The Major Flaws in Most Ghost Shows

1. Camera always in the face of the investigator: I want to see the ghost, I don't want to see glamor shots of these ugly ass investigators. Every time some anomaly jumps off we never see it.

2. Blabber while mysterious noise is being made: How many times have we seen someone hear a noise and then break the silence by asking everyone in the vicinity "Did you hear that? Do you hear it that sound? Was that you? It wasn't me!"

After they all get done with all the loud chatter the ghost has moved on to the attic.
You listen to the EVP and it's filled with people running their damn mouths.

3.Why no helmet cam on every investigator: In almost every ghost episode someone has a personal experience and they see shadows, full body apparitions, etc

We never get to see it because these fools don't have any type of device that can record what they SEE, so we have to take their word on it.

4.Stupid questions : Please tell me why the investigators ask ghost the most ridiculous questions? Questions like "My name is Grant, whats your name? "Are you lonely?" "Did you die here?" etc

Are the investigators 4 years old? The one that cracks me up is when they tell the ghost "We are not here to hurt you". LOL, the ghost is dead, you can hurt him no more.

5.Run all devices at the same time : There must be some ghost hunter law that states only 2 devices can be turned on when investigating. They are always saying " Hey go get the EMF detector or turn on the Infrared Thermal Scanner."

After they fish for the equipment, once again the ghost has moved on. I would have everything on at the same time during the duration on the investigation.

This has always been the same, i think it all boils down to entertainment factor.

All the things you bring up in your thread make for watchable ghost hunting tv for most people, it's only the die hard paranormal researchers that get fed up with the farces we see on screen these days.

I would be happy for the shows to have a camera in each corner of every room in the house being investigated, so all arcs could be covered. That would be a start.

Unfortunately, if we face facts here, a true ghosthunt would be extremely boring to watch on tv, so of course they have to glam it up a bit.

CX.

I would like two things:

1) They would not be allowed to say "did you hear that," or claim how footsteps could be heard--SO ANNOYING
2) Make the investigations last over several days and nights with cameras continually running

Honestly, most ghost and cryptid shows seem faked to me. Cryptid shows can be the worst. Any unexplained noise or movement must be the cryptid they're hunting. Mysterious Encounters was the worst I've seen I'm glad they took that one off the air. Destination Truth also seems faked/over exaggerated, but at least they discuss a lot of interesting cryptids. They also seem more willing to accept mundane explanations.

[edit on 15-8-2009 by kitfox]

I think some of the problems are they are on tv so they try to improve ratings and they have a more entertainment feel to them.

Originally posted by Better Mouse Trap
4.Stupid questions : Please tell me why the investigators ask ghost the most ridiculous questions? Questions like "My name is Grant, whats your name? "Are you lonely?" "Did you die here?" etc

Are the investigators 4 years old? The one that cracks me up is when they tell the ghost "We are not here to hurt you". LOL, the ghost is dead, you can hurt him no more.

One of the popular theories is that ghosts don't realize they are dead. In addition, the ghost may be that of a child - and those are appropriate questions to ask.

5.Run all devices at the same time : There must be some ghost hunter law that states only 2 devices can be turned on when investigating. They are always saying " Hey go get the EMF detector or turn on the Infrared Thermal Scanner."

After they fish for the equipment, once again the ghost has moved on. I would have everything on at the same time during the duration on the investigation.

Usually the devices are broken up among investigators. Why doesn't everyone have everything? Budget. They can't simply afford to buy all the equipment they would like.

Those are my opinions of Ghost Hunters at least. I don't watch the other shows at all because of their lack of objectivity. Ghost Hunters I am still on the fence about.

it is entertainment. of course it's fake.

these shows do nothing to further any cause besides advertising.

I gotta agree on thehelmet cam.

So many of them claim to see things but it's never on camera.

We don't need to see an hour of helmet cams, that would be called Nausea Hunters but would probably get great advertizing business from the makers of Dramamine. But if even a fraction of the "I just saw..." situations were true, catching it on helmet cam would be very fruitful.

My pet peeve?
SOUNDTRACK.

