Television Shows vs. Paranormal "Experts"

This week I have a pet peeve to air out:

In what universe was it decided that if you have a paranormal television show, you are an instant "expert" in all things paranormal? Granted, there have been a few excellent television shows that sprang from very experienced paranormal investigators, such as Jason and Grant, not to mention Barry Fitzgerald -- but unfortunately they are now fewer and far between as the trend has continued.

Unfortunately, there have been many more very well-educated, experienced paranormal investigators, such as our late founder Rick Moran, -- and a few others who probably SHOULD have had a television show, but realized that the production would never be done correctly to document the "real world" of how it is done and what kinds of phenomena one can and does experience in the field.

Now days, it seems that any wet-behind-the-ears beefcake out there can have an interest in the paranormal, pitch the show, and instantly become a new "star" and "expert". It doesn't matter if they get their facts wrong, such as when Ryan Buell from Paranormal State claimed that there was an actual stained-glass window built into the structure which was a "demonic symbol" in the warden's quarters of a well-known haunted penitentiary. (The window was actually structured into a Masonic symbol by the designers of the building!) I think that this is completely irresponsible to mislead the public this way, as well as not having conducted more research into the history of the building and what these symbols actually mean.

Not only that, but where are the women out there who have been investigating cases for years on their own dime because they had a calling to do it? Why don't they have their own show if in fact that is the criteria for being an "expert"?

Statistically, it seems to me that there are actually more women in the paranormal field than men. However, since "sex sells", producers want a young, hot male with followers, and one really good looking female who doesn't say much at all, but wears very tight jeans at the very least and is put into precarious positions in the field by herself so that next we can hear her scream and be "rescued" by the men in the group.

Please, people! The women I know in the paranormal field are experienced, serious women of all shapes, ages and sizes, are likely to be in the front of the group walking into goodness knows what, sizing it all up in a few minutes, and directing their teams if their well-trained members don't already know exactly what to do (some of which of course include men), on what to do next! In the groups with a male leader (which I realize there are many) are very likely to have several women in the group in higher positions whether that be evidence, technical, or computer geek.

Not only that, but when a woman does "run the show" such as Yvette Fielding, on the popular British television show "Most Haunted", she routinely contradicts the only true paranormal investigator on the show, Dr. Ciaran O'Keefe! Poor Ciaran. It must be quite frustrating for him to know that he knows how to conduct a real paranormal investigation, only to be relegated to the back end of everything most of the time on that show.

Case in point: Recently on the show, the cast hears a loud noise. Of course, they all start and jump, and scream. Dr. O'Keefe says, "That noise came from the next room," because he wants them to move slowly to the next room to investigate it, and because he actually was standing closest to the door and could hear it the best. Yvette cut him a look out of the corner of her eyes that told him to basically shut up, and then says, "No, the noise came from beneath us. It's from the basement! Let's all go to the basement!" (or words to that effect) BECAUSE she obviously needed a segway to move the action to the basement! Sigh.

Why can't we see instead someone like Amy Bruni for instance who is truly an excellent paranormal investigator in her own right who had her own group in California before joining the Ghost Hunters show. She is both young, beautiful, and experienced. It would be delightful to see her have her own show, along with Donna Lacroix. Both of them have had years of experience and should also fulfill the "sex appeal" requirement that producers demand. Kris Williams has now come a long way since we first saw her, and she has a very keen interest in research and genealogy in her background which truly helps when conducting a professional paranormal investigation.

Instead of screaming, most of the women I know usually try to get even closer to the phenomenon in order to understand it better. In fact, recently, I received my first bruise from a paranormal source on a case in which I felt as if somebody was running their thumb across my hip. I did not jump and run from it, I just looked around to see if anyone was there. Later on I actually felt rewarded that I had received a bruise on the scene because it added to the evidence in the case! I say this not to toot my own horn, but to give an example of our mindset.

However, just fyi: Whenever there is a paranormal occurrence at a site, you should not -- I repeat not -- run toward it like a heard of buffalo like some we have all seen! You should walk toward it calmly, quietly, to try to observe it before it runs it course, lest you actually frighten off the spirit causing it. (Yes, as strange as it seems, sometimes it does run both ways. They can actually be frightened of the people investigating them, stop, and leave the area.)

All right, I digress . . . . Now in conclusion, it would be refreshing for once to see REAL investigators in the field of all shapes, sizes, and ages and see what a real paranormal investigator does, how they do it, and the demeanor most of them have in common with each other in order to actually further the field, get more young people interested in it for a career, open up more college courses in parapsychology, much less as a "major", and more grant money to fund it because this is something that is occurring daily in the "natural world" in which we live under natural laws of the universe. It is not just something "out there" to be frightened of or to tell girl and boy scouts around a campfire at night to scare them to death.