Ghost Shows review
Hey, guys, I'm just doing a review of some of the ghost shows out there.
As most of you probably know, I am a supernatural freak. I love that stuff. That includes ghosts, which I'm deathly afraid of. I always watch whatever supernatural shows that my cable package has and so I decided to review of these ghost shows.
I've decided to review 4 shows: Ghost Hunters and Ghost Hunters International from SciFi channel; Paranormal State from A&E; The Haunted from Animal Planet; and last but not least, Discovery Channel's 'A Haunting'.
In case some of you aren't familiar with these shows, I'll provide a brief summary of each show
Ghost Hunters: This show is a docu-drama that follows the cases of TAPS. TAPS' responds to calls from people asking for their help. TAPS usually helps families and businesses (such as old theatres and restaurants and things of that nature) determine whether their home or building is actually being haunted by ghosts. TAPS then sets up their equipment and investigates during the night, trying to find evidence of any paranormal activity. Sometimes they find stuff and sometimes they don't. GHI (Ghost Hunters International) follows the same format only that they investigate all around the world whereas GH investigates solely in America, and also they are usually only called on to prove that a place is haunted whereas people (families) call GH sometimes for help in order to deal with what they believe are ghosts.
Paranormal State: This is also a docu-drama that is similar to GH but has a few differences. Paranormal State follows the cases of the Pennsylvania State University Paranormal Research Society, a student-led college club, which helps people who call them. They do deal with ghosts but also with other paranormal activity. Their method of investigation also differs from TAPS in that their investigations are longer (usually a week) and they do absolutely everything they can to try to help their clients try to resolve their problems.
The Haunted: This a documentary style show that re-enacts the stories of 'true' ghost stories. They usually have footage of the actual victims narrating the story. The cases usually depict stories that involve animals in them.
A Haunting: This show is also documentary and is very similar to 'The Haunted'. The only difference is that they just follow any story, whereas 'The Haunted' only focuses on stories that involve people and animals.
Now, I know you that some of you guys are wondering, "hey, Sebi, why aren't you rating 'Scariest Places on Earth' or 'Truth or Scare'?" That is because I haven't watched Scariest Places on Earth recently. I watched it when I was younger and it absolutely terrified me. I re-watched an episode that terrified me as a child and didn't find it scary. But I feel like I can't really review something that I've only watched one episode of recently. And I don't consider 'Truth or Scare' in the same categories as these shows but I do think I'll review it along with 'Mystery Hunters' since they are on the same sort of genre.
Ok, I'm going to review these shows on the criteria of scariness (how scary it is), informative (what does it teach us, if at all?), reliability,and realistic-ness (how reliable are these accounts? Are they realistic?) and then I'm compare the reality shows and the documentary style shows. I'll rate them on a scale from one ghostie
being the lowest score and five ghosties
, being the highest score. First up, the docu-dramas.
Scariness: I'm not sure if its just me, but GH is not a very scary show. I mean, I love this show to pieces though. It's still one of my favorite ghost shows out there.It's just not that scary for me. (Although, there was a very creepy episode of GHI over in Scotland or something. -shudders-)
So I'm giving it 2 out of 5 ghosts
informative: I learn some stuff from GH, like the thing about people being sensitive to uh I can't believe I forgot the terminology for it. I think its like high electro-magnetic fields (correct me if I'm wrong) can cause nausea, dizziness, even paranoia and such to people sensitive to these things. And also about the different kinds of haunts such as residual vs. a more active haunting. I do also like how TAPS tries to inform their clients about the phenomena and that's always a good thing to me.
so it gets a 4 out of 5 ghost from me :)
Reliability/Reliastic-ness: Like all ghost shows, Ghost Hunters has been accused of faking their own evidence along with not really using the proper techniques to really 'hunt' ghosts. I'm not saying these things are true but it's important to keep in mind what kind of criticism the show gets from other folks. Granted this is a show about ghosts so it's bound to get criticism from someone. What I really like about TAPS is that they try to debunk things. They come in as skeptics. They don't automatically assume the client is right until they got evidence to back them up. And they certainly do provide some alternative explanations to some phenomena (Then again, some people have like the most ridiculous claims ever. Noises? Really? Let's see. Animals make noises. Let's not forget that we have neighbors so I'm sure they are quiet as church-mice as well. Then again, humans are highly perceptive creatures [huzzah! I learned something in my Psych 10 course] and sometimes we try to make sense of things around us that we don't have ready explanations for.)
