Yep. This is just what all ghost hunters do. Except that REAL ghost hunters usually can’t afford a hot tub…
I can’t believe it’s been a year since I wrote my first post about Ghost Hunters. Since I am STILL getting comments ranging from, “All ghost hunters are stupid” all the way to “Jay and Grant are awesome and TAPS is awesome and you’re stupid and should get a life,” I have decided to revive the topic from an updated perspective and see if I can’t ruffle a few more feathers in the process.
I think we have established fairly well the fact that I, too, am a paranormal enthusiast with my own impressive resume of published works regarding the subject matter, although I will admit that my enthusiasm for the sport is waning. Not so much the subject matter, but more the fact that almost every single person with anything more than a passing interest in the paranormal is a complete douchebag. Seriously. Over the past year, I have met a number of new people who claim a serious involvement in the field (or simply want to have some unnatural involvement in your life because you write books), and three of them are normal. The other two dozen are certifiably insane. Even some of you that posted on the last TAPS thread strike me as being not altogether swift. No offense, of course.
One of the primary reasons that televised ghost shows have become the scourge of paranormal investigation is that they have caused the propagation of entirely too many ghost hunting groups that consider these shows to be educational and informative.
While I enjoyed watching George Clooney on ER, I would never attempt to take out someone’s infected appendix because I saw how he did it on TV. These are TV shows and are intended for entertainment only, but now everybody and their dead grandmother wants to be part of the TAPS family. Why? To me, that is the paranormal equivalent of the Mr. Yuck sticker.
Being a part of the TAPS family gets you nothing. It means that your group bought into the hype and probably doesn’t know protocol from page 8. You are certified by plumbers to hunt ghosts. Congratulations. Maybe you’ll get to be on TV, one day. Meanwhile, there are people that spend every waking moment putting together studies and experiments with worldwide involvement, trying desperately to find funding to continue researching the survival of consciousness who are seeking to scientifically prove the existence of an afterlife. Maybe on some Wednesday night when Ghost Hunters is a repeat, you could fire up Google and try to learn something.
It’s really not just Ghost Hunters, either. It’s any show. The only ”ghost hunters” you will ever see on TV are the ones that just want the notoriety of being known as a professional “ghost hunter.” You will never see the ones that are legit…not only are they entirely too busy to give a shit about whether or not Lorraine Warren finds a demon, they would never be caught dead having their names appear in the credits of a television show alongside the likes of Lorraine Warren…you see how it works? She’s as nutty as a fruitcake, too.
If you ever got a chance to see a show about REAL paranormal investigation, it would be about as riveting as watching the Paint Channel. Real paranormal research does not include scary background music or dippy blondes saying, “Oh my gosh, I just heard a man’s voice say, ‘help me please!’” It also does not include ghost hunting rednecks dressed up like Gap Band disco paratroopers in the video for “You Dropped a Bomb on Me” (baby), storming a location with tri-field meters and infrared technology. If you have ever watched Children of the Grave, you would know what I was talking about. In fact, go ahead and watch it, as long as you can do it for free…it’s terrible. It is the worst piece of crap, not only from the position of paranormal research, but from filmmaking as a whole. It is a meandering stool sample filled with inaccuracy and digression…and weird people with cloaks and speech impediments. It hurt my feelings and made doves cry.
None of these paranormal shows are governed by any amount of integrity. They have to be watchable, and boring and uneventful is not watchable. EVP does not really sound like an old man with a prosthetic voice box. K2 meters will light up if you get a text message on your silent phone. And NO, nothing just tried to grab you and no ghost child is trying to play with you.
But, if that’s what you LIKE, then by all means, please continue to watch it…I just prefer something a little better for myself.
Good rant. On to the next one…
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2. September 2009 at 2:53 pm
It is funny you should post this as just last night a friend of mine asked what paranormal shows I liked and this was my response to him:
I avoid paranormal shows like the plague. I suppose if I had to choose one that I can stand it would be Paranormal State. They are full of shit but they don’t really do the sort of disingenuous shit (read:fake) that TAPS does on Ghost Hunters. I REALLY hate Ghost Hunters a lot. They are complete frauds on just about every level. Fuck TAPS. Fuck them up their stupid asses.
