Passion is not an
inherently homogenous term. The more people I meet the more passions I discover
in other people who give their own definition of Driven. To start of this series,
I am happy to welcome Kyle Kubitz to launch Driven.
There are several reasons
why I am happy to have been able to interview Kyle. First and foremost, I’m
happy he is alive because a few weeks ago, he went through an event that not
many people his age go through and had a stroke. While some people may be left
understandably distress by their condition, Kyle has shown drive, dedication,
and a will to live and recover that is nothing short of admirable. While some
people may take weeks or months to begin showing signs of progress, Kyle did it
in days and is showing great progress. When I asked his girlfriend if he might
want to consider doing an interview, his answer was when? That’s the type of
guy he is. Passionate, professional, driven, and focused.
Another reason why I’m
happy to interview Kyle is because I’m a fan of the Ghost Adventures series on
the Travel Channel and seeing his dedication and all the work he and his crew
put into the Ghost Blogs, it offers a very behind the scenes look at all the
work that goes into what he loves doing, which is investigating paranormal
sites in the pursuit of answers. I had some questions, and he had some answers.
Since I know some younger readers may from time to time venture onto my blog,
be warned that some strong language is used during the interview, but in the
interest of preserving his messages as much as possible, I’ll be doing a direct
transcription of the interview, where Katie Utke also speaks and there even a
cameo by one of the wonderful nurses that has been offering care, support, and
helping him on his path to recovery. So all that’s left is to see just how
Driven Kyle is.
*****
1.
How long have
you been doing GhostBlogs?
Kyle: We formed officially and started in 2011.
2.
What was your
initial inspiration for Ghost Blogs?
Kyle: Well we had to do a
documentary for a class in college and everybody else seemed to be doing really
cliché kind of worn out topics and I saw a couple of episodes of Ghost
Adventures and it kind of sparked an old love that I had back in the day. Kind
of got me back into the paranormal stuff and luckily I found a group of people
who were just as interested in it as I was and we kind of went from there.
3.
Can you tell
us a bit about your first encounter with the paranormal?
Kyle: I was in Catholic school
and I was in gym class and I volunteered to go down into the basement where we
kept a lot of our different toys and sporting goods and I was escorted by a
sixth grader who was not completely fond of me and he actually locked me in the
boiler room in the basement and I tried to find my way out and I felt hands on
my back and kind of collapsed and panicked. And then almost as if to say “hey
it’s ok” I felt another set of hands on my back and I stood up and eventually
found my way to the door after he came back to the door to come look for me. Because
he heard me crying on the inside so that’s what really launched it for me.
4.
What can you
tell us about the Ghost Blogs team, past and present?
Kyle: Well in the past we were a
very tightly knit group of friends. It started with me and my at-the-time-girlfriend
and our best friend Ashley Gibson. We kind of formed it and Ashley’s boyfriend
was also interested in the paranormal, so we brought him on and from there, we
just kind of snowballed into working on more and more projects. Within
the recent years everybody kind of dispersed after we graduated and a reunion
wasn’t gonna happen so I had to set out to find a new crew and I was very
lucky to find the crew that I have now just because we’re very together. The
chemistry is there. Everybody’s style and attitude is kinda in the same vein. We mesh
together really really well. Even though I appreciate and love my old crew, I
definitely feel like this is the iconic crew that Ghost Blogs deserves. It’s
got the personality that the fans deserve. And I think this is going to be the
crew that’s going to carry us into the next big step for Ghost Blogs.
5.
What are some
of your top locations or dream haunts to investigate?
Kyle: Definitely Poveglia Island
over in Italy. Bobby Mackey's Music World, that’s a huge one. Waverly Hills Sanitarium. Just about any place that has demonic ties or a very very dark past
where people suffered. That’s essentially it. Oh, I would love to do Pompeii. I think
that would be utterly breathtaking.
6.
You also play
music. Describe your relationship to music and how does music influence GB and
vice-versa?
Kyle: Music has always been a
very big influence to me. I feel like a lot of the times without the right
music you have no direction to go. Luckily for Ghost Blogs, I have had the
pleasure of working with one of my musical – he’s basically my – he’s Simon and
I’m Garfunkel. Luke Thompson. My brother in arms when it comes to music. That guy
is absolutely phenomenal. He’s never delivered something to me that wasn’t
absolutely perfect. I’m one of these people that when I listen to music, I see
things, in my mind. I think a lot of the times when I listen to certain
artists, it influences me one way or another. You know? Because maybe if I’m
listening to Manson, I want it to be more gritty. Or if I’m listening to Ghost
Bath, I tend to be a little more dramatized in the way that I move the camera and
things like that.
