Ghostbusting/hunting ... or Whatever You Want to CALL It ;-)

... or whatever you want to CALL it;-)

Answer the CALL?-)

Although I did enjoy this episode above because I really love lighthouses, as I mentioned in this old post - 
The Light Between Oceans

And while I do believe in ghosts and believe I have had some encounters with them myself over the years, these "ghosthunting" shows I find rather exploitative and sometimes unconvincing and let's be honest these guys filming these shows need to make or appear to make ghosts appear to keep their shows running.

I mean this is the real "ghost" in the room when it comes to these ghostbusting shows on the tube, just how genuine are they and are they just fudging results for ratings and to keep the show alive.

Something we (the viewer) won't really know.

I recently saw the new Ghostbusters movie with my eldest son Kevin (funnily enough), and it struck me how odd that comedians are drawn to the paranormal, I mean look who wrote the Ghostbusters movies, Dan Aykroyd who is into the paranormal big-time.

And not to mention other spirits that Dan is in to;-)

"Aykroyd considers himself a Spiritualist, stating that:

I am a Spiritualist, a proud wearer of the Spiritualist badge. 

Mediums and psychic research have gone on for many, many years.... Loads of people have seen spirits, heard a voice or felt the cold temperature. 

I believe that they are between here and there, that they exist between the fourth and fifth dimension, and that they visit us frequently.

His great-grandfather, a dentist, was a mystic who corresponded with author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle on the subject of Spiritualism, and who was a member of the Lily Dale Society.
Other than Spiritualism, Aykroyd is also interested in various other aspects of the paranormal, particularly UFOlogy. 

He is a lifetime member of and official Hollywood consultant for the Mutual UFO Network. 

Along these lines, he served, from 1996 to 2000, as "host" of 
Psi Factor: Chronicles of the Paranormal, which claimed to describe cases drawn from the archives of "The Office Of Scientific Investigation And Research." 

In 2005, Aykroyd produced the DVD Dan Aykroyd: Unplugged on UFOs.
Aykroyd is interviewed for 80 minutes by UFOlogist David Sereda discussing in depth many aspects of the UFO phenomenon.
On September 29, 2009, Peter Aykroyd Sr., Dan's father, published a book entitled A History of Ghosts. 

This book chronicled the family's historical involvement in the Spiritualist Movement, to which Aykroyd readily refers. 

Aykroyd wrote the introduction and accompanied his father on a series of promotional activities, including launches in New York and Toronto, appearances on Larry King Live, Coast to Coast AM and various other public relations initiatives. 

Aykroyd also read the introduction for the audio version of the book.

In 1997, the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry(CSICOP) awarded Aykroyd "in absentia the Snuffed Candle Award for hosting Psi Factor and being a "long-time promoter ... of paranormal claims" Following the awards, Joe Nickell wrote to Aykroyd asking for the research behind the "cases" presented on Psi Factor. 

Particularly a claim that NASA scientists were "killed while investigating a meteor crash and giant eggs were found and incubated, yielding a flea the size of a hog"."

Oddly enough, I found an old magazine from 2014 where the magazine founder Simon Turnbull had interviewed Alex Holzer, the daughter of Hans Holzer, Dan Aykroyd's inspiration for the making of the first Ghostbusters movie.

Ironically, the guy who interviewed Alex Holzer for that magazine article, Simon Turnbull, passed away just as that magazine hit the newsstands.

I don't know anything much about Alexandra Holzer, or her father apart from what I read in the magazine article of Simon Turnbull's, but I think we can see where such terms as "ghosthunting" came from to emerge into the pop-cultural world of today. 

And while I don't believe in such things as hell and Satan, I do believe people can open themselves up to some pretty nasty spirits if they are not careful.

Which is why I don't like the so-called practice of "channelling".
I dislike "channelling" for a number of reasons.
For one I think "channelling" is just a practice for charlatans to get money out of gullible people, or if these people really think they are channelling something it is probably just them tapping into a part of their deep subconscious, if not they have probably let something evil, or mischievous into themselves, because what " good"  spirit would really want to come in and take over someone else's body?  

That's why I don't like Ouija boards being used by kids like it is some kind of cool thing to do like playing a game of Monopoly.
There is nothing evil, or wrong with the board, but it's like a kid getting onto the internet and just trying to get in touch with anyone who'll listen.
The odds are the kid is only going to run into a person who comes across as nice but has other not so good motives for reaching out. 

I think it's great to talk about life after death, because we are all heading to that side of the coin ... and probably sooner than we think.

But these "ghosthunting" shows are nothing but campfire stories for the small screen.

And these "ghosthunting" shows will never convince the skeptics no matter what they capture on film, because it's too easy to fake film these days and who really knows what motivates these "ghosthunters" anyway?

Sure, ghosts are real, as most people will admit, but the only way you'll be convinced is if you come across one yourself ... and live to tell about it.;-)

Cheers.