LARRY MONTZ

Larry Montz Parapsychologist, Updated March 2022

THE ORIGINAL PARANORMAL INFLUENCER

• _{Field Parapsychologist} 
• _{1993 creator of world-acclaimed GHOST EXPEDITIONS}
• _{20th century co-creator of award-winning ISPR INVESTIGATES doc series} 
• _{Creator of the PARAPLEX: World’s first 24/7-monitored paranormal observatory, lab and haunted museum}
• _{True Creator of MOST HAUNTED and GHOST HUNTERS TV Series}

Beginning in 1972, the American pioneering field parapsychologist Larry Montz, blazed his own trails with his out-of-the-box paranormal research methodologies, subsequent discoveries and later, developing unique business models allowing him to monetize his then-novel interactive themed-tourism and unique paranormal reality entertainment.

However, it’s the various parapsychological exploration activities and long-term field studies focusing on psychic abilities, ghosts and hauntings and the vast paranormal reality entertainment originally manifested by Montz that will forever prove to be his true legacy.

Yet, since 2004, that legacy has been intentionally veiled – first by the powerful Hollywood entertainment studios and conglomerates who unjustly profited by illegally wronging the internationally-famed parapsychologist and his business partner and second, by corrupt legal representation and their judicial associates who joined in on carrying out malicious actions for their own myriad of unjust gains and finally succeeding on April 1, 2014 in foiling the winning plaintiffs, Larry Montz and Daena Smoller, in the nearly decade-long, ‘epic Hollywood rip-off case‘ also known as ‘the GHOST HUNTERS case‘.

Larry Montz will never enjoy a modicum of just, financial compensation for being victimized with the white-collar crimes he and Smoller suffered by the Hollywood entertainment defendants; as the plaintiffs’ high-powered law firm made sure of that. However, vindication has appeared on the horizon now that Montz and Smoller’s former legal representation is being deeply investigated by inquiring media and legal entities.

It is believed that disgraced plaintiffs’ attorney Thomas V. Girardi of Girardi Keese purposely threw the GHOST HUNTERS case, twice. The first attempt succeeded at the appellate level in 2010 but not for long. The 9th District Circuit demanded that the presiding, visiting judge for whom the original court date was pushed to accommodate, initiate the procedure for the dismissed case to go before an En Banc hearing (11 judges) after the visiting judge had thrown out the case declaring that a necessary claim did not exist in the original complaint – even though it quite clearly did, in black and white. This case was argued before an en banc panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit on December 16, 2010.

The second attempt succeeded; originally initiated without the plaintiffs’ knowledge. It was claimed to the defendants and an appellate judge previously associated with Tom Girardi, that a statute of limitations regarding a questionable time violation existed in the 2006 filing by the original plaintiffs’ attorney. Girardi and his legal team refused the offer to help clear the matter by the original Beverly Hills filing attorney and maintained the dubious assertion which went from an original “2 days late” to “2 years late” following the persistent questioning by the plaintiffs.

The apparent exchange for payoff perks from the defendants included securing a television role for Girardi’s wife, Erika Jayne Girardi, on defendant NBC Universal’s successful franchise, Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. It may be considered poetic justice that as a result of Tom Girardi becoming so high-profile in mainstream media due to his wife’s resulting media celebrity status and his own visible inclusion in RHOBH, Girardi began facing wide-spread, public humiliation at the end of 2020 as decades of alleged intentional malpractice and stealing of funds from his own Girardi Keese clients began surfacing into the light… including former clients like widows, orphans, concussion and burn victims as well as Larry Montz himself along with his partner Daena Smoller for one of the largest and most important Hollywood intellectual property lawsuits… one that survived NBC Universal’s appeal to SCOTUS and, one that you’ll likely never hear of outside of university courses with an entertainment law curriculum, MONTZ v Pilgrim Films & Television, NBC Universal, et al.

AN ABBREVIATED TIMELINE

After nearly twenty years of unpublished parapsychological studies and field work, the beginning of the 1990s witnessed Montz’ new work that forever changed the way people looked at ghosts as promised by the first several incarnations of GHOST EXPEDITIONS brochures. Montz blended the general public in signature, immersive parapsychological investigation endeavors never before attempted and as a result, created a global paranormal pop phenomenon of interest and practices.

Since that last decade of the 20th century, Montz has rightfully been recognized for creating and implementing first-of-its-kind paranormal businesses, setting the now-standard models for

• an international paranormal field
• genre-specific tourism
• and creating the original cinema vérité TV content deemed responsible by the California judicial system for the ensuing international paranormal-themed programming frenzy

Accolades, attacks and a degree honoris causa at the behest and pursuance of a high-ranking official of the Louisiana state government are just a few of the interesting aspects of Montz’ stamp on Parapsychology and what became considered the paranormal field, during a life most extraordinary.

