A Paranormal Circus

I recently watched an episode of Paranormal Challenge, hosted by Zak Bagans. What a clown show.

I've always respected Zak as an investigator, and for the most part, I still do. When Ghost Adventures started, I was psyched to see people investigate the way I would. A small team, no camera crew, and raw curiosity. But this show...what a disappointment.

When it was over, I remember thinking...

"What the hell?"

Is this really what ghost hunting has become?

A competition? I thought it was terrible.

Ghost hunting has spent decades trying to be taken seriously, and then along comes a show where teams compete against each other as if investigating the paranormal is some kind of game show.

That just doesn't sit right with me.

What bothered me even more was the way some of the teams handled the equipment. In one episode, one of the investigators referred to technical equipment as "the thingy" and "the blinky thing."

Really?

Ghost hunting already has enough skeptics. If we're going to ask people to take investigations seriously, then we should probably know the names of the equipment we're using, right? It's not cute to be willfully ignorant.

That doesn't mean someone has to be an expert.

Everyone starts somewhere.

But television has a way of shaping public perception, and when millions of people are watching, I think it's fair to expect investigators to have at least a basic understanding of the tools they're carrying.

Now, to be fair, I know reality television isn't real life.

Shows are edited.

Drama gets ratings.

And maybe the producers wanted entertainment more than investigation. If that's the case, they certainly did the damage they were seeking to do. It just wasn't the kind of paranormal television I would ever watch again. I'd much rather watch investigators take their time, document evidence carefully, and admit when they don't have an explanation than watch people compete over who had the "better" ghost hunt.