Scotty Roberts's Forgotten Ghost Hunting TV Pilot

2/23/2015

Today has been an exceptionally busy day. I spent more than an hour this morning in Dell hell after my computer lost power. It seems that the motherboard is going and needs to be replaced. It’s intermittently losing its connection to the AC power and the battery. After being transferred to four different departments (partly through my own fault when they asked if there were anything else wrong with the computer), giving my service tag six (!) times, and discovering that Dell (a) had no record of my warranty and (b) were planning to ship replacement parts to an address I haven’t lived at for five years, the parts are on their way.

Meanwhile, due to other technical problems with my computer, it turns out that my BBC Radio Three interview was unusable, but they generously let me re-record it this evening. That took another hour, and all of this has put me far behind in my actual day job. I feel like I haven’t stopped typing since I got up at 6 AM.

So, today’s blog entry will instead be a video. Please do enjoy the following YouTube video. You will remember Scotty Roberts, the editor of Intrepid magazine, organizer of the Paradigm Symposium, and star of the forthcoming History Trippers TV series now in preproduction. History Trippers isn’t Roberts’ first attempt at a TV show. Feast your eyes on his role (sans fedora and scarf) in a 2008 pilot called Dead Reckoning, designed to capitalize on the ghost hunting craze spawned by Ghost Hunters.

More clips are available on the YouTube channel for the failed show.

Roberts is currently promoting a History Trippers tour based on The Exodus Reality, a book he wrote with “Dr.” John Ward (the doctorate is an unaccredited award from a Knights Templar fan club) that posits a factual reality for the Biblical Exodus. It received an endorsement from none other than ancient astronaut theorist Erich von Däniken, whose blurb appears in advertisements for the book uploaded by Roberts to Academia.edu. Sadly, he did not get the message that Ward is no longer using the title of “Dr.”:

I applaud Scotty Roberts and Dr. John Ward for their research and contribution to this study. While there exist many different opinions and conclusions to these matters, their efforts represent a passion and scholarly approach to the topic. I am honored to endorse The Exodus Reality.

Take a look at the ad!

193 Comments

2/23/2015 09:56:51 am

Here is some evidence that John Ward is knowingly using his pretend Doctorate to mislead people into thinking that he has serious credentials.

He is married to a woman with a real PhD. While her work is flaky in the extreme, she is affiliated with a real university. She even got John Ward a job doing... something... at a dig over which she is in charge.

Even more unfortunately, she co-authored a paper with her fake PhD hubby. Who got to present it all by himself at an academic conference in England. Like a big boy. However, advertising materinals for this conference are pretty much the only place where John Ward is NOT listed as a "Dr.".

Why could that be? If it's okay to call oneself a "Dr." even though one's doctorate isn't real, then why is it not okay to call oneself a "Dr." in a formal academic setting? Could it be that John Ward wasn't allowed because his Doctorate isn't real? Or perhaps he was afraid that it would actually be fraudulent in that setting?

By the way, for anyone who may be inclined to be impressed by John Ward riding his wife's coattails to minimal academic presence, recall that this is the man we're talking about:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WIfB1piB5I

Yep, John Ward somehow manages to make dowsing look even more retarded than it is by default.

Also, a real university has this man working on its affiliate's archaeological dig.

2/23/2015 10:04:51 am

More Doctorate shenanigans.

There seem to be two versions of the Exodus Reality book cover. The first one lists as a co-author "Dr. John Ward":

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/518KiYwIZqL.jpg

The second one, "John Richard Ward":

http://www.exodusreality.com/ExodusCoverSAR-JRW.jpg

(Note that clicking on the latter on the Exodus Reality website takes you to the former on amazon.com.)

Only Me

2/23/2015 10:54:32 am

How did you find the part about Ward's wife co-authoring a paper? And the conference?

I always felt using "Dr." in association with an unaccredited degree to be...questionable, I guess is the best way to put it.

2/23/2015 11:20:41 am

I'm sorry, I guess I should have linked to this stuff... Here is the paper John Ward co-authored with his wife, Maria Nilsson:

https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/publication/4927536

Here is his solo presentation, where he is listed as an "independent researcher":

http://cregyptology.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/CREprogram1.pdf

By the way, in case anyone thinks I'm talking shit about Maria Nilsson, you may read her PhD thesis online:

https://gupea.ub.gu.se/bitstream/2077/23417/5/gupea_2077_23417_5.pdf

Or, you know... take my word for it and be spared much boredom :)

2/23/2015 11:45:57 am

Ooops, I completely forgot to metion that in her thesis Maria Nilsson refers to John Ward as a "Dr.". AND dedicates the thesis to him!

Only Me

2/23/2015 11:59:14 am

Thanks for the links. I've done a little searching of my own, and I've found that his wife co-authored a few of his papers, so what you found isn't unusual.

2/23/2015 12:00:42 pm

I'm sorry, I'll try harder next time :P

Only Me

2/23/2015 12:35:31 pm

No, no, it's cool. All the papers seem to deal with their work in Egypt, so I wonder if she co-authors due to her being the team leader.

2/23/2015 12:55:11 pm

I think she co-authors with John Ward due to being married to John Ward. The alternative is that the special person who walks around in circles with dowsing rods is actually capable of even mediocre academic work.

Clete

2/23/2015 11:24:14 am

Watched the clip, reminded be of the old song "I got plenty of nothing and nothing plenty for me." Morons standing around in a room waiting for a ghost to talk to them. I think I will go out into my yard and talk to my tree, maybe it will answer.

2/23/2015 11:28:12 am

Watch the other clips. They find a piece of bone in one of them. "It's a piece of bone," says Scotty Roberts several times, sounding about as excited as he looks in the video Jason linked.

Only Me

2/23/2015 12:32:00 pm

I liked the British guy: "Shine the torch on that."

Byron link

2/23/2015 12:23:25 pm

Shhhhh.... I hear.... <click on name above to find out why>

2/23/2015 12:30:26 pm

Hey, that's not something you're promoting... What's going on here? :P

Byron

2/23/2015 01:56:52 pm

EP, you should always take note of the earth shaking.

Byron link

2/23/2015 01:59:31 pm

Oh no, I forgot to add my latest manuscript... here it is... <click name>

2/23/2015 01:59:44 pm

I don't get it. Are you coming on to me? ;)

2/23/2015 12:51:29 pm

By the way, Exodus Reality website is a lot more hilarious I expected. Largely thanks to all the ads. Aside from the duo's other ventures, here's what you get:

(1) Penman Hats, who supply them with their Indiana Jones headgear. Now you too can look like a douchenozzle for as little as $375! (Seriously, these stupid hats range from $375 to $525!)

(2) Some $175 Egyptian Ouijas... erm... I mean, Spirit Boards! Made in Egypt from authentic local limestone. Use English alphabet and Arabic numerals, as well as the Exodus logo, for that extra-authentic touch. In case you're not into contacting spirits, they offer this helpful advice: "their use is all dependent upon how you use them."

Moving from tautology to self-contradiction, they add: "expect a 4-6 week wait on this very unique item. Contact us directly for rush or wholesale, large quantity orders." LOL

Oh, and the tour itself is $4850, including a $1200 non-refundable deposit. Alcoholic beverages not included.

2/23/2015 02:55:59 pm

Exodus Reality. Is that irony?

Scotty Roberts link

2/24/2015 03:23:29 pm

No, tm, its not "irony." It was the publisher's title.

Our title was originally, "Exodus: Hand of God or Catastrophic Migration?"

The book is our examination of our two theories revolving around an historical Moses and exodus. We both place our candidates in the mid-eighteenth dynasty, same royal house, divided by two generations.

My theory places the exodus under the reign of Amenhotep II, and John's under Amenhotep III. The bulk of the book, of course, establishes on what basis we draw our particular theories, and whether they are sustainable by archaeological record.

While I tend to establish biblical archaeology as having efficacy, John trends very minimalist when it come to Old Testament writings. That being said, I do not hail to the "faith story," but rather to the history contained in biblical books around which faith stories have been wrapped.

So, again, our publisher wanted the title to be something pithier than "An Examination of Egyptianized Canaanite Peoples in an Apocalyptic Migration."

Blame them for any seeming irony.

2/24/2015 03:27:15 pm

Your publisher sounds lame. Which is to be expected, since no decent publisher would touch your work with a 10ft pole.

Scotty Roberts link

2/24/2015 03:39:19 pm

I'm sure you have that on good authority, EP.

In your own words, you have expressed your motivations in these blogs, before: to kick dirt around and sit back to watch the fallout for your own personal voyeuristic entertainment.

If people are here to discuss, dialog and debate, I am sure they will elevate themselves above your model.

2/24/2015 03:46:52 pm

Let's hope so. Maybe they'll even purchase some shitty ouija boards from you for $175 a pop. Because that's totally not a ripoff.

Scotty Roberts link

2/24/2015 07:23:49 pm

EP,
Do you sell imported handmade products? Do you make anything with your own hands? Are you a creative or an importer of goods?

I do all of those things, and $175, while it may be expensive, is a reasonable price for that product and its shipping.

As to rendering an opinion on what is a "shitty ripoff" and what is not, that's a subjective opinion. And in that subjectivity, you have a choice: "Do I buy one or not?"

I have paid $750-$1200 for replica historical swords, one of them was a basket hilted Scottish back sword, with the basket dating back to the mid-eighteenth century. Some people say, "I would never spend that much money on a shitty, old sword, what a ripoff."

They certainly have the option to not buy one. But there would be a lot of sword collectors who would spend that kind of money, as well as differ on the subjective opinion that that price is a ripoff or that the item is shitty.

As for my expressing my opinion on your rhetoric, motivations and voyeurism, your answer to that was to express your distaste with a product we made that appeals to a certain set of people.

Add "incongruence" to the list of things you engage in extremely well.

Your opinions and statements are becoming banal, bearing no substance. You strive for symbolism over substance for the purpose of being a dick.

If you are as educated as you seem to like people to think, that should be beneath you. Then again, you are anonymous, so you don't have to concern yourself with being accountable for your words.

2/26/2015 02:48:06 am

So how much of that $175 do the "local artisans" themselves get?

Scotty Roberts link

3/20/2015 03:32:29 am

EP,
Those Egyptian artisans were paid exactly what they asked for.

Scotty Roberts link

2/24/2015 02:05:42 pm

For the sake of accuracy, EP, my hat is John Penman's, "Casablanca," a reproduction of Humphrey Bogart's hat as seen in the movie of the same name.

John Penman is a former firefighter who permanently injured his back in the line of duty, and who learned his hatting craft from master hat makers.

He started making his "Indian Jones" hats because he always had a love for the movies. His hat line offers much more than movie icon chapeaus, however.

His "stupid hats" are probably the highest quality hats you will find handcrafted by any hat maker. The pricing of his hats is based on not only styling, but materials used. (I paid $425 for my Bogie two years ago.)

John Penman is an incredible craftsman, and he is my friend. I throw up ads for his work wherever and whenever I can.

You can see what he does at:
http://www.penmanhats.com

Or on FaceBook at:
https://www.facebook.com/penmanhats

Clint Knapp

2/24/2015 02:48:39 pm

I'm sure they're very nice hats for people who wish to identify themselves with movie characters and are willing to pay hundreds of dollars to do so. Really. Great hats for cosplaying an academic globetrotter on a quest for truth and cash.

Any comments regarding Mr. Ward pretending to hold a doctorate as another excuse to identify oneself with that which one is not? Or your decision to align yourself with a man who pretends a Templar fan club award is a legitimate excuse to call himself a Doctor? To even put your own name next to his fake title, maybe?

Or do you just want to help your buddy sell hats?

Scott Roberts link

2/24/2015 03:04:38 pm

Clint,
They are very nice hats, indeed. The nice thing about them, is that you would not need to have any pop cultural reference to wear one.

What you refer to as John Ward's pretense is certainly something you could address with him directly, as it has been discussed numerous times on these blogs of Jason's.

I would recommend simply writing John an email and asking him directly. He is very easy to find.

As for John Penman, yes, I love supporting friends and their work. I think most of us have no reservations promoting a friend's craft.

2/24/2015 03:05:05 pm

Hey Scotty, does John Penman know that alongside his website you're promoting one that's selling Nazi and fascist propaganda thinly disguised as "esoteric" literature?

Scotty Roberts link

2/24/2015 03:31:50 pm

Actually, EP, he is quite aware of the claims made here. But, unlike you, he knows us, and has taken time to talk with us in person.

So, he is fairly unmoved by the droning anonymous criticism that continues to give you something to crow about in here.

Am I correct in having gleaned that you teach somewhere? I would be curious to know how your employer would react to the way you present yourself and the mode of highly editorialized criticism you cast.

It is probably good for your tenure's sake that you remain anonymous.

2/24/2015 03:35:36 pm

Hey, I can't blame John Penman. If some schmendricks paid me $500 per hat AND promoted me on their website, I'd probably turn a blind eye to their uncomfortable flirtation with Nazi symbolism and mythology...

Scotty Roberts link

2/24/2015 03:50:47 pm

Knowing us a little better than you do (down to our hat sizes) I am pretty sure his comfort level comes from not buying into your editorialized rhetoric.

What I believe he finds more distasteful (rather than uncomfortable) is that guys like you can sit out there and pontificate, expressing extreme opinions from anonymity, lacking any power of conviction to put your name to your words. Lack of accountability.

And, since we are once again lapsing into material already covered ad infinitum in past blogs... enough said.

2/24/2015 03:53:35 pm

I don't know... Maybe someone should ask John Penman how he feels about being a couple of clicks away from the occultist fantasies of a Nazi concentration camp guard...

