Ghost Adventures with "Zak"

Originally posted by xynephadyn
You know your right- im only a paranormal expert and investigator myself. AS FAR AS THE # THEY CAPTURE ON CAMERA which cant be faked- its real. i know ive seen it myself. im not talking about someone screaming and say "oh i saw something" and that being claimed as real

Actually Xyne faking things on camera is relatively easy. They've admitted to showing fake evidence. Almost anything can be faked. YOur natural senses are almost the only reliable method. I would consider myself an educated and experienced student on the subject as well. I've headed 2 paranormal investigative teams, I'm a psychologist who has served as consult for the catholic church on a couple of exorcisms in Kenya and a couple stateside with the Episcopal Church. I also hold a Doctorate of Divinity. And I have seen things which are truly amazing.

Lets discuss what you consider proof. I'll make some assumptions based on prior threads.

EVPs- They are garbage. With all of the radio, tv and cell signals bouncing around the atmosphere an EVP isn't reliable. Neither are ghost boxes and such. Disembodied voices which are audible to an investigator and recorded on multiple devices are reliable. Have to play with the filters excessively to get a sound is rubbish. None of the Paranormal shows use controlled environments, save the National Geographic debunking show. And frankly how can you prove an EVP is from a spirit? I could be sheer coincidence that they get an answer they want after audio manipulation and many EVP's are audio matrixing. How do you prove ghosts can talk anyway?

Video- Almost always nightvision. Light sources make funny things appear when using night vision. Video can also be edited. Again a controlled environment, appropriate chain of custody on the video, and multiple stills and video are accurate. But depending what the composition of a spirit is how do you know it will appear on photos or video?

FLIR/Thermal- Easiest fake there is. Hard to percieve depth. Leaning on something can cause a heat signature, so can a wire with too much current running through it. Birds, bats, animals, reflections and residual heat are often mistaken for apparitions.

Photographs-Slow Shutter speed and crappy cameraphones. Low quality recorders where you have too much pivelation and ghosting with motion. Again easy to fake. People see faces in photos that are simply the brain creating familliar images from complex patterns.

Human obsevation- Very few investigations are controlled properly. Voices carry. People walking around. Failure to attempt a debunking of mysterious circumstances. Mass panic. Fear.

EMF readings-What is a ghost? So how do you know what kind of reading it will give off? If anything?

Thermometer-Prove a ghost can fluctuate a temperature and it isn't a draft or simply a cooler spot in the house.

Geigercounter-One of our tools where we take a base reading of the entire home just like with the EMF and thermometer, recording it all. That way if anything does happen we know what the base reading for the area is and can determine if it is indeed an anomolous reading tied to possible spirit activity.

You don't know the composition of a spirit. You don't know what type of readings it will give off. If they walk through walls they must be pure energy right? THen why don't they pass straight through the floor? If they have mass how do they walk through walls? Or Float? Until one is captured and contained and scientiffic study done all of these ghost shows manage to do is propogate bad science. They don't know what the hell they are doing. The scientiffic method does not exist for 99.9% of paranormal investigators.

I let my oldest son watch Ghost Adventures so he can see how badly they fake evidence and grasp at straws to find the paranormal. They have garbage unsubstantiated evidence which is worthless because it was taken in such an inscientiffic manner.

If you ever want to see a scientifficly conducted controlled investigation then let me know, we'd be happy to have you.

Calling yourself a paranormal expert is a sham. You can't be an expert on something that you can't prove exists or that you have zero scientiffic data on. I have controlled data on FBA's, poltergeist activity and exorcisms. Real consistent instrument readings conducted in a scientiffic manner in a controlled environment. You can consider yourself an expert in paranormal theory perhaps, but thats about it. But from most of what I've read a lot of your theory is bunk. Mindless speculation.