I think that about sums it up. I would also like to say fuck douchebag skeptics who say paranormal investigators are all stupid liars. We can’t prove it? Neither can you fuck face. Your persistent belief that there is nothing else in the world and everyone who thinks so is stupid is just as much a faith based belief system as Christianity. So take your intellectual elitism and shove it up your ass.
There was a time when I would refrain from such vitriol but I am done being nice and polite when everyone else shows their ass like a 4 dollar hooker. Makes sense though since they learned from their mom. OH!
2. September 2009 at 5:50 pm
Katie…’Gap Band disco paratroopers’-!? Still L’ing MAO….I needed that…Patrick…we share a first name… I have your books, would love to meet up w/u and the group one day…
2. September 2009 at 7:56 pm
Wow Patrick, why don’t you tell us how you REALLY feel!
Katie: “It hurt my feelings and made doves cry.” BRILLIANT!
2. September 2009 at 9:48 pm
I am in Awe! Katie & Patrick, you couln’t have said it better! BRAVO!
5. September 2009 at 10:54 am
Patrick, one note though. If you’re about to prove something, the evidence is on your side, not the skeptics’. It’s like saying God exists because the bible says so, prove otherwise! It will be an endless circle.
Here’s a great illustration of what I’m talking about: http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k289/monuckah/3482.jpg
But at least ghost hunters all over the world are trying to prove their existence as for skeptics who just lay back and don’t give a shit because they already stated that “Ghosts do not exist”, period. Well why won’t you join us and set facts straight?
I have no opinion as for Ghost Hunters are faking stuff, I like the show and I like them as people, they seem pretty nice. I also like to watch Ghost Adventures. I have never seen or heard a ghost in real life, so I don’t know if they exist, but I am open and I would like to go out and hunt someday as soon as I find a good place, not many of them where I live in Sweden.
5. September 2009 at 11:22 am
I am sure Jay and Grant are probably delightful people, but what they do is not real. They are not following any true scientific protocol. They are doing cheap parlor tricks for TV, and getting paid handsomely. As I have stated many times, they simply fell into deep clover. Just because they have a TV show does not mean they are telling the truth. They avoid the topic of honesty like it were a raging case of Syphilis. If they just avoid the topic, they never really have to lie about it.
As far as them seeming like nice guys…I am pretty sure Jim Jones seemed like a nice guy, too. Now, clearly faking a ghost on TV and forcing 800 people to poison themselves are totally different offenses and that is not to say they are anywhere close to being in the same category, I simply used that example to illustrate that people aren’t necessarily as genuine as they seem, and you have no idea what the real agenda is.
The main problem here, and I think Patrick would agree, is not “The Ghost Hunters,” but rather that they have created this empire of bullshit that isn’t even close to legitimate paranormal research, and yet people just take what they say as gospel. They are really just the tip of the iceberg, because they have spawned so many other bullshit groups that don’t do anything but misuse expensive equipment and – quite honestly – make shit up. These groups aren’t helping anyone but themselves, and more often than not they have made locations less accessible to real researchers because of their irresponsible behavior.
Jay and Grant are revered as being these great paranormal experts and have money thrown at them left and right, while places like the Rhine Research Center (www.rhine.org) are struggling to stay afloat…it’s a big problem.
Oh, and just for the record, Patrick IS a paranormal researcher and documentarian, and a damn good one, at that.
5. September 2009 at 12:06 pm
Yes, the Ghost Hunters show itself is very frustrating. TAPS main objective was to prove that ghosts don’t exist, however it doesn’t seem like they’re doing that. If I was to rule over the show, I would completely remove all goddamn music, special effects, all the drama shit, humor is fine but I can’t stand Steve and Tango’s fooling around. Why are they followed by camera crews and boom holders? Why is it like 70% of the time the camera is pointed at THEM and not the environment? Still after 5 seasons, this hasn’t been fixed yet! Don’t get me wrong, I like the show for what it is, but it could have been done so much better scientific wise. Also I don’t like when they say “theories” all the time, it’s more like hypotheses. Grant has said himself that the K2 meter can’t be fully trusted, so why use it so often?
Ghost Adventures isn’t fully as I want it either, but at least it’s more interesting than Ghost Hunters. Well now you may think you’ve changed my opinion with your comment, but that wasn’t the case, I didn’t have time to fully explain what I think.
