# Veracity of Ghost Claims on the Travel Channel
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veracity-of-ghost-claims-on-the-travel-channel/943495
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [June 2, 2021, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veracity-of-ghost-claims-on-the-travel-channel/943495 "2021-06-02T19:20:17Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2021, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veracity-of-ghost-claims-on-the-travel-channel/943495/41 "2021-06-03T12:49:07Z")
I think I’ve shared this before - some years back, I worked in the Aerospace Engineering office aboard NAS Jacksonville, FL. The building had been the original chow hall when the base was commissioned during WWII.
For one project, I was the engineer on call at night, so I was alone in this drafty old building, at my desk working away. Suddenly, I smelled cinnamon! I walked the entire place, sniffing, going into all the office areas, finding nothing. But back at my desk, every once in a while, I caught a whiff, and no, I hadn’t brought cinnamon rolls with me. Gotta say, it was freaking me out a bit.
Then I opened the top, center drawer to get something out, and there in the tray, I saw it!!! A pack of Trident cinnamon gum. No, I don’t believe in spooks and I certainly didn’t think I was being haunted by bakers from the mid-40s, but in a dark, empty office, all alone on night shift, the mind can go strange places. I can imagine someone more gullible completely losing it in a similar situation.
But I don’t watch any of those ghost shows - the commercials alone cause me to hurt my eyes with severe rolling.
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2021, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veracity-of-ghost-claims-on-the-travel-channel/943495/42 "2021-06-03T13:16:05Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#):
>
> One of the gizmos that they use is something called an “Ovilus device,” which supposedly allows ghosts to talk to you.
That is idiotic. The only real way to talk to ghosts is with [facilitated communication](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facilitated_communication). You put your fingers down on a keyboard and then the ghosts put their fingers on top of yours and guide them to the right keys.
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### Author:  [@tricoteuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tricoteuse)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2021, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veracity-of-ghost-claims-on-the-travel-channel/943495/43 "2021-06-03T13:25:37Z")
That’s fantastic! How great is it that he had Data cheering him up by making fun of Shatner for being bald, and Lt. Worf offering to kick Shatner’s ass for being nasty to a teenage kid? I wish I had friends like that when I was a teenager! 😃
(edit) And I see in the comments that Brent Spiner was a jerk to someone’s 3yo daughter. ☹ I guess it’s true that you should never meet your heroes.
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### Author:  [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2021, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veracity-of-ghost-claims-on-the-travel-channel/943495/44 "2021-06-03T13:26:04Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#):
>
> I have a book, [Stranger Than Science, by Frank Edwards](https://www.amazon.com/Stranger-Than-Science-Frank-Edwards/dp/0806508507) that really impressed me as a kid. Spooky, incredible tales, with names and dates and locations, references that can be checked. And the stories! Possible alien encounters, mysterious disappearances, ghost ships, psychic powers. Fascinating stuff to an impressionable 12 year old. A lot of them scared the crap out of me!
Are you me?
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2021, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veracity-of-ghost-claims-on-the-travel-channel/943495/45 "2021-06-03T13:29:49Z")
To be fair, I have to admit I did experience an unexplainable paranormal event many year ago that I related back in another thread:
> [@Paranormal: Debunk your personal experiences](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paranormal-debunk-your-personal-experiences/727825/6):
>
> I’ve told this story before. Paranormal experience: Many years ago shopping at the Waldbaums in NY, late in the day near closing time the store was pretty deserted. Walking down one of the aisles I suddenly heard a voice say “Buy one pound of roast beef or ham at the deli counter and you will receive one pound of potato salad or macaroni salad for free”. I looked around but didn’t see anyone around who could be speaking so I continued shopping. Then in the next aisle I heard the same voice aga…
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### Author:  [@tricoteuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tricoteuse)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2021, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veracity-of-ghost-claims-on-the-travel-channel/943495/46 "2021-06-03T13:37:18Z")
As for ghost shows, I watch them once in a while because they’re just so earnest about it. I’ve known people who are ghost hunters and they aren’t any crazier than people who are really devoted to their hobbies. I can’t imagine wandering around a cemetary or abandoned building, but I wouldn’t pay hundreds of dollars for a comic book or cookie jar either. They think I’m crazy for paying $35 for a tiny ball of yarn made from yak hair.
I like a good spooky story once in a while, and it’s nice to think that the dead aren’t really gone and there’s something out there watching out for us.
But if someone ever did have real proof of ghosts or communication from the dead, that would be on the national news instead of History Channel.
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### Author:  [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2021, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veracity-of-ghost-claims-on-the-travel-channel/943495/47 "2021-06-03T13:52:07Z")
P.S. One UFO book I know of recycled a story of a UFO sighting from a novel - a novel still in copyright. Oops.
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### Author:  [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2021, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veracity-of-ghost-claims-on-the-travel-channel/943495/48 "2021-06-03T14:21:42Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#):
>
> Are you me?
If you specifically remember “Police and the Purple Blob”, and obsess over what it was, then possibly so!
Better call Frank Edwards! “Psychically-connected strangers share a mind.” Just don’t go and die, okay?
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### Author:  [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2021, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veracity-of-ghost-claims-on-the-travel-channel/943495/49 "2021-06-03T14:25:31Z")
> [@tricoteuse](#):
>
> But if someone ever did have real proof of ghosts or communication from the dead, that would be on the national news
These TV shows have so well conditioned me for disappointment, that I doubt I’d even read that story no matter how reputable the news outlet. Any fascination I once had for ghosts, UFOs, and Bigfoot has been thoroughly stamped out by decades of mind numbingly boring shows on cable TV.
