Los Angeles / New Orleans: Ken Braden has been promoted to the position of Ghost Expedition® Trainer. ISPR’s Daena Smoller vacated the position in late 2002, after seven years.

"The GE Trainer position is exclusive, only one person in the world holds that title at a time", explains Smoller. She laughs as she continues, "And, until last year, I was the only one in the world to ever hold the position! But now, I share Dr. Montz’ confidence in passing the torch so to speak, to Ken".

Braden originally began his training with the ISPR in the Summer of 1997 in Hollywood. He began as a Ghost Expedition® research trainee. In the years that followed, Braden's experience in Ghost Expedition research has earned him the unique position of GE Trainer; responsible for the hands-on instruction and safety of GE participants and the training of GE Researchers. His Ghost Expedition experience has spanned the spectrum from utilization of hardware to the study of clairvoyance with the traditional GE benefit of supervising celebrity Ghost Expedition® participants like Scott Baio, Brandon Brooks, Sara Downing, and Aaron Van Wagner and representing ISPR's Ghost Expeditions on various television programs like Blind Date. Braden participated with Dr. Montz in the clearing or 'crossing over' of the seven resident Vogue Theatre entities on December 23, 2001, and will be featured in the upcoming documentary, Hollywood's Most Haunted 1901 - 2001: The Vogue Theatre.

Six years after Braden’s commitment to the ISPR, with countless Ghost Expeditions under his belt, and as the new ISPR GE Trainer, Braden will now oversee the operation of Ghost Expeditions. "I am exceptionally excited about this opportunity", Braden says, "there are so many plans in the works about the re-instatement of Ghost Expeditions in 2003, but I’m not at liberty to speak about the details at this time. However, as soon as the details are released, they will be posted at ISPR.Net".

It was the development, implementation and worldwide media recognition of ISPR’s Ghost Expeditions in 1993, that created the pop phenomenon of group ghost hunting across the United States and around the globe, later in that decade. From the hundreds of emails that the ISPR received in 1995 and 1996, from individuals who participated in the early Ghost Expeditions in New Orleans, read about them, saw them featured on television, as well as subscribers to the former Hauntings Today Newsletter and ISPR Journal, it was clear that these people were asking to be part of Ghost Expeditions and the ISPR. The written requests made it clear that the general public was under the impression that the ISPR team actually conducted Ghost Expeditions, ‘to look for ghosts’, and that the ISPR team was open for membership. Throughout 1994 and 1995, it was explained in writing to the hundreds of inquiries, that the general public participates in Ghost Expeditions but that the ISPR team is an exclusive group of individuals who works professionally in the field. Nearing the end of 1995 and through 1997, the ISPR saw a great many of these individuals, who originally wrote with interest in joining the ISPR, create websites to support their new ghost research/hunting clubs.

Ghost Expeditions®, although a registered name and a specialized research technique for the ISPR, has become synonymous around the world, with the pop phenomenon of ‘ghost hunting’ of which it created.

Cindy Lew
Director
Steele & Associates, Inc.
2801 Ocean Park Boulevard, Suite 410
Santa Monica, CA 90405
866.333.3543
E-Mail: clew@steeleassoc.net