Brian D. Parsons was born in Muncie, Indiana in 1973 and moved to northeast Ohio before his first birthday. Growing up his parents told him that ghosts, monsters, and other strange things did not exist; they did this not to brainwash him, but to help him sleep at night. He grew up watching "In Search of" with Leonard Nimoy which began to open his mind to the what-ifs that exist in our world.

In early 1996 he was attending college when a couple of friends asked him for help in learning how to write better research papers. He and another friend suggested writing about a subject they really liked and they would critique it. A few others did the same as well and when the group met and began to peer review the papers one drew more attention than the others on sports and dating; it was about UFOs. One of the guys in the group was a UFO nut who decided to write about UFO sightings. As the group began to talk about UFOs other subjects, such as urban legends and local folklore, came up. A few days later he was at work and brought up a particular local urban legend. He found it interesting how many different people heard the same distinct things about this location and the stories that went with it.

Brian decided to investigate the location, he went to the local library and researched the property and those involved with it during the time of the story. During his research he stumbled upon Parapsychology and Psychical Research; terms he heard in Psychology class that meant nothing more than pseudoscience to his teacher. Investigating further he was interested to realize that there were many people investigating ghosts today and that despite finding enough evidence to prove the local urban legend wrong, he was inspired to investigate ghosts and related phenomena further.

In the fall of 1996, he and a group of friends formed a paranormal investigation team after weeks of learning about phenomena through reading and other resources (the internet wasn't a big help back then!). They started out as many teams did back then by investigating cemeteries, abandoned buildings, and researched and investigated urban legends. While they had no official name they had spent plenty of time discussing it; one suggestion by Brian was in response to many of the groups with acronyms that existed was Ohio Paranormal Investigation Network (O.P.I.N.). The name was based on his dream of helping to network not only groups, but professionals in other areas of interest to help grow the field and help those in need. It was also in the fall of 1996 that they began getting client cases through word of mouth. During one case the homeowner, the father of a friend of one of the investigators, asked who was in charge and if the group had a name. Everyone began to look around the room and Brian began to notice everyone staring at him. He had become the official leader of the group; and his group name was adopted as well. In early 1997 the group split, while one continued to investigate cemeteries, buildings, and other structures, the other continued to help clients and carried the O.P.I.N. banner.

The first group website was on the free Geocities website (site no longer exists) and was a one page advertisement for the group. During this time other members had their own O.P.I.N. websites using the original logo in an effort to gather client cases. In 2000, the group moved to Angelfire where it resided until 2007 when the decision was finally made to acquire a unique URL.

In 2000, during some downtime in investigations, Brian decided to pursue a spot with the Mutual UFO Network as a Field Investigator. He worked briefly with the organization and still conducts his own investigations into related phenomena. Brian has also investigated numerous cryptid sightings including many Bigfoot/grassman sightings in Ohio.

Brian has authored 3 books on the subject of how to become a successful paranormal group and currently has new book projects in the works. He has worked with the ParaNexus Anomalous Research Association for several years and served as the Research Director, Treasurer, and sat on the Board of Directors until the corporation voted to dissolve in January 2012. He remains a member and still serves as the Anomalous News Coordinator. Brian also hosts the Paranormal News Insider segment of the Grand Dark Conspiracy podcast which airs Monday nights at 10 P.M. eastern on the Shark Radio Network.

Brian has appeared on numerous internet radio shows over the years including multiple appearances on ParaNexus Universe (guest and host) as well as the Grand Dark Conspiracy. He also has appeared at many paranormal conferences and conventions as well as his own events where he speaks on a variety of paranormal subjects (see the contact/media page for details). He is also a volunteer for his local Humane Society and is a part of the Speaker's Bureau. Brian lives in northeast Ohio with his wife Amy and their dog Sasha.