Would you like to see a new investigation series?

I'm curious if the ATS community would be interested in a new investigation series?
Dedicated to the paranormal; cryptozoology, UFO's, USO's, ET's etc.

My thought was it should be about investigating myths, legends, also just creatures or sightings.
A mix of Destination Truth, Ghost Hunters international and UFO hunters however without the fancy Hollywood atmosphere they try to create. The fancy music when they are reviewing EVP's for example is in my opinion very annoying and negatively effecting their credibility.

A list of things that annoy me when I watch these series and that I would do differently:
(Explaination below)

1. The fancy music that disrupts the raw video material.
   
2. The adrenaline rushes that might disrupt the anomaly they are investigating.
   
3. The disrespect they sometimes have for the scientific credibility of a case.
   

1. Because of this it is sometimes very hard to review the material by the person viewing it on TV or YouTube. I think this is not very supportive to their credibility.
   
2. Sometimes they would hear voices or footsteps in GHI and because of the adrenaline they would rush to its source. I think this is unwise. I believe it might disrupt the anomaly.
   
3. They all attach a lot of value to personal accounts of the crew. I think this is something that the viewer can't buy nothing for. I believe they should leave that all out as it is useless. Sometimes they also defy general physics or logic because they want to find a creature a little too much for example.
   

I created this thread because I wanted to be in contact with the people who potentially view these series and what they think of it.

A series that summarizes all the other? Or dedicated to just cryptozoology? Fancy music? High-tech? Low-tech?
Scientific evidence? Personal accounts? .... etc.

Feel free to tell and discuss what you would like to see.

After some contributions I'll summarize everything in a post.

I would love to see another one and may I suggest a subject? The noises in the sky. It's a global, sustained and long term mystery with possible tie ins to UFO's, military aircraft, exotic geological processes or other equally fascinating conspiracy related concepts. It would seem right square in the middle for what ATS should specialize in having available in original investigative pieces.

Just my humble suggestion on a great idea.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


Yes it's a very interesting phenomenon. Definitely one to put on the list.
There is a large chance that me and a friend will make YouTube episodes.
We have accumulated a large amount of gear over a period of time. Aside from the gear, we know a thing or two about the paranormal.
We always thought that we could do it better than those series on TV focused on getting viewers instead of having important and useful content.

So I was especially interested in how you would like to see the series being made or operated; how the series functions and what it is for. I wanted to create the concept of a show together with the potential viewer basically.

However ideas for episodes are fine too!

We have two American programs on hauntings now every evening of the week.

It's always a white family (for over a week now without variation) in a big creaky house.
Are spirits, demons and ghosts snobs and racists?

Only some of these programs have investigative moments (usually a boring orb or unclear EVP), and most of the visual and narrative is recreated.
At the end the white middle-class family is always secure and safe.

I'm starting to think this is political and pushing the patriarchal family of a certain race and class as the norm.

Are there no hauntings in inner cities, or "the hood"?
Occasionally they include a Native American shaman, who arrives and leaves after an unsuccessful exorcism.
We never see where they live however.

Inevitably some form of Christian authority is pushed as the only solution.
This is surely ideological.

Meanwhile the medium Linda Williamson writes in her book Ghosts and Earthbound Spirits (Piatkus Books, 2006):

Evil spirits are attracted to areas where there is any kind of negativity. Take, for instance, a housing estate in a depressed area where there is a high level of crime, drug taking, unemployment and the ills that go with it. If you could see such a place from the spirit world you would see any number of earthbound spirits in that that location.

(pp. 159-160)

She then mentions a worst-case haunting, where crockery was flying around, the furniture was moving, and two cops were pinned against the wall by a Welsh dresser.

Wouldn't this be a good place to film some footage?
But perhaps seeing the truth about abject poverty is scarier to middle-America than ghosts.

I guess being haunted means you are associated with property, and if you don't have an address linked to property, then not even a ghost or demon gives a damn about you.

So I'd like to see programs that are not so obviously segregated by race, sexuality and class, and thus, by implication, consign entire groups of people to invisibility.

reply to post by halfoldman


I appreciate your post a lot. I will try to understand with the following paragraphs.

I have the same idea with Discovery Channel.
They certainly have a contract for these shows with demands before the show sees money or hits the screen.

