In This Episode

Chapters:
00:00 – Cold Open: The Stories That Linger
00:31 – Welcoming the Dark Echoes Team
01:33 – Why the Twisted Vine?
02:58 – The Path to Dark Echoes
05:37 – Rituals, Gear, and Going In Prepared
07:33 – What Is Project Apparition Hall?
10:36 – Streaming Live: How to Watch
12:02 – Behind-the-Scenes Shenanigans
14:34 – Dream Celebrity Investigators
16:30 – Debunking Paranormal Myths
19:17 – The Social Side of Ghost Hunting
20:38 – What We’re Excited for on July 20th
23:15 – The Professionalism (and Heart) of Matt
27:57 – Closing Thoughts & Invitation

00:02
Some venues are famous for their food, some for their history, and some, like the Twisted Vine and Derby Connecticut, are known for the stories that linger long after the lights go out. On July 20th, we’re going to be gathering for a night of spirit, suspense, and maybe a little supernatural mischief. But tonight we’re getting together to swap stories, share some laughs, and get ready for an event that promises to be anything but ordinary. Welcome to the Enlighten Life Podcast. I’m Scott Allan.

00:31
And around here, we believe in good energy, open hearts, and the occasional goosebump. Tonight I’m joined by my castmates from Dark Echoes Paranormal, cast members John Griffin and Jaclyn Laren, our sharp-eyed lead investigator and the one most likely to keep us from running out the door when things get a little weird. But we’re chatting about our upcoming live event at the Twisted Vine in Derby, Connecticut. What it’s like to chase mysteries together and why you should absolutely join us for the adventure.

01:00
So let’s get started.

01:04
Hey guys, how are you? Well, doing well. How are you? Yeah, we’re good. Now that we have this technology working, I’ll tell you, you know, I know we’re going down there. We’re there on the 20th. I’m there on the 19th. I actually have an event there myself on the 19th, but we’re all together on the 20th. And I just knew I wanted everybody to meet my friends and to find out what Dark Echoes is all about. They can tune into it on TV. They could tune in on Prime, on

01:33
Sling on Paraflex and wherever else it is and we can talk about that but I also want to talk about why they should tune in when we do the live the live streaming It’s like an episode but it’s live and it’s happening in real time So I wanted to chat with the two of you There are lots of us that could make it here today because we’re recording this during the day But John and Jacqueline what what first drew you to the well? I’m gonna say to the twisted vine. Have either of you ever been to the twisted vine? I have twice you have

02:02
You have, have you investigated or you just went there for dinner? Nope, I investigated both. Season one, we did an episode there and then we went back and did a meet and greet event there again. Okay. Yeah, that’s right. I didn’t know you were there for season one at that point. Yeah. What, what, what pulled you into that? Was it just the episode or, or, you know, what pulled you into dark echoes? I should say it’s even better question. Well, I mean, I’ve been an investigator for over 26 years. always, you know,

02:31
kept my cases very, you know, close to the vest, investigate cold case murders and combine that with the paranormal. So it’s always, it’s never been something that I ever aired. But when I started to look for a way to get it out there more, to help more families, that’s how I actually met Matt. And we just like hit it off right away and he, you know, thought it was great what I was doing and I thought what he was doing was great and I loved how he was running his show.

02:58
And when he asked me to be as a guest investigator on the show for season one, I was like, absolutely. So just so happened to be Twisted Vines. And we had a blast filming for that episode. And then we did the meet and greet that was kind of a kickoff for season two, also at Twisted Vines. And so when Matt asked me to come back as a full-time cast member, it was not a second thought in my mind. I was like, yes, absolutely. I’ll be there.

03:26
So we had a really good time at the meet and greet. We had some really good stuff happen there too. That’s awesome. John, how about you? How’d you get involved in this? So basically with mine, were, Echoes was filming the season finale at Wildwood Sanitarium. so we got cast, I got a message got casted for that episode as being a guest. And so I know I was recommended by the owners to Matt and the crew. So we did.