As a professional field parapsychologist, Montz’ high-profile clients spanned the globe including:

• Hollywood celebrities and producers
• upscale tourism entities, New Orleans to England
• law enforcement agencies, Deep South to Los Angeles

And for nearly five decades, Montz worked with private clients on their life-disrupting concerns spanning a para-spectrum of matters, real and imagined… such as benign activities of earthbound entities to complaints of violent psychic attacks and, demonic threats and possession.

“WE CAN’T CALL YOU A PARAPSYCHOLOGIST – No One Knows What That Means“

That was the general sentiment shared with Larry Montz from Hollywood’s media producers and executives for much of the 1990s. Montz eventually triumphed over that bias and in general, the paranormal being considered as taboo.

In fact, a 1998 episode of a nationally-syndicated children’s show featuring Larry Montz leading his ISPR investigative team through Universal Studios including the original, unstable set from the 1925 horror film starring Lon Chaney, THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, was banned in the Chicago ADI and others, for promoting the subject of “ghosts“.

With time, Montz’ profound main-stream media appearances during the last decade of last century (often with various members of the ever-evolving ISPR investigative team) not only made him the most internationally televised paranormal expert, but allowed him to educate and enlighten the Hollywood mindset and that of the viewing audiences as well as inspire greater curiosity of the unknown with less worry of push-back mockery.

Paranormal pop culture as we recognize it today, erupted into existence in Montz’ wake with an explosion of overnight paranormal field investigators / researchers and thousands of groups that formed with lightning speed in every urban center to rural road community.

And in the wake of Montz’ high-profile exposure throughout international mainstream media for the highly-engaging immersive, interactive organized parapsychology field workshop he created, known globally as GHOST EXPEDITIONS, ghost-hunting ventures took off around the world.

The paranormal landscape as memorialized by mainstream media throughout the mid and late 1990s provides a broad strokes snapshot of that pivotal, evolutionary time in paranormal history.

Screen the Larry Montz / ISPR Media Reel here.

International Society for Paranormal Research – ISPR

Prior to 1996, there were only a select few parapsychological organizations in existence around the world, mostly under the radar and not known to the general public.

Larry Montz was a rebel parapsychologist who created his own organization out in the open and with an evolving name. With a focus on studies and applications of Psi abilities in the ‘haunted’ field and the desire to monetize his work in order to continue his educational exploration, Montz developed the first 100% professional parapsychological field team of investigators. By 1999, the few years of concentrated media attention on Larry Montz as a field parapsychologist, the ISPR, and GHOST EXPEDITIONS, led to the formation of over 1,000 amateur paranormal organizations and that number continued to grow for years.

NOTEWORTHY APPEARANCES BY LARRY MONTZ

“THE HAUNTING (Dreamworks) ADVANCE SCREENING AND Q & A”:
ISPR Parapsychologist Dr. Larry Montz leads an ISPR Q & A session at the former Vogue Theater, for the 800+ participants of the Dreamworks advanced screening, accompanied by Daena Smoller, Derek Acorah and the late Peter James.  JULY 1999

“FX NETWORK INDUSTRY SCREENING OF THE SIGHT”:
At the request of the FX Network, ISPR Parapsychologist Dr. Larry Montz does a presentation at the Vogue Theater for hundreds of Hollywood Entertainment Industry professionals, followed by FX Network President Peter Liguori’s presentation and the advanced Hollywood industry screening of the network’s original made-for-TV movie (premiered October 2000), “THE SIGHT”, starring Andrew McCarthy.  SUMMER 2000

“THE X-FILES: FIGHT THE FUTURE, FOREIGN RELEASE SWEEPSTAKES”:
Meeting Parapsychologist Dr. Larry Montz and participation in a Hollywood GHOST EXPEDITION at the Vogue Theater was the Grand Prize that the South African winners of the international sweepstakes accompanying the X-Files movie foreign release, enjoyed.  1999

“15th ANNUAL YEAGER SYMPOSIUM / MARSHALL UNIVERSITY”:
ISPR Parapsychologist Dr. Larry Montz presentation kicks off the 2001 edition of Marshall University’s elite academic program.  OCTOBER 3, 2001

“PARANORMAL 411 – PIONEERING THE PARANORMAL”:
ISPR Parapsychologist Dr. Larry Montz and Daena Smoller educate and entertain, live on stage at the World-Famous Comedy Store (West Hollywood), the Queen Mary (Long Beach) and 2 shows at the Hotel Monteleone (New Orleans) for Spring / Summer 2004.

“GHOST STORIES AT THE WORLD FAMOUS COMEDY STORE”: At the request of Comedy Store owner Mitzi Shore, ISPR’s founding parapsychologist Dr. Larry Montz, accompanied by psychics Peter James and Daena Smoller take the stage to entertain national and international media representatives with legendary ghost stories written about by event host & Hollywood Haunted author Laurie Jacobson and provide the real information behind the hauntings of the Hollywood landmark.

