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

Swifty said:
Joking aside, it's a bit of a dick move to go on ghost invests at the moment. Our team's not done that and won't until we're allowed to.
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Bloody COVID.

I’ve never been to a ghost hunt event before, but there was one scheduled for this month, in an old water mill that I was going to sign up for.

That won’t go ahead now, which is a bloody shame. It’s literally a 2 minute walk from my house.


Bloody COVID.

I’ve never been to a ghost hunt event before, but there was one scheduled for this month, in an old water mill that I was going to sign up for.

That won’t go ahead now, which is a bloody shame. It’s literally a 2 minute walk from my house.

Also cancelled was a talk from a local historian, about the 1568 Essex witch trials. :(
 
Dick Turpin said:
Bloody COVID.

I’ve never been to a ghost hunt event before, but there was one scheduled for this month, in an old water mill that I was going to sign up for.

That won’t go ahead now, which is a bloody shame. It’s literally a 2 minute walk from my house.


Bloody COVID.

I’ve never been to a ghost hunt event before, but there was one scheduled for this month, in an old water mill that I was going to sign up for.

That won’t go ahead now, which is a bloody shame. It’s literally a 2 minute walk from my house.

Also cancelled was a talk from a local historian, about the 1568 Essex witch trials. :(
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Opps. Sorry. Terrible example of cut and paste and a 6 pack of stella :beer:
 
catseye said:
Well, yes, but who you gonna call who's going to risk a fine?
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Rookie ghost investigation crews apparently. All our crew are insured and have signed a contract with conditions. We even have qualified first aiders. As far as I'm aware, none of the other crews we're friends with have broken lock down either. We can't wait to get back out though. The ghosts can wait.
 
I didn't know we had this thread! I'm passionate about complaining about this, it's not just paranormal documentaries, it's the modernisation/Americanisation of documentary filmmaking in general that is so annoying. The camera style, the narration etc...
The most recent ghost documentary I've seen that is worth watching is Ghosts on the Underground (2005), narrated by Paul McGann, and featuring Maurice Grosse about a year before he passed away. But I can't think of any others so far.
 
FrKadash said:
I didn't know we had this thread! I'm passionate about complaining about this, it's not just paranormal documentaries, it's the modernisation/Americanisation of documentary filmmaking in general that is so annoying. The camera style, the narration etc...
The most recent ghost documentary I've seen that is worth watching is Ghosts on the Underground (2005), narrated by Paul McGann, and featuring Maurice Grosse about a year before he passed away. But I can't think of any others so far.
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I think we are suffering from the oversimplification effect. My most illustrative subject is 'Who Do You Think You Are', where the person finds out facts about their past and then the narrator tells us again what the person discovered in voice over. If they just cut all the voice overs together to make a show, the programme would tell us the same information in about ten minutes.

I LOVE Who Do You Think You Are. But do find myself shouting at the screen 'I KNOW! I'm WATCHING THE PROGRAMME!'
 
catseye said:
I think we are suffering from the oversimplification effect. My most illustrative subject is 'Who Do You Think You Are', where the person finds out facts about their past and then the narrator tells us again what the person discovered in voice over. If they just cut all the voice overs together to make a show, the programme would tell us the same information in about ten minutes.

I LOVE Who Do You Think You Are. But do find myself shouting at the screen 'I KNOW! I'm WATCHING THE PROGRAMME!'
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What a contrast with the programme that @Yithian was - quite rightly - praising the other day in a different thread: Civilisation, by Kenneth Clark.

Today, virtually every documentary seems to consist of "5 minutes of information compressed into an hour". The camera jumps about as though the cameraman were experiencing an epileptic fit. No shot lasts longer than a few seconds, in case the viewer "gets bored". Impenetrable accents prevail. Information is parcelled out in dribs and drabs, apparently aimed at the intelligence level of slow six-year-olds. Stock footage - often irrelevant and poorly chosen - is flogged to death: I recently watched a doco about the German invasion of France in 1940, where the images depicted Russian T-34s charging into action on the Eastern Front in 1942; then used a second time a few minutes later, but with the image flipped L/R so as to appear different.

"Dumbed-down" is an overused expression, but I can see why it's overused...

maximus otter
 
maximus otter said:
What a contrast with the programme that @Yithian was - quite rightly - praising the other day in a different thread: Civilisation, by Kenneth Clark.

