“My Paranormal Partner”: Best or worst Unsolved Mysteries yet?

Okay, it’s exciting enough that Netflix released a new volume of Unsolved Mysteries episodes on October 2. But even better, just in time for Haloween, of this season’s four episodes, three examine supernatural mysteries!

“Mysterious Mutilations” (episode 3) explores whether humans or extraterrestrials are responsible for cattle mutilations. “The Roswell UFO Incident” (episode 4) revisits that iconic mystery.

Then there’s “My Paranormal Partner” (episode 2), which features paranormal researcher Don Philips. A lot of paranormal enthusiasts, myself included, are likely to already be familiar with Philips. Or at least aware of him.

At first, I was excited to see an episode featuring him. Or maybe curious would be a better word. That seems like a good place to start with all the questions this episode raised.

Of all the “psychics” in the world, why choose Don Philips for an Unsolved Mysteries episode?

Not that Don Philips considers himself a psychic or a medium. He doesn’t even call himself a ghost hunter but rather a “paranormal researcher.” (Which I don’t think is quite accurate either.)

It sure sounds like he’s a psychic medium. His “paranormal partner” is a spirit he calls “Becky.” However, he admitted that even before she came along, he’d had experiences and formed other relationships with other “spirit people.” For years, he’d kept those secret but something changed with Becky.

Philips explained how the cases he deals with “would be considered the worst of the worst.” It was during one of those that he met Becky. Specifically, the Gaynor case, the most haunted residential case he ever had. Becky helped calm the angry entity that dwelled there.

Afterward, he asked Becky if she’d want to help him in the future. She agreed and has been with him ever since.

Convincing Steve Mera

I guess, wanting to validate that his relationship with Becky was real, he reached out to parapsychologist Steve Mera. At first, Mera put him off.

“I’m a scientist. I’m a man of evidence,” Mera explained.

Philips confirmed Mera’s reluctance, recounting how Mera told him, “Look, Don, I’m not the person that you want.”

But because of Mera’s reputation, he was exactly the kind of person Philips wanted to demonstrate his ability to.

Eventually, Mera contrived some tests for him. One of them included sealed envelopes. Philips had no idea what they contained. Becky whispered to him that a picture of a kite was in one. Mera was shocked when Philips got it right.

And when Mera himself seemed to be able to interact with the entity known as Becky, that cinched it for him that Philips was a genuine article.

Convincing Barry Fitzgerald

Barry Fitzgerald, the lead paranormal investigator from SyFy’s Ghost Hunters International, is another person that paranormalists will recognize in “My Paranormal Partner.” In the episode, he admits that, at first, he, too, was a bit leery of Philips’ claims about Becky.

He also devised a plan to test Philips’ abilities. He invited Mera and Philips to Ireland. Philips had never been. Fitzgerald didn’t tell them where they’d be investigating, which was “an old ruin of a house called Lisheen.”

“On the way there,” Mera said. “Don said something very interesting, and I didn’t quite understand what he meant.”

Fitzgerald added, “He was saying, ‘I’m getting the impression where we’re going next has been taken over by nature. It’s like there’s a canopy above me.”

Lisheen house is nothing more than ruins taken over by nature, with trees growing inside the remaining walls. Their branches do, in fact, form a canopy where a ceiling once was.

During the investigation, Philips said it felt like a museum and that he sensed artifacts from Egypt.

“Little did he know,” Fitzerald said. “Don was picking up on the history of the location.”

One of the owners of Lisheen house did collect Egyptian artifacts. A lot of them, all of which he stored at Lisheen, which did sort of become a museum.

But is all that impressive?

In addition to these kinds of examples, there were smaller ones. Some included video, like the Lisheen house investigation. Some did not, like the tale about Philips indicating a kite was in a sealed envelope. (They did show a picture of the kite after it had been removed from the envelope, but not video of him selecting it.)

But, as is the case with many alleged EVPs, hearing what they claimed Becky (or other spirits) was saying was often hard. A couple were clear, but for the most part, they weren’t. (At least not to my ears.)

Still, it was a mixed bag of evidence. And is any of it really proof of anything? How do we, as viewers, know he wasn’t told in advance where they were going? How do we know he doesn’t really look things up before he gets there?

As viewers, we’re once again asked to trust in ways that can easily be manipulated.

And why focus just on him and not some others? Or is it less about him and more about his paranormal partner?

Demon, Spirit Guide, or Complete Fabrication: What is Becky?

What Becky really is or isn’t, rather than whether Philips is or isn’t a psychic, may be the actual focus of this Unsolved Mysteries episode. Mera and Fitzgerald both seemed convinced the entity they all agreed to call Becky exists.