“PRESCRIPTION: PARANORMAL – A VIP GHOST EXPEDITION”:
Parapsychologist Dr. Larry Montz returns for a 45 minute Q&A session with VIP Ghost Expedition participants before they search out paranormal activities inside the famous museum, under the guidance of ISPR clairvoyant investigators, Daena Smoller and Cari Roy.  OCTOBER 24, 2007

“HOTEL DEL CORONADO MEDIA CONFERENCE”:
ISPR Parapsychologist Dr. Larry Montz represents the Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego to speak about the hotel’s ghosts and hauntings at a media conference.  OCTOBER 8, 2002

“FOOD, WINE AND SPIRITS”:
by GHOST EXPEDITIONS and BACCO Restaurant- Parapsychologist Dr. Larry Montz ‘meets & greets’ at the special event dinner that followed private GHOST EXPEDITIONS (led by GE researchers) for participants.  OCTOBER 31, 1996

“THE HEATHER GRAHAM DEATH DEALER CONTEST”:
MIRA Books and NY Times & USA Today best-selling author Heather Graham chooses one lucky winner in the United States or Canada to receive an in-home visit from ISPR Parapsychologist Dr. Larry Montz and ISPR investigator Daena Smoller in conjunction with release of Heather Graham’s novel, THE DEATH DEALER.  MARCH 2008

1st Ever “AMERICA ONLINE 24-HOUR LIVE CHAT ROOM”. Hosted by Parapsychologist Larry Montz and the ISPR, Sponsored by AOL and powered by ParaScope.

Dr. Larry Montz answers questions submitted online through AOL, from the haunted, Overnight Ghost Expedition site, the Southern Nights Bed & Breakfast in New Orleans. This event marked the Internet’s first-ever, live, 24-hour chat room.  JUNE 4, 1997 at 6:00 AM through 6:00 AM JUNE 5, 1997

TRIVIA

Larry Montz was the Project Manager for designing and installing the world’s first video fiber optics network for the 1984 World’s Fair held in New Orleans, Louisiana.

When the Hollywood & Highland Center opened on November 9, 2001, one of the ‘Grand Opening’ promotional videos in rotation screening high above Hollywood Boulevard, was that of Larry Montz climbing a tall ladder and changing the letters / message on the Vogue Theater marquee. The former Vogue Theatre, 6675 Hollywood Boulevard, is located 2 blocks east of Hollywood & Highland and the TCL Chinese Theatre (formerly Grauman’s Chinese Theatre and Mann’s Chinese Theatre).

The first Screamfest International Horror Film Festival and Screenplay Competition, founded by Rachel Belofsky, was held at the former 800-seat / silver screen Vogue Theater on Hollywood Boulevard in 2001, while the theater was under the direction of Larry Montz and Daena Smoller and home to the offices of the ISPR (International Society for Paranormal Research) as well as an active, parapsychological field research site for GHOST EXPEDITIONS.

Spent two Mardi Gras Days in New Orleans, 30 years apart, as a Mardi Gras Krewe float rider, tossing throws to screaming crowds all begging for beads. Larry’s first Mardi Gras Krewe experience was the Fat Tuesday in 1966 and the second in 1996, with Daena Smoller.

In the original 1999 promo for the Disney Channel series, So Weird (1999), the main character, Fiona ‘Fi’ Phillips could be seen surfing the web and loading Larry Montz’ ISPR.Net / Hauntings.com website.

Larry Montz was the first field parapsychologist to adopt $50,000 FLIR thermal imaging cameras as part of his cache of equipment for his parapsychological field investigations.

Under the helm of former CEO Wes Munselle, Larry Montz was the Telecommunications Consultant for Los Angeles Center Studios (also known as L.A. Center Studios), the former U.S. Unocal headquarters building at 5th and Bixel streets.

In the early 1970s, Larry Montz was a MUFON State-Section Director (over several southern states). ‘MUFON’ at that time was the acronym for the “Midwest UFO Network”. Later MUFON expansion led to the acronym representing the “Mutual UFO Network”. In Louisiana, Montz’ successor as State Director was Ted Peters who recently served as consultant to NASA and SETI on the ethics of planetary protection.

During the years that Larry Montz worked directly for Hugh Hefner, Country Superstar Kenny Rogers won one particular race west on Sunset back to the PLAYBOY Mansion while Larry was stopped by LAPD. The officers ultimately forgave the offense in exchange for a visit to Hugh Hefner’s estate guided by Larry Montz.

For the 2008 award-winning New Orleans-based webisode series SPIRITS, Larry Montz provided the creators with the kind of ending that they were seeking.  The series also included an interview with Larry inside his 20-years-in-the-making, first-of-its-kind attraction, the PARAPLEX – World’s First 24/7 Interactive Paranormal Observatory, Lab & Museum.