It may be Christmastime, but the scares and supernatural don’t stop for a bit of eggnog and a stolen kiss under the mistletoe. In the Travel Channel and discovery+ returning series Kindred Spirits, some undead souls are still clamoring for a bit of attention.
Kindred Spirits is a well-oiled paranormal trio that includes Amy Bruni, Adam Berry, and medium Chip Coffey. The three work well together and help people with unusual problems get some resolution.
Bruni, Berry, and Coffey dive headfirst into the most haunted locations to solve mysteries, help tortured souls and confront aggressive entities. Frightening stories of paranormal disturbances do not stop coming in for this trio, allowing distressed businesses and homeowners to explore historical sites with issues.
What they do find is a constant: That the restless dead wants a voice, and sometimes their energetic intrusions into the world of the living are scary, or best case scenario, are annoying to the living.
Adam and Amy head to East Bridgewater, Massachusetts, thanks to Lorrie Parker, an antique dealer who reached out to them. She has experienced activity for thirteen years and wants some peace and answers.
One particular creepy moment she relives was a customer smelling the perfume out of an empty antique bottle, which Lorrie corroborated to Amy and Adam. She avoids the basement of her building and warns Amy and Adam that it has terrible energy that makes her sick.
The building, sold in the 1980s, has a checkered past. Once, it was a Masonic lodge where those secretive men dabbled in the occult and rituals centered on the afterlife. Still, shop owner Lorrie and now Adam and Amy realize the Masons have left more than a written legacy thanks to strange doings in this building.
Monsters & Critics spoke to Amy Bruni and Adam Berry ahead of this fun new season and got a bit of insight into their work. Their first investigation is of the Old Masonic Temple in East Bridgewater, Massachusetts. What they find is way more than a sketchy building that housed odd men in funny hats.
Monsters & Critics: Many in your profession say: “Never investigate alone.” Do you agree?
Adam Berry: If you are in an abandoned place, it is always wise not to investigate alone. Amy and I do experiments and sometimes investigate alone to get different results or stir up activity.
However, the one not investigating is constantly monitoring the other. One to make sure everything is okay and to document the activity.
M&C: Adam, I know you are from the South initially. There are so many target-rich areas on Cape Cod where you live now — what is your theory on the reason behind that?
Adam Berry: Cape Cod has a rich history and is very old. I think those two things play a lot into the hauntings on the Cape. Plus, the Cape is surrounded by water on all sides, and maybe that has a way of helping to conduct energy.
As for the very tip of the Cape, way out at the end of the spiral, I believe it’s incredibly spiritual for many reasons. Light, solitude, ocean, waves, spirits, and folklore!
M&C: Please talk about how Kindred Spirits’ premise differs from other projects?
Adam Berry: I was on Ghost Hunters Academy, and now Kindred Spirits. We’ve also guest-starred on many other paranormal and Supernatural programs.
Everyone has their way of looking for the afterlife; however, we try to dig a bit deeper on Kindred Spirits. We want to find out who is there, why they are there, and what they need, if anything.
We believe that the activity subsides or goes away entirely once that occurs because we firmly believe that there are spirits out there that do have unfinished business.
We wanted Kindred Spirits to be a complete example of a “real life “paranormal investigation from start to finish. Everything from research to interviews, two more research, two investigating, it never ends, really.
By the time we wrap up the case, we hope to have a solution, of course.
M&C: The most physical experience ever to happen to you was…?
Adam Berry: We have been grabbed, scratched, touched, poked, pushed, we’ve had rocks thrown at us, you name it. I don’t have one that sticks out, but it’s always pretty shocking when it happens.
M&C: Have either of you been hurt in the course of paranormal exploration?
Adam Berry: No, never.
M&C: Chip Coffey has a violently reactive moment in the premiere. An aggressive male spirit tells him, “get the f*** out,” as you two investigate. Talk about this episode in East Bridgewater?