However, Mera and Fitzgerald expressed reservations about what Becky is. Both alluded to the fact they don’t trust her. They don’t think she’s what she says she is, which is a mom of two who died in the 1980s in some sort of accident, either train or plane.

Fitzgerald looked into that claim and could not find a woman matching that description. I was a little surprised Mera hadn’t already done that. (Or maybe he had, and they just didn’t include it in the episode.)

Also, when Mera “experienced” her firsthand for himself, he didn’t like it —to the point that he never wants to again. He described feeling an emotion he never had before and sensing something evil lurking beneath Becky’s seemingly friendly veneer.

Fitzgerald expressed misgivings about Becky’s intentions too. “I do think that we are now looking at a possession with Don,” he said.

Is being possessed a bad thing?

Mera raised an interesting question regarding Philips’ paranormal partner. If Becky does possess him, is that necessarily a bad thing?

As he pointed out, “being possessed” is normally regarded as a bad thing. But in some cases, including Don’s, it might not be.

I can see his point. Some of us are possessed by passions, and that’s not so bad —as long as it doesn’t interfere with those around us or our daily lives.

For instance, I like to joke that I’m possessed by the spirit of adventure. What possesses you?

Can you manipulate dowsing rods even when they’re in a glass tube? Or can Don Philips really control energy?

One of the other interesting examples that was submitted as proof of Philips’ power was videos of Mera holding dowsing rods while Philips controlled which direction they moved.

Mera showed how he wasn’t holding the rods themselves. They’d been placed in glass tubes. That’s what he was holding.

It did appear Philips was directing them, but was he? Or was Mera helping, subconsciously or otherwise?

Police or homeowners: Who does Don Philips help?

From the start of the episode, Don claims he helps people and has done a lot of good. However, only one of his “clients” (I’m not sure that’s the right word for what they are, hence the quotes) was included in the episode.

Well, they did show clips from his and Mera’s Bothell House investigation in Washington. But it was interesting that the resident who lived there at the time, Keith Linder, wasn’t among those interviewed for the episode.

Then again, they didn’t get to finish their investigation of the house either. Linder moved before they could. So I guess, technically, they didn’t help him.

But speaking of that Bothell case…

Who does the Bothell case prove is a fraud: Don Philips or Ghost Adventures?

Don Philips and Steve Mera weren’t the only ones to investigate Keith Linder’s house.

Let’s talk about that case for a moment. (Or refresh you if you’re already familiar with it.)

Linder feared his house was haunted. Was it poltergeist activity or demonic? He didn’t know. The only thing he knew was that it was wild. We’re talking about everything from burning Bibles and writing mysteriously appearing on walls to objects flying across the room.

Because it was potentially demonic, Ghost Adventures was intrigued enough to investigate. The episode was called “Demons in Seattle,” during which they deemed the activity a hoax. (Click here if you want to read an interesting Reddit about it.)

I interviewed Keith Linder a few years ago about all of this. He sang the praises of Philips and Mera while pointing out the failings of the Ghost Adventures investigation. But is that only because Philips and Mera agreed with him that an angry Native American spirit (or spirits) was to blame?

That caused a lot of controversy too. Poltergeist might’ve been the last big movie to get away with blaming malevolent paranormal activity on houses being built on a Native American burial ground. That doesn’t fly anymore.

So who’s the fraud: Don Philips or Ghost Adventures? Maybe both. Maybe neither. But one of them didn’t get it right in this case, and that’s probably going to stay an unsolved mystery of its own.

The Center for Inquiry’s $500,00 Paranormal Challenge: Could Don Philips win it?

Last February, the Center for Inquiry raised the prize pot for its Paranormal Challenge from $250,000 to $500,000. I couldn’t help but wonder if Don Philips had ever tried for it.

Would he? Or would he say he’s not in it for the money? Which is a common cop-out for those who know they won’t pass muster. Because then they wouldn’t be “special.”

Listen, we’re all special. Some of us delude ourselves to believe we’re more special than others. I see a little bit of that in Philips. The tell was when he lamented during “My Paranormal Partner” that he “can’t go back to being a normal person” now that he’s got Becky and this “talent” for researching haunted places.

Is “My Paranormal Partner” the best Unsolved Mysteries yet or the worst?

This episode won’t be for everyone. Those who liked the true crime Unsolved Mysteries might be bored by this one.

Those predisposed to believe in psychics will have their bias confirmed, while those who don’t won’t. And for those who fall somewhere in between, they’re likely to remain unsure. But a few might have some new things to chew on and ponder.

Check-In

What questions did you have after watching “My Paranormal Partner”?