Magical Realist
Valued Senior Member
No they didn't. They have never announced that disclaimer on any paranormal investigator show. And I have been watching them all for like ten years.
I have an idea for a Ghost detection machine
- Thread starter HawkI
- Start date
No they didn't. They have never announced that disclaimer on any paranormal investigator show. And I have been watching them all for like ten years.
Hey, look everyone! Someone is discussing TV fakery and MR is all butthurt again! It must be a day that ends in Y.
I am reminded of Houdini's favorite pastime - debunking fraudulent "spirit mediums." He got a lot of people very upset.
Magical Realist
Valued Senior Member
Actually the op is discussing technology for detecting ghosts and the usual skeptics got butthurt that paranormal TV shows aren't faked. It's the old "if it's on TV it isn't real" claim.
I have no idea what you are talking about. Watershed? What loop? Instagram logos can prevent building a machine?
That it's cute that you think these shows are real.
Magical Realist
Valued Senior Member
Yeah...they're real. I'm sorry if that upsets your little conspiracy theory..Do you think everything on TV is faked, or just the ghost shows?
My understanding is that they are not allowed to present any subject as being TRUE in a DOCUMENTARY or NEWS style program unless it is truely true
If ghost are truly true any station would be happy to show them as such without the disclaimer "For entertainment purposes only"
It's the TV equivalent of Poe, seen mainly in documentation
At least as I said that is the Australian system
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Ghost shows are neither documentaries nor news shows so they can say anything they want - no disclaimer is necessary.
exchemist
Valued Senior Member
You cannot define the temperature of a single molecule. Temperature is effectively a kind of measure of the mean kinetic energy of a statistical ensemble of molecules. As such, it is a bulk property.
Everything on TV is pretend except for news programs and documentaries which are held to a higher standard. If at the beginning of a show it says 'based on a true story' that is basically meaningless. If it is not a documentary or news program they can say anything they want, it is always assumed to have some level of fantasy in it.
Did you not know that?
Magical Realist
Valued Senior Member
"Why are people so obsessed with these ghost-hunting shows, when they are so obviously faked? I don't want to believe that people are this stupid."
—Justin M., via Facebook
Well you've just scared up a big old mess for me, haven't you? There are plenty of those shows: Ghost Hunters, Ghost Adventures, Haunted Collector, Ghost Hunters International, How I Met Your Mummy (I made that last one up ... or did I?)....
For this, I donned my jumpsuit, grabbed a ghost trap and solicited the help of Benjamin Radford, managing editor of the Skeptical Inquirer science magazine and a research fellow at the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. The reason I chose Radford is that, though he is, by definition, a skeptic, he also conducts scientifically based ghost hunts of his own, and leaves his mind open to the idea that, sometime, maybe, in the future, a real ghost just might come along and blow all our minds. (Probably not.) (But maybe.) (Not that he's ever found a ghost on one of these hunts.) (But you never know.)
As part of his work, Radford has ridden along on some of those ghost hunts that you see on TV. He says he's never seen blatant evidence of deliberate fakery. However, one former Ghost Hunters castmember, Donna LaCroix, has hinted that the Syfy show may not totally be on the up and up. She wasn't specific, though, and, for the record, she also stated that she was upset over how show producers had treated her.
What Radford has seen, though, is earnest people, at least some of whom genuinely believe they're interacting with ghosts, psyching themselves out, fielding perfectly earthly noises and sights and leaping to the conclusion that they can't be explained. Example: The show MysteryQuest. Radford says he went along for an investigation of the Wolfe Manor in Clovis, Calif.
"People who were there when I was there weren't necessarily faking anything," he recalls. "But I did see cases where the crew inadvertently made sounds or lights that were at least briefly interpreted as ghostly."---http://www.eonline.com/news/255116/are-ghost-hunting-shows-real-or-faked
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There you have it. Direct confirmation by a famous skeptic that ghost shows aren't faked. I even saw another famous skeptic Michael Shermer on Ghost Adventures once doing an experiment to see if he could induce experiences in random investigators by telling them a false story about the location. It didn't work, but it's funny that he would lend his services to a faked show IF they are faked as you claim.
—Justin M., via Facebook
Well you've just scared up a big old mess for me, haven't you? There are plenty of those shows: Ghost Hunters, Ghost Adventures, Haunted Collector, Ghost Hunters International, How I Met Your Mummy (I made that last one up ... or did I?)....
For this, I donned my jumpsuit, grabbed a ghost trap and solicited the help of Benjamin Radford, managing editor of the Skeptical Inquirer science magazine and a research fellow at the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. The reason I chose Radford is that, though he is, by definition, a skeptic, he also conducts scientifically based ghost hunts of his own, and leaves his mind open to the idea that, sometime, maybe, in the future, a real ghost just might come along and blow all our minds. (Probably not.) (But maybe.) (Not that he's ever found a ghost on one of these hunts.) (But you never know.)