03:54
I did come down there. We filmed a really dramatic episode, which is obviously out now, you know, because that place for me was home away from home and has the connection between my brother, my late brother and I did. The filming was phenomenal. The way it was structured, the way it was organized and meeting the crew felt like meeting old friends and I had never met these people before. yeah, Matt ended up towards the end asking if I wanted to or if I could commit to being on season two.

04:23
And I don’t normally say yes to things that easily. I had seen enough and I decided to give it a shot and I have no regrets. Now season two got done filming that and was there for every single episode and it was a blast. Yeah. Yeah. And that’s where you and I met actually. We met at Wildwood. Yes. Yes. Yeah. I was one of the mediums on that night. That was sort of a surprise how things kind of like turned.

04:48
turned around, and of you never know you’re gonna get when you’re filming these things, right? And that’s one of the things I love about Dark Echoes, because it is really spontaneous and it’s real. And you you know, you both know, when you go on an investigation, it’s like watching paint dry. Sometimes you can sit there and nothing happens, and other times it’s active and crazy, but that’s what people are seeing when they watch the show. They’re actually seeing a real investigation. We’re there for what?

05:15
24 hours maybe I’m not because I’m the medium. I come in and I’m in and out, but for you guys, you’re there just, just a short period of time. Whereas the big television shows, they’ll film over several days because they need to fill 30 minutes or an hour with evidence. And sometimes you get that and sometimes you don’t, but the realism I think of this is what really is, has been great. How do you, Jacqueline prepare for night?

05:37
in a haunted place like this? Do you do anything? mean, any rituals or, you know, anything about gear? Like, what’s your way? Or do you just kind of like walk in and wing it? No, well, as far as, you know, the investigating part, I kind of have my go-to techniques that I’ve always, always had. And everyone knows me for my famous favorite portal. And boy, has that been one hell of a tool. Aside from that, it’s kind like my little medium in a box I always tease. But aside from that,

06:05
Before when we were doing a lot of my team used to investigate dark entity cases and cases involving haunted objects and curses and you know, lot of the dark stuff that most investigators don’t want to be involved in. So I got into the habit of making sure that I had all my medallions blessed before I go on an investigation in holy water and blessed salt and kind of have all those things with me and charge my crystals and go through like every barrier of protection I could possibly take because you know, I’ve seen so many things.

06:35
I still always have that stuff on me, I, you know, I’m at a place in, I guess I’d say my investigative career where it takes a lot to scare me. It takes a lot to make me go the other way. And I try to go into every investigation and just, you know, I’m very excited. You know, it’s like, it’s like a kid on Christmas morning for every time I walk through a door because whether, whether we get something or not, the locations themselves are always wonderful to be at. But you know, I’ve.

07:03
I very rarely have a situation where I don’t leave, you know, pretty excited. So I just kind of go in there with an open mind and just have fun and that’s about it. Yeah. And John, you know, I think one of the things that I’ve really enjoyed, you know, having you on the show on the episodes that I’ve been on is that you do something nobody else is doing, right? And you do what you and your brother had started working on was the Apparition Hall, right? And that’s its own show, which I think is coming up, but you’ve been doing it with Dark Echoes and you’re going to be doing it during the live. Is that right?

07:33
Yeah. Can you tell us a little bit about what the Apparition Hall is and how it works and what types of things you’ve experienced? Sure. So Project Apparition Hall is a project that Jeremy and I, it was actually our last project that Jeremy and I worked on together. And just for the audience, Jeremy is my brother that I was mentioning earlier. He started off using raw photography with a green laser and essentially

08:01
In simple terms, he had more, far more complex way of explaining it. It was basically coloring the spirits in, but we’ve since changed that. found that with our, we were making progress with audio, audio evidence. But in order to be able to continue with the, uh, with the audio evidence to further that we now had to delve into apparitions because we can’t see where they are, how they work, what their actual composition is.

08:28
So that’s what apparition or project apparition hall is all about is understanding a spiritual entities composition, how they put themselves together. ultimately, you know, we use the fog, we use green laser in a very specific way. And, but what we’re doing is testing elements for building the actual apparition hall, so to speak. Where will

08:56
There will be certain measurements that we’ll get. We’ll have a controlled area that will allow for them to be able to put themselves together so that we can see them. The end game, I mean, we’re talking maybe past when I’m alive.

