Sci-Fi Channel's The Web Offers Halloween Special

Posted on October 13, 1997

The Web, a weekly Sci-Fi Channel series about the Internet and new technology, presents a special Halloween show on Sunday, October 26, airing at noon ET/9:00 a.m. PT, and repeating that evening at 11:00 p.m. ET/8:00 p.m. PT. Hosts Sofie Formica and Justin Gunn will uncover the dark side of the Net and explore paranormal occurrences and cryonics technology during the one-hour program.

The legendary monsters from Universal Studios' cinema classics have crept onto the Internet and now are only a mouse click away. "The Web" shows viewers how they can experience vampires, werewolves and mummies online as Hollywood horror comes to cyberspace. Also, Web sites devoted to the historic town of Salem, Massachusetts, known for its witches, will be highlighted in the program's weekly "Cyber City Tour" segment.

What happens when you combine the supernatural with technology? Viewers will find out when The Web takes some of the most sophisticated infrared cameras and thermal sensing equipment in the world on a ghost hunt at a location known for its resident spirit, "the blue lady." Paranormal investigator Lloyd Auberbach uses the most advanced imaging systems to create a physical connection between a real event and the perception of haunted sightings at The Distillery, a solitary restaurant along the California coast.

In-studio guests will debate two controversial topics on the Internet today: online psychics and the promotion of cryonics, the science of preserving a human body after death. Susan Bostwick, a representative from the Berkeley Psychic Institute, will read Sofie's aura and discuss the psychic world, while author and magician Bob Steiner from the Bay Area Skeptics will debunk the theories. Later in the program, cryonics, once the purview of science fiction, will be discussed by Justin Yount of the American Cryonics Society and Dr. Raymond Dennehy, a philosophy and bioethics professor at the University of San Francisco.