LOYD AUERBACH is Director of the Office of Paranormal Investigations, was appointed to the faculty of Atlantic University of Virginia Beach, VA, in late 2010, where he’s involved in developing online Parapsychology-related courses, as well as teaching an existing Parapsychology course. He was recently elected President of the Forever Family Foundation (for 2013 & 2014), an organization supporting research on Life After Death and the work of spirit mediums in the grieving process, after serving on their Scientific Advisory Board. He is the co-author, with the late renowned psychic Annette Martin, of The Ghost Detectives’ Guide to Haunted San Francisco (Craven Street Books/Linden Publishing, April 1, 2011).
He is the author A PARANORMAL CASEBOOK: Ghost Hunting in the New Millennium (Atriad Press, 2005). His 2004 releases were GHOST HUNTING: How to Investigate the Paranormal and HAUNTINGS & POLTERGEISTS: A Ghost Hunter’s Guide (Ronin Publishing). His first book, ESP, HAUNTINGS AND POLTERGEISTS: A Parapsychologist’s Handbook (1986, Warner Books) was named the “Sacred Text”` on ghosts by NEWSWEEK (in August, 1996). PSYCHIC DREAMING (1991, Warner Books; 1999 Barnes & Noble Books), deals with the current understanding of dreams in general and psychic dreams in particular. His third book, REINCARNATION, CHANNELING AND POSSESSION, was published by Warner Books in April, 1993. MIND OVER MATTER (Kensington Books, 1996) focused on the limits human beings set for themselves and on psychokinesis. In 1999, he released the first video on “The Haunting of the USS Hornet” (a haunted WWII era aircraft carrier in Alameda,CA). REINCARNATION, CHANNELING AND POSSESSION: A Parapsychologist’s Handbook is now available again from Kindle and Nook.
Very soon, another book will have him jump genres to Chocolate (just call him the “Chocolate Maven”). Look for Haunted by Chocolate: How to Go from Chocoholic to Chocolate Gourmet in 2013. In 2009, he finished a Professional Chocolatier course and began selling his own unique chocolate products (“Ghost Drops”) in late 2010. Visit www.hauntedbychocolate.com for information about the book, chocolate tasting sessions and to purchase the chocolates he now produces himself.
He serves on the Board of Directors for the Rhine Research Center in Durham, NC, and the Advisory Boards of the Rhine and the Windbridge Institute in Tucson, AZ. Early 2013 has him also teaching online for the Rhine Education Center.
He was a Consulting Editor & columnist for FATE Magazine, a national publication dealing with the “unexplained,” from 1991 to December 2004.
Auerbach is the creator and principal instructor of the Certificate Program in Parapsychological Studies at HCH Institute in Lafayette, CA. This California state-registered program started in 2005, and has been available for Distance Learning since 2006. For more information, visit www.hypnotherapytraining.com/parapsych.cfm
Loyd Auerbach has been an Adjunct Professor, currently in Integral Studies, at JFK University since 1983. The university, formerly in Orinda, CA, now resides in Pleasant Hill, CA. He also served on the faculty of Rosebridge Graduate School for Integrative Psychology 1996-1998. He holds a BA in Cultural Anthropology from Northwestern University (1978), and an MS in Parapsychology from JFK University (1981). In January, 2011, he began teaching Parapsychology (online) through Atlantic University of Virginia Beach, VA and is helping develop their MA in Interdisciplinary Consciousness Studies.
He has lectured for well over 25 years on the college speaking circuit (and occasionally to science conferences, and business/corporate groups) and continues to do so. He is also available for appearances at Ghost Hunting, and Paranormal, Metaphysical and Science Fiction and Comic Book Conventions, Conferences and events. Contact him at profparanormal@gmail.com for booking information.
A married resident of Martinez, California, Prof. Auerbach has been teaching Parapsychology and related topics in the San Francisco Bay Area and in New York for three decades, with courses at the graduate school level, continuing education and the non-academic. He has taught courses in Parapsychology, Anthropology, Altered States of Consciousness, Science Fiction, Magic, Media and Public Speaking.
In 2012, he began offering individual and small group Mentoring and Coaching for investigators, ghost hunters who want help with their individual cases and methods, and especially for psychics/mediums/sensitives who want to learn more about their own abilities and take them to the next level. For more information, go to http://mindreader.com/category/coaching-mentoring/
His first job in the field was as Public Information and Media Consultant to the American Society for Psychical Research in New York from 1982 through mid-1983. While there, he acted as a spokesperson and as an intermediary to facilitate communication between the media and the parapsychological community. Auerbach is an associate member of the Parapsychological Association, and a member of the Society for Scientific Exploration.
For over three decades, he has been investigating cases of reported paranormal phenomena, helping people understand what may (or may not) be going on in their lives. In 1989, he founded the Office of Paranormal Investigations (OPI) to replace a gap filled by the ending of the JFK University graduate program. OPI is a group and network for people to call when they believe they have a psychic or paranormal disturbance, and a resource center for Media, businesspeople, scientists, law enforcement agencies, and attorneys. While OPI’s main investigations are in the Bay Area, the group has affiliated investigators in many other areas of the country through its own network. In addition, he is currently working with several others to establish an organization to help connect parapsychologists and the growing paranormal community (amateur and hobbyist paranormal investigators and ghost hunters).
Auerbach was President of the Psychic Entertainers Association (PEA) from 2001-2005, and again for a short time in 2006. The PEA is an international organization of psychic entertainers (performers of including mentalism, bizarre magick, hypnotism, cold reading, and allied arts). He recently finished a multi-year run on the Board of Directors, and continues as the annual meeting liaison.