Keeping in mind the critique, they get a 3 out of 5 ghosts since they have seem to be honest to me. (Although, you guys should read what the hard-core haters of this show say. They say some pretty funny things 83)
Entertaining: I know that I didn't say anything about this criteria but its just my opinion and you can really just ignore it if you want. I love Steve and Tango (from GH). They are just awesome dudes and certainly make the show more entertaining. And I really find GHI more entertaining and interesting than regular GH simply because of the exotic locations they visit. *A* That and they got Barry <3 Barry won my heart from day 1 especially with how smart he is and junk (oh god, Whitney, you would like him. He knows like at least 5 different languages) Oh, Barry, never stop being awesome *A*
scariness: I found this show more scary than GH simply because it has a more eerie and somber atmosphere than GH. And it certainly has covered some creepy cases from demon possession to spirit portals
3 out of 5 ghosts
Informative: This show is definitely more informative than GH simply because it covers more subject material than GH does. GH simply dwells in the ghost field whereas PS deals with a wide array of paranormal subjects. What I love about this show is the variety of topics they deal with it. It's just informs me of all the different situations out there, along with new creatures to learn about. What I also like about this show is that not only are we informed of the situation but the clients are as well, along with methods with coping with ghosts if they don't go away.
5 out of 5 from me
Reliability/Realistic-ness: I found this show to be reliable in where they get information. They call in experts if they dont know what is exactly bothering a client (like some Native American folklore experts) as well as doing their own research on the property and what happened to it (GH does this too but not all the time). The big difference from GH though is that they don't really de-bunk stuff. It's more like they try to debunk stuff and fail. Although this one ep, I did have to applaud their patience when dealing with a woman and an unstable veteran since there really wasn't any proof that there had been any paranormal activity to begin with (plus the only witness to these paranormal events was an unstable veteran who later denied taking pictures of the activity when he had said earlier that he had taken photos of it)
so 4 from me
Plus side and downsides: What I really like about this show is that they show what happens to the clients afterwards whereas in GH we don't really know what happens to the clients. I also like how they manage to resolve the case which is a little bit unrealistic to me. Because in life, we can't really solve every mystery out there. I mean Stonehedge is still a mystery as well as who Jack the Ripper really was and whether there was really one guy who was killing all these woman (for all I know, it could have been a woman). So the fact that all the cases are resolved in someway disturbs me a little. I guess the show makes up for by some of the very creepy resolutions. Such as in one of the exorcisms, the girl ended up in a coma afterwards and the demon managed to find some other family and the team had to encounter it again. And also the disabled deformed ghost child who just didn't go away despite the blessing the house had.
SHOWDOWN: GH vs. PS, which is better docu-drama?
I know that my ratings seem to say that I think PS is a better docu-drama and in some ways that is true but that's only because I love the variety of subjects that PS covers along with my own biases. I mean, really, it depends on what you prefer. If find GH's approach to the supernatural more entertaining and don't mind its downsides then by all means, great! I mean, I honestly do not let what other people say affect what I find entertaining. They both have their faults, no show is perfect. I find both shows entertaining and I do like PS more but they're both really awesome shows. I guess (reluctantly) I'll say that PS is better in some ways if you really want an answer (although Ghost Hunters will always have a special place in my heart)
Up next are the documentaries. For these I'm not going to rate them on reliability or realness simply because these are stories taken from people and there is no way for us, as viewers, to determine whether something really happened or not. I'm also not putting in my 2 cents on what I think if such things really occurred since I believe everyone is entitled to their opinion and I'm not going to enforce my opinions on others ( I have some criticisms on ghost claims so in some ways, I'm a skeptic but I'm also terrified of ghosts so if I honestly believed that ghosts didn't exist, then I wouldn't really be scared of them now would I? For there would be no reason to fear something that isn't real). I'm also not rating them on informative, I'll tell you what you can learn from these shows and what I think but I'm not going to value them greatly in determining whether they are good shows or not.
