Cracked Published an Article by a Ghost Hunter

[Butter!]

5 Things I Learned as a Ghost Hunter (TV Won't Show You)

http://www.cracked.com/article_21219_5-things-i-learned-as-ghost-hunter-tv-wont-show-you.html


The ghost hunter denounces all the "crazy" psychics and mediums, but sings the praises of legit EVP. Pot, kettle? I don't know. I found the article's tone a bit cloying. What does everyone else think?

Honestly, I'm a little surprised Cracked published it at all. They normally err more on the debunking side of things.

 

[xtifr]

Honestly, I'm a little surprised Cracked published it at all. They normally err more on the debunking side of things.

It's a little surprising, but it's not like they're an actual skeptic site or anything. They're a humor site, and humor is where you find it. People's beliefs in ridiculous things are a great source for humor, which is probably why they feature a lot of debunking, but it's not like they have a mandate.

And I recall one article where they were skeptical about people actual indulging in mutual oral sex, aka "69", which, I can say from experience, is something people actually do. The writer found the concept squicky, so he or she pretended to believe that no one would actually do such a thing--at least not more than once--for humorous effect.

So I think we can safely say that their skepticism is...uneven and spotty.

 

[Biscuit]

On top of that, equipment is expensive, and the vast majority of it isn't even designed to be used for the work you're using it for anyway.

Well it seems that the entire process is flawed from the gate. If you are trying to search for carbon monoxide using a bicycle horn you are going to get some strange results.

I liked the article for the stories of the false haunting and the honesty but they had a perfect opportunity to test the quality of their EVP's by providing the files and asking readers to submit what they hear.

The author seems very sincere but just a little scientific rigor and some critical thinking would go a long way with all ghost hunters.

 

[Mudcat]

Honestly, I'm a little surprised Cracked published it at all.

How come? The article was hilarious and truthful. I imagine if paranormal investigation and monster hunter shows were to show the things they normally don't, they would be a lot more interesting and entertaining.

 

[Monza]

Cracked has some good articles that mention Sylvia Browne, Jenny McCarthy, and other purveyors of woo. I read the ghost hunter article earlier today. Yes, it did seem a little out of the norm for Cracked and the author was definitely in need of looking in the mirror.

Regarding the ghost hunting equipment (with the appropriate photo of Radio Shack ), I've always wondered how ghost hunters calibrate their equipment or even determine that it works. The article did mention something about the equipment being used is not designed for ghost hunting. True. So how is it known that ghosts can be detected by Geiger counters, oscilloscopes, jumper cables, or whatever? OK, I know the real answer. But these guys don't ever really understand that they are playing 'science' the way children play 'police'.

 

[jasonpatterson]

Well it seems that the entire process is flawed from the gate. If you are trying to search for carbon monoxide using a bicycle horn you are going to get some strange results.

I liked the article for the stories of the false haunting and the honesty but they had a perfect opportunity to test the quality of their EVP's by providing the files and asking readers to submit what they hear.

The author seems very sincere but just a little scientific rigor and some critical thinking would go a long way with all ghost hunters.

They did provide the EVPs they mentioned in the story. Maybe your browser didn't pick them up or something, but they were giant clickable banners in mine. Like a lot of EVPs, the fist sounded almost nothing like the phrase they decided it meant. Also like a fair number of EVPs, the second was very good.

I liked the article, generally speaking. The person who was interviewed for it clearly believes in something I don't, but it seemed like she was also trying to be reasonably honest about what she was doing. She never even explicitly said that she had evidence of anything paranormal, just that she had witnessed some creepy/freaky stuff and that she believed in ghosts, perhaps because of a "personal experience."

Do I think she's wasting her time? Sure. I don't think she's actively hurting anyone though, and certainly far less so than all of the people trying to do the same job who are charging for the service. If her rate of 'no result' findings are as high as she implies, she's probably doing far more to convince vulnerable people that there are not actually ghosts in their houses than any of us are sitting here complaining about ghost hunters on the internet.

 

[Biscuit]

They did provide the EVPs they mentioned in the story. Maybe your browser didn't pick them up or something, but they were giant clickable banners in mine. Like a lot of EVPs, the fist sounded almost nothing like the phrase they decided it meant. Also like a fair number of EVPs, the second was very good.

I meant they shouldn't have told us what they thought the evp sounded like before we played them.

 

[Alareth]

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