ABSTRACT
This chapter compares ghost reality shows and the revenants they conjure to those summoned and vanquished in Third Wave spiritual warfare, a contemporary Protestant evangelical movement focused on removing demons from human bodies, material objects, places, and regions of the world. It deals with two episodes of the A&E series Paranormal State with demon deliverance narratives from spiritual warfare handbooks. The chapter suggests that both ghost reality television and Third Wave spiritual warfare provide narratives asserting that the past – even in a neoliberal era that often plays down the role of history and material conditions – still haunts the present, conjuring current maladies and requiring acknowledgment. One motif of traditional American ghost stories – televised and otherwise–is that the haunting ceases once the tragedies and injustices of the past have been acknowledged and addressed. In Third Wave demonology, the ground grieves because of past sins committed upon it, and demons haunt the territory where such horrors occurred.
