Ghost Busting

I've always been intrigued by "ghost" shows. Sometimes they're fun, and sometimes they're just silly.

In my research for the new series, I've searched out a couple of the more popular ghost hunter shows. Permit me a minute to digress before I tell you what I've seen.

Digression #1: When I was writing my novella, LANDSLIDE, I watched a Bigfoot hunting series. Pretty sure I told you all about that before - you can read about it here. Long story short, there were more holes in their data than science. As a result, the Bigfoot in the novella is more of a joke than a flight of imagination. (PS: Sign up for my newsletter and you can download Landslide FREE!)

Digression #2: Once upon a time, there was a ghost show on television with Linda Blair and that creepy lady from Poltergeist (Scariest Places on Earth). The show was shot "dark," which meant creepy voices in barely visible film to enhance the experience. I found the show interesting at the time, even with my Dear Husband making fun of it. 

And back to today's point. I actually contacted a local ghost hunter -- or tried to -- as a reference for the new series. We traded emails and texts but never actually connected. As I research HIM, I discovered a YouTube channel and a blog. Turns out he had one "maybe" ghostly encounter at a Halloween haunted house that is supposedly a portal to hell. Beyond that, his YouTubes entail driving by great big houses and saying "gee, I bet there's a ghost or two in there! I'd really love to get inside." He lost me when he sat outside one of the houses I actually toured in my own research. Hey buddy, if you want to go inside, why don't you? In our brief correspondence, he'd mentioned Ghost Hunters. So I DVR'd a couple episodes of that. What did I think? Jury's still out. I have a few more to watch this coming weekend, but the one I did watch (with Meatloaf as a special guest star) was silly. Yes, I blogged about it already, about ghosts that push people downstairs, and yet the "team" determines the ghosts aren't dangerous. The data they collected was sketchy. And these new-fangled boxes they have that are supposed to help us "hear" the ghosts speaking? If I have a radio that changes frequency every three seconds (or whatever time interval), I'm likely to hear a voice or two, too. That doesn't mean they're a ghost, it means someone else is using that radio frequency. Phooey! But hey, that's what these shows are meant to be. Entertainment.

I grew up reading Stephen King. I like his deliciously creepy vibe and the way he weaves the extraordinary into the ordinary. Not sure any of his books ever "scared" me, per se. Some grossed me out, but in the end, I always enjoyed the entertainment. That's what I'm striving for. The extraordinary in the ordinary. I can't dig as deep as Mr. King does. Sometimes when I'm writing spooky stuff (like in the EPITAPH series), I scare myself. I admit it. The imagination is a fertile thing, after all, but as the series tagline indicates, some things are scarier than ghosts.