I mean no offense whatsoever but when I hear paranormal expert and see a complete lack of science I just cringe. Running around a house with a trifield meter, a digital voice recorder, a few cameras and maybe a dousing rod doesn't constitute a scientiffic investigation. Offer advice. Don't present your opinions as fact until you have some type of scientiffic validation. I have more than 25 years of paranormal experience and 15+ attacking from a scientiffic standpoint. My teams and various religous institutions consider me an expert on the subject. I do not. I am learning. But garbage shows like Ghost Adventures, Paranormal State, Ghost Hunters, etc... they make those of us who actually are wroking on the subject in a legitimate scientiffic manner look bad. Don't help them.

It's entertainment people. I'm a firm believe that pretty much everything you see on TV is fake. (I'd even venture to say that's also true about the news we're all getting...)

But I enjoy watching Crazy ass Zak as I've started to call him. He does treat his camera man a bit poorly, but he's still there isn't he? Meaning he can't mind too much. Plus, we don't really know what kind of friendship they have. Secondly, TAPS is also entertaining. At least they're using a little more tech to back up their experiences.

But just to say it again, it's TV people. Their FIRST and foremost goal with it all is to entertain.

P.S.
Anyone else annoyed by TAPS's music and sound effects? So distracting it's not even needed.

hmm... yeah alot of things can and will be faked, but just because something is fakeable, does not mean that it is definitely a fake. I can fake an airplane flying in the sky, but does that mean all airplanes recorded on cameras are fakes?

I posted a video on youtube of a strange orb, and ofcourse I know it wasnt a fake cause I was there and all, but so many people started saying it was fake, I can say it's not and I am certain it's not a fake, but that isn't going to change someones mind, my friends know it's not a fake even the ones that wern't there, because they know me, and know I would not fake something.

The truth is, if we wern't there, there is no certain way of saying for sure if something is fake or not. Can it be faked? yeah lots of things can be faked. Is it for certain something is fake? no, not for certain. Everything is possible, and that goes both ways. Just my two cents.

A personal experience in a controlled environment with multiple credible witnesses is need to validate the personal experience beyond a reasonable doubt to one's self. To validate it to others you need that along with video, stills, instrumentation readings... But the bottom line is people won't believe it until they have it happen to them. And then there is still the chance for error.

I watch it for the entertainment. "Crazy ass Zak." I love it!

I get a kick out of his use of "disembodied voices." EVERYTHING is a disembodied voice. Not a noise, not a sound, but a disembodied voice. I think I'm gonna start counting how many times he uses that in each episode...

reply to post by xynephadyn

I think he's a hoot when he screams like a girl,especially the one with the beard he's totally genuine.

You don't think he's an egomaniac? Have you actually watched the program? He's the typical meathead jock. There was one show where it was the dead of winter and he's running around in a t-shirt 3 sizes too small and every shot of him had him flexing his 'guns' to the cam. It's nauseating to watch on that point alone.

"Can't be faked"? Are we REALLY going to go there again?

Well, first thing I'd like to say is that when I started this thread, I really wasn't expecting this kind of response. All responses and opinions are of course welcome and respected and thank you for taking the time to reply. Like I said from the beginning, I just wanted to vent. I'm so tired of these shows that show us this "evidence" like---"did you hear that?" or the ever popular "I just felt something really cold pass by me"....I'm just tired of wasting my time on that kind of nonsense.
So, two things I want to say and then I'm done. To the producers of shows like this--show us something real. Real evidence, not "feelings" and filler crap. It's hard to pass paranormal theories off to the public as credible when the people that are out collecting it (and have the most public attention) come across as self-centered ego maniacs and are laughing all the way to the bank for doing absolutely nothing.
Secondly, for guys like "Zak", just because you yell the loudest, and work out a lot, doesn't make you a credible researcher...it just makes you look like an immature narcissistic fool.
There, now I'm done....Peace

At least the original TAPS team tries to debunk first before considering anything paranormal.
Face it people, it's "entertainment", otherwise, it would be on the science channel or NatGeo or the like.

