Interview: Adam Kimmell | Rebecca Kirschbaum (Resident Undead)

How did the two of you meet and when did “Resident Undead” manifest?

Becca: It was Adam’s brainchild, it was his project from the very beginning and I got pulled on to it by a mutual friend that we both had at the time. Our first meeting was this crazy experience. I remember I was asleep in my bed and the energy shifted so intensely on the property that I sat up and I had no idea what had happened but something just changed so intensely, like the whole world felt like it was rocking. Our friend called Adam and said, did you just get here like on a whim? Just wondering? I don’t know why Adam registered in my brain like that but he registered in world rocking force. But maybe that was a sign from the universe that I was supposed to be involved.

RESIDENT UNDEAD: Starring: Cast: Adam Kimmell, Rebecca Kirschbaum, Ashley Lekki, Chris Musgrove — Pre-Production: Adam Kimmell and Dann Allen — Production Coordinator: Krista Musgrove — Social Media: Rebecca Kirschbaum

Adam: I can validate the story. It is one hundred percent true. I don’t know you’re beliefs on psychic phenomenon or any of this kind of stuff but I do believe in Becca. I worked with many psychics but Becca is legit. It was through the first experiences together and of course I put her through hoops to test her but time and time again, she just impresses me. Do I believe people are meant on certain paths to meet each other… absolutely? Our friend did text me right as I was at the check-in desk of the hotel and asked are you here? I said yes and he said this is ridiculous, she just sat up straight in the bed and felt something.

Do the two of you feel that because you do have such strong beliefs in the paranormal etc. that you mesh better together?

Becca: That is the funny thing. Actually when I got involved with Adam, he wasn’t sure how he felt about psychics. He wasn’t really into the whole psychic thing. He kind of believed in them but it was something he was skeptical of. Adam and I did not really mesh well probably for about a year of working together. We continued to show up at the same place and work on the same project. We called it. What is it called? Masochism?

Adam: I have a very scientific mind. I do believe from things I’ve seen, I want to believe everything that I see. But with Becca, like she said she is not going to pull my leg. I trust her one hundred percent. That is something you acquire over time. It is not “Resident Undead” without Becca. I won’t proceed if I don’t have her because it has become such a unique investigation style with her that I don’t know how to operate without her.

Becca: It is like a teamwork thing. It took us all a while I think to trust each other enough to work well together.

What do you think has been the most challenging aspect of filming “Resident Undead?”

Becca: Every single shoot is a challenge, every single hour that we put into editing is a challenge.

Adam: I think what it comes down to, I think in the paranormal community there is a lot of competition. It is unnecessary competition. We all feel like we are the enemy to one another. We are all trying to reach the same goal, correct. So you always see people trying to out-do each other. I think the one hardest thing of “Resident Undead” is, we only compete against ourselves. We are competing to push ourselves harder, to conduct an investigation in the real world. We have jobs, we don’t do this full time. We don’t have that luxury. We have sixteen hours to conduct the most thorough and on point investigation that we can at a location. Real world scenarios and that is some of the hardest things to overcome. We want to share this stuff.

How do you decide where you will investigate?

Becca: They do a lot of research in to places that may even have an availability because a lot of these big places are booked so far out because of the popularity of what we do is starting to grow even more. Then from there if we can find more than one place that is available and has a good history we will start to talk about it. That being said the House of Wills was Kimmell’s choice. I fought him tooth and nail on the House of Wills for practical reasons and impractical reasons.

Adam: Becca’s role will come in once we are in post-production, Becca will step in. She can’t know the location but sometimes we will tell her for example with House of Wills. It wasn’t on anyone’s radar till I had told her we were going to House of Wills. Even if you were to Google the place when we first went there. There was nothing on it. It was just an old funeral home.

What would make you say no to investigate an abandoned building?

Becca: We do have one stipulation now and that is no more bad areas. Because of that investigation we actually had police officers, five of them come and with their guns drawn to try and save us. There was a possible intruder. We had to have five police cars with the lights on to escort us out of the neighborhood and to the interstate so we didn’t get car jacked.

