Ghosts of Morgan City: Travel Channel

Travel Channel, in their honest desire to bring us paranormal investigation concepts, understood the need for a moody setting. In their wisdom, they brought us a team called into a haunted city in the Deep South's bayous. And atmosphere and mood was amped up like never before!


Morgan City, La., is experiencing a disconcerting spike in emergency calls related to encounters with ghosts from the bayou city's turbulent past. Police Chief James Blair calls upon a team of paranormal experts to investigate the city's rise in bizarre activity. The team is led by Lousiana native Jereme Leonard, former FBI agent Ben Hansen and psychic medium Sarah Lemos. With the help of local historian Diane Wiltz, the team digs into the area's haunted history and begins the crossing-over process for some of the spirits wreaking havoc on the small community. Learning that the hauntings have spread throughout the area, the team begins working with other police departments to get to the bottom of the ghostly infestation of St. Mary Parish.

I think the world of Ben Hansen, who leads the team. I got to know him back in his "Fact or Faked" days. He is enthusiastic, highly intelligent, hard to impress, and very kind and thoughtful toward humanity. These are all qualities that are greatly appreciated when the leader of a team is an example. When I sat down for an episode to get a feel for the series, I was hooked fast. I ended up making a marathon of the episodes and truly loved it! 

It's not easy to impress me when it comes to ghost shows. I wave my hand and ignore a lot of them. In fact, I haven't been a regular watcher of any ghost shows since around 2013.

This show doesn't contain the usual group running around with meters hollering. The psychic on the team is a thoughtful woman who uses her skills without too much theatrics, which is appreciated. The psychics who get overly worked up really embarrass me as a psychic. It takes a level of security in ones abilities to be mature and stick it out when things get uncomfortable and to help folks be empowered and reframe their experience.

The location in the bayou, the dark legends, the murky wet environment dripping with a rough history just makes this ghost telling all the better. We southerners know our ghost stories well, as they are deeply ingrained in the blood-stained landscape and the murky shadows. The only thing at all I would alter is the background music - would love something a bit more bayou sounding to set the mood even deeper. 

It appears that "Ghosts of Morgan City" has done its job to bring us the Deep South's ghosts in a most delightful and entertaining format that makes us feel like we're riding along in their ghost coach like a more serious and mature Scooby Doo gang.

***I would love to see a Ghosts of Gettysburg***