Daily Inspiration: Meet Sean Barnes

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sean Barnes

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
When I was about 10 or 11 years old I had an experience that would change my life forever. I had a bunk bed that I absolutely loved to sleep on. One night as I was sleeping soundly on the top bunk, I awoke from my sleep for no apparent reason. I don’t know what time it was, but it was either late night or early morning. As I lay there, trying to go back to sleep, I began to hear the sound of footsteps lightly crunching the carpet coming from my parent’s room. It wasn’t unusual for my mother to get up during the night to go to the bathroom or to the kitchen for something to drink. For this reason, she kept a nightlight burning in the hallway.

We didn’t sleep with the doors closed in our house and my parent’s room was directly across the hall from mine. I could see very clearly in the glow of the nightlight as I waited to see my mother appear and walk down the hall. The sound of the footsteps got louder and louder as they left my parent’s room and approached the threshold of my room. They stopped right at my doorway and suddenly I heard someone or something give a long slow sigh and kind of smack their lips. After that, the footsteps turned and walked away down the hall and then, silence! As I said, I could see everything very clearly, thanks to the nightlight, and there was NO BODY attached to those footsteps! I could see the doorway, the floor and my parent’s room all very clearly. Whatever made those footsteps wasn’t my mother, father or the family dog. To this very day, I have no idea what made those footsteps.

We were the only family to ever live in that house, so I know that no one ever died in it. The history of the land, however, may reveal some clues. It could have been the spirit of someone who had died there or close to there a long time ago or it could have simply been the spirit of someone who was “just passing by”.

Now I’m an adult. I have been to college and have a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree and work as a medical professional. However, I have been on a quest ever since that fateful night to investigate and learn all that I could about Ghosts and everything paranormal. To help me learn about those things, I have become a Certified Ghost Hunter and Paranormal Investigator through the International Ghost Hunter’s Society. I have had a few other experiences since then, but I’m not going to bore you with the details of them right now.

I have also always loved radio since I was a kid and I always wanted to be a radio DJ when I grew up. With the invention of the internet, I was able to combine my two little hobbies into one big one. In October of 2002, I started ParaReality Radio, an internet based radio talk show centering around the paranormal. This gave me the opportunity to share my knowledge and experience with people on a truly global scale.

ParaReality Radio launched onto the internet airwaves in October of 2002 on the Alternacast Radio Network. The show modeled itself after the worldly famous “Coast to Coast AM” radio program broadcast nightly on radio stations across the country. Just some of the topics covered include: Ghosts, Vampires, Werewolves, Bigfoot, Nessie, UFO’s, Aliens and anything and everything of a mysterious nature.

After firmly establishing itself as one of the most popular programs on the Alternacast Network, Alternacast ceased operations and left ParaReality Radio and many others without a broadcasting home. Eventually ParaReality Radio made it’s home on the Live365 Radio Network.

The show was a success for 5 years and exceeded anything that I ever thought possible. It was the #1 ranked show in its genre on Live365 for 4 years and many famous people in the paranormal community were featured as a guest on the show. What set my show apart from others like it is that I approach all of my topics from the angle of being a “open-minded skeptic.” I never had an agenda. I never wanted my listeners to blindly follow me. I simply presented them with the research that I had done, and let them make up their own minds.

In 2005, I was approached by WRFN, a traditional radio station out of Pasquo, TN, and they asked me if I would be interested in moving my show to their station. Of course, I said yes, but I also managed to keep my Live365 show as well. I hosted ParaReality Radio on WRFN from 2005 to 2007, and was one of the featured late night talk show hosts.

Unfortunately all good things must come to an end and I ended my time with WRFN in 2007. Then I decided to retire from the show completely in December of 2008.

To no one’s surprize, the itch began again for me in 2010 and I started looking into reviving ParaReality Radio. However I didn’t want to just do the “same old thing” again. I wanted something different. That’s when I began to look into the possibility of internet TV. Thanks to Livestream, that dream was made into a reality and I hosted my very own Internet TV show.

