Actually, it’s not so much that Ghost Hunters doesn’t want you to see the following clips. If you’re a fan of the show you’ve likely already seen them. What they don’t want you to do is examine them too closely or question their authenticity.
Why? Because it’s evidence that GH’s evidence isn’t on the up and up. A.K.A. It’s growing proof that Ghost Hunters fakes findings.
I pulled a few of the most telling clips to demonstrate.
APPARITION AT EASTERN STATE PENITENTIARY
And my belief, just because I know who was outside, is that we caught some sort of apparition on camera. The best thing we can do is put it out there and let the world decide. ~Jason Hawes~
Keep that above quote in mind not just as you watch the clip, but for the rest of this post. (You’ll also notice that the quote was pulled right from this clip.)
I remember the first time I saw this episode. It was during it’s original airing. Like millions of other viewers, my initial reaction was, “Whoa! That is wicked creepy.”
However, as I watched later during a rerun, I wasn’t as impressed. In fact, I was downright skeptical.
“Isn’t that a sneaker?” I wondered as I rewatched it.
The clip has copy which points out a blanket. But if you look in the lower left part on the “apparition” there’s a flash of white which to me looks suspiciously like a tennis shoe. And the way the “apparition” moves in general is more like someone hunched over with a blanket draped over them.
[UPDATE AS OF AUGUST 30, 2017: CLIP NO LONER AVAILABLE]
THE VERDICT: Jason, you’ve left it for the world to decide. I want to believe in TAPS and their evidence, but this clip just seems too fishy. I rule FAKED!
DEBUNKING GHOST HUNTER’S MOON RIVER BREWING SHADOW FIGURE EVIDENCE
I also remember when I first saw the shadow behind the pool table evidence from their Moon River Brewing investigation. At first it gave me shivers.
“That is just freaky!”
Then, the more I watched it, the more I thought, “Wait, it seems a little weird. Like someone’s crouching down. And not so much that they came out of a wall as that’s just a partition to another room. I’m not so sure this is so real…”
Now, after watching this clip, I’m positive I’m right.
[UPDATE AS OF AUGUST 30, 2017: CLIP NO LONER AVAILABLE]
THE VERDICT: FAKED!
DEBUNKING THE 2008 HALLOWEEN LIVE SPECIAL JACKET PULL
Autumnforest shared this clip with me when she left a comment on my “A Few More Thoughts on Ghost TV Shows.” (Side note: In her comment she also referenced one of her posts where she posed a theory why GH has taken a downhill turn and other ghost shows won’t succeed finding activity either right now. It’s super interesting and I highly recommend reading it.)
I think the Moon River debunk is the funniest, but I think this one is the most convincing of faked evidence yet. (It’s also the longest, but it’s worth the five minutes.)
[UPDATE AS OF AUGUST 30, 2017: CLIP NO LONER AVAILABLE]
THE VERDICT: I kind of already stated it above, but it’s worth reiterating: Big ol’ FAKED!
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 finds! The Eastern State I never considered to be legit–it was obviously a dude in jeans with a blanket thrown over top. They really didn’t think that one out. My guess, honestly, is it was the production company. I think Jason is really bad at lying so you can tell when he’s kind of trying to protect himself by saying something like “we’ll throw it out there for the public to decide.” The jacket pull made my stomach turn. I admit that much of what they found rang true for real ghost hunts and the kinds of things you run into, but that Eastern State one started to make me wonder if they’re just stupid. Then, when the jacket pull came out, I was absolutely sick. I went back and watched other episodes that seemed to link Grant to a lot of strange things that occur. I couldn’t find many that didn’t involve him. The flip flop ending up in another room was a turning point for me. I really didn’t buy that. I mean, I’ve seen stuff move, but they have a whole freakin crew with them. I really don’t want to think of them as flim flam. The sad thing is they were making an earnest attempt at ghost hunting for a long time before the show came and so the passion was there. The problem is like “Jon and Kate Plus Eight,” they had to produce some drama. On their show, they’d just make them cook with a famous chef or hang out with motorcycle designers or whatever stupidity. For GH, they make them bring in people from other cheesy SyFy shows. I think fame and ghost hunting should never go hand-in-hand or it becomes like that godawful team of flim flam artists Ed and Lorraine Warren or Uri Geller (supposed psychic) or John Edward. Yikes!
YES! I mean, if they want to say it’s entertainment, fine. Call it a ghost hunting show and let it be entertaining. But if you want real evidence, and want to be credible, like GH started out portraying themselves as…don’t act like you’re the real deal! Shameful!
And your comment actually got labeled Spam (sorry!) for some reason, so I just now read it. But you wrote it I think even before I posted my follow-up thoughts on this. Again, you said what I was thinking!
But after reading your comments…especially about Grant because I had found some other clips alleging fakery (they just weren’t as convincing as these 3) and guess what? He was in them too! And he comes across as maybe even more sincere and believable than Jay!
So, the thing I take away from all this is I’m really the sucker. I believed GH was on the up and up and FINALLY there’d be legitimacy in the field. HA! Joke’s on me!!!!
If you hit pause at 58 seconds it looks like someone with a blanket over the head turning around to make their exit and you can see their jeans poking out. I’m beginning to think they’re relying on the video being jerky and grainy so it’s harder to tell exactly what you’re looking at.