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### Author:  [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2021, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veracity-of-ghost-claims-on-the-travel-channel/943495/50 "2021-06-03T14:29:26Z")
> [@TriPolar](#):
>
> > [@Czarcasm](#):
> >
> > How do you calibrate a “ghost hunting” device?
>
> . . .
>
> Step 2. Take it someplace where you think there’s a ghost. If the device alerts the presence of a ghost then it is too sensitive. Adjust it until it nor longer alerts.
>
> Step 3. If you think you have found a ghost with the device repeat step 2.
>
> When your device no longer alerts the presence of a ghost then it is properly calibrated.
Too complicated. Couldn’t you accomplish the same by simply taking the battery out?
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### Author:  [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2021, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veracity-of-ghost-claims-on-the-travel-channel/943495/51 "2021-06-03T14:30:50Z")
Another blog story…
> **[Did Mrs. Sybil Christian of Frisco, Texas, find blobs from space on her lawn?](https://www.straightdope.com/21341699/did-mrs-sybil-christian-of-frisco-texas-find-blobs-from-space-on-her-lawn)**
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2021, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veracity-of-ghost-claims-on-the-travel-channel/943495/52 "2021-06-03T14:42:57Z")
> [@Senegoid](#):
>
> Too complicated. Couldn’t you accomplish the same by simply taking the battery out?
If you did that you couldn’t tell the difference between when it’s not working and when there’s no ghost.
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### Author:  [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2021, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veracity-of-ghost-claims-on-the-travel-channel/943495/53 "2021-06-03T15:28:10Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#):
>
> For ghosts? BTW, I’m not seeing “ghost detecting” mentioned anywhere in that link. It must be in the detailed owner’s manual, right?
All I know is they often haul out the ol’ TriField. They had one at Skinwalker Ranch. Apparently spirits alter the fields around them.
I don’t watch the ghost shows but I did happen to catch part of one a few years ago. Their thermal imaging camera caught a guy walking past an open door at the end of a large room in a locked building. All kinds of theories were thrown in the ring. At the end of the show they mentioned almost in an aside that it turned out to be someone working late.
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### Author:  [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2021, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veracity-of-ghost-claims-on-the-travel-channel/943495/54 "2021-06-03T17:36:46Z")
Article on evaluating ghost claims:
[https://skepticalinquirer.org/2010/11/ghost-hunting-mistakes/](https://skepticalinquirer.org/2010/11/ghost-hunting-mistakes/)
The Skeptical Inquirer is a fount of ghost-debunking/buzzkill stories, especially investigations by Joe Nickell (also well known for dousing spontaneous human combustion claims).
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### Author:  [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2021, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veracity-of-ghost-claims-on-the-travel-channel/943495/55 "2021-06-03T17:42:59Z")
most of those shows on the tv channel are reruns from other places that ran on destination America …
Hopefully, now travel is becoming a thing they’ll fade away
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### Author:  [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2021, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veracity-of-ghost-claims-on-the-travel-channel/943495/56 "2021-06-03T17:46:35Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#):
>
> For ghosts? BTW, I’m not seeing “ghost detecting” mentioned anywhere in that link.
You’re just not looking at the right item:
[https://www.amazon.com/ERICKHILL-Rechargeable-Electromagnetic-Radiation-Inspections/dp/B08BLJM28J/ref=sr\_1\_2\_sspa?dchild=1&keywords=ovilus+device&qid=1622742280&sr=8-2-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUExMTA0UktLWVFRN0pYJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwNjkwNjkxMVE0MjRIS0pOT0hWRiZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwMDEyOTk4MTZRS0dPWkI5VE9RSiZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2F0ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=](https://www.amazon.com/ERICKHILL-Rechargeable-Electromagnetic-Radiation-Inspections/dp/B08BLJM28J/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?dchild=1&keywords=ovilus+device&qid=1622742280&sr=8-2-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUExMTA0UktLWVFRN0pYJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwNjkwNjkxMVE0MjRIS0pOT0hWRiZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwMDEyOTk4MTZRS0dPWkI5VE9RSiZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2F0ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=)
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### Author:  [@abcdefghij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/abcdefghij)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2021, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veracity-of-ghost-claims-on-the-travel-channel/943495/57 "2021-06-03T17:51:14Z")
> [@mixdenny](#):
>
> it turned out to be someone working late
That’s preposterous
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### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2021, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veracity-of-ghost-claims-on-the-travel-channel/943495/58 "2021-06-03T17:55:52Z")
**BOO!**
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### Author:  [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2021, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veracity-of-ghost-claims-on-the-travel-channel/943495/59 "2021-06-03T18:04:34Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#):
>
> Are you me?
Is that you John Wayne?
I loved those Frank Edwards books! At about the same age of 12 or so. Short stories of only a couple pages that were well written and _seemed_ to be researched. Pre-Internet how would you research and debunk them?
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### Author:  [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2021, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veracity-of-ghost-claims-on-the-travel-channel/943495/60 "2021-06-03T18:29:42Z")
Also consider the source.
There’s a demand for a show about ghosts, so it gets commissioned. But what are they going to do? Show 30+ mins of guys just standing around in a creepy, but inanimate, old house? No, they have to show _something_, and in this context I don’t think they’d even consider editing interviews (e.g. to cut out the parts where people mention that they were initially asleep) or edit out other observations that go against the narrative to even be dishonest.
And there is no guarantee that they are even trying to do an honest show, and not merely writing fiction.
So, for a start, I would want to see these claims being made in another context (e.g. doctor report of pregnancy disappearing + reappearing) and / or see the full uncut edit before I would even consider there to be anything worthy of discussing.
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