Ghost Hunters | |
---|---|
Genre | Paranormal Reality television Documentary |
Starring | Jason Hawes (2004–16; 2021–present) Grant Wilson (2004–12; 2019–2020) Steve Gonsalves (2004–16; 2021–present) Dave Tango (2005–16; 2021–present) Amy Bruni (2008–14) others |
Narrated by | Mike Rowe (2004–16) Andy Geller (2006–07) Jim Pratt (2011) Jason Hawes (2012–16; 2021–present) Grant Wilson (2019–2020) |
Composer | Vanacore Music |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 16 |
No. of episodes | 251 (+ 12 specials not included) (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Executive producers | Craig Piligian Tom Thayer Mike Nichols Alan David Rob Katz |
Production locations |
|
Running time | 46 minutes |
Production company | Pilgrim Films & Television |
Original release | |
Network | Sci-Fi Channel (2004–2009) Syfy (2009–2016) A&E (2019–2020) Discovery+ (2021–2022) Travel Channel (2022–23) |
Release | October 6, 2004 – May 25, 2023 |
Related | |
|
Ghost Hunters is an American paranormal and reality television series. The original series aired from October 6, 2004 until October 26, 2016 on Syfy. The original program spanned eleven seasons with 230 episodes, not including 10 specials. The series was revived in early 2019 and aired its twelfth and thirteenth seasons from August 21, 2019, to May 27, 2020, on A&E, after which it was cancelled and then revived for its fourteenth season only months later on Discovery+, which started airing on October 31, 2021. Season 15 began October 1, 2022 on Travel Channel. Season 16 of Ghost Hunters is set to release on Travel Channel on April 6, 2023. [1]
The program featured Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson, who founded The Atlantic Paranormal Society (TAPS) team of paranormal investigators to investigate places that are reported to be haunted. The two worked as plumbers for Roto-Rooter while moonlighting as paranormal investigators at night. For the 12th and 13th seasons, the revived show featured Wilson and a new investigatory team that had no discernible connection to TAPS, although the series still maintained the same format and producers and referenced past episodes. For the fourteenth season, Hawes and the previous TAPS incarnation from 2016 returned, while Wilson and the new team were not featured.
The series, initially produced for 10 episodes as a docu-soap, had later episodes shift to a more documentary focus. Ghost Hunters episodes feature the team going to reportedly haunted locations across the United States, with some investigations in Ireland, the United Kingdom, and Canada in earlier seasons. The latter concept led to the show's first spin-off, Ghost Hunters International , in 2008, which often featured Ghost Hunters investigators in lead and guest roles, including Hawes and Wilson. A second spin-off, Ghost Hunters Academy (2009–10), had TAPS members Dave Tango and Steve Gonsalves training prospective investigators in a competitive format. Additionally, annual Halloween specials were broadcast live from 2005 to 2011 and featured celebrity guests and interactivity.
The series popularized paranormal reality television and ghost hunting, and some members of the show have moved on to feature in their own television programs.
Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson, along with other team members who belong to the group they founded, The Atlantic Paranormal Society (TAPS), investigate locations of interest by using various electronic equipment, which they believe is capable of detecting paranormal activity. The two originally worked as plumbers for Roto-Rooter as a day job while investigating locations at night. [2]
This section needs additional citations for verification .(November 2019) |
When investigating a location, TAPS team members first visit and survey the property with its owners, who describe their experiences at the site. Next, the team sets up electronic equipment in the apparent paranormal hotspots. The TAPS team then spends several hours taking electromagnetic field and temperature readings, recording audio for EVPs, and filming with digital video cameras. Many times, they will even try to verbally coax the ghosts into responding, while recording. Afterwards, the team spends several days analyzing all of the data for evidence of possible paranormal activity.
A few days after reviewing the information, Hawes and Wilson discuss their findings with the location site owners, offer suggestions for dealing with any apparent activity, and answer any questions the owners may have.
The TAPS members state that they do not believe that every phenomenon captured is evidence of the paranormal and sometimes provide reasonable explanations such as cold spots which may be drafty windows, strange noises that may be a thumping branch or vermin in the walls, moving objects which may have been accidentally bumped or tugged, or phantom lights which can be reflections of light from a passing vehicle.