Scariness: Overall, I find documentaries way more scary than docu-drama simply because we get to experience the fear the people have and also we get to see the things happening via re-enactments. I do get creeped out by this show. It has some pretty disturbing stuff. And scared animals definetely scares me. I mean, I do believe that animals can sense things that we can't. I feel that they are probably more perceptive than we are and can sense things that we can't. So seeing scared animals certainly isn't reassuring to me.
Informative: Ok, well, the thing you can learn about this show is what do people do when they encounter these situations? I mean, I'd know what to do since I watch way too much TV I'd try to get TAPS so I can see Steve and Tango but other people might not. And also, what you should DEFINITELY not do. Like try to confront an agressive spirit. yeah, that's not a good idea.
Entertaining: What I like about this show is that its nothing you've ever seen before. You think you know ghosts and then BAM! you get surprised (I mean, I have never heard of a ghost, a normal ghost, possessing someone. And here I thought I knew some stuff, man) and also there is never the same situation twice. No person has the same experience and the scariness certainly adds to the entertainment
Re-enactments: Seeing as these shows are more documentary style, then re-enactments have to play a role in rating these shows. The re-enactments aren't great but they're pretty good for a documentary and they're good enough to scare me so there we go.
4 out of 5
scariness: This is it, folks. I was scared witless by this show, especially the 'Haunting in Connecticut' Episode. That scared the shiz out of me (phantompath , you should know. I was IM-ing you while I watching it all those months ago, do you remember?). This show has some disturbing stuff, I mean, seriously, disturbing. It's got demons, spirit portals, portals to hell, demon possessions, evil spirits from past lives trying to make you miserable, you name it, man, this show's got it. Scariest stuff I've seen from a ghost show.
5 scares out of 5
informative: the same stuff as 'The Haunted'
entertaining: I found this show to be more engaging than 'The Haunted' in that the stories on this show are simply out of this world. Simply the strangest, scariest stuff I've seen. And you DEFINITELY don't see the same stuff twice. (keep in mind that its only entertaining if you let yourself get into the story and not judge it for anything. If you go through it, not trying to criticize the heck out of it, I will say that you will find it entertaining if you just let yourself enjoy it for what it is and not judge it on whether this a bunch of bullshiz or something) And this show is also prone to some corny moments but aren't all shows like that? I'm not going to judge it based it on that since no show is perfect.
re-enactments: same as for the 'The Haunted'. They're decent for documentaries but could have been better. But they're definitely good enough that they can scare you if you let yourself enjoy the show.
four ghosties from me
SHOWDOWN: The Haunted vs. A Haunting; battle between the documentaries
This one, I do have an opinion. I do feel that A Haunting is a better show because of how wide array of cases it depicts. The Haunted limits its stories to those including animals and because of that, it suffers a little. But that's not necessarily a bad thing. They are both good shows and have their limitations. I mean, you can watch both shows and think they're absolutely horrible if you come in closed-minded. I believe if you come in with an open-mind then you will certainly find these shows entertaining. The same goes for the docu-dramas. I guarantee you that you will not enjoy them if come into them being nip-picky about everything. Simply enjoy them for what they are and I guarantee that you will have a good time.
ULTIMATE SHOWDOWN: Docu-dramas vs. documentaries
For these, it really depends on what you prefer as a viewer. Do you want to be scared? Then a documentary is for you. I find them to be more scary.
Do you care about reliability and realness? Then a docu-drama is more for you. I find docu-dramsas to be more reliable since you get to witness what happens and see the results. I find them more realistic since they don't always find stuff and they also don't resolve some problems sometimes. They are also better in that they can provide with more information than documentaries do.
My 2 cents? Docu-dramas. I'm all about realness and info. I love to learn so docu-dramas really get to inform me about maybe what to do and what kind of different supernatural things are out there. I also like realness for some reason. I'd rather know about what people believe to be true about supernatural phenomena than some made up stuff. Example: There's a show out there called 'Lost Tapes' about cryptids. You guys know that I'm a real sucker for these shows so I watched it. They embellish cryptids and change their natures to make them all sound like monsters. I mean, there's nothing wrong with that. It's not real anyway so they can do whatever they want. But I would honestly prefer if they were depicted like the accounts describe them as. (it's also a very INFORMATIVE show. It's got experts and everything. It's also not very scary and looks fake but I do find the info absolutely fascinating)
And there we go. That's my opinion and review on some of those ghost shows out there.