Clint Knapp

2/24/2015 04:06:39 pm

I didn't ask for Mr. Ward's excuses; they're irrelevant to the fact that he does use the title to add misappropriated credibility to his, and your, work.

I only asked for your comments, your personal take, and if you'd care to explain why you attach your work and name to a man who uses fake credentials. You've chosen to defer to the "ask him yourself" argument instead, and I'll respect that as a no-comment.

2/24/2015 04:17:58 pm

Also, he's your co-author. And his "Dr." title is absent from some versions of the cover, but present on others. You *must* have an opinion on *that*!

Scotty Roberts link

2/24/2015 06:44:33 pm

Clint>>
John Ward doesn't have any need to "make excuses," so that is the irrelevant statement. In referring you to him, I am simply saying, "Why listen to a blog filled with anonymous sputum, when there is the ability for you to talk to the man directly? - the very best way to get solid answers to your questions. John is my friend, but I am not his spokesman, especially on a site dedicated to uncivil dialog. And, frankly, these same questions have been bandied about on this blog for months.

I would think that if you can cast dispersion, based on the words you read in a blog that capitalizes on yellow journalism and casting of dispersion, you can certainly go to the man and ask him directly.

EP>>
The cover conspiracy is simply explained... I designed the original cover utilizing the "Dr." prefix. When we finalized the design, I dropped it and used his full name.

The publisher sent the original draft of the cover to Amazon, B&N, etc. So there really isn't an opinion to had by me, other than the people at the publishers used the wrong cover design.

And if you don't like "shitty" Ouija boards, hand crafted by local artisans on limestone and basalt in Luxor, Egypt, there is an easy solution: don't spend $175 on one.

2/25/2015 02:41:39 am

"The cover conspiracy is simply explained... I designed the original cover utilizing the "Dr." prefix. When we finalized the design, I dropped it and used his full name."

Actually, that exaplains absolutely nothing. But I suspect you realize that yourself.

"the people at the publishers used the wrong cover design."

Your publisher keeps sounding lame. Which keeps not being a shock to anyone.

Scotty Roberts link

2/25/2015 06:06:52 am

EP,
I went through nine redesigns of the cover, from artwork to background tweaks to verbiage. Some of the alts were very subtle, but we kept going back and forth with the publisher.

And I only created the design and titles. The publisher's staff designer added all the rest of the text on the cover, the bar codes, etc, etc, etc.

We all went back and forth several times to get precisely what we wanted to align with what the publisher wanted.

In the final outcome we had several different covers that all looked fairly similar to one another save for minor alterations in the process.

Uploading an earlier incarnation of the cover that looked almost identical to several other incarnations, as well as to the final, to Amazon is hardly the stuff of mind-blowing, wild, unbelievable lameness. The good thing was that the right cover was what went to press. It is the result of me insisting on designing my own covers for my books.

You obviously haven't worked in advertising and marketing.

I put together a montage of all the versions of the final cover, so you get an idea of the process and progression, and how easily someone in production sent up an earlier incarnation. Some of the changes are very subtle: text, color, imagery, etc, etc, etc... so pay close attention...

http://exodusreality.com/ERcoverDesignProgression.jpg

silverfish

2/25/2015 07:46:55 pm

Scotty, you can rest assured that no one here was casting "dispersions" on you. They may have been casting "aspersions", however. I read this blog daily and have maybe commented three times in however many years I've been reading. I come here to learn from Jason's in-depth commentary and often, from comments from other readers. I rarely add anything because my expertise is far afield from the central topics of the blog but I am generally curious about things and like the rigor that Jason puts into his blog. However, I am commenting because I am a tenured University professor with a doctorate I worked long and hard for. I have produced my own graduate students who have gone on to pursue their own academic careers in the understanding that their credentials mean something. I can say that people pretending to have degrees that they don't is pitiable at best, professionally dishonest at the least and dangerous to society at worst. You not distancing yourself from your co-author to apparently sell your buddy's hats is sad. Plain and simple. It's right up there with claiming that a jokey cup of coffee over yuk yuks after an invited talk by your friends merits an honorary graduate degree. Believe me when I say, if it was revealed that a member of the faculty of any actual University had faked any aspect of their CV, they would be summarily fired.

InquisitorX

2/26/2015 02:05:34 am

I wrote Lund University to get their side of the story. Waiting to hear back. What do you think of all this Silverfish? Is what Ward's wife doing ethical by promoting him as a "doctor" and co-authoring research paid for by Lund University?

Scotty Roberts link

2/26/2015 02:18:08 am

Silverfish,
I appreciate what you have to say, and certainly respect your standing in the academic community.

You said, however, that John Ward "pretends" to have a degree. This is the charge with which I have continually taken issue in these blog threads.

John Ward has never pretended to be a PhD, but has ever been forthright and honest about his lack of academic, institutional credentials. To me, a "fake" would have to be defined as someone who steps out to deliberately mislead.

John worked for many years doing research for a Templar organization who, in returned, conferred on him a doctorate - which everyone knows has no real academic weight. John wore it proudly, but never once attempted to pass it off as an institutionally earned PhD. And has state publicly, many times, that his degree is not institutionally earned.

I am a little confused as to why you believe I should end my friendship with John over this, and why you think we should not promote our friend's hat company.

Scotty Roberts link

2/26/2015 02:44:54 am

InquisitorX,
I certainly hope you gave them your real name and contact information over at Lund.

2/26/2015 02:45:00 am

@ silverfish

I bet this is why they changed the cover of Exodus Reality. Poor Maria Nilsson must have too many uncomfortable questions to answer as it is, thanks to the follies of her hubby and his friends.

Dave Lewis

2/23/2015 03:04:15 pm

Over at the Lovecraft ezine I found this list of free and $.99 ebooks:

http://lovecraftzine.com/2015/02/23/twenty-free-and-99-cent-lovecraftian-kindle-books-part-one/

2/23/2015 03:19:14 pm

When Cthulhu Met Atlach-Nacha: "He’s an academic; she’s an artist. He worships Cthulhu, the slumbering behemoth; she worships Atlach-Nacha, the spider goddess of dreams. Their interfaith marriage is challenging enough before the gods themselves arise and do battle. Can this couple hold their relationship together during the end of times? Through the use of both horror and domestic comedy, When Cthulhu Met Atlach-Nacha examines the boldness and beauty of declaring a permanent relationship in a chaotic world."

So relatable! :)

Kenny J

2/23/2015 11:56:02 pm

HAHAHA..... "Dr" John Ward's thoughts on the "state of the body, mind and Spirit" that is DOWSING!

"'The craft of Dowsing is not an art it is a state of the body, mind and Spirit where you become oneness with the surrounding universe...'

Introduction to the craft of Dowsing...

Have you ever wondered why, when you are walking along and you suddenly feel a chill and the hairs on the back of your neck raise: as the old saying goes someone has just walked over your grave. Or maybe you have experienced cold or hot patches in a particular space.
These experiences and others are connected; they are in a way, a form of dowsing. Where instead of utilizing the commonly seen 'L' rods or 'Y' shape tree branch you are instead using your body as a giant dowsing rod.

Dowsing can and will open many fascinating magical and spiritual doorways, it is not just a matter of walking and divining for water. Dowsing can enhance or even provide an extension to your third eye and in turn enhance the vibration felt through all our Charkas, bringing you into ONENESS with the universe.

Egypt offers the dowser many opportunities and experiences. There are many sacred and spiritual sites scattered throughout the land known as Egypt. And while not all of these are especially sacred a good proportion do follow the not so well known natural architectural patterns of mother earth's geometry.

Many of the temples and especially that of say 'Karnak' will be one of the sites that we will visit during the more advanced courses. Karnak is especially sacred and follows all of the laws previously mentioned and for a dowser is a truly wonderful and enlightening experience.

In Love, Light & Unconditional Prayers
Brother John"

"Brother John"? Thats "Dr. Brother John" to you!!

Only Me

2/24/2015 03:05:04 am

"enhance the vibration felt through all our Chakras"

That sounds....kinky. 0w0,

2/24/2015 03:32:58 am

That's not surprising. After all, it's New Age woo. For instance, a publisher promoted on the Exodus Reality page (Inner Traditions) carries lots of books on Kama Sutra and sex magick.

They carry almost as many of them as they do of books authored by occultist SS officers and fascist Italian Protocols promoters.

Uncle Ron

2/24/2015 03:34:34 am

Actually, I preferred "enhance the vibration felt through all our Charkas" :)

Shane Sullivan

2/24/2015 05:06:25 am

"Dowsing can enhance or even provide an extension to your third eye..."

I've heard of bleaching, but *extending*...?

2/24/2015 05:19:54 am

I think he's talking about an *inward* extension, Shane :)

Clint Knapp

2/24/2015 03:51:16 am

I don't know about the rest of you, but there's only one Dr. John I trust, and Ward is cribbing his look hard:
http://www.regmemphis.com/images/entertainers/Dr.%20John_color5a%20Houlgrave_20100511_112027.jpg

Best of all, however, might be the fact that Dr. John's honorary doctorate is actually a real thing and not some crank-society award flavored with a splash of credibility in STD form.

2/24/2015 03:52:57 am

"flavored with a splash of credibility in STD form"

Quick! Someone let Dr. Maria Nilsson know! :P

Harry

2/24/2015 05:28:45 am

"Exodus Reality" would be a fitting name for either "Ancient Aliens" or "America Unearthed."

Scotty Roberts link

2/24/2015 07:58:07 pm

Harry,
The book deals with none of the topics found on those shows. Do you even know what the book is about?

Harry

2/25/2015 12:01:23 am

Scotty,

As I understand it, your book takes the position that the liberation of Israelite slaves from Egypt, as recounted in the Book of Exodus, was a real event.

My comment wasn't directed at you or your book at all. I was trying to make a joke about the TV shows I named. The point of the joke is that those shows, in my opinion, contain many claims that don't comport with reality.

Harry

2/25/2015 12:18:38 am

Scotty,

I answered you before I read any of your other comments, so it is probably more accurate to say that you believe that the Israelites left Egypt, but not necessarily as recounted in the Book of Exodus. Actually, I suspect that one or both of you equate the Exodus with the expulsion of the Hyksos.

Still, for the reasons I previously stated, the content of your book is irrelevant to my initial comment.

2/25/2015 02:38:50 am

"the content of your book is irrelevant to my initial comment"

Or anything else, aside from pointing its authors and laughing.

Scotty Roberts link

2/25/2015 04:23:04 am

Harry,
All myth and legend has at its headwaters, some kernel of fact. I do believe there were Israelites who migrated from Egypt in an event that came to be known as the "Great Exodus."

However, I believe that the Israelites first migrated to Egypt's delta region during the Hyksos period. The are scribal records of what the Egyptians referred to as "Asiatics" (from the Canaanite and Mesopotamian regions) migrating into that region for hundreds of years, especially during times of drought, so the practice was certainly well known and documented.

When Ahmose I ousted the final remnant of the Hyksos, and reunited Upper and Lower Egypt, it is congruent with the biblical passages that speak of slavery - another common practice of the Egyptians with conquered people groups.

By the time of the exodus, I believe the Israelite clan was completely "Egyptianized." Isralite by blood roots, only. There are several passages in the Old Testament that speak to this Egyptianization. The tales of the Exodus are rife with Egyptian god worship and ritual practice, down to the design of the ark of the covenant and the tabernacle of the covenant.

As for the pharaohs recording, accurately, any information of a "slave people kicking their ass," you won;t find it. But there are certainly many other source materials - both first and second hand - that aid in the establishment of dates and events, to a certain extent.

Its a thoroughly engrossing study.

worse...

2/24/2015 05:08:12 pm

if EXODUS = REALITY ...or
EXODUS = TOTALLY REAL
and is a way to pitch to true "fundies"
who want the Bible to be totally real.
the book needs an EQUALS sign!

Is Joseph contemporary to
Thutmose II and David a
contemporary to the Silver
Pharaoh? The consensus
Exodus happening to Ramses II.

The book indicates how hard it is
to connect the Bible's narrative
to the cartouches of old Egypt...

Scotty Roberts link

2/24/2015 07:56:37 pm

Worse,
What makes you think the book was being pitched to "fundies?" Not sure I follow your "EQUALS sign" thing.

If you think the book is being pitched to people who want the Bible to be "totally real," you certainly have not read the book.

YOU ASK: "Is Joseph contemporary to Thutmose II?"

No. We don't even know if Joseph really existed, but there seems to be some evidences at Avaris that he may have been an official sometime during the early Hyksos period. Thutmose II was born two generations after the end of the Hyksos period.

YOU ASK: "Is David contemporary to the Silver Pharaoh?"

If you are speaking of Psusennes I, he lived during the mid-to-late 11th century BCE. If David existed, all indicators point to a mid-tenth century BCE reign.So, no, either way, they were not contemporaries and never knew each other.

YOU ASK about a general "consensus that Ramesses II was the Pharaoh of the Exodus."

I do no think there is a living Egyptologist worth his salt that would hold to a Ramessean exodus. He would have been at least 200 years too late on the timetable.

Regarding cartouches of Old Egypt...
Aligning biblical accounts to Egyptian accounts is easy, proving those alignments is the hard part. The only cartouche I mention in the book is in regard to Pharaoh Sheshonq I (the biblical Shishak), who is generally attributed with the raid on Judah in the late tenth century BCE. This is corroborated with a stela discovered at Megiddo, as well as a in a list toponyms of conquered cities and kings on the Bubastite Portal of Sheshonq I at Karnak.

Drew

2/24/2015 11:48:07 pm

I freely admit that, had I the cash, I'd totally go on one of these tours. It feels like a sort of big budget ghost tour - you go, you buy in to the conceit, you have fun. Not sure I'd don the hat, tho.

