Sue St.Clair and Matthew Didier's Paranormal Blog

There's a dreadful little website that takes things way too far by the same name as this blog entry...

It has topics like "What's the harm in believing in psychics?" and then goes on to list major news stories about victims of fraudulent psychics and the like... Now, I say the site in question is "dreadful" because in making it's point, it often makes some leaps and tries to connect dots... for example, "Belief in Ghosts" is apparently tantamount to wishing for an exorcism and so the site lists a lot of rather horrible bad exorcism stories...

Now, this is valid information and I agree there should be caveats to folks who wish to dive into any belief (especially if they wish to act on it,) to do some homework... but that's not why I'm writing this post.

My point is the other "What's the harm?" things... things I've either heard people ask about or must assume people ask about... because indeed these things happen, and one has to assume the people that acted on them felt there'd be no harm... and yet...

For example...

What's the harm in fibbing a little to make a ghost story more interesting?

I mean, after all, it might even put a few coins in the "fibber's" wallet and entertain the kids, right?

Well, I did cover some aspects off in this blog post a few days back... about how lying once taints everything the "fibbers" then produce no matter how valid it might be... and how their "fibs" then cast everyone in a bad light because, indeed, we all do get painted with the same brush by the masses (one "ghost hunter" is another "ghost investigator" is another "paranormal researcher" with no big differences between them all to most people...) and that ends up hurting us all...

...but what about the ethics of that "fib"?

Historical inaccuracies is one thing (and usually the most common event when "ghost hunters" fib,) but what happens when their new tales of haunts (and usually the darker aspects of a history that lead to the "haunting",) contain problems for those who are a little more attached to things then the story tellers is? What if it stigmatizes a home, a parcel of land, or worse yet, a family's good name? We've even had complaints (I know, like we're a complaints department!!! ...but such is life...) when ghost stories told by guides take a decidedly nastier and historically inaccurate tone in terms of the people (post mortem,) supposedly involved... with everything from racism, sexism, implied murders, backroom abortions, and various other treacherous acts all desperately chucked into a "good ghost story" to thrill and chill... with zero proof, zero evidence, and zero substance. Such acts of modern folklore have closed off more than twenty sites to us (even though we were not involved with the "new" stories,) and other ghost enthusiasts... just so a handful could have a sexy story to light up their cold lives.

...and what was the harm?

Ask us... who are now shut out of possibly valuable investigative research.

Ask the families involved... who now live with the stigma of lies about their ancestors.

Ask anyone with a sense of decency... who has to hear someone mock their ancestry... or lifestyle...

...just because someone needed a "good story".

Not just "ghost hunters" can be blamed for this, however... look how deftly things of this nature are handled by the mainstream media by reading this old post.

What's the harm in watching a lot of reality paranormal television programs?

Nothing... provided you understand that a good 75% (or more) of what you're seeing is not all that real.

No, I don't mean they're "faking stuff" that's ghostly or demonic and offering it to you, the viewing audience, as absolute evidence of weird stuff...

...not only that...

They're faking most conversations, story lines, and a lot more in most cases.

The minute you see a creative person in the credits... or a "story editor"... or anything involving a script, it stopped being "real".

There is no "best time" to see or experience things, as an example. Paranormal events happen night or day... it's just hard to freak out teenagers on a couch with a bowl of popcorn in front of their big screen with a show shot at noon.

More and more, the truth seems to be there's not much truth in any of these programs... They are entertainment... and the people in them are entertainers... and provided you understand that... and you know that the majority of what they're doing and saying is really for your viewing benefit to make the popcorn extra-tasty, there's no harm at all.

...but you should be aware of how some of them truly see you... like this interview points out from a writer hired by The Warren's to work on a book for them...

I found that the accounts of the individual Snedekers didn’t quite mesh. They just couldn’t keep their stories straight. I went to Ed with this problem. "Oh, they’re crazy," he said. "Everybody who comes to us is crazy. Otherwise why would they come to us? You’ve got some of the story – just use what works and make the rest up. And make it scary. You write scary books, right? That’s why we hired you. So just make it up and make it scary."

Lorraine Warren is a staple on one of the "reality" TV shows... and there's more about these folks... a LOT more...

...and, off the record, one person involved with the show Mrs. Warren is on admitted to us that, indeed, they don't buy into the "demon" thing... and they want to return to working on strictly ghosts sans "demons". (Good luck with that... I'm sure it'll happen when it's time to renew contracts.)

Again, if you realise that these programs are borderline absolute fiction and ONLY for your "scary pleasure", enjoy!

...but it ain't really what happens when those of us who are in the field do our work.

What is the harm then?

Try working (key word that... "working"...) with anyone who has seen these shows and expects the same "results" and happenings. It's often not pretty.

Also, the antics of the teevee paracelebrities are often so embarrassing, it also closes doors for us to places that don't want that sort of thing in, on, or near their site. This sounds like hyperbole... but sadly, experience has taught us it isn't.

The only good thing here is that in Canada, the ratings for "paranormal television programs" have slipped rather hard in the last few months... and continue to lose ground. Hopefully, most of the shows will be off the air soon... and the misconceptions will eventually leave with them.

What's the harm in hanging out and goofin' around in the haunted places?

Lessee... does the person in question have permission to be there? Might they be arrested for trespassing or break-and-enter?

...and if they are, what's the harm there, right? It's ONLY them!

...nope...

Again, in this case, one person's thrill seeking criminal is all about ghosts... and therefore is one person's "ghost hunter" is one person's "ghost investigator" is one person's...

...are you starting to see a trend?

It really is like this... and can take weeks, months, sometimes years... sometimes never... to regain the trust of an owner, tenant, site manager, or the like to allow someone to do some actual investigation and observation on a site when these things happen.

For some recent examples, see ParaResearcher's report on #1 Spadina Cres. in Toronto and more recently, the sad events relayed on The Haunted Hamilton website about the legend of Mary Rutherford.

There are many, many, sadly many more similar news items... all sad... and all stupid...

I could also list the people that mistake "abandoned" for "haunted" and end up doing poorly planned urban exploration and getting hurt and worse... but hopefully, you get the idea...

I could go one with one's like "What's the harm of paying for psychical help?" and talking about the SEVERAL cases where we know people that lost literally thousands to would-be psychics and the like in fees and such... or "What's the harm in knowing (without any other examination,) what's happening and acting on it?" and discuss the deaths of hundreds of people in relatively modern times who were mentally ill, but "cured" (to death) by botched "exorcisms" or worse...

...but I'll stop here.

Suffice to say, when doing anything... LITERALLY anything... ask the question...

"What IS the worst that can happen?"

...and be honest with your answers.

It may save everyone, including yourself, a lot of heart ache and pain.