They gather in spooky buildings, under cover of darkness, infrared cameras rolling. Their eyes look like eerie pinpoints of light as they root through the buildings
looking for things that go bump in the night. And when they hear one of those bumps, they jump like mice who have heard a cat. They are ghost hunters, and you
can watch them in action most nights on TV.
Ghost hunting reality shows are haunting the airwaves - and during prime time at that.
According to a 2006 Ipsos Reid report, 47 per cent of Canadians surveyed say they believe in ghosts. So networks are cashing in big time with a host of shows like
Paranormal State, Ghost Hunters and Rescue Mediums, which feature creepy clips in their commercials.
This comes as no surprise to Zsuzsana Summer, a paranormal investigator from Durham Region. Paranormal pertains to the study of the supernatural.
“People are always searching for proof of life after death, so the paranormal is the perfect jump-off point,” she says. “When TV producers discovered just how
popular the paranormal field is, they started to put out spinoffs and clones, and now it’s a snowball effect.”
Summer says that the topic of ghosts has always been popular. So the more shows producers pump out, the more viewers they gain. And she doesn’t see the craze
ending any time soon.
“When the media find a formula that works, they run with it,” she says.
DC professor Lori Lockey puts it another way.
“The occult might suggest to people that there is something beyond life on earth, and people need to believe this,” says Lockey, who teaches a course called Popular
Culture. “These shows may be replacing the teachings people used to get by going to church and other religious institutions. Media as a replacement for God: who
would have thought we’d go that far?”
Lockey says these types of television shows reflect the audience and its need for jolts per minute. Jolts per minute is the formula motion picture producers use to
keep an audience’s attention, especially younger audiences.
“This group are multi-taskers and can lose their focus very easily,” says Lockey. “So media producers must ensure that they include lots of jolts to keep the interest
of the audience. Such shows keep you on your toes, they scare you, and they keep you hanging on.”
Kenny Harmon, 19, a DC first-year Law and Security student, agrees.
“I watch these shows, even though I don’t believe in ghosts. They are phoney, but very entertaining.”
Sandie La Nae, who has been approached by A&E to be a consultant on some upcoming documentaries on the supernatural, sees it a little differently. La Nae is a
paranormal investigator for Thin Veil Investigators in Nevada.
“On a metaphysical level, it’s time for the masses to know the existence of those on the other side,” she said in a telephone interview. “It’s a universal subconscious
happening. I don’t think minds were as open 100 years ago as they are now.”
However, the psychic, who says she sees ghosts and helps people communicate with their deceased loved ones, doesn’t like the direction many of these reality
shows are turning.
“Some shows are real,” she says. “But some of the older shows that have been out a year or so bother me because I feel they don’t treat the spirits nicely, and they
give false evidence at times.”
La Nae says ghost hunting is not as glamorous as it is depicted in these shows. It’s tedious work that requires much patience because one must crawl through dusty
attics and dirty basements when on the prowl for discarnate entities.
“Ghost hunting is very boring,” she says. “So some shows put some thrill into the program to keep things interesting.”
Lindsay Scott, 21, a DC second-year Human Services Worker student, echoes that sentiment.
“Sometimes I think the shows are a little far-fetched and they blow stuff out of proportion,” says Scott. “The investigators will hear a noise and say that was a
ghost, when all they heard was a scratching sound that could have been mice.”
Samantha Jackson, 21, who is also a second-year Human Services Worker student, is of the same mind.
“I believe in ghosts, and I watch these shows because they are interesting. But I don’t believe all of it because some of the shows look like they’re staged,” she
says. Loyd Auerbach was a professor of Parapsychology at JFK University in California between 1983 and 1988 until the school dropped the program.
Parapsychology is the scientific study of the supernatural, including life after death. Auerbach is now teaching in an assistant capacity at the university for a course
called Consciousness Studies. He says some of the segments he has done for TV shows have been hyped, but fortunately the producers made nothing up. He does
have one complaint, however.
“These shows don’t inspire people to conduct paranormal investigations correctly or to learn what the field of parapsychology has to say about these phenomena,”
he said in a telephone interview from California. “The science that studies these phenomena has over 125 years of research, experience and literature, and the vast
majority of ghost hunters are ignorant of this.”