09:13
You might be the one we’re talking to, I don’t know. Who knows? Well, oddly enough, the first time that I labeled it, because we didn’t have a name. When Jeremy was live, we didn’t have a name for it, we just called it the Manifestation Project. I turned it into Project Apparition Hall, and the last thing that we discussed about doing before he died, I put it into action at Wildwood Sanitarium, and the first apparition that appeared was my brother. So, oddly enough, that kind of…

09:40
You know, who knows, maybe I’ll be the one that’ll be like, Oh, we’re going to finish this work up. And somebody flips a switch and I go, Hey, but that’s where we ultimately wanted to end is basically having this thing that you could turn it on and visually visually see them. can put themselves together. We can help them with that. If however that works, that’s the ultimate end game. Well, and you posted a photo not that long ago, which I thought was kind of mind blowing really.

10:08
It was the photo of you, not you, but it was while you were doing the apparition hall experiment and you could see, I think it was a woman, but anyway, you could see the apparition that had manifested in the mist and the laser. Which is talking about the woman with the dress. Yeah. That was incredible. Incredible. That’s just, that’s just one of, of many, have so many apparitions we haven’t shown yet.

10:36
Yeah. So friends, listen, you know, if, if we’re to talk about this, right? Cause Paraflex is going to be streaming this if I’m not mistaken. So it’ll be on Paraflex. It’s going to be streamed as far away as Japan, believe it or not. They may not understand what we’re saying, but they’re going to like hopefully what you’re picking up on this thing. But we’re going to be doing this. John’s going to be doing this at the Twisted Vine restaurant in Derby, Connecticut. So two things, want to make sure that you

11:02
get the link and we will be posting that. Check out the Dark Echoes Paranormal page. Check out with ParaFlix. Look for us on social media because we’ll be posting the links when we get them up. So you can watch, this is going to be the 20th. It’s actually Sunday night, but you can watch from home. It’ll be the cast of Dark Echoes Paranormal. Myself, John, Jacqueline, Matthew and all the others that are part of the show. And you’ll be able to see John’s experiment.

11:31
live. So I think that’s going to be a lot of fun. You definitely don’t want to miss that. Anything I’m not with you guys all the time. I mean, literally I come in blindfolded. go through the, I go through the location and I’m not there because we have a couple of other mediums as well. So we have Greg who, who unfortunately isn’t going to be able to make it with us this weekend. And we have Erica who’s new, but, tell me a little bit about when you’re there, any, anything funny happen? Like what’s, what’s funny things that happen while you’re together and filming may not even be paranormal.

12:02
Matt screaming at the manor. Matt screaming? Sorry, Matt. It was the first time I ever heard that, but it was good. I think I can relate. I can relate to that. yeah, yeah, no. Funny. Oh, well, there’s always the lovely infamous scene of Greg and John with their rubber ducks having a war. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

12:32
Yeah, because at the end of the day, it’s really, you know, it can get creepy depending on where you at. But the other day, we’re just like regular people, right? We go and we have a good time. Yeah. Well, and what you call it, was, I remember the last time we were all out to eat. think, yeah, was, it was the season finale. this, this was the second time that we met with Erica, the new medium. And thankfully she’s super open-minded, funny, very laid back.

13:00
So, I mean, we became friends over these past couple episodes. So, I decided to let my weirdness shine a bit. And Jacqueline, I think Jacqueline knows that I have a tendency to just randomly just go yell out dinosaurs or something like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, naturally, I don’t think Erica knew this yet. So, we were all at the restaurant together, all eating, and I randomly just turned to her in the restaurant, just kind of like, Erica, and she’s all happy. Hey, what’s up? And I go.

13:31
dinosaurs, T-Rex’s velociraptors mutated frogs. And that’s all I said and I turned away. Oh, okay.

