Seeking donations on the internet appears to be a growing trend in the paranormal community. The trend known as "paranormal panhandling" is being used by former ghost-hunting television personalities to everyday spirit-seekers.
According to Wikipedia, internet begging, cyber-begging, e-begging or internet panhandling is the online version of traditional begging or asking strangers for money to meet immediate and other needs. Internet begging differs from street begging in that it can be practiced with relative anonymity, thereby eliminating or reducing the shame and disgrace apparent of begging in public.
According to Wikipedia, internet begging, cyber-begging, e-begging or internet panhandling is the online version of traditional begging or asking strangers for money to meet immediate and other needs. Internet begging differs from street begging in that it can be practiced with relative anonymity, thereby eliminating or reducing the shame and disgrace apparent of begging in public.
Former "Paranormal State" star Ryan Buell utilizes Facebook to post online questionnaires about the paranormal hobby that seek a monetary donation upon conclusion of the survey. The celebrity ghost hunter has a following of over 200,000+ people on his Facebook fan page. Buell was accused by fans this summer of fraud when he failed to show up at various lectures that he was scheduled to appear at. He became under fire from fans when he refused to send ticket-holders refunds for the events.
Buell isn't the only high-profile person in the paranormal community to ask for handouts from his fans. Former "Ghost Hunters International" cast member Shannon Sylvia used the fundraising website GoFundMe to open a bakery in Massachusetts earlier this year. Sylvia's bakery known as Shancakes is now open and doing quite well. Ironically, Sylvia gets a lot of people walking into her store that beg her for money.
A Montana woman was asking for money to repair or replace her car that she allegedly damaged in an accident last winter. Virgina Lowney is a paranormal enthusiast from Butte and founder and owner of the Mining City Paranormal group. Lowney posted an ad on GoFundMe on New Years Day requesting money from other paranormal enthusiasts so she can buy a new car to go ghost hunting. In her ad titled "We need help, Our car was hit." Lowney sought $1,500.
"My name is Ginnie, my car was hit about two months ago, I have liability insurance on it but the person kept going. I took it in and the guy told me about $2,500 in damages. I have part of it but not all of it. It's the only car I have. I'm still paying on it. It's our pride and joy to have that car. My kids love it. We use this car to do good things for people, like we did Christmas for the elderly this year, with my team. We bought over a 100 gifts for them. We also adopted other families. I don't know why they didn't stop, we could have worked something out. Once I get the money, we can go back out and help other people. I appreciate anything you can do to help, God Bless!" Lowney said in her ad.
"My name is Ginnie, my car was hit about two months ago, I have liability insurance on it but the person kept going. I took it in and the guy told me about $2,500 in damages. I have part of it but not all of it. It's the only car I have. I'm still paying on it. It's our pride and joy to have that car. My kids love it. We use this car to do good things for people, like we did Christmas for the elderly this year, with my team. We bought over a 100 gifts for them. We also adopted other families. I don't know why they didn't stop, we could have worked something out. Once I get the money, we can go back out and help other people. I appreciate anything you can do to help, God Bless!" Lowney said in her ad.
A Nevada man is currently begging for money to relocate his family to a new home and he is utilizing various social media groups that he uses for paranormal discussions to solicit donations. Richard Rowe, or Lord Rick, as he likes to be referred to, is seeking up to $320,000. He plans to use the funds to move his family into a new house and what's left over for paranormal research equipment. Rowe runs numerous forums on various social media sites that focus on the paranormal and he also claims to be an anti-bullying advocate but he uses social media and an online forum called "Theatrical Clowns" on his website to aggressively intimidate people that he has disagreements with. In 2012, talk show host Evan Jensen discovered that Rowe openly smokes marijuana and drinks alcohol on paranormal investigations. Rowe showed frustration with Jensen by insulting him publicly and the two have been in a never-ending back-and-forth feud ever since. Rowe was nearly killed on June 21, 2003 when a car almost hit him while he was walking to a cemetery to conduct paranormal research with a friend. The vehicle barely missed Rowe but struck and killed his friend Robert Carr. It is unclear if Rowe or his friend was under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time.
"Please take the time to read this if you can donate, you can do so using our GoFundMe project page or send donation via PayPal. It is not mandatory that you do but if you can our paranormal family will really appreciate it. Besides, our heavy website dues, recent robbery, and trying to collect enough to relocate locally really is going to be an effort about us as a group. Imagine if one person gave a dollar who are part of our group how far that would go. I guess my point I am trying to make is that life is about giving to one another especially when it's for a greater cause. We also have a Po Box. I renewed it for three more months because we do not know what town we will relocate to but we will stay in the region to continue our research and our upcoming projects. I think going through PayPal or our PO box is better only because charity sites take a fee so if you can go through those routes it would be fantastic," Rowe said in a post on his Google+ page.
"Please take the time to read this if you can donate, you can do so using our GoFundMe project page or send donation via PayPal. It is not mandatory that you do but if you can our paranormal family will really appreciate it. Besides, our heavy website dues, recent robbery, and trying to collect enough to relocate locally really is going to be an effort about us as a group. Imagine if one person gave a dollar who are part of our group how far that would go. I guess my point I am trying to make is that life is about giving to one another especially when it's for a greater cause. We also have a Po Box. I renewed it for three more months because we do not know what town we will relocate to but we will stay in the region to continue our research and our upcoming projects. I think going through PayPal or our PO box is better only because charity sites take a fee so if you can go through those routes it would be fantastic," Rowe said in a post on his Google+ page.
Paranormal radio personality and psychic Christina George set up a similar ad for paranormal enthusiast Dave Goldinger to raise money to pay his bills in 2013. Goldinger claims that he was unaware of the GoFundMe ad that George placed on his behalf. George was recently under fire for a paranormal case that she worked on that involved an alleged haunted statue. She was asked to donate the statue to "Haunted Collector" star John Zaffis to put on display in his museum but George's clients claim that she stole the statue and kept it for herself instead. George recently admitted to lying about the statue on a recent Blog Talk Radio interview with Jill Wilder and Brett Watson on their show Paranormal Realm Radio. Oddly enough on the same show, Rick Rowe was interviewed about bullying in the paranormal hobby.
"You ask me to send them to John and I told you that I set that up and I sent them off and I can't bring them. I can tell he was mad and when we get there I'm talking to my teammates and I have a problem. I lied to them. I did not send the statue, they are at my house," George admitted in the interview.
"You ask me to send them to John and I told you that I set that up and I sent them off and I can't bring them. I can tell he was mad and when we get there I'm talking to my teammates and I have a problem. I lied to them. I did not send the statue, they are at my house," George admitted in the interview.
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