My wife, on the other hand, not so much, but given that we're planning a trip to Scotland so she can swoon over Outlander filming locations in the Highlands, she doesn't have much of a leg to stand on. She'll have to put up with side trips to Loch Ness, Boleskine, and Bonnybridge, but that's a small price to play.

Scotty Roberts link

2/25/2015 04:10:50 am

We didn't do much of the ghosty type of stuff in Egypt. We only retraced the expedition we took when writing the book on the Exodus, plus a few extras.

We climbed Serabit el Khadim in the Sinai as guests of Sheik Barakat, and slept in Bedouin tents on the desert floor; and the highlight was about 700 miles south on the Nile where we watched the sun rise over Lake Nasr, shining into the holy of holies of Ramesses II's Abu Simbel. There were, reportedly, 10,000 Egyptians and Sudanese were all on the beach with us that morning to watch that event on Ramesses' birthday - singling, dancing, happy, welcoming people.

I have been to Scotland a couple of times, but never to Ireland. This trip we're doing in June is an "off-the-beaten-path" tour of the megalithic sites in northern Ireland. A little history mixed with a little woo.

Now, where I'd really like to go is New Zealand. I'd love to see the sites where they filmed the Lord of the Rings movies. But that's just the geek in me.

Only Me

2/25/2015 04:23:55 am

I'm afraid I'll have to disagree with you. When it comes to any European megalithic sites, there is a little history mixed with a LOT of woo. I suppose it's inevitable, though. European folklore is rich and fascinating.

Scotty Roberts link

2/25/2015 10:37:49 am

Only Me,
I would say that would wholly depend on a countless number of interpretive variables - the "who, what, where, why and how" of it all.

All we can really do is look at what is tangibly there and compare it to what we know of the history of the area and the people we surmise - whether by direct or indirect archaeological data - may have built these structures.

The "woo" comes in when someone attempts to step outside the available data and extrapolate theories ranging from oddball notions to reasoned speculative conjecture.

For instance, do I believe a giant built the Giant's Causeway in Ireland? Nope. But the legends and mythologies, as you say, sure provide a wealth of information regarding how ancient cultures viewed their world.

Only Me

2/25/2015 11:42:36 am

You mean the Causeway...wasn't...built by a giant? Damn. :)

I kinda feel like the Northman in "The 13th Warrior", after being told the Wendol's "fire wyrm" was men with torches:

"I much rather have preferred a dragon!"

2/25/2015 02:37:28 am

Could this be a rare childhood photo of Scotty Roberts and John Ward?

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dcDQWQ2WKCA/U1nPdePDO2I/AAAAAAAAKD8/FK11B-kk23I/s1600/volkisch+movement.jpg

Scotty Roberts link

2/25/2015 04:01:43 am

Now that's a rare find, EP. I think it was taken at our induction into the Fraternal Front of Pre-Adolescent Yellow Dawn Nazi Sympathizers. We didn't graduate to full-blown Nazis until we dropped out of high school and dedicated out lives to Beelzebub - that's where the REAL power comes into play.

We didn't mind wearing the swastikas, obviously, as we idolized Hitler, but the sacrificing the small goats and the donning of Icelandic necropants was a bit harsh at our tender ages - and you can hardly tell that I am 10 years John's senior (he's the taller one).

We thought all of these photos were lost... wherever did you find them?

sally patterson

1/12/2018 05:43:38 am

Cheat Shot ! EP I am a outsider and avid reader who stumbled across this web page. From my observations after reading all these posts, I find the adolescent remarks to "Scotty" a case of "Sour Grapes"

2/25/2015 10:57:59 am

Wow, Scotty... Put your $500 Indy hat back on. He's a strong, silent type. And you're getting too verbose...

Anyway, let us us all get back to the main topic of this thread: there are clips of Scotty Roberts pretending to talk to dead people. LOL

Scotty Roberts link

2/26/2015 01:47:25 am

EP,
You sincerely made me laugh. You, the master of taking things OFF topic, the Crusader of Incongruency, has called us back to the topic. Now, that's comedy.

I think the original topic of this particular thread was wrapped up in the title: "Scotty Roberts's Forgotten Ghost Hunting TV Pilot" - obviously a title meant to sensationalize a rather dull and unexciting topic.

Yes, I once engaged in an effort to create a pitchable paranormal TV series. However, I was never involved in a "PILOT" for a paranormal television effort. The video link that Jason posted has absolutely nothing to do with a television pilot. Please.

Jason is either deficient in his research, or he deliberately misstates things in order to draw attention to his near pathological criticisms. If Jason meant the headline to this blog to be based in fact, he is a very poor researcher, and an even worse journalist. If he is attempting to simply sensationalize for the purpose of drawing in readers, then isn’t he becoming precisely what he decries in others? Just from the opposite side of the coin?

Jason gets things so completely wrong, so often, that he has become the poster child for deliberate omission and manipulation in order to sensationalize. He certainly has little interest in being restrained by the facts, those silly, little things that might taint his “objectivity.”

Back in 2008/2009, there was an effort I was engaged in to pitch a potential paranormal TV series called "Dead Reckoning: Raising History from the Dead." The pitch was to focus on Native American sites in the upper midwest states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and the Dakotas, revolving around the westward expansion of the United States, primarily in the nineteenth century.

You can see the remaining remnants of the old website, here: http://scottalanroberts.com/clients/deadreckoningtv/

I wanted the series to have an entirely unique approach to combining solid history with paranormal investigation. And we approached it as entrepreneurs and business people. Who among us is against turning your passions into viable ways to earn a living? None of you, I trust. You don’t have to like or even agree with the topic of what we were doing to respect the foundational intent.

REGARDING THE VIDEO posted by Jason… it had absolutely nothing to do with the Dead Reckoning effort, once again putting Jason’s lack of good journalistic research on public display. Had he simply ASKED about that video, he would not have been able to write about it in the way that he has. Facts can be such problematic things when you want to be a journalist, but can only write as a critic.

The fact that Jason doesn't contact for comment any of the subjects of his blogs, reveals an even more insidious intent. He has publicly stated that he prefers to not contact the subjects of his blog posts, so that he can remain “unswayed” from his journalistic integrity. By getting the opinions and/or comments of the people he writes about, he would only confuse his objectivity, so he has inferred.

In truth, Jason Calavito is uninterested in facts that might be different than what he wishes to present. He is interested only in titillation and his own brand of sensationalism. That makes him something akin to a food critic, not a journalist.

2/26/2015 02:33:53 am

Nah. You just wanted to make a no-effort quick buck off gullible people who believe in ghosts.

Nothing you've ever done suggests that you are at all concerned about intellectual integrity, so your words ring hollow.

Matt Mc

2/26/2015 03:52:19 am

I have to agree with EP here Scotty the timing with your Ghost Hunting show was at the peak time for Ghost Hunting show and they were all over the place including in old gold mines. Just like the timing of this new show is at the peak of the "hidden history" shows.

It really does come off as a way to cash in on a popular trend in reality television. There is nothing wrong on trying to cash in on a popular trend or formula, nothing at all, so please spare us and yourself the BS.

Hey and if all goes wrong and this one does not get picked up there is always Bigfoot, maybe something combining the current trend of treasure hunting. You could search for the lost gold of bigfoot.

Only Me

2/26/2015 05:09:01 am

<<<REGARDING THE VIDEO posted by Jason… it had absolutely nothing to do with the Dead Reckoning effort>>>

If that's true, Scotty, then who is Adrian Lee? Why does this person's YouTube channel include the name "Dead Reckoning"? There are five videos, with four bearing your name in the titles. They were uploaded in 2008. In fact, Adrian said this in the comments of the video where you find a piece of bone:

"We are trying to put together a show that is professional without any histrionics. A lot of time and effort has gone into trying to obtain people at the top of their own individual field. I'm a paranormal investigator from Britain with a background in History. We will get things wrong from time to time and if we find nothing then so be it. We are just looking for definative proof and I do have a sceptical attitude, having said that we have got some pretty mad stuff caught on film. Lets see?"

Maybe there wasn't a pilot, but are you certain this wasn't part of the project?

Scotty Roberts link

2/26/2015 10:29:13 am

Only Me,
Having to explain this stuff for everyone to the milli-detail certainly is something that gets silly after a while.

Can you imagine that there is more to all of this stuff than is visible to the general public? The common stuffs of day-to-day business and life?

Dead Reckoning was a project that eventually became a pitch for television show. However, the videos that Lee uploaded in 2008 were connected to the investigations we were filming for CTV in Roseville, MN - a local cable TV company - not a series pitch for a network. CTV wanted us to do a series of investigations for them to air on public access television.

We didn't move into an actual series proposal and pitch mode until a couple of years later. Thankfully, Lee was no longer associated with anything I was doing by that time. But that was when I started working with Nikki on the "real" Dead Reckoning project. She and her husband are the ones who filmed and edited our History Trippers sizzle reel.

See if you can see that date at the bottom of this page, or Lee anywhere on it… this was long after any association I had with him. ;)

http://scottalanroberts.com/clients/deadreckoningtv/

2/26/2015 10:38:16 am

"We didn't move into an actual series proposal and pitch mode until a couple of years later. Thankfully, Lee was no longer associated with anything I was doing by that time."

Yeah, no.

http://www.bulletin-news.com/print/152583

"Minnesota natives Scott Roberts, Raini Roberts, Warren Anderson, Lisa Hottinger and London native Adrian Lee are pitching a television show called Dead Reckoning to A&E, the History Channel and the SciFi Channel that focuses on the paranormal and the history behind paranormal events."

Scotty Roberts link

2/26/2015 11:02:31 am

Matt Mc,
Why is it that you guys want to consistently seek the lowest common denominator?

We started the Dead Reckoning project as a tv pitch back in 2010, long before the "old gold mine" types of paranormal shows came on the scene. We actually considered ourselves to be on to something that was taking a unique angle - the blending of historical research with the paranormal - and we honestly believed we had a much better foundation than simply walking through dark rooms in black tee-shirts and reversed baseball caps, K2 meters in hand.

How it "comes off" is wholly dependent on how you choose to view it. You don't know me well enough to know what motivates me. The best you can do is offer a speculative shot. You haven’t taken any time to ask me what drives my passions about any of these projects, and I would suspect that is because you would rather jump on the band wagon and look for fault or some insidious ulterior motive.

What I have always had as a central drive to anything I put my time and effort into, is whether or not I can do something worthwhile. That doesn't mean I gage what I do by what everyone thinks, or by people's opinions of what I do, or whether they agree with my take on history, religion, spirituality or even ghosts. It means that at the core of the things I do is a passion to engage it, the challenge and whether or not its fun and brings me some modicum of satisfaction and the feeling that I have accomplished something worth doing.

As for money and the earning of it is as much a part of what I do as is anything else I engage in. If I spend my time on something I consider to be worthwhile, I have to ask myself whether or not it will be something that will help pay the bills and put food on the table. As you said, there is absolutely nothing wrong with getting paid for what you do. Its even better when you can earn a living doing something you love and holds some excitement and fun.

And, by the way, if I am out there fleecing people and looking for the fast buck off of some fad or ridiculousness, my wife would like to ask, “So, where’s my new car?”

If what you think you know about me personally, extends only to the limits of what you read here on these blogs, perhaps you need to question what it is you really know. Or simply call my Mom. ;)

2/26/2015 11:09:20 am

"We started the Dead Reckoning project as a tv pitch back in 2010"

More lying. Check out the date here: http://www.bulletin-news.com/print/152583

"if I am out there fleecing people and looking for the fast buck off of some fad or ridiculousness, my wife would like to ask, “So, where’s my new car?”"

Just because you suck at it, doesn't mean you're not a glorified scam artist. Like the vast majority of people trying to make money off anything paranormal or alternative.

Matt Mc

2/26/2015 11:10:41 am

Scotty,

I said it before and I am letting you know again. Please correct the poor audio on your HISTORY TRIPPERS pilot. I say this as someone who edits shows for on a regular basis for Discovery Channel. The audio on the pilot is awful and will bring serious questions to potential distribution or airing outlets about the overall production. I know you think it is okay but you can tell that it is poorly miced at the time of film (why you all choose not to you Lavs is beyond me). Luckily for you the issues I heard can be fixed in the post stage by bring forward and proper equalization of the dialogue.

I really recommend you consider it nothing says a cheap inexperienced production than poorly miced dialogue.

As silly as the show is and I really think it should not be made, I feel the need to say something and stress the point. The audio is horrific and if you really want good consideration for being picked up you really need to fix it. I would give this advice to anyone presenting something because I do believe everyone who is willing to take the chance deserves the chance. So just think about it, the show reel is silly enough but don't ruin things with poor audio, it reflects poorly on the overall production and the capabilities of the production team.
It could be a make or break kind of thing. Networks accept a lot of flaws in show reels and pitches but I am telling you with the already low production values it will be the audio that kills it.

This is just a friendly word of advice from someone who has worked in production for many years.

2/26/2015 11:33:47 am

Matt Mc, I'm afraid you're casting pearls before swine. After all, we're talking about a man who thinks this is a good promo shot:

http://scottalanroberts.com/clients/deadreckoningtv/TAPS_tarot_ad.jpg

Matt Mc

2/26/2015 11:38:19 am

Scotty - Don't get me wrong I have no problem with someone exploiting a current trend and trying to profit from it. There is nothing wrong with that at all, he the profit could be from exposure and not monetarily. I see absolutely nothing wrong with that at all. My comment was based on your implication that you were doing the pilot based on passion, sure I bet there was passion there but it was also because of what was popular at the time. Just like History Trippers fits in with the current trend. By all mean try to get you own piece of the television market and keep trying and maybe it will work. I would never discourage someone from following a passion.

