Page 83 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - Febrary/March 2020 Edition

TV Ghost-Hunting Shows Are Fake 83

Why those TV ghost-

hunting shows are

transparently fake

by Scott Craven

On a fuzzy green screen, you see a T-shirt-
wearing man pointing a small electronic
recorder toward a murky corner.
He swivels his head toward the camera,
his eyes glowing like orbs.
“This is where a figure of a small girl has
been sighted on numerous occasions,” the man
says in a hushed voice. “We’re hoping she’s in
the mood to answer some – holy (bleep),
something touched me!”
The frame jumps and blurs before
steadying itself and focusing on the man’s face
and his look of shock.
And it’s largely ghost-hunting theater,
according to one of Phoenix’s longtime
paranormal investigators.
it’s highly unlikely that’s how the investigation electromagnetic change.
unfolded. The problem, Amico said, is that
'It never happens like that'
Jay Yates, who with his wife Marie, have something as simple as a cellphone can disrupt
been featured on several TV and radio shows the field and make the EMF sensor light up like
“Most of that stuff on TV is bunk,”
dedicated to paranormal investigations, said that a Christmas tree.
Vincent Amico said. “It never happens like
in some cases cameras are set up weeks before "I remember one time they showed the
that.”
the ghost hunters themselves arrive. device starting to light up, and the guy holding
Amico has the experience to back up his
“I wish that ghosts showed up on the device had a huge watch on his wrist,"
claim. He’s been investigating the paranormal
demand but it doesn't work that way,” he said. Amico said. "When they cut back to him, the
for 15 years. In 2014 he and his wife started AZ
“Many of these ghost-hunting shows are not device was lit up and the watch was gone. It was
Paranormal Investigations and Research
evidence-driven, but more based upon clearly two different times."
Society.
experiences from the cast and crew, not concrete Then there are those who believe
And that’s where these un-reality shows
evidence always.” everything about investigations are bunk. They
pose problems, he said. Those fans expect to see
Amico also takes issue with the way watch the shows so they can shake their heads in
evidence of the afterlife, from an empty rocking
hunters interpret those static-filled electronic utter disbelief while wondering how anybody
chair moving by itself to shadowy apparitions
voice phenomena (EVP) recordings. could buy the existence of the paranormal.
coalescing in corners.
Viewers are familiar with the setup. The "People can believe whatever they want
Such eerie incidents are extremely rare
experts either place an EVP recorder in an empty and it makes no difference to me," Amico said.
and easily fabricated.
room (the recording is analyzed later) or use it to "A paranormal experience is by definition is
“A guy says he felt something touch him,
“interview” any spirits interested in chatting. something that can't be explained. I've
or you hear a door slam off camera,” Amico
Since ghosts have no vocal cords, they use their experienced a lot of things I can't explain." []
said. “That’s the easiest stuff to fake. There’s no
energy to electrically manipulate sound that can
way to prove he wasn’t touched, or that someone
be picked up by EVP recorders, paranormal
off camera didn’t slam the door.”
investigators say.
Specter-chasing TV shows caught on in
In most cases, words are almost
2004 with SyFy’s “Ghost Hunters,” which lasted
impossible to make out amid the static and
12 years before broadcasting its last episode in
buzzing, and may be nothing more than
October 2016. Similar shows followed in its
background sounds, Amico said. That changes
glowing green footsteps, including Travel
once ghost hunters put words to those sounds,
Channel’s “Ghost Adventures” and “Haunted
interpreting them as voices from beyond the
USA.”
grave.
Following the formula
'It's all about suggestion'
The recipe is the same. Investigators equipped
A fluctuation in static, for example, can be
with cameras and various ghost-detecting
translated as, “Get out.” Or “He's here.” Or any
devices spend a night in a
number of things, most of them eerie.
hotel/house/abandoned warehouse said to be
“It’s all about suggestion,” Amico said.
haunted. Before the sun rises, they’ve seen /
“Let’s say he tells everyone he hears, ‘Help me.’
spoken with/found evidence of the afterlife.
When it's played again, that what you hear.
Everyone goes home shaken.
‘Help me.’ But it’s only because he planted it in
Amico said the shows are misleading at
your head.”
best, fake at worst. A typical paranormal
The on-screen investigators also can
investigation takes several visits over weeks or
manipulate devices that detect changes in the
months, he said, and 99% of that time would set
electromagnetic field, believed to indicate the
off every tedium monitor in the place, if such a
presence of spirits, Amico said.
thing existed.
The electromagnetic field (EMF) sensor
The “night in a haunted house” scenario
features a series of lights that illuminate one
is necessary to keep viewers interested, though
after another. The more lights, the stronger the