Are You Haunted?
Paranormal phenomena? Flickering lights? Disembodied voices? Unidentifiable footsteps? Appartitions?
Is your house/office/building haunted? Are you haunted by the idea of being haunted?
No one can deny the current popularity of shows about paranormal investigators. From Houdini to Harry Price, and Leonard Nimoy to Ghost Hunters, the fascination is enduring. Ghosts, hauntings and the paranormal raise some interesting questions about why we’re here, and where we’re going. I’m equally fascinated, but that’s not what I’m here to bitch about today…
How effective are paranormal investigations? And what are the motives of the ‘haunted’?
For a quick and dirty perv on a typical paranormal investigation, read Ghost Mining, to read of the absurd, amateur, ignorant and unscientific nature of the individuals and groups who profess to be ‘experts’. Most of all, (and I’ve bitched about this so much that the messgage should be out by now) these groups confuse scientific tools/instruments/gadgets (EMF readers, EVP recorders, etc.) with the scientific method. Yep, the latter might sound like a geeky drag, so to pour it into a mental pint of beer, it’s about common sense, reality and truth.
If some weird shit is happening to you, calling up one of these misguided ‘ghostbusters’ won’t provide any answers or solutions. Most likely, these groups will confirm your fears (a little thing called Confirmation Bias) and you’ll end up doing something unnecessary, like selling your house, moving out, living in complete and utter fear, stigmatizing the building and telling inane stories to your mates in the pub for the rest of your life…
This is assuming you are the first kind of ‘haunted’ victim: an innocent person who’s experienced strange phenomena and seeks an explanation, and a solution. However, if you are the second kind: the individual seeking fame, fortune, notoriety, and publicity for your ‘haunted’ patch of Earth, then these ‘ghost hunters’ are gonna tell you, and the public, what y’all want to hear. Seeking more than to nobly protect local folklore, you want your 15 minutes of fame with the plethora of lame TV shows, and some cash to pay off your little mortgage crisis. Yes, the Skepbitch has an example of this kind of paranormal investigation too…check out The Business of Haunting about the latest publicity success story, the Waverly Hills Sanatorium in Louisville, Kentucky.
My earnest offer is this…if you are haunted, and seek a genuine explanation of the phenomena, please, contact me. If you want reasons, causes and rationale, with or without the publicity, then I, or any other member of the International Network of Skeptical Organizations can assist you, in a professional manner.
Quirky occurrences to terrifying incidents…stop losing sleep…and start asking questions. From the Humpty Doo Poltergeist quest to an investigation by Ben Radford in the January/February 2008 edition of the Skeptical Inquirer, Skeptics have found natural explanations for haunting experiences, and provided more sincere and useful assistance than any theatrical group of paranormal investigators. Contrary to popular opinion, skeptics maintain an open mind.
So…do you seek truth, or fake ‘proof’?
I’ve experienced strange phenomena that I couldn’t immediately understand, but with some reflection and rationale was able to discover the source.
For example, one night when I was falling asleep a white shadowy figure appeared at my bedroom door. Frightened,but sleepy, I looked again more intently. Being dark, my eyes tried to focus, this time seeing nothing. Scared that I saw a ghost, I gradually managed to fall asleep.
The next evening I received news that my grandfather had died. My thoughts quickly rushed to the night before, frightened but relieved I thought he must have come to see me after death.
After discussing the experience with my parents, my mom was able to confirm she had worn a white flowing nightdress to bed and had passed by my open bedroom door to the bathroom.
It seems some people just over analyze normal situations.
I love reading your bits and pieces. Looking forward to more.
Excellent post - considered submitting to the Skeptic’s Circle? One blogpost that annoyed me listed a ‘Top Ten Ghost Hunters To Call’, so this is the sort of entry that challenges that. The notion of profiting from cheap house sales due to fears of ‘hauntings’ intrigues me and I wondered if anyone had done that before - then I remembered the woebegone Lydia telling the ghosts in the film ‘Beetlejuice’ how in fact her parents were thrilled to have a haunted house and wanted a regular dinner-show of Harry Belefonte dancing, rather than fleeing in terror… :/
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great article, I agree that these so-called ghost hunters and paranormal investigators are about as clueless as psychic investigators.