Why have a ten decible noise playing on the ambient when you've got a 60 decible hitchcock soundtrack covering up everything?

I like the shows, GH, PS and GA. They all have entertainment value.
I'm not knocking them altogether but it might be nice to see a bit less playing up and false drama on the part of the producers.

I think my major issue with all these Ghost Investigator shows is that we have no idea whether or not they're faking some of their "evidence" just for the ratings. Unless we're right there with them, we have no idea what's truly real or fake. I seem to recall that MTV's paranormal show had a few episodes where their "teams'" experiences were nothing more than cheap, Blair Witch styled theatrics, most notably in the "Fort Bradley" episode.

Originally posted by Better Mouse Trap
1. Camera always in the face of the investigator: I want to see the ghost, I don't want to see glamor shots of these ugly ass investigators. Every time some anomaly jumps off we never see it.

I have to agree, Or if you do see it, its just a quick flash and you are left wondering what the he@# you just saw because its so out of focus.

2. Blabber while mysterious noise is being made: How many times have we seen someone hear a noise and then break the silence by asking everyone in the vicinity "Did you hear that? Do you hear it that sound? Was that you? It wasn't me!"

That or put crappy music over the sound so all you hear is "did you hear that"

3.Why no helmet cam on every investigator: In almost every ghost episode someone has a personal experience and they see shadows, full body apparitions, etc

We never get to see it because these fools don't have any type of device that can record what they SEE, so we have to take their word on it.
[\quote]
I have though about that for our group, when we get the funding, its a option we are looking at, that or lapel cam's.. something so its recording all the time, better chance of actualy getting something good.

4.Stupid questions : Please tell me why the investigators ask ghost the most ridiculous questions? Questions like "My name is Grant, whats your name? "Are you lonely?" "Did you die here?" etc
[\quote]
This one i can understand you are trying to establish a link, from the past, if you can get a name on evp and verify that that person was there in the location and died then you have a little more to back up what you are claming to be paranormal. More to present to the client in the end. Esplcay if you get photo go to with it.. name and face to back up what you are saying you got as evidence.

5.Run all devices at the same time : There must be some ghost hunter law that states only 2 devices can be turned on when investigating. They are always saying " Hey go get the EMF detector or turn on the Infrared Thermal Scanner."
[\quote]
While i agree in some sence, your there to capture any possible evidence , so the more the better, say you get a EVP of a voice, and can document the time as well as video of EMF meter going off, at the exact same time, and camera picking something up, this tied together proves that it was not anyone on the staff of the group, and there was unusual occurance. Granted it is cumbersom to have so many going at once, but if you get hits on diffrent levels it helps as evidence.

[edit on 16-8-2009 by severdsoul]

I think that most of these tv shows are faked to some extent, especially the live ones, and a huge chunk is just playing to the camera for ratings. I think alot of people realise this very quickly as it is sometimes very obvious. The only reason why I would watch these is for the story behind the hauntings, which can be interesting enough to continue watching.

It would be refreshing, however, to have some genuine shows that take it seriously and want to investigate properly to find out if they can get any true hautings on tape or resolve the situation. It would make us more objective if we learn about the more mundane things that can cause something to seem haunted.

The same thing can be said for UFO progs and other supernatural style progs. If there were good examples and level headedness then it might be passed onto the viewers who will then be more objective in their own experiences.

The one thing that really bugs me is on Ghost Adventures where they mark an x for each place they are going to place a static cam. Then by 0230 AM they might be setting up the cams. Geesh set them up on the spot and get ample enough footage so if there is something odd you at least catch it.

Or when they decide to quit investigating and it's only 3 am at least I have to give Ghost Adventures props for staying the whole night.

reply to post by YarlanZey


I agree, our goal is not to get the snip of cool footage, or the drawn out shows, or all the other stuff. Our hopes are to find a truly 'haunted' house and study, not short term but long term, set up cameras 24 7 , sure this would require a LOT of work and time, but the findings could be interesting.. break past the "ooohhh did you see that" and get to the heart of the matter , of "what is it" and "what causes it" and "Why".
Long term study of a good active location is the only way to break past, but then again that dose not make cash or ratings, and will require us renting the place for a year or more, plus power and heat and other bills.. So its still going to be a while before we can afford it, Not to mention the cost of equipment to set up and cover the whole area at all times.