What has been the most outrageous event that has happened to both of you on a shoot?

Becca: The House of Wills was probably my most intense experience. I completely lost control and that has never happened to me on-set before and it has not happened after. I don’t know what the circumstances were but I fully thought that I was going to be completely possessed. I tried to fight it really hard but I definitely felt like something had a good grip on me. We still don’t know why but there is a possibility that it was some sort of guardian of someone that was with me. Now were getting supernatural and weird but there is footage of Adam and Ashley are trying to drag me out of the building because they think I am having a bad reaction to the spirit and the building. You see where we start to go towards the Exit and my head snaps completely back and my body starts to convulse because I don’t want to go that way. Knowing what we know and knowing that there was somebody physically in the building who may or may not have meant us harm. It is also possible that is was something trying to keep us safe.

Adam: There have been a lot of “oh shit” moments but going back to House of Wills and what happened to Becca and it scared me. It takes a lot to scare me. You start to become desensitized to stuff but with what happened to her, I was genuinely scared. I didn’t know what to do, how do you stop something you can’t see? I remember Michelle Belanger had told me two things. It was either to shock her body to reset it you would have to throw cold water on her or slap her. I am panicking and all I am thinking is Michelle in my head and this is what you have to do. She didn’t think it was malicious but I thought it was. In my brain I don’t jump to the demon angle or anything like that. When she started talking about this kid that was shot on the front porch.

Becca: I was literally just thinking about that!

Adam: Let me see if you even agree. This happened about a year and a half ago. I was thinking about it and you kept saying how this kid was not bad, he just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. He understands his lifestyle was wrong because I think he was in a gang and he got shot. It was on the front porch of this building and he was still there. Becca had picked up on him.

Becca: Nobody told me he had been shot here.

Adam: You had said something like, he doesn’t mean ill will he just wants to help. We actually did get an EVP that said, “I just want to help.” It makes me wonder when it comes to poltergeist and things being moved, I know it takes a lot of energy. It could have been that one in a million chance that we knew someone was breaking into the building, we saw flashlights come in. Is it possible that in that moment the spirit knew we were in danger? Could it have been the spirit buying us time because maybe gang members were outside because there are two main entrance points? When we did go to take Becca out of the building her head violently snapped back. We couldn’t take her so we took her to the left of the room. I didn’t know what to do and could it have been that they were waiting for us to exit, were they waiting to kill us. I know it is so deep but Becca in real time I think Becca was onto something. I think it was more protection than anything.

Becca: It took you two years to come around.

Adam: I wasn’t the one semi-possessed. I am looking at it from a scientific point of view and evidence. You know what the evidence points to more protection than sinister.

Becca: I don’t think it was gang members coming for us but I definitely think it was bad. Four or five cops showed up that night with gun drawn. If they come in and tell you to stay in the room. When they were finally finished they said you guys take care of the ghost, we will take care of the criminals. They were terrified to come in. Networks will shut you down if you have something that they think will be controversial.

Adam: That was probably the most real moment. We don’t put a filter on “Resident Undead.” If Becca wants to go balls to the wall and she says there is an abortion or something off the radar we are going to use it.

Becca: The House of Wills when you actually walk through it there are places where you can see blood on the walls. It is a scary place. Ghost hunters are going there because they think it’s hardcore and I want to say please don’t follow in our footsteps and go there. The man who owns the place is a Satanist and he is a shock value Satanist. It is not a good place. The man is nice but if you are not a strong protected person I don’t know if it is a great place to go. It is definitely an experience I will never forget.

Is it one of those places that you walk into and it almost takes your breath away?

Becca: Yes definitely and I don’t know if it because the place is so decrepit or if it is on an energy level. It is hard to breathe when you are there

(Disclaimer: Becca and Adam advised they would NOT recommend unprofessional investigators to investigate House of Wills. They advise to stay away and it is dangerous. Please do not investigate some place you are not familiar with and you are not a professional. Becca and Adam are professionals.)

