Buck's Ghosts and Hauntings

Calling Out the Spirits of the Uncreative...

2009-12-06T07:22:00.004-07:00

NOTE: The website in question has removed the content stolen by Ms. Branning. According to their publisher they had no idea that the content was stolen and Ms. Branning plagiarized it. They were very apologetic about the situation and their apologies are appreciated. According to their webmaster, they have severed their relationship with Ms. Branning and she will no longer be associated with them. I am pleased this matter has been concluded and they have shown themselves to be a reputable site.

Some of my fellow writers and I were having a discussion/rant on Facebook about plagiarism. I made the bold statement that since I'd gone after a few "feed farms" for stealing my RSS feed, I hadn't had any real problems. But, then I thought "I'm relying on referrers to really know that."

In truth, plagiarists aren't usually going to link back to your site so how did I really know someone wasn't ripping off my content? I decided to turn to Copyscape, that I'd used in the past to check.

Surprise, surprise... well, not surprising.

I found entire articles I've written here copied for "answers" on forums and "ask the community" type sites. But I also found regular folks plagiarizing my articles. And... I'm going to call them out on it.

Debe Branning lifted my "Paranormal Safety" article and pawned it off as her own. Not only does she lift the points and structure but entire phrases and paragraphs as well. Debe Branning actually has the gall to sign her name to the article! Now to be honest, I'm not sure if she ripped it off directly from this site or from Sonoran Paranormal's website which has permission to reprint it with a link. It was also syndicated in my column on Unexplained Mysteries so it's possible she grabbed it there as well, I suppose. But either way it's not nice and doesn't say much for this "investigative" group with which she works. But in any case... all she did was rearrange a phrase here and there and cut out things that questioned the use of "rituals" and then signed her name to it. Bad form, Ms. Branning.

Again, this points out the level of intelligence among amateur ghost hunting groups as Branning, a self-proclaimed psychic, heads up a group called MVD Ghost Chasers out of Mesa, AZ. You'd think a psychic might be a little leery of theft of content because of Karma and all that stuff. Guess not, though. She is also the "Arizona Haunted Sites Examiner" from what I understand.

Well, Cullan, I suppose I wasn't as immune to plagiarism as I claimed. What's worse is that it's plagiarism by someone who lives with 50 miles of me! And, yes, letters have been sent.

The sad part of all this is had I been asked I would have probably given permission to reprint the article with my usual request for a link and attribution. However, Ms. Branning decided to steal the content and put her name on it.

Early Morning Philosophy

2009-12-07T10:20:00.001-07:00

Philosophy early in the morning can be quite energizing. This morning I ran into a former ghost hunting colleague on Facebook who is also pre-disposed to thinking deep thoughts about philosophy and psychology and the implications for paranormal studies. I’ve missed our chats about such matters and was pleased to have the chance to discuss things with him again.

Our chat ranged from the mundane to a consideration of Pascal’s Wager and in between we talked about the Thalbourne Scale and the implications of belief on investigators. It’s a topic that greatly interested me and one of those ideas I wanted to pursue while with my former group. Of course, the idea that belief influences perception of “evidence” was one that went over like a lead balloon with most people in the group.

I’d always wondered whether investigators’ beliefs and where they fell on the Thalbourne could be quantified to show that such beliefs could be an indicator of what types of and how much “evidence” they found in data for an afterlife.

My idea was that the further toward the “sheep” or believer end of the scale a person fell the more likely they were to interpret things as proof of an afterlife and that this could be used to qualify findings.

Personally I fall closer to the skeptic or “goat” end of the scale while not testing out as a hard core skeptic. As I thought more about that test though and my initial responses I began to consider one of the typical questions about PSI phenomena. The questions asks whether you have had episodes of knowing when a phone was going to ring to knowing who was calling before answering (obviously written before the advent of Caller ID).

I’d always said “yes” to that question based largely on an episode when I was a child. Let me detail that event and see if you can spot the fallacy in my early belief it is “proof” that PSI phenomena exists.

When I was fairly young, the phone rang one night while I was sleeping on the sofa. My mother answered but I did not wake up. The call was about a cousin whom we did not see very often. It turned out she was pregnant and it had been a very closely kept secret. She was in labor and having the baby.

My mother woke me up to tell me they needed to go to the hospital to visit my aunt and uncle who were waiting. Immediately, when I awoke I said: “Oh ____ is having a baby!” My mother was taken aback since I had been fast asleep.

I also took this to be evidence of PSI phenomenon. But was it? What did you think?

If you fall over halfway toward the believer in you probably nodded your head and said, “Yes, how interesting!”

But, at this stage of my life I realize very easily how that was far from “evidence” of PSI phenomena. This knowledge came from working in surgery for many years.

I know that patients in surgery who were not given amnesiac drugs often recalled conversations in the OR while supposedly unconscious. The mind was still able to hear and process information while seemingly asleep. It is the same concept as hypnosis.

There was no PSI phenomena involved in my stunning revelation to my mother upon waking. The phone had undoubtedly roused me from deep sleep and my mind that was slowly making its way toward full awakening processed the conversation I could hear my mother having on the phone. While I was not conscious of this information my subconscious processed it and upon waking I blurted out the reason they were leaving before she could tell me. Not paranormal or psychic at all.

Indeed, throughout my childhood and until I began working with surgical patients I assumed this was some type of psychic phenomenon. Now I know better and would need to review my responses on the Thalbourne and it would edge me closer to the skeptic end of the scale.

Such is the problem with paranormal investigation and research, often our own ignorance of disparate factors influence our belief and that belief by extension then influences how we perceive events we classify as paranormal. I think this could even be extended to “serious” parapsychological research where often investigators become so wrapped up in their subjects that they develop a belief system that then influences their further data gathering. I sometimes call it the “New Age Guru” effect and it is distressingly common even at universities where skeptical analysis of data does not bear out the conclusions of the researchers who have become believers and invested in “proving” that their ideas have merit.

Random Thoughts…

2009-11-30T01:37:00.001-07:00

I don’t really have a “post” per se on any of these topics. None of them quite seemed to warrant their very own post on the blog so I decided to lump some recent random thoughts together under a single post. Pardon the mish mash.

I realized recently that almost everyone I meet anymore has a ghost story of some type. By ghost story I don’t mean they know a traditional folklore type story but rather their house, their parents’ house, a friend’s house, or a hotel they stayed at is haunted. What once was a fairly rare event, the personal ghost encounter, has become as commonplace as seeing a homeless person in a big city.

Over the past year or so at parties I’ve had or events I’ve attended when people find out what I used to do with SPI they begin to recount their own ghostly encounters. It seems that no matter how mundane the event it is ascribed a “paranormal” cause with the adamant disclaimer that it can’t possibly be anything but a ghost because they watch Ghost Hunters and they have thoroughly checked everything possible ergo ghost.

I can remember growing up that hearing a first hand ghost tale was quite rare. In fact, in high school I did a paper on a local haunting (from a folklore collection angle) and had to really hunt for someone who had actually experienced the haunting personally – although it was quite famous regionally! Today, were I to undertake the same task I’m sure I would hear dozens of first hand stories. In fact, it might make an interesting exercise.

Ghosts have become extremely popular in our culture through the media and substitution for traditional religious beliefs (just read almost any psychic’s website and you will find a theological cosmology as intricate as any envisioned by a Medieval church council). Thanks to this popularity everyone seems to want to be in on the act. Whether it be telling you of “Uncle Joe” who haunts them and moves their keys or peppering you with questions about your own experiences and beliefs, the desire to be part of this synthesis of religion and pop-culture seems to be irresistible.

Of course, this often puts me in a rather awkward position as I don’t fit into their notion of this world based upon television shows. When I tell people that I, personally, do not believe in ghosts within the construct of dead people wandering around chatting us up, they are often struck speechless. After all, surely anyone who studies and thinks about this stuff must have to “believe” in the traditional paradigm of ghosts as souls stuck on Earth for some reason. Honestly, that bit of information has caused more than one person to put me at arms length because I wasn’t their idea of a “ghost hunter” they could show off as a friend.

So, moving on…

My new guilty pleasure in reality TV has become Storm Chasers on Discovery Channel. I started watching it last year simply because I caught a rerun late at night. Tornados have always fascinated me because they can be both beautiful and horrible at once. As a teenager I had a close encounter with one just before my high school graduation when a series of tornados ranging from (old style) F-2 to F-4 swept through my hometown. I narrowly missed being in the worst of it thanks to a migraine. Still, I got to see one touch down in the field across from my house as my father was speeding us toward my sister’s house because she had been on the phone when one of the tornados hit her side of town. She was fine, just tore the porch off her house and threw a 200 year old oak tree into the living room of a neighbor.

Anyway, I’ve been watching that show and Michael has gotten hooked as well. A couple weeks ago in an episode the pros were trying to chase a storm and kept running into roadblocks of sightseers and amateur chasers. There were hundreds parked along roads, creeping down narrow highways, milling around in the middle of the highway with binoculars and cameras.

