Sue Darroch and Matthew Didier's Paranormal Blog

Laying the Smacketh Down - An old target, but a new plea...

"We've read your site, we understand what you won't do, but we still are very interested in doing an article on your group!"

Y'know how many times we've heard this?

Y'know how many times we've been lied to?

Last week, I ranted about the "Ghost Hunting Community" and how I'd rather be tossed into a room full of arguing financial analysts discussing stock market volatility then spend any "quality" time within the community.

I mentioned that there's a lot of folks in this "community" that are media crack-whores that are not interested in doing anything unless it might get their face on camera or on the TV...

You'd be shocked at how many of these types there are... less interested in the study than in looking like the paranormal equivalent to Lindsay Lohan... with all the intelligence that this metaphor brings to the table.

Therefore, it's not unusual when the media contacts us and expects us to do JUST ABOUT anything to get their attention.

Got news for you... Unlike MANY in this so-called community, we ain't interested in being on TV or in the paper... we've been there, done that... and don't care.

BELIEVE IT OR NOT, we're ACTUALLY interested in the study of paranormal phenomena, not in getting quality "face time" on ANY program.

Heck, if you have a chance, read the "Media FAQ" on the Torontoghosts website... it'll 'splain everything.

Using this, when a member of the media contacts us, we remind them in an "autoresponder" (an e-mail that's automatically sent out when we receive their e-mail,) about the FAQ...

Without fail, almost every time, we get an e-mail saying...

We read the FAQ and understand it... We're only interested in what you guys are doing and how you do it!

So, like lambs to the slaughter... or pigeons to the stool... we have said, "Okay! Great!" and then get together with the media folks...

...and it begins...

I want you to take me to a haunted house... one that NO ONE'S visited before! Maybe let me talk to the people who live there and get their story?

Um... great job reading, twit.

We OPENLY say that we WILL NOT DO THIS! The privacy of our witnesses is key AND because of that privacy, taking a REPORTER TO THEIR HOME is not conducive to offering assistance.

Nitwits.

On other occasions, we'll do what APPEARS to be a good, thoughtful interview... we'll discuss things like misconceptions about witnesses and phenomena, work with various instruments and what we've discovered through labs and papers about them, and our endeavours to further the understanding of reported phenomena...

What's the final result?

A headline that reads...

WHO YA GONNA CALL? GHOST HUNTERS GO SCARY BOO IN TORONTO!

No mention of the REAL meat of the interview... no mention on our papers, our efforts, or even those that we cited... nope...

Schlocky nonsense wins.

A PUBLIC PLEA TO THOSE WHO WISH TO USE US IN ANY FASHION FOR A DOCUMENTARY OR NEWS ARTICLE...

#1: Don't lie. If you READ our Media FAQ, understand it and work within it's frame.

#2: If you're going to pretend to be interested in our work, DON'T blow us off to do the same friggin' story that's been done a thousand times with mentions of "Scooby-Doo" and "The Ghostbusters".

#3: If you REALLY, HONESTLY believe that we're so freakin' egotistical and wish to be in your wonderful article, documentary, or whatever... that we will "feed" you a witness so you can write about their "horror" and "terror", my suggestion would be to go to your nearest bar, order a double-shot of scotch, down it rapidly, then walk into oncoming traffic... preferably high-speed traffic. If you can find a roadway with fast moving trucks (the larger, the better,) then we'd be grateful.

Basically, if you CAN'T understand that WE are serious and go MUCH further into this study than the average group of supposed "ghost hunters", then DON'T TALK TO US!

You're only wasting your time and ours.

Oh, and before I get the usual e-mails about a certain "television show" that features WONDERFUL "ghost hunters" that we, obviously, have modeled ourselves after...

TRUTH! - Though I'm certain it's (publicly) "not true" in their eyes - They modelled themselves after us.

Don't believe me? I have the e-mails from years ago to prove it.

Basically, that group entered the scene in and around 1999 and wrote to me saying that WE must become a MEMBER of THEM because they were the largest and bestest...

...despite their absolute belief in orbs photos, mist photos, vortex photos, etc.

We declined, politely, for two reasons... First, we were serious about the study... second, we were in Canada and were not interested in being a part of a American group that plainly labelled themselves as adhering to one area.

This was met with MUCH anger and threats...

However, over time, they adopted SOME of our stuff... without crediting us... and made some pretty horrific mistakes (like using internet-obtained doctorates, for example.)

Now, they are WAY better than they were... and have SLOWLY changed their ways... but have NEVER, EVER given ANYONE credit for anything... but themselves!

No mention of the Society for Psychical Research. No mention of any other investigators or researchers.

They are islands unto themselves.

Well, let me tell you something... THEY AREN'T.

I ain't sayin' we're "better"... and I ain't sayin' we DESERVE "credit" for their stuff... but their poop stinks... worse than most... and just because they more-or-less "borrowed" from others to make themselves appear better over time DOES NOT MAKE THEM THE END ALL OF BE ALLS.

Just once... ONCE... I'd like to see them cite someone OTHER than themselves... to show that there were people in the field OTHER than them...

For God sakes, a grade five student writing an essay shows their sources... why don't these people?

So, as stated, BEFORE anyone spouts off an e-mail to "show" me that the media is GREAT based on a TV show from The States... yeah, we know 'em... we knew 'em when they told us we would "vanish" and be "shut out" from the "paranormal community" in the late 1990's... we knew 'em when they THOUGHT they were "doctors"... and now, we're forced to hear our own words, our own studies, and our own thoughts parroted back to us poorly in reference to these people.

This isn't jealousy... HONEST... what spurred this extra comment is the fact that a LOT of people toss these folks "at us" to make points... that somehow, we will be "awed" by the fact that they are citing "The Television Stars"...

...well, if you were planning this, now you understand why this, for us, is the equivalent of arguing wave mechanics with Erwin Schrödinger using something that the professor from Gilligan's Island did as your source of data and argument.

Oh, this does NOT mean you shouldn't be a "fan" of the TV show... or that everything these folks do is dung... not at all... they made mistakes, have (hopefully) learned from them, and are doing better (I hope) work.

...but for the record, people have been PROPERLY examining claims of the paranormal for centuries... and they weren't all like the people I blasted last week... and it would be NICE to see these two acknowledge those who we HOPE they learned from... be that Fodor, Roll, Rogo, Price, Underwood, Spencer... or even Friedman (instrumental in the fight against "so-called-sceptics"), Maccabee (the scientist who really was the first to debunk orb photos), Lietzau (the scientist who's ongoing work into photographic anomalies is crucial), Philips (work with ghost lights), or any number of people.

...and these folks do NOT have to be able to do their TV show to be acknowledged in my eyes.

Wow... that's kinda TWO "Smackdowns" for the price of one!