Since the series began airing, TAPS has recorded thousands of hours of audio and video data. Most investigations, according to TAPS, turn up cold with very little, if any, paranormal activity occurring; however, the ghost hunters claim to have several decent recordings of moving objects, mysterious lights, strange mists, and shadowy figures that manifest before the camera and are highlighted at the end of the show.
Sci Fi initially categorized the program as a docu-soap. [3] In addition to the investigative aspect, the show has also presented personal conflicts and relationships among members of the TAPS team. Portions of some episodes portray Hawes and Wilson involved with their plumbing job or personal lives, but this varies by episode and is not always included. As the series progressed, however, the "behind-the-scenes" and "docu-soap" aspects were reduced, and by the fifth season the show focused primarily on the investigations, with virtually none of the docu-soap material that characterized earlier episodes.
During investigations, the TAPS ghost hunters team use various equipment, including digital thermometers, EMF meters, thermographic and night vision cameras, handheld and static digital video cameras, digital audio recorders, and laptop computers. [4]
The team has also experimented, in at least one episode, with a geiger counter during their investigation to see if it would register any anomalous readings.
Starting around the third season, the team has used the K-2 (or K-II) meter, [5] a type of EMF meter that uses a series of LEDs to measure the strength of an energy field instead of a numerical LCD screen. During the Manson murders investigation, in particular, the team used a K-2 meter in an attempt to get "yes" and "no" responses to verbal questions posed to a supposed entity in a room.
In the fifth season's "Edith Wharton Estate" case, the team introduced two new pieces of equipment: one is a custom-made geophone, which detects vibrations and flashes a series of LEDs that measure the intensity of the vibration; the second is a new EMF detector that makes a buzzing sound when in the presence of an electromagnetic field, and the stronger the field, the louder it buzzes. In the episode, the geophones were recorded on video flashing to the vibrations of what sounded like footsteps across a floor, even though no one was supposedly in the room.
Other gear not typically shown on screen are an ion generator, a device that charges the air with electricity and is theorized to help spirits manifest, and the white noise generator, an audio device that makes a static background noise and is theorized to act as a catalyst for assisting entities in making EVPs. [6]
Members who currently make Guest Appearances in Episodes
This list includes former investigators considered part of the crew, and is sorted by tenure and amount of investigations taken part in. Persons after season 1 who made less than 7 appearances are not included.
During its first run of episodes, aside from guest investigators with connections to The Atlantic Paranormal Society, Ghost Hunters utilized connections with other Syfy and NBCUniversal series to feature actors and personalities from those programs, in particular during the live specials and especially those for Halloween:
On March 3, 2010, Ghost Hunters' 100th episode aired, featuring their investigation of Alcatraz Prison. The two-hour special featured a live studio audience with question and answer segments, hosted by Josh Gates of Destination Truth . The special also featured the GHI crew, the winning contestants of Ghost Hunters Academy , and Craig Piligian, the creator and executive producer of Ghost Hunters. On June 2, 2011, Syfy renewed Ghost Hunters for an eighth season, marking it as the longest-running reality series to air on the network. [9]
On February 15, 2012, Grant Wilson announced he would be leaving the cast of Ghost Hunters in order to focus on his personal life. [10] In a statement, Hawes responded with, "I will miss working with Grant on a daily basis, and am indebted to the level of dedication and expertise he has brought to our field. I can’t imagine having a better partner through it all — both on the show and off. Grant and I, along with our spouses and children, are all like one big family. While I fully support his decision to move on from the series, this longtime friendship — as well as our business partnership — will continue off-camera for years to come." [11] Subsequently, Wilson also left the Beyond Reality radio show and was eventually replaced by JV Johnson, the publisher/editor of TAPS Para-magazine.
