Ghost Hunters – Are they Worth Watching?

I have to give Jason and Grant credit for starting the ghost hunter programs. As silly as the first few seasons were watching Jason argue with his wife who was griping at him about taking off plumbing work and going on a case with the camera man rolling (which of course was paying big money) to watching them with a scared look opening a door entering into a room where the camera man was already set and waiting. Either we have a brave camera man or a set up shot. I think it’s the set up shot.

Still, the early shows had merit but the attitude of the show got worse and worse. I would like to present some objections I have with the current shows:

• Disrespect of Witnesses – People are hesitant to relate paranormal experiences due to ridicule and disbelief. The Ghost Hunters calliing their experiences “claims” and acting like they are lying or deluded is not nice.
• Disrespect of Psychics – there is a consistent negative attitude towards psychics. A good psychic would help the show tremendously! Sightings knew this and had great programs with psychic Peter James.
• Ridiculous explainations for reported experiences that discount the facts. For example, a man saw the appartition of a woman dressed in turn of the 19th century cloths with her hair in a bun walk across a hallway from one room door to another. The guy that saw this apparition was middle aged with a gut. Steve and Tango, who come up with most of the stupid explanations, noticed that at the end of the hallway,  was a room and if the door was open, you could see a window from the staircase. This window was about 40-50 feet away from the stairs but this brain trust assumed that the guy saw his own reflection in the window! Totally ignoring the facts of the man’s experience. At the reveal, Grant was embarassed to say it but did mention it. There have been other equally silly explanations that insult the intelligence of the witnesses.
• The EMF myth -  For some reason, Jason and Grant try to tell people what they are experiencing is related to the electro-magnetic field. They have no scientific research to back this up and it is silly to begin with. For example, if people could so easily hallucinate around strong EM fields, people who enjoy a free drug type trip would be standing around the latest high power transmission towers. Those fields are so strong, you can hold a flourescent tube in your hand and it lights up (I’ve done it)! Yet, people aren’t hallucinating or getting their “free” trip. So, I find this explanation for people’s experiences to be totally absurd, yet they use it over and over.
• Declare a place not haunted based on their limited time there ignoring dozens of witness reports. Anyone who has been around paranormal phenomena knows that it doesn’t happen every day. Even in a most paranormal active place, it just doesn’t happen on cue. When people who are at a place have experiences, they don’t have them everyday. Yet, when the Ghost Hunters breeze into a location with their production RV and a crew of camera people following them around (Do you realize how disruptive to the psychic flow this is?), conditons that aren’t conducive to the paranormal manifestation, they declare they didn’t find anything. That is not scientific analysis of data. You might not have supported the notion the place was haunted but you can’t disprove it based on a small sample of time.
• Throwing out data – this happens a lot. One of the most aggravating incidents was at a hotel out West (I believe it was the Copperfield Hotel in Arizona but not sure). The hotel manager told them there was a particular room in which male guests had the covers pulled off while they were sleeping. Since the production was spending the night at the hotel, Grant was given that room and a video camera recorded him the entire night. At some point during the night, you see Grant sleeping and clearly lying still. You can see both of his feet and legs slightly apart and not moving. Suddenly, you see the cover pinched up right in between his feet and moved off uncovering his right foot. It was very obvious Grant did NOT move. Yet, Jason declared it was not evidence of paranormal activity. Jason obviously did not want to validate the experiences that many male guest had in that room. Why? He seems to want to put down people’s paranormal experiences.

I could continue but I’ve given enough examples. I watch Ghost Hunters because they go to interesting haunted locations. However, on about 60% of the shows, I spend a lot of time yelling at the TV. All I can say is thank goodness for the Ghost Adventure program. They treat witnesses with respect and they get results!

On a closing note, I am disappointed that Grant is leaving the program. He, unlike Jason, is a nice, sensitive guy. I feel that he is psychically sensitive because most of the better paranormal phenomena they have recorded happen around him. But, the fact that he is a sensitive is probably why he’s leaving the show (that and the fortune he and Jason have made so he doesn’t really have to work anymore – I’m happy for them).

Anyway, the show is interesting. If you can look past the bigotry towards psychics and documented haunted locations and the dumb and dumber explanations that ignore the witness facts, it does produce some interesting shows 40 percent of the time.

Do Ghosts Exist?

There are no such things as ghost! How many times have you heard it? Adults telling children this while they themselves are spooked. Why? Because ghost do exist.

