Ghost hunting plumbers?

D B Sweeney · Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2011 9:27 am Post subject: Ghost hunting plumbers?

Possibly the most famous ghost hunters in the world of late are Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson of TAPS fame and the highly popular but controversial TV show Ghosthunters.
Having seen the amateurish efforts of so called 'Investigation groups' Jason and Grant decided that what ghosthunting needed was a truly scientific approach and that science is the best way to approach investigations.

Jason and Grant have always claimed to use good scientific methods and investigative procedures and say "TAPS uses scientific methods to determine whether or not someone's home might be haunted". They go on to say "We approach ghosthunting from a scientific point of view".

But do they?.

Let's take a look at their 2007 book Ghost Hunting and see how much of this book is devoted to their firm belief in the Scientific method.
The book has 273 pages but only four paragraphs are devoted to this credo of scientific belief in a very short chapter entitled 'The Scientific Approach'. It's actually the shortest chapter in the book and in those few short paragraphs Hawes says very little about science or the scientific method - which is very surprising for a firm believer in the value of science to root out bad methodology and poor investigation techniques.

What does Jason Hawes actually say though?. Here's what he says:
"Scientific knowledge comes from systematic and objective observations, which help us make deductions we can trust. It also means we have to test those deductions through controlled experiments that can be repeated by others under those same conditions...We're determined to come as close to scientific accuracy as we possibly can. THat's the only way we're going to produce reliable evidence and advance the study of the paranormal".

And he's perfectly right in his sentiments but he's wrong in his belief that he and his TAPS crew are doing good scientific investigation.
After watching episodes of Ghosthunters it quickly becomes clear to anyone with a background in science that the methods and deductions are both illogical and unscientific.
A typical ghost hunt for TAPS follows a set pattern. First the group hears about the claim of a haunting. THen it goes to the location to interview one or more people who have reported some unusual experience or ghost sighting.
Next, armed with reports and speculation about what might be going on the team spends hours unloading and setting up high tech gear in and around the allegedly haunted location. Then the group does a stake out that lasts from a few hours to overnight. During this time they walk around taking photos, temperature readings, audio recordings and video recordings etc.
The lights are invariably turned off and sometimes psychic mediums, dowsing rods, pendulums and ouija boards are used to contact the spirits. They also use test or control objects placed in key locations with a plea to spirit to move them.
Then the investigators either individually or as a team walk around the darkened place they will hear noises or bump into things. Frequently strange smells, lights, feelings or or experiences will be considered as potentially ghost activity.
Sometimes the ghost hunters will find an explanation for this but sometimes they won't. In the vast majority of investigations nothing significant will happen and at the end of the investigation the team will have some phenomenon to be analysed at a later time and the investigation ends.
At some later date the team will go over every bit of audio and video in an attempt to find anything odd or unusual. DEpending on how much was recorded they may have dozens or hundreds of hours and as a consequence they are usually able to find a few faint 'unexplainable' noises (EVP's), light anomalies or strange EMF readings. If the team has used psychics they will give their impressions and at this point TAPS arrive at a conclusion which is in favour of there being paranormal activity.
Often the investigators research further and delve into the history of the location, poring over records and newspaper archives and even interviewing previous owners in an attempt to match their findings to the history and so 'prove' their findings. They will look for anything in the locations history that will support or confirm the 'evidence' they gathered during their investigation. Often the answer, unsurprisingly, is 'yes'.
If it turns out an elderly woman lived in the location at any point since it was built ( and especially if she died there - or even might have died there) then that 'confirms' the psychics impressions.
If a young girl lived there at some point (especially many years ago, and therefore might have since died) then the sound recorded that sounds like a girls voice is probably hers.
And so on and so forth.
In this way the investigators believe they are being successful when they find a correlation. They congratulate themselves on a good ghost investigation (that they're getting highly paid for), explain their findings to the locations owner and sit back to bathe in the publicity that they engineer.
While this is similar operating procedure for many ghosthunting groups and paranormal investigators , there's a whole catalog of errors, logical fallacies and investigation mistakes in this typical scenario.

DB

With thanks and sourced from Scientific Paranormal Investigation by Benjamin Radford.
http://www.amazon.com/Scientific-Paranormal-Investigation-Unexplained-Mysteries/dp/093645511X

flossy · Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2011 10:37 am Post subject:

psychic mediums, dowsing rods, pendulums and ouija boards are used to contact the spirits. They also use test or control objects placed in key locations with a plea to spirit to move them.

ive watched a few seasons of jason and grant and i havent once seen them use any of these Wink

Inn Spectre · Joined: 15 Sep 2009 Posts: 118

thecactus · Joined: 07 Mar 2011 Posts: 3196 Location: Northern Ireland

i dont like ghosthunters - im starting to think that all these types of shows are rubbish

flossy · Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2011 12:17 am Post subject:

i think they are all the same in a way and over react to the slightest little bump lol

D B Sweeney · Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2011 12:43 am Post subject:

The economics of television dictate that they have to find something paranormal for each show - if they can't find it they'll bend the truth or create it.

DB

PS: Iain, I haven't got their 2007 book.

thecactus · Joined: 07 Mar 2011 Posts: 3196 Location: Northern Ireland

flossy · Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2011 5:05 am Post subject:

i was watching one of them, (cant remember which)
and they were all getting exciteing cos they thought they cought hear footsteps coming towards them, turns out it was a frog Laughing

bet they felt like right idiots Laughing

thecactus · Joined: 07 Mar 2011 Posts: 3196 Location: Northern Ireland

lol

i prefer shows where people tell about their real experiences

i think all this ghost hunting rubbish is too manufactured

D B Sweeney · Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2011 3:19 am Post subject:

mrx3010 · Joined: 18 Nov 2006 Posts: 579

First of all it's a show, shows and all video productions (including our own videos) must follow a set pattern to be interesting, the producers have found that pattern for the show. You are mostly right about your assumptions, I don't remember ever seeing a ouija board used but then again I have watched few episodes since about season 3 or 4. If anyone has watched from he start they know that season one had many episodes of " this place is not haunted". From an investigators pov I respected that and had hope but as I expected it seemed like pressure may have been placed upon the team to "make things more interesting". Very few tune in to see a real investigation because well if you watched any of ours, they are boring! What sells is action. By season 2 and 3 almost every episode ended with" this place is haunted...". Why the turn around? Why the sell out? Ratings, fame and fortune. "They call it riding the gravy train" and I see a lot of so called "experts" trying to do the same thing at the expense of serious research efforts.

D B Sweeney · Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2011 12:08 am Post subject:

Well said mrx3010. There is pressure to create interesting TV. Unfortunately most properly conducted investigations are as you quite rightly say very boring and uneventful. A TV show that showed it how it really was would soon drop ratings and face being cut by the networks.

DB

thecactus · Joined: 07 Mar 2011 Posts: 3196 Location: Northern Ireland

mrx3010, i agree unfortunately - even the shows were they find something, its usually very little - i do believe sometimes they get real activity but rarely - the shining hotel is a good example - the glass apparently broke from the inside while he was sitting next to it - nearly anyone who stays there claims something happened

mrx3010 · Joined: 18 Nov 2006 Posts: 579

Cactus one of our lead investigators stayed at the Stanley in the very same room. Not a thing happened to him.

thecactus · Joined: 07 Mar 2011 Posts: 3196 Location: Northern Ireland

mrx3010, are you a believer - have you ever witnessed any paranormal activity?