A “Sixth Sense” caption reads “James Testa Discovered Timmy’s body.” But it was a woman out walking her dog who found and reported finding the skeletal remains.

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Kenneth A. Bacha, e-mail message to author, 4 April 2008.

Paranormal Research Society. “Post Mortem: Sixth Sense,” Web site accessed 15 March 2009.

Stiles, Bob. “Remains identified as missing man,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, 28 April 2004.

Stiles, Bob. “Coroner working to identify human remains,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, 17 April 2004.

Kroeger, Judy. “Skeletal remains sent out for identification,” Daily Courier, 20 April 2004.

Screenshot from Paranormal State “Sixth Sense”

If “discovered” is supposed to mean to be the first to find or observe, as one of the meanings in my Apple dictionary, then James Testa did not discover Timothy Shirey’s body. And technically, skeletal remains were found- not a “body.”

The Paranormal Research Society’s motto is “To Trust, Honor, and Always Seek the Truth.” By having the screen caption state that “James Testa discovered Timmy’s body,” is stretching the portrayal of the truth.

Here is an e-mail from Ken Bacha, Westmoreland County Coroner, posted with his permission.
Ken underlined the word “not” in his e-mail, and I bolded it here to show emphasis.

MISLEADING?

I feel it is misleading to portray James Testa as having discovered the body of Timmy Shirey. I’m not sure if Mr. Testa even actually saw any of the skeletal remains that were disturbed by a brush hog clearing nearby land. Read the e-mail below, that Ken Bacha, the Westmoreland County Corner, sent to me.

Also, James Testa lived right next door to Shelley, Bryan, and Matthew Seighman. Why wasn’t this disclosed? What was shown, was the screen caption “INTERVIEW WITH TIMOTHY’S NEIGHBOR 3:49 PM”

CONFLICTING INFORMATION

The show gives conflicting accounts about James Testa in the following manner:

Erin: So can you just show us where he was found?

(Note that Erin didn’t ask “So can you just show us where you found Timmy’s skeletal remains.”)

And when James Testa is pointing out to Erin and Eilfie where Timmy’s remains were found, the audio track of what James says is not the same as the closed captions. Example:

I emphasized James saying “they” and showing that the Closed Caption showed “I.”

James: Okay, you see the foundation up there? Right in that area there is where they found him...

Closed Caption: Okay, you see the foundation up there? Right in that area there is where I found him...

Since what James Testa actually said doesn’t correspond with the Closed Captions, do you think this could be an example showing that this was scripted?

James Testa is portrayed as having discovered Timmy Shirey’s body, but it was a woman out walking her dog, who found the skeletal remains.

In my opinion, it is also misleading to use the word “body” in the screen caption, because the typical definition would mean that there was flesh, bones, and organs. However, it was skeletal remains which were found.

James Testa lived next door to the Seighman’s, but this information wasn’t given on the show.

Timmy Shirey lived in the house before the Seighman’s bought it, as indicated by Ryan in the Paranormal Research Society’s Episode Post-Mortem: Sixth Sense, but this was not disclosed in the episode.

First published: 06 Oct 2008

Last updated: 16 Mar 2009
Written by: Ernie Mash

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