Zak's "possessions" are just a bit too much for me.

reply to post by xynephadyn


I agree with you on this. The evidence they get is pretty compelling, and it sure beats thrown stones and flashlights that turn on and off. Hell, if a guy can deliver, then I don't care how he acts. I'm not dating him. I'm checking his evidence out.

reply to post by DrJay1975


So, do you have any evidence to back up what you claim here? I'd love to see what you consider to be offerable proof of the paranormal activity that you've witnessed first-hand. As a declared expert, you must be in possession of at least one piece of solid evidence that rises to a level that can't be refuted by the average dope running around a deserted house with a camera, a dictophone and a set of dowsing rods.

I'm not an expert. I've experienced intense paranormal activity, but it's never been my job to document activity. I've never been on a ghost hunt, and frankly, I'd be bored to death with the waiting for what probably wouldn't happen while I was sitting there anyway. I appreciate and respect those of you who have that kind of patience, but I do get irritated with the spitting at each other that you folks seem to have gotten into since ghost hunting started to make some people some real money. It reminds me of the local club bands when one of them begins to draw a little attention from the music media. Like lobsters in a tank, pulling at the one with the best shot at escaping.

So, again, do you have any professional grade evidence? If so, can you share it with us?

And if not, then why should we believe anything you have to say on the subject? After all, why can't it be that you're lying too?

Well, the new season of Ghost Adventures is being broadcast weekly. I must say that I am disappointed in the changes made to the production of the show, and I think many of the EVPs for the new season have been a great stretch. The EVPs sound heavily washed by sound processing effects such as Reverb, Detuning, and Octave displacement.

I'm not particularly convinced by their "evidence" considering that they are now engaging in dramatic re-enactments (such as fighting a mock-battle at Gettysburg) and re-enacting ghost activity. Is it any wonder that they picked up a thermal video of a civil war soldier, when the day before they were dressed as civil war soldiers and re-enacting the battle? Occam's Razor anyone?

In the last show (broadcast 9/24/10) in which the GA guys were locked into an asylum in northern NY, they showed re-enacted cut scenes of a toy car moving across the floor, and a piece of metal or wood being thrown down a hallway. These kinds of fabricated re-enactments tied to past stories of the location really undermine their overall credibility in my mind. If they can fake a toy car moving across the ground for purpose of dramatic re-enactment, then why couldn't they fake a door slamming?

The broadcast episodes seem to be less focused on the investigation itself and more on the history of the place. I think the last episode was 24 minutes of history and interviews. And I'm really not sure what to think about the GA team taking a trip in the "Whirlpool" speedboat. That was total time filler.

While GA is still the most entertaining paranormal show on TV, the new season leads me to conclude that they've sold out. That's just my opinion, and I'm not an expert.

Most of these ghost hunting shows are pure entertainment; even the original 'Ghost Hunters', they used to debunk everything, now everything is haunted, go figure...

As far as Ghost Adventures is concerned, these idiot cameramen remind me of Shaggy and Scooby Doo, running at every sound, and Zak, he uses a 'confrontational' approach to ghost hunting, and most paranormal investigators would tell you you 'confront' a spirit, especially a hostile one, is not the way to go. Hell, you end up at time bringing it home with you.

reply to post by whyshouldI trustyou2619


Hahaha. I came here specifically looking for the appropriate place to vent my issues with they guy's "show". Been ATS member for a couple of years, and visit daily. Tonight, A&E is running like three of his Ghost Adventures shows. . .and they are all the same. Everything centers around HIM and his childlike interpretation of rubbing his thumb over the MOCKraphone. . . .I meant so say the interpretatons of his "EV Ps" are a stretch, at the least. Not that he hasn't a few good ones, but so have I! This guy would be more suited for a PUNK'D version of Ghost Adventures! He's lucky to have the opportunity for true scientific exploration, and he runs around like a confused kid who needs his meds.