Loyd Auerbach is an accomplished Mentalist and Psychic Entertainer, performing as Professor Paranormal for private parties, corporations, at colleges and restaurants. His knowledge and interest in magic began while he was a graduate student, through a course he took intended to introduce the would-be researchers to the methods of phony psychics. He has since taught that same course a number of times. He is a member of the Academy of Magical Arts, has served on the Occult Investigations Committee of the Society of American Magicians, and was 1989 President of Assembly 112 of the Society of American Magicians. He received a credit as a “Creative Consultant” to the Magic of David Copperfield X: The Bermuda Triangle (CBS 1988).
Since 1991, and the development of a “spirit theater” show called Séance Fiction Theater, he left behind being a magician a moved into the realm of psychic entertainment and mentalism. While he loves his séance show, his main focus is performing for small, intimate groups (dinner parties, and the like) and his one-man show for the corporate, association and college markets, “Professor Paranormal’s Psychic Mind Theater!“ And he loves to weave his love and knowledge of chocolate into it all (yes, it can be done).
Prof. Auerbach is very interested and concerned with media portrayals of the phenomena and the science of Parapsychology. He has been a consultant to various television producers and writers in the United States, Japan, and Great Britain, providing both scientific and creative input, as well as help in promotion. He keeps tabs on the Media’s portrayal of Parapsychology through his constant contact with the media and his colleagues, and a variety of online tools (and watching a lot of TV and movies).
Loyd’s media exposure includes many prominent appearances on television, including ABC’s THE VIEW, ESPN’s SportsCenter and SportsNation, Ghost Adventures, William Shatner’s Weird or What?, Ghost Stories, Criss Angel: MindFreak, Larry King Live, the Today Show, Unsolved Mysteries, Oprah, two episodes of LivingTV’s Dead Famous, the A&E special Mediums: We See Dead People, Popular Mechanics for Kids,The New Edge, Dead Famous, The Joan Rivers Show, Hard Copy, Evening Magazine, The Late Show, PM Magazine, Hour Magazine, Strange Universe, History Channel specials Voodoo Secrets and Vampire Secrets (talking about folklore), Science of the Impossible, and frequent appearances on Sightings (go to: 1, 2, 3). He’s often seen on paranormal programs for the Travel Channel, A&E, History Channel, Discovery Channel, TLC, BIO and SyFy.
His appearances on radio, podcasts and in print have numbered in the thousands with occasional appearances on Coast to Coast AM, and otherwise have included Disney Adventure Magazine, Intuition magazine, OMNI, Gannett News Service, ABC TalkRadio, and the Associated Press, among others; Bay Area appearances & interviews with KGO Radio and TV, KPIX-TV, KTVU-TV, KHBK-TV, KCBS Radio, KRON-TV, the Oakland Tribune, the San Jose Mercury News, the San Francisco Chronicle and Examiner, the Contra Costa Times; New York appearances on many television and radio talk and news shows; and interviews in the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times. A feature article about him appeared in Southwest Airlines’ magazine SPIRIT in March, 1998. He was the subject of a 7000+ word cover feature in the East Bay Express in February 2003 (Go to http://www.eastbayexpress.com and conduct a search on his name if it’s not available at “Talking Head for the Undead” ).
His is a familiar name around the nation as his media appearances number in the thousands: he has been interviewed on television, radio and in print all over the U.S. and Canada. He also gained recognition in Japan, having been featured in six television specials in 1991-94 on Tokyo Broadcasting System, the last shot in the Australian outback.
On the “offbeat” side, in May of 1993, he took David Letterman on a walk through a haunted house, which was broadcast on Late Night with David Letterman (NBC). He worked on-camera and as Associate Producer for a TV pilot for a series called Haunted America with Abbitt-Prest Productions, and as a field director for Mysterious Forces Beyond and Strange Universe. In 1999, he co-produced the first in a proposed series of investigation videos about haunted locations, THE HAUNTING OF THE USS HORNET, focusing on the ghostly experiences aboard a retired naval aircraft carrier.
His media expertise is often brought into play as a media and public speaking coach for authors and businesspeople. He has taught a Media Skills course annually at JFKUniversity since 1989 (which included public speaking 1989-2006), is featured as an “expert” in Public Speaking for Dummies by Malcolm Kushner (IDG Books, 1999; John Wiley & Sons 2004), and was Technical Editor for the last two editions of that book.
In 2012, he began an individual public speaking / presentation skills coaching service for executives, salespeople, therapists, entrepreneurs, owners of small to medium businesses, realtors, attorneys, librarians, scientists, writers, and anyone else who needs to develop skills in speaking to groups of people — small or large — and media and publicity skills coaching for authors/writers or anyone else wanting to promote their work to the public through the media, and additionally provides media skills training (how to be a good “guest” on TV and Radio).
Loyd Auerbach, M.S., is available as a consultant and lecturer, for interviews, for chocolate, and of course, as Professor Paranormal. He can be reached via email at profparanormal@gmail.com, by phone through the Office of Paranormal Investigations at (415) 249-9275, or through his chocolate website, www.hauntedbychocolate.com and hauntedbychocolate@gmail.com or info@hauntedbychocolate.com.
If interested in coaching for Public Speaking, Publicity or Media Skills Coaching or Workshops/Seminars, contact Loyd at loydauerbach@gmail.com (or through any of the above means).
Visit his Facebook page at www.facebook.com/loyd.auerbach
Follow him on Twitter @profparanormal or @hauntedchocolat or @loydauerbach