A person can really look like a shadow if you pixelate them enough and drop a couple of frames. 🙂
Yes, yes, yes! I see what you mean! Now I don’t know about pixelation and dropping frames…you’re speaking Greek to me! But I get the gist of what you’re saying…they can manipulate the data. POO! Too bad. Would’ve been more fun to have caught something real. Which makes me sad because probably the St. Augustine Lighthouse footage is bogus then too. (That was my personal fave epi.)
Thanks again for another great comment.
The “pixelated” refers to how a lot of what you see with the night vision camera is blocky and jagged. A lot of the definition of objects and the fine detail of where one things ends and another begins is missing. It also makes “patterns” form very easily. It gives the impression that something could be there, but there is so little detail that can’t really tell for sure. It almost helps the power of suggestion by such a hazy image.
The “dropping frames” is in reference to the remote/wireless cameras and how they don’t take as many pictures (frames) per second as a normal camera. So if a regular camera takes 30 frames a second and the IR camera takes 15 frames a second, it means there is a noticeable delay between images. What this means to me, in regards to this sort of evidence, is that you could easily have something move into the scene and exit out again with only half the pictures being taken as a normal camera. This is why the IR camera looks kind of choppy when you view them.
To take this a step further it would allow something to appear in one frame, but disappear for the next. Also, with the lowered detail, a person could easily look more “blobbish” and a blanket pulled over the head wouldn’t look like a blanket over the head, but perhaps take on a more “black mass” look. And someone running into a frame, then running out would seem to appear out of nowhere and then quickly disappear into thin air…
Just my opinion of course.
mega shows like ghost hunters? It’s on Sci-Fi: the channel that gets the dregs of NBC’s mega budget.
Have to point out: you call a lot fake, but you removed your own video. By the way, you’ve got to actual demonstrate why the jacket tug is fake, you haven’t identified anything in the video. Which by the way, ever have somebody actually tug your collar when you’re going the other way? It stops you in the same motion, and no, your clothes don’t flap in the wind with you.
Editing questions? We’ve all seen the live shows that last for 7 hours, any other idea how to make that fit into a 42 minute block than editing? All these paranormal shows are the same, but I love how your site pretty much fails to address how the Ghost Hunters reiterate each and every episode that they are looking for rational explanations. Anyone who has actually seen the show knows that they never find anything. Perhaps at best, 1 in 50 episodes gives a legit headscratcher. I love how many of your commenters have stated that Ghost Hunters used to be so legit. No such thing as a legit ghost hunter, no matter who it is, it will always be a bunch of grown men looking through blurry nightvision, listening to noisy furnaces in old houses.
Most interesting thing on ghost hunters is that its the only show that Mike Rowe narrates which he hasn’t guest starred in.
Hey, thanks for the comment Jimmy Dickens. I didn’t remove my own video. These were all vids I culled from YouTube. I’m glad you pointed out it was gone though. I didn’t know about that.
And I think by “legit” I really mean they used to really stress, as you pointed out, that they’re looking for rational explanations. That’s what used to make them seem legit, because something ended up changing where they went from that concept to “Ooo! Look what we found this time!” each show.
Oh, and I learned something else from you: I didn’t know Mike Rowe narrated. Interesting!
THX for your comments/perceptions. I dig that!
u guys r retarted u fakerssssssss
I use to like it when it first started, but after the years I started hearing fake now I just can’t get into the other shows unless for entertainment , if you want to see real haunting join a real group who takes it serious and you will see what you are looking for)
That’s very good advice, Angela. I agree. Not every investigation garners activity, but when it happens? You do definitely know it!
The jacket tug made me jump out of my seat the first time I saw it…because I do theater and we set up an effect that did exactly the same thing. You’ll notice that Grant always leaves one hand inside the sweatshirt pocket? We pulled this same thing for a haunted Halloween attraction in 2007- our tour guides would get grabbed by ghosts by running pieces of fishing wire sewn into the clothes at the nape of the neck and then run down the back of the inside the sweat shirt and through a small hole made into the pocket so their hand inside the pocket could grab the wire and tug. They would move as they tugged, leaning back, or forward with the free hand flailing to hide the motion of their hand inside the pocket.
This was for an outdoor fundraising haunted trails tour and it costs almost nothing to set up. I was astounded that such a cheep theater trick fooled so many people, but damn was it entertaining.
We have been a team for several years, and I wish we had half the “proof” any TV team has found! It is a long, boring process with very little to show for it. We have done private homes, city offices, historical sites, and whole cities. Many of those want no mention of ever asking for help. All I can say with complete honesty is that there is true evidence, and THEY ARE OUT THERE! Keep safe and honest.
Anita, BRILLIANT comment. Thanks for stopping by to leave it. It’s always refreshing to hear from real teams who know that, yes, stuff happens but is it like what happens on TV? Um….lol
LOL! Thanks for sharing this, Bokgal1977! This was a very entertaining comment to read.
It was such a good show when it first came, I never missed a show, then when I saw the jacket show I knew it was on a sled going down hill to fast, then Grant left and Jason began to pick people that did not match or else we seen his family make their debut and that was just to much. I think they did start with good intentions but money talks and they heard and sold out, Wenatchee a shame.