Is it just me, or do many a paranormal investigator run squeeling when they so much as hear/see something odd? i just spent some time reviewing many a tape of "professional ghost hunters" and they seemed to run like little girls at the first drop of a squeeky floor board...(my appologies to little girls, whose bravery i dont doubt,its a figure of speech)
why look for something that you fear so? how can it be called investigation, if you run at the first sign of the very thing you are looking for?
Or is it about the "thrill" of the chase? is ghost hunting just another type of extreme sport?

good point.....i think that if u stand and stay, ull get more results and it will go away for quit some ime, so i guess they do it for attention

hmm...
That's a good point there Fordo.
I've seen videos like that and it annoys me.
Cause they move the camera around so you can't clearly see anything, they don't really help anything.
Just stay still!
what happened to paralized with fear?

Paralyzed with Fear...haha good one Lily...
I've seen plenty of those videos too..it does get annoying when your searching for something serious.
Some are pretty funny tho ....but I think a good percentage are probably fake.
Which is why their shaking the camera....or... its out of focus.
The ones that look too amateurish are always suspicious.
But for those few that are good quality, and they get scared and run (like Brian from Taps has..hah)
I think it could have something to do with the adrileon(sp) with the suspicion of a haunting.

Yeah... I'm a total YouTube whore... (can I say that?)
I get on there a lot and I look at those sorts of vids.
Most of them are fake. Oh god there's this one that omg...
I'm just gonna post it:
A fake
This one is like the most fake vid ever!!! haha...
But yeah, why are the cameras always out of focus?! haha!
hahah, Brian is sort of a scaredy cat.
It could be some primal/human instinct to run away...
fight or flight?
Maybe the subconscious, in that moment, realizes you can't fight a ghost so you just run...

Yes, but why would a person want/need to fight a ghost anyway?
That doesn't make all that much sense.

Sure its a perfectly normal human instinct to want to run like heck when something startles the bejeezus out of you.

And no, fighting a ghost would definitely not go over well should someone get bawlsy enough to try.

They just aren't like us.. happy little meat sacks.. no, ghosts are sometimes noisy, ever elusive gas-bags!

I would like to go on a serious investgation and see if I could possibly get some kind of photographic evidence or an evp.

Most people have the 'belief' (It's not the best word, but I'm using it) instilled in them that ghosts are evil.
Some are and will do malicious things.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlfgKfMaCtI
I mean, most aren't like that... but... it's one of those things we stick in the back of our minds.

I was just being a goof, you know that.
Anyway, people tend to run from anything they don't understand, and we certainly don't quite understand the nature of ghosties.
I'd prolly get pretty freaked too.

but my point is, why run from something you are looking for? if i go looking for something, i whould be happy to find it, fascinated..
I start to feel most ghost hunters are just out on a thrill seek, they should take up skydiving...
in fact, why seek out something if it makes you run, wetting your pants? i dont get it...

well, i understand their reaction, Fordo-san...both curiosity and fear are human instincts, and both can be revealed at the same moment...
people like to be scared to death, i like it too,
and i never deny myself the pleasure of watching a good horror movie, even if it's very likely that the following night will be sleepless...

If one person screams like a girl, it's hard not to do the same thing. I get scared, but when it comes to ghosts I am more curious. So, I guess I don't understand if they are doing this on purpose (investigating) why they scream when they actually get something. I can see if the show was totally dry and uneventful, it would get canceled. So I could imagine the show's producers saying, "more screaming!". LOL

EEK!! THAT WAS GREAT!!

but anyway, I think all investigators are afraid cause they are just like us, interested in the paranormal, and no one who's interest in the paranormal was born in happiness, more like in fear (figuratively)

i would be only intrested, thats why i look for em....i dont get the ghost hunters who seek, then panic when they find...

I agree. If you go looking and the point is to catch something as in the way of film and you actually get the chance to possibly record something good, why jeopardize the chance of getting something by running around screaming your head off?

True cheryl

Maybe sometimes it's an involuntary reaction. You go looking for something, you don't actually expect to see anything or have any type of scary experience other than maybe some noises or just the fear that comes of wandering around a creepy place in the dark. If you are that person wandering around a dark place, ears acutely aware of every little noise around you, then you're probably already on edge. Your heart is pounding, you've got a bit of adrenaline going. Wouldn't take much at that point to send you fleeing. Even if a person was normally very brave with gonads of steel... once your friends take off screaming and leave you alone with whatever is there... maybe it suddenly doesn't seem like such a good idea to stick around.

I too wish that some people in the videos and tv shows could be just a tad bit braver... but then again, I'm the one sitting comfortably on my couch with a hot cocoa. I guess I'd have to put myself in that sort of situation to know what my own reaction would be

Plus I think that TV producers pick the most excitable nervous people they can find. After all, calm sober investigation makes for boring TV, but good ol' Yvette running around like a headless chicken screaming will pull in the ratings every time. You would think after 8? seasons she would calm down a bit.
It is instinctive to run and hide...my first encounter with the paranormal I ran, grabbed a weapon and hid. I did think it was a burgler though.

Understandable. However, I think I would be more interested to watch a show in which they show something that they were able to catch on camera than a lady running around all the time in mass hysteria because she "heard" something.

as an aside, and much like Emms comment, i once heard a very odd noise outside, went to investigate, not a ghost, a burglar! but i actually scared him to death, he wasnt expecting someone creeping up on him in the dark, so maybe it comes back to the simple human flight response...

Maybe its a status thing:

'Yeah, I belong to a paranormal research group blah blah blah' it sounds impressive maybe?

But as I have said before, if you are afraid of something you don't understand, probably not a good idea to go looking for it.

I have been on a few investigations, and had a couple of instances where my heart was in my mouth, but I did'nt scream or run away, my curiosity outweighed any fear.

Thats not to say I didn't sleep too well that night though haha!

a big monster like you? c'mon...whats a little bitty ghostie going to do?drip ectoplasm on your booties?

lol!

it did'nt help that the pit bull that we had taken along with us froze on the spot and refused to go any further, bearing in miind that he is a trained police dog....

It's more an anticipation of the unknown, and a popular predisposition to ghosts and paranormal things being evil I suppose, its something that is just absorbed into the psyche, which is a pain really, as you are totally right, was can it really do?

That's a very good point Gigan.
We tend to be afraid of what we do not know.
Example: Salem witch trials...
But yes, I mean, I get scared with those internet things that show something and tell you to look close then scream and put up a picture of something scary really fast.
People like to know what's coming.

LOL! was it a kid fordo ?

The 'pros' I've seen were really bad anyway.

I'd love to see TAPS deal with some of the spooks I've seen in my hometown. I doubt they'd last ten seconds in the freak house. Heck, most mediums in town won't even go near the place.

And I wish I knew the whole story about it, because that would be something to post here and on my blog.

The freak house? which city and state do you live in? It sounds very interesting