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Ghost Hunters

StarTrekLivz

New Blood
S
Joined
Jul 22, 2009
Messages
1
I have seen oodles of tv shows featuring TAPS and other ghost hunters, they lurk in basements ("I feel cold down here!" -- duh, you're in a basement!) and other idiocies. Today the Sci Fi channel (redubbed SyFy) did a full day marathon of people in haunted houses.

I would love to see a bunch of people, especially including TAPS, put into an old house where none of the inhabitants had noted "ghostly" activity, especially if that house had been within the same family for multiple generations. And let them "discover" all sorts of "spiritual influences" which none of the residents detected. and result from the psychological problems of the "experts" rather than anything "spiritual.

My own house is 100 years old, and some people want to include it on a "ghost tour," and I reply, "Why, there are no ghosts here?"
 
StarTrekLivz said:
My own house is 100 years old, and some people want to include it on a "ghost tour," and I reply, "Why, there are no ghosts here?"
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Are you STUPID? You are living in a GOLD MINE!

OK, you're obviously not an idiot, but you are passing up FREE MONEY! Make up a story about a jilted (ETA: and pregnant) chambermaid. Want to cash in more? Her paramour, the scion of the home, kills himself out of regret. It's the way you, unlike most of us, can make a buck from the Woo.

Me, I'm trying to cash in on a split level built in 1958. Maybe it will explain the squirels in the roof, but the story isn't coming together.
 
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Yes, and get a black cat and some cobwebs and turn up the airconditioner for those "cold drafts". Maybe you could get on one of those shows and then go public with how you fooled em.
 
Do you have a doll you can sit out for people to see? A clown doll could work well in this case:

Have someone move the doll around the house when you're not there. That way, you can tell people that you came home to find the doll in a different room from where you last put it.

Since your house is 100 years-old, someone living there within that time must have had a sense of humor, must have clowned around. Tie that characteristic to the clown doll, and you could have a paranormal explanation suitable for a book, TV show, or major movie production.
 
Invite TAPS over the holidays when you've strung up lots of lights in every room including the attic--it will give their EMF gadgets more to do.
 
In fairness to TAPS, only a minority of their investigations produce evidence of the paranormal, and they do make an effort to debunk any experiences or evidence reported or captured.

I'm a skeptic myself, but let's keep an open mind.
 
The Lone Bolt said:
In fairness to TAPS, only a minority of their investigations produce evidence of the paranormal, and they do make an effort to debunk any experiences or evidence reported or captured.

I'm a skeptic myself, but let's keep an open mind.
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I really, really, attempt to have an open mind while watching shows like TAPS, but so far I haven't even seen that "minority" of paranormal evidence of which you speak.
 
The Lone Bolt said:
In fairness to TAPS, only a minority of their investigations produce evidence of the paranormal, and they do make an effort to debunk any experiences or evidence reported or captured.

I'm a skeptic myself, but let's keep an open mind.
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Watching that show lead me to this forum. I will thank them for that.
Oh and that ridiculous show on A&E, I will not speak its name.
Where, oh where, was there any evidence of the paranormal?
what you see was set up for you. there is proof of that.
check the syfy message boards. you will get quite an education about TAPS.
 
The Lone Bolt said:
In fairness to TAPS, only a minority of their investigations produce evidence of the paranormal, and they do make an effort to debunk any experiences or evidence reported or captured.

I'm a skeptic myself, but let's keep an open mind.
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I have never seen anything remotely like actual evidence of the paranormal on that show. I have seen numerous incidences of fraud & silliness, however.

Personal favourite: TAPS member points infrared-reading camera at metal locker door, sees ghostly form appear on camera monitor and announces he's spotted a spook. Fails to realize he is recording his own heat signature on the metal.

Don't get me wrong. I would love to have evidence for an afterlife, provided it meant I get to come back and haunt people who failed to share their ice creams with me. But TAPS--no no no.
 
My questions are many: , Why do they only ghost hunt at night? Do the ghosts work 3rd shift? Are they even in the same time zone? Do they sleep all day? Are they really invisible vampires then?
 
The Lone Bolt said:
In fairness to TAPS, only a minority of their investigations produce evidence of the paranormal,
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What you call "evidence of the paranormal", some folks might recognize as "not using testing equipment properly".

One of the key differences between Ghost Hunters and Mythbusters, is that the Mythbusters take every precaution they can, to make sure they are using their measurement equipment properly. The Ghost Hunters seemed to have tossed their specs. and manuals in the dumpster. So, of course they are going to get weird readings!
 
Nankay said:
My questions are many: , Why do they only ghost hunt at night? Do the ghosts work 3rd shift? Are they even in the same time zone? Do they sleep all day? Are they really invisible vampires then?
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And why do they turn off the lights? 1) Since they say ghosts need to suck in energy to manifest, wouldn't lights give them more energy to use? 2) Since the people reporting the experiences usually had the lights on at the time, why are they changing the conditions for the investigation?

Or is it like the old saying: I lost my keys outside. (Why are you looking inside?) Because the light is so much better in here!

In this case: I think I saw something in the light. (Then why are you looking in the dark?) Because I get more results I can't explain!

RoboTimbo said:
My favorite debunking is Grant's coat tug.
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Yes - "Collargate" is hilarious.
 
Not to mention that cloaked figure in sneakers at East State Penn. Someone (was it SAPS) showed how the video had been tampered with?

And just after Grant left a room in the lighthouse his chair jerked as if by a fishing line?

I like the show but, but come on, they NEVER find anything that can't be explained by other means.
 
Damn my ethics. My house was built in 1849, and in the course of the research Mrs. JHunter1163 and I did to get it on the state historic registry, we found out that someone had died in the house back in 1890. AND we have heard things creak and go bump in the night.

With a little imagination I could have a damn fine haunted house. But that would be lying...
 
Minarvia said:
I like the show but, but come on, they NEVER find anything that can't be explained by other means.
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I'll agree with that, but that alone doesn't prove fakery.

If posters such as Blue Sock Monkey reject TAPS' evidence on this basis then what would they consider evidence of the paranormal?
 
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The Lone Bolt said:
If posters such as Blue Sock Monkey reject TAPS' evidence on this basis then what would they consider evidence of the paranormal?
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I love it when someone asks my opinion. In the name of science, the Blue Sock Monkey hereby suggests that TAPS:

*Put away their silly gadgets (or at least RTFM);

*Consult with one or more of the following prior to "investigating" the next haunted house: the JREF, Joe Nickell, my aunt Maggie (a woman with loads of common sense who raised three engineers);

*Take a number of skeptics with them, perhaps one per cast member & crew member, to observe;

*Turn over all unedited footage, audio and other data to an impartial observer for analysis before claiming something is inexplicable;

*Open their forum to skeptics. Banning skeptics suggests they have something to hide.

If they can't manage at least this minimum, I recommend they go back to plumbing problems. The world needs good plumbers. It does not need a 21st century version of Laurel & Hardy playing at spook-spotting.
 
Fair enough.

I was unaware that they did not allow skeptics to post on their forum. Can you cite an example of that?

And how do you propose to confirm that the skeptics they bring along are legitimate skeptics?

How do you propose to confirm that observers who examine the evidence are impartial?

Seems like your solution has some issues to overcome.
 
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