Until Later,
Colourbine
As most of you probably know, I am a supernatural freak. I love that stuff. That includes ghosts, which I'm deathly afraid of. I always watch whatever supernatural shows that my cable package has and so I decided to review of these ghost shows.
I've decided to review 4 shows: Ghost Hunters and Ghost Hunters International from SciFi channel; Paranormal State from A&E; The Haunted from Animal Planet; and last but not least, Discovery Channel's 'A Haunting'.
In case some of you aren't familiar with these shows, I'll provide a brief summary of each show
Ghost Hunters: This show is a docu-drama that follows the cases of TAPS. TAPS' responds to calls from people asking for their help. TAPS usually helps families and businesses (such as old theatres and restaurants and things of that nature) determine whether their home or building is actually being haunted by ghosts. TAPS then sets up their equipment and investigates during the night, trying to find evidence of any paranormal activity. Sometimes they find stuff and sometimes they don't. GHI (Ghost Hunters International) follows the same format only that they investigate all around the world whereas GH investigates solely in America, and also they are usually only called on to prove that a place is haunted whereas people (families) call GH sometimes for help in order to deal with what they believe are ghosts.
Paranormal State: This is also a docu-drama that is similar to GH but has a few differences. Paranormal State follows the cases of the Pennsylvania State University Paranormal Research Society, a student-led college club, which helps people who call them. They do deal with ghosts but also with other paranormal activity. Their method of investigation also differs from TAPS in that their investigations are longer (usually a week) and they do absolutely everything they can to try to help their clients try to resolve their problems.
The Haunted: This a documentary style show that re-enacts the stories of 'true' ghost stories. They usually have footage of the actual victims narrating the story. The cases usually depict stories that involve animals in them.
A Haunting: This show is also documentary and is very similar to 'The Haunted'. The only difference is that they just follow any story, whereas 'The Haunted' only focuses on stories that involve people and animals.
Now, I know you that some of you guys are wondering, "hey, Sebi, why aren't you rating 'Scariest Places on Earth' or 'Truth or Scare'?" That is because I haven't watched Scariest Places on Earth recently. I watched it when I was younger and it absolutely terrified me. I re-watched an episode that terrified me as a child and didn't find it scary. But I feel like I can't really review something that I've only watched one episode of recently. And I don't consider 'Truth or Scare' in the same categories as these shows but I do think I'll review it along with 'Mystery Hunters' since they are on the same sort of genre.
Ok, I'm going to review these shows on the criteria of scariness (how scary it is), informative (what does it teach us, if at all?), reliability,and realistic-ness (how reliable are these accounts? Are they realistic?) and then I'm compare the reality shows and the documentary style shows. I'll rate them on a scale from one ghostie
being the lowest score and five ghosties
, being the highest score. First up, the docu-dramas.
Scariness: I'm not sure if its just me, but GH is not a very scary show. I mean, I love this show to pieces though. It's still one of my favorite ghost shows out there.It's just not that scary for me. (Although, there was a very creepy episode of GHI over in Scotland or something. -shudders-)
So I'm giving it 2 out of 5 ghosts
informative: I learn some stuff from GH, like the thing about people being sensitive to uh I can't believe I forgot the terminology for it. I think its like high electro-magnetic fields (correct me if I'm wrong) can cause nausea, dizziness, even paranoia and such to people sensitive to these things. And also about the different kinds of haunts such as residual vs. a more active haunting. I do also like how TAPS tries to inform their clients about the phenomena and that's always a good thing to me.
so it gets a 4 out of 5 ghost from me :)
Reliability/Reliastic-ness: Like all ghost shows, Ghost Hunters has been accused of faking their own evidence along with not really using the proper techniques to really 'hunt' ghosts. I'm not saying these things are true but it's important to keep in mind what kind of criticism the show gets from other folks. Granted this is a show about ghosts so it's bound to get criticism from someone. What I really like about TAPS is that they try to debunk things. They come in as skeptics. They don't automatically assume the client is right until they got evidence to back them up. And they certainly do provide some alternative explanations to some phenomena (Then again, some people have like the most ridiculous claims ever. Noises? Really? Let's see. Animals make noises. Let's not forget that we have neighbors so I'm sure they are quiet as church-mice as well. Then again, humans are highly perceptive creatures [huzzah! I learned something in my Psych 10 course] and sometimes we try to make sense of things around us that we don't have ready explanations for.)
