Ghost Hunting
Posted by Kushana Torumekia at 2/26/2008 5:58 PM 
Categories: Ghost Photos, Orbs, Ghost Hunting, Angels, Contemporary Religion, Skepticism, podcasts, Marian Apparitions, Paranormal
Categories: Ghost Photos, Orbs, Ghost Hunting, Angels, Contemporary Religion, Skepticism, podcasts, Marian Apparitions, Paranormal
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If you are a fan of televised ghost hunting shows (or a not a fan) the "Ghost Hunting Tools of the Trade" episode of Skeptoid has much food for thought: http://skeptoid.com/episode_guide.php(See his prior podcasts on "New Age Energy" and "Orbs" to understand the background of his comments on whether handheld equipment can detect evidence of the paranormal.)
Before you spit tacks that this is a skeptical viewpoint, and should therefore be dismissed, (or that the paranormal is a too "wacky" a topic) remember that I look at 'how' belief works: any kind of belief. Humor me for a moment.
I know at least one paranormal conference speaker on in the Ghostly Talk archives has suggested learning more about the conventional use of the detection equipment used on ghost hunts. (Forgive me for not recalling his name, I have listened to so many of their past shows and paranormal conference recordings that I don't remember where it was.)
One of the things I find interesting about interest in the paranormal is that it has a long history of being intertwined with science (see the book <a href="http://www.powells.com/partner/31957/s?isbn=1594200904">Ghost Hunters</a>
and bases its views on science. (Many other kinds of political and religious belief also say their views are objectively true — think of the number of times you have been in an argument when the other party claims direct, observable experience as their trump card (whether it fully supports their point, or not.))To me this brings up an interesting point about faith. Either one hunts ghosts with psychics ... whose impressions cannot be confirmed by non-psychics ... or what? There are several compensations for that: not using psychics, using equipment, using more psychics. (Early spiritualism, lacking equipment, tried to create more psychics (or, as they would have said, mediums.)) But, in essence, belief in the paranormal requires often requires a personal experience of the uncanny — just as religious faith often requires a personal experience of the divine. There is no equipment that detects the presence of God (unless you want to include proffered photos of Marian apparitions or angels) so both kinds of belief require a "jump" that non- believers have not made.
Does using equipment help non-believers in the paranormal make that leap of faith?
-Kushana
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