The Moss Beach Distillery, Ghost Hunters, Paranormal Dark Ages, and A Reply to Linda

The Moss Beach Distillery, Ghost Hunters, Paranormal Dark Ages, and A Reply to Linda


This is a response to an email that I received from "Linda" (http://www.myspace.com/virgolinda10) concerning the mess over the Moss Beach Distillery investigation on Ghost Hunters. Linda does not accept emails from people who are not her "Friend" so I cannot send this reply to her privately. This will make for a good blog though.

Linda also posted this in response to my comment on Jason Hawes' blog called "Moss Beach episode!". Conveniently, Jason deleted my and Dr. Rhodes fair criticisms from his blog, further showing how they cannot take any criticism, which proves my point of Ghost Hunters leadership and fans are cultic in their mentality. I used to respect Jason, but this just shows how little of a man he is who cannot take fair, unbiased, constructive criticism. He has a responsibility as a leader on such a public television show to receive and respond fairly to constructive criticism. To shut out everything except the unquestioning adoration of his fans is a very sad thing.

Here is the reply:

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"Well professor - let me say this."

You don't even know me and yet you call me "professor" at the beginning of your communication. I know you do not think I am an actual professor, so this is a snide comment against me personally. The very kind of thing that I'd expect from anyone who takes the Ghost Hunter show seriously.

"Jason and Grant do not claim to be scientist - never have and never will."

They have never claimed to be scientists, but that HAVE claimed that their methods are scientific. This is one of the problems with TAPS. They want to be respected as investigators but they totally neglect the 130 years of science that real "ghost hunting" has been built upon. You speak as if science is a negative thing within the field of paranormal investigations. Real science IS the investigation of the unknown. If you don't follow scientific method or the body of research that science has uncovered so far with regards to the paranormal then you WILL go down an road that is unscientific and invalid as real research in the end.

"The Ghost Hunters is more of a reality TV show."

Yes it is.

"Coming to a conclusion about what is real and not real is subjective anyway - don't you think?"

Then why email me? Why does it matter? If it is all really subjective as you say then nothing in your email means anything. Its all subjective.

"There are many personal experiences that cannot be caught on tape but the team always gives the benefit of the doubt."

Yes.

"I will defend your right to your opinion, but to cut people down because they happen to be loyal to a show is something personal for each individual."

Yes, it is my opinion that the Ghost Hunters movement/fan base is much more of a cult than an open and freethinking community. If you have constructive criticism of the show and voice it publicly, you end up getting a hundred or a thousand screaming fans in your face calling you names and completely throwing away any valid criticisms you have. These are signs of cultic thinking and reacting. Do the research.

"You, Mr/Mrs Scientist have no right to deny the right of any other person's loyalty and or feelings."

Did I EVER deny the right of any other person to do or feel anything??? To actually deny the right of someone something implies power over that person. I have power over no one, but I do have the right to cry out "The Emperor has no clothes!" when the Emperor has no clothes on. People who are unknowingly caught in a cult will kick and scream against their helpers and that is what I am trying to do.

"They were not told of the gimmicks, bottom line."

I agree. I never said otherwise.

"They do not read restaurant reviews in California because they live in Rhode Island."

That is ridiculous. Any knowledgeable researcher of ghosts and hauntings within the United States would come across the Moss Beach Distillery in the stories and reports and previous investigations by other researchers. I've never been to Moss Beach, but I have read about it in many ghost books and seen it on TV shows. And yes, Loyd Auerbach (since he lives only 50 miles away from Moss Beach) has investigated the place more than anyone and has written about it extensively in his books.

Listen, this is one of the reasons why I do not respect Jason as an investigator. He creates a smear campaign against Loyd on one hand and on the other hand says that he respects him and his investigative methods. It is evident that Jason nor Grant has even read Loyd's books or really knows his methods. If Jason HAD read Loyd's books he would have known about the Moss Beach Distillery and the devices. This is what REAL investigators do, they never stop learning nor stop gathering information from their peers. The Paranormal Investigation community SHOULD be peer-reviewed, but that would mean that it would have to be based on science and not self-created terminology and methodology (see the bottom of this reply). Certainly Jason does not consider Loyd a peer of his otherwise he would have had more contact and familiarity with Loyd and his work, AS WELL as stifling the smear campaign against him. Jason knows whats going on and how this is hurting Loyd personally, but he doesn't care and allows his fans to chide Loyd unfairly.

Jason and Grant are good people. Its evident from watching the show (and yes I have the shows on DVD and study them too). But even good people can get caught up into a cultic movement, especially its leaders. Real leaders are open and inviting of their peers constructive criticism and learn from each other, not allow mud to be thrown by tens of thousands of adoring fans. That is selfish and self-serving even if Loyd was wrong in his response to Jason. Jason has proven that he is not respectful of others nor especially fellow investigators who have been doing this longer than he has.

"If you notice on the show - although upset about the "gimmicks" they continued to try and find something."

Yes they did, but it was not with an open mind any longer. They went through the motions, but expected that it was all a setup/hoax.

"So if the alledged "blue lady" showed up they would of gone with it."

I believe that they would have, but their reaction to the cheesy gimmicks made them too skeptical about the Blue Lady to fairly investigate it. They were in super-debunk mode (compared to normal debunk mode). It is more common for true Apparitions to make themselves known to people who are not overly skeptical.

"My question to you is this. Why does Moss Beach have to put trickery in?"

You are not listening. The devices WERE NOT "TRICKERY". No one, not Jason or Grant nor Loyd considers these devices as "trickery" or "deceptive" props. The Moss Beach Distillery created these gimmicks for tours. Apparitions do not make things move on-command by the living. This being the case they created the props to show interested customers what the REAL phenomenon was like, NOT to try to trick customers or investigators. Like I said, if these were designed to be "trickery" or "deceptive" they would have been created much differently and the previous investigations of the place would have made it known to the rest of us that the place was a hoax, but its not.

