SUPERNATURAL SPIRITS AFFLICT VICTIMS THROUGH PARANORMAL PETS IN ANIMAL PLANET'S EERIE NEW SERIES, THE HAUNTED

Owners Tell of Their Frightening, Real-life Hauntings Beginning November 22

(Silver Spring, MD, September 18, 2009) - Tales of ghosts and supernatural beings haunt the dreams of children and inspire peculiar horror films and books, but what if you found yourself trapped in the middle of your own ghost story? What if your home had been the scene of a terrifying fire 100 years ago or if your basement had been used for violent and deadly experiments? What if you discovered unexplainable bloody handprints on the walls around your baby's crib? And, what if you didn't know these things had happened, but the animals around you did? Welcome to the eerie world of THE HAUNTED (wt), Animal Planet's original 10-part series.

Premiering Friday, November 22, at 10 PM ET/PT, THE HAUNTED (wt) takes an intimate look at stories of people whose animals act as mediaries to the afterworld. Often the subjects of the most intense paranormal hauntings, animals are commonly believed to be more sensitive to spirits than people. Think of them as canaries in the paranormal coalmines. But when spirits afflict pets, the animals aren't the only victims. Owners also fall prey to paranormal activity and often will stop at nothing to rid their homes and pets of paranormal spirits.

When the hauntings become too intense, paranormal investigation teams are called in to examine and record the eerie and unexplainable events. The team members are experienced paranormal sleuths who study each haunting in order to make sense of and understand the strange smells, sights, sounds and behaviors. Investigators record voices and photograph odd presences using equipment ranging from ghost boxes to Electro Magnetic Field readers, which record sounds and capture ghostly images so shocking they are hard to believe.

Episodes of THE HAUNTED (wt) include intense tales of bizarre behavior, records of disturbing disappearances and unexpected deaths. One frightening investigation leads a family to an exorcism in a desperate attempt to abolish the evil demons that afflict them and their family dog. In another harrowing tale, after months of mysterious behavior from the family dog, a mother and father discover unexplainable blood smeared on the wall in their infant's room. What do you believe? And what would you do?

Beginning Sunday, November 22 through December 20, THE HAUNTED (wt) airs at 10 PM ET/PT. The series takes a break during the holiday season and resumes Sunday, January 3 through January 31 in the 8 PM time slot.

THE HAUNTED (wt) is produced for Animal Planet by Picture Shack Entertainment. George Plamondon and Betsy Schechter are the executive producers for Picture Shack Entertainment. Executive producer for Animal Planet is Dawn Sinsel.

Animal Planet Media (APM), a multi-media business unit of Discovery Communications, is the world's only entertainment brand that immerses viewers in the full range of life in the animal kingdom with rich, deep content via multiple platforms and offers animal lovers and pet owners access to a centralized online, television and mobile community for immersive, engaging, high-quality entertainment, information and enrichment. APM consists of the Animal Planet television network, available in more than 96 million homes in the US; online assets www.animalplanet.com, the ultimate online destination for all things animal; the 24/7 broadband channel, Animal Planet Beyond; Petfinder.com, the #1 pet-related Web property globally that facilitates pet adoption; and other media platforms including a robust Video-on-Demand (VOD) service; mobile content; and merchandising extensions.