Today, virtually every documentary seems to consist of "5 minutes of information compressed into an hour". The camera jumps about as though the cameraman were experiencing an epileptic fit. No shot lasts longer than a few seconds, in case the viewer "gets bored". Impenetrable accents prevail. Information is parcelled out in dribs and drabs, apparently aimed at the intelligence level of slow six-year-olds. Stock footage - often irrelevant and poorly chosen - is flogged to death: I recently watched a doco about the German invasion of France in 1940, where the images depicted Russian T-34s charging into action on the Eastern Front in 1942; then used a second time a few minutes later, but with the image flipped L/R so as to appear different.

"Dumbed-down" is an overused expression, but I can see why it's overused...

maximus otter
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I watched a documentary a year or three back about the Battle of Goose Green, a subject about which I am not an expert but know more than a layman. The filmmaker took an assortment of members of 2 PARA back to the battlefield to narrate the events of May 1982, events that were historically remarkable in and of themselves without the need for garnish (how many soldiers alive today have received the order to fix bayonets on a real battlefield?).

What I found irritating was how the narration repeatedly attempted to remould the trip as some kind of redemptive pilgrimage during which 'closure' was sought and 'ghosts were laid to rest'. If you were to mute the commentary itself and listen only to the words of the veterans, you'd find very little grounds for such claims; although conspicuously moved by walking the ground on which the blood of their comrades had been spilt, they spoke in calm and dignfied terms and had, I would infer, long since come to terms with all that happened to their younger selves.

Such a theme seems unfortunately common: historical events have to be 'put to bed', ghosts set to rest--as if such a thing is possible for most people, and as if a public airing on television would be the best way of achieving such an aim.

I find it, when I see it, as repugant as it is stupid. They're milking trauma and grief for gravitas and clichéd narrative, and I detest it.
 
Yithian said:
I watched a documentary a year or three back about the Battle of Goose Green, a subject about which I am not an expert but know more than a layman. The filmmaker took an assortment of members of 2 PARA back to the battlefield to narrate the events of May 1982, events that were historically remarkable in and of themselves without the need for garnish (how many soldiers alive today have received the order to fix bayonets on a real battlefield?).

What I found irritating was how the narration repeated attempted to remould the trip as some kind of redemptive pilgrimage during which 'closure' was sought and 'ghosts were laid to rest'. If you were to mute the commentary itself and listen only to the words of the veterans, you'd find very little grounds for such claims; although conspicuously moved by walking the ground on which the blood of their comrades had been spilt, they spoke in calm and dignfied terms and had, I would infer, long since come to terms with all that happened to their younger selves.

Such a theme seems unfortunately common: historical events have to be 'put to bed', ghosts set to rest--as if such a thing is possible for most people, and as if a public airing on television would be the best way of achieving such an aim.

I find it, when I see it, as repugant as it is stupid. They're milking trauma and grief for gravitas and clichéd narrative, and I detest it.
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- Which culminates in the squealing, blubbering, hand-flapping “reality” programmes and contests with which the telly schedules are packed.

We are not all emotional incontinents. Yet.

maximus otter
 
Yithian said:
I watched a documentary a year or three back about the Battle of Goose Green, a subject about which I am not an expert but know more than a layman. The filmmaker took an assortment of members of 2 PARA back to the battlefield to narrate the events of May 1982, events that were historically remarkable in and of themselves without the need for garnish (how many soldiers alive today have received the order to fix bayonets on a real battlefield?).

What I found irritating was how the narration repeatedly attempted to remould the trip as some kind of redemptive pilgrimage during which 'closure' was sought and 'ghosts were laid to rest'. If you were to mute the commentary itself and listen only to the words of the veterans, you'd find very little grounds for such claims; although conspicuously moved by walking the ground on which the blood of their comrades had been spilt, they spoke in calm and dignfied terms and had, I would infer, long since come to terms with all that happened to their younger selves.

Such a theme seems unfortunately common: historical events have to be 'put to bed', ghosts set to rest--as if such a thing is possible for most people, and as if a public airing on television would be the best way of achieving such an aim.

I find it, when I see it, as repugant as it is stupid. They're milking trauma and grief for gravitas and clichéd narrative, and I detest it.
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My only justification for programmes like this would be that they were 'sold' to the company making it by the ideas men, with the framing theme of 'redemption'. Only because otherwise the pitch has to say things like 'we want to take a bunch of soldiers back to where they fought and then they go over what happened in their own words.' Which isn't nearly as media-friendly as 'ex servicement seek closure and redemption for past acts by revisiting the scene.'
 
maximus otter said:
- Which culminates in the squealing, blubbering, hand-flapping “reality” programmes and contests with which the telly schedules are packed.