As part of his work, Radford has ridden along on some of those ghost hunts that you see on TV. He says he's never seen blatant evidence of deliberate fakery. However, one former Ghost Hunters castmember, Donna LaCroix, has hinted that the Syfy show may not totally be on the up and up. She wasn't specific, though, and, for the record, she also stated that she was upset over how show producers had treated her.
What Radford has seen, though, is earnest people, at least some of whom genuinely believe they're interacting with ghosts, psyching themselves out, fielding perfectly earthly noises and sights and leaping to the conclusion that they can't be explained. Example: The show MysteryQuest. Radford says he went along for an investigation of the Wolfe Manor in Clovis, Calif.
"People who were there when I was there weren't necessarily faking anything," he recalls. "But I did see cases where the crew inadvertently made sounds or lights that were at least briefly interpreted as ghostly."---http://www.eonline.com/news/255116/are-ghost-hunting-shows-real-or-faked
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There you have it. Direct confirmation by a famous skeptic that ghost shows aren't faked. I even saw another famous skeptic Michael Shermer on Ghost Adventures once doing an experiment to see if he could induce experiences in random investigators by telling them a false story about the location. It didn't work, but it's funny that he would lend his services to a faked show IF they are faked as you claim.
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Exactly, that's the fake part.
Magical Realist
Valued Senior Member
"But I did see cases where the crew inadvertently made sounds or lights that were at least briefly interpreted as ghostly."
Right..a passing car or camera light refection is briefly thought to be paranormal and then debunked by the investigators themselves. But these are few and far between compared to all the truly unexplained lights and orbs and bangings on walls and footsteps on empty floors etc and voices and cries from empty rooms and objects moving by themselves.
Tell me spidergoat..have you even ever watched one of these shows?
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Magical Realist
Valued Senior Member
Did you know this definition of documentary?
"documentary
(dɒkyəmɛntəri
Word forms: documentaries
1. noun
A documentary is a television or radio program, or a movie, which shows real events or provides information about a particular subject."
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/documentary
That means ghost shows ARE documentaries. They are a video recording of and commentary on real events and a particular subject.
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DaveC426913
Valued Senior Member
Patrick Doyle, Paranormal investigator (15 years experience) and star of 'Ghost Mine' on SyFy, has this to say:
“These sensational encounters and the person's undying commitment to prove the existence of ghosts and the afterlife have created a dependency -- A need for the chemical rush they receive during intense situations, amplified by anxiety, desire and anticipation.”
"These TV shows are entertainment. It's all entertainment value. It's 100% entertainment. It’s not real in the paranormal field. It's not. It's all just put out there. It's shot, it’s edited, its put together and tied with advertising to get you to watch. And then the networks make the money off the advertising dollars,”
"[I know Paranormal reality] TV shows are staged because they are getting something every episode. It just doesn't work that way. You gotta remember they are on a network called SyFy, Science fiction. It's not true."
https://nationalparanormalassociation.blogspot.ca/2013/02/syfys-ghost-mine-star-says-all-syfy.html
“These sensational encounters and the person's undying commitment to prove the existence of ghosts and the afterlife have created a dependency -- A need for the chemical rush they receive during intense situations, amplified by anxiety, desire and anticipation.”
"These TV shows are entertainment. It's all entertainment value. It's 100% entertainment. It’s not real in the paranormal field. It's not. It's all just put out there. It's shot, it’s edited, its put together and tied with advertising to get you to watch. And then the networks make the money off the advertising dollars,”
"[I know Paranormal reality] TV shows are staged because they are getting something every episode. It just doesn't work that way. You gotta remember they are on a network called SyFy, Science fiction. It's not true."
https://nationalparanormalassociation.blogspot.ca/2013/02/syfys-ghost-mine-star-says-all-syfy.html
DaveC426913
Valued Senior Member
That's an important distinction.
The Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield were also shot in documentary style.
Magical Realist
Valued Senior Member
Magical Realist
Valued Senior Member
Sounds like tentative speculation to me. I thought he was sure about this. Maybe he should spend some time with the ghost show investigators and find out for sure like Benjamin Radford did. And no they don't get something every episode. Some episodes they're lucky to get one evp.
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DaveC426913
Valued Senior Member
This a straw man.
No one here claims to know all of reality, and no one thinks nature is always completely logical (to our current understanding).
Neither of those are cause to throw healthy skepticism out the window.
At the risk of speaking for others, every one here would very much like it if there were great tracts of events yet-to-be-explained.
That is not the same as lowering our standards for what constitutes acceptable reality to the point of wishful thinking.
When it comes down to it, few will say with certainty that there are no ghosts or other strange phenomena; they will simply say the current evidence is insufficient, - and it has had quite a long run of chances to produce compelling evidence. At some point, there are hypotheses that better fit the data.
A much more plausible hypothesis (one known to occur) is that many people want to believe what they want to believe, skepticism be damned.
We're not closed to the idea in principle, we simply don't think these experiences get a free pass on scrutiny and skepticism.