IN THE PAST FEW YEARS THERE HAVE BEEN A FEW REALITY TV SHOWS CENTERED AROUND THE EVER POPULAR "GHOST HUNTING" PHENOMENA. THOUGH I FOUND IT HARD TO STOMACH SHOWS SUCH AS GHOST HUNTERS AND MOST HAUNTED, AFTER SEEING THE TRAILER SPOTS ON TV FOR THE GHOST LAB SHOW MY CURIOSTY WAS PIQUED, AFTERALL THEY WERE PROMOTING IT AS A SCIENCE BASED GHOST HUNTING SHOW.
NOW RIGHT OFF THE BAT, I WILL SAY THAT I AM SKEPTICAL OF THE AUTHENTICITY OF ANY CLAIMS AND FINDINGS OF A SHOW WHOSE SOLE PURPOSE FOR BEING ON THE AIR IS TO GET HIGHER RATINGS AND THUS HIGHER PAID COMMERCIALS SPOTS. DO YOU REALLY THINK THAT TV CHANNELS PUT OUT SHOWS FOR US TO WATCH FROM THE KINDNESS OF THEIR HEARTS? NO. ITS ALL ABOUT THE MONEY. IM NOT SUGGESTING THAT THE "STARS" OF THE SHOWS ARE IN ON A DELIBERATE CAMPAIGN TO DECIEVE THE PUBLIC. BUT I WIL SAY THAT I WOULDNT BE SURPRISED IF THERE ARE THINGS HAPPENING BEHIND THE SCENES, UNBEKNOWST TO THE "STARS" THAT HAVE BEEN PUT IN PLACE TO MAKE THE SHOW MORE MARKETABLE TO THE PUBLIC.
NOW ON TO MY REVIEW OF THE SHOW.
ABOUT 15 MINS INTO THE SHOW I KNEW THAT I HAD BEEN DUPED INTO WATCHING, YET AGAIN, A SHOW WHERE THE PEOPLE RUN AROUND WITH "GHOST HUNTING" EQUIPMENT AND SHOUTING TO THE RAFTERS ABOUT HOW THE PLACE IS HAUNTED. NOW, THEY DID USE EQUIPMENT TO MEASURE AND TRACK FLUCUATIONS IN THINGS SUCH AS EMF AND TEMPERATURES AS WELL AS USING VOICE RECORDERS, VIDEO RECORDERS, AND A WHITE BOARD (I GUESS THEY THOUGHT THIS WAS IMPRESSIVE *SHRUGS*).
THE KLINGE BROTHERS ALSO EMPLOYED A FEW DIFFERENT STRATEGIES TO SHOW THAT THEY HAD CAPTURED FLUCATIONS IN THESE READINGS, I BELIEVE THEY CALLED THEM LINEAR AND SHOTGUN (SOMETHING OR OTHER) DEPENDING ON THE LAYOUT OF THE EQUIPMENT USED. THEY ALSO DID SOME SORT OF BASELINE READINGS (THEIR TAKE OF A CONTROL). HOWEVER, DESPITE ALL THESE THINGS, THE SHOW ACTAULLY CAME OFF EVEN LESS IMPRESSIVE THAN GHOST HUNTERS. A COMPLETE BOMB IN MY EYES.
MY BIGGEST CONCERN IS THAT THE KLINGE BROTHERS WERE NOT IMPARTIAL AT ALL WHEN IT CAME TO DECIDING IF A PLACE IS HAUNTED. THEY WENT TO EACH LOCATION WITH THE MINDSET THAT IT WAS ALREADY HAUNTED AND THAT THEY WERE THERE TO SIMPLY GATHER "DATA" AS THEY CALL IT. AND THUS EVERY BIT OF DATA THEY GATHERED WAS INTERPRETED AS GHOSTLY EVIDENCE. AND AS THEY SAID IT " DATA IS SCIENCE".. REALLY? I THOUGHT DATA WAS JUST THAT DATA.
WITHOUT AN HYPTHESIS STATED, AN EXPERIMENT SET UP AND CONTROLS ISSUED, THE ACT OF DATA GATHERING (WHICH IS REALLY WHAT MOST GHOST HUNTERS DO) IS SIMPLY THAT.... GATHERING DATA, IT DOES NOT PROVE ANYTHING. IT MERELY SHOWS CORRELATION AND/OR COINSIDENCE FURTHERMORE CORRELATION IS CORRELATION, NOT CAUSE AND EFFECT.