I couldn’t help but think that storm chasing might be the next ghost hunters fad. As the pros cursed the amateurs in the way I wanted to say, “well, this is what happens when you’re on TV today.” See, everyone thinks that if they watch something on TV they can do it. It’s that dumbing down of America. Just like most amateur ghost hunters out there they only know what was on TV last week. They don’t read, they don’t study, they have no training in anything remotely useful in research. Because Jason Hawes proudly proclaimed that being a plumber qualified him to be a ghost hunter because he knew the difference between a leaky toilet and a ghost – everyone in the country thinks “paranormal research” is a piece of cake. No, ghost hunting is a piece of cake. Collecting stories and scaring each other is a piece of cake. Research is hard, long and requires…. education.

So, here are people with Ph.D.’s trying to collect data on storms and every thrill seeker in the state is clogging roads and putting people in danger because they see people chase storms on TV and figure “Hell, I can do that. All I need is my laptop, GPS, and the local weather page!” Because in anti-intellectual America… education is unnecessary!

Next up…

I have not watched the show and will not subject myself to the torture of watching the show. I’m speaking of “Ghost Lab” which is Discovery Channel’s entry in the every expanding basic cable “we must have a ghost show!” lineup.

I’ve only seen the ads for the show and admittedly, the people who make ads for this stuff are usually the most simple of the simple. However, it appears this show centers on a couple of brothers in matching T-shirts and hats (of course) who use all manner of lighted gadgets to hunt down ghosts. Now, it might be interesting if the “Ghost Lab” actually included some type of lab work but it appears it’s just the usual stumble around in the dark formula with a spotlight on gadgetry.

In the latest commercial airing they are knocking around what appears to be some fort or castle in a storm. Their purpose is to “prove” that “paranormal activity” increases during a storm. Ahh, how nice. Of course, they still need to prove paranormal activity exists, but let’s let them have their day. Anyway, in this commercial they are correlating lightning strikes with EVP and happen to get an EVP around the time of a lightning strike. It is their “A ha!” moment as they conclude that this proves paranormal activity is related to electrical energy.

Of course, to anyone with half a brain it would “prove” that coincidences do happen. To “prove” their belief would first require they prove paranormal phenomena and in particular EVP does exist outside the normal construct of the physical universe. Then they would have to show that there is statistical evidence that this newly found physical phenomenon occurs more often at moments when lightning strikes the vicinity. This would require years of study under all sorts of storm conditions.

But, it’s so much easier to find a coincidence and declare to your public that you have “proved” something. And the sad part is…. the ghost hunting groups will believe it.

The Function of Ghosts

2009-11-24T19:33:00.001-07:00

I noticed earlier today one of the search terms someone used to find this site was: “Can one convince a non-believer in existence of paranormal?” It was the perfect entre to conclude the discussion of R.C. Finucane’s Ghosts: Appearances of the Dead and Cultural Transformation.

I’ve now finished the last chapters of this excellent work that dealt with the 19th and 20th centuries. As we have seen, in each era ghosts undergo transformations that reflect the attitudes of the society at large as well as religious and philosophical belief.

During the 19th Century the movement away from purposeful ghosts continued as it had begun in the 18th Century when the Enlightenment began to drive a wedge between traditional religious belief and naturalistic ideas of religion as well as science. Ghosts in the 19th Century began to become strangers to those who perceived them. Rather than asking intercession, delivering warnings or other messages, the ghosts became mute specters wandering around houses. With the exception of the 19th Century spiritualist movement that was predicated on communicating with ghosts through rapping, Ouija boards or mediums ghosts had stopped being concerned with the affairs of the living.

Of course, the large majority of the Spiritualist ghosts would prove to be false and the result of fraud and trickery designed to separate people from their money.

The 20th Century saw ghosts continue in this vein. After the demise of Spiritualism after the First World War, it would be a long time before ghosts began “speaking” again. Finucane’s book was written in the mid 1980’s before the heyday of television shows and the resurgence of communication through electronic voice phenomenon and its attendant devices and gadgets (amazingly similar to early 20th Century Spiritualist attempts).

Finucane makes the case that ghosts throughout history have served a single real purpose: to assure fragile living humans that “we” continue after death.

It is a valid observation since it is almost impossible for us to conceive that we simply cease to exist when our life is done. This even applies to atheists and those rejecting spirituality and religion out of hand. In our self-centered existence we have great difficulty in wrapping our minds around the idea that our personalities which define us as individuals don’t continue to exist when our bodies die.

This leads me to the search term today that asks: “Can one convince a non-believer in the existence of the paranormal?” It is a question that harkens back to the most fundamental reason ghosts exist in our culture – to reassure us that we continue. To remind us that death is not the end of “us” as individuals but rather that we go on in some form forever. The exempla of the early Catholic church that listed ghost stories for use by clergy to reinforce both the belief in an afterlife and also the dogma of purgatory continues today in our search for ghosts and “proof” that we continue. The church used these stories to “prove” the error of heretics who rejected Purgatory or even the existence of the soul. Later, the Protestants would continue in the folklore vein to “prove” to deists and atheists that the human soul was eternal.

Today, those who hunt ghosts and who believe in the existence of disembodied souls continue to use these stories and now their requisite EVP’s, EMF’s, photographs and other technological advancements to “prove” to non-believers that we are eternal. Today’s psychics bearing messages from departed loved ones or seeking justice continue this age old reaffirmation of religious belief in the personality as soul.

When viewed in this light it goes a long way to understanding the almost religious mania attached to ghost hunting by those doing the hunting and those seeking “proof” that they are haunted. Indeed, the paranormal has always been closely tied to religious belief and ghosts and how they haunt us have shifted along with those beliefs. Is it any wonder that in the “Technology Age” we have eschewed mediums for tape recorders, IR cameras, FLIR and other devices to assure ourselves that we go on? Should we be surprised that the 19th Century séance has given way to “EVP Sessions” where ghosts are asked to perform the same feats?

Can a non-believer be convinced? It’s a question as old as ghosts themselves and at its heart is the entire function of ghosts in our society and culture.

The Dreaded K2 Meter

2008-04-24T14:19:00.005-07:00

The K2 Meter represents an interesting development in Electromagnetic Frequency (EMF) recording and reporting capabilities. This meter, unlike the traditional analog or digital display meters utilizes a set of lights in varying colors from green to yellow to red. The more lights seen the stronger the field.

Many groups are using this meter currently, indeed my group even uses it. I first became aware of the meter on an older Ghost Hunters episode when they investigated the Sharon Tate murder scene. The meter seemed to allow a way to communicate with an intelligent entity and they had great success.

Unfortunately, as most things in Paranormal studies, the K2 meter is controversial. There are some who claim the meter is inaccurate and refuse to use it. Others seem to rely on it solely as their EMF detector.

Certainly, the use of the meter is still rather experimental (but then ALL "ghost hunting" equipment falls within that category in reality). However, I think that it might provide some nice experimental data on investigations when utilized alongside traditional meters, particularly tri-field meters and natural field meters.

I had an opportunity recently to watch a K2 meter respond during an EVP session. During this session knock followed questions with some regularity. At the same time I could see the K2 meter give a response as well. Because of it's position only one other person in the room could see the lights on the meter.

Later, when the meter was moved from it's original position and placed near an investigator I noted that when the walkie-talkie was used to communicate with the command center the K2 would flash with each transmission. This certainly suggests that the meter is sensitive to RF transmissions. However, it did not flash on incoming transmissions - only when the mic was keyed from our location.

So, one should be aware of the potential and limitations of this device. As with any piece of equipment used during an investigation, positive readings should be correlated with other equipment.

I wouldn't throw the K2 out but I would use it as an adjunct to other meters and equipment. I would also suggest its use an adjunct to EVP sessions. K2 results alone would certainly be questionable, but K2 responses added to actual EVP or other phenomena could shore up the evidence.

UPDATE 2009: I thought it was important to update this post in light of it still being one of the top articles on the site.

I have had the opportunity to use the K2 meter in a number of settings since this article was written in 2008. My honest opinion is that this is a fairly worthless toy. It is highly unreliable often giving false readings for any number of reasons including radio interference. (Note how many times on TV shows the "responses" come when set next to a walkie-talkie.) Likewise, there is no way to quantify the results because of the lack a numeric readout.

In short, this is a worthless piece of junk for actual research. If you're looking for something that will show a blinking light randomly enough that you can claim to have "made contact" with a spirit then you'll love this item. If your motivation is actual qualitative and quantitative research then you should probably not waste your money.

Social Ghosts

2009-11-21T13:40:00.001-07:00

I’m about 3/4 of the way through R.C. Finucane’s Ghosts: Appearances of the Dead & Cultural Transformation. This has been an excellent book and I’m looking forward to the concluding chapters on those periods most familiar to modern paranormal aficionados.

However, I wanted to take a moment to talk about this book thus far.

This is one of those books with which most ghost hunters would never bother. The reason for this is that it is a fairly scholarly work (although not nearly as in depth as it might be) and a bit dry at times. It also does not go into the use of gadgets and gewgaws or talk about the best IR cameras or way to record EVP. Rather, it is a social history of haunting phenomena and ghosts throughout history.

