Brett Talley has been a controversial pick for lifetime appointment as a federal judge in Alabama, and new details have new emerged that he is a former ghost hunter.
Talley has been criticized for failing to include on a conflict-of-interest questionnaire the fact that his wife is a White House lawyer, but one thing he was sure to disclose was his membership with the Tuscaloosa Paranormal Research Group, according to BBC News.
Videos by PopCulture.com
Talley was Donald Trump’s pick for the judgeship and last week he was approved by a Senate committee. He is most likely to be confirmed by the entire chamber sometime soon.
While it’s not clear if he maintains his membership to the society currently, the questionnaire that Talley submitted to the Senate Judiciary Committee revealed that he was a member as recently as 2009 and 2010.
The Tuscaloosa Paranormal Research Group, according to their website, seeks the truth “of the paranormal existence” in addition to assisting “those who may be living with paranormal activity that can be disruptive and/or traumatic.”
The collective ensures a “strictly scientific approach to determine the extent of the Paranormal Activity,” and offers their services pro bono.
In addition to his past life as a ghost hunter, Talley is also an accomplished paranormal writer, having once used the communications manager for Republican Ohio Senator Rob Portman as his inspiration for the Antichrist in his 2014 novel, Reborn.
The two worked together on Senator Portman’s campaign, Talley said, “I wanted her to be important. I wanted her to be a major character.”
“I consider it a gift. In horror novels being the Antichrist is, like, the highest honour possible,” he added.
David Higdon, founder of The Tuscaloosa Paranormal Research Group, is also a co-author alongside Talley and described the groups activities by saying, “Mainly we may go into a house between maybe seven at night and six in the morning and stay up all night long and see if we can see what’s going on.”
“If we go into a private house, we mainly try and debunk what’s going on,” Higdon explained.
While Talley’s past life as a paranormal activity researcher is hardly likely to affect his Judge confirmation, many have expressed concern that he has never even tried a case as a lawyer and was even deemed “not qualified” by the American Bar Association to serve on the US District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, in a unanimous decision.
