I believe a British term is needed here: BOLLOCKS!

My favorite spoof, including a definitive POOF!

Reality television isn't really "real".
Most of it is completely contrived.

Granted, science hasn't yet explained everything that humans have questions
about, but most of the "paranormal" has been exposed as quackery and illusion.
Ask James Randi.

Any activity detected by electronic paraphernalia on those shows can be easily manipulated, and often is.
Anecdotal "evidence" has no provable validity.
Hauntings and demonic possessions are just a couple of the things that religion
helps to propagate. Most cases are due to mental illness.
In the cases that haven't yet been explained, there's no reason to jump to the
conclusion that they "must" be real.

I'm completely skeptical of those who make claims they cannot prove with
credible, verifiable evidence.

Being agnostic I have watched many programmes, both north American and English, all have been a bunch of assholes with digital gadgets, frightening the shit out of themselves in dark, presumably haunted locations! It is all pathetic really, grown people acting like children, utter bullshit television, nothing more!

They use a lot of easy to debunk tactics and rely on a lot of creepy music, "feelings," an very easily to reproduce phenomena. Still I sometimes find the shows entertaining. Fun to speculate how the crew created some of the effects that they try to pass off as paranormal.

There is no life after death.

There are no such things as ghosts or hauntings.

Watch less "Ghost Hunters" and more PBS.

You're welcome.

Woo is the term used for it. They use gadgets that do nothing but make noises and move dials and use words like "energy, anomaly or apparition" and try to make it sound like they know what they're talking about.
There has never been any evidence, not a shred of any kind of afterlife.

Perception is in the eye of the beholder. I recall going up to a neighbours house with a friend with a 'real estate' interest. The door was open so we went in. My friend said he got an 'uneasy feeling like there were spirits there'. I said "you have an uneasy feeling because no one is home and we are tresspassing".

Skeptic groups often conduct research in so called haunted houses. Not once have they found evidence of supernatural activity though they remain hopeful. Skeptics in my group would love to be proved wrong.

Best to remain very skeptical of what you see on tv including the news.

When in doubt, trust the Scientific Method. The observed phenomena need to be duplicated, peer reviewed, and falsifiable.
Bear in mind that the primary purpose of the TV shows is to entertain and earn revenue.

When these types of shows are aired in the UK they come with a warning "For entertainment only" Nuff sed.

they seem to have validity? i don't think so. there is no validity to any of it. people have been scamming each other with this stuff for centuries.

g

There are no ghosts but if you think you see something...

Well, one thing I can add.
The JREF, James Randi Educational Foundation. has offered 1 million dollars to any one who can prove, well, pretty much anything paranormal, psychic powers, Supernatural, etc. There have been a lot of people who tried, and ALL have failed. And a good deal of well known so called 'Professional Psychics'. well none have ever even attempted. Wonder why that is.

James Randi himself has been exposing frauds for quite a few decades.

I also watch those shows, because they're great fun. I'm yet to see one where any of the supposedly paranormal occurrences depicted can't easily be explained as natural phenomena or outright fakery, however.

Interesting point. First there are things we have no comprehension of in our world that a blanket “no it’s all bullshit” remark just shows the ignorance of the responder.

However, a TV reality show fails on two counts. First it is T.V. and, technically anything is possible to be created and secondly, the reality component. The brief is to make sure the audience are hooked on the adrenaline of the participants.

I would suggest that the TV show is entertainment. In real life ‘reality’ there are many phenomena that do not fit neatly into our Western post-enlightenment culture.

My counsel would be keep an open mind, but be aware of the man behind the curtain in the Bunko Booth.

It's a put-on. Think of it like Houdini. You are being intentionally deceived by these shows and the people who develop them. No real science has as of yet been able to demonstrate the supernatural or "paranormal." Beware anyone who claims otherwise.

Several things come to mind relative to your post. Houdini never failed to debunk the spiritualists that he encountered. "The Amazing Randy" had a standing $1,000,000 reward for any spiritualist who could perform their contact with ghosts and perform supposed paranormal things under scientifically control conditions...none even tried. Lastly, note that the "investigators" use pseudo-scientific terms to describe what they are doing that sound scientific, but are not..."high energy levels", etc., without identifying what they are actually supposedly finding...electrical energy, magnetic energy, etc. If it was not all bullshit, someone would have collected Randy's $1,000,000 prize. Note that Uri Geller could not perform his spoon bending for Randy when Randy provided the spoons for him to bend claiming that Randy had too much "negative energy", that was stopping it from happening. "Bumps in the night", are always raccoons rummaging through your garbage...or something similar.

