Yes, I believe in ghosts. Yes, I believe there are demons. Yes, I believe that there are many things we can not explain out there in the world. Yes, I believe there is something beyond this existence.
I happened to see a trailer for a movie called Insidious. Looks interesting. It got me to thinking about all the various boogie boos out there. I wonder how many people out there truly believe in the supernatural/paranormal. I see polls that are taken, surveys and such, but how many people tell the truth about it? Anyway, that really isn't why I'm typing this up.
I'm actually talking about the hunters of the paranormal in this post. There are shows about people 'investigating' these occurrences. And yes, I put investigating in quotes for a reason. Most of these shows go looking to prove that there is something there. The only one that I've seen where they didn't is Ghost Hunters. However, I am still a bit sceptical of them, seems that they are asked to play up what happens in the show. However, most of the time they don't seem to find anything. The other shows always find something. Having learned a bit about psychology over the years I firmly believe that if you go into one of these investigations believing that you will find something then you will find it. One of the guys that I work with said something that perfectly sums up most of these investigation shows, "I'm expecting to hear/see this (give example)" During investigation, "Oh hey! Did you see/hear that thing I said that I expected to see/hear?" Most of these shows give paranormal investigation a bad name, and how can anyone take them seriously. On occasion they do come up with some neat footage/evidence but nothing that I would ever consider as concrete proof of paranormal activity. Some of it gets close, but nothing that jumps out and can remove any shadow of a doubt that it exists.
Here are some things I have issue with when presented as "Fact":
Orbs - Often believed to be collections of energy moving around or spirits. What I think they probably are - Dust or bugs
Really grainy photos of ghosts - Investigators reaction: You can see a ghost in the photo! It proves that the place is haunted! - My reaction: How can you tell? I think that most of these are matrixing, the ability of the brain to make a shape out of patterns.
Really grainy videos of ghosts - Similar to above, but I have to ask, why does it have to be so grainy? Do spirits find it easier to manifest if they are being watched with a grainy camera? Come on, get some high quality cameras that give us the good proof we want!
EMF Meters - Investigators: Oh My GOD! There is a GHOST HERE!! The EMF is going off!! Me: Get the damn thing away from the boom mike, camera, or wire. Seriously, to say a place is haunted because your little device goes off isn't good investigation, you have to look for a source, if you can't find one you can say it's paranormal but don't call it a ghost.
Thermometers - Investigators use this to try to find spirits as well, again they will overreact to a fluctuation in temperature and for the instances of dropping more than 10 degrees in a matter of seconds, those have me scratching my head too. But is it a ghost? I need more than that.
EVP (a.k.a. Voices in static) - Now these can creep me out but most of the time I would have to listen really hard to hear anything other than static. I consider most of this along the lines of audio matrixing, kind of like the visual matrixing with the photos, the brain fills in the gaps.
In my mind, the best way to capture proof of the supernatural (i.e. Ghosts) would be to use really good equipment to capture it. High grade cameras, audio recorders, and sensors. The best rig for me is to outfit someone with a suit that has various sensor and recorders all over it, including something to scan brain activity, and send them into a haunted house alone with a team outside monitoring the investigator. But I'll get into that in another post.
But since all the data can be faked and there have been so many charlatans in the past, could it ever be trusted?
I don't think so.
That is why I think that belief in the supernatural/paranormal can not be increased with evidence, people will have to personally experience it themselves.
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