Auerbach says very few conscious spirits stick around after death, and even that depends on the individual entity. For instance, some spirits have unfinished
business, or they are in denial that they are dead, or they are afraid of what’s next.
“Quite often they don’t want to leave behind people and places they loved,” says Auerbach.
Auerbach says the majority of ghostly sightings are residual hauntings. What he means is that certain locations record events that occur there, like a VCR or DVR
constantly running.
“Witnesses pick up these recordings and perceive them as ghosts,” he says.
This might have been the case for 20-year-old Jillian MacIntyre, a DC first-year Pharmaceutical Science student.
“I went to a place where a whole family was murdered and heard ghostly screams, and a dog barking that wasn’t there,” says MacIntyre with an edge in her voice.
As for the depictions of haunting investigations in today’s popular ghost hunting shows, Auerbach is skeptical.
“They are not typical of what parapsychologists do. They are not scientific investigations. They are presentations of what the amateurs have come up with. Most of
those people on TV are not scientists.”
Matthew James Didier, founder and director of the Toronto Ghosts and Hauntings Research Society, is not optimistic about the future of this latest fad called ghost
hunting.
“Like many things, popularized programs like Ghost Hunters and Paranormal State did bring about a wee blip of people wanting to look into the paranormal,” he
says. “But in all honesty, there’s a decrease in people claiming that they are investigators than there was seven years ago in Ontario. Basically, if you wait long
enough, something new will catch the attention of people, and the paranormal will take a back seat to many folks.”
Until it does, though, producers are going to milk this fad for all it’s worth, and thrill-seekers are going to lap it up.
The Nevada psychic La Nae puts it aptly: “It’s a thrill for people to be frightened. They want to believe death isn’t the end. It’s kind of nice to know we float around
after death and be with our families and friends on a different plane.”
looking for things that go bump in the night. And when they hear one of those bumps, they jump like mice who have heard a cat. They are ghost hunters, and you
can watch them in action most nights on TV.
Ghost hunting reality shows are haunting the airwaves - and during prime time at that.
According to a 2006 Ipsos Reid report, 47 per cent of Canadians surveyed say they believe in ghosts. So networks are cashing in big time with a host of shows like
Paranormal State, Ghost Hunters and Rescue Mediums, which feature creepy clips in their commercials.
This comes as no surprise to Zsuzsana Summer, a paranormal investigator from Durham Region. Paranormal pertains to the study of the supernatural.
“People are always searching for proof of life after death, so the paranormal is the perfect jump-off point,” she says. “When TV producers discovered just how
popular the paranormal field is, they started to put out spinoffs and clones, and now it’s a snowball effect.”
Summer says that the topic of ghosts has always been popular. So the more shows producers pump out, the more viewers they gain. And she doesn’t see the craze
ending any time soon.
“When the media find a formula that works, they run with it,” she says.
DC professor Lori Lockey puts it another way.
“The occult might suggest to people that there is something beyond life on earth, and people need to believe this,” says Lockey, who teaches a course called Popular
Culture. “These shows may be replacing the teachings people used to get by going to church and other religious institutions. Media as a replacement for God: who
would have thought we’d go that far?”
Lockey says these types of television shows reflect the audience and its need for jolts per minute. Jolts per minute is the formula motion picture producers use to
keep an audience’s attention, especially younger audiences.
“This group are multi-taskers and can lose their focus very easily,” says Lockey. “So media producers must ensure that they include lots of jolts to keep the interest
of the audience. Such shows keep you on your toes, they scare you, and they keep you hanging on.”
Kenny Harmon, 19, a DC first-year Law and Security student, agrees.
“I watch these shows, even though I don’t believe in ghosts. They are phoney, but very entertaining.”
Sandie La Nae, who has been approached by A&E to be a consultant on some upcoming documentaries on the supernatural, sees it a little differently. La Nae is a
paranormal investigator for Thin Veil Investigators in Nevada.
