“My grandfather always taught me that 3:00 AM was the Devil’s hour. At 3:15 Liz started screaming that her face was on fire. My grandfather turned his flashlight on her face and, as we all watched, three claw marks raked down her cheek and blood dripped onto her chest.” – Chris McKinnell, The Warren Legacy

What would it be like to have grandparents that were also world-famous ghost hunters? Author Chris McKinnell (The Warren Legacy) knows because he is the grandson of Ed & Lorraine Warren, two of the most controversial paranormal investigators in history. In fact, they often referred to themselves as “demonologists”.

In this wide-ranging interview, Richard and Chris discuss the Warren’s early cases, how their approach was shaped by their religious beliefs, his terrifying first night as a “ghost hunter” – and the contact he has had with his grandparents following their deaths.

Chris McKinnell grew up inside the cases that inspired The Conjuring universe. He was the first investigator on the ground in the Smurl haunting, which became the basis for Conjuring: Last Rites. He lived in the haunted funeral home featured in The Haunting in Connecticut. He is the only living witness to some of the most famous cases Ed and Lorraine Warren ever worked.

Chris began his own unique journey of investigating the unknown at just sixteen, assisting his grandfather on a violent poltergeist case. Since then, he has worked on over 10,000 cases across six continents, helping families and communities confront the unexplained.

Notes & Links:

Buy The Warren Legacy by Chris McKinnell here https://www.chrismckinnell.com/book/

Support RHPB on Patreon here! https://patreon.com/RichardHatem?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink

Celebrate 2026 with 26% off all RHPB merch with offer code RHPB26! CLICK HERE and the discount is pre-applied! https://richardhatem-shop.fourthwall.com/promo/RHPB26

Need help with your personal writing projects? Richard is here to help! Get 20% off when you mention RHPB! https://www.richardhatem.com/

The Cumin Club – delicious, easy, authentic Indian cuisine delivered right to your door. Use offer code RHPB to get 30% off on EVERY ORDER! https://www.thecuminclub.com/

“The strangest thing just happened. Your mother came through the wall of my apartment and said, ‘I have always loved you and I always will.’ Then she left.” No one had told Rose that my mother had just died. This encounter happened before she received any news of my mom’s death.” – from Hello From Heaven!

In 1988, Bill & Judy Guggenheim began collecting thousands of first-hand reports from people who experienced spontaneous visits from their deceased loved ones. Hello From Heaven! is jam-packed with over 300 stories – everything from phantom odors to mysterious voices to full body apparitions. After the first 200 reports you no longer question that something real is happening, and by the end you begin to wonder why it isn’t happening to everybody. It’s the perfect book for spring and the Easter season. Hello From Heaven! is a manifesto of hope.

For Richard, hope has always been a little hard to come by. But for a magical 10-month period in 2010/2011, it seems like hope is a given more than something strived for. As he shepherds a TV pilot (called “Heavenly”, if you must know) from pitch to script to set, it seems like all the angels are on his side. But how long can hope live in your heart? And in the cut-throat world of show business, do the angels ever really stand a chance?

Notes & Links:

Support RHPB on Patreon here! https://patreon.com/RichardHatem?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink

Celebrate 2026 with 26% off all RHPB merch with offer code RHPB26! CLICK HERE and the discount is pre-applied! https://richardhatem-shop.fourthwall.com/promo/RHPB26

Need help with your personal writing projects? Richard is here to help! Get 20% off when you mention RHPB! https://www.richardhatem.com/

The Cumin Club – delicious, easy, authentic Indian cuisine delivered right to your door. Use offer code RHPB to get 30% off on EVERY ORDER! https://www.thecuminclub.com/

Buy “Hello From Heaven” here https://bookshop.org/p/books/hello-from-heaven-a-new-field-of-research-after-death-communication-confirms-that-life-and-love-are-eternal-bill-guggenheim/476bce0083dd4c62?ean=9780553576344&next=t

Listen to Christopher Wynn’s podcast “Strange” here https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/strange/id1107060442

“I am a professional cliffhanger. Peddling adventure is my business, and at times it’s a mighty lean one. But the leanness is a part of it. Going hungry and thirsty and weird places that aren’t even marked on the map is part of it. My specialty is magic, the forbidden arts. Jadoo is my stock in trade.” – John A. Keel, Jadoo

Long before ‘The Mothman Prophecies’ there was ‘Jadoo’. Barely out of his teens, John Keel set out across the world in search of magic: both fake -- and real. He traveled alone through Egypt, Iraq and India, fighting off bandits, breaking bread with mystical holy men and dodging deadly cobras. He was Indiana Jones before there was an Indiana Jones. But instead of a whip, his iconic sidearm was his portable typewriter. All of his adventuring was in service of his one true dream – becoming a writer.

Richard shares this dream. And in the summer of 1987, he too sets off on an adventure – armed only with a tattered copy of ‘Lonesome Dove’ and a cassette tape of the Sex Pistols. He’s on the run – but whether it’s toward something or away, he’s not quite sure. And after a life-changing weekend in Chicago, he wonders if the road he’s been on his whole life might be about to change forever.

Links:
Buy Jadoo by John A. Keel here https://bookshop.org/p/books/jadoo-john-a-keel/3523f4b3dba9e0a9?ean=9781933665733&next=t

Support RHPB on Patreon here! https://patreon.com/RichardHatem?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink

Celebrate 2026 with 26% off all RHPB merch with offer code RHPB26! CLICK HERE and the discount is pre-applied! https://richardhatem-shop.fourthwall.com/promo/RHPB26

Need help with your personal writing projects? Richard is here to help! Get 20% off when you mention RHPB! https://www.richardhatem.com/

The Cumin Club – delicious, easy, authentic Indian cuisine delivered right to your door. Use offer code RHPB to get 30% off on EVERY ORDER! https://www.thecuminclub.com/