The "Investigation Shows Are FAKE" Debate

Television has lost its appeal.

So enters in: Reality TV.

Knowing now how comedy, variety and game shows are pretty much a lost venue, reality TV has to keep up their game. So knowing there's a lot at stake, you have to be in a semi-coma not to think these shows aren't rigged.


I say bring back the Twilight Zone and all will be fine again!

As a believer in paranormal phenomenon, I watch a lot of these shows purely for entertainment purposes. This is reality TV, where ratings = money. Real or not, that alone should make you sceptical.

Originally posted by Balkan
that alone should make you sceptical.

With the paranormal I'm always a skeptic. Especially on an investigation. If you expect to find or see something you will. If you expect to debunk it then the odds are you'll find a reason to do so.

It's almost pathetic that we even WATCH these shows because if any one of these shows found evidence of UFOs, ghosts, BigFoot, or cracked the case on any famous conspiracy, it would make the front page of ATS pronto.

So we pretty much know how these shows will end (in their 42 minutes of airing in their 60 minute time slot with 18 minutes of subliminal-mesmerizing commercials!)

One of the main reasons I watch the shows to be honest is that it's like homework. I've gotten ideas from these shows and have tried them. They can be useful.

Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files was mentioned so I wanted to address that. The show is about a group of paranormal experts who attempt to recreate viral paranormal videos in an attempt to explain whether they were fact or faked. The group consists of former FBI agent Ben Hansen, journalist and former Destination Truth member Jael de Pardo, lead scientist Bill Murphy, stunt expert Austin Porter, photography expert Chi-Lan Lieu, and effects specialist Larry Caughlin, Jr.

The first criticism this show came up against is the claim of lead Ben Hansen as a former FBI agent. The only thing I could find about this is that "agent" may be used loosely here. According to a source I found, He was a criminal investigator that had some brief involvement with the FBI. I'll try to dig up that source again and link to it, but I'm really not sure of it's credibility.

The main thing people seem to really not like about this show are their investigation methods.

The first issue is "Layered Voice Analysis". Yes, it is a real thing. The team will sometimes interview witnesses about their paranormal encounter and later run it through "LVA" to see if they were trying to deceive the group. However, one quick search into this technology will show you just how controversial it is. It seems to either need more research, improvement, or it's just terribly ineffective in investigations.

The other issue is about the conclusions made by the team. If they have been able to replicate a video perfectly, they declare it "faked". If they are unable to accurately replicate a video, they never come out and declare it as "fact", rather it is typically closed by saying "it is likely not a hoax". It's argued that a video can be real despite the team being able to hoax it convincingly. If possibly, in a bit of hypocrisy, a recent episode of the show featured an investigation into the authenticity of the moon landings. Despite recreating the videos convincingly, they declared a hoax "extremely unlikely" due to the amount of people involved that would need to be in on it.

Since it is a relatively new show, I didn't expect to find anything suspicious on it. I was surprised to come across this article titled Fact or Faked: Faked! which alleges that the producers contacted the creators of this Ouija board video. According to the article:

The video was actually created by skeptics. Produced by the Rocky Mountain Paranormal Research Society (RMPRS), the video was part of a promotional gimmick for a TV project called Colorado X.

Along came John Maas, producer of Fact or Faked. Scouting for paranormal footage online, Maas and his staff discovered the video and thought it perfect “evidence” for an episode of the show. But the footage wasn’t fantastic enough. Without ever asking if the footage was fact or faked, Maas asked the group to re-film the scene to emphasize that no string or magnets were used, but… to also show the planchette moving more dramatically across the board. The producer of Fact or Faked was asking the group to fake the video.

You can read the full article here.

Make of it what you will. We do know that this at least isn't the case with every video. Those of you that have been interested in the paranormal for a long time will remember videos such as the "Ghost Car" and others that have been featured on the show long before "Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files" ever premiered.

i hate to admit to thinking these shows are fake when i have them set to record on my DVR but...

i guess i figured it out when i realized that they never really have any hard evidence. 99% of their findings are really questionable when most of them have a bunch of camera men following them around and you can never really tell whos talking while they are filming. but i think i'm addicted to the thought of ghosts being real... that and zak bagans was pretty hott before he got all roided out. sad day...