I am a sensitive and have been since early childhood. Because of this, I don’t like old houses and I don’t like antigues? Why? Because the vibes of the previous owners or inhabitants are always there. Sometimes, THEY are there as well. So, I limit my exposure to those places and things.

However, in small doses, I find it fascinating. So when I was invited to go on a Ghost Tour of the Pensacola Lighthouse, I agreed. It was a place I’d never been to before. It’s on the Navy base which of course, is restricted access. However, the lighthouse is a museum and a few times a year, a Ghost Hunter group comes into town and conducts paid tours as a fundraiser.

In general, I’m not impressed with Ghosthunter groups. They go out of their way to downplay data and they are disrespectful to psychic people. However, I figured I’d go on this tour and see what happened.

As I figured, this batch of Ghosthunters were just a clueless as most of them seem to be. However, the Pensacola Lighthouse really is haunted! How do I know? Let me tell you what happened.

I arrived early so the Ghosthunter group were collecting money and keeping people outside. The lighthouse has a two story wrap around porch building with the lighthouse attached to it. Since I had to wait, I decided to tune in to see what was going on.

The first thing I perceived was on the first level porch by the door. There stood a man, probably in his 30s dressed in a uniform of some sort. I was trying to figure out what it was because it looked like an antique Navy uniform. He was just standing there looking out into space.

Then my attention was drawn to the second story and on the left side of the porch, was a young woman. She was leaning on the rail staring out at the Gulf of Mexico. She, like the man on the lower level, seemed to be in their own world. She was dressed in a white dress with those sorts of short sleeves that puff out and had her hair in a wrap around bun. I thought this was interesting. On the right side of the second story porch was a man with a beard who appeared to be dressedin a Confederate uniform. What was odd is that he wasn’t wearing a hat.

So I thought, this is interesting. Still waiting, some people were allowed in the building to use the bathroom so I went in and went to the little museum room filled with artifacts and pictures. Among the pictures was the guy I saw on the porch! The uniform was a lighthouse keepers uniform. He had been there around the turn of the 20th century! It was the same guy! Wow, instant feedback. Needless to say, I had never been to this place and didn’t even know lighthouse keepers had uniforms.

While I was pondering this, everybody had to leave the building and go back outside.

Finally, the Ghosthunter people started organizing the tour. There were so many people, there were several groups. I have to admit, the people conducting my group attempted to involve the tour members. They had someone carry and EMF and someone else a digital thermometer. So off we went.

Down to the basement. A very closed, oppressive place. Apparently, a couple of spirits, a deceased slave and a deceased native American have been spotted down here in the room we were in. The guide put a rem pod on the floor and started calling to the slave to activate it. The rem pod started alarming but it wasn’t the slave doing it. It was a little girl, about 10 years old, thin with long pigtails. She was giggling at the device going off. Yet, the clueless guide kept talking to the slave spirit who was not there.

Finally, I asked, “Who’s the little girl?” At this point, the guide said there was a little girl spirit who was upstairs in the keepers quarters. I said, no, that’s who is activating your device. He said she was upstairs and I said she was here. At this point, one of the people who work there, I guess each group had an employee along, said that she worked in the gift shop right above the basement room we were in and that she had heard music coming up through the floor that was associated with this little girl spirit. The tour guide continued to be clueless. So, another spirit identified. The little girl, BTW, was following this tour guide around!

So, out of the basement and upstairs to the room where the little girl was suppose to be. Well, she was there because she followed the group. At some point the guide went to do something else and left us in the room. The little girl spirit left with him giggling.

Back downstairs, the tour guide wanted to go back to the basement to the other room. I could tell that was dark energy down there and I sat that one out. A couple of people got sick down there.

As we were going upstairs, I asked the guide who the woman was that was on the porch. He didn’t have a clue. These people, ghosthunters, would get better results with a psychic along.

The last spot on the tour was a bedroom where a young woman died in childbirth. I walked and on the wall was a picture of the young woman; it was the woman on the porch.

So, the guide put the rem pod on the bed and started calling out to this woman. She did come off the porch. However, he was trying to provoke her which was upsetting to her by accusing her of murder. I really had to restrain myself to stop that harrassment of the spirit.

Finally, the tour ended. Back outside, I looked back up to the left side of the second story porch and the young woman was there. However, this time, she looked at me, smiled and waved! I think she was happy that someone could see her.

Bottom line: The Pensacola Lighthouse IS Haunted. Take the ghost tour. You will Love It!