Haunted Lives: True Ghost Stories (shortened to Haunted Lives and later re-titled as Real Ghosts) was an American paranormal anthology television miniseries that originally broadcast from to , on CBS and UPN. This short-lived program comprised three primetime specials that featured re-enactments of ghost stories told by real people who experienced alleged paranormal activity. The docudrama series used actors and special effects, and then introduced the witnesses who reported such phenomena.
The series was developed for television by Bruce Nash and Allan Zullo, authors of the popular book series, Haunted Kids: True Ghost Stories.
Format
Each segment follows reenactments of events with the characters narrating. At the end of each re-creation, the real witnesses involved appear and give their account of the events, including more recent activity. These portions were usually filmed at or near the location in question. In the Episode 2 story "Terror For Rent", the actual witnesses appeared in silhouette to conceal their true identities.
The first two specials were called Haunted Lives, and the third and final special was renamed to Real Ghosts. The opening narration is slightly altered for the final episode:
The specials have been narrated by Leonard Nimoy and Stacy Keach.
Episode guide
Episode Breakdown
Episode 1 (a.k.a. Real Ghosts II) Original air date: Wednesday, May 15, 1991, CBS
Episode 1 consists of three segments, all directed by Tobe Hooper, known for Poltergeist and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre: and edited by Jonathan Moser who also created the special effects in the show.
1. "Ghosts R Us"
A female stockperson in Toys R Us in Sunnyvale, California is frightened from her job in the storeroom. Her supervisor doesn't know what to make of it until her other employees tell their stories. Two of the employees discover the ghost could be Yonny Yonson, a working immigrant who died when the property was still the Old Murphy Ranch. Yonny was in love with the daughter of his boss, but she rejected him. He died in an accident with an axe while chopping wood. Unsure what to do, the Toys R Us employees call in renowned psychic Sylvia Browne, who tries to send Yonny's spirit to the light, but it's quite obvious he won't leave.
2. "The Legend of Kate Morgan"
Attorney Alan May investigates the ghost of Kate Morgan at the Hotel del Coronado in San Diego, California. When he discovers he has the wrong room because the rooms were renumbered in the past, he tracks down Kate's real room and encounters her spirit and lives through a place memory of her murder. Through research, he discovers Kate's real name was Lottie Bernard and her son might have been his own ancestor.
3. "School Spirit"
In Austin, Texas, men tearing down an old school are scared by voices and images of young ghost as well as experience equipment problems. The foreman is losing time and money so he gets a psychic to deal with the problem and things seem to get better. One of the workmen starts getting a feeling that the ghosts are back but is ordered back to work. When a wall falls the wrong way, he gets killed. The foreman vows to destroy the school, but they never completely go away. When he reburies a tree from the Metz Elementary site in his daughter's yard, his son-in-law reports hearing the sounds of happy children coming from it.
Cast & Crew
Narrator: Leonard Nimoy
Writer: David Braff, Al Katz, Gilbert Adler, Peter M. Lenkov
Director: Tobe Hooper
Editor: Jonathan Moser
Show Stars: Leonard Nimoy (Narrator), Guest Stars: Kent Burden (Joe Torres), Sarah Carson (Kate Morgan a.k.a. Lottie Bernard), Hector Elias (Morris Torres), John Hammil (Yonny Yonson (ghost)), Shawn Kristy (Elizabeth Murphy), Eileen Jo Bowman (Store Clerk), Eli Guralnick (Store Manager), Juan Garcia (Otto), Del Zamora (Gabe Torres), Robert Jacobs (Tom Morgan), Van Williams (Mr. Fitzgerald), Alvin Silver (Alan May)
Notes: The Toys R Us ghost was also featured on the TV series That's Incredible and Ripley's Believe it or Not!. Each show featured photos of the ghost from the 1978 seance. The Hotel del Coronado featured in this episode has also been featured in the Haunted Hotels series on Travel Channel as well as the special, Ghosts: Caught On Tape.