@setupforu - The folks who make those shows are making a "Show" - they produce special effects for them - or else you'd be watching week after week of not much.

Most of what people experience in haunted houses can be wracked up to what EMF's can feel like to humans. A bit creepy. (Loose wiring basically).

Of course a place being really old and having suggestibility plays into it.

I went to the Lizzy Borden House and took a tour - we were all freezing cold by the first upstairs bedroom. When the time for questions came I said "Any one else cold?" - oh yes the entire tour group was - on a sunny day.
I then asked the tour guide "Does the house have central air?" - also yes.... and it was cranked. We all had a good laugh.
I didn't sense a thing in that house. But they let out rooms for the night to folks eager to have an experience of their own.... And often have folks leave in the middle of the night. (Even though that wasn't when the murders occurred).

A lot of what you see can be explained by bad wiring - faulty plumbing (taps turning on by themselves? That can happen) - etc..

And I'll never throw out a good group hallucination.

I think everything is perfectly mundane explanations and what you see on the shows has a bit added in by the producers to keep you coming back.

The most enjoyable one I ever watched was a bar rigged to do just about every trick in the book on "Ghost Hunters". The overhead glasses rack was even made to shimmy. It was amazing.... And it was entertainment for the guests in the bar. The guest just didn't know it was rigged.
The "hunters" found all the rigging and showed it. That was one of the best ones I saw.

How about haunted mobile homes? Maybe they haven't been around long enough for ghosts to like them. Sorry, I should have said spirits. Yes, where do they cross over to? Those who know claim it is the other side. OK, the other side of what? Why would furniture move when the spirits have no bodies? Oh, it is energy. Let's capture some of them and put them to work. We would have free labor. Ever notice that these spirits can bite or scratch you? They claim this is true but they have no body, no teeth, and no fingers or nails. What is going on here?

The truth is that it is Reality TV and some people simply love it. Some swear that it really is true and it goes back for centuries. The problem is that nonsense like this has been debunked for many, many years now and the scammers keep coming back with it. None of this has to do with life after death.

I think that there is a possibility of our energy continuing in some form and mysteries of this universe and physics yet to be discovered and understood. Eventually science will likely explain such things. Ghosts are not impossible in my opinion. If one is found, I would really like to see the results of controlled verified lab tests to determine its nature and properties.

Turn off the tv and see reality.

Reality TV shows are anything but "reality" You'd be disappointed to know how much is staged/planned/reinacted etc. I wouldnt trust any of it as "proof" of anything.

Well Danny, All I can offer is that every time these things are investigated, they never hold up to scrutiny.

My experience with the the so called paranormal.
1 Some colleagues decided to do a haunted house visit. thye all claimed to have "felt" something when i much to there annoyance asked some questions what they felt was whatnthey had been told they would feel by the guide and there fear was contagious there guide said did yoium hear that and they did what did they hear all heard something but didnt know what they where like young kids who walk through the graveyard at night they frighten each other and the fear multiplies. I was not very popular for a while because i npointed out they had been duped and they onlky experianced what they wanted to.
2 I have a friend who is a pagan and claims to be a which a lovely person who i occasionaly acompany on walks nutty as a fruit cake though. We where out anfd i was taking photographs she asked me would i photograph here crystal dragon so i did but the focus was wrong and she claimed it didnt want to be photographed. when i adjusted my camera she put the skull back in her bag.
3 I used to belong to an amateur drama gruop and one day it ewas decided by the committee to have a psycic investigator to visit the theater and go around back stage as a number of them had been feeling something some one claimed to have seen the ghost of a dead member. after much wandering and feeling nd messing with some instrument otr other yeas there was spiritsabout. They where all got rid of by one stopping a draft in the wings and replacing anf old fridge that was tilted slightly and when the moteor kicked in would vibrate and anything on the top would fall off. this was all sorted the next time we had a maintainance day.