What's with all the paranormal shows on TV?

Question

I thought only kids believe in ghosts.These guys are running around with voltmeters looking for ghosts,but it must have an audience somewhere.

I believe in things that go bump in the night,but not ghosts ;) .If you watch these shows,what's the appeal?

Answer 1

I see it as an offshoot of the New Age movement.  People disillusioned with established religion try to make up their own magical version of how the world works.  The paranormal and the occult work for some of these people.

If there's an audience there will be a TV show to exploit that audience.

Answer 2

I take it you haven't experienced any paranormal, I have, I'm 52 and I've seen shadow people that looked like real people but were jet black, no distinguishable lines or clothing. Some say they're eyes glow red, but i didn't look at it long enough to see the red.

Answer 3

its the latest craze to make money, and people stupider

Answer 4

I watch them because I have had a personal experience that leads me to believe that there are things out there that are "beyond the range of normal scientific explanation".

Answer 5

I love how now that I'm older, everyone believes in the things I would see when I was a kid.

Answer 6

It's not just kids.I live near Gettysburg and go there alot.Just go some time at night when it's nice out.You'd be very surprised how many people are out there,and it's not all kids.

   I firmly believe in the paranormal.I think what is happening is we are finaly seeing more and more each day that there are to many things that can't be explaned.And we are looking for answers, our minds are begining to open up to what is around us.

  These people who make the shows see that and they whant to cash in.Bad thing is not everyone is like the people you see on TV.Like everything else there are two sides to every story.Some believe you need all the meters and eletronic stuff.Others are more spiritial and don't need them.But it is more dramanic with the meters so they show that.

    Use meters or don't use them ,Or don't believe at all your choice.But I wish they would show both sides of the story.

Answer 7

Most people who are believers in this now said the same thing that you and some of the other skeptics said on here. Personal experience is usually the only thing that convinces anyone. I used to believe spiritual things happened..but only to the saints. That's why I NEVER expected anything to happen to me. I WANTED it to..and complained that it didn't...but never REALLY expected anything to happen.  I'm cured of all my doubts. Maybe someday ya'll will be too. But I'm not sure if it's a good thing to "know". It puts you in the minority , for sure, and can cause you a lot of problems. So.".be careful what you wish for."

Edit..One thing I noticed about your profile...you're too busy and into other things to notice if something DID happen to you...And that's OK.!

Answer 8

I don't know, just a kind of allure to the unknown.

Answer 9

A better question would probably be what's with all the reality shows on TV? The current paranormal shows fit into this category versus the older shows like "In Search Of"

Many people that hear the preaching of the psuedoskeptics (they are a vocal minority) are misinformed and thus have incorrect ideas about what the public believes and evidence provided by science.

One Gallup Poll says that 75% of Americans hold at least one paranormal belief (link below).

One poll (link below) also found that 51% of Americans believe in ghosts.

I agree that the shows could have a more science based approach. Paranormal State seems to me a show about the religious approach to the paranormal not about investigation. While EM fields have been correlated with apparitions research has shown that high EM fields could cause a sense of presence (feeling someone is there with you) and possibly auditory hallucinations. Thus, all environmental information should be recorded as a way to rule out all normal explanations first not as a way to confirm ghost. Although it does lend evidence to the persons report of their experience of a ghost.

However, TV is about rating not about science.

Your beliefs are your choice but the experience of ghosts are real and have been reported since humankind first kept written records. In 1882 a group of scientist and scholars from Cambridge University formed the Society for Psychical Research (link below) to study these reported phenomena in a scientific manner.

Answer 10

to see others s**t there pants

Answer 11

over 50% of the population believes in ghosts, aliens, ufo's, bigfoot, etc.

also, people are tired of seeing other people eat cow p***s, or they want to see if they can prove/disprove the show.

Answer 12

Ghosts are 100% real, just some people close their minds to it.  I totally believe in "ghosts". I've had to much happen to me not to.  In return, the appeal to me is just to know that i'm not the only one out here to have these experiences.