Keeping in mind the critique, they get a 3 out of 5 ghosts since they have seem to be honest to me. (Although, you guys should read what the hard-core haters of this show say. They say some pretty funny things 83)
Entertaining: I know that I didn't say anything about this criteria but its just my opinion and you can really just ignore it if you want. I love Steve and Tango (from GH). They are just awesome dudes and certainly make the show more entertaining. And I really find GHI more entertaining and interesting than regular GH simply because of the exotic locations they visit. *A* That and they got Barry <3 Barry won my heart from day 1 especially with how smart he is and junk (oh god, Whitney, you would like him. He knows like at least 5 different languages) Oh, Barry, never stop being awesome *A*
scariness: I found this show more scary than GH simply because it has a more eerie and somber atmosphere than GH. And it certainly has covered some creepy cases from demon possession to spirit portals
3 out of 5 ghosts
Informative: This show is definitely more informative than GH simply because it covers more subject material than GH does. GH simply dwells in the ghost field whereas PS deals with a wide array of paranormal subjects. What I love about this show is the variety of topics they deal with it. It's just informs me of all the different situations out there, along with new creatures to learn about. What I also like about this show is that not only are we informed of the situation but the clients are as well, along with methods with coping with ghosts if they don't go away.
5 out of 5 from me
Reliability/Realistic-ness: I found this show to be reliable in where they get information. They call in experts if they dont know what is exactly bothering a client (like some Native American folklore experts) as well as doing their own research on the property and what happened to it (GH does this too but not all the time). The big difference from GH though is that they don't really de-bunk stuff. It's more like they try to debunk stuff and fail. Although this one ep, I did have to applaud their patience when dealing with a woman and an unstable veteran since there really wasn't any proof that there had been any paranormal activity to begin with (plus the only witness to these paranormal events was an unstable veteran who later denied taking pictures of the activity when he had said earlier that he had taken photos of it)
so 4 from me
Plus side and downsides: What I really like about this show is that they show what happens to the clients afterwards whereas in GH we don't really know what happens to the clients. I also like how they manage to resolve the case which is a little bit unrealistic to me. Because in life, we can't really solve every mystery out there. I mean Stonehedge is still a mystery as well as who Jack the Ripper really was and whether there was really one guy who was killing all these woman (for all I know, it could have been a woman). So the fact that all the cases are resolved in someway disturbs me a little. I guess the show makes up for by some of the very creepy resolutions. Such as in one of the exorcisms, the girl ended up in a coma afterwards and the demon managed to find some other family and the team had to encounter it again. And also the disabled deformed ghost child who just didn't go away despite the blessing the house had.
SHOWDOWN: GH vs. PS, which is better docu-drama?
I know that my ratings seem to say that I think PS is a better docu-drama and in some ways that is true but that's only because I love the variety of subjects that PS covers along with my own biases. I mean, really, it depends on what you prefer. If find GH's approach to the supernatural more entertaining and don't mind its downsides then by all means, great! I mean, I honestly do not let what other people say affect what I find entertaining. They both have their faults, no show is perfect. I find both shows entertaining and I do like PS more but they're both really awesome shows. I guess (reluctantly) I'll say that PS is better in some ways if you really want an answer (although Ghost Hunters will always have a special place in my heart)
Up next are the documentaries. For these I'm not going to rate them on reliability or realness simply because these are stories taken from people and there is no way for us, as viewers, to determine whether something really happened or not. I'm also not putting in my 2 cents on what I think if such things really occurred since I believe everyone is entitled to their opinion and I'm not going to enforce my opinions on others ( I have some criticisms on ghost claims so in some ways, I'm a skeptic but I'm also terrified of ghosts so if I honestly believed that ghosts didn't exist, then I wouldn't really be scared of them now would I? For there would be no reason to fear something that isn't real). I'm also not rating them on informative, I'll tell you what you can learn from these shows and what I think but I'm not going to value them greatly in determining whether they are good shows or not.
