Sue St.Clair and Matthew Didier's Paranormal Blog

Allow me to start this post with a situational metaphor of sorts...

Have you ever known someone who's significant other has cheated on them... even just once? Have you known that relationship to weather that storm without some form of damage or even a complete breakup?

Why does that happen? No one's perfect, after all...

Simple.

The one partner can no longer completely trust the other... and often, the other, assuming *they* are imperfect, begin to worry about the victim of their dalliances doing what they've done.

This lack of trust destroys the relationship either partially or completely.

Now, on to how this relates to the paranormal...

In any serious study, a person can spend a lifetime learning, presenting, and working their butt off to accumulate good data and excellent arguments. They can be lauded for their work by colleagues and the public and considered top of their game.

...and they can destroy that reputation in one move. All they have to do is "fudge" the numbers, lie, or otherwise hoax.

That sounds awful, but it's 100% true... and in this study, which many people already question the validity of, it's doubly so.

When someone who's looking into the paranormal, for ANY reason, hoaxes, lies, or cheats, it not only reflects on them and the trust other people have in them, but they serve as a beacon and a model to fuel the fight against the study as a whole within the academic communities... including some historic sites and museums.

"Oh, you want to use our resources or site? Aren't you the SAME type of people that did that hoax?"

Now, some of you probably read that and went, "Well, Pshaw! Just point out you AREN'T the same people that perpetrated that hoax!"

This never works thanks to how human beings generally (key word that,) look at things.

I've often said that when I name people like Holzer, Underwood, Auerbach, Roll, Price, and Rogo, you who we hope are interested in the study might say that this is a list of different people looking into ghosts and hauntings in their individual way and are unique save their subject of choice.

Everyone else might rightly say, if we're lucky, "Those are all ghost hunters."

(Most people wouldn't know them from anyone else on the planet.)

Nope, the average person's view of people who look into the paranormal (any subject) is pretty much only what they see on TV... and so no, we're all in this together, like it or not... and the evangelical non-believers will, and do, use this ignorance of the field against us by pointing out that if the teevee paracelebs hoax, we're all tainted as probable hoaxers.

They do do this... and they do do it successfully.

Before the now dwindling realm of "reality" paracelebrities existed, those so-called sceptics (read: Ardent Non-Believers) would hit the books and cite case after case where a paranormal investigator would commit frauds and hoaxes to line their pockets or find fifteen minutes of fame... and again, use this to dismiss the entire field.

Ergo: One lie, one cheat, one hoax... and the perpetrator does and SHOULD lose all trust amongst their peers... and their act DOES reflect on us all.

If you've lied to get "camera time"... or to "sell your book"... or to attempt to become "famous"... what else would you do? How many other lies and cheats have you pulled in the past? How many in the future?

Sue and I have both been asked to lie for the media and even some businesses... and we haven't... because losing our integrity is not worth it to us no matter what the carrot that's being dangled in front of us is...

...and it irritates us to no end that others will happily damage us all so they can have their fame and fortune... all of which is very fleeting.

In their quest, they make those of us who believe in these things suffer because doors get closed... and although some of them feign caring, if they truly cared, they wouldn't have done it in the first place.

I suppose they forget that the human mouth and vocal cords are capable of making a noise that sounds like "No" when asked to do the questionable deeds.

...more likely, they are blinded by a mask of money, teevee cameras, and/or fame and only back-peddle when they realise, as many are right now, they're in trouble popularity-wise.

Realistically, they chose to be a version of Milli Vanilli because it's easier and more "popular" for a moment... and then wish they had decided to actually work and earn things properly and be a version of Quincy Jones.

Right now, we're hearing that some paracelebrities are desperately going to try and revise their initial gimmicks... because, they say, they want to get to where they really want to be, which is serious and not playing up for television.

...but those of us who see the BBM numbers wonder if it's because they're bleeding ratings and losing viewers...?

Either way, they can be as serious about things as they'd like... but they threw their lot in with hoaxers, have done very questionable things, and even though they now COULD have a thousand truths... their past will stick to them... and some of us, who've never followed them or even subscribed to their "viewpoints", will have to work to untarnish ourselves from their missteps.

Don't get me wrong here... it doesn't have to be full-blown television paracelebs... any hoaxer or fraud, no matter how wee, that becomes visible, hurts all of us.

...and that's why the Ashanti proverb above stands true and truer still for those of us serious about the study and those who, for any reason, think it's okay to hoax or commit outright fraud.