Ghost Hunters International so what did you think does it help or hurt the paranormal community?

Question

So for all you paranormal people out there what did you think? I have been watching Ghost Hunters for the past three seasons and loved some of the evidence that they presented (remember the St. Augustine lighthouse) however on the international program they are presenting bad EVP'S and mentioning Orbs. Rob the lead investigator sounds like he is reading off of cue cards and well Andy he will believe anything. So what are your thoughts...was it a good episode, do you think it helps or hurts the paranormal community? Let me know!

Answer 1

You know I was gonna watch that show cause I like watching Ghost Hunters but I got busy last night, but to your question  if they are doing something like that in the show being over seas then yeah it could give a bad name to any of the paranormal society's.

Answer 2

I've tried to watch it several times and just can't get interested!

Answer 3

I have watched taps grow into a good paranormal investigating team. But the new group takes them back allot.

they seem a lot like most haunted. too much drama.

its seems like they have no organization at all, first case they had no base set up and seem to have no IR camera's set in place for such a huge place.

Answer 4

You bring up a good point here.  Personally, for many reasons I've posted here before I think EVPs and orbs are 100% nonsense.  Anyone who regards them as any sort of evidence in support of paranormal phenomena are automatically discredited in my book.

It could be that they have been investigating for so long that they are tired of finding no evidence at all, so now they are being open minded to non-evidence.

EDIT: I have found myself giving psi a lot of thumbs up lately.  What's going on?

Answer 5

I think its still to early to tell if I like it. I would need to see a few more episodes.

Answer 6

I think that the first episode was good being that it was the first episode. I don't know if they (meaning Rob) will be like that all of the time so i will have to watch it more to see what happens. As of right now i don't think it either helps nor hurts the paranormal community but we will have to wait and see.

Answer 7

It was really lame!  Rob was way too intense, and his lines seemed "scripted".  The show definitely tried too hard to follow GH's routines.  

Andy is such a dweeb it's ridiculous.  I love that he began the show claiming to be a debunker!  Go back and watch any old episode of GH and see how many times he thinks orbs and poor quality noises on tape are definite proof of a haunting.  Just seconds after claiming to be a debunker, he walked into the very first room and yelled, "What the heck is that?", only to reveal that he was looking at a suit of armor through an infrared camera!  He then went on to "debunk" that, and claim that that is probably what is happening to everybody else who walks into that castle!  Wow you're a genius!

And don't even get me started on Brian!

The whole show was embarrassing, and for anyone to hear those lousy EVP's and consider them good or even human voices is just poor scientific investigation.

I'd rather Grant and Jason go to Europe every other month or so and investigate when they get the chance, than watch this bumbling B Team embarrass the field of paranormal investigation.

Answer 8

The show in general hurts the paranormal community. People that are qualified plumbers have a place in paranormal investigations such as finding expanding pipes, low water pressure or other reasons for toilets to flush by themselves and other such plumbing related examples. Beyond that they have no claim as an authority on paranormal experiences or scientific investigations.

I do agree that this a field wide open to amateurs (versus people educated in the sciences including parapsychology) and amateur investigators (which is what the TAPS team is) could make contributions to the field.

However, just like in astronomy, which has many dedicated amateurs and some that have made major discoveries, paranormal amateurs need to know and follow good procedures based on science.

I have yet to see a blind investigation (the investigators do not already know the suspected areas and the whole story) that utilizes at least one control area. All of my investigations have followed this basic accepted protocol of scientific research.

However, unlike astronomy the professionals (parapsychologist) are to blame in the case of paranormal investigations because they do such a poor job sharing their findings or providing an education to the public about how science can be used to investigate these common human (paranormal) experiences.

The first link is the professional association of parapsychologist and the second link tries to educate the public about the findings in parapsychology.

Answer 9

you are exactly right I have been doing this for 16 years and my own personal opinion is these shows hurt us I have a friend in england who was on staff for most haunted and he has confirmed that alot of their stuff is staged for ratings i think it very important to remember that these are shows paid for by tv networks if the ratings on the show are not high enough the show is no more I mean every show on every channel has paranormal activity on every show and any paranormal investgator knows this just does not happen every time taps has even fallen into this and it is a shame I truly believe it hurts our studies rather than helps us we all need to not lose focus on why we do this in the first place and put aside entertaining people for television

Answer 10

I think it was very stilted and felt... acted.  I think they are overusing being malevolent to get a reaction.  I think that ghi is more attempting to get ratings as a show, and is about the science second.  im iffy on it.

as for orbs...  ive sent TAPS mail telling them how to handle dust orbs.  a wire diagnoally across the lense will not block the main shot, but if the orb is a dust orb reflection, will cause a similar line to appear in the orb.  its a great way of seperating out dust and moisture orbs from the real thing.

Answer 11

First of all, Andy is the one member who is most skeptical, not willing to just accept everything at face value. He is their lead debunker so where did that idea that he believes everything come from. I think the show was exactly like the original Ghost Hunters show was before they got away from their roots and started making up evidence and claiming faked incidents were paranormal activity, Eastern State comes to mind there. The GHI team was back to the basics of honestly debunking reported events even if it meant they ended up with little or nothing in the end. This show could actually help the field if they continue to stay true to their roots. As for how well the show will do, its hard to tell. The producers may intervene as they obviously did in the regular GH show, and make them do stuff that makes them look less credible. Its all about ratings. The GHI show started out slow, but so did the original. As soon as they have their Sutcliffe House, St Augustine Lighthouse, or Crescent Hotel episode the show will take off like a rocket. Robb may be a problem, he is about a charasmatic as a pile of damp dung.

Answer 12

I think the show is aweseome. Rob has never been on tv or anything so I'm going to cut him some slack. Jason and Grant were on tv before ghost hunters came on Sci Fi so they were use to it by then. He seems to want to disprove everything which is cool, his style is diffrent but Pertty cool I really love this show. I just wish they would spend more then 1 night at these places. I watched both nights and I didnt see him mention much about orbs. EVPs he's gotten are awesome he's picked on some I wouldnt have pay much attention too and you can't deny those. ...ORBS...are dust and bugs 99% of the time

Answer 13

I like GHI! The new team leader Rob immediately dismissed that orb that the investigator Shannon showed his as a bug right off the bat. If the show disingenuous in anyway they would have the team find all sorts of wondrous things. It was actually disappointing that not much was found. I've seen other shows do investigations at Chillingham castle and claim all sorts oof of the chart paranormal experiences.

Answer 14

I think the whole point of "INTERNATIONAL" is to show that the USA is not the only place that has paranormal activity in the world and that Americans are just as messed up in the head as people in any other country out there...

Answer 15

I don't care how bad it is (or may get), I'll watch it just to hear Barry talk. I'm a sucker for Irish and Scottish accents!

Here's my serious answer:

Whether it harms or helps is of little consequence. As long as the ratings are up, they will stick around.