13:43
He’s notorious for random outbursts. know, we filmed, now I’m thinking it must’ve been season two, right? We haven’t started filming season three yet. We were filming season two, we were in the Poconos. Jacqueline, were you there for that one? I don’t think you made it to the Poconos, that was the one where I was sick. Yeah, no. Yeah, well we filmed with, yeah, was a bummer. That was a great episode and that’s coming out next year, you’ll see it. We filmed with Brian Cano, who is the host of Paranormal Cut on camera. I don’t know if it’s on travel or.

14:12
I think that’s the channel. Discovery, discovery. Yeah. And we, we’ve filmed with some people who are kind of well known, you know, influencers online, plus people who are on TV. And so you definitely don’t want to miss that next year, but what could, if you could invite any celebrity to investigate with us on a show, who might it be?

14:34
Cheese.

14:38
That’s a tough one. Easy one for me. favorite celebrity that I’ve investigated with in the past that I would love to see on the show would be Nick Groff. And even his wife too, his wife’s a medium. Yeah. They are, I mean, I haven’t really met his wife, but I’ve met Nick and Nick is, he was one of the most down to earth, easy to talk to and boy does he really get into it. I think he would be fun to have on the show.

15:07
to work with. Yeah, yeah. Did you say you didn’t have an idea, Jaclyn? What were you thinking? I would like to bring back, well, I mean, I met them a while ago, but I would like to see like John Zaffis or Dave Schrader join us, you know? yeah. I would like, Especially if we’re doing something, especially if we’re doing something where there are objects that might be haunted. think John would be fantastic. I’ve interviewed John, I’ve interviewed John on my show and he’s actually a super nice guy.

15:34
So, so nice. I actually had to reach out to him and Dave. I reached out to them consulting on one of my old cases that involved a haunted doll. Well, far beyond haunted doll, but it was a very bad situation. And because of the objects, I needed to get rid of the doll. Dave connected me with John’s, know, brilliant, brilliant man. I mean, they’re both brilliant. Yep. And I’ve always loved the shows that they were on because they weren’t, again, they weren’t like scripted very

16:03
real. So I always found that, you know, very interesting. I would love, I would love to bring them out. Yeah, I agree. I agree. You know, we’re probably going to be watched. know we’re watched on the TV, but also when we do this live stream, people are going to be watching who’ve probably never been to a live or never been to a haunted location. They enjoy watching it on TV, but what’s one, you know, for both of you, what’s one thing you wish people knew about the work that we do and whether it’s the work behind the scenes or

16:30
or the misconceptions about haunted locations that you’d love to be able to clear up. Oh, well, let’s start with not everything’s a demon. Let’s go there first. Thank you. Oh, my God. I cannot handle the amount of times that people will run around and throw that out there because in reality, one, it’s very rare and two, if you came.

16:58
face to face with a demon, believe me, you wouldn’t be sitting here laughing and joking about it. No, I agree. So that’d be definitely number one on my list. Yep. John, anything for you? I mean, for me, I’ll kind of echo that too. Yeah, the demon thing that drives me up the wall, but I’ll tell you, I’ve actually gone through a real…

17:24
back when I was younger, a real demonic haunting, so I could distinguish the difference. So this whole three things, know, everyone running around saying demon, demon, demon, like it’s, you know, just, you know, a common thing. it’s cool. Yeah, it’s no, it’s not. It’s not. That’s exactly it. It’s not cool. It’s not. The people who actually go through it are suffering. So that one I wish there was more respect for. But I do like with

17:53
Again, with Dark Echoes, it’s true what Matt says when we’re going in that the psychics really don’t know where they’re going. I mean, it’s great to see that we’ve had guests that have actually gotten to see this in person. And that the investigations, he doesn’t tolerate faking at all. You you’re done. That’s it.

