Everyone has a ghost story to tell. In the dim light of the campfire, neither a spook nor a phantasm can arise that is too ridiculous to stir the senses of wonderment and doubt that are so easily aroused when the afterlife is brought up. While to the casual follower spirits may seem merely a cheap way for a jump in the latest psychological thriller, those more passionate on the subject can be drawn to any material relating to their paranormal fixation.
While putting a price on proof of life after death seems somewhat soulless, the search for truth behind the shadows pays, and everyone from book publishers to scriptwriters are taking advantage of this universal fascination. With the continuously annoying parade of second-rate reality television still on the march, the airwaves seem to be the most convenient medium to flood consumers' appetites to the bloating point with their fill of haunt hunting. Supplied with such a plethora of programs on the topic to choose from, there are two notable shows that continually produce a product that draws the viewer's attention, though each for a very different reason.
"Most Haunted," a British import aired stateside on the Travel Channel, is a ridiculously laughable imitation of a serious paranormal investigative squad. Hosted by the waifish Yvette Fielding, a blonde broadcaster who will call out the claim of "Ghost!" before you can even blink twice, "Most Haunted" relies heavily on what I call the "Let's Throw Everything We Have At It. No - Literally" principle of phantasm searching. Whenever a team member feels so much as a cold draft, you can count on a bag of marbles, a piece of chain or a section of rope to be brought out and thrown down a darkened hallway with the hope that whatever lies at the end of it will somehow fling the object back. More often than not, the spook happily obliges, and a prolonged game of toss the marble thus ensues. It's absolutely ridiculous how often this event transpires, given that many serious paranormal researchers can go their entire lives without witnessing such a phenomenon.
The moment that seems to most fully capture the entire spirit of "Most Haunted" occurs when the gang pays a visit to Tyendale Farm, and one of the "mediums" attempting to make contact is attacked by a malevolent spirit who viciously tips him back in his chair where he is then left to crumple into a fetal position on the ground and whimper threats into thin air. This might be an acceptable scene of paranormal contact. Might - but upon a replay of the footage of the onslaught, it is impossible not to notice that, in the clear light of the night vision camera, the medium remembers his ol' mother's warning and, quite obviously, looks before he leaps - or forcibly pushes himself backward onto the concrete.
In 2005, the British Office of Communications gave their own ruling on the events in the show, assessing a proposed breach of conduct and whether or not the content in the program was to be considered a legitimate investigation of the paranormal. Eventually, the Ofcom fairly gave the judgment that the show "is for entertainment purposes" and not to be taken with any real seriousness by viewers.
Following such a vicious rape of the dignity of paranormal investigators everywhere, it's surprising any legitimate team would ever want to show their faces over the airwaves ever again. Luckily for us, members of the Atlantic Paranormal Society (TAPS) agreed in 2004 to allow the Sci Fi channel to track the operations of their decade-old organization in a show under the title of "Ghost Hunters." The group, who previously operated out of parked trailers, continually provides free paranormal counseling to individuals and institutions. Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson, the two founders of the team, have made clear that their primary aim in going into an investigation is to disprove the supposed "hauntings."
Indeed, it is more frequent that Wilson and Hawes scientifically deduct the causes of the mysterious events to which they bear witness than it is they will actually admit to paranormal activity. The concession of a location being haunted seems an almost painful one when coming from Hawes, and is more a surrender than a discovery of proof of an afterlife.
TAPS' golden moment came in 2006, when they conducted a six-hour live investigation of the Stanley Hotel in Colorado. Reaching number two in its timeslot, it followed the typical outlay of the program, in which TAPS members went about uncovering the origins of the bumps in the night, but then, surprisingly encountered several events which to this day are unexplained; the more notable of which was a drinking glass breaking from the inside while Hawes slept nearby. Still, without a firsthand account, many viewers may still find it difficult to take the events onscreen in any real sincerity. Wilson put it eloquently in the conclusion of one episode, in which he stated, "Your believers are gonna believe, your skeptics are gonna tear it apart and the people in between are gonna be torn apart."
You can reach this columnist at thescene@theeagleonline.com.
