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MIB
B.V. VIP - Contributor
Joined: Oct 02, 2001
Posts: 42251
Location: Innsmouth
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 Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2008 6:39 pm Post subject: Ghost hunters more in demand |
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URBANA, Ohio (AP) -- As midnight approached, a grassy field where the old train depot once stood pulsed with activity.
About 90 people tiptoed around night-vision cameras atop tiny silver tripods and dodged remote sensors connected to a computerized surveillance system. They waited for the Lincoln Ghost Train, which some people believe passes through this western Ohio city on the anniversary of the 1865 trip that carried the president's body to Springfield, Illinois, for burial.
Ghost-hunting groups around the country are swelling with members -- their popularity fueled by television shows, the Internet and the increasing availability of high-tech equipment.
"Academics pooh-pooh all of this usually," said Julieanne Phillips, an assistant professor at Urbana University who invited the ghost hunters and organized the vigil that also included about 80 students and residents. "I'm hoping for some vindication that there might be some type of paranormal activity surrounding this."
On this April night, there wasn't.
"Ghost reality shows have really opened the door for people to get involved themselves," said James Willis, founder of The Ghosts of Ohio, the group watching the tracks for the paranormal train.
The airwaves are populated with shows such as "Ghost Whisperer," "Medium," "Paranormal State" and "Ghost Hunters."
Viewership of "Ghost Hunters," a reality show on the SCI FI Channel that chronicles investigations by The Atlantic Paranormal Society, or TAPS, has doubled since it debuted in 2004 -- growing from 1.3 million viewers to 2.6 million.
The Rhode Island-based society currently has about 80 affiliates in 44 states, twice the number of affiliates it had two years ago. And there are about 800 individual members within those affiliates, up from 300 three years ago.
"Thank God for the 'Ghost Hunters' on SCI FI," said Patti Starr, founder of the Lexington, Kentucky-based Ghost Chasers International. "Through that show, I think people see we are really serious about what we do, and they've raised the bar."
Even the U.S. Air Force has gone along, inviting "Ghost Hunters" to investigate reports of unusual occurrences at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton. The episode showed a flashlight turning on by itself and unexplained knocks and door-closings.
Other groups are feeling the surge of interest in ghost hunting.
A Midwest Haunting, based in MaComb, Illinois, offers October tours of buildings, cemeteries and other sites it has investigated and believes to be haunted. The number of people taking the tours has tripled, jumping from about 600 in 2006 to 1,800 last year.
Forty of the 60 people who attended a recent dinner in Erie, Pennsylvania., that featured the Paranormal Study and Research Group asked if they could join the group or tag along on ghost hunts. A year earlier, only two or three asked to be involved after a similar event.
"We're actually grateful for ("Ghost Hunters") because instead of being a bunch of freaks, we're like the cool people on TV," founder Pat Jones said. "People used to look at us like we were absolutely insane, and now they want to come along with us. It's almost like every day is Halloween."
More than 500 people have registered to post and read messages and articles on the Idaho Spirit Seekers' Web site since the message board went up in November. "That really shows the interest that people do have and that it's becoming more acceptable to talk about," said executive director Marie Cuff.
Thirty-four percent of Americans say they believe in ghosts, according to a survey conducted in October by The Associated Press and Ipsos.
Joe Nickell, senior research fellow with the Amherst, New York-based Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, said he has investigated dozens of reported hauntings since 1969 and has turned up no evidence of ghosts.
Equipment being used to try to detect ghosts is not designed for that, Nickell said. Ghost hunters often arm themselves with electromagnetic detectors, thermometers that can identify cold spots and wireless microphones that eliminate background noise.
Orbs of light that show up on photos, he said, are often tiny particles of dust or moisture close to the lens of the camera, "voices" picked up by tape recorders can be radio signals or noise from the recorder, and electromagnetic detectors can be set off by faulty wiring or microwave towers.
"The least likely explanation for any given reading is it is a ghost," he said.
Willis' group, which has grown to 30 members since it was founded in 1999, includes both true believers and total skeptics.
"If you want to be taken seriously in this field, you have to acknowledge that some of the stuff out there is not real," he said. "They're looking for answers, one way or another." |
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Siva
B.V. Lurker
Joined: Sep 26, 2005
Posts: 42
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| Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2008 1:08 pm Post subject: |
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I am sort of glad that the "Ghost Hunters" and other shows like it are gaining in popularity. What I am concerned about, however, is once you find a ghost what do you do with it? Do you show it the way home? Do you just walk away and leave it there? Do you understand why the ghost is still there? Those are my concerns. I know people who find ghosts (or spirits of the departed) to show them the way home - in other words - to go to their "heaven" or whatever you may call it. I also do the same. They really are either completely lost, staying around because they don't know they are dead, staying around because they have unfinished business to do for their loved ones, or telling those who can see them what really happened, or they trusted what their religious leaders said and that they had committed the unpardonable sin and God wouldn't want them anymore - they would go to hell. I have yet to find one who couldn't go home if they wanted to and knew that God loved them without prejudice. Once they hear they can go home, they usually look up and see the light and the zoom home. This is not a particular religious system that responds to thie knowledge. Almost every one who knows they can go home, do so. Those who do the same as I do also have found this to be true. There are some Ghosts or Spirits who wish to stay to help those who are taking others home to know more spiritual concepts. Quite often the ones who stay are from a more primitive, spiritual kowledgeable people such as the American Indians and the Aborigine tribes of Australia. It is sad to see that many average Western and European peoples have lost their connection with the Spirit world, or never had it. Far and above, most "ghosts" do immediately zoom up and go home.
I would hope that there was a very qualified "away taker" that would go with them and help the Ghosts to get home. Why else would you want to be doing a "Ghost Hunter" shtick? If it is only for the program people and their TV ratings, press coverage, etc., then they might as well stay home. They are not helping the Ghosts/Spirits find their peace, and in many cases are only making the Ghosts/Spirits more uncomfortable because the "Ghost Hunters" do not connect with the Ghosts/Spirits, so the Ghosts/Spirits are left in a perhaps worse state than before the "Ghost Hunters" came.
So, again, my concern is for the Ghosts/Spirits that these programs find. From some of the shows I have seen (and I haven't seen them all), the Ghost Hunters, whoever they are, are more interesed in their ratings of their shows, showing that their equipment works, and providing their viewers with a few chills and thrills. That is not fair to the Ghosts who really do want to find peace and to resolve whatever reasons they are still around.
Let's clear up what a Ghost really is. It is not someone or something dressed in a sheet or some scary mask. I admit that when a Ghost appears with his head blown partially off and his body is covered with blood from one of the world's wars, it can be pretty scary. But can you imagine what their Spirit feels like. I doubt if you would have much to worry about as to how they look. That is how they died and it shouldn't affect the way the away taker, does his or her duty. They been "dying" to go home. Please help them go home and not make use of an already desprate situation fr them just to make the programs TV ratings go up. That is almost sacreligious, making a victim out of the victim again.
My friends and I don't shirk from trying to get everyone home to "heaven" or wherever and whatever or however they call the place of peace and rest for them. So, please, I ask these programs to reconsider their goal in these "Ghost Hunter" type programs. It should always be first, and foremost, lastly, to identify Ghosts/Spirits, why they are still around and get them home.
I do hope these programs take this post to heart. You have no idea how tough you make it on Ghosts/Spirits. They truly need to have their place of rest, and it is not in a grave - that is only where their old, tired, and dead bodies rest, not where their souls may rest. Their souls are not in their dead bodies anymore, that connection was broken.
Thank you. |
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