TAPS (Ghost Hunters) is fake! Former member speaks out.

reply to post by ziggyproductions05


I gave up on Ghost Hunters a year or so back after a Halloween special filmed in some Civil War fort that featured... of all damned things, professional wrasslers and bogus ghosty gimmicks that only a 6th grader would buy into.

That was one seriously sad night for TAPS..

TAPS is like WWE in its own ways

i gave up ghost hunter a year ago to lol
i though to be a real investigator team
they are just amateurs who didnt get lucky yet with the real thing
because they know nothing
Sam and Dean Winchesters are the real professionals

Oh I totally agree that Ghost Hunters is fake. I enjoy watching it as entertainment, but totally do not believe most of it. Cmon. Why is it only these TV shows that get so much activity? Because if the show didn't have any activity, NO ONE WOULD WATCH IT! EVPs (Electronic Voice Phenomenon) is totally fake, the meters that light up all the time, is totally fake. Have you noticed that most of the phenomenon they catch is either what they "feel" or sound? Which is all not easy to debunk. Then I just watched and episode where they asked questions and got a "knocking" sound for yes. Cmon now. Anyone can knock on a wall off the camera. The meters are totally rigged, and the flashlight that goes on by itself? TOTALLY RIGGED! How easy would it be for someone to turn the flashlight on and off? Its all about ratings. Thats it.

Like cjcord, I also know Jason personally. I know for a fact that if left to his own device, he is digging for real and actual truth. He has a Doctrines in this field, he takes it very seriously.

I can almost see him cringe on this so called reality tv, when he must answer to producer demands. He does have a family to feed. It is not roto rooter putting food on the plates for his children anymore. Unless someone wants to be tech., and say the occasional ad does. Not his fault.

It actually breaks my heart a bit when I see someone that means so well in this field of paranormal be subjected to tricks of the trade.

Originally posted by onehuman
Like cjcord, I also know Jason personally. I know for a fact that if left to his own device, he is digging for real and actual truth. He has a Doctrines in this field, he takes it very seriously.

I am curious what you mean by a doctrines in this field. What is that and what field specifically? I used to watch the show, the first couple of seasons but I got turned off over time by the personalities of the people on the show. They kind of seemed to evolve. I guess maybe they were well meaning once but now they just stink like conmen when I see them talk, like the other night on "Destination Truth." So anyway, what do you mean? Which one is Jason again? I would have to say that out of the two, the bald one I find the least trustworthy and likeably so I hope that isn't him.

Disclaimer- this is my opinion, not backed up by anthing other than how I feel when I see these two gentlemen talk lately.

reply to post by Curiousisall


The exact term that Jason has his doctrines in escapes me at the moment for I am very tired. Im sure it will pop in my head once Im ready to sleep, then of course I will have to get up again and post it for you. The long and short of it though is the paranormal field. I promise I will get back to you on that "detail."

Sad for you, but happy for me, yes, Jason is the "Bald" guy. Perhaps it is his German dissension and bull dog like tenacity that causes you mistrust. He really is a wonderful person with a great sense of humor as well.

I assure you though, he wants to catch the "Real" one as much as any Ufo hunter wants to capture theirs.

reply to post by onehuman


Do you mean doctorate? Does he have a degree in some paranormal field? Where might you get one of those? Why would you think that I do not tust him based on some ethnocentric misconception? That seems like an odd conclusion to make. The reasons I do not trust him are his mannerisms and well, the show itself. I mean the issues with the show itself are endless and he still proudly stands up as one of the two faces of it so he represents every bit of fraud I see on that show. Then when he speaks in his overly confident and usually condescending attitude about things he really cannot be that confident about anyway kind of rubs me the wrong way.

The "bald guy" was exactly the reason I was not so thrilled Josh went to them on DT. He completely contradicted himself and basically just made something up on the spot that "debunked" what he just got done saying and he was so proud of both contradictory response. He seemed pretty arrogant for someone that just negated their own conclusion.

Just my opinion from watching him on television though. I have no problem admitting that my perception of him from my vantage point is most likely very different from a true personal relationship but the fact that he continues on with that show and stands behind it gives me a lot of pause.

I am really curious about this "doctrines" thing though. If you meant doctorate, I am curious where he got it and specifically what in. I do not expect you to go out of your way to answer. If it is not readily available knowledge then I will find it on my own. I am just not sure if that is what you mean by "doctrines" or not.

reply to post by Curiousisall


lol ok, sorry for my bad semantic. Yes I meant Doctorate. Where it is from, I could not possibly answer that with any kind of accurate knowledge.

As far as a reference to his German heritage, I really meant nothing by it except for a tongue in cheek kind of thing. I am a very happy person, but sometimes people think I look very mean or serious, which is silly ,because if you knew me, it is furthest thing from the truth. I just have a face that looks like that....

