TAPS & Ghost Hunters Academy

[Lee D Munro]

A few thoughts on TAPS & Ghost Hunters Academy

http://theoccultsection.com/2010/06/08/a-few-thoughts-on-taps-ghost-hunters-academy/

[Sheila]

Do people STILL expect to watch this type of programme and be dished up a good helping of truth!  It's supposed to be entertainment and if they didn't entertain ther would be no crisp new contracts to sign for another series, which would result in a drastic drop in income. That's why they all go down the same route. They start off with a ceratin amount of credibility and then desperation kicks in when they come under pressure to provide more of the 'wow' factor. One well known 'medium' illustrated this to perfection. 
 I read somewhere that TAPS have an agreement to debunk 50 per cent of their cases to keep it 'real'. 

[TheVoorwaarden]

I remember when TAPS once confronted Most Haunted (and even had Yvette Fielding appear on some US radio show to answer their questions) and I thought that was quite hilarious tbh.
TAPS or whatever name they now go by are just as guilty, however having said that it was shows such as these that encouraged me to want to take the next step.

Yes they are entertainment-led though it's important to remember that shows such as these introduce a whole new generation to the field of paranormal activity, and that can only be a good thing. There are some elitists out there and who look down on those who, like myself, were introduced by some other manner not to their particular liking. It has its purpose is all I will say 

[Sarah]

Yup, completely agree.  I do still wonder if I'd have ever first got involved in the whole thing had it not been for watching Most Haunted.  Although back then I started my group off on the back of thinking "oh deary me, I'm sure I could do that better!" (after watching numerous episodes whereby Yvette did nowt but scream the entire time  ) 

Can't blame them for doing it.  If someone came along to me personally and offered me a TV career (with decent money) then I'd do it.  Honestly wouldn't have any qualms about it either.  I really wouldn't.  Not now.  Once upon a time I'd have maybe thought about it twice but not now - at the end of the day, its a career choice for people on these programmes.  They don't do it solely for the love of the "game", they do it to pay the bills.

Wouldn't surprise me at all if that were true, Sheila, about them having to debunk about 50% of things to keep it "real"!

The few looks into the TV world that I gained during my time with my old team were enough to make me realise literally anything can be faked, even on tiny budgets.  And when things aren't faked, the producers (etc) can easily twist your words to make it look like something it isn't.  I remember on one occasion at an undisclosed venue with a person who I won't identify, I was practically TOLD to say something had happened (paranormal wise) when it clearly hadn't.  When I refused and just kept on saying what I actually thought had happened whenever the cameras were rolling they kept "cutting" and telling me to say it in another way, "say this, Sarah....", "say that you think that they might have moved....", etc.  At that stage in the game I had lost the will to live with the person who was acting as "producer" (aka prize-prat in this instance) and I had no faith or trust in the guy whatsoever, so I didn't do as he asked on that occasion..... plus I wasn't getting paid and wouldn't get a TV career out of it so saw no reason at all to "tweak" the truth! 

[Sheila]

I wouldn't entirely agree that 'it can only be a good thing' Voorwaarden. There is more quantity than quality in our field.

[Gareth]

I agree with Sheila (for once  ).  It may be good to get people interested in the paranormal, but to do that with shows like Most Haunted and Ghost Hunters, which wouldn't know what letter of the alphabet the word "sceptic" starts with, let alone what the word means - it just generates another generation of people who believe that if your EMF meter flashes it must mean there's a ghost in the room.

Sarah's right too about producers and other media-types.  I remember that one we did in Bala where they tried to get a photo of me holding an EMF-like device against the wall as if I was scanning for something.  I was holding a 2-way radio at the time.  There was no way on earth I was going to make myself look a complete arse by doing as they asked, so I flat out refused to do so.  They got another one of the team to do it instead - then still put the picture caption down naming ME!  Eejits, the lot of 'em.

[TheVoorwaarden]

Yeah I was overlooking things there lol apologies for that. 

I see what you mean though it basically comes down to whether or not you're willing to allow shows such as those to continue to misinform, or whether ignorance is bliss (in which case the general public would never even consider the field within their ordinary everyday lives). The option is always open for those who want to go even further and just as Craigtube has built a subscriber-base on the premise that anyone can brew their own beer and wine, he has his critics who are staunch defenders of 'the arts' (or the true art of brewing with grain and all).

I totally respect and understand your views though don't get me wrong 

[Sheila]

"Willing to allow those shows to continue" doesn't come into it.  Humans have (probably) always considered the field of the paranormal. Paranormal television is a genre that has been part of popular television from the mid 1970s but the print media has been reporting it since the early 18th century and so it goes on, back in the mists of time.

Don't make the mistake that programmes like Most Haunted invented the craze because it's probably as old as man himself. Granted, the last few years have seen an explosion and as Mike Hale of the New York Times put it so succinctly in a piece at the end of last year, "It's down to the teasing-the eternal promise of the ultimate sighting-eternally unfulfilled".

A new career has been created-the paranormal investigator - that, as Hale says, "requires neither good looks or any discernable skill beyond the ability to walk through an old building waving a flashlight. At a time when people are so desperate for money and fame they will pretend their child is in danger or crash a state dinner as if it were a school dance, perhaps we should admire someone who earns his 15 minutes by walking into an empty room and yelling, "It's time to show the world who you are are and what you're made of!"

He isn't hurting anything but the ghost's feelings".

I disagree with that last sentence because they are probably setting the perception of paranormal research back to the time of the Fox sisters and there are so many groups out there willing to just go along with it.

[TheVoorwaarden]

Yes I see what you mean there though I was talking about today's society that neither like to read quality newspapers (as they did in the 18th century), nor have the attention spans required to watch meaningful programmes. It is for this very reason perhaps that the field shouldn't be one dimensional in its approach for how else can we hope to garner their attention?

[TheVoorwaarden]

Let's agree to disagree on the subject Shiela 
I have various issues with Hale's article which you mention, though I am quite busy at the moment.

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I've got a photoshoot for the Northern Echo and The Journal on Thursday within the business sections and I'm proccupied with these (though at this stage I cannot reveal my identity for fear of jeapordising the business endeavour).

I hope to get round to this at a later date. No ill feelings eh?

[Sheila]

It's a discussion not an argument. 

I'm usually quite busy too but find time to continue said discussions.  Anyway... I have to say that attracting a section of society that neither likes to read quality newspapers or have the attention span to watch meaningful programmes will never be the people to take the field of paranormal investigation forward so why would we want to 'garner their attention', unless it's simply to make money? If it is then they are guaranteed cannon fodder.

As Mike Hale said in his piece: " The viewer who is so inclined can spend the day in a certain band of the cable-television spectrum, switching from a paranormal show on A&E to a documentary about Hitler on the History Channel to a killer-asteroid report on Discovery to a talk show on Fox News, in a feedback loop that will reinforce any number of received notions about history, fate, conspiracy, the ruling caste and how the world is going to hell in a handbasket".