I think the way it
influences Ghost Blogs is that we don’t sit there and try to portray ourselves necessarily as bad asses. But our music taste and the kind of edge that it
brings, creates a little bit more of an intense atmosphere to the style and the
persona of the crew.
7.
Tell us a bit
about how much work goes into an investigation and documenting it.
Kyle: Well first of all there’s
the setup of the investigation which is probably one of the most nerve-wracking
things because you’re trying to- you’re basically going in blind to a degree – trying to just get things rolling and you never know what kind of
people you’re going to be dealing with and how seriously you’re going to be
taken. Then of course we investigate roughly for about 6-8 hours. So #1,
that’s extremely draining. It’s very intense.
So continuously recording
and making sure that you’re using the different pieces of equipment in unison
to try and present evidence. Then the documenting process as far as
reviewing is extremely tedious because you already lived the 6-8 hour
experience but then in our case we’ve got four people so 4 cameras at all times
are running pretty much. So you’re going back over 6-8 hours for each camera.
That just becomes very monotonous after a while. But you know, it’s kind of
like counting the money after a bank robbery, so to speak.
Katie Utke: And with the different
cameras you might catch something on the one camera that you didn’t on the three
other cameras.
Kyle: Exactly. Or sometimes you’ll
catch audio bits on the camera that you didn’t catch on the digital recorder.
Katie Utke: We also have
the EVPs (Electronic Voice Phenomenon) going and that again as Kyle said, that’s
another 6-8 hours of audio we’re going through.
Kyle: It’s an absolute
constant system of checks and balances to a degree. And then having to go
through and analyzing – the problem with some evidence is that it’s not crystal
clear perfect plain-as-day stuff so it takes a little bit of time analyzing and
having to go back and mess with the audio a bit to see if you can get some
better frequency pitches to hear things better and, once again, it just becomes very tedious
and you never want to overlook anything.
8.
You recently
had a bit of a health scare, how do you think that will make you a better
investigator?
Kyle: Well the way I’ve
explained it, Death came for me and I told him to fuck off because I had shit
to do. So, I think with me having such a close brush to death I think I now
understand mortality a little better and I realize how fragile life can be. I’ve
always appreciated the opportunity to communicate with spirits but I feel like now it resonates with me a little bit more. In theory, just knowing I was very
close to being one of them.
9.
If you had to
make a Ghost Blogs themed meal, what would you include in it?
Kyle: Paranormal pasta and
red velvet cake with blue frosting.
Katie: How about black
velvet cake? You wouldn’t like it black?
Kyle: Who the hell is
going to eat that?
Katie: I would. I'd eat
anything I think.
Kyle: Yeah I’d probably do
that. It would be noodles that are colored black with squid ink. Then it would be a
rosé sauce which would be a mixture of three cheese garlic alfredo and a sweet marinara.
10.
I know another
member of the GB crew does the music, but would you ever score a full
investigation or make an original song for an investigation?
Kyle: We actually have done that
for a couple of different pieces. Luke has done the music for our last two feature
length documentaries. He did it for The Other Side and now he’s doing it for Skinned again as well. Of course, he and I as a team make up Coma Black and we’ve
recycled and used some of our music from the past for Ghost Blogs. But like with
The Other Side, we had 2 or 3 different songs that were inspired and influenced
by the film. Our theme song at the time is called Haunt Me, which is just kind
of a general song about our experiences and stuff at the asylum we
investigated. Then we did another one called The Wicked, which was a little bit
more of a rock groove sort of thing. Apocalyptic themed song. And then there
was a song called Killing You, which basically was written – well of course he
made the music and it was phenomenal and we used it in the film. The music
inspired me to write lyrics that were very dark and deep at the time to me.
That song had a very personal meaning to it and then eventually I kind of
adapted it and turned it into a song that’s written from the view point of a psychotic
murderer that would have at one point in time been kept in that asylum.
We’re currently working on
a song called New Horizon, which is kind of an anthem signifying –
Nurse: Hi.
Kyle: Hey there sorry. I’m
recording an interview. I apologize.
(Both Kyle and Katie
apologize profusely)
Nurse: No. I’ll come back
later.
Kyle and Katie: Sorry
about that.