AREAS OF QUESTIONABLE PRACTICES:
1. PROFESSIONALISM OF THE ENTIRE GROUP. ITS LIKE CASUAL FRIDAY WENT TO A WHOLE NEW LEVEL.
2. BASELINE READINGS, WILL ONLY SHOW FLUCTUATIONS NOT CAUSATION FOR THE FLUCATIONS. CAUSATIONS ARE ALL SPECULATIVE. BUT WHAT THE HECK THEY WERE THERE TO CAPTURE EVIDENCE FOR GHOSTS, SOOO LETS SAY THEY WERE MADE BY GHOSTS.
3. BASELINE READINGS (ESPECIALY EMF) DO NOT RULE OUT MUNDANE CAUSES FOR THE FLUCATIONS. BUT WHO CARES WHEN THEY CAN PASS THEM OFF AS GHOSTS RIGHT?
4. BAD SETUP. IF THERE ARE REPORTS OF DOORS OPENING ON THEIR OWN, WHY NOT SET UP A CAMERA ON BOTH SIDES OF THE DOOR? MAKES SENSE TO ME.
5. HAVE ALL EQUIPMENT ON HAND. NOT OUT IN THE VAN, EPECIALLY WHEN IT IS AS SMALL AS A TEMPERATURE GUN.
6. USE COMMON SENSE. IN THIS PARTICULAR EPISODE THERE WAS A REPORTED EVP CAPTURED DOWN BY A POND.. IT WAS THOUGHT TO HAVE SAID... "GET TO THE TREES". I OWN A POND, I HAVE FROGS. THERE HAVE BEEN MANY OCCASIONS WHERE IT SEEMS THAT THE CROAKING OF DIFFERENT FROGS GIVE THE ILLUSION OF WORDS BEING SAID. WOULDNT IT MAKE GOOD SENSE TO AT LEAST RULE THAT OUT? ANOTHER VOICE PHENOMENA THAT THEY SAID TO HAVE CAPTURED WAS THAT OF CHILDREN IN THE UPSTAIRS BEDROOMS AT THE MYRTLES PLANTATION. IT SOUNDED AN AWEFULE LOT LIKE A ROOSTER TO ME. AGAIN, THE THOUGHT NEVER CROSSED THEIR MIND THAT IT COULD BE ANYTHING ELSE. TO THE KLINGE BROTHERS, IT WAS AUTOMATICALLY AND WITHOUT A DOUBT PROOF OF GHOSTS.
7. SCIENCE IS NOT DATA, AS THE BROTHERS SO READILY CLAIMED. DATA CAN BE SKEWED TO FIT JUST ABOUT ANY AGENDA. DATA IS DATA.
8. DO NOT GIVE A DIFFERENT NAME TO A PROCEDURE/IDEA AND THEN TRY TO PASS IT OFF AS YOUR OWN. ERA CUES, AS THE KLINGE BROTHERS CALLED IT, WAS THE ACT OF RECREATING THE ATMOSPHERE OF THE TIMEPERIOD THAT REPORTED GHOSTS ARE SAID TO BE FROM. THEY DO THIS IN ORDER TO INCRASE THE ENERGY AND DRAW OUT INTELLIGENT GHOSTS OR EVEN DORMANT GHOSTS TRULY, THE KLINGE BROTHERS PRESENTED THE IDEA (COMPLETE WITH A NEW NAME) AS IF IT WERE A NEW IDEA THAT THEY CAME UP WITH. IN FACT THIS TYPE OF THOUGHT/PROCEDURE HAS BEEN AROUND FOR SOME TIME, BUT UNDER DIFFERENT NAMES. OTHER NAMES INCLUDE, PARANORMAL STIMULI, THEORY OF FAMILARIZATION, AND OF COURSE THE SINGAPORE THEORY.
THESE ARE JUST A FEW ISSUES I SAW IN THIS ONE EPISODE. IM SURE I WILL THINK OF MORE AS TIME GOES ON, I WILL ADD AS TIME ALLOWS.
I SUPPOSE THE QUESTION LEF TO BE ASKED IS... WOULD I WATCH THIS SHOW AGAIN? NOT ON YOUR LIFE.
Subject: DISCOVERY CHANNEL'S GHOST LAB 