We are not all emotional incontinents. Yet.

maximus otter
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Yes. All of this was encouraged and exacerbated by the Hollywood writers strike of 2007-8. Producers tried to figure out ways to make money without professional scripting. Unfortunately they succeeded.
 
Well....our ghost watching days are over unless I fork over more money. The Discovery channel here went streaming and wants more money to watch it...we have Comcast and have just about every channel but lately many are jumping ship to these stream deals and we are losing them because Comast doesn't want to give them for free. What a rip off. So everyone is buying these packages individually to get what they want,,,,it"s a nightmare to figure it all out. God bless the stations and all mighty capitalism. ;)
 
Frankly? .. I can't wait to go out and film more of our vids. It always cracks me up that people think we only do it for likes or attention or something? .. get over yourselves, we don't even care about you and we don't like half of you .. we don't get paid and if we did I'd probably not see any of that cash .. and if I did ever get any cash, some twat would start calling me/us a fraud mainly because I'd be getting cash that they'd want instead because they want cash and they're jealous .. I personally know only one investigator/film maker who's become monetised and good luck to him but I think that's going to end in tears. I'm not interested in that approach because I only care about having somewhere convenient to re watch our investigations so we can re study them .. we put them on youtube at the moment then covid happened and I've still got an entire Santon Church invest from just before covid that apparently isn't even going to be edited .. it's rad and still on my camera. I might even leak some of it in this thread.
 
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At the start of the year I started watching Kindred Spirits and praised its more down-to-earth and technology-based approach to ghost hunting.
By series 3 though, they seem to be relying increasingly on their resident psychic Chip Coffee and, whilst he doesn't ham it up as much as Derek Acorah, the parallels are quite jarring.
In one early episode, I was impressed when the KS duo of Amy and Adam revealed a non-paranormal reason for an alleged haunting.
Now though, rather like in Most Haunted, it's as if they feel obliged to demonstrate at least one "genuine" instance of ghost activity in each 45 minute show.
Even the EVP seems less convincing now, often along the lines of:

Adam: "If there's anybody there, please talk to us"
..... crackle ..... hiss..... sput....
Adam: "Oh my God! Did it just tell me to go away?"
 
blessmycottonsocks said:
At the start of the year I started watching Kindred Spirits and praised its more down-to-earth and technology-based approach to ghost hunting.
By series 3 though, they seem to be relying increasingly on their resident psychic Chip Coffee and, whilst he doesn't ham it up as much as Derek Acorah, the parallels are quite jarring.
In one early episode, I was impressed when the KS duo of Amy and Adam revealed a non-paranormal reason for an alleged haunting.
Now though, rather like in Most Haunted, it's as if they feel obliged to demonstrate at least one "genuine" instance of ghost activity in each 45 minute show.
Even the EVP seems less convincing now, often along the lines of:

Adam: "If there's anybody there, please talk to us"
..... crackle ..... hiss..... sput....
Adam: "Oh my God! Did it just tell me to go away?"
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Chip Coffee did Paranormal State.
 
.. Live investigation at 30 East Drive, Pontefract (Black Monk, heavy poltergeist activity, my team's been there and nothing happened, 'they' made the film When The Lights Go Out about the address, we've got a thread about it including Colin Wilson's involvement) .. in 25 minutes time apparently on Facebook .. I don't know who the team are or if they're even allowed to be renting the place at the moment ..

I'm not promoting this event at all but here it is if anyone's interested ..

Watch 30 East Drive Ghost Investigation FREE TO WATCH! Live Stream in HD (live-stream-online.com)
 
Swifty said:
Cool. One of our friends (Chris Halton) has had some of his ghost investigation vids picked up by the Amazon Prime channel, the first one made available to view, rent or buy yesterday. For people who moan about most paranormal investigators looking like goths, Chris looks like he's time travelled from the 1940s. More importantly, he knows what he's doing.
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I watched one of Chris Halton’s episodes on prime today A Haunting in Norfolk. Not what I was expecting to be honest.

I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. Chris certainly seemed to know his onions and knew a lot about the location. I’m just not wowed by the Spirit Box stuff. Would like to see more people try the Estes Method.

I will admit to having a bit of a chuckle when Eddie trundled in with his staff. I thought he was playing a character at first, until I realised he was being serious. A bit like how Barry Dodds of the Parapod seems like a character (he’s not a character; I got to chat to him for a few minutes last year at a screening of the Parapod Movie and Barry is as genuine as they come).

I’m definitely going to watch some more of Chris’ shows. If nothing else it entertained me; And sometimes that’s all you can ask for.