The problem with these shows in my opinion is that they are purely for entertainment and not for showing the world what is out there as they claim. I like that you stated narrating, I almost forgot that. I really dislike that in most of these shows. Also how they translate from foreign languages to English too. It's usually inaccurate and bend in a way that benefits the entertainment level of the show. How they narrate witness stories is usually very annoying.

What we want to bring is a rational and scientific concept that does not cling to what we think that we know. I mean for example stereotypical views. Demons are this, Angels are that. Bigfoot is this, Big foot is that. White is this, Black is that. We want to keep an open mind and leave all possibilities open and see how the card plays out without having prejudices or a preset.

I hope that I have shown you that I understand what you mean. If you think I don't get it then please let me know.

Another of those shows would only be welcome if....wait for it...
...they actually found something. Not hints, suggestions, or supposition.
Something real and undeniable.
Other than that, no thanks, I'll pass.

reply to post by subject x


I completely agree. I would personally only like publish episodes with serious content. Luckily YouTube gives you that freedom.
The reason you are giving is the main reason why we wanted to do it better and different.

reply to post by novuslibertas

Well, so far these shows are a continuing genre of a colonial struggle over property.
White ghosts against white families over a house.
Usually the patriarchal male is as stubborn as the masculine ghost/demon.
Women have to negotiate the exorcism or exit, although they never hear an apology from the patriarch for his initial ridicule.

This is surely a reinforcement of settler property rights as natural (the odd one-liner on an "Indian burial ground" notwithstanding).
These are related to property struggles with animals like coyotes and pumas in suburban expansions into the natural frontier in many "wildlife" documentaries..
The question becomes who is included, and who is deliberately excluded in such programs.
What areas are included as "historical", and which areas of America are excluded as worthy of investigation?

And it obviously seems that gay, lesbian and transgender people never become ghosts.

So I'm tired of seeing white "haunted" middle class America.
If I see one more Civil War uniform I'm just going to scream!
Can we have one haunted inner city?
One haunted Native American reservation or home?
One haunted gay enclave or house?

Yeah, those themes are sometimes mentioned in short clips on Mystery programs, but can we have a whole investigative/haunted house recreation episode on this occasionally?

reply to post by halfoldman


I understand you now and I completely agree . It's an opportunity that I would like to take and display the truth and the world as it really is and not just stupid propaganda.

reply to post by novuslibertas

Yeah, and of course I'm not suggesting that these white middle class (or upper class) families did not experience and suffer from hauntings, or that we shouldn't see them.
But it's really become a kind of exclusivity.

Maybe that's just the the shows that global satellite channels purchase.
It's the same with everything.
Take cooking.
There is a UK show called "Come Dine with Me" where four guests cook for each other and then nominate a winner.
It came to South Africa, and all we see are rich, drunk yuppies with property (who are pretty much the same across race and sexuality), cooking largely Indian or continental fare.
We don't see any unique SA variety at all.

So it seems that the class who pays for these channels wants itself reflected back.

I am not too interested in ghoast sightings but i do watch some of the shows. I would continue with the format of destination truth but change a few things.

1) I would download the footages, sounds and such to a central website for peer investigation. I would do this so that the average joe can go click and watch 5 hours of game cam footage and possibly find or see somthing that someone on the show missed.

2) I would stay at locations for a longer period of time. Most of the DT investigation they only stay for 1 night. I understand that it cost money for them all to be there that long but i think it would increase their chances of finding something if they stayed for at the least 5 days or so.

reply to post by Littlefeet


Yes my friend also stated this a while ago. It would be awesome if we were able to download EVP's and raw footage. This is definitely something that we'll make available.

I also agree on the one night it's indeed pretty short.

Thanks.

Originally posted by halfoldman
We have two American programs on hauntings now every evening of the week.

It's always a white family (for over a week now without variation) in a big creaky house.
Are spirits, demons and ghosts snobs and racists?

I was just going to write about how paranormal investigation shows are always limited by typical media standards.

Think about it, in order for some investigation team to investigate a serious haunting, they need permission by the people who control the place. This is especially true when they bring along a busload of "investigators" and electronic equipment.

Personally, I think the best way to do it is form a team, equip them with some night vision cameras (and other man-portable equipment like EVP devices, infrared gauges, etc), and sneak them into somewhere infamous where you probably wouldn't get permission in the first place. Think of it as rebel ghost investigations; I bet you'll get amazing results