So simply put you can sugarcoat things with claiming they are a passion, and they very well could be, but never deny that timeliness and popularity of a given subject plays into it.

Also I do what I love. I pretty much make my own schedule. I have more than enough free time to do things outside of work that I love, I have traveled the world for work, met many interesting people. So just as you ask people not to make assumption please refrain from doing that yourself.

I was commenting on you saying

Matt Mc

2/26/2015 11:44:01 am

EP - I might think what he does is foolish and silly but as a professional I do think it is my responsibility to say something. I do believe everyone should have a chance, I have to give him some credit, he went out and did it, I think poorly, but he did it. If I can point someone in the right direction to make a better product I will even if I think what they are doing is a waste of time.

I could of gone on about a lot from that short video, lighting, overuse of bad filters taken from a popular video effects training website but in my mind those are all excusable, the audio is not.

2/26/2015 11:49:09 am

I mean... I don't get it, to be honest... This man has directed tangential insults at Jason and most of the posters who engaged him, and is currently flailing impotently in his own web of pathetic lies. (All the while busily editing his website to clean up the howlers we've been ridiculing.)

If you feel you should help him, sure - I don't get it, but it's your right. I just hope you're not expecting any gratitude.

Matt Mc

2/26/2015 11:57:08 am

I understand where you are coming from, its like when you correct someone about incorrect usage of history. I see the promo and I am shouting mad, it is so wrong and I simply cannot let it stand unsaid. I mean you heard it is that awful. So I guess I am saying something because it is screaming to be corrected and the editor in me is squirming inside listening to how poor it is

I agree he is an ass, there is no doubt but we have a lot of ass that come here, at least I feel he engages, disrespectfully yes but he is not trolling or well just plain nuts like some poster we have had here.

Scotty Roberts link

2/26/2015 02:20:52 am

Glad to see Ryan Chappell finally made it here. Greetings.

2/26/2015 02:38:10 am

Scotty Roberts said:

"Jason is either deficient in his research, or he deliberately misstates things in order to draw attention to his near pathological criticisms. If Jason meant the headline to this blog to be based in fact, he is a very poor researcher, and an even worse journalist... Jason gets things so completely wrong, so often, that he has become the poster child for deliberate omission and manipulation in order to sensationalize."

Not just a poster child, mind you. THE poster child!

LOL

Scotty Roberts link

2/26/2015 02:43:06 am

See?? We agree on some things, EP.

2/26/2015 05:39:44 am

Only Me asks: "who is Adrian Lee?"

That's a great question. If you google the name you get some pictures of asses covered in yakuza-style tattoos, but the Adrian Lee we're looking for is this chap:

http://paradigmunhinged.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Adrian-pic-for-PU_sm.jpg

Here is his goldmine of a website:

http://www.intparanormal.net/

He is yet another associate of Scotty Roberts who likes to call himself a "Dr.", and claims that he "studied History and History methodologies for his Master’s degree and lectured for 14 years – becoming the Head of several Art and History Departments and a Local Government Advisor for education." (Translation: "Dr." Adrian Lee may or may not have dropped out of an MA program.)

Here is a review of Adrian Lee's book "Mysterious Minnessota", which, while clealry tendentious, offers a fascinating glimpse into fringe infighting:

http://www.tomriddell.com/blog/?p=355

"I was part of the “Team” who helped Mr. Lee investigate many of the 13 haunted sites which are included in Mysterious Minnesota. What he failed to mention in the book, by way of a disclaimer, is that for many of the sites that were investigated by the team, Mr. Lee was not present. Because of some legal glitch, airport security, via homeland security, kept him in England for all of 2010."

Scotty Roberts sure knows how to pick 'em. LOL

Only Me

2/26/2015 08:45:54 am

This was interesting:

http://dradrianlee.blogspot.com/

2/26/2015 09:10:12 am

Given that he's dispensing medical advice, does "Dr." stand for "MD"?

Fuck this guy. No wonder he United States doesn't want to let him in.

2/26/2015 09:14:41 am

Also, hope you read the commends to that blog's only post :D

Scotty Roberts link

2/26/2015 09:20:41 am

Adrian Lee is no friend of mine. He was married to someone I knew, and that was extent of our friendship.

2/26/2015 09:23:38 am

Is this the person you're talking about, Scotty?

"Adrian's ex has a criminal record that can easily by researched online, under the aliases of Lisa Mondor/Hottinger/Lee/Lea. She is also on the hideout from 11 separate creditors. Adrian divorced her in 2012 due to her alcoholism and criminality. She never even turned up to the court hearing - see MN court case number 73-FA-12-8250 at www.mncourts.gov/caserecords."

Man, you should get her to be on History Trippers. I'm sure she'll be a hit with your target demographic of stupid white men with disposable income...

2/26/2015 03:30:35 pm

Lisa Lee also claims to be a Doctor... Anyone see a pattern developing?

Also, she keeps referring to Scotty Roberts as her business partner... I wonder what that is all about...

2/26/2015 09:47:53 am

Scotty Roberts: "I was never involved in a "PILOT" for a paranormal television effort."

Oh, really?

http://www.bulletin-news.com/print/152583

"Minnesota natives Scott Roberts, Raini Roberts, Warren Anderson, Lisa Hottinger and London native Adrian Lee are pitching a television show called Dead Reckoning to A&E, the History Channel and the SciFi Channel that focuses on the paranormal and the history behind paranormal events. [...] The show is still in its pitch stage and screenings of the first episode will take place at the Mounds Theater on St. Paul's East Side on Oct. 23 and 24 at 7 p.m., Scott says [...] Scott has traveled around the country looking into reports of apparitions and mysteries involving the dead. 'I've been paranormal investigating for about 10 years, and I've been a guest speaker at some of these paranormal events,' Scott says. 'Then I met Jason (Hawes) and Grant (Wilson) - the 'Ghost Hunters.'"

Pitching a show while screening its first episode is totally NOT being involved in a pilot, according to Scotty Roberts.

LOL

Scotty Roberts link

2/26/2015 11:09:35 am

As I have said, EP, we did not actually take the show to pitch stage until after Adrian Lee was gone.

The "episode" shown at the Mounds Theatre was a bunch of rough cut footage to be aired on public access television for CTV. The desire was to bring it to a pitch stage, which didn't actually happen for two more years, when we first started working with Edleman Productions in Minneapolis.

2/26/2015 11:14:15 am

So you weren't "pitching" the show with Adrian Lee. You were just "desiring to bring it to a pitch stage". Even though the article describes you as pitching it. With Adrian Lee.

And if it was just "a bunch of rough cut footage to be aired on public access television for CTV", why did you ask people to pay $10 to attend a screening?

Scotty Roberts link

2/26/2015 03:03:54 pm

That's correct, EP. We did not approach Edleman Productions until long after the Mound Theatre event. Just check with anyone else who was associated with this project.

The $10 at the door was donated, 100%, to the theatre for allowing us to be there - and that was the sole reason we charged anything at all. You can certainly verify that with the owner of the Mounds - as if it all really matters.

Then again, you might not be able to verify that with the Mounds Theatre, as you might have to identify yourself. Wouldn't want accountability to slip in there by accident, disrupting your anonymousness.

2/26/2015 03:06:44 pm

Scotty, I'm real happy for you, Imma let you finish, but you dun goofd, son. The consequences will never be the same.

Anonymous does not forgive. Anonymous does not forget.

2/26/2015 11:04:17 am

Remember Scotty Roberts huffing and puffing in defense of his $175 ouija boards in this thread above? Well, since Scotty Roberts is completely shameless that did not stop him from editing his website in light of my ridicule. So "their use is all dependent upon how you use them" became "its use of them is wholly dependent upon your personal belief or intention". Also, limestone is no longer described as "authentic".

Thank God for google cache.

You suck, Scotty Roberts.

Scotty Roberts link

2/26/2015 11:21:38 am

Did I really "huff and puff," EP...?

Do you think for a moment that upon reading what you posted from the website I didn't see how poorly worded the sentence was, and I went in to correct it?

Of course not.

2/26/2015 11:25:23 am

No, I that's exactly what I thought you did.

But (a) you needed to have it rubbed in your face before you realized it and (b) instead of acknowledging it (nevermind a "thank you"!) you went on talking about how I don't know anything about marketing.

Ironic, isn't it?

Only Me

2/26/2015 12:03:14 pm

Scotty, thank you for answering my questions. I understand you may be feeling "weary" due to some of the other exchanges you've had thus far. Having said that, there are some of things you said that got under my skin.

"Having to explain this stuff for everyone to the milli-detail certainly is something that gets silly after a while."

Were you not the one complaining about the lack of dialogue on this very blog? That people didn't ask you about matters before voicing their opinions? I asked you those questions about Adrian Lee and his videos specifically for clarification. As long as his channel and your proposed TV show share the "Dead Reckoning" title, there may be some confusion.

"Can you imagine that there is more to all of this stuff than is visible to the general public? The common stuffs of day-to-day business and life?"

Yes, I can. I understand. I don't, however, appreciate being spoken to as if I don't. There's no reason to be rude.

"See if you can see that date at the bottom of this page, or Lee anywhere on it… this was long after any association I had with him."

Again, clarification, Scotty. You admitted before that you were still working on the proposal and pitch "a couple of years" after Lee's videos were made. It is impossible for me to know that, hence, the need to ask about it.

I appreciate you taking the time to answer, but less snark would be nice.

2/26/2015 12:09:16 pm

"As long as his channel and your proposed TV show share the "Dead Reckoning" title, there may be some confusion."

Also, as long as this is out there:

http://www.bulletin-news.com/print/152583

"Minnesota natives Scott Roberts, Raini Roberts, Warren Anderson, Lisa Hottinger and London native Adrian Lee are pitching a television show called "Dead Reckoning" to A&E, the History Channel and the SciFi Channel that focuses on the paranormal and the history behind paranormal events."

At least two of these people have shady legal histories. I wonder if that's why Scotty is so eager to distance himself from this project...

Really??

2/26/2015 03:32:49 pm

http://www.thecontrarianmedia.com/2009/10/the-latest-in-a-long-line/

Notice Scotty in the comments. Make what you will of the statement in the article before the comments (I personally know to whom they were referring). In previous blogs on this site, the point was made that Scotty uses people until they are no longer useful to him. That statement is also correct.

He follows fads or "passions" as he calls them. It is rather convenient that they just happen when those passions are popular on TV. Wonder if "Shares" were sold to make this sizzle reel and who won't get paid back this time.

And yes I did notice that he isn't wearing a coat/ hat/ scarf in any previous adventures or pictures. I thought that is something he always wore and just part of who he has always been. Seems like that persona was adopted because it would suit his new TV pitch but we already knew that.

2/26/2015 03:45:13 pm

Last time he was wearing scarf, it was an American flag. Not sure if it was before or after he sparkled with occult energy, as he does here:

http://scottalanroberts.com/clients/deadreckoningtv/TAPS_tarot_ad.jpg

Sooner of later, Scotty Roberts is going to realize that he's too dumb to get away with living a lie. Let alone multiple layers of lies.

Really??

2/26/2015 04:04:45 pm

Found this too!! http://www.intrepidparadigm.com/radio-shows.html. It seems like he is trying to break into the Internet Radio Platform by starting his own Station. Hats all over!!!

I also noticed further down the page that one of the new shows coming in March is with his good friend Lisa Lee hosting a show "Sit a Spell". It looks like she believes she is a witch. Really. No wonder her husband divorced her. I am finding her ex-husband more credible by the second.

2/26/2015 04:06:24 pm

Nah, my impression is that the two of them deserved each other. And Scotty Roberts.

Clint Knapp

2/26/2015 04:17:08 pm

Days like today, I can only sit back and appreciate the sheer doggedness of both sides. Great stuff. Really.

I thought the "Dr." thing was going to be the fun issue, but this whole serial-fraudster pal thing and Donategate are so much more interesting. I vote we strike Minnesota from the Union, though. It's obviously failed us as a state.

Scotty, keep doing what you do. I love seeing frauds exposed for spraying their hubris all over the place.

Really??

2/26/2015 04:22:15 pm

EP,

Perhaps you are right.

I have a feeling that as soon as Dr. John Ward is no longer useful, Scotty will find another person to take his place. He seems very parasitic in making contacts and changing subject matter. Whatever suits the time of day/ week/ month.

2/26/2015 04:24:47 pm

You literally don't know a tenth of it! I got shit on Scotty Roberts that would make you stare in disbelief. I'm restraining myself only because I don't want to hurt innocent bystanders and because I don't want Jason to deal with the fallout, since that's a lot more trouble than Scotty is worth.

Scotty Roberts link

2/26/2015 04:40:50 pm

EP >>
The photo with the American flag was a publicity shot for a politically conservative radio talk show I was hosting back in 2010-ish.

The "sparkly"picture you reference was a portrait done by Adam Blai. He did several other people's portraits that same weekend back in December of 2008, when we were all at a Ghost Hunters event on the Queen Mary in Long Beach, CA.

Adam had started creating what he called "light portraits," in which he had his subjects sitting in a dark room, with his camera shutter opened wide. He would them use fibre optics to create the lighting effects. I thought it was a damned cool picture, and I always tag him with the credit.

REALLY?? >>
My Penman hat was a Christmas gift from my wife in 2012. It has become a staple of my personal wardrobe ever since.

John's and my literary agent was approached by producers in March of 2014, and we were asked if we would be interested in creating a proposal for a possible historically-based television show. I told them that I had only ever been involved in one project of this nature - the Dead Reckoning project. We eventually said we'd give it a try. It was very nice to have been sought out and asked, as opposed to have gone looking.

