Splintered Spirits is a podcast hosted by Gary and his nephew, John Santa of Santa Paranormal, built around one stubborn question: What are spirits, really?
By talking with parapsychologists, ghost hunters, mediums, academics, and other seekers of the strange, and by putting themselves directly into reportedly haunted situations, the show explores the many ways people explain the paranormal. The goal isn’t to prove anything, but to understand what might be going on and why so many experiences feel uncannily similar.
John's experience brings years of documenting unexplained phenomena. Gary brings curiosity, an open-mind, and a very human level of unease about the whole thing. Together, they take a thoughtful, funny, and occasionally unnerving dive into whatever might be happening just beyond the veil.
Gary
Gary Shapiro is a recovering television development executive with over 25 years in unscripted programming, including nearly a decade heading development for Discovery Studios' West Coast branch, cranking out more shows about sharks, little people, and Alaska than he cares to remember. These days he's a dedicated student of the paranormal as the producer and co-host of Splintered Spirits with his nephew, paranormal influencer John Santa. Premiering six episodes a month (including going live every Thursday) to reach a combined audience of roughly 3 million followers, the show sits down with mediums, psychics, investigators, academics, and fellow paranormal obsessives to ask what spirits really are. Gary is the curious novice who keeps getting surprised. The older and closer to death he gets, the more he wants to know what's waiting on the other side, and what the hell his nephew keeps finding in cemeteries.
John Santa
John Santa, known online as @santaparanormal, is one of TikTok’s most followed live paranormal creators, reaching a community of close to 3-million followers through real-time spirit box sessions that blend historical knowledge, logic, and sharp humor. Streaming live from abandoned buildings, forgotten cemeteries, and a notoriously haunted apartment complex where he serves as both skeptic and superintendent, John replaces jump scares with curiosity and empathy. His audience doesn’t just watch, they participate, whether it's nightly documentations on haunted roads, daytime headstone cleaning, cemetery restoration, spirit-board seances, or cooking meals with ghostly critics. Equal parts storyteller and reluctant bridge between worlds, John challenges paranormal tropes while asking the same question every time he goes live: “Spirits, may we have a conversation?”