Sue St.Clair and Matthew Didier's Paranormal Blog

Let me start off today with something decidedly not paranormal... of which, perhaps I should warn the gentle reader, I will need to often tread outside the realm of the paranormal several times during this entry.

Sue and I are avid documentary watchers. We love anything we can watch on other cultures, history, physics, criminology, medicine, psychology, and of course, the paranormal... but the paranormal, as stated, is not where I'm starting here.

We were excited when we heard Dr. Zahi Hawass, head of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities, was involved in a show called "Chasing Mummies", a "reality" program about looking into Egyptian archeology.

We eagerly waited and thanks to a friend "in the industry", received a DVD of the first episode... and watched... or tried to...

Sue and I are not regular watchers of "reality teevee" at all of any sort... We do like documentaries to be certain, but we found out during this show just how far the idea of a documentary was from "reality television".

Before continuing, if us not knowing this in some way makes some people think we're slow on the uptake, I would remind... other than occasional "Idol" viewing and rare "Survivor" viewing,... the latter of which we knew to be somewhat directed... we don't watch much television at all... and stay pretty much to news and docs... so this was indeed new to us. We're not up on our modern pop-culture.

"Chasing Mummies" was very obviously scripted... or poorly ad-libbed at best. It was painfully directed (micro-directed even,) and had all the genuine look and feel as a bowl full of dollar-store plastic bananas. It was so bad that, indeed, the things Sue and I have read about Dr. Hawass before (and his exploits) now seem more likely to be possibly... "played up"? "Exaggerated"? Even possibly outright un-truths?

It was insulting... not only to the subject and possibly Dr. Hawass in hind-sight... but to the viewer as well.

Yes, it was THAT bad.

On Friday, the same friend shared with me a relatively new paranormal reality teevee show... well, it didn't SEEM to be a reality teevee show based on the write-up... and my friend hadn't watched it before giving it to me.

The show is called, "Fact or Fake: The Paranormal Files" and here's what the write-up said...

Ex-FBI agent Ben Hansen and his team attempt to debunk or authenticate Web videos and photos involving supernatural activities.

Well, other than realising most people would only be able to claim something was a "Likely Fraud", "Mistaken Situation", or "Unknown Causation" at best (that is, without a declaration of intentional hoaxery by the person who put forward the photo or video -OR- with hard evidence to support a fraud,) the show still sounded okay... and I suspected it would be about looking at videos or photos, dissecting them, and then giving a "likely hypothesis" as to authenticity.

I was wrong.

It's another Hawass-Like reality program... and I managed to watch about six minutes or so of it before needing to switch it off and walk away.

The opening was not like a serious documentary or even a serious show about educating the public... no... it was a cheap music-video style opening specifically designed for those with severe attention deficiencies.

During this montage of loud, we're introduced to the team...

We have, the team lead... who's more than a bit young to be a former FBI investigator... and upon investigation, there's a chance that he may not have been a full-time member of the Bureau as is... his biography, as one person pointed out, simply states he worked with the FBI... not for the FBI... and is currently a systems analyst for a non-profit company... so there's some doubt there. Oh, and as a bonus, he's another one of that rare breed of investigators... someone most of us have never heard of (no publications, no papers, no known body of work,) who has been doing this for almost his whole life... not adult life... almost his WHOLE life. According to himself on the show, he's been investigating the paranormal since he "was ten years old". Imagine that... So he was an apparent child protege.

The rest of the team is either an amazing stroke of casting... or something's a little odd. Basically, two attractive young women and two fit young guys. If these folks have serious credits to their abilities and skills, they weren't made clear... and upon watching this, I did seriously wonder... was this a legit team... or someone finding work for some attractive friends?

The latter seemed more likely as the show rolled on in dreck-like fashion...

Within seconds, it became painfully clear, like the Hawass show, that the entire program was directed and scripted... and rather poorly acted.

Where the train wreck FLEW off the rails for me as a serious investigator and researcher was the team "viewing" their first video...

It was one I've seen before... a video of some woods that, suddenly, features a shadow of some sort seemingly move (at a distance... on a guess, twenty or more feet from the camera,) between the photographer/camera and the trees. As it passes, it does distort the trees... and moves off from right to left... possibly taking a second or two.

As the image rolls full screen for us on our television (after a lame-duck scripted introduction that's presented to us as "fly-on-the-wall" real,) we hear gasps and almost shouts of interest and... yeah... fear.

They re-run the image and through some camera-cuts, we eventually see the team talking loudly and excitedly as if they'd just witnessed the first successful attempt at cold fusion... semi-shouts from being scared to one of the young ladies getting up from her chair and asking everyone to "Go back! Go back!" in an almost semi-comical, badly acted fashion... because it was just that compelling.

