An Interview with Vicki Lea
Television and Film Producer, host of America’s Treasures, shares her views on the Paranormal
by: Brent Raynes
Brent Raynes: Vicki, to begin with, please tell us a little about yourself.
Vicki Lea: I’m a Television and Film Producer. I’ve been in the business for 30 years having worked with companies such as TNN, SPIKE-TV, ACTS (now Hallmark) and CBS. I host and produce the National show, “America’s Treasures” and develop other television shows and films for national distribution. I’m usually the Executive Producer on the project.
Brent Raynes: I understand that our mutual friend Sandy Nichols, a paranormal investigator and experiencer whose own home seems to be haunted by several spirits, made your acquaintance about five years ago at a paranormal meet-up. I have now met you at several paranormal gatherings at Sandy's home. I wonder what it was that drew you into this field? Was it a book, a personal experience, or something else?
Vicki Lea: I’ve always had a fascination with the paranormal and the unknown. As a teenager, I read about paranormal investigators and the stories they shared. I was mainly interested in the spiritual aspect of those investigations and the activity associated with hauntings. My grandparents believed in ghosts, having seen unusual occurrences and I was always discovering paranormal stories that friends would share with me.
If I had not become a television producer, I was destined to be a scientist. I’m curious about what we don’t yet know and am always exploring that side of life.
Brent Raynes: What sort of areas of the paranormal have come to interest you the most? Why?
Vicki Lea: I’m drawn to scientific investigations of places with unusual occurrences. I believe there’s a lot to be learned about energy and how it transcends into life after death. Any time there can be evidence documented and explored for answers, I’m curious about those results.
I also like investigating anything that is unseen whether it’s the energy that surrounds us (or is us), or it’s the extent of our capabilities that are generated from our mind.
Brent Raynes: Any experiences or personal paranormal investigations that you've been involved with, that you can share some details with us about, wherein you were afterwards left scratching your head in puzzlement?
Vicki Lea: One of the more interesting investigations occurred during a television story for PM Magazine. I had found a house that was known to have 11 ghosts. So we went exploring to see what could be caught on tape and documented. I set up a scientific method for the story that was used by a specialist with the University of Kentucky. That method takes 3 sensitives through the house separately and documents everything they see, feel or sense. Then, the investigator analyzes the common areas to determine what can be scientifically concluded.
It was a very interesting investigation. Many of the “hot spots” were all similar. The dog barked something back into a corner until it disappeared. Lots of things were investigated from a ghost prankster who would steal pots and pans from the kitchen and hide them in the basement, to a woman who would slap men awake when they slept in a certain room. We were able to compare the experiences with some of the history of the area to fill in the back stories. The story was picked up nationally by PM Magazine and I will never forget the personal experience I had with that story.
Brent Raynes: What qualities or qualifications do you feel make for the best paranormal investigators?
Vicki Lea: I believe everyone wants to discover paranormal evidence if they believe in the paranormal. So, gathering evidence without drawing conclusions first, is important. Then as pieces can be put together, a true analysis can be made from the evidence collected. Sometimes there will be something significant and sometimes there won’t.
Brent Raynes: With your own involvement in the field, what areas do you perhaps hope to best contribute to?
Vicki Lea: I feel that I’m best at being able to tell the story. I’m also able to bring a systematic approach to investigations and analysis. In other words, by approaching locations and unusual occurrences with a scientific style, it’s easier to see what’s real and share that story with others.
Brent Raynes: What do you see as the paranormal field's weakest and strongest qualities?
Vicki Lea: The weakest is the vast amount of people. There are too many people just running around trying to “play” at gathering evidence. Paranormal investigation has become a “fun” activity for many people who really are not trying to analyze anything. They just want the experience of an investigation. There’s nothing wrong with wanting the experience, it just needs to be handled as such.
The strongest quality would be the technology has improved and is more readily available. It seems that we are able to catch more evidence now than ever before.
Brent Raynes: What advances in the field do you perhaps hope to see in the future?
Vicki Lea: I hope to see more technology developed and more scientific studies from other fields used in the exploration of the paranormal.
Brent Raynes: Any particular books, authors, TV shows or documentaries on the paranormal that you would recommend for others?
Vicki Lea: “The Source Field Investigations” by David Wilcock is a must read. He has collected scientific studies from all of the world to describe a lot of details about the unseen. My library is full of books on the paranormal, so I’m recommending one that can shed some light on discoveries that may not have been shared otherwise.