Try and keep in mind that this field is something this guy has always had a interest in and what little time he has had time to spare, he has put towards it. He has a family which he took care of for most before his "hobbie", "studies,""interest."

If you recall, for the first two years of the show at least, he and Grant both kept their full time job with Roto. I am guessing he was made a offer when things were going well. Ratings, whatever. Perhaps to him, to maybe get the chance to actually Catch the good one, with some good funding, seemed like a good idea at the time. Not to mention a chance to actually pursue his heart and studies interest.
Perhaps contracts have his hands tied. Knowing him though, Im pretty sure he doesnt like it one bit, any more then we like having to watch it.

Wow if you needed a member to tell you that, "you are blind". I'm sure every1 that has seen it knew it wasn't 100% legit...It is good entertainment I will agree, but there isn't a show out there that is 100% para-normally active. Paranormal can't be documented its not for our lifetime to know about. It will remain "unknown" until we are at that level of "understanding"...

reply to post by onehuman


Yeah I am sure that huge wad of money he gets for doing TV work is more than most people make in a lifetime. Poor rich Jason, boo hoo

reply to post by onehuman


I guess I would say I do believe in what they are doing, but to me, they allow Sci Fi... I'm sorry. Scyfy...to take over for them in some cases. Its probably due to money, whatever. It allows for someone outside your organization to "spice up" your reality TV show with cute girls, Wrestling stars no ones heard of, etc. Its bad marketing, and break the show from its original, possibly good willed TV show. In other words, it got perverted .

I for one like Ghosthunters, but yeah, some of their stuff seems tainted by this evil producer, twirling his mustache and counting $100 bills off camera.
I assume a situation with the evil mustached producer would go something like this.
"Evil Mustached Producer"": Jason, you guys have some great footage from the 1st season, but so far, you havent found anything THIS season.
Jason: That may be true, but Ghosts only come out when THEY want to, not when they know the shows being filmed.
"Evil Mustached Producer"": True. How about this. When we think there will be no decent footage, we reserve the right to send in a team before you, to facilitate the upcoming show. What they do will be secret and you wont be involved so no harm right? Your show may have to count on that if you want it to survive and deliver your message to people.
Jason: I guess so.

Mix it to to your liking.
Now, I use "Evil Mustached Producer" in poor taste there, but I'm sure you understand. As much as many people here want to point out that the show is fake, I can point out that it may be real. Truth is, like most of ATS, or Conspiracies, at some point you have to either put up or shut up, and just know what you know, and be happy.

I worked for a famous magician for a time as a labor tech. I know for a fact that he hires people from the crew to be picked by him for a short performance involving the audience. The reason being is that this way he can control whos coming on stage, how they react, and making sure that these people are under the NDA, instead of people coming up, looking for wires, causing distractions, being scared stiff, etc. Its just easier this way.
Now imagine that you find out that this famous magician uses plants. Wouldnt that lend to it all being fakery?
Funny thing is, although I was on the "inside" and moved some of his gear around on stage ( All black locked boxes, we just shoved them stage left , right or center and left them for his core crew to set up) and NEVER once had any inkling to how any of his tricks were accomplished whatsoever.

Its just the way its done to make the show go smoother. I imagine Ghosthunters does it as well and you can see it in that youtube clip, which I believe is from one of the season collections on DVD.

So idiots like me watch the show. I get pleasure from it, and regardless of how Zealous, or "Fanboi" I may come across to some of you, I dont use it as a college credit and write notes. Its just dang fun.

From what I've seen, which is all the seasons and what bit I could read about them online, It seems like Jason is on a quest for the truth, and I love their approach on the whole subject, as it resembles what ATS believes in. Don't look into experience to find proof, look to the experience to find doubt. Remove the doubt and what remains is the truth. Awesome.
As far as the show getting "tainted" as I said, My guess is that' it doesnt sit as well with Jason as it does with Grant.
Just my humble opinion.

Edit: Forgot to finish a paragraph because I was thinking about pie.

reply to post by Skarlock


Of course, it is all so obvious. The stars, faces, voices of the show are just poor innocent dupes with no access to a television by which to see how silly they are being made to look. I wonder how SyFy makes that fake as heck collar pull clip happen? Poor Grant and Jason. It is a shame that they are being taken advantage of in such a manner, don't you think?

reply to post by Curiousisall


I do agree with you. Jason must be driven to drink. As I said before, Grants probably doesnt care so much about the Ghost Hunting thing as much as he does the show now. It;s sad to think of what they accomplished prior. Again, my Opinion.