This guy maked Ashton Kutcher seem as Shakespeare!!! How they've let this show go on for this long amaes me.

GAC came to our house. I wont say they are fake. I will say the ill-investigative methods they applied provided 0 results.

s299.photobucket.com...

www.youtube.com...

LOL I love it, he made me laugh.

I used to watch those shows awhile back he is like a guy from Jersey Shore, with the product in his hair and the "perma-flex" thing going on.

I like Zack, Aaron and Nick.

Zack's Ego? Who doesn't, working for these reality shows.

He is a dedicated person, and that comes through.

This crew gets results. What those results represent, is rather astounding and cries for scientific understanding. Something is going on here and I want to know. There is no way I would put myself in the dark in many of the places they investigate, and it must have an impact on all of them.

I love the gadgets, and have tried a few of them. If you ever messed with an SB11, you will certainly be amazed at some of the stuff that comes out of it. Like I said, I want to understand what it really represents.

I hope the show stays on forever, and it has already stood the test of time.

a reply to: DrJay1975

EVPs- They are garbage. With all of the radio, tv and cell signals bouncing around the atmosphere an EVP isn't reliable.

That is just wrong. You should qualify assertions like that as what you believe. The experiences I have had leave no doubt in my mind that the were real, unless I am some kind of schizophrenic, which I am not. However, I would never make a blanket statement that EVP's were real, because that implies an expert opinion, and the only way one could ever be a definitive expert in this phenomena, is to be dead.

Not one of us really understand the mechanism or physics of how they occur, but the experience is in the ear of the beholder as well as the circumstance in which they were recorded.

I can't watch the show, Zak is very aggravating to say the least. All drama and it seems like he gets attacked by enties all the time...lol

originally posted by: lambs to lions
reply to post by xynephadyn

 

I have to disagree. Of course he fakes things! Atleast some if not all! He has a TV show, which is driven by ratings. No ratings, no money. Everything about him screams "fake" to me. Especially, his over the top enthusiasm. There is a market for this kind of bs, and his show is just one of the many that fills the need. But hey, if you're entertained...eat it up.

Nope he doesn't fake anything on the show. I don't find Zak Bagan's personality offensive like a lot do either. He's a decent guy who is very generous and kind to people from what I have read from comments made by those he has interviewed in the past.
He has a big ego, so what? Lots of guys have it, but some hide their egos better than others, but to do that takes wisdom and more life experience. Some guys never learn wisdom and remain egotistical fools, like our country's leaders for example.
When you acquire more wisdom about people's behaviors and care about everyone more, despite their current scale of personal development and maturity, you will begin to like them more and more importantly, understand them better and not hold their big egos against them as much.
When the show began, they used local paranormal experts to evaluate their evidence in totally unbiased fashion, and either acknowledged evidence as solid, or debunked it.

The flying brick episode was analyzed by a college professor somewhere, can't remember, but he was a mechanical engineer I think, and he said the motions exhibited by the brick were not faked and couldn't have been faked by looking at everything it did systematically. They also had video experts confirm the footage was not altered in any way and no fakery or wires were able to be detected in the footage.

Zak Bagans is just very energetic and energy driven about his passion for the paranormal, that is all it is. He isn't perfect like everyone, and there are things he does that I wouldn't do, like being scared.

I don't know exactly why, but I am not afraid of any ghost, and I have been messed with by them many times and I laugh out loud at them and tell them why. I also tell them that when I die, I will come looking for them and devote eternity to kicking their ass if they didn't stop bothering me when I tell them to do so.

They stop in every case so far. I always use humor and understanding towards them first before using more agressive means to enlighten them.

To me, they way I roll, I consider every on air ghost hunters to be mostly fraidy cats, and not having the level of understanding that they should be having while doing that job.

Having said that, I still like them all, except for the show "ghost hunters" These people are the most ignorant of them all, except for a few who were not lead investigators, who showed more common sense than the leaders.