By Keith Brunson
Schuler Johnson is sure that ghosts exist. So convinced in fact, that he has made a career out of his passion. And it organically became a profession, landing him on Discovery Plus as the narrator for an episode. The show is called “A Ghost Ruined My Life.” Schuler is seemingly Very humble. Thousands of people attempt to get on Discovery each year, certified by NATPE (the National Association of Television and Programming Executives) as “the most prominent brand on earth.” But Schuler walked right into it with no resistance, and the first television show he voiced was on Discovery Plus.
Schuler himself is calm, collected, level-headed, and ultra-polite when he speaks of what has launched him into a voiceover career without aspiring to become a voiceover artist. All because of his uber interest in what some refer to as “the other side.” But before we delve further, here’s the back story on Schuler and how it is easy to see that investigating the paranormal would become his destiny.
Schuler Johnson
Raised in Indianapolis, Schuler took a special interest in the audio-visual world at 16 years old, “and I really dove right in while being a high school sophomore.” Schuler was extremely interested in the paranormal. “It always just fascinated me, and it always has.” But after high school, “I didn’t know what to do with my life.”
Shuler and friends during a paranormal investigation.
So, Schuler attended Vincennes University and got an associate degree in I.T. computer science with a minor in A/V. And that degree prompted additional confidence in Johnson that would make a real difference in his career trajectory. “I was just so passionate about the supernatural, but I had no idea it would lead me to what evolved in voiceover. I had launched a podcast in 2018, but I still didn’t feel I was a voice that would make the cut for what was to come.”
Enter Eli Roth, a producer for his show on Discovery Plus, “A Ghost Ruined My Life.”
Eli Roth, producer for Discovery Plus.
Eli read an investigation Schuler was involved with and contacted him. “We talked, we connected, and from that conversation, he chose to feature an investigation I was involved in.” For the uninitiated, Roth is a highly respected writer and director who’s decorated with accolades for his auspicious career. So, it’s almost ghostly on its own merit that Schuler would have direct access to a well-known producer on all platforms for being a true talent and an A-list producer. And yet, here he was…directly communicating with Schuler. That is in itself like something as odd as an apparition itself. It was now 2021.
Roth wanted to produce an episode about one of Schuler’s investigations. And within that interest, he asked Schuler to voice the episode. This is Unheard of. You can call it good karma or “right place, right time,” or just good luck. But no matter how you look at it, “I had always been told that people liked the sound of my voice, but to become the narrator of this episode was something I never even thought about.” Schuler is right.
Producers, 99 percent of the time, take an Idea and Do give credit under the category of “Story By” to the show’s origin. However, producers typically hire an established V.O. artist who matches the content to evoke the most effective response when viewed by the audience. “And even though that’s true, I did, in fact, become the narrator of this episode, but it came out of nowhere, and it opened the door to voiceover I did not expect.”
Discovery Plus show with Schuler Johson doing voice-over work.
In 2023, Schuler began associating with ACX and garnered his first audiobook credit. Johnson had led a podcast about the supernatural launched in June of 2019, demonstrating that Johnson was no novice to the controversial topic of ghosts. https://www.piotparamornal.com
The site offers information about all things paranormal but is a cut above what is good. The site is excellent, and the stories are all part of the paranormal journey that Johnson is passionate about. “I know that ghosts exist, but I do believe it to be unusual that my interest in this topic would create a whole new arena of professional opportunity that I never even thought about.”
So, if you’re a believer of things that go bump in the night, you’re not the only one. The New York Times, in 2021, with a story written by Anna P. Kambhampaty, wrote that many people believe in ghosts and that it is a real thing to many people. But then Schuler had always felt this way, and it is now strongly believed that spirits, ghosts, whatever you want to call them, are a supernatural reality that will remain in the thoughts and perhaps the nightmares of many people who believe in spirits that can terrify a person or calmly fascinate them.