We filmed our own sizzle reel in June of 2014, and if it really, REALLY matters, I had been wearing my Penman hat for about a year-and-a-half at that point as part of my wardrobe.

If its important, I had been wearing tweed suit coats and jeans since the early 2000s, and added the scarf when I was given one by Chip Coffee somewhere in the late 2000s.

(Sheesh. Who really cares how I dress?)

And just in case the question gets asked: Neither. I don't like boxers nor briefs. But I DO like a good pressed cotton or linen shirt. I like to wear colorful socks, though, and I've had the same Celtic cross on a black string around my neck for at least 15 years.

As for selling "shares," we did have one close friend put in some money to help us further our efforts with Dead Reckoning back in 2010. And that is the only money we EVER took in to help fund potential television projects. If you think you know something different, you have been woefully misinformed.

Regarding my passions, they are not limited to fads, nor to television. But the, now, two projects involving TV, they BOTH have focused on my passion for history.

I have a passion for Celtic history, a passion that drove me to write and illustrate "The Rollicking Adventures of Tam O'Hare," published in 2007.

I have had a passion for the Moses character in Old Testament literature, and in 2013 I wrote "The Exodus Reality" with John Ward, presenting 30+ years of personal research.

I have a passion for illustration and design.
I have a passion for Intrepid Magazine.
I have a passion for Intrepid Radio.
I have a passion for the Paradigm Symposiums.
I have a passion for my family, my wife and my children.
I have a passion for Libertarian /conservative ideology.
I have a passion for historical swordsmanship.
I have a passion for historical reenacting and edu-tainment.
I have a passion for historical research.
I have a mild, somewhat-of-a-passion for alternative/fringe theory as it relates to alternative historical hypothesis, but that does NOT include things like Bigfoot, UFOs, or Ancient Aliens.

Overall, I have a passion for a lot of things that fall under a general umbrella.

On the grand scale, my passions for anything related to television "fads" represents a small percentage of anything in which I have ever been engaged.

As for the post written by two people who attested to my "using people emotionally" for my own needs (and I know who this couple is), you ought to consider the source. Conversely, I am a man rich in friends and I know a helluva lot of people. And there are a vastly great number of them who would attest to precisely the opposite of those two people.

Perhaps you do not know me as well as you think, so you ought to temper your comments by your lack of real knowledge.

Clint Knapp

2/26/2015 04:52:22 pm

Yesterday: "(I paid $425 for my Bogie two years ago.)"
Today: "My Penman hat was a Christmas gift from my wife in 2012. It has become a staple of my personal wardrobe ever since."

Which is it? Gift from your wife, or self-purchase? When you contradict yourself even on the same page, you must understand how it looks in regards to everything else you say. Even something as stupid as a hat and you can't keep your story straight; why should anyone believe anything else you have to say?

2/26/2015 04:55:26 pm

Scotty, just because you had reasons for taking those pictures, doesn't mean they're not stupic pictures. Largely because you had stupid reasons.

"Sheesh. Who really cares how I dress?"

Well, you do, clearly. You care a lot.

"that does NOT include things like Bigfoot, UFOs, or Ancient Aliens"

But it DOES include things like Tarot, Reptilians, and ghost hunting. You know, the truly respectable, intellectually serious pursuits.

"Perhaps you do not know me as well as you think"

Scotty, I feel like I know you a lot better than *you* think. And I kinda wish that weren't the case. Because you're one lousy, pathetic human being.

Scotty Roberts link

2/26/2015 04:58:42 pm

Oh, for the love of Christ, Clint.

Are you a married man? My wife "got it for me" for Christmas by allowing me to pay for it. It was her "gift" to me in 2012.

So, technically I bought it, but she gifted me with the permission to make that expense, making it - in her mind - her gift to me.

Do you really need to have every little nuance of detail to understand anything?

2/26/2015 05:05:04 pm

Is anyone else amazed how every time Scotty Roberts replies he makes himself sound even more awful?

Also, Clint Knapp, you're one of my two or three favorite posters here. You should post more! :)

Really??

2/26/2015 05:10:42 pm

Scotty -

You forgot about your passion for being long winded without actually saying anything.

The fact that you think I don't know you is a sad mistake. I do know you and know your habits. You have damaged more people than you know with your lies and cover yourself with smoke-and-mirror tactics. I am just overjoyed at the fact that people are finally calling you out. It brings a smile to my face to see your own community (which ever one it is for you this week/year) turning against you.

Don't burn too many bridges. You won't have anyone to make a sizzle reel for soon.

Perhaps next year it can be a spin-off of American Pickers. They are into recent History and we all know how much you like History.

Clint Knapp

2/26/2015 05:15:40 pm

Of course I assumed that was the case, but you miss the point entirely; No one here knows (well, EP might) what the financial nuances of your marriage might be, but we do know the English language. When you say you purchased something, and then say it was gifted to you without that bit of extra information you appear to contradict yourself whether you intend to or not.

I don't care who made the purchase, and really the entire topic of your stupid hat has been nothing but an aside to the real issue; you have zero credibility and align yourself with liars and frauds and go out of your way to defend yourself for doing so.

If you had a shred of dignity, you'd have learned by now that the things you say do matter and the best course of action would have been to remain entirely silent. If there was nothing but bad research and obfuscated truth here, it shouldn't bother you so much.

Instead you let your ego get in the way, believe you can set right the "wrong" things said about you, say things you don't mean or don't give a complete statement about, and all of this happens and serves for nothing but to make you look like a man with quite a lot to hide.

2/26/2015 05:23:12 pm

Scotty Roberts originally came to this thread to protest us making fun of his hat and his book's title. Somehow, he now has to defend his past associations with dodgy characters and face suspicious of complicity in fraudulent misrepresntations.

Also, he keeps sniping at my anonymity. Well, back in the day EP used to run with *the* Anonymous. And with what EP knows, Anonymous could have wrecked Scotty's life. Scotty really doesn't appreciate how considerate and civilized we're being. And not just Only Me :)

Scotty Roberts link

2/26/2015 07:47:05 pm

Clint,
I think it was you who kinda missed the point. You guys are all a little too nit-picky.

There is a lot of odd information being used to attempt to demonstrate what a despicable human being I really am - all the way down to the kind of hat I wear.

And you are correct - I talk way too much in this forum. But I originally found these posts to be great forums for dialoging and decent debate. But it degrades to character assassination and the promotion of only the negative. And much of that material is from very dubious sources, twisted, manipulated, and punctuated by the omission of a great deal of facts.

And for what purpose? To attempt to prove what a degenerate I am. And then if I respond, I am told I only make it look as if I have something to hide.

Maybe it is a bit of ego on my part. I am not blind to my faults, but I am pretty in tune with who I am. And I am most certainly not the person that is being manufactured throughout these posts.

As for me, if I have a problem with someone I know, I go to them, privately, and talk it through. I don't go to public forums and anonymously post shitty, smarmy accusations. When did that become a good and right thing to do?

At any rate, there is a certain tone to your posts that I respect. I don't agree with your every point - and if you know me, i certainly have no idea who you are - but you agree welcome to contact me if you think we have something we should be discussing.

Scotty Roberts link

2/26/2015 07:55:35 pm

EP,
You are absolutely wrong, or you are simply lying to make your point.

I did not originally post here because you made fun of my hat. I originally posted in this thread because you were making shitty remarks about my friend who makes the hats. You do not limit your attacks to just me, but to everyone I know. I am surprised you haven't attempted to attack my wife... yet.

I am sorry that you believe me to be such a despicable human being, but that has become. Perhaps this is because that is the focus of your personal vendetta. You have turned a blog thread into your own personal venue for attack, exploiting and manipulating anything you possibly can to create the most vile, negative portrait you are able to create.

You utilize information you have gleaned from people (at least two I can identify in your posts) who are vile human beings in their own right, having left shattered people and criminal activities in their wake. Yet you elevate their words to Gospel status when it comes to any connection they may have had with me. And you willingly omit the things they did to me and others in order to utilize them to score your manipulated points.

I wear my big boy pants, but you must be a very sad, pained, shallow, lonely individual.

InquisitorX

2/27/2015 12:36:49 am

What I'm seeing here is that Scotty Roberts has been at this sort of thing for several years with the same production company. And if what "Really?" is saying is true it looks like he's been clawing his way onto tv and selling "shares" in projects along the way. Is that what you're saying "Really?"?

2/27/2015 04:30:51 am

"I am surprised you haven't attempted to attack my wife... yet."

Would you like me to? Though, to be frank, being married to Scotty Roberts is karmic punishment enough.

"You utilize information you have gleaned from people (at least two I can identify in your posts)"

LOL nope.

"you willingly omit the things they did to me and others in order to utilize them to score your manipulated points."

They are not the subject of this thread. You are. And you don't get to change it.

Scotty Roberts link

2/28/2015 03:38:06 am

Actually, EP, you did make reference here to material posted by two people in another thread.

So, did you simply forget that detail or are you lying?

2/28/2015 04:56:10 am

Scotty, it's really hard *not* to stumble across incriminating info about you and your associates when browsing the net. The same info may come from different sources...

Scotty Roberts link

2/26/2015 03:49:17 pm

I do apologize, Only Me. I had no intention of snarking AT YOU. It was meant to be more general. You have been ever fair and straightforward with me, and I respect and appreciate that.

The entire Dead Reckoning project is a bit of discombobulated weirdness unlike anything with which I have ever been attached - drama, gossiping, hurt egos, jealousy, etc, etc, etc. It was so incredibly off the scale that I vowed I would never have anything ever again to do with the so-called paranormal community, which has pretty much become a caricature of itself.

The entire project started when someone I had been doing business with suggested we work on a paranormal television show project. I pulled a nice team together of people I thought I knew fairly well. The wild card was Adrian Lee, a guy from Great Britain who was in a burgeoning, long-distance relationship with our friend, Lisa. That relationship didn't last long, and he really damaged our friend in the process.

Between 2008 and 2009, we filmed a bunch of raw footage with the CTV guys, who wanted to put the footage on public access television. I thought that might be a nice stepping stone to build something credible down the road. We also held the event at the Mounds Theatre on Halloween season of 2008, which was a helluva lot of fun! We charged $10 at the door as a donation for the theatre, 100% of which went to our friends who owned the struggling, little theatre. Not a single penny went to line our pockets, as some here might suggest.

We were NOT actively pitching it as a tv series, at that time, but we were making contacts with production companies who we hoped would pitch us to places such as the History Channel, A&E and others.

Adrian Lee was already gone by the time I went to Edelman Productions. I remember this well, because when the producer at Edelman was watching some of our old, rough footage, he asked if the "Brit was still part of the project." I told him flat out "no," and that Lee would not be attached to anything we might propose to them.

By this time we are getting into late 2009, early 2010, when I started working for the Ghost Hunters as the Editor-in-Chief of their TAPS ParaMagazine. It was also at this time that one of the cast members of Ghost Hunters had been fired by Pilgrim and Syfy for making some “politically incorrect” statements on a small radio show that happened to be heard by the wrong people. A few months later I asked this person if he’d come on board with our Dead Reckoning project. He said he would, but was then soon after rehired by Ghost Hunters, and he, of course, went where his bread was best buttered.

After that, I completely redesigned the Dead Reckoning project and put up the website as a proposal/pitching tool. That is the site whose remnants still exist on my website… http://scottalanroberts.com/clients/deadreckoningtv/

We never, ever filmed a PILOT episode for Dead Reckoning, nor did we EVER actually get the show pitched to anyone other than Edleman Productions, who would have, in turn, repped the show to networks.

So, while my timeline might be a little choppy in my memory, the integrity of what I have loosely detailed is intact.

As for the Lille Newspaper - a small community/suburban ad rag with articles - I probably told them back in late 2008 that, yes, we are going to be pitching this to major networks such as History, A&E, etc. But if you notice, there was no production company listed in that article, and that is because we had not yet taken it to that stage, and it would be a little over a year before we made contact with Edelman Productions.

And then, upon learning of the absolute glut of paranormal-based TV shows trying to get on TV (at the time, I was told there 23 different shows being pitched), I pulled the plug on the entire project in early 2010. I did not want to be considered "more of the same," especially when I felt we had something much better to offer than the long string of Ghost Hunters parrots.

That's the best I can do on the Dead Reckoning thing. Sorry for the long post, but that will hopefully set the record a bit straighter.

Thanks again for your good spirited post.

2/26/2015 04:04:47 pm

"We charged $10 at the door as a donation for the theatre, 100% of which went to our friends who owned the struggling, little theatre."

That's not what this article says:

http://www.bulletin-news.com/print/152583

"Tickets to the screenings of the first episode are $10 and all the proceeds go to The Portage for Youth, an after-school and summer enrichment program for girls ages 8 to 15 residing in the Dayton's Bluff and Payne Phalen neighborhoods of St. Paul."

So which was it? Strugging theater owners? Or little girls? Or, since we even have to ask this question, neither? (And my point was that $10 would be a ripoff for "just some rough footage", not that you personally profited from it, necessarily.)

"But if you notice, there was no production company listed in that article"

This is a complete red herring. Are you suggesting that "a small community/suburban ad rag" would have exhaustive detail? The likeliest explanation is that you ran your big mouth like you always do, exaggerating wildy without giving a moment's thought to the possibility that you might get called on it down the road.

Scotty Roberts link

2/26/2015 04:47:28 pm

Uhm... same organization, same owners, dipshit. Keep digging.

2/26/2015 04:58:58 pm

Same owners? That's what I thought, for what it's worth. Same organization? You mean that a spooky, haunted indie movie theater is the same organization as an aftershool program for little girls. That's... either creepy as hell or a misrepresentation.

In any case, you promoted it as proceeds going to little girls, said it went to your friends, and have no evidence that the little girls got a single cent.