"The proof is in the pudding. If Moss Beach truly has "ghosts" there would be no need for "trickery".

Jason and Grant call it "fakery". Their reputation is on the line - so they think - in this investigation and so they have to call it "fakery". But any UNBIASED and FAIR research would make it evident that these devices were not "fakery" but designed for "reenactments" of what happens or has happened there in the past. Do I support that? No. Do I think it was a bad (stupid) decision to NOT be upfront about the devices? Yes I do. But just because an actual "fun-house" has props to scare you doesn't mean it can't still be haunted does it? I'm not calling MBD a fun-house, but anyone with an unbiased mindset would clearly see what the purpose is in these devices.

"Your cutting down the Ghost Hunters" but what is Moss Beach liability in this?"

They ARE liable. I said that from the beginning, so did Loyd. Did you not ACTUALLY READ my blog or did you do what the other cultic fans of TAPS do, just read a few sentences and start writing away?

"Someone got hurt because of this bogus place."

Grant hurt his ankle, but that would have happened whether or not there were pneumatics in the ceiling. Did the pneumatics in the ceiling cause Grants sprained ankle? They would have ventured up there anyways to check it out since there were reports of the ACTUAL lamps moving via paranormal activity. To say that Grant got hurt because the place was "bogus" proves the almost mindless mentality of these arguments. Come on now, you are an investigator. Think about it (that was not a put down either).

"I live in California, years ago when I went to Moss Beach the bartender told me about the "trickery". After that I never considered the place to be haunted."

And thats your uninformed opinion, which you are entitled to.

"I thought the restuarant went to "desparate measures" for financial purposes. There credibility went out the door."

Again that is uninformed opinion. Apparently they do great business because of the food, the view, and the beauty of the place, NOT because of some paranormal activity. Yes, they have used the activity for their own financial benefit JUST AS every other public place or restaurant that TAPS visits seeks to do, yet I highly doubt that the activity of the Blue Lady there has had any significant measure upon their finances.

"If this restaurant had been truly haunted the team would of loved it."

That is ridiculous. Sure if the Blue Lady became visible to all and walked through them maybe so, but do you think that even if that really happened that they would have chalked it up to being just another "fakery" created by projectors? Think about it. Once they experienced the womans voice in the bathroom and the speaker their mind was closed down to any real haunting. The Blue Lady would have had to appear and start throwing stuff at them for them to believe it was haunted. And maybe not even then.

"Or would you prefer they ran with the fake stuff, claiming it was real?"

Come on.

"The science of the paranormal is all subjective."

Really. Wow. And you know this how? This just proves your willful ignorance of Parapsychology. It IS science and there is empirical scientific evidence of the paranormal that has nothing to do with subjectivity. You would have known this if you had done your homework.

"Your "science" does not impress me in the least."

No, because you are willfully ignorant concerning it. For any REAL proof of life after death to have any real impact upon the world will HAVE to come through SCIENCE. If it doesn't it is worthless. TAPS and the majority of other paranormal investigation groups will continue on doing what they are doing and nothing will change. The world WILL NOT be impacted by their investigations or their unscientific evidence of photo orbs, EVPs, EMF readings and IR videography. EVERY great advancement in civilization has come through SCIENCE and the evolution of science. Parapsychology is on the evolutionary front lines of science, but it doesn't have the backing of the people because of ignorance. Mostly willful ignorance. If TAPS and the Paranormal Investigative community were to start studying science - Parapsychology - there would be a shift in awareness. Emotional and financial support would flood the scientific community and we would end up making major leaps forward in not only science but also in human consciousness, technologies, and even human evolution.

Am I a follower of Loyd Auerbach? No. I respect him and his research. He is a Parapsychologist and a lover of science and the scientific method. Where would the world be without science??? Still stuck in the dark ages. I see what he is trying to do and I agree with him because of parapsychology.

Let me make this clear: Paranormal Investigations will go no where and accomplish nothing substantial for the world if it does not embrace science at some point. If you or the rest of the TAPS community fear or brush aside parapsychology you HAVE to really ask yourself why? Why? Parapsychology is not perfect and parapsychologists are not perfect. We are ALL still learning. But if we learn without the help of science where will this learning take us?

We are in a paranormal Dark Age. Ultimately, if we ever come out of this Dark Age it will be because of science and the advancement of science, but that will NOT happen if the masses - who are so interested in understanding the paranormal - never truly embrace it.

If I am wrong here then please explain it to me. How can we progress in our understanding and grow and evolve in the human race without this happening?

"I don't care how Jason and Grant announce it bottom line. When they capture a haunting on film, recordings - now that is what I call science."

Exactly! That is what YOU call science. Science calls that crap. But you have to understand WHY science calls that crap and improve yourself. If you don't then you are either in to doing this only for fun or for money. Jason and Grant cannot rightfully claim that the show doesn't pay them well. But that is a whole other can of worms.

**On a side note Jason states in his blog: "As for us not doing enough research before the case, like we have always said, we wait till after the case so we do not contaminate ourselves with the claims, history or anything else of the case. 
Why read up on a place prior and find out so and so died in the back room and then go there and focus mostly on the back room?
"

This is ridiculous. Watch the first two seasons of Ghost Hunters on DVD, study them carefully (I have). They have been doing the opposite of what he says here. They have Donna or someone else to research and a history of the place BEFORE they go in. Besides if this was true then Jason and Grant need to start skipping the "Interview" portion of the investigation, because that is where the owner or witness tells them what happened where and this and that. So much for doing the investigation without "contamination".