“On a metaphysical level, it’s time for the masses to know the existence of those on the other side,” she said in a telephone interview. “It’s a universal subconscious
happening. I don’t think minds were as open 100 years ago as they are now.”
However, the psychic, who says she sees ghosts and helps people communicate with their deceased loved ones, doesn’t like the direction many of these reality
shows are turning.
“Some shows are real,” she says. “But some of the older shows that have been out a year or so bother me because I feel they don’t treat the spirits nicely, and they
give false evidence at times.”
La Nae says ghost hunting is not as glamorous as it is depicted in these shows. It’s tedious work that requires much patience because one must crawl through dusty
attics and dirty basements when on the prowl for discarnate entities.
“Ghost hunting is very boring,” she says. “So some shows put some thrill into the program to keep things interesting.”
Lindsay Scott, 21, a DC second-year Human Services Worker student, echoes that sentiment.
“Sometimes I think the shows are a little far-fetched and they blow stuff out of proportion,” says Scott. “The investigators will hear a noise and say that was a
ghost, when all they heard was a scratching sound that could have been mice.”
Samantha Jackson, 21, who is also a second-year Human Services Worker student, is of the same mind.
“I believe in ghosts, and I watch these shows because they are interesting. But I don’t believe all of it because some of the shows look like they’re staged,” she
says. Loyd Auerbach was a professor of Parapsychology at JFK University in California between 1983 and 1988 until the school dropped the program.
Parapsychology is the scientific study of the supernatural, including life after death. Auerbach is now teaching in an assistant capacity at the university for a course
called Consciousness Studies. He says some of the segments he has done for TV shows have been hyped, but fortunately the producers made nothing up. He does
have one complaint, however.
“These shows don’t inspire people to conduct paranormal investigations correctly or to learn what the field of parapsychology has to say about these phenomena,”
he said in a telephone interview from California. “The science that studies these phenomena has over 125 years of research, experience and literature, and the vast
majority of ghost hunters are ignorant of this.”
Auerbach says very few conscious spirits stick around after death, and even that depends on the individual entity. For instance, some spirits have unfinished
business, or they are in denial that they are dead, or they are afraid of what’s next.
“Quite often they don’t want to leave behind people and places they loved,” says Auerbach.
Auerbach says the majority of ghostly sightings are residual hauntings. What he means is that certain locations record events that occur there, like a VCR or DVR
constantly running.
“Witnesses pick up these recordings and perceive them as ghosts,” he says.
This might have been the case for 20-year-old Jillian MacIntyre, a DC first-year Pharmaceutical Science student.
“I went to a place where a whole family was murdered and heard ghostly screams, and a dog barking that wasn’t there,” says MacIntyre with an edge in her voice.
As for the depictions of haunting investigations in today’s popular ghost hunting shows, Auerbach is skeptical.
“They are not typical of what parapsychologists do. They are not scientific investigations. They are presentations of what the amateurs have come up with. Most of
those people on TV are not scientists.”
Matthew James Didier, founder and director of the Toronto Ghosts and Hauntings Research Society, is not optimistic about the future of this latest fad called ghost
hunting.
“Like many things, popularized programs like Ghost Hunters and Paranormal State did bring about a wee blip of people wanting to look into the paranormal,” he
says. “But in all honesty, there’s a decrease in people claiming that they are investigators than there was seven years ago in Ontario. Basically, if you wait long
enough, something new will catch the attention of people, and the paranormal will take a back seat to many folks.”
Until it does, though, producers are going to milk this fad for all it’s worth, and thrill-seekers are going to lap it up.
The Nevada psychic La Nae puts it aptly: “It’s a thrill for people to be frightened. They want to believe death isn’t the end. It’s kind of nice to know we float around
after death and be with our families and friends on a different plane.”
Ghostbusting a good time
by Norm Belyea,
writer for the Durham College Chronicle, Oshawa, Ontario, Canada.
(reprinted with permission of author)
by Norm Belyea,
writer for the Durham College Chronicle, Oshawa, Ontario, Canada.
(reprinted with permission of author)
Link to the article online at Durham College: http://chronicle.durhamcollege.ca/story.php?id=4891&issue
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