Answer 13

they run out of ideas

soo they  turn  to paranomal to make a buck

haleewood

Answer 14

Well, in times of general confusion, people look to supernatural explanations.  Of course a lot depends on your own definition of the word "paranormal".

"Psychic Detectives" is often very surprising, not only in the way that the psychic investigators do seem to find evidence by extrasensory means, but also because of their own humility and quite rigorous approach.  This contrasts with some of the more silly shows (like "Paranormal State"), but also with some supposedly "real" science, for instance FBI "profilers" who often base their deductions on nothing more than guesswork.  Of course these people, like many Freudian psychiatrists would say their guesses are based on "study" and "experience", but then again so would pre-Gallileo astronomers, the present-day Creationists, and so on.  They all offer piles of "documentation".

While we're at it, I have to say that every time I see Alan Greenspan, I'm reminded of those Social Studies texts we used to have in 5th grade.  Remember the part where it talked about the disappearance of some culture like the Incas or the Mayas?  You had all the people lying prostrate in front of the High Priest in the shadow of a Pyramid.  The text went something like, "...because of their belief in superstition and the power of the High Priests, the culture eventually crumblesd and disappeared."  Alan Greenspan looks a lot like that High Priest to me.

I digress.  The point is, in times of generalized social disorder, people seek explanations for their lack of control over events.  Often they turn to the "paranormal", but just as often they subscribe to equally pat answers, such as Fascism, where the subversive influence is named and sought out by "experts", complete with "scientific evidence and equipment".  Whether the disturbance is caused by ghosts, or demons, or Jews, or Arabs or whatever -- the impetus is the same, as are the arguments.  

It's quite likely that there are influences from outside our normal perception which can and sometimes do affect our everyday world.  But many times, it is our own desperation for "explanation" that is the real danger.  One could say it is just as unrealistic and even dangerous to point only to what we understand and say "That is all there is", as it is to conjure up some "unexplainable" source.  It is when we insist that our own view is the only acceptable one that the danger begins.  

An example: I remember one episode on "Law and Order", where the prosecutor had to deal with an apparently reputable doctor who, it turned out, had been systematically drugging and raping his patients. The question was, how could an apparently upstanding man lead such a double life?

By way of explanation, the psychiatrist told the prosecutor this: "Basically, you could say that a neurotic might think his  doorman comes from Mars.  This bothers him, and he finds it even makes it difficult for him to conduct his daily affairs.  A psychotic believes his doorman comes from Mars, but it doesn't bother him at all.  But a psychopath, he believes that BECAUSE his doorman comes from Mars, he must be killed. And he doesn't care if many other people get killed in the process." It is phenomenal that not just individuals, but groups can be fall into complete hysteria and destruction.  No one ever saw the Blair Witch -- but everyone died, and miserably.  Whole cultures can follow the same path.  Fear is not only toxic, it is very contagious.

Simply, there are ghosts. They are born in places like Auschwitz and Abu Ghraib.  Fair warning.  "Reality" is just agreement.  That's ALL it is.

Answer 15

I have been investigating claims of the paranormal for some time now.  I happen to live in an area of the country where it is not acceptable and thought by most to be demonic in nature.  But everyone here does not share the mainstream opinion.  But just like most any other preconceived notion, they have been scared to say so out of fear of being thought of as satanic or a bad person.  Me, I don't care.  But I am in the minority.  TV had made it ok to believe.  In some cases, it has opened doors and started conversations that otherwise would have been whispered to only the closest and most trusted of friends. No one wants to think that when you die, that is all that there is.  So for some it is interesting to watch to see if anyone can prove that there is life after death.  Kids do believe and alot of times are more sensitive to things around them.  Most grow out of it since we do not encourage them to talk about it or nurture their talent.  Some do not.  We as adults tell them that there is no such thing and with the exception of a few, they lose that ability because of what they are conditioned to think.  I find it just a little sad that in some ways we cannot retain a bit of our "child likeness" as we reach adulthood.

Answer 16

People will sell whatever someone will buy no matter how stupid it is.

An item is only worth a lot of money if someone is willing to pay that much for it.