What are your thoughts on when you are doing an investigation where you have to go in such a horrible environment like that? How do you feel the spirits that may be trapped feel?

Adam: I recently purchased the Randolph County Infirmary with a partner that we film with. I think this will give you the perfect answer. We are caretakers and they know who is in charge not in a dominant alpha way but they understand we are here to fix the building. I study human beings to understand spirits. Some of them will lost their human elements. Not all of them.

Becca: It creates a bad atmosphere for the spirit. It is shock-value.

Adam: Let’s say they go to an asylum and there is an evil doctor there. How do we know he was evil, how do we not know he was misunderstood and perhaps during his time period he was doing the best that he could with the technology of his time.

Have you and Becca ever thought of bringing people in to teach? People who have gifts or want to learn about ghost hunting?

Becca: That is a fascinating idea. The new season of “Resident Undead” is called Legacy and the idea is bringing in other people in the field who can bring us new ideas. We hadn’t thought of doing it that way, it would be interesting. That would be a fascinating thing for people who watch to bring them on an investigation.

Adam: Plus it helps because I think we try to give so much evidence. First off if we were faking it, investigations are lost. Legacy is to learn. It is to put all of our pride to the side and say okay, lets mix and mingle and see what we can learn from you.

Is there anything that you will not do regarding the paranormal? Any type of dark or evil places you would never deal with?

Adam: Sign me up!

Becca: I am torn for a couple of reasons. I know that I can be profoundly affected by darkness. I have been my entire life. If Kimmell calls and I have been putting off certain things because I don’t particularly want to go. I would still go but I would go only after having told some of my friends who keep me honest. Kind of like an accountability person. Sometimes I soak up stuff and I can’t figure out how to let it go. I have these terrible nightmares and I have been devastated since I had that nightmare. I am still trying to learn the balance and I go to intense places. I will go to dark places but with caution.

Adam: My friendship with Becca, I have become super protective. I understand they take a toll on her and she is not some kind of circus freak. I protect her.

Becca: That’s beautiful!

What advice would the two of you offer to people who are already in this business or to people who want to start out in this business?

Becca: I get a lot of emails and I am super behind on my emails because the more we put it out there the more emails we get. I get a lot of I think I am psychic, what do I do? My first answer to people is know that you are not alone. You are not by yourself in this. Your first response doesn’t have to be I am experiencing something other people are not, I must be crazy. I am an advocate of checking out all avenues and working through things. We live in a society where we are taught to believe that everything is black and white. It is very difficult for those people who live lives that are different shades of gray. My first answer is you are not alone. There are resources out there, get out there and do as much research as possible because knowledge is power. My second answer is always take control of your life. You don’t have to be trapped or imprisoned by yourself.

Adam: I guess you know coming from my evolution of what I was coming from this werewolf frat boy and then slowly became a human being. I don’t regret it. That is what I would tell people is to be yourself, take your aspect of what you are. The essence of you and throw it into this game. We have too many people that are cookie cutters that are just mimicking the next person. It is about the research, it is not about the imagery. Just be yourself because every little unique thing you bring to it is something new to this research. Be that uniqueness and evolve into that uniqueness. That is the key but always be yourself.

Becca: I like that.

For “Resident Undead,” are there any guest stars you would love to have on the series?

Becca: I always wanted to work with Lorraine Warren just to interact with her on a personal level. I am fascinated by her. She says stuff that I have personally experienced. And Ed Warren would have awesome too. I would have loved to investigate with him.

Adam: Lorraine Warren would have been great on the dueling psychic’s episode. Lady Gaga would be a fresh perspective. She would be into it.

What is next for “Resident Undead” and for the two of you?
Becca: We have a website, http://www.residentundead.com/ and a Facebook page. The episodes are on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/user/adamkimmell what’s next for us is we are working towards a possible documentary.

They also did an amazing convention to help support cystic fibrosis.

YOUTUBE https://www.youtube.com/user/adamkimmell

FACEBOOK https://www.facebook.com/ResidentUndead

TWITTER https://twitter.com/ResidentUndead

https://www.instagram.com/beccakirschbaum1/