On June 7, 2016, Hawes announced that Ghost Hunters would be concluding on Syfy, with season 11 being the last season to be produced. [12] On August 1, Wilson publicly reunited with Hawes for the first time, as a guest on Beyond Reality. [13]
On June 26, 2019, it was announced that Ghost Hunters would be revived later that year, with Wilson returning with a new team. The 12th season, initially reported to consist of 20 episodes (later broadcast as 11 with two specials, with a 13th season premiering later [14] ), premiered on August 21, 2019 on A&E and ended on October 30, 2019. [15] Lead investigator and producer Grant Wilson confirmed prior to the October 30, 2019 episode that Ghost Hunters would return in 2020 for a 13th season of an unspecified number of episodes. [14] On February 18, 2020, it was announced that the 13th season would premiere on April 8, 2020. [16] Brandon Alvis confirmed on October 17, 2020, that the show would not be returning on A&E. [17]
On May 18, 2021 it was announced that Ghost Hunters was sold to Discovery+, and once again revived for its fourteenth season. [18] Wilson and the new team were not featured, instead Hawes, Gonsalves, Tango, and DeBenedetti, who featured as the last cast of the original run of the show (and at the time of the purchase, the cast of Ghost Nation ) returned using the TAPS moniker and methods featured previously. It airs on Discovery+ as season 14 of Ghost Hunters, but uses TAPS Returns as a subtitle in marketing. Seasons 1–11, as well as seasons 12 and 13, which aired on A&E, are now subtitled Ghost Hunters (Classic). [19] [20]
Season | Episodes | Originally aired | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
First aired | Last aired | Network | |||
1 | 10 | October 6, 2004 | December 15, 2004 | Sci Fi | |
2 | 22 | July 27, 2005 | May 31, 2006 | ||
3 | 18 | October 11, 2006 | November 7, 2007 | ||
4 | 27 | March 5, 2008 | December 10, 2008 | ||
5 | 25 | March 11, 2009 | December 16, 2009 | Sci Fi Syfy [note 1] | |
6 | 25 | March 3, 2010 | December 8, 2010 | Syfy | |
7 | 25 | February 23, 2011 | December 7, 2011 | ||
8 | 26 | January 11, 2012 | December 5, 2012 | ||
9 | 26 | January 16, 2013 | October 29, 2014 | ||
10 | 13 | August 26, 2015 | November 18, 2015 | ||
11 | 13 | August 3, 2016 | October 26, 2016 | ||
12 | 11 | August 21, 2019 | October 30, 2019 | A&E | |
13 | 9 | April 8, 2020 | May 27, 2020 | ||
14 | 13 | October 31, 2021 | March 19, 2022 | Discovery+ | |
15 | 8 | October 1, 2022 | November 19, 2022 | Travel Channel | |
16 | 8 | April 6, 2023 | May 25, 2023 |
Ghost Hunters has garnered some of the highest ratings of any Syfy reality programming. [21] From the start, the show has found an audience for its mix of paranormal investigation and interpersonal drama. It has since been syndicated on NBC Universal sister cable channel Oxygen and also airs on the Canadian cable network OLN.
In the early shows, TAPS was headquartered in a trailer located behind Jason Hawes' house, and they drove one white van to investigations. Within one season, they had moved the operation to a storefront in Warwick, Rhode Island, and acquired several new TAPS vehicles.
In addition to their successful television venture, TAPS operates a website where they share their stories, photographs, and ghost hunting videos with an ever-growing membership list. Because of the popularity of the show, TAPS cast members have signed contracts with at least two talent agencies, Escape Artistry and GP Entertainment, to manage their appearances at lectures, conferences and public events.
TAPS also has a three-hour weekly radio show called Beyond Reality, initially hosted by Hawes and Wilson. The radio show covers topics in a vast array of areas such as cryptozoology, spiritualism, ufology, and ghosts. The show includes guest appearances from other TAPS members and special guests such as John Zaffis, Rosemary Ellen Guiley, Chris Fleming, and others who specialize in certain fields. Noted paranormal author Jeff Belanger and Spooky Southcoast radio host and author Tim Weisberg served as fill-in hosts. The show also once simulcasted on Spooky Southcoast, airing from the Mt. Washington Hotel in New Hampshire. New episodes are broadcast every Saturday from 7 pm to 10 pm Eastern Time, though sometimes may skip a week due to the possibility of the hosts being busy with other ventures.
Ghost Hunters helped popularize paranormal television and ghost hunting during its original run. [22] [23] For much of its initial airing on Syfy, it was the top-rated paranormal reality show on television. John Blake of CNN opined in 2013 that Ghost Hunters "is to the paranormal field what Sugarhill's 'Rapper's Delight' is to hip-hop...." [23]
Hawes, Wilson and Ghost Hunters were parodied on the 2009 episode of South Park entitled "Dead Celebrities". They have made talk-show appearances on the December 8, 2005 episode of Late Night with Conan O'Brien , the Oct 31, 2006 episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show , a 2008 episode of The View , [24] and the October 28, 2010 episode of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon .
