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March 3, 2008

Steven Spielberg’s Ghost Town

Michael Arrington

57 comments »

Hollywood super producer Steven Spielberg is preparing to launch a new social network, we’ve heard from multiple sources. The focus will be on users who’ve had or who are interested in sharing paranormal and extraterrestrial experiences. The new social network may also have original video content investigating alleged ghost and UFO stories.

Spielberg has always had a love for ghost and UFO stories. His movies include Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), Poltergeist (1982), E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982), Casper (1995), Men in Black (1997), The Haunting (1999), War of the Worlds (2005) and the upcoming Interstellar (2009). His first movie, at 16, was a 140-minute science fiction adventure called Firelight (which later inspired Close Encounters). Add to those titles a score of other sci-fi movies.

Spielberg has apparently had at least one paranormal experience himself. There are stories of him staying in a hotel called Excelsior House and being so frightened by ghosts that he fled the room and moved 20 miles away. We’ve also heard anecdotes about Spielberg seeing the ghost of a dead relative repeatedly as a child. Whether based in reality or the product of an exceptional imagination, these experiences may have had an impact on his life’s work and this upcoming social network.

The project may have originally been associated with Yahoo but the project was killed off before launch. But if our sources are right, the idea has lived on and a team in Los Angeles is working to launch it in the next few months.

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This entry was posted on Monday, March 3rd, 2008 at 11:06 pm and is filed under Company & Product Profiles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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  7. .: GAFNO.com - Hot World News Blog :. » Blog Archive » Report: Spielberg’s spooky social site

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  8. Nuevo social network paranormal - Foros de Chilehardware

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    April 29th, 2008 at 3:53 am

  13. Alles beta | Steven Spielberg und die Ufos

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Comments

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  1. Chance Vanek

    March 3rd, 2008 at 11:13 pm

    I just watched the interview Arrington did on tech ticker, and damn that was funny when she say’s something about him being a ahole. Arrington put’s it right back on her with the comment some people laugh because they think they have too, she doesn’t even realize he’s talking about her.

  2. Everett

    March 3rd, 2008 at 11:23 pm

    Spooky site!

  3. Dallas J Clark

    March 3rd, 2008 at 11:25 pm

    Casper !

  4. Ryan

    March 3rd, 2008 at 11:28 pm

    Couldn’t you just create a Ning social network for this?

  5. ZiZi

    March 3rd, 2008 at 11:38 pm

    @ ryan.
    Yeah, i agree, they would have saved 99.9% of their budget.

  6. ZiZi

    March 3rd, 2008 at 11:40 pm

    ohh, an launched it in 30 days MAX (assuming they customize things)

  7. Peter

    March 3rd, 2008 at 11:45 pm

    You could probably create a Ning network, but I think the original content will drive a lot of traffic

  8. Nipplebot

    March 4th, 2008 at 12:03 am

    There’s a big difference between “UFOs” and “little green men”.

  9. Dula The Man!

    March 4th, 2008 at 1:19 am

    E.T.? Good

    Indiana Jones? Good

    UFO Fan Super Site? LOL

    Steven Spielberg should stick to movies.

  10. raskin

    March 4th, 2008 at 4:37 am

    Ning is garbage.

  11. Bahne

    March 4th, 2008 at 5:11 am

    If he used ning.com or sixgroups.com he would have it online right away.

  12. chris_rock

    March 4th, 2008 at 5:15 am

    nice post

  13. Naren

    March 4th, 2008 at 5:17 am

    He is a creative person..and I guess took a right decision.

  14. Maria

    March 4th, 2008 at 5:44 am

    There is already a site like this on the internet:

    “Disclose.tv is a fast growing multimedia sharing community dedicated to the mysteries, secrets, anomalies, conspiracies and other alternative or unexplained topics of this world - the first of its kind.”

    http://www.disclose.tv

  15. Anrkist

    March 4th, 2008 at 5:47 am

    Do you remember the good old days
    Before the ghost town?
    We danced and sang,
    And the music played inna de boomtown

  16. Jurado

    March 4th, 2008 at 6:12 am

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsK1c9ZBpuw

  17. guido

    March 4th, 2008 at 6:17 am

    wonderful i suggest outerspace

  18. Bob Kiger

    March 4th, 2008 at 7:01 am

    Spielberg has VID
    I know him
    So does George Lucas
    I know him
    As to this article and comments ?
    DIVID
    Do you … you
    VID

  19. Dr. G

    March 4th, 2008 at 7:16 am

    Is there a chance this has something to do with his affiliation with Electronic Arts — maybe some initial viral marketing for an upcoming game?

    At EA, Spielberg’s working with Neil Young, who spearheaded the company’s web-based conspiracy thriller, Majestic, back in the early 2000s.