But that is our goal. May take a while but we will reach it.

I used to watch Most Haunted.

Initially the locations were good and the story interesting enough to keep me watching. It was obviously faked and the medium Derek Achora (spelt wrong but I cant be bothered to check it) played up to the camera every episode.

They had specials where they would spend the whole night live or several nights at a well known location, with a live audience (in a tent somewhere) and the good Dr David Bull (I like him) and there was a very sceptical psychologist who could be quite scathing. They also provided a hub so that people at home could participate by sending texts/emails.

I think it is still going despite the internet babble about proof that it was faked and what not, and I think its season 7 or something.

Originally posted by severdsoul
break past the "ooohhh did you see that" and get to the heart of the matter , of "what is it" and "what causes it" and "Why".

Long term study of a good active location is the only way to break past, but then again that dose not make cash or ratings, and will require us renting the place for a year or more, plus power and heat and other bills.. So its still going to be a while before we can afford it, Not to mention the cost of equipment to set up and cover the whole area at all times.

But that is our goal. May take a while but we will reach it.

Would budget actually be a factor in attaining quality footage by experts who really do want to get to the "heart of the matter"?

I don't think so. Such footage would be extremely valuable and worth the expense.

Producers know they can get away with with cheap theatrics because entertaining the masses is not that difficult intellectually.

reply to post by Inter.net-freaks


well for them, no budget is not a problem at all, for us, a 16 chanel cctv iR unit runs about $1500, and to fully cover a house you would need 2, so budget matters. But give us time... My whole goal in the ghost investigations is to get to the bottom of it before i die.. be it real, fake, natural occurance, our own mental abilities, what ever.. to figure out what causes it and why. It may take a few years to build up so we can actualy start, plus the cost of renting a place.. but i want to know, if nothing more than just for me.. (although naturaly i'd share on here and be flamed for it *lol*) What causes it and why.

The pathetic part is they put enough cash in these shows to actualy do some serious investigations, but they dont... There is something there, i have seen it many times first hand... but what is the question and why.

The one thing that I see a fair bit in ghost shows, is the immaturity of the crew. lol, if I was a ghost, sitting in some dark and damp room, minding my business, and I had some big tattoo'd guy with a speech impediment shouting obsecenities at me, to provoke a response.. I wouldn't be too happy, and I'd probably go somewhere else lol.

If there are any ghosts on these shows, they sure as hell don't show any respect to them. They seem to forget that, they are people too, and it really annoys me. Plus, as the OP states, they never shut up and do a good job.

[edit on 16-8-2009 by Alesanjin]

and tying in with the "They never shut up" point, has anyone ever noticed that usually when they 'hear something' and say "Did you hear that?" they show a repeat, but it's just the person saying "Did you hear that?"

Nothing before, nothing after. As if it's supposed to convince us?

My two gripes are:

1. I guess ghost hunters think that ghosts are not scared of bright lights and all the technology and noise that all these people are making as they run around screaming obscenities and saying "Did you hear that"? or the good old "We'll leave if you knock just one more time".

2. All ghosts don't speak english.

Originally posted by YarlanZey
I think it is still going despite the internet babble about proof that it was faked and what not, and I think its season 7 or something.

MH is certainly fraudulent, even their "sceptic" parapsychologist Ciaran O'Keeffe is down with the hoaxing. I turned on the TV to find a "Midsummer Murders" episode on which I watched for all of five minutes before the aforementioned Ciaran proved once again the show is rigged.

He was doing an EVP session and asked something like, "What is your name" and a couple of other questions and played it back for the camera. There was unexplained noise that wasn't apparent while he was asking the question originally which was played up as being paranormal. The problem however is that on playback the question had changed to "Tell me your name" - subtle difference but clearly not the recording of what the viewers just witnessed. I rewound it twice (yay for digital TV) just to make completely sure. Perhaps I could even make a video of it, but I'd have to find the right episode first...