Ghost Hunters has attracted various critics and skeptics, such as Joe Nickell of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, Skeptical Inquirer author Lynne Kelly, [25] James Randi, and Benjamin Radford. The Skeptical Analysis of the Paranormal Society (SAPS) was founded with the intent to recreate and debunk segments of the show. [26]
In June 2008, Ghost Hunters was awarded The Truly Terrible Television (TTTV) Award by Independent Investigations Group for peddling pseudoscience and superstition to its audience. [27]
During the seven-hour-long, live Halloween show on October 31, 2008, at least two events took place that critics[ who? ] have scrutinized: One occurs when lead investigator Grant Wilson has his jacket collar pulled down by an unseen force three times; all the while one of his hands remained at his side, which led detractors to claim he was pulling a hidden string. This happens again at one point where Hawes touches Wilson's back and his collar moves down again. Another occurs when a supposed disembodied voice tells the hunters, "You're not supposed to be here." Critics[ who? ] have claimed the voice sounded like it was piped in from an external audio source. In regard to the scrutiny, Wilson and Hawes defended themselves, stating that everything in the show is real. [28] In a 2013 interview on The Reveal, Wilson stated that their television contracts forbade them from faking evidence on the show. [29]
According to investigator Benjamin Radford, most ghost hunting groups including TAPS make many methodological mistakes. "After watching episodes of Ghost Hunters and other similar programs, it quickly becomes clear to anyone with a background in science that the methods used are both illogical and unscientific". Anyone can be a ghost investigator, "failing to consider alternative explanations for anomalous ... phenomena", considering emotions and feelings as "evidence of ghostly encounters." "Improper and unscientific investigation methods", for example, "using unproven tools and equipment", "sampling errors", "ineffectively using recording devices" and "focusing on the history of the location...and not the phenomena." In an article for Skeptical Inquirer, Radford concludes that ghost hunters should care about doing a truly scientific investigation: "I believe that if ghosts exist, they are important and deserve to be taken seriously. Most of the efforts to investigate ghosts so far have been badly flawed and unscientific — and not surprisingly, fruitless." [30] In a New York Times article about Ghost Hunters and TAPS, Radford contended that "the group and others like it lack scientific rigor and mislead people into thinking that their homes are haunted." [31]
The show's editing has been questioned, such as activity that is not captured on tape and findings that are unsupported by evidence in the show specifically. Tools are used in ways that are not proven effective, or in ways in which they have been proven ineffective, such as infrared thermometers that are claimed to detect cold spots in the middle of rooms when such tools are able only to measure the surface temperature of objects. [26]
Techniques with thermal imaging cameras, Geiger counters, electronic voice phenomenon, and EMF detectors are used with little or no explanation as to how the techniques have proven to provide evidence of ghosts or other entities. There are concerns that the devices are misused, such as the noting of Benjamin Radford's article for Skeptical Inquirer: "you may own the world's most sophisticated thermometer, but if you are using it as a barometer, your measurements are worthless. Just as using a calculator doesn't make you a mathematician, using a scientific instrument doesn't make you a scientist." [32]
A spin-off series premiered on January 9, 2008, featuring investigators Robb Demarest, Brian Harnois, Donna LaCroix, Andy Andrews, Shannon Sylvia, and Barry Fitzgerald (who appeared in the summer 2007 Ireland episodes of Ghost Hunters) since the onset, along with other rotating members from the TAPS family. [33] The format is similar to Ghost Hunters but features investigations in various locations around the world.
Ghost Hunters producers Craig Pilligan and Tom Thayer released another paranormal investigation "special" titled UFO Hunters, (not to be confused with the show of the same name which aired on the History Channel), which first aired on January 30, 2008 but only aired for one episode. [34] The episode followed New York Strange Phenomena Investigators (NY-SPI) co-founders Oliver Kemenczky and Ted Davis, along with paranormal researcher Dennis Anderson, as they investigated an alleged alien abduction case in Carteret, New Jersey and a strange fireball sighting in Normandy Beach, New Jersey. [35] The format was similar to a typical Ghost Hunters episode, with most of the program dedicated to the investigation and wrapped up with a review of findings and evidence that was gathered. The pilot episode was reformatted and returned on December 13, 2008, as a special called Ny-Spi Investigates on Investigation Discovery, [36] but was not picked up as a continuing series.