The book begins in the classical period where it was difficult to separate literary ghost stories from actual accounts. However, as the author notes literary tales can be useful for gauging popular sentiment and thought about ghosts. We find that during the classical period ghosts underwent some transformation as religious though shifted. In this period we got the idea of haunted graveyards and ghosts returning to beg the living to undertake some action on their behalf so they could rest peacefully. These ghosts were not scary and people often treated them with some contempt.

Later on in the Middle Ages, the church got into the ghost business as they tried to square several theological circles. For instance, in the Bible we have the notion of the bodily resurrection upon the Second Coming. At first in the late classical period this wasn’t much of a concern because it was expected that no one living would have died before the Second Coming. Unfortunately, as time passed what happens to the soul in the interim became an issue. Did the soul stay in the grave? Did it stay in the grave a certain period of time? Did it go to Heaven? Did it go to Hell?

The result was the doctrine of Purgatory that tried to satisfy all requirements. This sent the soul to a “no-man’s land” between Heaven and Hell where they languished until Jesus decided to come back. But, this idea had some flaws. It wasn’t particularly comforting. After all, purgatory was where you had to atone for any leftover sins. So, the church adopted a doctrine whereby the living could either pray the dead out of purgatory and into Heaven or buy them out with indulgences. This became big business and ghosts returning from purgatory to ask for help became a common theme. In fact, the church relied upon these stories to sell the idea of Purgatory to the masses. Stories were collected in volumes to be used in sermons.

By the time of the Reformation these ideas had also had some warping. The church was weakened and the Protestants refused to accept Purgatory. It was Heaven or Hell, immediately and for all eternity. No coming back asking for help. Ghosts were demons sent to trick the gullible and lead them astray. This, interestingly, is still a facet of many fundamentalist protestant churches who eschew ghosts as demons and communication with them as witchcraft.

However, the Catholics hit back with their tales of ghosts from purgatory and a war of words began in the ghostly realm. Over time, while the Protestant dogma did not shift on purgatory, ghosts began making their way into popular lore and tales began to be collected and told once more. While church position did not shift, it seems that folklore tradition and centuries of religious instruction were difficult to overcome in the new religions.

I’m now reading about Baroque and 18th Century ghosts and will write more as well as a technical review of the book when I am done. However, this has proved a most interesting book and quite enlightening as it has opened my eyes to some Roman Catholic ideas about ghosts that I was unaware of, being raised a Protestant.

What I did find interesting is the way in which ghosts in each period reflect the ideas and beliefs of those period. As religious thought shifts, the type of ghosts and what they have to say to the living shift as well. In each period their appearance also shifts. I suppose many ghost hunters should they deign read this book would look at it and assume that because ghosts seem to have existed throughout our history it “proves” they do exist outside our own minds and beliefs.

However, what I am seeing in this is the fact that each idea builds upon the previous one throughout history. We can see shades, pardon the pun, of the earliest graveyard haunting ghosts today when groups return from the local cemetery full of tales of EMF spikes, orbs, ghostly fogs, etc. No longer do we have the ghost with pallid, sad face, rags and chains binding them to the grave, but the idea still remains buried in our psyche and passed down to us through folk tales.

For me, being able to understand and assess the folk influences on perceived encounters with ghosts is very important. So often we are faced with a story about a ghost in a location and must decide whether it merits attention or can be filed away simply as a folklore story.

I’ve often pointed to the ubiquitous “hitch hiking” ghost that so many report and so many books include. Generally, this ghost is of a young woman (rarely a man) who waits by the roadside asking for a lift home or to some address. When the person arrives at the address the person is gone. Upon knocking on the door they are told that the person they describe was their daughter and she died in a car wreck at that very spot. Sometimes there are intimations that drinking was involved, sometimes the teenagers are doing something deemed morally wrong. Whatever the case the story’s meaning is that one should live righteously and fully for tomorrow you may die.

This is not so very different from the stories collected by early clergy who bound them up in books of Exempla to be told to the congregations to reinforce belief in an afterlife, establish the doctrine of purgatory, and remind people to live righteously. It even echoes the Medieval motifs of tombs where the visitor is reminded “As you are now, so once was I, follow me and prepare to die.”

Finucane’s book is certainly a must read for anyone who is serious about understanding how society and religion relate to the paranormal. More on this book shortly.

More Schoolyard Fun from GH

2009-11-20T11:38:00.001-07:00

Recently, I posted about the Donna LaCroix blowup on her appearance on an internet radio show.

Fast forward to the promised “press release” from Ghost Hunters, TAPS, and the production company that still hasn’t come (to my knowledge). But, sharp eyed Cullan noted a posting at Scifake.com that purports to be from Jason Hawes addressing the issue.

Now, Scifake seems to be a bunch of amateur ghost hunters out to “expose fakery”. Yet, they remain committed to belief in the traditional “spirit of the dead” paradigm in paranormal research and the usual BS and suppositions attendant upon it. In short, it sort of strikes me as a place where amateurs level accusations at TV shows and have pissing contests as the fans of one show square off against those of another show. Now, that’s just from a very cursory look at the site. As you know, if you read this blog, I do not frequent these places at all.

Anyway, you can read the alleged response by Hawes here.

The gist of it is this was all someone else’s fault. The Ghost Divas are evil. They haven’t scared Donna into recanting her statements. The Ghost Divas are evil. No one has ever done anything remotely hinky on their show. The Ghost Divas are evil. There is no staging crew. The Ghost Divas are evil. Donna loves them and they love Donna. The Ghost Divas are evil. This isn’t the first time this has happened. The Ghost Divas are evil. People have called them who have been on the same show and since the Ghost Divas are evil they’re calling the police!!

It’s the usual crap from these amateur ghost hunting types. Despite being quasi-famous the folks at TAPS and Ghost Hunters remain rank amateur pseudo-scientists given to flame wars, dramatics and overreactions. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen amateur ghost hunting groups threatening to call the police on each other because someone got their feelings hurt over something someone said. Honestly, it’s like those people who go on TV court shows to sue each other for “slander” because during an argument someone called someone else a bitch.

Here’s my advice to anyone who is remotely serious about studying the paranormal. Stay way from this stuff if at all possible. Don’t frequent the websites of these amateur ghost hunting groups and fans. Don’t watch the TV shows, don’t listen to the ghost hunting radio shows. There is nothing any of these people have to contribute that is even slightly of value to anyone other than themselves.

Brutal I know, but that’s the way it is. There is nothing they will possibly uncover that will be useful to science because they don’t bother to quantify, qualify, or correlate their findings and their “theories” are usually based on incorrect reading of true scientific findings. Most of the amateur groups are very secretive about everything they do unless they find some questionable EVP or something they want to use to get famous. Other than those they keep everything secret and private. Part of that is that 99.99% of the time they don’t bother with anything else. The other part is just what I noted above – the dramatics and general silliness. Another frequent “I’m calling the police!” cause is one group claiming another group stole the top secret design to their latest blinking light whirlygig piece of uselessness.

So, read, think. Take some classes at your nearest college in psychology, physics, sociology, folklore, religion, medicine, or pretty much anything that helps you understand how the world and our minds work. But by all means: stay away from amateur ghost hunting groups and their sites, ghost conferences, classes offered at community centers or community colleges by amateur ghost hunters, sycophantic fan sites for TV shows, and sour grapes amateur sites devoted to creating drama.

If you are “looking for answers” you aren’t going to find them. You’re only going to find more questions and if any amateur ever tells you they are getting closer or “moving forward” in finding one…. they’re deluded.

It’s Enough That YOU Believe…

2009-11-16T05:47:00.001-07:00

I’m well into R.C. Finucane’s excellent work on the sociological aspects of belief in the paranormal., Ghosts: Appearances of the Dead and Cultural Transformation. I’ve been very impressed with the book thus far as it tackles the social perception and role of ghosts and hauntings and how those have shifted over the centuries.

It’s a serious book for serious people. While it could possibly be even more in depth, it’s not something you’re going to find on the shelf of most ghost hunters. Why? Not a single thing about EVP’s, EMF meters or the other gadgetry du jour. Just a lot of footnotes and comparative analyses of ghost mythology.

In fact, Finucane’s introduction quotes famed psychologist Carl Jung who noted that it does not matter whether ghosts exist but whether one BELIEVES that ghosts exist. (paraphrased)

Now, if you make the mistake of visiting many of the amateur groups who like to give a thin veneer of respectability they’ll note an anecdote about Jung “seeing” a ghost. But few, if any, will dwell on that profound statement.

It is enough that you believe in ghosts. Perhaps, that is where our amateurs fail, for they believe in ghosts but are searching for “proof” of something that may not exist outside their own construct of reality.

I think that’s why I shifted out of the amateur field of ghost hunters (I refuse to call my former field “research” or “investigation” because it is neither). For me, it is enough that you believe. It is not required that I also believe. I am much more interested in why you believe, how you believe and what effects that belief has both internally and externally. After all, is it at all possible that “ghosts” far from being otherworldly entities are just reflections of our own psyches? Could all this so-called evidence simply be a combination of psychology and some unexplained PSI phenomena? Could it be nothing more than psychology?