Scotty Roberts link

2/26/2015 08:13:12 pm

EP,
You really are an expert in douchebaggery.

YOU SAID:
"You mean that a spooky, haunted indie movie theater is the same organization as an aftershool program for little girls. That's... either creepy as hell or a misrepresentation. In any case, you promoted it as proceeds going to little girls, said it went to your friends, and have no evidence that the little girls got a single cent."

1) I never said it was an indie movie house. Its a community theatre.

2) You invoke the "creepy" factor, linking it to "little girls," as if there is some impropriety taking place. You are indeed a sick fuck. On that phrase alone I hope people see through your superiority facade.

3) I never once said or even implied that the proceeds were going to help little girls in the Phalen Park district. I said that all proceeds went to the theatre. If they went to their children's organization, than that was done on the part of the owners of the theatre .

4) Since when do I need to offer proof that they gave it to the girls organization? The owner of the theatre manned the ticket booth the night of the event, took in all the money which went directly into her coffers. It was never in my hands to provide evidence of its use.

Scotty Roberts link

2/26/2015 08:18:06 pm

And, EP, pardon me for somehow missing your "considerate, civilized" nature.

Only Me

2/27/2015 04:34:28 am

Thanks for responding, Scotty. If it's any consolation, your posts concerning the "Dead Reckoning" matter will remain here for future readers, as long as this blog stays online. Despite accusations from another individual, Jason doesn't delete such comments.

Do you think "History Trippers" has a better chance at getting the greenlight? I don't think we have a "glut" of history-themed shows, yet.

2/27/2015 04:39:43 am

"You are indeed a sick fuck. On that phrase alone I hope people see through your superiority facade."

Yep, the tide is turning. Soon, everyone will surely come around and face your accusers.

LOL

Scotty Roberts link

2/27/2015 07:35:10 am

ONLY ME,
I think History Trippers has a much better chance of being picked up, at least that is what our production company has told us. They have put a timeline of a "few months" on this, before we know what decisions will be made. So, we are in waiting mode.

Dead Reckoning was certainly a learning experince in how to do things. But that is also why I have never approached doing a tv series after that. I didn't need the headache. haha.

But having been approached by outside producers to create History Trippers, rather than simply trying to start up something on our own, put this in an entirely different mode.

As for these posts all remaining here, I have no problem with that. While it is being treated by some here as if there is some heinous deed that needed covering up, that is far from the truth.

I think if people take time to read this thread and weight things out, they will draw their own conclusions. That doesn't worry me in the least - same as with other threads on Jason's blog.

Scotty Roberts link

2/27/2015 03:11:45 pm

EP,
You didn't include the entire quote. I said:

"2) You invoke the "creepy" factor, linking it to "little girls," as if there is some impropriety taking place. You are indeed a sick fuck. On that phrase alone I hope people see through your superiority facade."

For you to even imply that we or the good people at the Mounds Theatre were engaged in some sort of impropriety with little girls demonstrates the way you think, and the sort of person you are.

It takes a foul sociopathology to make that sort of inference for the sake of your anonymous voyeurism.

2/27/2015 03:19:35 pm

Scotty Roberts sells anthropomorphic art on the internet for $300 a picture.

http://www.tamohare.com/art.html

Yet he thinks he can lecture others about what is and isn't creepy and inappropriate.

LOL

Scotty Roberts link

2/27/2015 05:08:56 pm

Thank you for promoting my website and first published work, EP. And since you brought it up...

I wrote and illustrated, "The Rollicking Adventures of Tam O'Hare," (Morgan-James, 2007) based on the stories I used to tell my twin daughters when they were little kids, of an Irish, swashbuckling rabbit.

Tam O'Hare is an Irish Lord called upon by his great uncle to find a little girl who was stolen by the Fae. The story is set in 16th century Ireland, Scotland and England, against the tumultuous backdrop of the conflict between Mary Queen of Scots and Elizabeth I.

As EP has mentioned, the characters are anthropomorphized - the Scots and Irish are all rabbits, squirrels, bears and other woodland creatures, while the English are foxes, wolves, hawks and eagles.

The clothing I illustrated is true to the Tudor era, as are the weapons, sailing ships and geographic places.

I wrote the book for boys, age 8-12, but it found great appeal with college kids and parents. It is currently out-of-print, but we hope to rerelease it with color illustrations.

You can see the book and art, here:
www.tamohare.com

You can purchase a piece of the original book art here:
http://www.tamohare.com/art.html

And the FaceBook page:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Rollicking-Adventures-of-Tam-OHare/142067335867

2/27/2015 05:40:37 pm

"the characters are anthropomorphized - the Scots and Irish are all rabbits, squirrels, bears and other woodland creatures, while the English are foxes, wolves, hawks and eagles."

...and the Jews are Reptilians, right?

Scotty Roberts link

2/28/2015 03:35:58 am

I see what you're doing there.

Actually, the Jews had nothing to do with Reptilians. And if you are attempting to make some inference that I have written or said anything like that, you'd be mistaken.

Clint Knapp

2/28/2015 03:55:09 am

Of course the Jews have nothing to do with Reptilians; Reptilians are not real. Period. There is absolutely no reason to believe they are other than being intellectually damaged in several fundamental ways, extremely gullible, and/or willing to absorb every idiotic fringe theory one is exposed to out of fear and paranoia that "The Government" is a shadowy evil stealing the self-empowerment capacity of the masses.

Scotty Roberts link

2/28/2015 04:05:35 am

Clint,
Bingo. You have hit the nail on the head.

My work on the topic was an examination of the mythology, past and present.

2/28/2015 04:54:37 am

So how do you "anthropomorphize" the Jews, Scotty, if not as Reptilians? As rats?

Because it's been done before, you know...

Scotty Roberts link

2/28/2015 06:46:12 am

EP,
Are you referring to "Maus," by Art Spiegelman? He used Mice, not rats to depict Jewish people, and cats for the Nazis. A phenomenal anthropomorphized graphic novel, telling the tale of a holocaust survivor and his cartoonist son.

When I was publishing independent comics in the 1980s, this graphic novel was considered to be one of the highest achievements in the comic book world, going on to win several awards and a Pulitzer.

2/28/2015 07:24:18 am

No, I'm referring to what the Nazis themselves did.

I mean, if you're going to be racist against the English by depicting them as anthropomorphized predators, you're really no better than the Nazis in this regard.

Scotty Roberts link

2/28/2015 08:07:24 am

What are you smokin'...?

3/1/2015 10:03:49 am

So Scotty, would you describe Tam O'Hare as your "fursona"?...

Really??

2/27/2015 02:26:37 am

@ InquisitorX @EP

http://deadreckoningtv.proboards.com/thread/106/quelling-rumors-regarding-raising-funds

Post by Scotty on Oct 12, 2009 at 12:03pm

"It has come to my attention that there are some rumors circulating that I am unethically "selling shares" in Dead Reckoning."

"Let me state for the record that there are ZERO shares to be purchased in Dead Reckoning. I own 100% of Dead Reckoning, and we are NOT a public company. Nor are we "in production" with any television network, despite having been filmed by a major network's production company. We are currently in ongoing production development for further consideration by that network, as well as others with whom we have been in contact."

"If you'd like to invest some of your hard-earned money in this effort and partner with us, you are welcome to do so. Just call me. But I will tell you this: any money you invest with us is risk capital on your part, as we have not yet solidified any deal with any network. You could be just throwing your money toward an effort that may never make it off the ground. But, personally, I don't think we will do anything but succeed. We are working too hard to make this thing a reality."

The show was pitched in very early 2009 per the board. Why would more funds be needed in 2010 per Scotty's statement?

"As for selling "shares," we did have one close friend put in some money to help us further our efforts with Dead Reckoning back in 2010. And that is the only money we EVER took in to help fund potential television projects. If you think you know something different, you have been woefully misinformed."

Scotty Roberts link

2/27/2015 02:49:10 am

REALLY?,
That looks pretty accurate to me. As mentioned earlier, this is in reference to the CTV people. It was a pretty exciting time, indeed.

However, we had no idea what was involved further down the road in pitching to networks. That's a stage we never were able to get to with this project.

Why did we need money in 2010? If you've ever run a business, you will know there are costs to EVERYTHING. We were ALWAYS pitching for funds to operate.

When you are in a position as an "executive producer," it is your JOB to constantly be looking for ways to funds these sorts of projects. So we talked to relatives, friends, friends of friends, banks, the mob, you name it. Its part of what it takes to make something work.

I am not sure it is even why its a question worth asking....

Really??

2/27/2015 02:56:22 am

"However, we had no idea what was involved further down the road in pitching to networks. That's a stage we never were able to get to with this project."

http://deadreckoningtv.proboards.com/thread/77/pitch-meetings-progress

Post by Scotty on Mar 12, 2009 at 3:56pm

One of our producers has pitched Dead Reckoning to a major cable network, who said, "we would like to take this to the 'next level.'"

On Thursday the 19th, the cast of dead Reckoning is meeting - in full glory - with the production house that will rep us to the 'major cable network.'

This is VERY exciting news!

At the same time, we were ALSO pitched by another producer to a different major cable network this past weekend. They, too, liked what they saw and gave very positive response.

As you can tell by my wording, I have to be a bit vague, and can't give details at this point. But suffice it to say that we here are ALL VERY EXCITED!

Really

2/27/2015 03:11:29 am

http://deadreckoningtv.proboards.com/thread/92/filming-major-network
.
Post by Scotty on Apr 9, 2009 at 2:40am

We are being filmed on Thursday the 16th by a production company that is the "front runner" of a major television network. This is a HUGE step toward our final goal.

So in 2009 was this CTV or did you lie to people and say that CTV was a Major Network "Front Runner".

Scotty Roberts link

2/27/2015 04:07:22 am

I was mistaken. It was Edleman who filmed us in April 2009, a little earlier than I recalled. I don't have old stuff like this on a calendar for quick reference - it was never that important. It was just a project that we stopped pursuing. So, what's your point?

What is it you REALLY want to know? What's vexing you so much as to expend time digging for something? What are you digging for and what is so important to you to "uncover" or "discover" about some project I once worked on?

None of this is "hidden mysteries" or "closed case files." You're asking questions about things I haven't been working on for several years. And if there is an glitch in my recollecting something accurately, there is the immediate callerwaul of "liar."

What's on your mind, REALL? Just spill it, dude.

"Well... she's not a witch... BUT THE NOSE IS HERS!"

Only Me

2/27/2015 04:37:01 am

Pardon me if this seems out of line, but is this a game of "Gotcha!", Really? It feels like you're trying to root out the Devil in the details.

2/27/2015 04:43:07 am

I see what you're doing there, Only Me... I think... ;)

Really??

2/27/2015 06:41:31 am

These are the issues Scotty:

I have no tolerance for someone who lies continually and tries to look like a Saint by saying "oops, sorry". That will only so far and it's been far enough for you.

That being said, I thought it would be important to preempt your counter argument which would be something like "I would like to see proof that I lied or defrauded anyone." So, I just pasted and used your own words against you.

As a self-proclaimed "Historian" such as yourself, how can anyone consider you credible in your dates or statement of facts when you can't remember what you said yesterday let alone 5+ years ago. I would then have trouble believing anything you have written in any book or said on any program and assume you are just making stuff up.

Does that make me a Historian now since I know your history better than you? Oh please tell me I can call myself a Historian or perhaps better yet, why I can't because according to you that is all it takes.

"As for selling "shares," we did have one close friend put in some money to help us further our efforts with Dead Reckoning back in 2010."

Tell me again why you took money from someone in 2010? Why did I ask this question again, because of your wonderful reply statement above -

"And then, upon learning of the absolute glut of paranormal-based TV shows trying to get on TV (at the time, I was told there 23 different shows being pitched), I pulled the plug on the entire project in early 2010."

Notice "early 2010". You should have let that investor (share holder)know what was going through your mind. I would presume that would have been the ethical thing to do.

Scotty Roberts link

2/27/2015 07:17:46 am

REALLY?,
Okay. Thank you for that. I'll accept your take on this.

Let me respond to one item:
As you can see, I do not have any of this recorded on a calendar, so I was going by events as I remembered them in my head. Were I writing a book about this as an exercise in historical research, I would have put more effort into looking up references.

I am not sure how you equate my memory of project events for the purpose of answering anonymous critics on a blog to lacking the ability to research for a book, documentary, lecture or tv series. I would further posit that there are very few academically credentialed historians who would meet your standard on this topic.

I will admit that there are even times I have stated that something happened in 1536BCE, and later when looking back in my research found that it was 1356BCE. Most historians - academically credentialed or not - would utilize reference material. But probably not when answering casual criticisms over who they met on a certain thing at a certain time of a certain day eight years previous.

I hope you see the difference.

As for the calendar memory glitches:
In 2010, Britt Griffith was canned from Ghost Hunters. He was a good friend, and we talked about him coming on board with Dead Reckoning. That was - I THINK, if memory serves without spending a lot of time looking it up - early-to-mid 2010.

As a result of this boost to the casting of the project, we started looking for funding to take the thing to a higher level.

Britt was shortly thereafter rehired by Ghost Hunters, and dropped out for obvious reasons.

We put together the crew that you see on the current website, including Ciaran O'Keeffe. But we never really were able to get that new brand a serious look. It was at this time, in general, that we were finding out just how glutted the market had become.

Those are pretty simplistic answers to your question. Reconstructing precisely how everything took place on what days, at what times and for what goals, would take a little more doing than a blog post.

Scotty Roberts link

2/27/2015 07:24:04 am

ONLY ME,
Thank you for what you said. I know you have questions, as well, but that little acknowledgment goes a hell of a long way to providing some civility to the thread.

