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A few weeks ago, I posted a story about the new Discovery Channel series Ghost Lab and the comments haven’t stopped coming. While some people are glad to see another ghost chasing show on TV, others have ground the series into the ground. One voice of reason in the middle of it all was Patrick French, Founder of Huntsville Ghost Hunters. He left such a compelling comment, I asked him to expand it into a guest post and here you have it. A look at ghost hunting on TV from a man who does it without a camera crew at his back.
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In the past, scientists were easy to recognize, white lab coats, horn rimmed glasses, and a collage degree. Today’s scientists blend in a little bit better, backwards facing hats, cargo shorts and t-shirts. The equipment however is no less impressive, and the purpose hasn’t changed, to discover and learn about the world around us.
As paranormal investigators and ghost hunters that is the very thing we try to do. We have seen things in this world that modern science cannot explain. A select few of us decided we would not sit on the side lines and let the world tell us that the things that we’ve experienced could not have happened just because modern science hasn’t found an answer for it yet, we decided we would look for the answers ourselves.
From full bodied apparitions to unexplained voices they all happen and for a reason, but why, how. That’s what we want to know. So do our clients. For most of us the clients are the fuel that keeps us going. We feel a deep feeling of responsibility to help those that are having these experiences. We go looking for them, but our clients do not ask to be woken up in the middle of the night with the shadow of a figure standing over there bed or have things in there home constantly disappearing or moving seemingly by themselves, and that’s just examples of a calm haunting. Some hauntings have been known to be so serious as to affect the health or threaten the very life of the client.
Who are they supposed to turn to when the rest of the world just thinks they’re being irrational or just imagining things. A few years ago no one knew. Today, thanks to mainstream media, they now know that there are people out there that believe their stories and want to help them any way they can.
Shows like “Ghost Hunters”, “Paranormal State”, and now the new “Ghost Lab” to name a few, show people that they don’t have to face these experiences alone. We don’t laugh, we don’t make jokes, they talk and we listen and do everything in our power to supply the help they need. Because, like them, we’ve been in there shoes. We face a constant stream of criticism from skeptics and even some religions. The networks that have decided to air shows based on the paranormal have opened a door into our world and have educated millions of people on topics that used to be considered taboo.
People who have lived for years with unexplained occurrences happening around them now don’t feel so alone, they see that there are other people out there that live through the same things, and so have allowed them to seek our help without fear of embarrassment feeling there is something shameful about living with spirits.
Now each show has a different way of doing things. Some shows concentrate more on evidence some on history or telling the story of the haunting, some concentrate more on the relationship that develops between the investigator and the client. Personally, this is my favorite format. The first show that I saw that put more emphasis on this aspect than any others was “Paranormal State” I applauded PRS for showing exactly to what lengths we as investigators go to help our clients. More so than “Ghost Hunters” did, while TAPS will go to no less extremes for their clients, that relationship is not really shown on the show. Before “Paranormal State” some viewers thought all we did was go in, shake the clients hand, do the investigation, show the client what was found, then leave. This is not the case at all. And then this aspect seems to have been completely lost on “Ghost Lab” where so far it seems they just use the client to do a quick history on the location, before they show the investigation. While I’m sure they also work very closely with there clients as well, this is just a different format for their show.
While anyone can find fault with any of the shows today individually, collectively they all show a fairly good picture of all the aspects of the life and times of a modern day paranormal investigator.
Patrick French: Founder/Director, Huntsville Ghost Hunters www.myspace.com/huntsvilleghost / huntsvilleghost@myspace.com
Graphic provided by Patrick French