18:21
And I think that’s another selling point for me because I’m all about being authentic. if I see, I’ve, I’ve literally had international TV shows that have reached out. There was one where the contract indicated that we may have to fake evidence. I tore up the contract and I said, nevermind. I’m not interested. Like I literally turned down being on another international TV show strictly because of that. Um, so I love the authenticity and I, know,

18:48
If people come on set if they get to be a guest investigator, you know guest medium, whatever They get the opportunity to see that and so far from what I’ve seen with other people have been guests on the show that have investigated Stuff like that They’ve seen what’s you know that it’s actually real. Yeah Well, and that’s what we talked about at the beginning, right? I mean we’re there for a day as opposed to a week, know We get what we get but that’s what it’s really like when you’re out in the field, right? Yeah

19:17
It’s not always gonna be, you know, exciting. And sometimes we’re just having pizza and coffee and having a good time, you know. It’s the social aspect of it that I think is, you know, when I go out to these places. And the creep factor, you know, you can get creep factor in a place that’s not even haunted. Just turn the lights out and stand there by yourself. get the creep factor. So it’s kind of fun. It’s a little exciting, you know. What are you both looking forward to on July 20th?

19:44
I would like to re-challenge something I did last during our meet and greet. It was super successful. We set up kind of a, well, we used a couple different tools up in the attic area and there is, you know, there were talk of a spirit up in this attic area. And so I set up, you know, some devices to basically corner them in. And while we were there, we actually had the spirit responding on command, but not only that, but…

20:12
It was almost as if the spirit was pacing back and forth because we had device over here and device over here and it would go over and like this one and go over and like this one and go over and like this one. And it was on command. So I want to try to recreate that.

20:25
Yeah. John, for you. I’ve never been there. so, you know, that’s going to be the exciting part for me is, actually experiencing it because, you know, I’ve heard a bunch of people talk about that’s an awesome place. Yeah. So being able to do project Apparition Hall is going to, uh, going to be great. And then also for the people who purchase tickets to be there live at the event, you know, we’re going to look to have people involved with project Apparition Hall. So I look forward to.

20:51
You know, again, with that social thing you were talking about, Scott. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We have a great group of people that we, you know, we work well together. We laugh. We have a great time having other people there as guests getting to experience the what goes on, but also having great laughs with them as well. Yeah, I would agree. And I think if I’m not mistaken, there may be a few tickets left if there are people in the area.

21:17
and they want to come down, I think there’s still a few left. How should they reach Jaclyn? mean, do you think just reaching out on the Dark Echoes Paranormal Facebook page? Or, you if you want to reach out to me, you can get me on Facebook, mediumscottallan, or you can email me, scottatmediumscottallan.com. You can reach out and I’ll get in touch with Matt and hook you up. But if you’d like to come and be a part of the experience, I think the tickets are $75, if I’m not mistaken, and there are a few spots left.

21:45
even if you’re not in the area and you’re not able to make it, I hope you’ll be able to be there, you know, virtually, you know, watch it and see all the fun that we’re doing.

21:55
I think for me, you know, I’ve been to the Twisted Vine a few times, cause I’ve done events there. So, but I’ve only been in that room on the first floor. That’s where I do my events. I’ve never been downstairs or upstairs or anywhere other place. So I’m excited to kind of go through and see what that’s all about. I have not had any experience with it. And for those of you local, the food’s amazing by the way. was just going to say that. That is a good one. Yes. It is.

22:24
They’re closed on Sunday, but I always have dinner there before my event, which will be on Saturday. When are you guys coming into town? Are you coming in on Sunday or Saturday or? I’m coming in on Saturday. Jacqueline come, Jacqueline, John, come over. you know, if you want, I have an event there on the 70th at seven o’clock on the 18th. So if you’re around at that time and you want to come over and have dinner and, know, and hang out, it’d love to have you. It’d be fun. Cause I don’t think you’ve ever been to, you’ve never seen me work like that. I usually see me kind of walk in with a blindfold.

22:53
Right, right. No, I’d love is a whole different thing. Yeah, I’d love to have you. Awesome. I’m really sorry that Matt couldn’t be here today. I thought he was going to be able to make it. think Matt is our host. So Matthew Ryan Kondraki is our host. What’s one thing you want people to know about Matt or one word or one thought about Matt?

23:15
very professional. He takes this, this, isn’t just a show to him. It’s, know, like his life’s work and he’s very passionate about it, but he’s very professional and he’s very, very adamant as John said before about keeping it authentic. You know, I think it’s so important that people know that, you know, there are, as we said, you’re going to go on investigations where you get absolutely nothing. Um, and that’s just.