Adam Berry: The first case of our season is pretty intense. At the end of the case, we have to call the cops. I’m going to let the viewers watch to find out why, but it’s part of the investigation for sure.
Chip [Coffey] picked up on many different things throughout our investigation, and at that moment, he was picking up on something that seemed aggressive and didn’t want us in the space.
But it is our goal to find out why the spirit is presenting itself in that manner. That was the challenge. It’s an incredible case, and I genuinely believe it has one of the biggest twists we’ve ever presented.
M&C: What are some of the odd and alarming things you have discovered about The Freemasons — especially since you tangle with them in the premiere?
Amy Bruni: I think the most alarming thing is the misconceptions about who the Freemasons are and were. They do have rituals and secrets, but they are mainly focused on serving their community and supporting the community that supports them.
We were very fortunate to have our friend, Sean, who is a Mason, join us and help us figure out if the spirits of former Masons were indeed causing the aggressive and weird activity.
That is something that we strive to do. We don’t pretend to know everything, and if a friend of ours can help us get to the bottom of a case, we will gladly take their help.
M&C: Please tell me—no spoilers but some details—about the episode this season that shook each of you and made you want to go back to reinvestigate, if at all possible?
Adam Berry: This season has some of the wildest moments we’ve ever experienced. I think going back to the Cheboygan asylum would be incredible.
When you do a giant location, we always feel that one or two spirits to come for that need our help the most. But knowing how big that location is and how long that location is open, there are probably many other spirits who need our help.
Also, Liberty Hall was an intense and wonderful case. Or both cases in Arkansas, and then there’s the case with the shoe that’s episode number two. So it’s tough to pick just one, of course!
M&C: Do you believe that spirits can be “invited” into someone’s life by innocent games like an Ouija Board or a seance without a medium?
Amy Bruni: Ouija boards aren’t bad. Ouija boards were created as a game so that those using them to get close to each other in the dark.
There’s something called the ideomotor effect, and if both people use the Ouija board or are blindfolded, it will not work. Also, no one ever says I was 40 and sober and playing with the Ouija board, and crazy stuff happened.
You’re always young and with your friends and probably at your grandmother’s house, and you freak yourself out.
Adam Berry: It wasn’t until Hollywood took over that gave Ouija boards a bad name. Both Amy and I have a collection of them, and they do not work if you are blindfolded.
Ask for a séance without a medium. Ghost hunting and looking for paranormal activity is a modern-day séance. We do things a little differently than those in the late 1800s.
Amy and I also re-create those kinds of séances, especially if the spirits we were trying to communicate with would know what a traditional séance is.
So not having a psychic with you while you’re doing that work is totally fine, in my opinion.
M&C: Are any of the spirits and entities ever funny? Are their spirits with personalities so large that death couldn’t silence them, and they crave an audience? Not evil spirits but the ones who don’t realize the earthly party is over for them?
Adam Berry: Amy and I have encountered many kinds of spirits. For instance, Lizzie Borden actually has a sense of humor. This [story] sounds crazy, but we genuinely liked her personality and how she communicated with us when we investigated Maplecroft, the mansion she moved into after she was acquitted.
Amy and I have also investigated a comedy club in New York where the spirits played jokes on us because they thought it was funny.
Spirits act in death as they would act in life. So if they were a jerk, they might be a jerk in death, and if they were funny and liked making jokes, they probably are still doing those.
M&C: The haunted shoe in the next episode. Do items retain energy over time like this? Do you feel it when you hold it, or does it manifest differently?
Adam Berry: You’ll have to watch the episode. [Laughs] No spoilers, but some people are familiar with finding old shoes in walls in spaces, especially in New England and especially in older homes.
There is a reason behind it, and in this episode, Amy and I get to explore that. It was the first time we had ever encountered something like that.
Kindred Spirits debuts Saturday, December 18 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on Travel Channel and begins streaming the same day on discovery+.