There was a time when I'd dutifully tune in each Wednesday to Sy-Fy's Ghost Hunters. These days, I might catch two or three episodes out of a season. Why? Because I just don't buy it anymore and I'm flipping through channels.
When I interviewed Grant Wilson back in 2006, he seemed completely genuine - both Wilson and Jason Hawes were really, really nice guys! I got the chance to speak with them three years in a row and was a loyal fan of the show until 2008 when rumors of staging started to take root, with actual mistakes caught on camera. So when I finally decided I didn't buy the show anymore, I was a little heartbroken.
... But I'm over it!
Ghost Hunters, as Donna LaCroix recently put it, is purely an "entertainment show". First of all, as the TAPS reputation has grown with the popularity of the show, more and more evidence seems to come out each season. Too much, if you ask me, compared with the first two seasons. Secondly, the 2008 live show was "a total disaster" as Grant Wilson said to a fan. Really? You got your jacket pulled! You heard voices! How is THAT a distaster?
Heres' why... the 2008 live show marks the beginning of the end of the "reality" of Ghost Hunters.
The video that sealed the deal for me, keeping in mind the whole thing is filled with suggestive comments that could go either way - it's the "You're not supposed to be here" stuff and coat pull sections of the video that really upset me. Video, Ghost Hunters: Staged
As a once loyal fan of the show, this obvious staging really upsets me - it's hard to take the paranormal field seriously with this kind of nonsense going on -- yet another step backward for a field that's always resting precariously on the backs of people that either may or may not be serious about finding "the truth".