  20. Sanibel Photography Photographers

    March 4th, 2008 at 9:00 am

    Close Encounters was his best movie of all times! On topic though, I don’t know about this new social network…

  21. mikebell

    March 4th, 2008 at 9:07 am

    >Do You Believe In
    >UFOs
    >Ghosts

    Well, ghosts are nonsense but UFO phenomena is very real (note, UFO stands for Unidentified Flying Phenomena… it does not mean I believe that these UFOs are alien.) Most UFO believers have no idea what UFOs are.

  22. smash579

    March 4th, 2008 at 9:20 am

    @20
    too true.

    any civilian / military craft thats not idnetified. or even any natural phenomena can be completely legitimately categorized as UFOs until positively ‘identified’.
    yet this is never clarified when discussing UFOs in the media, generating undeserved bias to anyone discussing them.

  23. Alex

    March 4th, 2008 at 9:55 am

    I will be interested to see what features they will include that are difficult to include in a ning network…if there are any unique features

  24. Mme kejtoume

    March 4th, 2008 at 10:43 am

    BONJOUR .Je suis dans le paranormal et je crois aux OVNIS Meme au Maghreb il y a desapparition d’Ovnis spectaculaire dont on ne parle jamais et des recis pas tellement ancien de réunion d’extra terrestre en cercle et d’enlevement sanglant
    Cordialement

  25. Barry Lack

    March 4th, 2008 at 2:34 pm

    I can well understand people who have not experienced anything
    unusual /paranormal mocking,but having lived in two “haunted” buildings with
    constant,but thankfully benign instances of “happenings” i can only say that
    there are things which defy rational explanation which both myself and my
    familly have seen,heard and smelt(and there’s a story!!) in the 300 year old inn that we ran for a period of years. I actually new of one so called ghost
    who was supposed to haunt the inn as he was an ex landlord. I totally
    dismissed the possibility because he had died many miles away in Hospital.
    I found out years later when i spoke to his widow that unbeknown to
    anyone he had her scatter his ashes on the carpark of his beloved inn!!
    Something only she knew about! This only one of many instances that my
    familly( six of us) could vouch for.

  26. Hendra

    March 4th, 2008 at 4:59 pm

    WTF does he know abt social networking, i’m sure he’ll be better off shooting at fake motorized sharks.

  27. DUHPAL

    March 4th, 2008 at 8:43 pm

    This is ridiculous! Spielberg should stick to making pretentious crap off line.

  28. Daniel Pyle

    March 4th, 2008 at 11:41 pm

    Finally I can share my molestation stories and not feel out of place…..like I did in church. Aliens abduct people all the time. This one was dressed like a priest though….spooky.

  29. George Lechter

    March 4th, 2008 at 11:50 pm

    I enjoyed using the ghost meter at http://www.ghostmeter.com

  30. Veronica Keen

    March 5th, 2008 at 5:26 am

    My husband, Montague Keen, died while being filmed at the RSA in London on the 15thJan 2004, he has materialised, He made the Speech in his own voice for his Day of Tribute 5monts AFTER he died, it is on tape , I played it in the day, he is in constant contact giving information on what is going on in our World. He intends to BE FILMED SPEAKING soon in a Univercity Lab. with only scientists present, he is making history. He has appeared during a seance and answered all the questions asked , the report of this is on the website. He told us a couple of years ago that Mr Speilberg will make the film, I have many tapes of him speaking after he died.He had reseaeched the Paranormal for many years so he knew what to do.

  31. Mark

    March 5th, 2008 at 8:43 am

    The number one site for these topics gets over 1.5 million unique visitors a month and >130,000 registered members. http://www.abovetopsecret.com check it out.

  32. Veronica Keen

    March 5th, 2008 at 8:50 am

    I forgot to put the website address; http://www.montaguekeen.com

  33. cuzican54

    March 5th, 2008 at 10:42 am

    well, if Spielberg can somehow tie this into one of his next movies, he will have a huge advantage in terms of marketing… he also oviously has the resources to fund this thing :)

    my constructive criticisms here: http://chide.it/post/49/

  34. Matt McLernon

    March 5th, 2008 at 11:28 am

    Anyone else wondering if Spielberg uses the network to cull content for a future movie? Maybe even trying something progressive?

    Saw that Cuzican and others are thinking along that line. I’m staking a bet that he is: http://blog.bitepr.com/2008/03/social-network.html

  35. YOUR MOMA

    March 5th, 2008 at 5:13 pm

    Steve is playing with fire. Movies movies every where and not a drop to drink.

