Wednesday, December 05, 2007

More ranting.

Look at this . Look at what those TV programmes are doing. And this.

The first starts out with 'We are looking for experienced investigators...', then continues through a description of the equipment provided, which includes 'meters to measure changes in frequency' (after editing out the swear words, my comment has no words left in it), motion detectors (oh, so very useful when the place is overrun with 'investigators'), thermometers (infrared no doubt. I hope they have insurance because those things have laser sighting beams) and 'devices to record EVP' (just say tape recorders, for %$*! sake!). You are encouraged to bring your own digital camera (why do they specify digital? It's the least useful kind) and night vision equipment (I guess so they can save on their lighting bill).

Right at the end you find it costs £99 per person. Naturally, you have to give back all that equipment, which means if you did record a voice, you can't keep it. There wouldn't be much point anyway. There'll be 24 of you on that little excursion. A recorded voice would be useless. You'll get orbs for sure, if you take a digital camera and have 24 people plus staff churning up dust. It's a night out on the modern equivalent of the fairground ghost train.

The second is worse. English Heritage, who look after historical buildings, have forgotten they don't actually own them and are cashing in on the popularity of the ghost hunt. All this is because of those programmes, the shows where everyone's a winner, every investigation gets a result. Just one night, and you can experience the wonders of the afterlife. Bollocks.

It's cashing in on the gullible, taking money from those who hope to contact the dead. It's exactly the same thing a stage psychic does, and it's just as deplorable.

Don't fall for it.



(okay, I'm laying off the caffiene now).

4 comments:

astrologymemphis.blogspot.com said...

(infrared no doubt. I hope they have insurance because those things have laser sighting beams)

Would you explain, please? What do laser sighting beams do?

Romulus Crowe said...

I've caught up with you at last.

The lasers in those thermometers are the same as those in laser-pointers. They won't cut anything but they can cause serious damage to your eyes if you get the beam straight on. Add that to darkness, and fully-open pupils, and it's a bad combination.

I wouldn't want to be around 24 people waving those things about in the dark.

Now that I've caught up, how have you been? There's no hurry on that Nobel prize - don't feel pressured on my account! ;)

astrologymemphis.blogspot.com said...

Ha, you're funny. I don't feel pressured. I'm going to die sometime, and it doesn't bother me to know that. Might as well do some good with it if I can. Honest to God, when I had my heart attack, right after I wondered if I was going to die, my next thought was wondering how to find you. Or maybe it was that at least I'd gotten to read the last Harry Potter book (I'd finished it that afternoon). I can't recall the exact order, but those thoughts were pretty close together. Soon after the first of the year, I'm going to be seeing an attorney about a will, and trusts, and that kind of thing, so if I need to leave any information with a third party, or locked in a safety deposit box, or however it works, now would be a good time for us to set it up. Although, I'm thinking that even if I left some phrase that I can tell you after I'm gone, that skeptics would say we set it up beforehand. Apparating for a videotape might be better. Maybe tape and an EVP would be best. Maybe we should ask Dikkii what he'd accept as proof. Or Randi. That's it. I'll come get you and we'll go visit Randi together. We'll wake him. Maybe I'll sneak up behind him and yell "boo." Ya think that would do it? :-D

Romulus Crowe said...

That's a problem - anything we arrange could have been set up beforehand.

No matter who you tell after you die, you could have told them before. Unless you tell a child, someone who wasn't born until after you died. Still, there are ways around that too.

Perhaps if we both locked away half of a particular phrase, or something like that, on opposite sides of the planet, and then had to tell mediums not only what it was, but where to find the halves.

Even then it would be hard to prove the mediums knew nothing beforehand.

I think you're right. The only way to prove it to a skeptic would be to pop up and scare them to death.

I think I'll make that my afterlife's work. It sounds like fun.

The cross-correspondences were pretty good evidence, but they weren't free of holes so they're not proof. That line of work stopped because of the Second World War and never revived. Perhaps it's time to try again.

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