But I do have to admit, if I was their producer/director,/whatever, and I had their permission to pull some rabbits out of the hat, I could do ALOT better than having his collar pulled. Seemed a bit impromptu, didnt it?

reply to post by Skarlock


That was exactly why I brought up the collar pull. It was kind of the last nail in the coffin as far as granting either one of them any benefit of the doubt. I can believe they were once sincere. I can believe they still would like to be sincere. I can also believe that a certain amount of money can make me forget certain things. I just cannot any longer give these guys the leeway of that it is all someone else's fault they look like frauds. They are all in in my book. I used to really like the show too. Maybe the real housewives of Atlanta guesting can make me believe again.

reply to post by Curiousisall


Being an ATS'er you have to admit that the "collar pull" doesn't have alot of merit to it. It could easily be passed off as a coincidence, or whatever it would take to fill the pot. And since all we have is the video to go on, which is easily debunked, we're left with "Believe it or don't" Then you have the Lacroix situation which one way or another it still winds up being "Believe it or don't".
In short, I believe it cost them some viewers, but all in all they are still sitting pretty on scyfy with 2 spinoffs.

I will say that I always imagine Jason and Grant sitting at a bar, drinking. Jason looks at Grant and says, with a slight slur;
"Do you remember when we had integrity and people took us seriously?"


I guess to me, it's all good TV, and thats it.

It's the same old story.

A number of 'reality' TV shows center around real groups (that existed well before the publicity) that allow a film crew to tag along and document what they do. It usually works out pretty well for a while until the entertainment aspect starts to take hold. Now - this is going to happen, regardless. If the documented group doesn't being yielding to the pressures of publicity and entertainment, then the production company will.

Keep in mind that each episode usually covers two investigations, each investigation usually lasts a few hours (not to mention prep and break-down). By time you insert commercial breaks, you're only getting 40 minutes of events that transpired over the course of at least 24 hours (non-consecutive, at that). The producers can simply edit the living hell out of investigations to make it tell any kind of story they want. A tug on someone's shirt can be made to look like a huge issue in an, otherwise, uneventful investigation (even if the group really decided it was unimportant) - someone decides they need to bring bats in to enhance the atmosphere, and before you know it, they are making noises around the corner to "boost interest in the show."

Meanwhile, the core group is still trying to carry out their original function honestly, and trying to put up with the producer's shenanigans.

TAPS is rather genuine. It's the editing and producers that have to be drawn into question - and, honestly, much of the evidence they have found over the years does have to be drawn into question because of the actions of the producers. It's unfortunate, but a consequence of allowing someone who profits from hype on an investigation that is supposed to be unbiased.

It's as simple as the episode where the bed-sheet was pulled off of the bed and someone tampered with the camera. While not explicitly stated in the televised episode - it was either a member of TAPS or a member of the film/production team. There aren't many other reasonable options - and the whole sequence of events implies the production team was involved.

In instances such as this - it's drama either way. If the TAPS team catches attempts by the producers to spoof them, then they create an air of credibility and further fuel the controversy that draws more viewers. If TAPS does not catch the spoofs, then it gets considered evidence in a controversial field and stirs more controversy and interest in the show.

It's win-win for the producers. The only thing that loses out is the truth. I should have realized the importance of that episode long ago, when I was following Ghost Hunters more - it should have been an indicator to everyone that the production team would attempt to spoof them to draw ratings - and that it would draw into question every bit of evidence TAPS collected while under the contract to do Ghost Hunters.

reply to post by Aim64C


I've thought about that as well, but my answer differs a bit.
I think the produces, TPTB, or whoever, talked to Jason and Grant and told them that they "may" interfere with some shows, if not all of them. It was up to Jason and Grant to see if they figured it out. I mean, they are investigators, correct?

So, with the moving bedsheet, my first guess, and gut reaction was that it was someone who worked with them, or besides them who were probably the culprits, if not anyone on the team.
Basically, if they keep it separated, and keep Jason, Grant and the team able to claim non involvement, then it was basically innocent on their part. It allowed them to claim plausible deniability.

This leads to the "Staging Crew" we hear Lacroix complain about.
It makes sense to me that you would have a staging crew wether you were sincere or not. You have to put on a good show. A TV crew has to figure out where to put lights, where to shoot interviews, where to this where to that. Makes sense. Wether they moved the bedsheet or not is anyones guess. Personally, I think they did.

reply to post by ziggyproductions05


why cant i see the video? it says its private?

This just in: The sky is blue!


Seriously, if they caught something real it would be all over the news. The fact that they ALWAYS seem to find something led me to believe that it was purposefully done for ratings. Who is going to watch a ghost hunter show where they NEVER find anything? At least "sort of finding something" keeps it suspenseful.

You really need a 3rd party witness to verify these things...

Originally posted by kalilavey
reply to post by ziggyproductions05

 

why cant i see the video? it says its private?

Because this thread is two years old.