At any rate, the book is excellent and I’m enjoying the historical look at social attitudes toward hauntings and wish some of the folks who get so wrapped up in the BS of amateur ghost hunting would put down the EMF meter and pick up a book too.

Which brings me to the latest blow up in pop culture land! This comes to me via my good pal Cullan over at Strange State who reports that Donna LaCroix, late of Ghost Hunters and GHI made a little appearance on some internet chat show about ghosts and the usual stuff. Seems Donna intimated that TAPS and GH have been fudging “evidence” for quite awhile.

I didn’t listen to the show, but I did read a rather long and rambling regurgitation of the whole controversy on the blog of one of the hosts. Long story short: Donna says fakery. Anti-TAPS people jump up and down “ah ha’ing!” each other into a stupor. TAPS people and production company to issue a press release (coming soon to a fan or anti-fan site near you!). Internet talk show host tries to play humble while dislocating shoulder to pat self on back for causing a stir. Usual amateur ghost hunting suspects wreck the English language trying to sound intelligent by dropping names of other notorious scam artists and media hucksters in comments as evidence their non-GH heroes would ever be publicity or money whores.

Honestly, fascinating people when you get right down to it. I love the way the hostess goes on about it being a TV show and what do people expect but then feigns outrage on the part of the “community” that they would fake something. The motivations are just too easy.

Speaking of which, before they hitch their wagon to Donna LaCroix, they might want to remember that she has some pretty dull axes to grind with the folks running that show. She was dropped fairly unceremoniously and punted to GHI which seemed to be the original realm of the problem children from Ghost Hunters. She was only there a short time (less than a season?) before she was dropped from the franchise completely. She then attempted to launch her own money making empire with none other than tireless self-promoter Brian Harnois that included syndicated radio and internet shows as well as ghost tours, seminars, and other things. That seems to have not panned out (last I heard) so now she’s doing the minor league talk circuit selling her “inside scoop” – book in the offing?

I don’t say this to defend Ghost Hunters. Honestly, I think that show is about one good writer away from being a movie called Paranormal Activity. But, what I do find interesting are the people who feel that if it’s fake they must somehow get in on exposing it and then pretend indifference because “it’s a TV show. What did you expect?”

I further think rank amateurs need to be wary of getting themselves manipulated by a group of people who know how to play a “celebrity fight” to the max. LaCroix, Harnois, Hawes, and Grant pulled a similar stunt last year when they were all launching new projects. The infamous MySpace feud was all the rage for several weeks last Fall.

Ahhh, don’t you love it? As for me, back to Mr. Finucane’s work and thinking about the sociological aspects of the paranormal and what they’ve meant at various times in history. Hmmm… wonder if he would revisit the work 25 years on (it was originally published in 1984) and perhaps add a bit more on this latest pop culture fad.

PS: Out of curiosity I did a very quick (less than 5 minute) search to see if LaCroix has any projects bubbling at the moment. Nothing really leaped up online… but keep your eyes open.

A Personal Update…

2009-10-27T00:21:00.001-07:00

As I was glancing through previous posts here on the blog I realized I’d had a grand total of about 17 posts for 2009! You might be wondering why that is considering the frequency of my posting in the previous year.

In early 2009 I officially left Sonoran Paranormal Investigations. There were a number of reasons for that decision ranging from the usual drama that surrounds paranormal groups and my position as a team manager to a shift in my own beliefs and interests that were not entirely welcomed by some members of the group.

As my personal interest in psychology and perception increased I found that exploration of those topics caused some in the group to feel very uncomfortable. There are those who are true believers in all things paranormal and who find the questioning of the veracity of those beliefs to be threatening. In short, they do not want any avenue of inquiry that might lead down the road toward disproving paranormal phenomenon as an objective experience. It’s fine to find the occasional squeaky door or loud water heater, but not to posit experiments that might show “ghosts” as a class to be illegitimate or outside the neo-Victorian folklore model or New Age paradigm.

After Paul Bradford was tapped as a cast member of Ghost Hunters International, we spoke briefly about my returning to the group since it seemed to be experiencing some stasis. When I laid out my desire to continue to pursue my psychological work as well as looking at subjective causes or even PSI causes for phenomena, the offer to return was withdrawn quietly.

Unfortunately, much of this conflict originated with a self-proclaimed psychic who did not care for me personally (considering my well known skepticism of psychics. Certainly, my suggestion that if we were to “study” psychic impressions the “psychic” would need to be tested independently via standard PSI methodology for accuracy was viewed negatively by this person who took it as a personal attack on her “gifts.”

Thus, as so often happens when research runs headlong into hobby and ego… I found myself outside the fold.

I have resisted any criticism of SPI for nearly a year and still feel they are a superb group 0f amateur ghost hunters. However, like so many, serious research is not something that seems to be on the agenda at the moment. In the aftermath of that and without any means to continue research alone, I lost interest in the turmoil of the paranormal pop culture world for much of the year.

I am beginning to regain some steam now, though, and am thinking of putting together a group of 2 or 3 others who are interested in conducting serious research into the psychological, sociological and folklore aspects of hauntings as well as field research looking at paranormal investigators themselves and their reactions to environment and belief systems. I would also like to conduct some PSI statistical studies to attempt to determine if haunting phenomena is objective or subjective.

Interested and live in Southern Arizona? Leave a comment or drop me a note.

The TV Machine Explodes

2009-10-26T00:33:00.001-07:00

First there was Ghost Hunters, then we expanded with Ghost Hunters International, Paranormal State and Ghost Adventures, now we have Ghost Lab and Extreme Paranormal and soon we’ll have Ghost Hunters: The College Years (or whatever they are really calling it).

In fact, amateur ghost hunters are springing up like Zombies after a chemical spill! It’s even worse on the Internet where it seems every 3rd or 4th person is either in some group, starting some group, or looking for some group to join.

I know, I know, it’s October when a young man’s (or woman’s) mind turns to thoughts of the macabre. But, it does seem to be overkill at times. The TV Machine, which loves its sensational storylines, wacky personalities, and drama doesn’t help matters by giving people a platform who probably should best be kept offstage and unable to influence the public at large.

In the case of Extreme Paranormal I heard a recent episode included what amounted to occult rituals to “raise” ghosts. I watched some of the premiere episode on A&E’s website and have to say: These guys have absolutely no business in the field of paranormal research. In addition it is incredibly irresponsible of A&E to give them a television show.

In their very first outing they do everything that serious researchers warn amateurs not to do. They destroy property, they engage in occult rituals, and they generally make nuisances of themselves with nothing to show for it at the end.

I predict that if this show is allowed to continue we can expect the headlines to begin around the country: “Teenage Ghost Hunters burn down historic site!” “Teen Ghost Hunters caught breaking and entering to perform Satanic ritual to ‘Raise Spirits’!”

Of course, A&E’s entries into the paranormal pop culture genre have never been stellar. They launched their franchise with Ryan Buell and his demon loving team of twinks. However, in comparison, the guys on the new entry make Buell and rosary loving friends appear sober and reasoned.

So, what are we to make of the new entries in the already infested field of Paranormal Pop TV? Let’s look at A&E’s hype about the goofs on “Extreme Paranormal” which includes the quasi-Blair Witch Project symbol in their logo (sigh):

In "Extreme Paranormal," irreverent paranormal explorers Shaun, Nathan and Jason investigate chilling local legends, attempting to seek the truth by provoking spirits. Unlike other paranormal investigators, they put themselves directly in harm's way - taunting ghosts, summoning the dead and daring the demonic to attack.

"Extreme Paranormal" gives rabid paranormal fans the ride they've always wanted: the chance to follow a team that dares to challenge legends, curses, and hauntings by actually attempting to provoke paranormal activity. These guys have spent the last ten years kicking sand in the face of ghosts across America. Every Sunday at midnight, they recount their latest mission on their popular radio show "Ghostman and Demon Hunter."

While other paranormal investigators keep the spirit world at arms-length, our guys lack that part of their DNA that tells other investigators to "be afraid" and run away during intense encounters. The team has developed a bring-it-on mentality when it comes to their explorations.

I don’t think “investigators” is exactly the right term for these guys. Thrill seekers? Irresponsible goons? Immature asses? Those all fit fairly nicely, but not the label investigator, certainly not researcher, and certainly not serious.

Perhaps it is time that the paranormal community stands up and tells these networks that there are far too many shows on already and they are harming research by continuing to try to outdo each other with sensational and often fake “ghostly encounters.”

There is a reason you never see serious investigations into the paranormal as conducted at major universities on these television shows. TV networks rely on sensation, gullible amateurs willing to do anything for their 15 minutes of fame, and a serious lack of critical thinking about paranormal activity and the occult in general.

A&E should be terribly ashamed of this program and should be held accountable for the inevitable clones that is spawns in the real world and the harm that comes to people and property because of it.

That’s Queer…

2009-10-24T09:31:00.001-07:00

Yes, it’s been a long time since I posted here. But, I return with great news. Ken Summers, a real friend and colleague in this madness that is the paranormal has written a very interesting book.

Queer Hauntings: True Tales of Gay & Lesbian Ghosts (Lethe Press), is a must read for anyone interested in often overlooked stories and even a few familiar stories with overlooked parts.