Incidentally, the investigations in the Parapod Movie, even with Ian not being entirely serious, were a lot better done than most of the TV shows on these days.
 
Mr. Banooka said:
I watched one of Chris Halton’s episodes on prime today A Haunting in Norfolk. Not what I was expecting to be honest.

I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. Chris certainly seemed to know his onions and knew a lot about the location. I’m just not wowed by the Spirit Box stuff. Would like to see more people try the Estes Method.

I will admit to having a bit of a chuckle when Eddie trundled in with his staff. I thought he was playing a character at first, until I realised he was being serious. A bit like how Barry Dodds of the Parapod seems like a character (he’s not a character; I got to chat to him for a few minutes last year at a screening of the Parapod Movie and Barry is as genuine as they come).

I’m definitely going to watch some more of Chris’ shows. If nothing else it entertained me; And sometimes that’s all you can ask for.

Incidentally, the investigations in the Parapod Movie, even with Ian not being entirely serious, were a lot better done than most of the TV shows on these days.
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Eddie actually is like that, it isn't something he puts on and we've done nights out together at locations. He's flamboyant but that's just him, he's a sensitive but not a medium. I've not personally met Chris Halton yet but he seems sincere .. we've discussed tech stuff together about how we could experiment with those 80's portable miniature TV sets (the ones that were about the size on a Sony Walkman) at locations to attempt to capture white noise images because there won't be a risk these days of picking up TV broadcasts .. TV now being broadcast digitally instead of 'analogue' .. he knows his shit, this was his idea and in theory teams could use other tech next to that at the same time to correlate live data .. and the basic human feelings when 'spooky shit' is kicking off at the same time which is when sensitives and sometime mediums come in handy .. and taking photographs at the same time so it's all coordinated .. so when we've triangulated as many methods and techniques as we can for just one moment .. we can then try to disprove what we think has just happened. Or not.
 
blessmycottonsocks said:
At the start of the year I started watching Kindred Spirits and praised its more down-to-earth and technology-based approach to ghost hunting.
By series 3 though, they seem to be relying increasingly on their resident psychic Chip Coffee and, whilst he doesn't ham it up as much as Derek Acorah, the parallels are quite jarring.
In one early episode, I was impressed when the KS duo of Amy and Adam revealed a non-paranormal reason for an alleged haunting.
Now though, rather like in Most Haunted, it's as if they feel obliged to demonstrate at least one "genuine" instance of ghost activity in each 45 minute show.
Even the EVP seems less convincing now, often along the lines of:

Adam: "If there's anybody there, please talk to us"
..... crackle ..... hiss..... sput....
Adam: "Oh my God! Did it just tell me to go away?"
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The ghosts usually tell the hunters to go away, on all ghost shows. GET OUT or GO AWAY.
But do they get out or go away? Nooo, they stay anyway!

Sometimes its reasonably easy to hear what is said, but often it is down to interpretations.
 
Swifty said:
.. Live investigation at 30 East Drive, Pontefract (Black Monk, heavy poltergeist activity, my team's been there and nothing happened, 'they' made the film When The Lights Go Out about the address, we've got a thread about it including Colin Wilson's involvement) .. in 25 minutes time apparently on Facebook .. I don't know who the team are or if they're even allowed to be renting the place at the moment ..

I'm not promoting this event at all but here it is if anyone's interested ..

Watch 30 East Drive Ghost Investigation FREE TO WATCH! Live Stream in HD (live-stream-online.com)
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Agggh! Can't watch it unless I sign on with a "free" account.
 
brownmane said:
Agggh! Can't watch it unless I sign on with a "free" account.
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Malware .. it'll get re uploaded I expect at a later date, if and when that happens, I'll link to it on the other investigations thread. I don't want to click on that link either at the moment.
 
Vardoger said:
The ghosts usually tell the hunters to go away, on all ghost shows. GET OUT or GO AWAY.
But do they get out or go away? Nooo, they stay anyway!

Sometimes its reasonably easy to hear what is said, but often it is down to interpretations.
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Telling investigators (or, presumably, those living in the house) to GET OUT would seem counter productive on the ghost's behalf though, wouldn't it?

If a ghost haunts and there is no one there to see it, does it truly haunt at all? If a ghost shouts GET OUT and there is nobody present to Get Out, what the hell is the point of it all?
 
I've been a long time fan of Shane and Ryan, since back when they worked for Buzzfeed.
They do a lot of research beforehand and, factually, rarely miss the mark. When presenting, though, they have a very lighthearted style which contrasts to other, more pretentious, creators.
 
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