christmas equipment.
00:46:42
Lee Hatfield
Third week was pseudo.
00:46:42
Barri Ghai
Yep.
00:46:44
Lee Hatfield
And I didn't use the spirit wave in this lecture because the lecture was created a while ago. But when I do the next one, because we're getting all these fantastic results, I'm going to add it into the lecture.
00:46:58
Barri Ghai
like
00:46:59
Lee Hatfield
So that yeah this is the most yeah most modern, updated, but verified app out there. So if people want to use it, then thank Barry Guy for that.
00:47:06
Barri Ghai
so
00:47:11
Barri Ghai
Well, much appreciated, Lee, honestly. I will say as well, and I thank you so much, but if you can direct people to that Facebook user group, because there's a how-to guide, for example, that I've put in there, and lots of really relevant posts to teach people, you don't just download it and press open.
00:47:23
Lee Hatfield
Yeah.
00:47:29
Barri Ghai
You have to press power, which is on the bottom left-hand side of the screen. There is a power button, all right?
00:47:33
Lee Hatfield
Yeah, yeah.
00:47:34
Barri Ghai
Important. Turn it on, turn the volume up, let it run. By default, it's set to settings and what would I call the response rates, for example, that we feel work best.
00:47:48
Barri Ghai
As in, we know it's tested. That's the tested default setting. But play around with the sliders, play around with the frequency responses. the The key to Spirit Wave, which I'd love to just let everybody know, is that it was built with something called scotastic resonance in mind, which is adding a carrier signal to any other electronic sound in order to amplify and boost that signal.
00:48:13
Barri Ghai
It allows spirits to piggyback off a carrier wave and a carrier signal to provide more meaningful responses across the electromagnetic spectrum of sound.
00:48:24
Barri Ghai
And to do that, we've embedded their white noise as as as a slider control and also static bursts. Now, eventually there will be an update, obviously, as all apps are, and and it's free to those that have already purchased it.
00:48:37
Barri Ghai
And the update will include new carrier signals that we're developing at the moment that we feel are best tested and work to provide spirits with a better way of speaking to us.
00:48:49
Barri Ghai
So keep that in mind and thank you.
00:48:50
Lee Hatfield
Yeah.
00:48:52
Lee Hatfield
Yeah. Do you have any idea how many times it's been downloaded?
00:48:57
Barri Ghai
Over a thousand times in a month.
00:49:01
Lee Hatfield
That is just crazy. That's really amazing. OK, so we are coming to the end, unfortunately. I could talk to you all day. You're going to miss your dinner. I'm going to miss my dinner. We'll just talk about editing. We'll talk about football, whatever.
00:49:13
Lee Hatfield
Any final words from Barry Guy?
00:49:16
Barri Ghai
Any final words? I want to thank every single person that watches Help My House Is Haunted. Without you guys, we wouldn't be making more episodes and programs. So thank you all for your ongoing support and love for the program.
00:49:29
Barri Ghai
We really do appreciate
00:49:29
Lee Hatfield
Thank you.
Appreciation and Invitation to Fans
00:49:30
Barri Ghai
it.
00:49:30
Barri Ghai
And I know you're in Canada and your listeners are over there in Canada and United States, et cetera, or worldwide. Thank you guys. There is, i don't know if you're behind by a season or two, but there's a lot more to come.
00:49:43
Barri Ghai
And if you are in the UK and you want to join me personally, for a paranormal event, which I will deliver myself, then please go to www.barryguide.com and join my Facebook page as well.
00:49:57
Barri Ghai
And then you can, yeah, try to chat to me in person and find out little bit more.
00:50:02
Lee Hatfield
That's it. So the next time I come to the UK, we'll definitely have to meet up for a beer, most definitely. I'll do that.
00:50:08
Barri Ghai
Thank you.
00:50:09
Lee Hatfield
Okay, Barry, thank you much for your time. It's been absolutely wonderful talking to you. Like I say, paranormal royalty. I'm bowing down to you. You have a great rest of the day and thank you for your time.
00:50:20
Lee Hatfield
Take care.
00:50:20
Barri Ghai
Thank you so much, Lee. Cheers. Goodbye, Walker.