In the paranormal field with its rather high incidence of religious belief, issues related to LGBT people are often swept aside. LGBT paranormal investigators are even subjected at times to insensitive remarks, name calling, or even inappropriate jokes. This is abundantly clear if you look at the Ryan Buell thread on my political blog where I was called any number of names by “paranormal fans” when I suggested that I actually did NOT care whether Ryan Buell was gay. In addition, the lengths that these people went to to assure me he was not gay were hilarious. In their mind being gay is an insult and a character flaw.

So, it is not surprising that LGBT ghosts also get short shrift when it comes to investigation and even our folklore. This is where Ken’s excellent book comes in. Ken allows both the LGBT reader and the Straight Ally a glimpse at the hidden folklore of our community. With this work he brings our own stories of love, loss, and tragedy into the pantheon of mainstream folklore.

While the straight community has their ghosts of TB, Cholera, or Yellow Fever epidemics, Ken reminds us of our ghosts of AIDS. The correlation cannot be lost on those of us written out of history and folklore for so very long.

By collecting these stories, Ken has done a great deal to advance our own sense of self as a community with a history and a mythology; a community that sees itself reflected in those scary tales that we often recall around campfires or crisp Autumn nights.

The stories are all very readable and relatively short making the book excellent fare for quick reading or storytelling. I might be biased since Ken is a friend, but I honestly think this is an important step in understanding the role of folklore and mythology in a community and seeing how it is developing as that community is allowed to share its stories with the wider world.

You can get a copy at Amazon.com and I urge you to pick this one up today.

2009-09-16T04:36:00.001-07:00

Psyched that my friend Ken Summer's book, Queer Hauntings, arrived! Great book! Check it out! http://ow.ly/pBf4

2009-09-16T04:05:00.001-07:00

@Paula_Deen Y'all have a safe trip!

2009-09-16T03:11:00.001-07:00

A great song based on a Thoreau poem... by my husband, no less! http://ow.ly/pALW

Social Networks and the Paranormal

2009-09-11T04:57:00.005-07:00

I used to bristle when someone would say "Everyone in the paranormal field wants to have a TV show!" Well, I didn't want a TV show so their premise had to be wrong.

Unfortunately, over time, I realized that people like me are a minority. Most of the people I have bumped into do want a television show and would give their eye teeth for it. That even goes for many of those professing to be above all that pop-culture nonsense. After all, fame (or what passes for it on basic cable) is intoxicating and it does open doors to "cool" sites. If your main purpose is stumbling around in dark creepy places that look stereotypically like "haunted houses" your passport is a TV show or some connection to one (that goes for the TAPS Family thing too).

What I have also found out is that if you truly are opposed to the pop-culture influences and reject the pseudo-science you become persona non grata. Daring to inject more than the superficial flirtation most "paranormal investigators" have with skepticism can make you a pariah.

Social Networking has become a great tool for the fledgling ghost hunter in search of basic cable fame as much as a full bodied apparition. MySpace is utterly infected with groups promoting their home made videos, their Internet radio talk shows, and their other gimmicks.

The group I formerly worked with was headed down that road for a long time until Paul eventually got a job with GHI. That pursuit of fame seems to have leveled out now from what I hear. However, it has become quite clear that someone like me who dares question the validity of pop-culture pursuits and snake oil gadgetry is not welcome among the fold of the amateur ghost hunters.

My profiles on MySpace and Facebook still list "paranormal investigation" in my interests. Almost weekly I get one or two friend requests from people who are amateur ghost hunters. A few bother to actually send me a note but most I never hear from except their weekly announcements for their Internet radio show or some local TV gig in their hometown or their webcast of their "LIVE INVESTIGATION!"

Let's be honest, these are all auditions for basic cable gigs. They are hoping like a garage band that some producer looking for the next big clone will see them and give them a shot at fame.

I kept trying to figure out how to let these folks nicely that I don't watch the professional amateurs on television so I certainly am not spending an evening watching rank amateurs on a webcast. I've consistently replied "no" to invitations for their web events. I've even sent them notes explaining my interest in studying the psychology of the paranormal (including studying them and their reactions and beliefs) when they request to be my "friend."

In fact, here's an exchange I had with a new "Facebook Friend" recently:

"Hey there Buck, how long have you been investigating the paranormal?"

My Response: "Long enough to be very, very jaded and to have switched my focus onto studying people who believe in the paranormal. I also spend a lot of time looking at the unusual trend by which "paranormal investigation" or "ghost hunting" has supplanted the old Spiritualist religions of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries and seems to be arising as rather unusual religion based on pseudo-science. Lately I've been considering the connections between Mesmerism as an historic pseudo-science movement and its connection to the rise of Spiritualism in the 19th Century and the connections between pop culture "ghost hunting" and New Age spiritualism of the 21st Century.

Anyway... I wrote my first thesis on paranormal phenomena when I was in high school dealing with the connection between abnormal psychology and the religious belief in demonology. So... that would be 26 or 27 years I suppose. ;)"

His Response: "My, my so you're quite an educated man!! ;) I've been interested in the Paranormal even as a young boy, but have only been doing investigations for the past two months. Interesting comment you made about the people that believe in the PN. I've noticed that quite a lot of "investigators" appear a bit dodgy & loony, a lot of spiritualists etc."

My Response: "Yes, it was that realization that caused me to begin to shift my focus. I realized that almost everything being done by amateur ghost hunters was designed to elicit some result rather than produce verifiable and repeatable data. As I watched the "clients" of groups respond to this process it became quite obvious in many cases the ghost hunter types were being treated with the kind of deference once shown to priests or ministers. I became fascinated by the whole process of religious belief melding with pseudo science and useless (let's be honest) gadgetry designed to let people interact with the "spirit world".

So, today I conduct my own research looking at cultural trends, pop-culture, and psychology. At some point I hope to be able to conduct some field experiments in the psychology of ghost hunting and how ghost hunters themselves become irrational in the face of their artificially created environments with darkened "haunted houses" and sensory deprivation. But, that is dependent on returning for another degree in psychology at this late stage of life. ;)

Good luck with your pursuits and keep your head about you."

Then this morning I received yet another request for another "paranormal investigator." I thought about sending yet another note explaining that I'm a) not an investigator in the sense they think and b) not a paranormal groupie. Instead, I pulled up the guy's profile and saw that he is doing some local TV thing in the middle of the night and has his sights set on having a show on SyFy. (Like they aren't already infected with enough ghost hunting .)

I decided to just hit "ignore." That was so satisfying that I decided that I would simply remove those people who are into "paranormal investigation" and whose only interaction with me is to ask me to watch their webcast or listen to their Internet radio show.

So, if you're a "paranormal investigator" and you want someone to watch your audition for basic cable, I'm not your guy. If you want someone to discuss the history of ghost hunting and how it intersects with spiritualism and historical pseudo-science movements then we'll chat. If you want someone to get all excited about your "Frank's Box" you will have your feelings hurt and end up pissed off. If, however, you'd like to discuss whether amateur paranormal investigators contribute to their own misinterpretation of events by manipulating their environment to evoke psychological responses within themselves, let's have a talk.

But please, don't ask me to watch you stumble around in the dark on a webcam. If I don't watch someone I count as a friend on national television I certainly won't be watching you broadcast from your local haunted high school.

But... You have to believe in ghosts!

2009-08-17T06:46:00.005-07:00

A fellow writer and I are working on a series of travel articles for October on haunted locations in Arizona. It should be a fun series and not too heavy.

The other day I met her for lunch to pare down the list of possible places to a manageable size for our work over the next two months leading into the series. While chatting about various places and ranking them based on serious claims versus kitsch, we began to talk about belief in the paranormal.

I explained to her my interest in the sociological and psychological aspects of paranormal research. As I talked about the fact I am as interested in studying those who believe in and investigate the paranormal as I am in the phenomena itself she seemed to be shocked.

"But, you believe in ghosts. Right?"

When I answered that I didn't believe in ghosts and the "paranormal" as it is usually defined she was quite shocked. She assumed that I must believe in the spirits of of people wandering around and haunting locations. After all, as everyone knows that's what the "paranormal" is all about.

This seems to be a common idea and one of the reasons I love exploring the people who believe as much or more than what they report. After all, most "scientific" investigators will tell you wholeheartedly they believe in "ghosts." But, we have zero evidence that ghosts exist. To me saying this is the same as saying you believe in God or Zeus or Odin. It is a leap of faith and it may be a personal comfort but it is not science.

I have seen no evidence that spirits exist. Of all the photos and video I have seen over the years I can only count a scant few that leave me scratching my head. However, I'm fairly certain that my inability to explain it away is not a function of paranormal but a function of not being sufficiently schooled in all aspects of photography, videography, or neuropsychology.

It's a lovely thought that the soul continues on after we die. However, that warm fuzzy feeling is not scientific although it may be psychologically programmed.

Last October, Scientific American ran a wonderful story on how humans cannot imagine death. We simply cannot seem to grasp the idea that our personality that is so distinct and so central to our world view stops at death. This even includes people who do not believe in an afterlife! Most people professing a belief that we cease to exist at death still cannot quite get their minds around the idea of what it means to simply cease to be. If these people cannot grasp the concept of the personality ceasing to exist, how much more strongly do those who believe in a soul want desperately to find some "proof" that we go on as we were.