7. September 2009 at 3:35 pm
I love Ghost Adventures. You know why? Because they are constantly freaking themselves out and exclaim “DUDE!” and “BRO!” about 100 times per episode. They are a paranormal drinking game in the making. I don’t think they fake anything, because they don’t ever find anything. They just freak themselves out. Therein lies the entertainment.
I stopped watching Ghost Hunters a long time ago. In the beginning, they were much more geniune and found no real evidence on their investigations. That’s how it really is. Their episodes now are like episodes of Scooby Doo, with a great big adventure every time. That is obviously NOT how it really is. Because if the real investigators found evidence like GH claim to every episode, we wouldn’t be debating the existence of ghosts, as it would have been proved long ago. And, on top of it, they just aren’t very entertaining. No “Bro’s”, no “dudes”, no reason to watch.
7. September 2009 at 4:07 pm
JacyT: Perfectly stated!
1. January 2010 at 3:12 am
First of all, the TAPS team has access and resources that you don’t. It may only be that they actually have the time and money to go to places that are more likely to be haunted than you do, and therefore they find more evidence. Still, if you watch carefully, they actually find very, very little that is unexplainable on the face of it, and quite probably a large percentage of that is not paranormal at all. Just because you can’t explain it doesn’t mean it’s a ghost.
And that brings me to the main problem with most paranormal investigators: They start out convinced that ghosts are real, and set out to prove it. If you think that makes you a good scientist, you’re a fool. From your post, I suspect you are one of those people. The second problem is a complete inability or unwillingness to consider that ghost phenomenon, if real, may not actually be the spirits of dead people. There are other theories which fit the facts just as well.
Consider this: An old friend of mine is fond of saying that time is a spiral. It’s impossible to accurately visualize dimensions beyond the four we experience directly, just imagine that time might be a tight, lengthening spiral with the present on the outer ring. Under certain conditions, events on one ring of the spiral may be able to “intrude” on adjacent rings. If you see a full-body apparition, it might just be a living person, in his own time, whose image is bleeding across two rings of the spiral. This would explain not only ghosts, but also why people see ghosts of civil war soldiers, but not the ghosts of Pelopennisian war soldiers. That ring of the spiral and ours are simply too far apart. This theory fits the so-called observations, and it’s just as likely as the theory that people’s souls walk the earth after they die.
If you’ve never considered an alternate theory, you’re not a scientist either…so ease up on the self-righteousness and think outside the box.
6. January 2010 at 9:22 pm
Okay, Johnny Time Spiral…
Sorry for the delay in responding. I was caught in a parallel dimension and, having been rendered speechless from your response, I had a hard time getting back. Thank you for your patience.
Seriously. A time spiral? You think that paranormal investigators who believe in ghosts are fools, but you want us to entertain the notion that time is overlapping itself? Who is your “friend” and what manner of science does he research? From my end, I can assure you that you don’t know a thing about the way that my group researches paranormal activity, and I can further assure you that I do not consider myself a “scientist” since my casual study of the topic is not something I am willing to submit for peer review in any scientific journal. I do not run statistics. I teach others to research the paranormal so that they don’t have to sit back and watch professional douchebags with corporate funding and network support stand in slackjawed disbelief everytime the wind blows.
Furthermore, I don’t insist that ghosts are real, I encourage others to make that decision based on the experiences that they may or may not have, using the methods that we describe. In fact, our method is actually based on established scientific protocol introduced by Gertrude Schmeidler – a pioneer in parapsychology. Additionally, there is plenty of scientifically proven documentation supporting the existence of PSI phenomena which establishes that the human mind and intention can extend beyond the physical body. Ergo, it is not such a stretch to believe that there is some form of consciousness that survives the physical death. Certainly more feasible than rings of time circling each other like some existential carnival game.
and YES, I DO believe in ghosts.
16. March 2010 at 11:29 pm
I watch TAPS and all the rest of the so called paranormal researchers, but these shows are made for TV and entertainment value and thats the sad fact. I do believe in the possibility of ghosts and the paranormal, but these tv programs have done nothing to demonstrate one way or the other about the reality of the paranormal. But all the hate rhetoric and four letter words doesn’t make anyone look very bright.