Ghosts are big business. For entities that may or may not exist, they seem to be everywhere, especially during Halloween.

They are in books and on television shows, such as CBS's "The Ghost Whisperer" and NBC's "Medium." Dozens of "ghost hunter" organizations exist across North America, small groups of self-styled ghost buffs who lurk around reputedly haunted places, hoping to glimpse or photograph a spirit.

The most famous ghost hunters are two plumbers who moonlight as paranormal investigators, seen in the popular Sci-Fi Channel reality show/soap opera series "Ghost Hunters." They go to haunted places and find "evidence" of ghosts such as cold spots, photographic anomalies called orbs, and other such spookiness.

The two featured investigators, Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson, are proudly blue-collar workers, not egghead Ph.D. scientists, which adds to their strong "regular guy" appeal.


Where are the ghosts?

While one doesn't need to be a scientist to search for ghosts, the pair (like most ghost hunters) could benefit greatly from a little critical thinking. They claim to be skeptics but are very credulous and seem to have no real understanding of scientific methods or real investigation. (Audiences don't seem to wonder why these "expert" ghost hunters always fail: Even after two seasons and over ten years of research, they still have yet to prove that ghosts exist!)

Though most ghost investigators' worst crime is wasting time, sometimes they make nuisances of themselves and even break the law.

In October 2005, three ghost hunters in Salem, Massachusetts, were arrested for trespassing on private property in search of ghosts. They had entered an abandoned hospital reputed to be haunted. The group was so busy looking for spirits they failed to notice the police station across the street; all three were arrested, fined, and sent home. Trespassing or vandalizing ghost hunters have also been arrested in cemeteries in Illinois, Connecticut, and other states.

Ghost detectors

When it comes to searching for ghosts, you'd think that only the most reliable methods would be used in an attempt to get solid evidence for something as mysterious and elusive as a spirit. Yet in ghost hunting, often the less scientific the methods and equipment, the more likely a researcher is to find "evidence" for ghosts.

Ghost hunters use a variety of creative—and dubious—methods to detect their quarry's presence, including psychics. Psychics not only claim to locate ghosts but also to communicate with the spirits, who unfortunately don't provide any useful or verifiable information from the afterlife [see a séance].

Virtually all ghost hunter groups claim to be scientific, and most give that appearance because they use high-tech scientific equipment such as Geiger counters, Electromagnetic Field (EMF) detectors, ion detectors, and infrared cameras [and sensitive microphones]. Yet the equipment is only as scientific as the person using it; you may own the world's most sophisticated thermometer, but if you are using it as a barometer, your measurements are worthless.

Just as using a calculator doesn't make you a mathematician, using a scientific instrument doesn't make you a scientist.

Full Article: LiveScience

This article is so true. Good read as well.
I always questioned the ghost hunting equipment. If we don't know really anything about that in which we are seeking then how do we know what methods work/don't work and why.

oh c'mon it's an obvious truth...hands up who believes in reliability of any 'scientific' evidence provided during 'ghostly' investigation..
we're blinds playing hide and seek with ghosties, and it has never been anything more than a great fun
but i don't mind that, i like being amused...

The thing is, that scientific principles are discovered how? by trial and error, experimentation and investigation. At this point we don't really know what to measure to get quantifiable data, which can then be used to open the doors on this subject, its mostly speculation and theory. It annoys me when they just sweep it aside like this though. I am sure that the figures throughout mankinds history of scientific discovery had their fair share of naysayers, but without people experimenting, without trial and error, we'd still be living in the dark ages.

This is a great bit of writing, and its also true that the equipment is virtually useless as far as I am concerned at least from the little experiene I have had with it.

I base that on having two paranormal investigators come to my house with all sorts of equipment and computers and the like and they couldn't pick up the spirits that I know are in my home and were quite willing to be detected.

As for Ghosts appearing in clothes they do appear in all sorts of clothing and some of course can appear naked if they choose to but when they appear without clothes they do so to send a gross sexually explicit message.

The nice spirits I communicate with sometimes appear in hats and coats and the like and although they appear like that are not wearing physical clothes that you can reach out and touch and even I can't explain all these things but I have seen them as a psychic and I know this is how spirits appear to people on Earth.

I don't know how to prove any of this because I have tried to snap pictures of spirits all over the house and they have agreed to cooperate but still I don't find them in the Picture but once in a while I do get some sort of light I can't explain and I guess that must be what people refer to as orbs.

I only wish I had a way of showing others what I see and hear but all I can do is tell them and hope I will one day find a way to record and or photograph them.

Maybe you could ask them what we mortals could use to detect them

Thats a good one there G..
and great topic btw....But like god/religion I'm not sure if there ever will be proof of ghost, util maybe we ourselves experience death.
If one has experienced something paranormal we can't prove it, but we know what we experienced.
Much like religion..those who are touched or "Feel" the Holy spirit if you will,..need no convincing from others.

But it is frustrating that with all of modern technology...were still no closer to proving the reality of Ghost.

I'll admit right here that my wife and I are fans of the show 'Ghosthunters'. We watch it on DVD generally just so we can take advantage of the additional features on the discs. I get a kick out of the idea of two plumbers investigating the unknown.

Now I am happy to see the Skeptical Enquirer's take on all of this. It is my understanding that there has been a major surge in interest that could possibly be caused, in part, by this show. Some of the people now exploring this alleged phenomena might be less than careful in their investigative methods. I think it is important to examine every piece of evidence as closely as possible. I just wonder about certain things that TAPS, the group shown on the 'Ghosthunters' series, has collected as evidence and the debunking it is subjected too. What if they did get a legitimate video of a phenomena and outside analysis threw it out as debunked but it was, in fact, legitimate?

I think it all comes down to each of us putting our own analysis on what we see. I like seeing any and all evidence examined but the final judgement should be left to us individually.

http://boomingprairiechicken.spaces.live.com/

I tend to agree with most of what Sammy has mentioned above.
I don't think ghosts have an existence that can be explained in so much simple scientific terms, which is a reason why the explanation has eluded the great human mind.
If they are some form of energy, then IMO this isnt any kind of enrergy that is used in evreyday scientific models.
Running around with thermometers and jumping excitedy at each fluctuation wont give any answers.
That said though, im not saying it isnt worth trying to look for some sort of explanation,
just that there are some folks out there who have taken it as a given fact that ghosts CAN be detected by temp changes, orbs, etc.... that just isnt the right way to think.