If you think of it, we do remember people who have died. We think of them as living, breathing people. We remember the sound of their voice and their mannerisms. We dream about them. All of these things allow us to deal with the very painful separation brought on by death.

Even those people we don't know who have died we tend to form ideas about who they were and how they lived. How many times have you been asked "If you could meet anyone from history and have lunch, who would it be?" The whole premise of that question is that we have an idea of who people were and how much we would have liked the personality we give them from our reading and study. This makes people whom we've never known very real to us.

This psychological ability to keep people alive in our memory could well point to why we are so ready to accept ghosts as a reality and, in fact, why we seek them out to prove that those who have come before exist not just in our minds but in the wider world as well.

Last week a former colleague and I discussed the absurdity that "ghosts" somehow are given magical knowledge of all languages when they die. She mentioned that many of the people she knew had a "theory" that after death a person (personality/soul) is given vast knowledge and can speak and understand any language there is.

In all seriousness such things are discussed as though it is simply a matter of course that a soul has been proved, that said soul survives death, and there is some bizarre Jungian collective unconscious standing ready to imbue this soul with vast universal knowledge. "Scientific" teams engage in this type of wild speculation constantly although not even one of the points necessary for the hypothesis have ever come close to being proved. They also do it with a level of gravitas and sometimes fury that is mind boggling. Nevermind the fact that it begs the question: Why would a soul then hang around a dusty old haunted house rearranging pillows or leaving cryptic messages on tape recorders if they had the keys to Universal Knowledge?

But, back to my lunch date. It seemed for a moment that my colleague and lunch companion was a bit put out with me. She quickly pointed to the old program at Duke University as "proof" that ghosts exist and are taken seriously. Unfortunately, that's a common misconception. The programs at Duke and other universities have always studied the phenomena but have never produced verifiable and repeatable results. They are not saying that "disembodied souls" exist but rather are studying the claims that people make to see if this is some psychological, physical, or other unknown type of system at work. To say it is a "ghost" is to postulate a metaphysical/religious system rather than a scientific one. That is also a trap that some programs do fall into and the reason parapsychology has such a difficult time gaining ground as a serious area of study when the researchers become more of a new age guru than serious scientist.

I do believe that one day someone will find the root causes of supposed "paranormal" events and I believe there is a much greater chance the result will have nothing at all to do with disembodied souls. In the meantime, I enjoy a good ghost story as much as the next person, however, I look at them for their value as a cultural barometer rather than as "proof" of quasi-religious beliefs.

A Note of Congratulations

2009-08-13T02:08:00.003-07:00

For the first time in a very long time I tuned in to SyFy's Ghost Hunters franchise last night. There was only one reason for the departure from my vow to eschew the TV pop culture fad and that was the episode featured the introduction of my friend and former SPI colleague, Paul Bradford.

Paul was tapped several months ago for the series. Last night's episode, filmed in Chile, was the first of his appearances as a regular on the show.

While I have come to view all of the pop culture "ghost hunting" shows with skepticism and often for diluting the real scientific process, I am pleased that Paul has been able to fulfill one of his dreams. I am also thrilled that he is having the opportunity to visit so many interesting places.

So, here's to Paul and a long and successful run as the newest cast member of Ghost Hunters International! Cheers!

For a recap of stories and articles featuring my adventures with Paul before he became famous, check out these postings:

Paul Bradford and the IR/UV Stobe
Paul and David at the Tucson Zombie Walk (October 2008)
Paul's Gadget on GHI before he joined the cast
My First Meeting with Paul and a Video of his SpiPod
First SPI Investigation Headed by Paul (and the first time he was touched, ahem..)
Weird Meter Readings
Parazona Radio (also links to all previous episodes featuring Paul, David, and Kale)
The Gang in Tombstone
Tombstone Investigation
Paul and David on Community View (local TV appearance)
Paul Cutting Up (Video)
SPI at the Birdcage (Video)
Paul's very first attempt at an explanation cutaway for a webisode for SPI (He's a pro now)

So, there you have it. Congrats to Paul and to GHI who are quite lucky to have someone so motivated and dedicated as part of their team!

Ghosts and Grief

2009-08-01T07:36:00.002-07:00

A little while ago I noticed an announcement from a paranormal investigator crowing about an "investigation" his group had just conducted for a recently bereaved widow. In the posting he noted that her "husband was still leaving the toilet seat up" and that they had captured an EVP of "her husband." According to the posting the woman was thrilled that her husband seemed to still be hanging about the house. I won't go into the merits of the "evidence" here.

All seemed well. This "investigator" was self-congratulatory that he had "caught evidence" at this home. But what about the woman? Obviously, a recently widowed person will still be in the grieving process. The normal course of that would be to go through all the steps until acceptance at which time the person can move on with their life. That is the ultimate goal of working through grief.

However, I'm sure that while these investigators are slapping each other on the back over their "evidence" they are also quite sure they have helped this woman. But, have they really?

Let's consider that the woman is already most likely stuck in the process if she is calling paranormal groups. Now a paranormal group shows up in their full regalia dragging all their equipment just like on TV. At the end of spending a night with this person they come to her with "proof" (because evidence is "proof") that her husband is still in the house because the toilet seat is up and they have captured the elusive "EVP" that she identifies as her husband! Voila!

Then they pack up all the impressive equipment and ride off into the sunset - or more accurately sunrise. What happens to the poor woman?

That is an issue no one really cares much about. Paranormal groups (with very few exceptions) do not have mental health professionals at their disposal. In fact most are terrified of bringing mental health into the picture at all. Of course, there are the rare few who will have an LMSW hanging around. However, they would be professionally vulnerable to counsel these clients after traipsing through their home pointing out the ghosts of loved ones. Most are just along for the thrill and not as a licensed professional.

So, this woman who called a paranormal group instead of a psychologist or counselor because she was stuck in the grieving process now has "proof" that her husband still lives with her. How will she move on from here? Chances are she won't.

The "happiness" that the paranormal investigators saw was simply her pleasure at having her need to stay in that grieving state validated. It was not a release from grieving but rather an OK to remain in that status quo forever. After all, there is no need to fully grieve if the person is just in the bathroom!

Amateur paranormal groups have no business inserting themselves into the lives of recently bereaved people under any circumstances. They are not equipped in any way, shape or form to deal with the multiple psychological and social issues involved in a recent family death. Yet, on the basis of their years of "training" watching TV and reading old pop-parapsychology books from the 60's and 70's, they feel perfectly justified.

This type of "investigation" is unconscionable and those undertaking them are quite reckless. Perhaps, like in Great Britain, we need to finally institute some laws governing the exploitation of people's religious and spiritual beliefs. Even if you aren't "charging" you should not be absolved of responsibility for the damage you do.

I'm NOT a Fraud... I Just Make Up Statistics

2009-07-20T04:37:00.005-07:00

I received an invitation to join a Facebook Cause this evening. The stated purpose of this "Cause" is as follows:

To stop the exploitation of our historical locations. To stop the charlatan scam artist that prey on grieving people. To stop making all paranormal researchers look like "ghost hunters".

Well, that sounds nice enough. After all, I'm one of those folks that have often criticized the "meet-up" type paranormal groups who insinuate themselves into historical sites with no concept of what they are doing beyond what was seen last week on television.

But, then the creator of this cause goes on to strengthen her claims by citing some statistics. After all, statistics are good when you're doing scientific stuff, right?

88% of Ghost Hunting Teams are not qualified to work for the goverment (sic), much less investigate peoples homes.
91.4% of all paranormal teams have a goal to be on TV
92.3% of paranormal researchers have been taught by watching TV shows and do nothing but mimic.

Wait, hold the phone! Where did those stats come from? They're pretty damning statistics aren't they? And are they including the groups who work out of universities and colleges doing both haunting investigations as well as Psi work and research? Are these just the "amateur" groups? Oops, we're going to fight fraud and raise the tone but we're going to start with some spurious stats that aren't sourced?

One of the people who joined actually asked about the owner's "statistics" and this was her response:

"they (sic) statistics are a a (sic) guideline. With so many teams out there, it is almost impossible to count them all. Teams that have nothing more than myspace accounts and so on. But I would have to agree with you!!!"

Oh, so statistics are a "guideline" and making them up FRAUDULENTLY is fine as long as your goal is to fight FRAUD. That's perfectly understandable logic. After all, if you're trying to say that amateur teams are not doing good research (which I certainly have found to be the case) what better way to point that out than doing no research yourself to support a supposition.

It was fairly obvious after glancing over the site for a few minutes that this was a case of someone who started her own group at some point and felt brushed aside by groups that had some affiliation with the TV shows. I would wonder if she had applied to be a TAPS Family group at some point and was turned down. I have no way of knowing for sure.

Some of the more telling posts are ones that assert that the only "legitimate" groups are those that utilize psychics and sensitives. Certainly, a good way to reduce fraud is to utilize a group who have been instrumental in all sorts of frauds since the beginning of the Spiritualist Movement in the 19th Century.