  36. mountain1

    March 5th, 2008 at 8:01 pm

    hey jsut wanted to say something really quick., if u ahve never heard of Bux.to (they pay you 1 cent to look at a ad for 30 secs) you should go! k anyways if you dont get refers then you only get like 1 cent per ad but if you get other people to refer under you, you get another cent every time THEY watch a ad and every ad you click, you get 1 more cent so 2 cents.. get it? anyways if you can…. can you guys refer under me?

    http://bux.to/?r=mountain1

    if you do you can email me at truste_us@hotmail.com for a auto clicker that clicks your ads for you..
    ive made liek 21 cents in 2 minutes…. kk thanks

  37. Debunk

    March 5th, 2008 at 9:55 pm

    Is this a joke??? Spielberg didn’t even make half of the movies listed in the article;

    (Casper:Brad Silberling), (MIB:Barry Sonnenfeld) (The Haunting:Jan de Bont)

    SOURCE: IMDB (http://www.imdb.com/)

  38. Ghost21

    March 6th, 2008 at 12:56 am

    He is a creative person.. but not first :-)
    See: http://www.nautilus.org.pl
    (unfortunately only polish)

  39. Nancy Snell

    March 7th, 2008 at 1:26 pm

    I think in all that everyone had great comments. I too believe in ghost myself, i have had some experiences of my own in my life. I grew up on a farm, alot of strange things would happen there. On ufo’s and alien beings, i believe some but unsure.

  40. Proman

    March 7th, 2008 at 9:17 pm

    “March 5th, 2008 at 9:55 pm

    Is this a joke??? Spielberg didn’t even make half of the movies listed in the article;

    (Casper:Brad Silberling), (MIB:Barry Sonnenfeld) (The Haunting:Jan de Bont)

    SOURCE: IMDB (http://www.imdb.com/)”

    You didn’t finish your research there, buddy. Spielberg was a producer on all of the above mentioned prokects and a very hands on one, at that.

    This is a very cool idea that I think a lot of people are really going to dig. Just becuase it’s not for you doesn’t make it bad. As was mentioned, Spielberg is very creative and this idea probably has a lot more to it than we know at this point.

  41. UFODee

    March 15th, 2008 at 10:03 pm

    I can tell you hair raising UFO stories and Paranormal happenings I had, I try to not think about them , but I believe 100% that what happened to me and what I saw was not my Imagination. I fact while at a friends home, I had a paranormal situation and new someone was going to get hurt.They thought I was nuts, until as we were heading home we came up to a flipped truck in the ditch, a friend who my family knew.I had my paranormal happening at the same exact time he flipped his truck in the ditch…I heard a tapping on a window and the feeling of someone who was hurt came to me.To this day they still don’t believe what happened.
    UFOs… I have seen them and I won a first in in a UFO fair for my writing of true UFO story. It was true and I had a witness. I am now attempting another fair writing about another snoopy UFO and I have done a forward for a book my friend is now almost ready to get in a paper back book.She already has her copy write through congress.True UFO stories and I am working at being a UFO scout with Mufon. I believe we are being put in the dark on what ever is going on in our skies and I believe there is some sort life in the beyond, we as humans can not comprehend.I have had a paranormal animal happening also..My dog saved my life and came home from 40 miles away after my parents gave him to another family. I guess I have been lucky and God has helped me to see there is more then just us and our life in this big world.All I can say is we are not alone and things that go bump in the night are just that and our dreams and after lives tell us of past and future. With all the unanswered questions out there and the new stuff being found…no-one can deny that we have some special ability not seen or tapped into because we have not figured it out yet..I guaranty someday all of us will have to except that life is more then just what we see and here and feel. There is more to this world that meets the eye!

    Keep looking up, believe and never let anyone say you did not see a UFO!
    Some UFOs are from our world ..But not everyone of them, you can bet on that one!

  42. UFODee

    March 15th, 2008 at 10:28 pm

    IF I get deleted it’s because of UFO stuff…It was the a debunker or those they work for.
    They are still keeping track of our UFO conversations folks….JUST KIDDING!
    ……………………………………………………………………………………………………..
    NOW THINK about this!
    But You know, I think it is kind of “Anti protection” for our world to do so!
    If they don’t want it talked about … why? Now if we see a UFO and it is really a enemy with a new type of un-seeable flying weapon… we will be in big trouble. It makes you then think… if they say stop looking for UFOs, then it’s like saying: They don’t want you to help protect our USA or world…
    Does it not?
    To me it sends that message out….Now who is looking bad! You or them?
    Anyway, that is my opinion and does not reflect on our Military or those who protect our world…We love them all and want them safe and to come back to us alive!!!!!
    UFOs are just still the question, I feel needs to be looked at much closer!
    Keep looking up! :)

  43. UFODee

    March 16th, 2008 at 12:46 am

    Now that would make a cool interesting movie…
    Our goverment says not to help keep our world safe by telling us to not look for or study UFOs.While that is happening, we are being invaded slowly by Aliens or someone else…. that look human, but have particular ways that you can tell they are not…You tell the military you have figured them out from your studies and they say your just joking or are crazy.
    You try to get this a crossed to them, but it is to late and we get taken over… the UFOs take our world over and we are plane out of luck! and if you think that can’t happen well look at some of the wars we have been in and where we are now!Think about that!

  44. Truthtoyou

    March 19th, 2008 at 9:56 am

    UFOs are real !

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