I have never purported to be perfect, but neither am I a despicable human being. I strive to do things as best and decently as I can. Does everything work out perfectly? Not really. So thank you, again.

Only Me

2/27/2015 09:08:53 am

Scotty, at least you haven't been proclaimed Mumm-Ra, The Ever-Living or an agent of the Great Old Ones, yet. :)

Really??

2/27/2015 10:36:34 am

How did you pull the plug on the entire project for your show in early 2010? Britt Griffith didn't get fired from GHI until after his radio interview on Sept. 29, 2010.

"That was - I THINK, if memory serves without spending a lot of time looking it up - early-to-mid 2010" (took 2 seconds to look up)

Why should all of these things matter and what has it got to do with you? Nothing you have said or done in this blog and others across the internet is the truth. You are purposely deceiving people by your words and think that it doesn't matter or shouldn't matter. You want us to just drink the Kool-Aid and blindly believe you. Your own paper trail catches you in your lies. You are your own worst enemy.

“No man has a good enough memory to be a successful liar.” - Abraham Lincoln

Scotty Roberts link

2/27/2015 11:45:48 am

REALLY?,
It is obvious I don't remember, off the top of my head, the precise chronology of events surrounding the rise from concept to end of the Dead Reckoning project - mostly because it was several years ago, and I have worked on many other projects over the interim years between then and now.

In the period of time represented by that interim, my wife and I have had three children, my eldest two children have gone off on their own as burgeoning entrepreneurs. I have written three books, contributed to two anthologies, and produced two different radio shows. I've taken people on tours to Egypt, and built many, many websites and created graphics and book illustrations for many, many clients. ALL THAT TO SAY... life has moved on in the interim since I worked to try to launch a television series. That is until we were approached to create History Trippers.

So, let me ask YOU why my personal life and business projects are so important to you?

I am not the CEO of some huge corporation that affects the food supplies of the world, nor directs the policies of political parties and world elections. I am a self-employed illustrator, designer and writer who once attempted to create a paranormal TV show, starting somewhere in 2008 and ending sometime during 2010.

And your nit-picking on this matter leaves me asking, "So what?" What's your point - that I am a bad person because I couldn't recall the chronology of an old project off the top of my head? What makes it YOUR business and why do you feel YOU are the arbiter of some judgment on the matter?

If it really mattered, I would thank you for bringing all the details to the fore. But the point is that they were never hidden in the first place. I was just rusty on the details of my own personal business matters. Again... so what? None of that a "liar" makes.

I am still left asking who the hell are you and what's the big deal to you?

Seriously. You are majoring on a non-issue.

* * *

"Live in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town gossip." ~ Will Rogers

2/27/2015 11:49:06 am

Scotty is not a liar, everybody! He pinky-promises he isn't!

LOL

Really??

2/28/2015 04:52:38 am

Scotty -

I will help you since you can't be bothered to get your facts or statements straight. I have already answered your questions before you asked them.

"Why should all of these things matter and what has it got to do with you? Nothing you have said or done in this blog and others across the internet is the truth. You are purposely deceiving people by your words and think that it doesn't matter or shouldn't matter. "

The POINT is that you are deceiving people. You deceived people back then and you are deceiving people now.

You suffer from Mythomania and Narcissistic Personality Disorder.

Justifications are another way the narcissistic personality disorder trait of pathological lying is applied. A pathological liar will change details to a story every time they tell a story. Ask them the same question throughout the day to see if their story changes. Keep track of details and how often their details change.

Would you like me to pan the web or just this blog to help you with the number of lies you have told?

Scotty Roberts link

2/28/2015 06:57:00 am

Thank you for that diagnosis, Dr. Really.

2/28/2015 07:31:53 am

There's nothing to suggest that Scotty Roberts has narcissistic tendencies.

http://scottalanroberts.com/clients/deadreckoningtv/TAPS_tarot_ad.jpg

Nothing at all.

Scotty Roberts link

2/28/2015 08:35:06 am

Adam Blai created many of these "light portraits" throughout the 2000s. Excellent work. Amazing artist.

As I mentioned before, he did this one of me while a bunch of us were at a Ghost Hunters event on the Queen Mary in Longbeach, CA back in December of 2008... at least I THINK it was 2008. Its not on an old calendar anywhere...

Adam Blai... http://www.grandmidwayhotel.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/old-pics-024.jpg

Scotty Roberts link

3/5/2015 04:30:01 am

By the way, "REALLY?" is Adrian Lee.

That should give you a good measuring stick with which to gage his words.

Only Me

3/5/2015 05:59:29 am

Are you sure? Because that would be....wow.

Scotty Roberts link

3/5/2015 07:31:40 am

I'm sure.

Really??

3/5/2015 09:27:57 am

Umm... Sorry Scotty, wrong again but thanks for helping the point I made about Pathological Lying and Narcissistic Behaviors. This must be the same way you research your books. You know how you make false statements and hope they are true.

Do you have any idea how many people you have conned, swindled and used over the years?

Guilty conscious I suspect. But just so you are aware Scotty, I don't have the plumbing to be Adrian Lee.

Scotty Roberts link

3/5/2015 10:04:31 am

REALLY,
That's almost precisely what Lee said when he contacted me suddenly and completely out-of-the-blue today, leveling unsolicited accusations at his ex-wife after a six-year silence.

Interesting coincidence, wouldn't you say?

As for your charges of "Pathological Lying and Narcissistic Behaviors," that's easy to say when you don't have to be held accountable for your words.

If we know each other so well, then you should have no issue contacting me.

Really??

3/5/2015 10:22:28 am

@ Scotty, I would say that your game is busted. It's not that hard to research what has actually happened in a court of law. It appears your business partner Lisa Lee has a Harassment Order against her from November 2014. I would hardly call a Public Harassment Order unsolicited accusations or accusations for that matter.

Let me prove to you how easy it is to research these things. It appears that you had a pending Harassment Order against you some years ago by your ex-wife and multiple law-suits. No use airing your dirty laundry but if you would like me to, I will put the sites and court numbers for people to find them themselves.

Scotty Roberts link

3/5/2015 11:03:34 am

Very nice, REALLY.

Yes, you do seem to know something of Lee's harassment order against his wife. It is interesting that you mention that detail, especially on the very same day that Lee is writing to me privately - after six years of silence - to tell me about it.

And, by the way, I never said anything about Lee filing an "harassment order," but you sure seemed to know what I was referring to, down to the date of the document forwarded to me by Lee this morning, out-of-the-blue, after six years of no communication between us. Weirdly synchronistic, eh?

As for the harassment order that was filed against me by my ex-wife, you'd best get your facts in order before attempting to use that against me in some heinous fashion. She also, in that filing, made some extremely foul, false and heinously spurious claims. Of course, that entire bit ended up with me being granted sole custody of my three children in 2001- which is also part of the record, but which you omitted because it did not fulfill the juiciness you were attempting to reveal.

You are rife with gossipy tidbits that you attempt to incorporate in leading people to think what you want them to think, but you are very lean on facts. So stop lecturing me on who is doing right or wrong.

What you are attempting to do here is nothing short of deplorable behavior. And, yes, no matter who you are, you "lack the plumbing" to be held accountable for your actions.

Scotty Roberts link

3/5/2015 11:33:30 am

REALLY LEE,
You also posted the same thing all over Lisa Lee's FaceBook page, earlier today, utilizing the very same language.

So, let's see, you posted the information regarding the Harassment Order to me in a personal message this morning, then you posted it to Lisa's FaceBook page this morning, and then you posted it here, today, claiming you gleaned the information from public records.

All on the same day.

I would say that it is YOU whose "game is busted." And as I told you this morning, its time for you to move along.

3/5/2015 01:34:41 pm

Just keep on keepin' on, Scotty.

LOL

Really??

3/5/2015 01:55:54 pm

Scotty -

Please get over yourself. You are not as clever as you think you are (narcissistic much?). I am not Lee but I can see why you would think so if you were confronted this morning. But then again, these are your research skills we are talking about. You must really have an axe to grind.

Let's state some facts first.

Scotty is:

A proven pathological liar and suffering from Mythomania
Has been "accused" of Harassment in the past
Knowingly deceives people for personal gain/ status
Owes several entities money
Knowingly partners with Lee's ex-wife has a Harassment Order against her (birds of a feather)
Knowingly promotes a program with a fictitious Doctor.

I can remain anonymous and I know that bothers you. I am only hear to bring out the truth.

Feel free to skirt the issues. You have been doing well so far.

Scotty Roberts link

3/5/2015 05:43:33 pm

REALLY,
You say that you are here "to bring out the truth." That is the biggest lie of them all. A seeker of truth weighs out all the facts, examining all details before drawing a final conclusion or issuing a proclamation.

Truth is all-encompassing, and one who seeks to find it rarely needs to do it with a mask.

You make diagnosis. Are you certified or institutionally credentialed to do so? Have you operated under the definition of diagnosis, which is "the process of determining by examination the nature and circumstances of a condition?" Hardly. Making determinations on what you think you know is hardly the seeking of truth. A cursory overview and bullet pointing of "factoids" is hardly "examination" that leads to conclusive diagnosis, i.e. "mythomania, narcissism, etc, etc, etc."

An "accusation" of harassment is meaningless when a judge vacates and dismisses on the grounds that the accusation is baseless and/or false. So, why did your "investigation" stop at that point? Are you aware of how many women throw out the charge of "harassment" (or worse) during custody cases? Probably not. But that doesn't matter in your "truth seeking" if it works against your premise, does it? That is narcissism.

Do I owe money? Do I have debt? Of course I do. I run a business.

What Lee claimed about his wife, as well as your other points are highly subjective; symbolism on the basis of bias in avoidance of substance. When you hunt witches, you will find any means to create one. And witch hunts are generally not founded in seeking truth, but rather the presenting of enough information that allows the stake to be lit.

As for your anonymity, it only "bothers" me for the sake of this discussion. Our system of jurisprudence disallows anonymous accusation for good reason. The right to face your accusers exists for a purpose. A truth-seeker would hold to this principle on any level.

On the internet, what you are doing is highly frowned upon and there are even derogatory names for it. But you don't care about that, so long as you can stand for what you believe is your version of righteous action. Islamic extremists and terrorists do the same thing when they attack with their faces covered. They are also operating under "establishing truth" as they see it.

Your anonymity leaves you free of accountability for anything you say. The only reason I have asked for you to state who you are, is to see how your actions here would change or be affected if people knew who you are. I would daresay that the "dialog" here would take on a completely different tone. Not short on seeking fact or truth, but very short on ad hominem and invective.

You can tell me I’m trying to be clever, or that I am, in your opinion, a narcissist, but those are generally projections absent from one who is seeking to reveal truth.

Scott Roberts link

3/5/2015 05:59:00 pm

By the way, not answering your charges to your satisfaction, REALLY, is not the same as "skirting the issues."

That's rather like Obama saying he is completely wiling to work with the Republicans - as long as they agree with him.

3/6/2015 06:16:13 am

Scotty, there also are "on The Internet" derogatory terms for people who sell drawings of "anthropomorphized" animals for $300 per drawing.

People like you.

Really??

3/6/2015 07:44:28 am

Scotty -

"You say that you are here "to bring out the truth." "

Yes, that is correct. I am here to show people where your contradict yourself in your statements and on the internet. They can make up their own mind.

"You make diagnosis. Are you certified or institutionally credentialed to do so?"

A bit of the pot calling the kettle black don't you think? Since when were you concerned about credentials and certifications? Clearly they mean nothing to you and your partners. You have just justified everyone's comments about you and your partner by your own statement.

"An "accusation" of harassment is meaningless when a judge vacates and dismisses on the grounds that the accusation is baseless and/or false. "

So the Harassment Order that your good friend/ business partner Lisa Lee has against her is legitimate by your own statement therefore not subjective.

"Do I owe money? Do I have debt? Of course I do. I run a business. "

Your publicly posted debt is not because of your business.

"When you hunt witches, you will find any means to create one. "

Funny you should mention witch hunts. Upon doing some research, it appears that Lisa Lee your good friend and business partner believes that she is a witch. Correct?

Scotty Roberts link

3/6/2015 08:23:32 am

REALLY,
Yes, I do believe that Lisa considers herself to be a Pagan and a Wiccan. Her personal belief/religion is none of my business. But I have a lot of Pagan/Wiccan friends. Do you have some sort of religious bias you're not sharing with us?

Regarding Institutional Credentials, you missed the point completely... I only brought that up because you and others have broached that topic so many times. Did you miss the irony?

Further on credentials, if you want to establish a case for fraud with my current business partner, you'd be hard pressed, as he has never hidden the fact that his "title" was conferred by a Templar organization. Again, were you truly seeking truth, you would already know this.

As for Adrian Lee, he never claimed to have a PhD when I knew him. And he was NEVER a business partner of mine. But he was once married to a former business partner of mine.

I don't know much about Lisa's degree, other than I believe it was purchased for the purpose of doing weddings or something. You would have to ask her directly. She is not my business partner, and hasn't been since we worked on a completely different project, several years ago, not mentioned in these blog threads.

As for Adrian's harassment order on Lisa, I am not privy to any of those details. I was talking about my own, the one you mentioned. If you are seeking truth, go ask them.

As for my debt, personal or business, you show me yours and I'll show you mine.

Again, I reiterate, your purpose here has absolutely nothing to do with seeking or revealing "truth." You have a completely other agenda.

So, why not state your name, and let "people make up their own minds" as to your ulterior motives.

Scotty Roberts link

3/6/2015 08:25:42 am

EP,
So, you are saying that artists cannot sell anthropomorphized paintings online? Or that $300 is too much for an artist to charge for their work?