Others, by the cause owner, intimate that the government runs a secret "black ops" paranormal program like the "Men in Black."

"Government qualified researcher? As in the real "men in black"? those people are researching paranormal, but they do not wear matching t-shirts and walking around with EMF meters in cemeteries on the weekends..."

Of course there is always the "former police officer" who is going to clean up everything by eschewing what he sees on GH for what he sees on CSI:

"My intent is to utilize principles of investigation I learned while training to become a police officer. Everything from knowing my equipment inside and out, to securing the scene and observing chains of custody. The focus in the field should be to gather evidence for later examination and interpretation. Unfortunately, too many of the popular television programs primarily depict the documentation of someone's "adventures in hysterics", with little attempt at scientific examination."

Now, I'm not sure how a chain of custody card is going to be helpful in paranormal research unless he manages to handcuff a ghost and his/her paranormal accouterments. But, it's nice to see that he still can't get past all the gadgets and is going to "know them inside and out."

What is most glaring in all of this remains the source of paranormal hysteria: the belief that ghosts exist. All of these individuals still begin the process on step two where ghosts are known to exist and therefore can be "studied" using this or that gadget or even this or that psychic.

The reality is that we don't know that ghosts exist. They are as likely to not exist as to exist based on proper science. In fact, it is more likely that they do NOT exist when looked at logically and with rigorous application of scientific principles. This means that anyone who enters the field with the belief that ghosts exist and that they are going to prove that existence begins with an agenda.

The belief in ghosts in a researcher means that they will always do those things that prove existence while discarding those things that disprove existence. As always, I wonder how many of these "researchers" would be perfectly happy if the "answers" they go were that the paranormal is a form of hysteria and that ghosts are simply figments of our imagination. I would venture that even suggesting such a thing to these "impartial scientific researchers" would be met with scorn and even violent denunciations.

Let's not even get into the usual confusion over a hypothesis and a theory that all these "scientists" and "real researchers" continue to have.

I strongly suggest a look at this cause if you're on Facebook for a nice chuckle or two over how the anti-TV, anti-ghost hunting folks really are as affected by their pop culture belief that holding some electronic whirligigs puts them right up their with Edison and Einstein as any Meet-Up fan club.

Did You Intend to Have Rotting Rice?

2009-07-17T15:33:00.004-07:00

If you've seen the "What the Bleep Do We Know?" series of documentaries, you are probably familiar with the name Masaru Emoto. Emoto has stated that thoughts can change the structure of water and has shown the public a number of photographs of beautiful water crystals to prove his point.

Unfortunately, Emoto's experiments often lack any real scientific basis. He has been highly criticized by the scientific community over his claims and has readily admitted that the "proof" shown are chosen for their aesthetic appeal rather than the their scientific value.

However, this has not kept the New Age folks from jumping on the bandwagon. Recently, I ran across some videos at The Spirit Guide of a couple produced showing their own experiment with Emoto's ideas.

In their experiment they place 1 cup of cooked rice in a container labeled "Thank You" and another cup of cooked rice in a container labeled "You Fool." Supposedly, the rice in the container with the positive saying will show less decomposition and rotting than the one with the negative saying. The containers would be sealed and left for 30 days with the couple saying "Thank You" and "You Fool" to the appropriate container during that time.

Here's a video of their experimental set up:

Much like the normal "paranormal" experiment there are a few problems with this experiment immediately apparent.

There is no control. We only have two containers to compare. Therefore, we have no sample that was not exposed to the variable that would allow us to rule out some other factor for causing a difference in the outcomes.
In the first container that is labeled "Thank You" the experimenter is careful not to touch the inside of the jar or the rice. However, in the jar labeled "You Fool" we see that she inadvertently sticks her fingers into the jar and then uses it to brush off rice from the rim and drop it into the jar. Assuming that they sterilized the jars (doubtful) in order to remove a bacterial component, the introduction of her hand into the jar may have negated that and introduced bacteria or other substances that would have an effect on the outcome.
The jar that they label "You Fool" is placed directly above an older style television set. As we all know such old tube sets tend to generate heat and heat rises. Although they are careful to put the jars "in the same area" the jar they assume will rot more quickly is placed above a heat source. The other jar is placed on the same shelf but 21/2 or more feet away and separated from the TV heat source with the shelf as well as a divider. Obviously, heat increases decomposition.
A piece of tape is not an adequate tamper proof seal. There is not way to know if the samples were tampered with either inadvertently or purposely. We'll assume they are not frauds, but it is another example of people trying to "scientific" and "experimenting" but doing so in ways that are actually fairly useless. It might be interesting for them but for the rest of us, such an oversight makes their experiment worthless.

Here we see the results of their experiment. The rice has responded as predicted and our happy couple take it as proof positive that Emoto's "experiments" are valid despite the methodological flaws.

Doing Some Research...

2009-07-15T11:58:00.003-07:00

I'm beginning to work again on my project dealing with attitudes toward paranormal phenomena and social/cultural influences.

As part of that research I've developed my own survey that is based very loosely on the Thalbourne Scale but also is a bit more specific and touches more on New Age beliefs and traditional beliefs in ghosts and hauntings.

So, if you'd like to participate please visit my survey (it's completely confidential) and give me your insights.

The Age Old Science Vs. Hobby Debate

2009-07-14T02:43:00.006-07:00

Tonight at dinner I had a chance to visit with my dear friend Sandy and another member of our former team. As we concluded the meal, Sandy and I began discussing the age old debate over ghost hunting as hobby and ghost hunting as science.

The reason my posts on this blog have been so infrequent over the past months can be summed up in the word "disgust." I had/have become disgusted with the amateurishness of paranormal studies. I became tired of everyone who watches TV shows launching their own "clone" group that normally turned out to be little more than a fan club. I became disgusted with the bastardization of the word "science" and I became disillusioned by the childishness, competitiveness, and outright juvenile behavior of supposed adults who claimed to be "scientists" despite never having so much as taken a science class beyond high school.

Everywhere I turned I came across hobbyists who pretended to be scientists. Worse, these people had no clue about the scientific process and thought that simply using whatever electronic device came to hand meant that "science" was somehow involved in their hobby. I got tired of hearing ad nauseum about science, science, science and when I asked to see their published data and conclusions all I found were random recordings of irrelevant "readings" that no one had ever bothered to study. In many cases, other than trying to impressively list "atmospheric data" and "moon phases" they didn't bother with much else. When I would ask why people bothered to note that data I was told all sorts of things like "paranormal activity kicks up during full moon" or "high humidity (or low humidity) has been shown to affect paranormal phenomenon" or "sun spots and atmospheric disturbances are known to increase phenomenon." Yet, no one could seem to provide me with the actual study they had done (or anyone else of repute) to back up their claims. In other words, they were noting these things because of urban legends basically but had no idea how to quantify and qualify the data.

This is where science and ghost hunting diverge. Ghost hunting is a fun hobby. Going to a supposedly "haunted" place at night is thrilling and interesting. For those of us who like history the thought of actually coming across a spirit of someone from the past is a very touching and almost spiritual (pardon the pun) experience.

Yet, most people in this field refuse to acknowledge that deep down they do it because it is fun. Wary not to be seen as "kooks" they cloak their hobby in pseudo-scientific terms and call themselves "skeptical." In the process they actually become kooky. They bastardize true science and make it very difficult for the academics who study the field seriously to gain any foothold in the scientific community. After all, if you hold a doctorate in physics and work alongside a person with a doctorate in psychology to try to uncover the source of paranormal activity and claims, it does not help you when rank amateurs are running around waving EMF meters and Geiger counters and claiming to "find" ghosts with them, yet never showing the first bit of substantial data.

I used to look at the people who just enjoyed going to haunted places to experience things with a sense of bemusement. Yet, over time I have found they are at least honest. They understand that they want to have fun and enjoy a brush with the paranormal. Meanwhile, the "scientifically based" ghost hunters run around doing the same thing but pretending that their meters and other gadgets which are not designed to do what they use them for will get them some sort of proof that serious academics cannot find using better equipment and more exhaustive data analysis.

I saw a great quote recently about the ghost hunters' use of gadgets meant for other things including the current "sweetheart" of the tech crowd: Thermal imaging: "A thermometer is a wonderful tool, but if you're using it to measure barometric pressure it is completely useless."

I believe that is the crux of my disillusionment with the "scientific" ghost hunting crowd. It is picking up any gadget without understanding it and then assuming each and every result is somehow paranormal. It becomes a case of every errant meter blip, every beep of a device, every twitch of a needle - no matter how natural - "proving" paranormal activity. It is the desire to find a ghost, to experience the paranormal, without the conviction to just enjoy it as a hobby.

In closing, I will eventually get back into this field. My interests have shifted far from electronic gadgets to looking at the psychology of hauntings and the haunted. In short, I no longer find the idea of "capturing" a ghost within some random readings on a gadget appealing but rather capturing the reason that people, even when frightened, dismiss the ordinary and seek instead the extraordinary. If I were to study paranormal phenomena again it would be in those terms. Yet, I still enjoy creeping around a "haunted place" at night and exploring my own psychological reaction to the expectation of coming across the spirits of the past. But now I know that can be done without pretending it is hard science.

