Portals To Hell: An Interview With Paranormal Star, Katrina Weidman
Katrina Weidman has spent her life studying the paranormal. From her youngest years, living in a house in which she had inexplicable experiences, to her time presenting several hit paranormal TV shows, such as Paranormal Lockdown and Portals To Hell, Katrina has been making a strong impact in the field.
The star has worked alongside some of the biggest names, such as demonologist Lorraine Warren, presenter Jack Osbourne and ex-Ghost Adventures star, Nick Groff, yet Katrina has managed to carve her own niche and place within the paranormal arena. She is now one of the most respected in the field. Her attitude, focus and passion for the subject is easy to see when you watch her at work on screen, engrossed in doing what she loves most.
I invited Katrina for an interview, where we discussed all things paranormal…
You’ve been involved in several popular paranormal shows over recent years, but I want to take things back a step, if that’s okay… I’d like to ask you when your interest in the paranormal first began?
Yes, it really started when I was a kid. We had a house we lived in from when I was born right until about six years old, and weird things happened there. I was very young but I do remember being really scared to be alone in my own bedroom and I’d always follow my older sister around.
I had this weird thing I did when I was a kid, I’d wake in the night and collect everyone’s shoes — just pile them up (laughs) I have this memory of being in my sisters room, getting her shoes, and it’s strange to describe now, but I felt I was not alone and that someone was there with me. I recall being not alone at all in that moment.
The first big thing that happened though, was a little later. I used to follow my sister everywhere, and she was going downstairs one night and didn’t want me to follow her, so as she walked downstairs, she peered into my room and saw me in my bed and as she continued down the steps, she saw me sitting at the base of the stairs, playing. She was like, “how’d you do that? How’d you get by me without me seeing you?” So that was one of the biggest things.
It developed from there, really. My mum’s side of the family, they always told me about their experiences, and they were believers. My dad was the more sceptical one, so I felt I came from a family that had a good balance. As I got older, I got as many books as I could to learn about the subject and it’s just grown from there.
Would you say your time investigating has changed your opinions on the paranormal? Has it changed any of your perceptions, or just confirmed what you already believed?
It’s a great question to ask. I’ve never been a full-on sceptic or full-on believer. I entered the field understanding the supernatural in the way the media portrayed it, all the stereotypical ways we read about it. I had those ideas, but once I got into the field and started working with clients, I saw how much was at play — like cultural beliefs, environmental issues, people’s memory: there’s so much loaded into one person’s experience and it made me realise that a lot of it is actually explainable.
So when I go into a location, it’s sort of like, I take a step back and think, let’s break this down and see what’s actually happening. We examine all the factors that come into play. So yes, some cases are genuinely explainable. With that said, though, there’s been places I’ve gone to where we have seen things that are unexplainable. Things that just could not be explained away. Could it be explained one day? Maybe. But not so far. In a sense, investigating has opened me up to more possibilities. I know strange things happen and there’s a pocket of experiences that cannot be explained away.
What would you say has been the most impressive evidence you’ve experienced?
Yes, well there’s a couple. One of the things was when I was scratched on my lower abdomen in a house in England. I had no explanation for that, I’ve been over it in my head a hundred times, and it was very scary. It was almost like cat scratches — it’s not like I was gushing blood, but I bled a little and it was sore. I was wearing two shirts, I have no idea how those scratches happened, and I always think it’s like one thing if you see or hear something strange, but once something happens to your physical self, that’s a very different thing. It’s probably the most significant moment in the field for me.
Where I was in the house was where several witnesses before had said they had been scratched, so that was the most scared I’ve been at work!
Once, I also had my jacket tugged. I felt it as it happened, and I tried to rationalise it away, but luckily we got it on camera and could see it getting tugged and physically moved.
I find the physical stuff interesting, the manipulation of an object or something in this world. When I worked on Paranormal Lockdown, there were several figures we caught on camera — and we only caught it on one particular camera. So we worked with this camera company and had low lighting (without going into night vision) and this one particular camera caught four or five figures. It was amazing.
What would you say is the most haunted location you’ve been to?
So many places in England! I am not sure why, whether it’s the history there, maybe? We went to 10 different locations across England and every single one, we had something interesting happen.
I’d say it 30 East Drive is one of the most haunted. That was where I was actually scratched. It’s in the cutest neighbourhood, like any house in any area, and you’d never think that little town house could hold so many dark experiences for people, but it really does.
As someone interested in the paranormal, working on the shows must give you a lot of opportunity to see and visit some remarkable places, but is there somewhere you’d love to investigate that you haven’t been able to?
Yes, some of the red tape we have run into a lot is with old mental health facilities, and because they are owned by government now, they don’t want the association and aren’t really happy to have us investigate there. Also, so many of these buildings are old! So I guess it’s a liability that puts the government off letting us into their properties. My ultimate bucket list would be at the Tower of London, maybe or…. anywhere WARM! {LAUGHS}
Oh there’s so many things that are a hazard when investigating. We get a lot of debris, or no running water… and infestations of animals! One place we went to was an old sanatorium, and they had a bat infestation. So that’s the sucky part of investigating. The ghost thing I can handle but the bats and infestations — nope!
What has it been like working with Jack Osbourne on Portal to Hell? The show has proven very popular, you must be delighted…
Oh, I just I really adore him. He won't sugar coat anything, which I love, and he is great to work with. Jack very much wants to learn and has had experiences of his own, much like me. He invited me to meet with him, to have a meal, and we talked a lot and it was obvious that our beliefs matched. We spoke for three hours and it was amazing. He has a great sense of humour!
Do you believe in demons and possession?
Well, I definitely think it’s interesting. Various cultures and religions from all over the world hold these beliefs, and I’ve actually worked with families on cases like this with a priest. One particular case was in New Jersey and the person who was affected had real world problems… real issues… he was no saint by any means. I actually worked with Lorraine Warren, and she always said the demonic target people who don’t have a
perfect past.
In this case, there were things happening that were scary. For example, he was talking different languages and blacking out. The case was taken on, and we felt it definitely met the criteria for genuine possession. In this person’s home, we had so many unexplainable experiences, such as footsteps when no one else was around, heavy slammed doors. There was definitely a strong physical presence.
What was Lorraine like to work with?
Oh, Lorraine was amazing. So very kind. I knew of a lot of her cases before we met — such as the Haunting in Connecticut, and the Amityville Horror case… but when I looked into it all more deeply, I was amazed to see that these sorts of cases were all over! So when we worked with her it was surreal for me. She became like the matriarch to us. Very sweet to us and connected beautifully to people around her.
Have you ever felt unsafe in an investigation, if so, which one? What was happening?
Definitely. There’s instinct, places where instinct takes over, you feel something is wrong, and my body has evolved to feel this deeply. But I also know my fear comes from what I think it could be rather than what it actually is. 30 east drive was somewhere I wanted to run away from, but then I calmed myself, I was scared but questioned myself and my perception. I also go back to being stubborn — I don’t want miss out on this evidence when something is happening.
Finally, what is next for you? What’s in the pipeline?
Couple of things! Travel the dead, my Youtube series is coming back and I do that with my best friend. It came about due to the pandemic. We had our own group, doing private cases when we could… during the pandemic we really got involved. It evolved and realised people liked it, exploring these private cases. So yes, another series is coming, as well as my podcast. Plus I also have a couple of singles coming out, which is exciting!
