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Permalink Reply by Rich Horn on February 7, 2011 at 1:06pm

Sometimes I wish my parents had ignored me more, but after writing the previous post it started bothering me, which lead me to an epiphany or two.  The power of the Internet can be used for good or bad, and I succumbed to the darkside, but that's not the what I discovered.

 

First of all I have to apologize to the former teammate inferred to in the previous post. I have no real evidence that he faked anything or implied any of our evidence was his to get on that show and had no right to say so. The truth is, I have no first hand knowledge of what transpired only hearsay, the truth of which is know only to the principle people involved. It was just petty jealousy of his success that must have driven me to write that. I thought I was above that sort of thing, but apparently I'm not. I could ramble on about how my individual desire to be on TV fueled my pettiness, but in truth it's just one of my many faults. In fact this person has done a lot of good things and has worked hard for his success and deserves every bit of it. I do ask for but do not expect his forgiveness. That's epiphany number one. I'm a jerk.

 

Second, my wife in her infinite wisdom asked me a simple question which got my mind working. She asked why I watch paranormal shows? The simple truth is I enjoy them. The simple fact is, they are entertaining! In fact I probably wouldn't be in paranormal research if it weren't for those shows. Then it dawned on me (everybody get ready to say, DUH!") that television is an entertainment medium. Yeah, duh! The fact that these shows are entertaining only means that they appeal to more people and that only expands awareness. The fact is TV supports our cause and should be exploited to it's fullest potential. I've been so wrapped up in the serious side of research that I forgotten that is it also fun! I've forgotten how to have fun with this and that it sad. What's even sadder is, that I'm no scientist and don't have the credentials or even deserve to be on the same forum with most of you people. I'm just a guy who became fascinated with the paranormal and is fumbling around in the dark looking for truth. That's epiphany number two.

 

So in closing, I will again apologize to anyone hurt by my rant and vow to try to become a better researcher and a better person. If I post anything in the future, it will be for something positive.

Rich

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Permalink Reply by Two Moons on August 19, 2011 at 6:14pm

Hi, I know what you mean by the crappy tv programs arrgh.   However I believe that it has made  many people more aware of the paranormal, that is a positive in my books. Of course many will say BS but not all, I have faith more are not idiots. 

 

The ultimate eye roller was when some tv team told everyone watching, to use their cell phones as EMF meters during the program.

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Permalink Reply by Rich Horn on September 1, 2011 at 9:29pm

The whole paranormal TV fad is a double edged sword. It has created an acceptance of the overall subject of ghosts and the paranormal, which is a good thing. But it has lowered the standard of credibility within the field.

People should remember that TV is an entertainment medium and it's all about ratings and advertising. Now I enjoy the shows for entertainment value, but I don't believe anything I see on them. Those of us in the field know the truth of the real work involved, but we shouldn't expect TV to portray the endless hours of sitting quietly in the dark or days of combing through every second of audio and video looking for a split second of something paranormal, unless it's for a documentary.

The down-side is that there are new generations of people getting into ghost hunting who believe you are supposed run chaotically through the dark yelling obscenities, kicking in doors, and challenging demons because of what they see on TV. And it has corrupted the agendas of many investigators to believe the pinnacle of success in paranormal research is to have a TV show rather than to discover some acceptable truth about our very existence.

But when the paranormal TV boom has peaked, and it's no longer profitable to sell us K2s and Red Bull, they'll be back to showing us how to live our lives with some new "reality programming" and those of us who were in it for a different reason will still be sitting quietly in the dark.

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Permalink Reply by Charles Walker on August 27, 2011 at 2:21pm

I think TV shows have done nothing for the paranormal and paranormal investigators.  I jumped for joy when I discovered that the TV Show Most Haunted had been dropped here in the UK - they did nothing to help the serious investigator at all.

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