Picture Exercise Solution

2009-07-14T02:38:00.002-07:00

A few months ago I posted a picture (see previous post) and asked people to explain what it was. The responses were interesting. Of course, my friend and former colleague in SPI, David Delgado, was able to fairly accurately describe the phenomenon.

Of course it was nothing paranormal. The photo resulted from taking a picture through a crack in the door. The flash bounce off the white door and frame caused the "fogging" seen in the photo. The "figure" bending over Michael is actually a reflection of the edge of lens back into itself. The reason the second photo is clear is that the air conditioner turned on and the air movement cause the door to move slightly between photos just allowing the flash to make shoot through the crack the second time without the reflection.

Thanks for playing the game. For those who saw something paranormal, take this as a lesson that just because you can't debunk does not mean the only choice left is paranormal. It's a common mistake in the field to think that if you can't come up with an explanation the only other cause left is paranormal.

Picture Exercise

2009-03-10T17:28:00.003-07:00

Recently, I was shooting photos of Michael and trying desperately to get some candid shots for his iLike page. What turned up was an interesting photo.

Below you will find the photo along with another taken just seconds later. What is going on in this photo? Can you explain it? Give it a shot in the comments.

EXIF DATA:
Exif IFD0

* Camera Make = Canon
* Camera Model = Canon PowerShot A590 IS
* Last Modified Date/Time = 2009:03:03 18:46:00

Exif Sub IFD

* Exposure Time (1 / Shutter Speed) = 1/60 second = 0.01667 second
* Lens F-Number/F-Stop = 40/10 = F4
* ISO Speed Ratings = 250
* Original Date/Time = 2009:03:03 18:46:00
* Shutter Speed Value (APEX) = 189/32
Shutter Speed (Exposure Time) = 1/59.97 second
* Aperture Value (APEX) = 128/32
Aperture = F4
* Flash = Flash fired, auto mode, red-eye reduction mode
* Focal Length = 12700/1000 mm = 12.7 mm
* Image Width = 2448 pixels
* Image Height = 3264 pixels

Exif IFD0

* Camera Make = Canon
* Camera Model = Canon PowerShot A590 IS
* Last Modified Date/Time = 2009:03:03 18:46:12

Exif Sub IFD

* Exposure Time (1 / Shutter Speed) = 1/60 second = 0.01667 second
* Lens F-Number/F-Stop = 40/10 = F4
* ISO Speed Ratings = 200
* Original Date/Time = 2009:03:03 18:46:12
* Shutter Speed Value (APEX) = 189/32
Shutter Speed (Exposure Time) = 1/59.97 second
* Aperture Value (APEX) = 128/32
Aperture = F4
* Flash = Flash fired, auto mode, red-eye reduction mode
* Focal Length = 12700/1000 mm = 12.7 mm
* Image Width = 2448 pixels
* Image Height = 3264 pixels

So, what's going on here? Look closely at the picture with the mist and notice the area just above Michael's shoulder. What is that?

Let's here what you have to say....

Ghostly Roundup

2009-01-09T18:50:00.003-07:00

Image via WikipediaSorry to be so remiss in posting here. Lately, life has intruded on my paranormal hobbies. The major time crunch has been the fact that I have finally sat down to begin working on a murder mystery novel about a pair of paranormal investigators who get involved in the cover up of a murder while investigating an abandoned house that is supposedly haunted.

So, my apologies and to let all my friends and readers know that I haven't abandoned you, I present this week's installment of the Ghostly Roundup.

The Roundup starts in 3, 2, 1....

GHI is Hot!

Ghost Hunters International outperformed the 8pm series premiere of the horror-themed reality series 13 - Fear is Real on The CW by +12% in Adults 18-49, +36% in Adults 25-54 and +12% in total viewers.
A spin-off of SCI FI's popular Ghost Hunters series, Ghost Hunters International features a squad of real-life "ghost-busters" - ordinary people who investigate and attempt to debunk claims of otherworldly activity. The team travels to different European cities each week in pursuit of the truth behind bizarre supernatural claims. Its success so far has cemented Ghost Hunters' place as the #1 paranormal franchise in cable! Joining regular cast members Robb Demarest and Barry Fitzgerald this winter are Ghost Hunters investigators Dustin Pari and Joe Chin as well as new team members Brandy Green and Angela Alderman.

Do you care? Nope. Neither did I. The only reason I mention it is because my dear friend and colleague, Paul Bradford, had one of his gadgets featured on the show recently. Paul's IR/UV strobe made it's national TV debut. You can see the clip here:

Why Did the Ghost Cross the Road?

The numerous ghoulish encounters with a mysterious 'white lady' has prompted many to believe they had met a supernatural being.
For bemused locals, the only question on their minds, was: 'Who You Gonna Call?'
Well, Ghostbusters, of course.
Over the past six weeks there have been dozens of sightings of the apparition near the ruins of a remote farmhouse in near Coalisland in Co Tyrone.

Ghoulish encounters: Cars have been queuing at a road near Coalisland in Co Tyrone after dozens of sightings of a mysterious 'white lady' near the ruins of a remote farmhouse (file picture)

Convinced that the sightings are true - rather than the result of one too many pints of Guinness - convoys of ghost hunters have flocked to the dip in the road where she was seen.
Up to 60 cars have been spotted parked on the side of the road at midnight, causing traffic jams in the usually desolate area.
Villagers who have spotted the ghost say it looks like an old woman with a sad expression.
However, none have so far been able to describe the features of her face in any detail.
The spot where the ghost was spotted could perhaps best be described as a 'ghost's paradise'.

The damp crumbling walls on the ruined house where the ghost was spotted still bear the scorch marks from a fire.
Broken doors now creak in the wind and tree branches scratch against the collapsed roof. The birds in the trees are strangely silent.
Ryan Bell, the son of the local landlord Raymond, claims he has seen the ghost more than 20 times.
'I was freaked out the first time I saw her, but now I'm getting used to it,' he said. 'It looks like an old small woman with a shining white cape.
'When you drive by the run-down house, the figure emerges from the trees and crosses the road in front of you before coming to a halt in the same place each time.
'It's definitely a creepy experience. You can only see the profile of her face but she appears sad.'
Paranormal experts are now heading to the area with thermal imaging cameras and high frequency voice recorders in the hope of verifying the sightings.
Warren Coates, of the Northern Ireland Paranormal Research Association, said he was aware of previous paranormal activity in the area.
'It related to a phantom female hitchhiker, who caused a stir five years ago,' he said. 'Drivers would see her on the side of the road with her thumb out. When they pulled up to offer her a lift, she would vanish.
'Sometimes she would walk across the road in front of cars. But when drivers swerved to avoid her, she disappeared. These sightings were about a mile away from the latest sightings.'
Mr Coates, who set up his paranormal organisation in 1991, believes the ghost might be a woman who has died in a car crash in the area. (Source)

Yes, jump to the conclusion that it isn't a hoax, isn't just mass hysteria or the Irish version of Zombie Road. Let's go right for it's a ghost and not only a ghost but let's give her some back story before any research is even begun. God preserve us from the pop ghost investigator.

Police Brutality

Since the inception of reality based TV in the U.S., new trends inexplicably emerge each season in attempts to corner the market in this ever-evolving format. The trend in the 2008/09 season undoubtedly is ghost chasing.

Already successful with Paranormal State, a show involving Penn State students solving ghost mysteries, A&E is latching on further to the popular afterlife story line with its latest greenlit series, Paranormal Cops.

Seeking to one-up its successful Ghost Hunters rival on Sci-Fi, Cops will add a new layer to the popular reality genre with a group of real-life police officers in Chicago as the subjects. According to TV Guide, the program will follow the group as they lead normal police lives by day and moonlight as ghost chasers at night.

Robert Sharenow, the senior VP in nonfiction and alternative programming at A&E equivocates the show as, “the perfect marriage of A&E’s successful crime and justice genre with our blossoming paranormal programming that documents real-life accounts of bona fide paranormal investigators.” (source)

Oh yes, A&E has decided to launch yet another version of Ghost Hunters but instead of plumbers they're going for cops. Am I the only one who has become completely fatigued by the amateur reality star ghost hunter thing?

No word on whether the Paranormal Cops for Chi town will be beating those recalcitrant ghosts into submission with billy clubs or whether the Tazer will take the place of the EMF meter. Ow, it really hurts when my eyes roll into the back of my head.

Helping Them Cross Over

An interesting thread on nurses' experiences with spirits and people near death appears on the Allnurses.com website. Some of the stories are very interesting.

Personally, I've been present when many patients have died. After all, I worked trauma so it comes with the territory. Besides, if the Victorian idea that ghosts are created in moments of death involving panic or fear then I should have been constantly running into ghosts. Unfortunately, never once did anything unusual happen.

The closest I came was my own uncle passing away who held a long and lucid conversation with my dead father just an hour or so before he passed away. He also sat and stroked his dog that had died while he was in the hospital. Strange, yes and certainly the hair on the back of my neck stood up.

Maybe we can get some feedback from Dethmama who deals with death as part of her job as a hospice nurse.