# What is the purpose of shows like Ghost Hunters and Paranormal State? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 7, 2008, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-purpose-of-shows-like-ghost-hunters-and-paranormal-state/462453 "2008-09-07T04:38:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2008, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-purpose-of-shows-like-ghost-hunters-and-paranormal-state/462453/21 "2008-09-08T17:05:05Z")
> [@Abby\_Emma\_Sasha](#): > > How do you know the gators are lesbians? They lay like dead for hours until someone puts in a Kate Bush CD. Then they dance. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2008, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-purpose-of-shows-like-ghost-hunters-and-paranormal-state/462453/22 "2008-09-08T17:16:02Z")
> [@Abby\_Emma\_Sasha](#): > > How do you know the gators are lesbians? Their alligator shoes are Birkenstocks. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2008, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-purpose-of-shows-like-ghost-hunters-and-paranormal-state/462453/23 "2008-09-08T17:22:35Z")
It’s an interesting premise, but the problem is I’m fairly convinced they will never find anything. I think the show as it exists now is just a moneymaking machine, stringing viewers along with a few unusual tidbits each episode. A voice in a recording. A flash of light. Noises in the distance. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2008, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-purpose-of-shows-like-ghost-hunters-and-paranormal-state/462453/24 "2008-09-08T17:26:55Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Their alligator shoes are Birkenstocks. Scratch mine, his is better.😛 ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2008, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-purpose-of-shows-like-ghost-hunters-and-paranormal-state/462453/25 "2008-09-08T17:38:14Z")
> [@Death\_of\_Rats](#): > > I like GH for the most part. I like the fact that Grant and Jason have from the start gone in to an investigation looking to fact-find instead of trying to prove or disprove a haunting. They are looking for an explaination for why something is happening and only when they cannot find a reasonable expaination do they start to consider a paranormal expalination. Even then Jason and, to a lesser extent, Grant are reluctant to most of the time to say conclusivly that there is a haunting. It’s still ridiculous, unscientific and lazy to even consider consider “haunting” as an explanation at all. It’s “Ghost of the gaps.” If we can’t figure out what’s causing that noise, it’s a g-g-g-g-g-GHOST! It’s silly. I’m glad they usually find rational explantions, but they should drop any pretense that ghosts are a real possibility. It hurts their credibility that they believe in ghosts at all. To answer the OP I think people watch these shows because they want to believe in the supernatural and they’re hoping one of these shows will be able to prove something. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-purpose-of-shows-like-ghost-hunters-and-paranormal-state/462453.md?page=1)