Thank you for your post. I enjoy these shows for the entertainment value but, but this is "reality TV."

Inasmuch as I do work with a real investigative team based in AZ, I am also aware of what a real investigation involves. We have a psychologist, a parapsychologist, a historian, an electrical engineer, two photographers experienced in night and infra-red photography, a world renowned clairvoyant*, and a team of consultants including a Native Shaman, Christian clergymen, historical societies, and several universities. Our documentation is filmed by a well known video producer who is also the largest producer of paranormal and metaphysical media in the world.

We have NEVER held seances or used ouiji boards. We don't "call out" to spirits and berate them or insult them or ask them to perform on cue for us. These are the souls of the departed and they were walking on this earth at one time too and deserve our respect just as if they were alive. We have never had any members of our team "possessed" by any entities or spirits, unless those spirits came out of a bottle. We also very rarely use a medium** because the information that can be relayed is, in many cases, easily researched and there is no way to prove the medium is actually having an experience.

What we do is apply scientific methods or techniques in our investigations. According to Wikipedia, a Scientific Method, "refers to bodies of techniques for investigating phenomena, acquiring new knowledge, or correcting and integrating previous knowledge. To be termed scientific, a method of inquiry must be based on gathering observable, empirical and measurable evidence subject to specific principles of reasoning. A scientific method consists of the collection of data through observation and experimentation, and the formulation and testing of hypotheses."

We NEVER get results 100% of the time, such as the MH crew seems to do. We have gone on investigations and sat for hours, days and weeks without capturing any evidence of anything except perhaps that we should have brought more coffee or extra sweaters. It is not a glamorous and exciting profession, it can be quite boring at times. You are investigating your theories and trying to develop scientific principals. That is not to say it does not get exciting at times, such as when you do capture some sort of phenomenon.

If you enjoy sitting in a cemetery for 12 hours in freezing temperatures or walking around old and dangerous buildings this is for you. If you like reviewing weeks and weeks of video and audio recordings hoping to find that one little three second bit of evidence, then you will be happy. If you think this is just walking around with a camera crew, screaming because a car passes by and wrapping things up after a few hours and heading back to Merry Old England or Rhode Island, then you are disillusioned and this is not for you.

If you were to compare our work to that on a TV show, we would be closest to GH and the T.A.P.S. crew, although our equipment is much more sophisticated than what Jason and Grant use. I will give them credit for at least being on the right track, although their show is for entertainment and has its own forms of drama.

In closing, those of us who do actual research do not have our own TV shows. Our backgrounds are not in children's television or plumbing. We have degrees from respected colleges and universities relating to our fields. We gather data, we submit our findings to scientific publications and we constantly look for funding. (Yes we have a grant writer who works with us too.) The general public would most likely never have heard our names, but that is how we like it. If you were in the field legitimately you would know us though. This is just a brief overview of what true paranormal research is about and I hope it helps some of the posters see what is actually involved.

*CLAIRVOYANT - a person who has a heightened awareness or is extra sensitive to the world around them much in the same way as someone who has a vision impairment may increased hearing abilities.

**MEDIUM - a person who claims to communicate with the dead, afterlife, or other worlds. Two famous mediums are James Van Praagh and John Edward.

I wish my investigations were as productive as theirs was. Everyplace they went they found something. I go and spend hours and 99% of the time find nothing. This show was not a good representation of REAL ghost hunting. It made it look sooooo easy.

quote:

Originally posted by motor_city_ghost_hunter:
I wish my investigations were as productive as theirs was. Everyplace they went they found something. I go and spend hours and 99% of the time find nothing. This show was not a good representation of REAL ghost hunting. It made it look sooooo easy.

Me too. I just love sitting in the middle of the desert at night for 12 hours when its 30 degrees out and not see anything. Do you guys set up cameras at locations and go back and collect the tapes periodically? We do that a lot, which is great, but you still have to pour over hours and hours of video and audio and may possible get lucky. I want to know how you can do a seven hour investigation and get phenomena right off the bat that lasts all night long. I guess Yvette ghosts were given copies of the scripts and knew when to perform on demand unlike yours and mine.