It was at this point, I made the decision to switch it off... because I had to ask myself... If this is how the director is telling them how to act in a closed space environment watching a YouTube video, how bad WILL it be when they're supposedly in the field?

Wishing to avoid further anger and frustration... not to mention losing an hour of my life... I stopped the playback.

Now, I am aware the ratings for all the big "paranormal reality" shows are swirling the proverbial bowl (probably because of the over-dramatic acting/situations they're scripted and directed into and the over saturation of the market with these programs,) and that if we go by the official numbers, many of these horror shows ("horror shows" for the wrong reasons, I might add,) will soon be gone... unless the networks like bleeding cash and viewers.

Still, after all this, I got to thinking... Is it possible to do a good and meaningful show on the paranormal?

I used to continuously cite the original "In Search Of..." as a good example as it tended to tell the story, interview those involved, present the information, and allow the viewer to come to any conclusions with very few bells, whistles, or the crap that modern production teams FEEL (or "think") is necessary to reach viewers.

Right now, personally, I'm re-watching "The Day The Universe Changed" with James Burke... which is not about the paranormal (although occasionally, Mr. Burke ends up commenting on the Victorian interest in spiritualism,) but is expertly presented, entertaining, insightful, educational, and most importantly, interesting.

The show treats the viewer with respect... and the presentation has moments of humour and occasional bells and whistles, but stays to it's narrative... and if you're interested in science and technology and have not seen any of James Burke's programs, you're missing out!

Sue and I also watched recently a documentary called "Beautiful Minds", the first episode being about Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell, an astrophysicist... and as an example of how something like these "not related to the paranormal" shows indeed enhance the thinking of those interested, here's a quote from Professor Bell Burnell from the program in question...

Science is a quest for understanding. A search for truth seems to me to be full of pitfalls. We all have different understandings of what 'truth' is and we are in danger of each believing that our truth is the one and only absolute truth... which is why I say it's full of pitfalls. I think a search for understanding is much more serviceable to humankind and is a sufficiently ambitious goal of itself.

If anyone read the above quote and does not see the very plausible connection to studying the paranormal, I'm kind of shocked.

With the examples of "In Search Of...", "The Day The Universe Changed", and even "Beautiful Minds", (and I'm only scratching a surface,) it seems to me that STILL, someone with vision might see something rather important...

Although there is no doubt that pretty looking people with night-vision cameras lodged in shots directly up their nose appeals to some, are they not missing another demographic?

That demographic being those who genuinely want to know more about these experiences... to learn about the phenomena... to actually hear things that, perhaps, they didn't know before?

Looking at the ratings (which I oddly enough do,) from BBM (in Canada) and Nielsen (in America) I do see the sincere waning of interest the fare placed before the viewing public... and yet, the interest IS there.

Most real paranormal investigators know that if you truly did follow us about on our work, it would hardly be compelling... I've often likened it to how I heard the job of airline pilot described... Hours and hours of endless tedium and boredom broken by seconds of excitement. Let's face it, following someone around for three hours in an old building while they check temperatures, snap photos, and take other readings is not exactly wah-hoo stuff... and even the rather obviously scripted and directed (to make it "...more interesting for you, the viewer!") reality shows can only do so much...

...but what about really TRYING to push the actual subject ahead of the experience or reaction?

I bet some of you didn't know this, but it's true... My experience has taught me that people are interested in the paranormal itself, not just the reaction of talent-challenged demi-actors under cheap direction.

There are a lot of people that want information... they want ideas... they want knowledge... ESPECIALLY about something that could be about the idea of what comes after one passes on. (Most of us, sadly, will die at some point in the future... and the idea of what might come after that moment interests some... and that's only ONE possible aspect of ghosts!)

Now, Sue and I have never hid the fact... we're not interested in being media stars. We actively avoid a lot of media... but to those people out there who are happy to deal with the media... consider this...

There is a lot of really good information out there... and it could be presented in an entertaining and educational format... and faux reality teevee is not that medium.

Perhaps you might suggest... Hey! The night-vision up my nose is great, but why not consider presenting the information in an educational way and make it entertaining and interesting! Maybe watch a good documentary or three and use those ideas and formats on this topic! We could find a NEW audience and the old audience will most likely hang about too!

It's a thought... but a good one...

...and yes, television CAN do good things with paranormal subjects... but not until they get off the merry-go-round of stupid false reality shows and think outside the "paranormal media" box.

I think, one day, they will.