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'Ghost Hunting' Shows Are Getting So Bad That It's Beyond Amusing

I have stopped watching most of what's on TV now re "Ghost related"...I would love a good paranormal, spooky show that wasn't full of so called investigators shouting out, jumping at every slight noise, trying to sound scientific without the adequate vocabulary , never mind knowledge! Sad really, so disappointed with it all...Will still watch fictional stuff though.
 
Does anybody here know how these "spirit boxes" they use on TV actually work? I'm currently watching Unexplained: Caught on Camera, and they've used them on Paranormal Lockdown and Kindred Spirits (Zzzz...) too. I'm talking about the ones which seem to output odd words when people ask questions.

Are they using radio somehow, or are they pre-programmed with a selection of words which they then spit out at random?

Anybody used one?
No, sorry...... the latest thing where they show "stick-figures" jumping around just about takes the biscuit though !
 
Oooooh…... WHO took that biscuit?!……...Sorry folks it was me...MUNCH.
 
Does anybody here know how these "spirit boxes" they use on TV actually work? I'm currently watching Unexplained: Caught on Camera, and they've used them on Paranormal Lockdown and Kindred Spirits (Zzzz...) too. I'm talking about the ones which seem to output odd words when people ask questions.

Are they using radio somehow, or are they pre-programmed with a selection of words which they then spit out at random?

Anybody used one?

It's a radio receiver that scans wavebands & also produces high frequency white noise which apparently helps spirits in communicating. It will tune in to a radio station for a brief moment & pick up whatever is being broadcast before moving on to the next. How long it stays on each broadcast for 'ideal' results I don't know. You record the audio together with the white noise on a separate recording device then listen back to it later. If you listen carefully enough, amid the white noise you will find the spirits will have communicated with you.

Utter bollocks & audio pareidolia.
 
One thing I still kick myself over is the time Rosseanne felt cold on only one side of her head .. we were inside All Saints Church in Santon so no breezes were present, I checked her face with two laser thermometers (in case one might be faulty, we test all our equipment before starting) and the right side of her head to the left had a difference of just over 4 degrees .. I kick myself because the camera couldn't capture the digital reading display so I might have to buy different laser thermometers that we can film the digital display to record evidence like this.

Our last invest at 'The Witch's Leg', a ruined church was cut short a couple of nights ago because Richard Sarsby, one of our team members, started complaining of chest pains and wasn't looking well. For all I know, he could have been drinking nasty energy drinks all day (for one example amongst other non paranormal explanations)? .. I asked him if this was usual for him and he told me it wasn't, this happened when other strange things were happening though so Roseanne decided to call it a night.
Hope he was ok
 
Did he find out what it was? Bit of heart burn maybe, could have been the cold, if it was cold that day, maybe he didn't eat anything, so many things can account for it
 
Utter bollocks & audio pareidolia.

Hah, thanks for the explanation and yes, I agree totally. You might just as well put a load of cut up phrases in a bag and pull them out at random (the old cut up technique). I wonder how much footage they have to shoot of these machines before they get something usable?

And yes, those 'stick men dancing' machines are most amusing. :)

It really does seem like even semi serious shows about ghosts are out of fashion these days. Last one I remember is William Woollard's Ghosthunters, and that's going back 20+ years. Maybe the odd documentary like the tube ghosts one.
 
Got it spot on Stu, and Mountain Monsters sounds fun :D

Mountain Monsters is fun...its a group of very overweight/old/shouldn't be allowed out hillbillies running around forests chasing random 'monsters'. never actually see anything much...but they make a lot of noise and play with over sized traps!
 
Yes, I love Mountain Monsters. :) I like Wild Bill and the very large guy that they always leave out to get eaten.
What I admire about it the most is the suspension of the vehicles they drive about in. Some of those guys are so big they can warp time and space.
 
There's also an Alaskan Monsters, seem more organised but still as random in the field. Main guy carries a handcannon!
 
There's also an Alaskan Monsters, seem more organised but still as random in the field. Main guy carries a handcannon!
With that annoying character who screams when he talks, all the time. They're not really ghost shows, but even badder than the ghost shows on Discovery.
 
.. And yes, those 'stick men dancing' machines are most amusing. :) ..
I spoke with Luke Tabram from the investigation team Shadow Paranormal and he agrees those machines are biased .. he explained that the software was originally created for the Wi for those interactive onscreen dancing games so they're programmed to try to make stick figures out of anything for more responsive game play. Of course, that doesn't automatically mean they aren't also handy for picking up paranormal incidents, it's just important to know about the original functional purpose of these programmes ..

