The paranormal has fascinated people since the dawn of time. From seances and ouija boards to the eternal hunt for truth about the unexplained, the mysterious world of the paranormal has emerged in mainstream television over the last ten years as a popular trend.  Long before Syfy’s Ghost Hunters television series rocked Wednesday nights, a long host of other shows paved the way.

In Search Of…
From 1976 to 1982, Leonard Nimoy hosted a documentary style series called In Search Of… that explored paranormal and conspiracy oriented cases in search of closure and the truth. The series touched on everything from paranormal phenomenon and the unexplained to JFK’s assassination and the sinking of the Titanic.

Its popularity spawned into six series of books in search of a variety of things from myths and monsters to aliens and witches. Some bank the popularity of the show on Nimoy’s cult-like affiliation with the science fiction community, but in the end, people just love a good mystery.

Unsolved Mysteries
For fourteen years Unsolved Mysteries entertained the masses, and while many of the cases covered on the series revolved around missing persons and unsolved murders, from time to time the crew touched on various paranormal hot spots, ghosts and psychic phenomenon.

Ripley’s Believe it or Not!
From the strange, carnivalesque archives of Ripley’s came a variety of paranormal stories from all over the world, the types of bizarre phenomenon one might only see in the mysterious tents at the county fair. While the series didn’t focus much on proving the paranormal, it provided enough strange evidence over the years to keep fans watching, despite the occasional desire to look away.

Paranormal State
Following in suit with Ghost Hunters, Paranormal State followed a group of Penn State college students tracking and documenting evidence of the paranormal. Ghost Hunters fans turned to Paranormal State in the off seasons looking for something to fill the void, but the two shows, despite similarities, are not to be confused. The Paranormal State team’s often employed help from a variety of psychics and pagan practitioners to cleanse homes.

Ghost Hunters
When Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson formed The Atlantic Paranormal Society, neither of them ever expected to become one of the top, reputable television paranormal series out there. Employing a combination between science and skepticism to every case they investigate, the TAPS team has earned a world renowned reputation for their skills as investigators. Airing on Wednesday nights on Syfy, the series was so popular it spun off into Ghost Hunters International and the team members have been called upon by Josh Gates of Destination Truth on numerous occasions for their expertise.

Whether your believe in the paranormal, or simply find it fascinating, dozens of shows have emerged throughout the years to cater to the curious and the believer alike. From the early questioning of the mysterious to full on investigations like the ones we see regularly today, I can only begin to imagine how paranormal television will continue to evolve as advances in new technology continue to provide us with peeks into the great unknown.