On October 23, 2008, TV Guide reported that Syfy would launch a spin-off of the show called Ghost Hunters: College Edition, which would feature "co-eds" in the ghost hunter roles. [37] The show was later named Ghost Hunters Academy and began airing November 11, 2009. The series features Steve Gonsalves and Dave Tango leading a group of amateur ghost hunters through various investigations. [38]
TAPS members Adam Berry (also the finalist from Ghost Hunters Academy ) and Amy Bruni left the series in 2014 to start their own program, which was subsequently named Kindred Spirits , which started airing on Destination America and TLC in 2013 and has aired 6 seasons so far, later moving to Travel Channel. [39] [8]
After the decision to cut ties with Syfy in 2016 and negotiations to start a new Ghost Hunters series failed, Hawes, Gonsalves, and Tango eventually came to decide to focus on efforts to help local investigators on a national level and start a new program, Ghost Nation . The program has aired on Travel Channel since October 2019. [40] [41] [42]
In 2022, Brandon Alvis and Mustafa Gatollari announced that their new paranormal documentary series Haunted Discoveries was in full production and that their new series promises to "push the field forward." [43] In October 2023, Haunted Discoveries debuted on the T+E network in Canada. [44] The new series "tracks the adventures of a team of paranormal investigators on the trail of anomalies in Kentucky, long considered America's most haunted state." [45]
John Zaffis is a paranormal researcher born and based in Connecticut, United States. He starred in the SyFy paranormal reality TV show, Haunted Collector, and runs the Paranormal and Demonology Research Society of New England, which he founded in 1998.
Most Haunted is a British paranormal reality television series.
The Atlantic Paranormal Society (TAPS) is an organization that investigates reported paranormal activity. Based in Warwick, Rhode Island, TAPS was founded in 1995 by Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson. In 2004, the organization itself became the subject of Ghost Hunters, a popular weekly American paranormal reality television series on the Syfy channel. The show ran for eleven seasons on Syfy in the US. The show aired in the UK nine months after the US premier on Living It.
Grant Steven Wilson is an art director and developer for Rather Dashing Games, a game company he founded with Michael Richie, and is the co-founder of The Atlantic Paranormal Society (TAPS), which is based in Warwick, Rhode Island. He is also the star and co-producer of the cable television reality series Ghost Hunters. He left the show in 2014 and returned for the 2019 revival.
Jason Conrad Hawes is an American plumber and the co-founder of The Atlantic Paranormal Society (TAPS), which is based in Warwick, Rhode Island. He is also one of the stars and co-producers of Syfy's Ghost Hunters, which ended its initial run after its eleventh season on October 26, 2016. Several years later, the show was renewed and revived for a 12th season at A&E, with new episodes premiering in August 2019 without Hawes's participation. TAPS co-founder and former lead investigator Grant Wilson returned to lead a brand new team, while Hawes moved on to lead his own show with Ghost Hunters alumni Dave Tango and Steve Gonsalves in Ghost Nation, which is no longer airing on the Travel Channel since October 2019. The series ended in 2021 when the trio returned to Ghost Hunters after it moved to Travel Channel.
Paranormal television is a genre of reality television that purports to document factual investigations of the paranormal rather than fictional representations seen in traditional narrative films and TV. Over the years, the genre has grown to be a staple of television and even changed the programming focus of networks like the History Channel and the Travel Channel. By highlighting beliefs in topics ranging from Bigfoot to aliens, paranormal television continues to elevate popular interest in the paranormal.
Ghost hunting is the process of investigating locations that are purportedly haunted by ghosts. The practice has been heavily criticized for its dismissal of the scientific method. No scientific study has ever been able to confirm the existence of ghosts. Ghost hunting is considered a pseudoscience by the vast majority of educators, academics, science writers and skeptics. Science historian Brian Regal described ghost hunting as "an unorganized exercise in futility".
Most Haunted Live is a spin-off of the paranormal reality television series Most Haunted and was also produced by Antix Productions. The show consists of paranormal investigations broadcast live over a period of one or more nights, usually with interactive sections that involve the viewer.
