After twelve years, eleven seasons and 200+ episodes,Syfy’s longest-running series, Ghost Hunters is coming to an end, at least with the Syfy Channel. The show followed The Atlantic Paranormal Society (TAPS) across the country (including a select few international cases) in search of paranormal activity. The group, based out of Warwick, Rhode Island, explored everything from private homes to public buildings in some of the nation’s most historic cities. Premiering October 6, 2004, Ghost Hunters beats Travel Channel’s Ghost Adventures by four years, making TAPS the original ghost hunters. Before all of today’s hit paranormal shows, both fictional and reality, was Ghost Hunters.

I started watching Ghost Hunters in the winter of 2009, when my dad introduced me to the show. I used to come home from basketball games in seventh grade and run into the basement, where there was a bigger TV, to give my dad an update on the game. I told him whether we won or lost, how much I played, if I scored and, of course, the final score. Then I usually grabbed a snack and drink and hung out down there with him and immersed myself into the TV, which happened to be showing Ghost Hunters. I was hooked after the first episode I watched. They were at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, but it was only a re-run. I picked up the new episodes at the end of season 5.

From that day on I never missed a moment of the action. It became tradition for my dad and I to meet downstairs and talk about the most recent game, practice or activity while watching our favorite show. Since I have been at college, it has remained a tradition every Wednesday night. I work my schedule around the weekly hour episode of Ghost Hunters when it is in season, assuring all my work is done before and if not, it gets postponed until after. The show is so important to me that I ran across campus one night after coming back from watching a mandatory movie in Schar so that that I did not miss a single minute of the final season.

My weeks are never quite the same when Ghost Hunters is out of season, especially since re-runs are not on nearly as prevalent as they used to be. The show is my ultimate stress reliever. Setting aside one hour in the middle of the week to do nothing but lay back and relax with snacks and a cold pop is half of what got me though my freshman year. Fortunately, with the conclusion of every season so far has been the comfort and anticipation of the next season in a few short months. After this season, however, my world won’t quite be the same. The anticipation for the next season will no longer be there to comfort me; my only option will be to re-watch past episodes on DVD.

Although the future of Ghost Hunters is uncertain, it surely will not be the same even if it does get picked up by another network. The Syfy channel, my schedule and TV in general will never be the same without the original ghost hunters, but all of the current shows have the TAPS crew to thank for opening the door to the new domain of paranormal reality series. In the end, the important thing to remember is that TAPS accomplished their goal which was to spread awareness for the paranormal and make people feel more comfortable talking about their experiences.