Monday, November 9, 2009
Another Ghost Hunters Controversy Arises
Another video surfaces from the depths of cyberspace to stalk the reputation of SyFy's Ghost Hunters (aka The Atlantic Paranormal Society, or T.A.P.S.). In this one, a lamp purportedly moves of its own accord, but tireless watchdogs point out that the tablecloth beneath is switched out for another and that the position of the cord has changed.
This makes the third or fourth time in the past year that videos like this have surfaced. As far as I can tell, there has been no response from SyFy, the Ghost Hunters production staff, or T.A.P.S.
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Found this on a message board about this very topic: "You may well be onto something there. I think it's even possible that they were truthfully being more objective in the beginning. But then, the production company and Sci Fi got together because, lets face it, while Ghost Hunters had a following, it was nothing like what it is now. And they said basically, "Okay, what can we do to get ratings higher?" The answer...less objectivity in evidence. Start presenting stuff that looks cool at first glance, because most people aren't going to care one way or another. They just want to be entertained."
I long ago predicted the show would go this way, and in my humble opinion, I think maybe it has. When the show first began, it had a very low success rate at finding unusual videos, images, and EVP's. Let's face it, that's not "sexy" and won't sell air time. The solution????
This is also a good example of how suspending disbelief can fool you. I saw this episode long before my skepticism of them and ghost hunting in general had ratcheted up. At the time, despite very good observational powers I did not notice the change of tablecloth. Without doubt though, it has been switched out in order to help along the illusion. It is also telling that the lamp manages to say just at the edge of the camera frame.
I've talked to people who are still part of the TAPS Family and they also have noticed an amazing increase in the amount of stuff they manage to get at sites now. Of course, since criticism of TAPS, GH, and GHI is strictly verboten in TAPS Family groups they put it down to having "active sites."
BTW: The folks on these TV shows also have some major, major confidentiality agreements I understand from an inside source. So... why the secrecy?
I'm concerned that when this bursts wide open (as these things are wont to do) that the media, in its sheer laziness and unquenchable lust for generalizatons, will decry a la "God is Dead" that ghosts are total bunk and that it has all been hoaxes. I can say this with a fair degree of certainty because of how the Bigfoot issue this past year was handled. One hoax (that was transparent to those in the know) is "exposed" and the media runs with it, claiming the whole of all bigfoot sightings were hoaxes and that the subject is now moot. A similar death nell will be struck when the media at large catches wind of all this. Let us hope that political extremism and celebutainment will keep the talking heads otherwise occupied until such time as this can be resolved in house.
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