Destination Truth is an American paranormal reality television series that premiered on June 6, 2007, on Syfy. Produced by Mandt Bros. Productions and Ping Pong Productions, the program follows paranormal researcher Josh Gates around the world to investigate claims of the supernatural, mainly in the field of cryptozoology. The third season concluded on April 21, 2010, and holds the highest ratings ever for the series, which continued with a fourth season, beginning on Thursday, September 9, 2010, at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT. The fifth season began July 10, 2012. On March 27, 2014, Gates confirmed via his Facebook account that Destination Truth had ended its run and would not be returning for a sixth season.
Joshua Gates is an American television presenter-actor and television producer who hosts and co-executive produces The Discovery Channel series Expedition: Unknown and also Legendary Locations. He is also the host of live specials for, and a guest investigator on, the television series Ghost Hunters and its spin-off Ghost Hunters International. He produces the related Ghost Nation series along with other paranormal television shows through his production company Ping Pong Productions. He was the host and co-executive producer of Destination Truth and Stranded on Syfy.
Ghost Hunters International is a spin-off series of Ghost Hunters that aired on Syfy. The series premiered on January 9, 2008, and ended on April 4, 2012. Like its parent series, GHI was a reality series that followed a team of paranormal investigators; whereas the original series primarily covers only locations within the United States, the GHI team traveled around the world and documented some of the world's most legendary haunted locations.
Ghost Adventures is an American paranormal and reality television series that premiered on October 17, 2008, on the Travel Channel before moving to Discovery+ in 2021. An independent film of the same name originally aired on the Sci-Fi Channel on July 25, 2007. The program follows ghost hunters Zak Bagans, Aaron Goodwin, Billy Tolley, and Jay Wasley as they investigate locations that are reported to be haunted.
Ghost Hunters Academy is a paranormal reality television series that premiered on November 11, 2009, on the Syfy channel. The program was the third spin-off series based on Ghost Hunters. The show featured TAPS members Steve Gonsalves and Dave Tango as they led a group of prospective investigators on various ghost hunting cases at locations that are allegedly haunted, and which had been previously investigated by TAPS.
Aaron Sagers is an American television presenter, journalist — including a self-described "paranormal journalist" — podcast host, and expert of geek culture and paranormal media. He is also an author, social media micro-influencer, and founder of ParanormalPopCulture.com, a website which covers paranormal topics in popular culture.
Gaurav Tiwari was an Indian paranormal investigator, UFO field investigator and ParaNexus representative in India who appeared on television shows such as MTV Girl's Night Out with Rannvijay Singh, Haunted Weekends with Sunny Leone, Aaj Tak, Live India, News 24, Star TV, Zee TV, Fear Files: Darr Ki Sacchi Tasvirein, Syfy's 'Haunting: Australia', and Sony TV's Bhoot Aaya. Tiwari was also a guest on paranormal radio shows and CEO and Founder of the Indian Paranormal Society.
Paranormal Lockdown is a paranormal reality television series that was executively produced by Nick Groff, formerly of Ghost Adventures. The series follows Nick Groff and fellow paranormal researcher Katrina Weidman as they confine themselves for 72 straight hours in what they claim to be some of the most haunted locations.
Halloween Wars is an American reality competition series from Super Delicious, the production company that also produces Cupcake Wars and Cake Wars. It premiered on October 2, 2011, on Food Network and it runs over the course of four weeks in October annually. The show pits five teams made up of cake sculptors, sugar artists, and pumpkin carvers against each other to produce the ultimate Halloween themed display. The winning team is awarded $50,000. For season 13 and 14, the winning team is awarded $25,000.
Ghost Nation is an American reality television series whose main theme is paranormal investigation. The show premiered on the Travel Channel on October 11, 2019 and moved exclusively to discovery+ on January 16, 2021. The show stars paranormal investigators Jason Hawes, Steve Gonsalves and Dave Tango, formerly from the Ghost Hunters television series, which aired on Syfy from 2004 to 2016, and aired on A&E after being revived in 2019.
Benjamin Radford, the managing editor of Skeptical Inquirer magazine, says the group and others like it lack scientific rigor and mislead people into thinking that their homes are haunted. "I've seen first-hand some of the damage that the show can do to fragile people who are scared and looking for a real explanation to their experiences," said Mr. Radford, who also investigates ghostly claims.