That, however, lasted only briefly and I eventually made my return to the medium that I love best – radio. The show is a little more scaled back from what it once was, but I still put all my heart and soul into it. I think you can tell that by the production value.

The main difference is that instead of internet radio, shows like mine were becoming podcasts. With that in mind, I joined the Spreaker Podcast Network and began hosting my show from there. I dropped the “Radio” and began calling it ParaReality.

In addition to interviewing guests such as Nick Redfern from History Channel’s Ancient Aliens, Scott Wolter from America Unearthed, and Jim Harold author and respected paranormal researcher, I have been to two Alien Cons and interviewed Contactees, been a featured podcaster at the Smoky Mountain Bigfoot Festival in Townsend, TN, and appeared as a guest on many other podcasts. In 2013, I won Best Radio Show at the Paranormal Awards.

Today, I have moved into the world of conspiracy theories and have devoted a lot of time into debunking some of the more outrageous theories out there. While I strongly think that it is OK to believe in conspiracy theories, I believe that we conspiracy theorists should also be held responsible for what we put out into the world. If we say or do something that causes harm to others, we should be held accountable for our actions. The recent Alex Jones case proves that. Therefore I have always encouraged my listeners to do their own research and make up their own minds as to what to believe – not believe it just because I do.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It definitely hasn’t been a smooth road! When I first began, all I had was a computer with an internet connection and a headset microphone that plugged directly into it. I had no idea what I was doing, or how to do it, really. I had to learn by trial and error. The first season of the show was terrible because I didn’t have good equipment, or the right equipment for that matter.
Then, in 2005, after I had been doing it for several years and began to have some success, I decided that it would be a good idea to go back to school and change careers. I don’t have any idea how I managed to do it, but I kept doing ParaReality throughout the entire process. My girlfriend at the time (who is now my wife), supported me during the entire thing. This was also during the time that I had two shows, one on Live365 and the other on WRFN. All this kept me constantly busy, with very little time to devote to the relationship, so needless to say, my personal life suffered greatly during this time. Keep in mind that I wasn’t making any money doing ParaReality either. I was doing it because I loved it, but it was slowly becoming a full-time, non-paid job. That’s why I decided to “retire” in 2008.
But my girlfriend and I always knew that I would get back to it eventually, and I did just two short years later. But this time, I kept it to one show and scaled it down a lot. However, in 2015, I decided, once again, to go back to school. So here I started the entire process over again. Only this time my girlfriend wasn’t just my girlfriend, she was my wife, which kind of complicated things a little. But once again, we survived.
In November of 2023, I was involved in an accident and spent 3 days in the hospital following a surgery on my left patella, which was almost completely destroyed and had to be rebuilt. This put me out of commission for about 3 months, but whenever I was able to, I got back to doing ParaReality. Unfortunately I lost some listeners, so I’m rebuilding my following again.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
For my “day job” I’m a Registered Nurse/Paramedic. I spent 15 years working in the Emergency Department. I also spent some time as an Emergency Preparedness Coordinator. I am now working as the Director of the Life Support Program at the Tennessee Valley Healthcare System.
I think that my many years in the healthcare system gives me a unique perspective whenever I comes to tackling the topics that I talk about on my podcast. I have a Masters in Nursing Education, and that has given me an analytical mind, and taught me a lot about the investigative process.

Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
As far a podcasting is concerned, I don’t see it going anywhere anytime soon. These days, it seems like everyone has a podcast and the industry is flooded with them. I estimate that about 90% of them don’t last very long. That’s because the host(s) don’t have a clear vision for what their podcast is, or where it could go. Not everybody is going to get picked-up by a podcast network and suddenly become popular and rich overnight. 99% of us don’t. However those of us that stick around do it because we love what we’re doing, have consistency in what we’re putting out, and have a clear vision for the identity of our podcasts.
In 5 – 10 years, I think that the number of podcasts will have decreased significantly, and the emphasis switched from trying to make money at it to attempting to put out quality content. I think that the “hobby” aspect of it will return.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.parareality.com
• Instagram: @ParaRealRadio
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sandman.parareality/
• Twitter: @ParaRealRadio
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ParaReality1