Ghosts of Door County: Production Blog :The Producer's Thoughts

From a paranormal investigator’s perspective, working on the Ghosts of Door County was challenging while at the same time extremely rewarding. Along the way I had lots of great experiences and made many new friends. Taking this journey made me appreciate what it’s like to work with true professionals. If I had to choose one word to describe my experience it would be AWESOME!

I immediately could appreciate the incredible beauty of Door County as soon as I arrived at our home base, The Landmark Resort. The view of the water just beyond the forest was a truly inspiring sight. The incredible scenery continued to reveal itself as the cast and crew made its’ way to the many shoot sites, such as Washington Island, Murphy Park (with an incredible sunset that our DP Steve was able to capture magnificently) and Peninsula State Park. Speaking of Peninsula State Park this would be where the physical strain took the biggest toll.

The long sometimes 18 hour days really showed their affect on me while we were hiking down to the foundation of an old cabin that was said to have had various types of haunting activity in the past. The hike was beautiful but was exhausting since we had to carry all of our equipment while navigating a sometimes treacherous trail that had many steep inclines and declines. However, I knew that it would be worth it and not that bad since our Director Marc Stevens had told us it was a short half-mile to the site. After hiking about a mile and a half, I began to wonder if we were on the right trail. Marc, our fearless leader, kept us going and kept his cool despite our numerous, “Are we there yet?!” questions. We finally reached the site and were able to interview one of the best storytellers I have ever heard. We conducted an investigation and then headed back up and out. Once we reached the end of the trail, I was ever so thankful that we had the RV in order to relax, have something to eat and enjoy a cold drink!

We investigated many different types of sites that included a cemetery (which we did late at night in the cold and rain – what a dedicated bunch!), bars, inns, restaurants, parks and even a stretch of water known as Death’s Door Crossing. Overall, we investigated 10 sites in five days! Doing this number of investigations in a short period of time was made easy by working with a team of the best paranormal investigators in the world. Their dedication and professionalism was proven time and time again at each and every location. Having a great team was extremely beneficial since each location presented a unique technical challenge – including an outdoor investigation in the rain (got to protect that expensive equipment) and conducting an investigation at Nelson’s during an intense thunderstorm (which certainly added to the creepy factor but made certain pieces of equipment like the Natural EM meter useless).

Also, the team did a great job processing and analyzing a ton of data in a short period of time. Normally, after an investigation, the members of the Southern Wisconsin Paranormal Research Group (SWPRG) take one to two weeks to analyze data from one investigation. However, during this adventure, we were able to do 10 investigations and process and analyze ALL of the data in a mere five days and were able to find some very interesting activity at some of the sites! Simply incredible!

The cast from the SWPRG got a crash course in the basics of acting. We learned such things as: remembering what you said so you could repeat it when Marc yells, “Again!”, maintaining proper positioning while redoing scenes, patience while lighting is being perfected and how to wear make-up and still look manly!

In closing, I would like to thank all of the cast and crew for making this a wonderful experience and I look forward to seeing the finished product.

P.S. This one is for Marc

You’re a blogger! Nerd!




			A Paranormal Investigator’s Perspective • Cast Member and Technology Officer Dave Schumacher Blog Index From a paranormal investigator’s perspective, working on the Ghosts of Door County was challenging while at the same time extremely rewarding. Along the way I had lots of great experiences and made many new friends. Taking this journey made me appreciate what it’s like to work with true professionals. If I had to choose one word to describe my experience it would be AWESOME! I immediately could appreciate the incredible beauty of Door County as soon as I arrived at our home base, The Landmark Resort. The view of the water just beyond the forest was a truly inspiring sight. The incredible scenery continued to reveal itself as the cast and crew made its’ way to the many shoot sites, such as Washington Island, Murphy Park (with an incredible sunset that our DP Steve was able to capture magnificently) and Peninsula State Park. Speaking of Peninsula State Park this would be where the physical strain took the biggest toll. The long sometimes 18 hour days really showed their affect on me while we were hiking down to the foundation of an old cabin that was said to have had various types of haunting activity in the past. The hike was beautiful but was exhausting since we had to carry all of our equipment while navigating a sometimes treacherous trail that had many steep inclines and declines. However, I knew that it would be worth it and not that bad since our Director Marc Stevens had told us it was a short half-mile to the site. After hiking about a mile and a half, I began to wonder if we were on the right trail. Marc, our fearless leader, kept us going and kept his cool despite our numerous, “Are we there yet?!” questions. We finally reached the site and were able to interview one of the best storytellers I have ever heard. We conducted an investigation and then headed back up and out. Once we reached the end of the trail, I was ever so thankful that we had the RV in order to relax, have something to eat and enjoy a cold drink! We investigated many different types of sites that included a cemetery (which we did late at night in the cold and rain – what a dedicated bunch!), bars, inns, restaurants, parks and even a stretch of water known as Death’s Door Crossing. Overall, we investigated 10 sites in five days! Doing this number of investigations in a short period of time was made easy by working with a team of the best paranormal investigators in the world. Their dedication and professionalism was proven time and time again at each and every location. Having a great team was extremely beneficial since each location presented a unique technical challenge – including an outdoor investigation in the rain (got to protect that expensive equipment) and conducting an investigation at Nelson’s during an intense thunderstorm (which certainly added to the creepy factor but made certain pieces of equipment like the Natural EM meter useless). Also, the team did a great job processing and analyzing a ton of data in a short period of time. Normally, after an investigation, the members of the Southern Wisconsin Paranormal Research Group (SWPRG) take one to two weeks to analyze data from one investigation. However, during this adventure, we were able to do 10 investigations and process and analyze ALL of the data in a mere five days and were able to find some very interesting activity at some of the sites! Simply incredible! The cast from the SWPRG got a crash course in the basics of acting. We learned such things as: remembering what you said so you could repeat it when Marc yells, “Again!”, maintaining proper positioning while redoing scenes, patience while lighting is being perfected and how to wear make-up and still look manly! In closing, I would like to thank all of the cast and crew for making this a wonderful experience and I look forward to seeing the finished product. P.S. This one is for Marc You’re a blogger! Nerd!