Luke's a sober investigator, not at all averse to debunking experiences both during and after investigations and I'm looking forward to his second involvement with our crew at the end of this month

Luke's channel

https://www.youtube.com/user/ShadowParanormal
 
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Just watched Bigphoot2 vid, ROFLMFAO, I am presuming those shotguns aren't loaded, or they would have shot each other numerous times in the back.
As Sharon pointed out a page or three ago, there's a tacit acknowledgement that Mountain Monsters (in particular) is entertainment. There's also "blink and you'll miss it" caption in the end-credits that no animals were harmed or endangered, and that no hunting took place, so it's a fair bet the guns are safe.
Of course, that doesn't automatically mean they aren't also handy for picking up paranormal incidents, it's just important to know about the original functional purpose of these programmes
As with all apparatus, it's only as valuable as the interpretation. As you say, the tech may well pick up anomalous signals, but all results have to be scrutinised and the mundane explanations eliminated before getting too excited.
 
As with all apparatus, it's only as valuable as the interpretation. As you say, the tech may well pick up anomalous signals, but all results have to be scrutinised and the mundane explanations eliminated before getting too excited.
.. that and we could all have a 'dance off' instead if we get bored Stu ..
 
I have stopped watching most of what's on TV now re "Ghost related"...I would love a good paranormal, spooky show that wasn't full of so called investigators shouting out, jumping at every slight noise, trying to sound scientific without the adequate vocabulary , never mind knowledge! Sad really, so disappointed with it all...Will still watch fictional stuff though.

I've had several discussion with TV producers looking for their "Scully" stereotype for these kinds of shows. The really sad thing is that they don't WANT to do anything differently because they have concluded that the truth would be boring (which may be true), and such proposals won't get greenlit. However, they are so unimaginative that they can't figure out how to incorporate actually interesting aspects of psychology, history, perception, cultural norms, etc. into a paranormal show. That would be so worth watching. But TV has always been intended to be simple entertainment to sell advertising.

It's a radio receiver that scans wavebands & also produces high frequency white noise which apparently helps spirits in communicating. It will tune in to a radio station for a brief moment & pick up whatever is being broadcast before moving on to the next. How long it stays on each broadcast for 'ideal' results I don't know. You record the audio together with the white noise on a separate recording device then listen back to it later. If you listen carefully enough, amid the white noise you will find the spirits will have communicated with you.

Radio has always seemed a bit mysterious to people. It was a small leap when it first came out to think that it could be used to communicate with ghosts (or aliens) and apparently that hasn't ever gone away! People STILL don't really know how technology works other than you push this button and something happens.

those machines are biased .. he explained that the software was originally created for the Wi for those interactive onscreen dancing games so they're programmed to try to make stick figures out of anything for more responsive game play. Of course, that doesn't automatically mean they aren't also handy for picking up paranormal incidents, it's just important to know about the original functional purpose of these programmes ..

Here's a good explanation of how they were developed and how easily they pick up "ghosts". https://skepticalinquirer.org/exclusive/the_xbox_kinect_and_paranormal_investigation/
 
I've had several discussion with TV producers looking for their "Scully" stereotype for these kinds of shows. The really sad thing is that they don't WANT to do anything differently because they have concluded that the truth would be boring (which may be true), and such proposals won't get greenlit. However, they are so unimaginative that they can't figure out how to incorporate actually interesting aspects of psychology, history, perception, cultural norms, etc. into a paranormal show. That would be so worth watching. But TV has always been intended to be simple entertainment to sell advertising.



Radio has always seemed a bit mysterious to people. It was a small leap when it first came out to think that it could be used to communicate with ghosts (or aliens) and apparently that hasn't ever gone away! People STILL don't really know how technology works other than you push this button and something happens.



Here's a good explanation of how they were developed and how easily they pick up "ghosts". https://skepticalinquirer.org/exclusive/the_xbox_kinect_and_paranormal_investigation/
I've no idea what this next one is called but it's that app that mostly teenage girls use for facebook to give themselves 'cute' animal ears and noses for pictures, this has now evolved into youtube videos of this happening in moving action. Now we have vids of tweens posing and then a 'no face' ears and nose suddenly appearing next to them, purported to be proof of the paranormal.
 
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