People continue to ask me if certain ghost hunting TV shows and movies are real or just entertainment.

• Are the Ghost Hunters fake? I replied to that about a year ago, in my article, Ghost Hunters TV show – fake? Nothing since then has changed my mind.
• Is Extreme Paranormal fake? I supposed that some of it might be real.  Most of it is high camp, staged for the show.  I analyzed one episode and wrote about it in Bonito City – The Real Story.
• Is Paranormal Activity fake?  Is Cloverfield fake?  Is Death of a Ghost Hunter fake? Of course they are.  Like several films in this genre, they’re styled after The Blair Witch Project (which totally missed several genuine hauntings in the area).  Those movies are not actual documentaries.

This list goes on & on, but it’s important to remember: Almost any phenomena can be staged for an audience.  And, almost anyone can be mistaken about what seems paranormal at first.

That’s why we thoroughly investigate haunted places.  We can never be 100% certain that something is a ghost.

All we can do is rule out phenomena that seem unearthly… but have nothing to do with the paranormal world.   What’s left may be a genuine haunting.

Investigating is at least 50% an effort to debunk

That’s most of what we do, as ghost hunters:  We observe something that seems like it’s a ghost.  Then, we look for logical, non-paranormal explanations for it.

Often, the only way to “prove” that something might be a ghost, is to run out of normal explanations for whatever’s going on.

How well we investigate (and debunk) a haunting depends on several things:

1. How observant the investigators are.  (Even a bad day at work or an argument with a partner can reduce an investigator’s effectiveness.)

2. How experienced the investigators are. (If they aren’t familiar with the side effects of high EMF levels, or if they don’t routinely check for it, they can be baffled.)

3. How long and thorough the investigation is. (The difference between my investigation of Brennan’s New Orleans restaurant and the investigation seen on Ghost Hunters may be the uninterrupted time I had at the site.)

4. The integrity of everyone involved in the investigation. (If a member of the team or film crew decides to play a prank and never explains it, the investigators may draw the wrong conclusion.)

There are many other reasons why an investigator or a team may err, and decide that a site is haunted when it isn’t… or not haunted when it really is.

Do real ghost hunters fake evidence?  Never.  We have too many real hauntings to investigate.

What I look for during TV shows and in movies

I’ve seen some classic blunders on TV and the movies.

Though there are exceptions, I watch for the following “red flags.”

If I see several of them in one show, or repeated problems in successive shows, I suspect that the show is more entertainment than documentary.

Haste – If the investigators don’t spend time exploring normal explanations, I wonder if they’re only there for the thrill.

Though no TV show can portray all the work we do at each site, and I’m mindful of production schedules, I want to see some serious research.

(I’d also like to hear more voice-over explanations and trivia — not just opinions — similar to the [not paranormal] TV show, Burn Notice.)

Everything’s scary – I’ve never encountered a haunted site that has ghosts everywhere.  If every room seems to have its own ghost, I raise an eyebrow.  That’s not real.

Ghosts that look gruesome – Almost all ghosts appear as they want to be remembered.  Usually, that’s how they looked when they were happiest, most admired or loved.  I’ve seen only one ghost cloaked in a white shroud (the classic ghost-in-a-sheet) and none that looked especially bloody.

The exception to this might be a residual energy haunting with intensely visual imagery from a grisly event.

(The movie, Sixth Sense, had too many gruesome ghosts to be taken seriously.  However, I knew the “surprise” from the beginning because so many cues were subtle and accurate.)

Ghosts with feet – About 80% of ghosts seem to manifest clearly as a head and torso, and then fade down to where their feet would be… though there are notable exceptions.  When all the ghosts have feet, something’s not right.

Risky investigation techniques – Real, professional ghost hunters don’t get buried in coffins as a research technique.  They don’t deliberately cut themselves (there are no “blood rituals” in science-based ghost research), and they don’t explore unfamiliar (and potentially dangerous) locations on their own.  TV shows like MTV’s Fear set a precedent that wasn’t realistic, and Extreme Paranormal takes it to a level that I hope is parody.

Extreme drama – Some trance mediums deliberately (or willingly) act-out traumatic scenes, hoping to help trapped spirits communicate with us and then cross over.  Highly skilled trance mediums can be effective at this, but they are few and far between.

About 90% of the trance mediumship that I’ve witnessed have provided a show for the audience  — that is, entertainment — but no apparent benefit for the ghosts… if there even were any.

It’s extremely difficult to maintain investigative integrity and provide popular entertainment at the same time.

Excessive fright – I’m not talking about the famous “Dude, run!” moment on Ghost Hunters. (That wasn’t very professional, but I think every team has experienced one of those scares.)  However, if one or more investigators appear frightened on every show or in every movie scene, the show’s credibility is in question.

Too much information – Very good psychic mediums are accurate about 50% of the time.  During an unusual investigation — usually where the medium has a personal connection with the site or its ghosts — the percentage may be slightly higher.

When someone approaches 90% accuracy, I start looking for notes concealed in the person’s sleeve or hidden in his coffee cup.  Or, I suspect that the psychic/entertainer has been coached ahead of time.  Whether it’s a TV show, a movie or a live event, all credibility has been lost.

False history – If you’ve spent much time at this website, you know that I rather rabidly research* the history related to hauntings.   Fake paranormal investigations often include bad history to support their ghost stories.

The events described actually happened somewhere else, or they never happened at all.

If you have doubts about a show, check their facts.  Thanks to the Internet, historical research can be easy.

Contagion – If one person claims to have experienced something paranormal (a cold spot, for example) and everyone else rushes to agree, I raise an eyebrow.

It’s not that anyone is necessarily lying. Many people are so eager to encounter a haunting, they fool themselves into believing that it’s all real.

However, even among skilled psychics, a group of people hardly ever sense or interpret paranormal energy the same way.   Generally, I don’t hear anything paranormal like whispering.  One of my best researchers never sees the “sparkles” that 80% of the team oohs and ahhs over.  Another team member notices sounds, whispers and voices usually heard only in EVP recordings,  but he rarely sees anything paranormal.

So, on TV or in a movie, if everyone claims to see (or feel, or smell, or hear) something… from that moment, I’m skeptical.

That’s one reason why I like the original version of the movie, The Haunting. In one room, only Eleanor seemed to notice the odor.  In another scene, the men didn’t hear the loud knocking on the door, while the women were terrified.  In general, that’s still among the most realistic ghost-related movies.

Armchair quarterbacks

If you want to know which TV shows and movies are fake, the best way to be sure is to become a ghost hunter yourself. Once you’ve had experience in the field, you can quickly spot the fakes.  Even before you can identify what seems staged, you’ll sense that something’s not right.

However, it’s important to remember that odd things happen at haunted places.  “Truth is stranger than fiction” definitely applies in this field.  If you’ve never really investigated haunted sites, it’s easy to be confused by what you see on the TV.

What sets off my credibility radar is when every show (or nearly every show) in the series is a little too odd — or a little too tidy — to be real.

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*Research shows…

• George Washington didn’t have wooden teeth.
• The Gettysburg Address was not scribbled on the back of an envelope.
• The Battle of Hastings was fought near the town of Battle, not at Hastings.
• The “haunted” top floor of New Orleans’ Lalaurie Mansion didn’t exist when the Lalauries lived there.  It was added later.
• No children were murdered by Chloe at The Myrtles Plantation.
• There are no buildings — haunted or otherwise — beneath Bonito Lake.

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