Kyle: That was one of my
awesome nurses. We’re recording this right now in my hospital room in the rehab
wing of the hospital.
Katie: New Horizon. You
were talking about the song.
Kyle: New Horizon, which
basically is an anthem that embodies and signifies the formation of the new
crew and is basically saying that now this is who we are. Really just solidifying
the brotherhood or family aspect. To a degree it is also giving me closure as
far as the rest of the crew walking away and everything like that. Still love
them all as individuals for the most part. It’s just it’s easy to feel kind of
let down when a group of people you once referred to as your family seemed to
wash their hands of everything. I was at a point in my life where I felt like I
was drowning for a lot of different reasons and then Katie, Rob, and Danielle
essentially helped give my life meaning again by showing faith in my passion.
Between those three, Luke, and my family, Ghost Blogs has been rebooted and we’re
back and better than ever.
11.
What is the
scariest trigger object you’ve ever held?
[Trigger object: (n.) an
object whose past is tied to a specific location or entity and is thought to
trigger paranormal activity.]
Kyle: I don’t know if I can
really say it was a trigger object necessarily. I actually haven’t had the
pleasure of working with many trigger objects.
Katie: What about laying
down in the, that’s not an object per se or a trigger thing per se but I think that
kind of pertains to this. Laying down in the slab… where did you lay, in the morgue?
Kyle: Yeah.
Katie: Anything else you’d
think along those lines or anything that would relate to that question? It
doesn’t have to be object-wise.
Kyle: We stood in the
alleged area where a man had hung himself, in the Annie Russel Theater. Which
was kind of a cool sensation, just based on the fact that the stuff of what the
rumor or, I don’t want to say legend, but it was definitely something that had
been confirmed apparently. Just knowing that we were standing in an area where
a man was kicking and taking his last gasp of air was very chilling to me.
Katie: I’m going to go
ahead and add a question here: what are some of the darkest encounters that you
have had?
Kyle: Definitely one of
the darkest ones that really sticks out in my mind would be at Roust Cemetery. Not
only were we told to leave by a spirit, we felt like we had something chasing
us as we ran to the vehicle. So that was a very chilling, terrifying experience
for all three of the people that were involved in that.
12.
What are your
plans for the next couple of years?
Kyle: Ghost Blogs. Ghost Blogs.
Ghost Blogs. Oh, first of all I’m going to recover from this stroke and get
back to 100% and we’re going to continue working on our existing projects which
are both musically and visually for Ghost Blogs. We’re gonna finish Skinned.
Hopefully release that and give it some legs. Shortly after
that, we’re going to be working on a new episodic series, which is the first
episodic series we’ve done since the Roust trilogy. And we’re going to call it
Northern Darkness and we’re going to focus on the northern part of the country
and try to go to various locations. See what we can kick up.
13.
Where can
people find more things Ghost Blog related or Kubitz authored?
Kyle: We do have a website
coming up very soon. Otherwise, I would say your best bet is to go to Youtube
and look up Kubitz Vetrone Media. Which not only has a playlist of all Ghost
Blogs videos but also has other workings that I’ve done, including stuff from a
Florida based metal band, Murderfly. It has some client work there. And we’ll
also have some new music videos from my music projects as well, including Coma
Black, which is the official band of Ghost Blogs. If you would like to hear
more Coma Black or Ghost Blogs Music, go to Soundcloud and look up Coma Black. We
will be posting links on our Facebook page very soon as well.
*****
Katie: That’s all we have.
Is there anything else that you want to add that you want to say?
Kyle: I want to thank you
Mr. JD Estrada for taking the time to shine a light on something we hold very
near and dear to our hearts and something that we’re very passionate about and
for showing interest in it. Greatly appreciate it. Wishing you the best as well
as all of your fans and followers.
*****
I also want to thank Kyle for taking the time to answer my questions and sharing all of his experiences. I look forwards to a speedy recovery, most investigating, more music, and to someday enjoy a bowl of paranormal past :D
As part of this series, I did want to make special requests related to the passions of the people who are kind enough to show us just how driven they are.
Special Request: In the case of Ghost Blogs, I'm actually going to share two requests I'd posted to Ghost Adventures but received no reply. First would be for the crew to play music at a location, maybe record the performance? And secondly, I'd love for the crew to use incense. I think some interesting things could come forth from both exercises.
For now, thanks to Kyle and Katie for their time and their willingness to spend some time with us.
Peace, love, and maki rolls.
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