Last week I received an email with the subject line “Why did Ghost Hunters do this?”
Well of course that piqued my interest and I opened it, even though I didn’t recognize the sender’s ID.
But let me pause here for a second. While I’m on the topic of IDs…not that there was a name attached to the email (it was sent using an online alias), but the sender requested I just refer to him –or her, because I’m not even sure which gender he or she is– as Anonymous if I wrote about this. He or she attends some of the Ghost Hunters events, knows (and is known by) many of the GH stars and doesn’t think they’re all bad. He or she was just super peeved by this particular incident.
And what was the incident? I admit I haven’t done my full diligence yet so I’m not 100% sure, but I believe it has to do with a sneak peak of the show’s upcoming season.
If anyone else has any insight on this matter, please feel free to comment.
EMAIL #1
I am really upset with this show now. As I watch the premiere, they act like this is the first time they’re at the Otesaga, but they were there in January BEFORE they filmed it. I know cause I was at the event. Britt, Amy, Jay and Grant were there. Also, I like Amy Bruni, but she and psychic Chip Coffey had experiences at the hotel in a certain room (she had luck with the flashlight test and actually had something thrown at her), and not only do they not acknowledge that, but she acts so surprised by the activity there. ALSO, the “hotel guest” James Johnson is the editor of the TAPS Paramagazine, and a local politician from Cooperstown and a close, personal friend to Jason Hawes. This seems devious and wrong that they don’t admit to this. Don’t believe me? Do your homework and talk to demonologist Adam Blai, physicist Andy Coppock, paranormal pop culture historian Aaron Sagers, TAPS paramag editor Scotty Roberts, comedian Mike Brody, Ouija expert Robert Murch. THEY WERE ALL THERE WHEN TAPS FIRST INVESTIGATED OTESAGA WITH THE TAPS EVENT GROUP BEYOND REALITY. I love this show but I hate how they’re lying here.
The “James Johnson” is the worst part of all this. It’s like they expect us magazine subcribers to be stupid or blindly loyal. They didn’t disclose important info, and that’s just wrong.
Honestly, I am really disillusioned. I feel like a show I’ve been watching for so long just faked me out.
MY REPLY EMAIL
Hey, thanks so much for your message! Would you be okay if I reprinted this on my blog? I can leave your name out. (Well, I don’t think you left your name. But I can leave the identifier … out if you want.)
This is really interesting and yet another claim against them. (They keep racking them up, sadly.)
Thanks so much for venting to me. I can relate. I really dug that show in the beginning. Didn’t watch last season at all. Just haven’t liked how they’ve handled their fame.
Court
EMAIL #2
Feel free to reprint it, but as you noticed, I left out my name. I still like most of the GHers and will continue to attend some events because I don’t they are all dodgy. So I don’t want a name attached….just ‘anonymous’
I understand it’s a tv show with production and editing, but they could have said, “hey we did an event here and loved it so much we came back.” Especially because Amy was so impressed with her experiences there. But the thing that really killed me was the publisher (I said editor, I think, but was incorrect) posing as a “hotel guest.” He lives just a few miles away from the hotel and is a longtime friend of Jason. Heck, I follow the guys on Twitter and Hawes talks about him a lot (them vacationing, snowmobiling, etc). I feel like that maneuver on air was openly deceptive and treated fans like rubes.
I have never in all the events I’ve been to, ever seen anyone fake something but … you know, I was just bugged by it.
I guess the other thing is that – you know the expression ‘loose lips sink ships – well, there are a lot of loose lips at events. Things are becoming petty amongst team members, there’s lots of gossip, and you never see Jason for more than five minutes anymore.
I’m not just complaining, I don’t think, but I don’t think they are above criticism just because I happen to have liked the show.
Is this more evidence against Ghost Hunters credibility? (Kind of like the clips of their faked footage.) I’m not sure, but I found it very curious indeed…
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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It is something to get the inside dirt. I think we all see what’s happening the minute they had wrestlers on the show and tv stars and Meatloaf and then had a hunt at their own New England inn…. I liked them better with a trailer in the yard and Jason’s wife ragging on him for pissing away the kids’ college funds and when he was a REAL plumber.
It’s a TV show – it’s meant to make money, and in order to do so, they need to add some thrill :). I don’t know how does it look like in case of GH, but in case of Ghost Hunters International, at least they’re searching for really haunted sites – I know this since one of the producers contact me about it some time ago.
I vaguely remember other incidents such as this, saying it’s the first time they’ve been to a location when its not. So, I believe this is an offense already on their record. I totally missed the season premiere, but I do miss their trailer days. As Nathan said, it’s a TV show.
Don’t you think “real” ghost hunts are … better (more authentic? less fake?) than ones on television? To me there’s no comparison. I’ve been on a couple ghost hikes, or whatever you would want to call them and found them very interesting indeed. (While visiting NM several years ago, some siblings and kids went on a great one in Albuquerque. Truth be told, it would have been more fun had it not been a million degrees out, but oh well. I love the whole idea of ghosts, and psychic powers and telepathy, etc., which all works its way into other things like mind over matter and alternative medicine. Love the world of the unseen! I’ve been watching a DVD, “Something Unknown,” which obviously is about the unknown. Ghost frauds? This addresses real magical powers — and fraud.
I think when they were more real and less stars it was more fun. Now it’s just formulaic. Very sad. And I don’t understand why they say they’ve been to a place when they haven’t –or don’t disclose when they do get evidence. (Because someone else also told me about that. How they were talking to a hotel mgr who’d had GH there, and GH had given them evidence, but when the show went to air they made it out like there was no activity there. I’m still trying to understand the rational behind that one.) Oh well, thanks for all the excellent comments all!
I haven’t read all the comments yet, but I wanted to write mine before my mind went blank 🙂
Ghost Hunters are now an entertainment BUSINESS. When they first started there was an integrity. A sense of Cause. They were doing this to help people and because they had profound personal experiences they wanted to explore. No special effects for drama’s sake. No stupid celebrity guests. No background music.
I remember when they aired episodes where all they did was debunk. No drama, no ghosts and it was like pulling teeth to get Jason to say the word “Haunted”.
Now Every Episode is full of drama, and every investigation is confirmed haunted. This makes young Ghost Hunters think that this is a glamorous thing full of excitement and dramatic paranormal experiences. When in reality you would be LUCKY and amazed to get a very faint evp after weeks of investigating one place. Long hours, and MUCH patience required.
I have had my conversations with Jason when the show just started to go the way of entertainment. He was none to happy about it. I genuinely trust Jason, (Grant, not so much) but I believe they have all fallen into the celebrity and drama of this now.
I still watch Ghost Hunters, but I don’t put as much stock into anything they find. The show is now meant to be entertainment, so i view it as such.
My Two Cents, or a buck fifty if your read the whole ramble! 😉
Mommy D
WeeklySpectre.com
Mommy D and Brenda, you both left EXCELLENT points. You said it all perfectly. I thought it was all WONDERFUL what you had to say, and I’m very thankful you shared it here. This is the stuff that makes me so honored to know you both, and why I’m forever grateful we were brought together via our blogs!!!!!!!