Scariness: Overall, I find documentaries way more scary than docu-drama simply because we get to experience the fear the people have and also we get to see the things happening via re-enactments. I do get creeped out by this show. It has some pretty disturbing stuff. And scared animals definetely scares me. I mean, I do believe that animals can sense things that we can't. I feel that they are probably more perceptive than we are and can sense things that we can't. So seeing scared animals certainly isn't reassuring to me.
Informative: Ok, well, the thing you can learn about this show is what do people do when they encounter these situations? I mean, I'd know what to do since I watch way too much TV I'd try to get TAPS so I can see Steve and Tango but other people might not. And also, what you should DEFINITELY not do. Like try to confront an agressive spirit. yeah, that's not a good idea.
Entertaining: What I like about this show is that its nothing you've ever seen before. You think you know ghosts and then BAM! you get surprised (I mean, I have never heard of a ghost, a normal ghost, possessing someone. And here I thought I knew some stuff, man) and also there is never the same situation twice. No person has the same experience and the scariness certainly adds to the entertainment
Re-enactments: Seeing as these shows are more documentary style, then re-enactments have to play a role in rating these shows. The re-enactments aren't great but they're pretty good for a documentary and they're good enough to scare me so there we go.
4 out of 5
scariness: This is it, folks. I was scared witless by this show, especially the 'Haunting in Connecticut' Episode. That scared the shiz out of me (phantompath , you should know. I was IM-ing you while I watching it all those months ago, do you remember?). This show has some disturbing stuff, I mean, seriously, disturbing. It's got demons, spirit portals, portals to hell, demon possessions, evil spirits from past lives trying to make you miserable, you name it, man, this show's got it. Scariest stuff I've seen from a ghost show.
5 scares out of 5
informative: the same stuff as 'The Haunted'
entertaining: I found this show to be more engaging than 'The Haunted' in that the stories on this show are simply out of this world. Simply the strangest, scariest stuff I've seen. And you DEFINITELY don't see the same stuff twice. (keep in mind that its only entertaining if you let yourself get into the story and not judge it for anything. If you go through it, not trying to criticize the heck out of it, I will say that you will find it entertaining if you just let yourself enjoy it for what it is and not judge it on whether this a bunch of bullshiz or something) And this show is also prone to some corny moments but aren't all shows like that? I'm not going to judge it based it on that since no show is perfect.
re-enactments: same as for the 'The Haunted'. They're decent for documentaries but could have been better. But they're definitely good enough that they can scare you if you let yourself enjoy the show.
four ghosties from me
SHOWDOWN: The Haunted vs. A Haunting; battle between the documentaries
This one, I do have an opinion. I do feel that A Haunting is a better show because of how wide array of cases it depicts. The Haunted limits its stories to those including animals and because of that, it suffers a little. But that's not necessarily a bad thing. They are both good shows and have their limitations. I mean, you can watch both shows and think they're absolutely horrible if you come in closed-minded. I believe if you come in with an open-mind then you will certainly find these shows entertaining. The same goes for the docu-dramas. I guarantee you that you will not enjoy them if come into them being nip-picky about everything. Simply enjoy them for what they are and I guarantee that you will have a good time.
ULTIMATE SHOWDOWN: Docu-dramas vs. documentaries
For these, it really depends on what you prefer as a viewer. Do you want to be scared? Then a documentary is for you. I find them to be more scary.
Do you care about reliability and realness? Then a docu-drama is more for you. I find docu-dramsas to be more reliable since you get to witness what happens and see the results. I find them more realistic since they don't always find stuff and they also don't resolve some problems sometimes. They are also better in that they can provide with more information than documentaries do.
My 2 cents? Docu-dramas. I'm all about realness and info. I love to learn so docu-dramas really get to inform me about maybe what to do and what kind of different supernatural things are out there. I also like realness for some reason. I'd rather know about what people believe to be true about supernatural phenomena than some made up stuff. Example: There's a show out there called 'Lost Tapes' about cryptids. You guys know that I'm a real sucker for these shows so I watched it. They embellish cryptids and change their natures to make them all sound like monsters. I mean, there's nothing wrong with that. It's not real anyway so they can do whatever they want. But I would honestly prefer if they were depicted like the accounts describe them as. (it's also a very INFORMATIVE show. It's got experts and everything. It's also not very scary and looks fake but I do find the info absolutely fascinating)
And there we go. That's my opinion and review on some of those ghost shows out there.
Until Later,
Colourbine