Apparently when I wrote about Ghost TV shows the other day (Ghost TV Shows: Good for Paranormal Tourism, Bad for Paranormal Research) I didn’t get it all out of my system. I have a few more thoughts to share.
KEEP IT IN PERSPECTIVE
As I wrote about in my first post (and have readily admitted before), ghost TV shows are one of my guilty pleasures. Sometimes I forget that.
I get so caught up in what’s happening, or what the investigators “might” find, that I forget something crucial: at their essence, ghost TV shows are meant for entertainment purposes only. They’re not actually “real.” And most importantly, they don’t actually “solve” anything. (I’ll get to that at the end.)
GOTTA KEEP THEM COMING BACK FOR MORE
Ghost Hunters, especially in the beginning, did an excellent job of making it all seem legit and professional. They seemed to have standards, methods, and (most importantly) expertise.
I also think in the beginning, before all the hype and fanfare, Jason and Grant had good intentions. I do think they were trying to find actual evidence of the paranormal. Or, as they were better at, logical explanations which might explain why something was perceived as paranormal phenomenon.
But what happened? It all started somewhere after Season 2 and during Season 3. I used to follow Jason on MysSpace. I also used to keep up with various forums discussing GH. The more Jason and Grant debunked things and the more reluctant they were to label a place “haunted,” the more disgruntled viewers seemed to get.
I don’t know if it affected their viewing numbers or what, but I have a sneaking suspicion the show’s producers caught on. Skepticism wasn’t cool.
Suddenly GH’s fearless leaders started dubbing places haunted based on information that before would only have had them saying, “There might be something here, but we’d need to do further investigation before we could say what.”
THE ART OF POSING
I still think Cracked.com’s Ghost TV article probably summed it up best with their “only two scenarios for ghost hunting shows” spiel. You either find one and proceed, or you don’t but make a show out of it anyway.
A hundred years ago trying to communicate with the spirit world was also hot. From public theaters to private parlors, it was popular for people to hold seances and such to try and make contact with the other side. Many of the so called mediums of that time were frauds (or, as I like to call them these days, “posers”) and their evidence was faked.
The TV show producers of our era have simply built on that same concept –they just modernized it with the gadgets and all. And dare I say modern day FX?
SMOKE AND MIRRORS: IT IS REAL, OR IS IT FX?
Going back to GH and Jason and Grant being more quick to call a place haunted anymore. It used to be the rare show when they caught something really good, wasn’t it? Their first visit to Eastern State, the investigation at Moon River Brewing in Savannah, the St. Augustine Lighthouse…these are some of the shows which turned up memorable “evidence” for me.
But was any of it real?
With movies like Paranormal Activity or even that “scary” ghost video I posted last week for Friday Fun, it really makes me wonder. The effects in those videos were obviously simulated. But they look pretty real.
As “real” as some of the alleged evidence collected on the ghost TV shows.
WHAT WOULD THEY DO WITH IT IF THEY CAUGHT IT?
My father-in-law used to have a saying that cracked me up. He’d be talking about chasing women and he’d joke, “But I wouldn’t know what to do with one if I caught her.”
I think that’s what’s eating me most about the ghost shows and why they’re not as much fun for me anymore. They all want to claim they’re “professionals” and that they can “help.” But, seriously, how can they? How is capturing evidence any help really?
Sure, it might put someone’s mind at ease, and, yes, they can try to perform a blessing to help the spirit move on, but…
Why was the spirit trapped here to begin with? Is “trapped” even the right way to say it? Why didn’t they just move on in the first place? And where do they go when they do “move on?”(That’s the million dollar question isn’t it?)
Also, what if the deceased was never religious? Does any old blessing work to help them move on? If so, why?
See where I’m going with all this? We still don’t know what spirits are, how they exist, why some stay behind while others don’t, why some show up on EVPs or as images yet others don’t, why some are residual while others are intelligent, etc.
While “ghost hunter” is a catchy moniker, it’s also a joke. Real hunters know what to do with their prey: catch it, kill it, stuff it and mount it or eat it.
Well, maybe one of these days a show will come along where they really do find something. It’s what I keep hoping for and why I keep watching ultimately.
So the moral of this story is…Show me a ghost show and I’ll watch it because I’m the biggest sucker and the joke’s all on me!
Courtney Mroch is a globe-trotting restless spirit who’s both possessed by wanderlust and the spirit of adventure, and obsessed with true crime, horror, the paranormal, and weird days. Perhaps it has something to do with her genes? She is related to occult royalty, after all. Marie Laveau, the famous Voodoo practitioner of New Orleans, is one of her ancestors. (Yes, really! As explained here.) That could also explain her infatuation with skeletons.
Speaking of mystical, to learn how Courtney channeled her battle with cancer to conjure up this site, check out HJ’s Origin Story.
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Great post! You really took a good look at it. In my latest post I discussed why GH has taken a big downhill slide and why other ghost shows right now aren’t going to succeed. It has to do with geomagnetic activity. When they started GH, it was through the roof and the best activity happens at the same time. This year has been an almost completely storm-less year geomagnetically, so yeah, they’ve lost their juice. I wrote to Ghost Lab to see if they’d test this theory. I trusted GH up until I noticed a few things that bothered me. G&J always hunt together and all the good stuff happens to them. I could consider that they have a great mix to attract things, they have the tact to be respectful and folksy, but it seems as if suspiciously they are the center of everything. It was only a nagging feeling until I saw the footage of Grant’s hood being pulled a few times on one episode and how very odd his reaction was. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlM-Uy8ODYQ (that’s it on YouTube). I looked back and realized strangely Grant specifically seems to have the most issues around him. I didn’t want to think he’d fudge things, but perhaps he does things and then blames it on the ghosts, such as leaving a door partially open and when the wind closes it, believes it was a ghost when he was a contributor. It made me want to start debunking the debunkers and that’s not a good position at all. I think things could pick up for them if they got new people with expertise–scientists, researchers, inventors (not joe blow off the street) and if they tried new things and went to a wider variety of places. Most of all, I really believe that until the geomagnetic activity picks up again, it’s going to be slim pickin’s for all ghost hunters. I’ve been waiting to go on a hunt, and there’s been no action. Bummer. Thanks for the great post and considerate thought on the subject.
O…M…G! You freak me out sometimes. I’m totally at work gathering a “debunking the debunkers” piece for another post. Complete with YouTube videos…of which you’ve now contributed another and will be properly credited! And I think that’s what breaks my heart…I was so FOR J&G, but now? some of the trust is lost and I’m suspicious.
And OOOOH! You’ll have to tell me if Ghost Lab puts your awesome theory to the test! I’m sure you will write about it on your blog, and I will visit that post to also comment. (And well as all the others I’ve missed in the last 3 weeks! Yep, I’ll be pulling one of my “comment blasts” on your blog here soon. I keep meaning to get to it, but I have not made it there yet this week dagnabit!)
Which might be good. Like with your comment, you have a way of fueling my writing fire. I barely have time to keep up with the ideas I have…you always add more! (Which is great. Like you always point out, that’s what blogging is all about: sharing and such. 😉