Be a Skeptic

             Our Be a Skeptic Quest in the 3d Game Lab states that we are to choose a group or person who is trying to promote the use of critical thinking through popular culture and evaluate his or her beliefs. For this Quest, I chose to focus on The Atlantic Paranormal Society (TAPS) which is the paranormal investigative group that the well known Syfy reality television show Ghost Hunters is based off of.

                For those of you who have never heard of TAPS or the television show, Ghost Hunters; the show follows around a group of “Paranormal Investigators” who are based out of the state of Rhode Island. Co-founders Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson founded the group in the year 1990. According to the official TAPS website, the group’s original purpose and mission is, helping those experiencing paranormal activity by investigating its claims in a professional and confidential matter using the latest in paranormal research equipment and techniques.  http://www.the-atlantic-paranormal-society.com/. Also according to their website, TAPS reportedly receives Thousands of case requests daily from the public for them to investigate a possibly “Haunted” location but the group is only able to annually investigate a handful of the requests which they receive.

            In 2003, TAPS founders were approached by Pilgram Films and asked to appear in a new and upcoming television program for the television station Sci Fi (now Syfy) channel. According to Tvguide.com http://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/ghost-hunters-2004/episode-1-season-1/altoona-tantrum/191528 , the series premiere for the television show, aired for the first time on October 6, 2004. In it’s first publicly televised paranormal investigation, the team travel to and conducted an investigation in Altoona, Pennsylvania. Both Hawes and Grant work full time as plumbers and perform paranormal investigations while not on-duty as plumbers.

                At the time that this Blog was written, Ghost Hunters is on its eight season of television and has aired more than 150 episodes all across the globe. While on the location of an active investigation, the TAPS group, usually under the cover of darkness, uses several techniques and tools to conduct its investigations. Some of the tools used by the members of TAPS infrared and digital video cameras, thermal camera devices, EMF (Electromagnetic Field) detectors, digital thermometers and various other equipment.

                Most televised investigations, which the group appears in for the most part, seem to have the same basic investigative procedures. At the beginning of each investigation, the team members visit and survey the property of concern with either the property’s owner or a spokesperson for the property owner. It is during this time of the investigation that the property owner or spokesperson, sometimes along with other witnesses, describe alleged reports of possible paranormal activity, which either them or other people have reportedly experienced in the past while at the location of the investigation.

                After meeting with the property owner or spokesperson and receiving information pertaining to the location and its possible “hauntings”, the team usually sets up several different types of electronic surveillance equipment throughout the location of the investigation prior to the team beginning their official investigation of the property or properties. After the surveillance equipment is preset in chosen locations throughout the property, the team splits into smaller groups, usually consisting of 2 or 3 investigation members and camera operators start the main investigations of the property in question of possibly paranormal activity.

                After spending several hours investigating the locations, the team concludes its primary investigation, packing up all equipment used prior to departing the location. The team then spends a good amount of time, reviewing all audio, video and other possible findings that they may have found during their investigation. After reviewing and closely examining all found evidence of possible paranormal activity at the location, co-founders Hawes and Wilson then meet up again with the property owner or spokesperson who they met with prior to the main investigation, and provide that person with what the team feels is the most credible evidence found during their investigation of the property.

Many times after analyzing all of the data recovered by the team during their investigation, there is little to no evidence found leading the team co-founders and other members to make the decision that the location has paranormal activity. Several team members have been known to say during a few of the series’ episodes that the team first tries to debunk all reported possible paranormal activities reported by witnesses at the property by attempting to find reasonable or scientific explanations for the reported experiences.

 According to the article http://www.movieweb.com/news/grant-wilson-and-jason-hawes-talk-ghost-hunters published in March of 2008, during an interview with co-founders Hawes and Wilson, Jason Hawes stated; “We’ve been doing this for 17 years and, you know, we go in with a skeptical mindset. We’re going in trying to debunk the claims of paranormal activity.” In my opinion, it is this mindset of the team members which makes this paranormal investigation television show much more entertaining to watch than several others which have also appeared on cable television in the past several years. Some of these other groups, in my opinion, seem to go into a location of investigation trying to prove that the location has some sort of so-called paranormal activity. Also, the members of TAPS seem to me much more experienced and more professional during their investigations than some other investigative groups which have had television shows pertaining to their investigations.

               I believe that the fact that the success of the Ghost Hunters television show in popular culture over the past 8 years has in some ways effected some of the team members’ professionalism and truthfulness along with some of the investigations conducted and has also caused some property owners to fake false reports of possible paranormal activity in hope of having their so-called (15 minutes of fame) on television. During the same interview as listed above with co-founders Hawes and Wilson, Jason Hawes made a verbal remark regarding two such hoaxes which were set up at locations by the property owners. Hawes stated the following about those two incidents, “We did have one gentleman who built a speaker inside a wall. He would try to make sounds come from that wall. We were able to track the speaker wire up to the wall. We did a restaurant, which I don’t think we will air. But, you know, the whole place was rigged with fake paranormal activity and Grant and I were able to figure it all out and find that.