23:40
real investigating, right? And so he’s very much, he very much follows that and he’s very, very kind and very professional during the process. But, you know, where most hosts and producers are very, you know, that can be very rigid and just, you know, it’s business, right? He’s also our friend. We’re like a little family. So I think that’s also very important to say. would agree. I would agree. What do you think, John?

24:09
So mine is very similar. mean, I’ve been on Prior to Dark Echoes. I’ve been on many bunch of Hollywood sets with large production companies dealing with directors and producers and such. And then I’ve been on some of the more, I don’t like to use the word, but more amateur type of filming. It’s not a large production company. It’s their first time doing things. So I’ve gotten to see people who are well established.

24:35
versus people who are getting into it that are learning the ropes and such. With the more amateur side, more of like, it’s very casual, we’ll just wing it. Hollywood set, it’s very boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. The directors are very straightforward, they’re to the point, they can be stern. So when I came on Dark Echo’s set, resembled what would be the larger organizations.

25:03
how they operate, how it’s structured, how it’s very professional. And for people who are not used to that, if you go on these types of sets, that’s what it’s like. So Matt is, yes, he can be stern, but his focus is the dream, the end product, and making sure that the show turns out right. And he’s only got a certain period of time to do it. So he operates it in a really professional manner. And so for people who have never experienced an actual major production,

25:32
What he does is what the bigger organizations do.

25:38
The other thing too is that with Matt on camera, mean on set versus offset, it’s two different, very different people. On set it’s very, you know, business, it’s to the point, let’s get this done. Offset, he is an amazing friend. I got to, I became friends with Matt, I got to see who he really is. Offset, and let me tell you something, he is…

26:02
He has done so many things. He has helped me out in so many ways. And I got to talk to him more on a personal level about his production. And I wish people could see his, that personal side. That he’s got passion. He does for sure. He does for He does have a really caring heart. It’s something that people, you have to get to know him to truly see who the real Matt is.

26:31
could not agree more with you. And Jason Clifford, who’s our executive producer, is backstage and he had just, just messaged in that he wanted to say that Matt is very passionate about the show and the investigations that you guys do. And he wants to make sure that there’s something that, was found during the show that it’s real. And you mentioned that, you know, it’s real, it’s not made up in any way. This show has to be authentic. That is, that is his thing. It is authentic.

27:00
I think for me, if I could have one word, if I were gonna offer one word about Matt, it would be misunderstood because I think people do misunderstand him. He wants this, he wants to raise this to a level that you don’t find on most amateur productions, right? He wants us to be, I mean, you think about it, the equipment that we use and the sponsors that we have, Monster has sponsored us and there’s a bunch of others, there’s Holly Land with the, know, plus.

27:28
plus these people that have given all the equipment for us to use during our shows. He is 100 % professional, but I can also tell you he’s 100 % loyal. He wants it back. He demands it back, but he will also dish it out and give you the loyalty that you asked for. So I’m glad that he’s leading the ship and I could not agree with you more. think we’re on, we’ve got a good thing going here. So, you know, I want to thank you all for being here.

27:57
I know Jason’s backstage, we were having some mic issues, but I appreciate that he’s hung out with us. Also you Jacqueline and John, and it’s been a fun conversation. Thanks for sharing the stories. And to everyone listening, if you’re ready for a night out there that’s a little bit different, full of spirit, suspense, and definitely some good company, join us for Dark Echoes Paranormal Live at the Twisted Vine Restaurant in Derby, Connecticut.

28:22
on Sunday, July 20th and we’ll be streaming worldwide. So wherever you are, you’re invited for all the details, tickets and more. You can reach out to me at mediumscotallen.com or go to the Dark Echoes Paranormal Facebook page. If you’re on social media, check that out and you can send a message to Matt. Please don’t forget to subscribe to my channel, check out past episodes and keep your heart and mind open to the magic.

28:52
around you. Until next time, keep it light, keep it kind, and remember that sometimes the best way to face unknown is with good friends and a lot of laughter. We’ll see you next time.