I think you would find many artists disagreeing with you.

Scotty Roberts link

2/27/2015 02:36:53 am

Matt Mc,
I missed your posts from yesterday regarding the sizzle reel and production. Thank you for your words on that.

You are correct that we had some poor audio in spots, and our film/sound people knew that from the get-go. Some of that was due to incorporating older, personal clips from Egypt, and filming in places where we did not permission to set up a lot of gear.

We have a production company that has done some re-editing from the raw footage. They also had us doing some voiceover work with lines they wanted to add for the pitch - funny, some of it is stuff I'd NEVER say, especially the way they worded it. Haha. They have pitched to some major networks at the Reel Screen event in D.C. back in January, as well as other independent pitches, and there have been some passes, as well as some great networks who are "interested." We'll see where those go.

I am curious to know what you didn't like about the content of the reel. While we have been accused in these blogs of proposing a show that will "teach the little brown peoples of the world all about their 'real' history.." that has never been the intent of the show. Its all about going to sites of archaeological mystery that might be a bit off the beaten path, and having FUN presenting the information.

I don't think the series is as off the wall as some would like to think, but as we all know, you can't please everyone - especially the small handful of people who are in constant attack mode on this blog. haha.

I am certainly open to your advice on the tech, but that is also now in the hands of our production company.

As I mentioned somewhere in all the tit-for-tat above, I have only ever been involved in one project like this in the past, which was my own effort on which I eventually pulled the plug, as it became rather silly.

This History Trippers project was one that was brought to us, and that made it even more satisfying. There has never been anything akin to a "clawing our way onto tv" sort of approach to any of this. That would be an absolute mischaracterization. I mean, seriously, having one a project several years ago, and now a new offer to create something, is hardly the stuff of "clawing my way" into anything. I am too busy with ten other things to have that sort of "desperation" applied to my very fun project.

I would very much like to hear more about what you have liked to see done on this, but I think we are already far past the initial pitch stage where that sizzle was used.

Contact me anytime.

Matt Mc

2/27/2015 11:30:22 am

Well quite a few thing technically (I wont discuss the audio since it has been discusses), the interview parts are poorly lit, Chimays and a lighting meter are your friends, there never should be contrasting facail shadows like that the interviewee should pop against the background. In this case the lighting and poor color choice of the background causes the interviewee and the background to blend into a neutral pallet, this cause from a theoretical point causes the viewer to have a very indifferent reaction to what is being said. This is easily corrected by using diffused lighting from a upper 15 or so degree angle stage right and a 20 degree downward angle stage right, on the stage left side it should be about 25 upper and 30 down, all diffused. The shooting in HD also contributes to this and further causes the contrast in the shadows to be the same in the foreground as the background and a corrective filter should be used in film to give the background a slight depth of field while preserving the textural richness. Also get away from the super neutral colors as clothing, tans and brown are horrible in a Library type setting.

Outdoor shoots, learn to use white balance and what an iris does, all outdoor shots are horribly film. This is not a lighting issues this just shows that the cameraman has no idea how to use the camera. Almost every Video Camera has a white balance button use it.

Content wise, stop talking about each other, 30 seconds of introduction for the two of you is enough, First thing I thought of watching this (beyond the technical errors) is this show is about these two men professing how great they are not about their quest to look at history in a different way. Your thesis was lost in self promotion and promoting you relationship. See if you can find the Demo Reel (sizzle really is not used and has not been used in a long time) of American Pickers, those two never once mentioned how great they are or talked about their relationship and I cannot think of a more buddy buddy/ man love show on the "Doc" Channels right now. Think of the characters you are portraying as guides, let the subject be the story. Do not use "WE" in saying what the show is about, as viewers it is obvious that the two of your are the hosts or guides. Your reel told me a story of the two of you and the subject and your exploration of history came off as very secondary. Your job as role of the main characters is to guide us through a story do that, do not worry about selling yourself, sell your take on the subject that is what the show will be about. Never say a museum is disappointing and say you will tell the real story and then present nothing about the real story, it comes across as BS.

Sure you can cast your characters as neo-victorians but again do not let that distract from the content, ask yourself which is more important the "Style" of the host or the subject being explored.

Do not use cheap free post effects, they look awful. Unless you are willing to spend the time to really make HD video look like aged film don't bother, it really turned people off. Hell it looks a lot better just changing the image to sephia than to use that cheap after effect loop made by video-copilot.

Also people what to see locations and artifacts, not the hosts looking at them, they want to see them without the host. Even Scott Wolter did that.

these are just a few things from memory. Again I cannot stress audio should be constant, the levels should not jump, same with video. If one shot is high contrast then all shots should be high contrast.

These are all important because lets face it shows are easy to make, but selling in advance with a production team attached and delivery technical inferior product will kill it. If you are lucky the network will say okay we will do three episodes but you have to use this producer and this production house and at that point you essentially loose control of the show. This happened with CITIES OF THE UNDERWORLD, if you watch the six or so episodes with the original host you will notice the whole style and presentation was different. The network had the show change host and producers after the viewing the commissioned episodes and reworked it.

I was at the Reel Screen event, I go every year since I live in DC, heard nothing mentioned of your show there. All the talk was about the new crop of potential food shows, a reality show about a cageless doggy care, and several shows that were like GANGLAND. Now given I mostly just wander around and network and hang with people I only see once a year. I seldom actually pay attention to anything, I after all am just an editor and really could care less about what I am editing

2/27/2015 11:38:32 am

"Content wise, stop... it comes across as BS."

I took the liberty of cutting to the chase, Matt Mc :)

Matt Mc

2/27/2015 11:48:49 am

Not what I would of said,

Mine would of been more like

"Content wise it is about promoting the two of you and not history, which is complete BS,"

Scotty Roberts link

2/27/2015 12:08:53 pm

Matt Mc,
Isn'Fantastic information. You really make me wish we could have consulted you and had you on board when we created this - we called it a "demo trailer," but were corrected and told it was a "sizzle" by our agent. Haha... figures.

I really do appreciate your input.And I hate the fact that it was so distracting for you on the technical points that you couldn;t enjoy the content.

As you know, these sorts of demos are VERY formulaic, and we were told that we needed to MAJOR on the interview portion and answer certain questions posed to us from off camera. This was what we were told by the original producers who had approached us.

The production company we are with right now DID request all the original footage and recut something tailored to their purposes. They were working on that all the way up to Reel Screen, and we never got a chance to see their finished product. They also had us record several voiceovers for that demo.

They reported back to us all the networks they pitched while at Reel Screen. Without looking back at their email, it seems to me they had met with eight or nine, as well as set up pitch meetings for February and March. They told us that about half declined and the other half wanted to see more. Two really liked what hey saw and set up follow-up meetings.

Its all the waiting game, now.

Thanks again. If I ever have to do this again - should I live so long - I wouldn't mind conferring with you.

Cheers.

2/27/2015 12:12:33 pm

"I hate the fact that it was so distracting for you on the technical points that you couldn;t enjoy the content."

That's not why. It's because content is stupid and ridiculous. Or, as Matt Mc and I agreed in the comments right above, "complete BS".

Matt Mc

2/28/2015 01:02:00 am

Scotty,

Please let me clarify I did not enjoy the content of you sizzle reel simply because it was the two of you talking about each other. What little you said about exploring history was very generic and really gave me no insight into what the show will be about. I only got the sense from the video that the two of you hold each other in high esteem, like to dress funny, have traveled to Egypt, and you all want to uncover hidden tales in history. I go no sense of what kind of history it is, how is it different than the other hidden history shows, like I mentioned you did not demonstrate and present your thesis well, you did demonstrate your admiration for each other.

Scotty Roberts link

2/28/2015 03:31:18 am

Matt Mc,
There was also a huge written proposal that went with the Demo. As I mentioned, we did what we were told to do on this. We were told that they wanted to focus on "us."

We do have large portions of the demo that talked about where we would be going, what we'd be doing, filmed at the museum and the Mill City ruins. We also talked about using Intrepid Mag as the vehicle for which we'd be exploring for interesting stories, etc.

Could it have been better? I think so, too. But it was formulaic, as per instructions we were given. Not being in Egypt to film the thing was a bit limiting for us.

Matt Mc

2/28/2015 03:37:46 am

That is my point. From the production quality and technical flaws to content the whole thing shows poorly on the production team. If this is the first impression you are giving to potential buyers it could scare them away. Or they might request to have someone they feel confident in to take over the project.

2/27/2015 11:21:10 am

Lisa Hottinger (aka Lisa Lee), Scotty Roberts's business partner and collaborator on Dead Reckoning, has a YouTube account:

https://www.youtube.com/user/pracmac

There, she hosts many awesome videos from their ghost-hunting days.

Scotty being "charming"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOsLn_bgrug
[Scotty talks about his underwear... or something... audio's bad.]

Raini During Investigation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YideX_Sr30I
["Where's the stupid bitch?" (giggles)]

Scotty Scares the Sh*t Out of Me
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ellhpE_HQ5c
["Achoo!"]

Behind the Scenes of Dead Reckoning
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhMfzBP_rUc
[Lisa and Raini Roberts playing dressup and acting wacky.]

And my absolute favorite:

Scotty and Raini
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDXHOd75Kj0
"This one is for my business partners and best friends Scotty and Raini. Scotty, your talent is amazing, you crack me up. Thank you for exorcising the demons out of me... Basically he's like DEMONS BE GONE [slaps forehead]. My head still hurts cause he did it like 60 times. Oh, and thank you for starting me on fire(?), too, by the way - five times! Anyway, I'm truly blessed and thankful that you're part of my life. Raini... [teary eyed] you and Scotty are so lucky and blessed to have each other... I'm thrilled and blessed that we're partners in the most fantastic retreat ever, called [undecipherable; a TAPS/Darkness joint, I believe]"

LOL

Scotty Roberts link

2/27/2015 11:53:14 am

Good, old memories, EP. Thanks for sharing.

Information

9/15/2015 06:08:11 pm

FYI....

I have read through many comments and would like your take on this:

Here is Scotty's Go Fund Me Page looking for $50K (Set up Sept. 9th) You can read why he needs funding.

http://www.gofundme.com/f23cfut7

Postponed the Paradigm Symposium for this year (Oct. 1-4) last week. He is offering no refunds but asks that people hold their tickets for when he decides to have it next year.

People have booked rooms as of Sept 8th and some if not many have non-refundable/ transferable flights.

WTH??

Smells fishy... Let alone not caring for anyone who bought tickets. What a crock.

Here is Scotty's public post:
Greetings to you, all our Ticket Holders to the Paradigm Symposium 2015!
We are passing some very important information on to you in this message, so please read this update in its entirety, very carefully. We have emailed ALL of you, but also needed to post this publicly.
We are writing to let you all know that The Paradigm Symposium 2015, scheduled for October 1-4, 2015 at the Crown Plaza, Mall of America in Minneapolis, has undergone some major changes that have required us to move the event to a new date.
Of utter necessity – which we will detail further – we are moving the Paradigm Symposium to a date in May or June of 2016. We will be announcing the precise dates and venue location within the next two weeks, once we have secured our new contracts.
We ask that you please hang onto your tickets, as they will ALL be honored. Each of our speakers have agreed to be at the Symposium on the new date, and there may even be a few surprise additions to come. Apart from this, however, the roster of presenters has not changed; only the date and location.
HERE’S WHY
2015 began with promise for the Paradigm Symposium; however, we have experienced numerous setbacks throughout the year, while still operating under full confidence that the Symposium would successfully come off as planned. It was only in the last week that we reached the final decision that moving the date and location had now become a necessity.
Over the last few months, we have experienced setbacks and budget cuts from nearly all of our sources sponsorship, along with having experienced issues coordinating our needs with the hotel venue. Again, it was while moving forward within these last weeks that it became clear that the Symposium would need to be rescheduled.
On Thursday of last week, that final decision to reorganize and move things to a future date became finalized. We felt it much more prudent and wise to make this necessary change.
WHAT THIS MEANS FOR YOU
This means that you are holding tickets – whether physically or in email form – that will be honored in full at the rescheduled Paradigm Symposium, which will, again, be announced for a May/June date in the coming weeks.
Some of you may have made travel arrangements already; we recommend that you take immediate action, if possible, to speak with your airline about flight cancellation and refunds, or the possibility of moving or transferring those flights to a future date, pending our announcement in the coming weeks.
For those of you who have made your hotel reservations at the Crown Plaza in Minneapolis, the hotel has informed us that you have until September 29th to cancel your reservations without charge or fee.
WE REALIZE that this may cause some inconvenience for some of you, but do consider that the new date will allow each of you no less than eight months to rearrange your schedules; we hope you will still join us at the event.
The goodness that is the Paradigm Symposium, all the wonders of the information we disseminate, all the fun and enjoyment of “hanging with family”, will still be there for you all… only a little later than we had originally planned.
SOMETHING WE’D LIKE YOU TO CONSIDER
While many of us firmly believe that there are “spiritual elements” at play in the universe that affect our daily lives, this has been an opportunity for us, here, to experience the “rubber meeting the road” as it relates to what we say we believe.
Sometimes, the “Universe” orchestrates to deliver a message. And all we have been experiencing over the last several months has indicated to us, the staff behind the Symposium, that this announcement has been the absolute right decision.
Things remain what they are, and we will continue to seize the day and move forward confidently in the belief that this is the absolute right decision. And we earnestly and sincerely trust that you will all join us in the future, once the event can be properly realized in just a few short months. It is our belief that this will not only be right, but that it will foster an ability to deliver what attendees have come to expect of us in terms of the standards of excellence the Paradigm Symposium offers.
FINALLY
As always, we are ever available for your questions and input as we move forward to the May/June date. We li