So I wanted to post a quick blog about something. Ghost Hunters has been one of my favorite shows for years now. I used to be so excited when it came on and couldn't wait to watch it. In the past two seasons I'm finding myself less and less excited about watching the show. Is it just me, or does something seem off about the TAPS crew lately? For me, it doesn't feel "real" anymore. Everything is becoming more and more "scripted" and a lot of it seems staged these days. Just observe their behavior now compared to the first few seasons...you'll see what I mean. They seem to be doing less debunking and more "catching". They seem to be believing in more these days rather than going in as skeptics. Either they simply just don't care anymore and they are tired of it all...or they were bought off by syfy to make the show more interesting these days.
The film release of "Paranormal Activity" was a huge success. The film has this incredible realism to it, almost a freaky realism. You have to see the movie to truly understand. But all of the "ghostly" things look like authentic like it was actually happening. Here's the thing though, the movie is clearly a fictional story. The movie was made for a measly $11,000. They used one single camera and actors who had virtually no experience. My point is with all this, they came off as more credible than TAPS has recently. That's sad, because the movie...is jut a movie. They were able to fake ghostly evidence. They pulled it off so well that you almost think it IS real.
Am I saying I don't believe in ghosts anymore? No of course not, I still believe. But I've become more skeptical over the past few months. I don't instantly believe anything I see on TV in regards to the paranormal. We can all be duped so easily with fancy camera tricks and good acting. Is Ghost Hunters fake now? I have no idea, but I'm leaning more towards the fact that it just might be. Not ALL of it...but I think a lot of it is now. But I will still watch the show...because it is still entertaining to me.
Watch this clip below from Paranormal Activity and just see how easy it is to fake doors opening and closing.
Again, I'm still a believer, I'm just going into it all now with less naive eyes. This is just my silly observations. Hehe.
--Mike-=-
A trek of urban exploration, photography, the old west, ghosts and ghost towns.
Mike;
ReplyDeleteFantastic post! I totally get ya! Yeah, they seem to be going through the motions and no longer excited about finding stuff or going to cool places. It's like "been there, done that!" And their relationships seem stilted and strained and the women are INCREDIBLY a snooze! Yeah, the bloom is off the rose. They do the same things, say the same things, same routine, same instruments... It's as dull as an inbreed. At the same time, the last season has been the most realistic. Honestly, I could go on 15 hunts and have nothing that isn't explainable. Then, boom! Ghost hunting is having had an experience or experiences that are so unexplainable that you can spend years of finding nothing similar waiting for the one time it happens again--kind of like Nessie folks who keep watching the lake decades later. When it's rewarding, it's super rewarding and your belief becomes more intense, then the longer you have no proof, the more you question everything you ever saw or experienced. It's a normal progression. It's why I didn't start hunting until I was middle-aged. I kept talking myself out of everything I experienced when I was younger. Then, finally I sat down and reviewed it and realized--there are no explanations. That got my juices flowing again and I decided to try to experience that again. Luckily, I have, but it is rare. So, keep on believing. You need a lot of exposure to hopefully have those moments where you absolutely KNOW something is going on that's unexplainable.
I don't get excited about Ghost Hunters either. As Autumn said, it's the same ol',same ol'.
ReplyDeleteI like to watch a show about ghosts to hopefully see some ghosts. I don't want to see a show that's all debunking. That being said, I guess it would be difficult to make a show where we would see something unexplained on every episode. The investigators would have to spend a lot more time at a location to hopefully catch something and not just a few hours.
I thought Paranormal Activity was totally boring.
Oh I forgot to ask if you have seen the show "Ghost Lab" on the Discovery Channel. I just found out about it and haven't watched it.
ReplyDeleteWOW, so many people feel the same as you, me included. I still watch GH and do my recaps but the excitement of watching the show has decreased. There is something missing from the show and between the TAPS team that was there in the earlier shows, "the fun of ghost hunting". Maybe the Jason and Grant are ready to hang up their ghost hunting shoes and past the torch to a new group of hunters. That could be why Steve and Tango are hosting the GHA show, hummm, ya think, lol?
ReplyDeleteHALLELUJAH! Wonderful post, Mike. And I enjoyed all the comments. I feel the same way as everyone here. I'm working on some articles about how commercial GH has gotten. It's more about the entertainment/merchandising than truly furthering the field...yet they still rep themselves as the "authorities" (And I do mean THE authorities) in the field when really they are not. They are just people with experience debunking and investigating their way. There's a lot of new procedures they could be trying. But they don't because they feel there is only one way, theirs. I'm a bit tired of it. I used to LOVE this show too, much like you and others has mentioned. But now...I get mad at them. I want to see them shaking things up, trying new techniques, really trying to further the field. But about the only new things they'll try are gadgets. It's lost it's charm...
ReplyDeleteAgain, excellent post!
I couldn't agree more.
ReplyDeleteI had a story, that was told to me many years ago. A couple months ago I was contacted by an ex-relative (so to say). I asked about the last known where abouts of another person in that family and was told she had passed on.
I hate it when people tell bits and pieces of some freaky story and can't answer the first question. But... it was a one of a kind story, and in my old age and age of the internet... I'm wondering if there are others stories similar. I'll stick what I remember in the comments here and please let me know if it strikes a chord.
Two women in their early twenties walking down the sidewalk in a Nashville neighborhood. Broad daylight.
ReplyDeleteSuddenly, just a few feet from them, a small jet liner appears in the air. It is filled with Lilliputian people. They are close enough to see the look of horror on these peoples faces as the plane is breaking up and some of these people are falling out.
There is no sound.
It disappears as quickly as it appeared.
The two women had grabbed and held onto each other through the incident, they both saw the same thing.
It had been less than two years since this had happened to her when I became part of that family and she told me about it one day. She cried during the whole retelling.