August 23, 2008
PS: Family Ties
This is the first episode of Paranormal State I've watched in what seems like a very long time and I must say, I rather enjoyed it. In fact, this episode was more engaging than any episode I've seen of either Ghost Hunters show in quite some time. The science? Not so much.
Like any good story, what's going on with the family PRS is trying to help out in this investigation unfolds slowly over time. The family is clearly traumatized by something and to say they're "reluctant" to speak about it would be an understatement. They flat-out refused to even come close to discussing it for quite some time, and as it turns out, quite understandably so.
The house had apparently recently undergone renovations (which is often thought to kick up spirit activity) but the reported activity goes back further than that, apparently. The family's teenage son Jimmy was the most candid about discussing his experiences, one of which involved looking in a mirror and seeing a man with white hair and a distinct mustache standing behind him, and another where he was taking a shower in the upstairs bathroom and he looked out and saw a woman watching him. The second floor of the house, and especially that bathroom clearly creeped him out. He said he felt that if he went up the stairs at night without turning the lights on first, he wasn't going upstairs alone.
His mother did not discuss any personal experiences she may have had, but she was very clearly supportive of her son and said she too thought there was something supernatural going on in the house. Jimmy's dad was of a different mind. He felt bad that his son had been scared and was uncomfortable, but he was certain this was a matter of eyes playing tricks and whatnot. This seemed to drive a bit of a wedge between father and son, since Jimmy seemed very affected by these experiences and felt he couldn't talk to his dad about them.
Penn State's Paranormal Research Society started out in-line with their usual methodology: Ryan brought in a psychic. In this case, CJ Sellers, who promptly seemed to generate impressions about a "little girl", "man with a mustache", a suicide and the upstairs bathroom. Also, she said the spirit that was giving her these impressions was a woman who described herself as "the grandmother".
Well after the family heard this all hell broke loose. Jimmy's dad basically lost it, ran outside and started flipping out in a "what that %&$# is this $&#* ??" kind of way. After he (I am guessing) came to the conclusion that there is no way CJ could have "guessed" that information or found out ahead of time some other way, he seemed to accept that maybe there really was something to this psychic thing after all. I must say, I was a bit impressed as well.
So after this he decided to open up and apparently what the family hadn't wanted to discuss was that his mother had killed herself in the upstairs bathroom with a firearm when Jimmy was just a infant (or thereabouts). Jimmy had no memory of her and there weren't any pictures of her in the house, so he had no way of identifying if this had been the woman he'd seen in the bathroom. In fact, I sort of expected the father to pull out a dusty old photo album so Jimmy could make just such a determination, but that didn't happen.
What did happen was less impressive: CJ Sellers was shown a single photo of the husband's great-grandfather (who had white hair and a dominant mustache) and basically said, yep that's him. Way to go, Ryan. You've come a long way from that first episode where you showed that kid a photo of an entire wedding party and he was able to pick out the one guy who used to live in the house and later committed suicide. One picture? Seriously?
Later that night they did "Dead Time" at 3am, as is customary for PRS. During that time they asked for any spirits to come forth and show their presence and a circuit-breaker flipped causing the part of the house they were in to lose power. This seemed fairly significant to the father, who generally seems the pragmatic type and noted that nothing new had been introduced onto that circuit and they hadn't had problems with the circuits before.
Ultimately, there was no firm resolution for this family but CJ Sellers said that the grandmother was sorry and wished she'd been around to see her grandson grow up, and that seemed to be enough. Jimmy's dad said he felt much better, he seemed to connect with his son, and for his part Jimmy told the PRS team he didn't get scared around the house anymore. No banishing ceremonies, no Lorraine Warren, it was a banner episode for Paranormal State.
Regarding evidence, as usual on this show there was none — or extraordinarily circumstantial evidence at best, but that's all right because they didn't over-sell it. They weren't claiming to "prove" anything. What's got me the most interested though, as usual, is the psychic.
Obviously, we could look at her results (or the edited-for-tv version thereof) and say that's circumstantial evidence that she's really psychic. It's certainly not "hard" evidence though, not to impugn her character at all but scientifically we can't be 100% certain she didn't have some sort of information, somehow, ahead of time, no matter how many assurances other people give us to the contrary. Turning it around though, if one were to come up with those results in some "non-psychic" way, how could it be done? I mean, Ryan's team apparently didn't even know about Jimmy's grandmother.
I suppose if you were going to pull out all the stops you could hypothesize that someone might cross-reference the address with newspaper articles and police reports from the last twenty years, seeing if there was a likely candidate for a person or tragedy anywhere in the public record, but then you're still stuck with the mustache — and as vague as "man with a mustache" seems that's still a helluva thing to pull out of thin air. Even knowing the entire history of the family and the property, there wasn't anything we were told that could really be used to single out that guy as the second ghost-on-campus.
The only chink in the armor I see is I believe CJ did mention a "little girl", which I don't think came to anything. I'm sure there are "good" reasons a "real" psychic might get impressions that are either false or not relevant, but one might also suggest it could indicate "fishing", for instance if there was a little girl that was listed in public records as also having died on the property.
I'm stumped. Your thoughts?
Filed under Paranormal State, Posts by Logisti
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Comments on PS: Family Ties »
Stephen @ 9:29 pm
I rarely watch PS. For some reason I don't even trust it as much as I trust Ghost Hunters– and that isn't very much. Perhaps it's the glossy, too-perfect feel of the production. Perhaps it's the psychics, who seem to do so much better on this show than most psychics seem to whenever they're tested under controlled conditions. Maybe it's because I went to U Penn, historic rivals of Penn State, and our football team always lost. Hard to know. Here's my cold-hearted skeptical take.
The "little girl" was mentioned as having died in 1914 in a fall, and was apparently in the photograph, but it was unclear to me who she was. Obviously she wasn't the grandmother.
I'm very curious as to what goes on behind the scenes at Paranormal State.
The psychics say that they haven't been told anything about the house, but we have no way of checking that. I generally make the assumption that if information can pass between people, it will. We don't know if production crew members pass information to the psychics, like they do on Most Haunted. I'm not saying that they do, but it's another chink in the armor.
Was Jimmy quite as ignorant of his family history as he claimed? Could CJ have found out about the "man with a moustache" from him? Or, could she have seen the photograph on an initial site tour? (Do they really travel separately?)
I certainly wasn't too impressed by the circuit breaker blowing out. The father claimed that there was nothing new plugged into that circuit– but there was a television crew there, and the father might not have known what was plugged in where.
Why on earth would they not put a camera in the bathroom? Yes, I understand that there would be privacy concerns, but for an area that was so prominently mentioned, why not at least one camera which could be covered while the bathroom was in use?
Since I can't independently verify what the psychics get told, I can't analyze anything about that. The rest is an unverified sound of water running (I mean, we hear it on the soundtrack, but I'm just not sure I trust that that wasn't added later– it sounds too clear) and the circuit breaker blowing.
In short, Paranormal State seems too good to be true to me. It feels like shooting fish in a barrel to take this particular approach, but sometimes you just need to hold your nose and pull the trigger.
Jef @ 4:27 am
I think it's interesting how PS sets out to help people. We could debate the sincerity of their motives or their over-reliance on hokey psychics and gadets, but I can't help but think in some cases they are able to provide some face-saving closure for some of the people they visit.
Yes, they don't come up with a lot of evidence (generally in the vicinity of less than bupkis) and the religious mumbo jumbo gets to be a little much, but they do spend a few days "investigating" and have pulled off some impressive research.
But take this episode for instance. If nothing else, they were able to break down a wall between father and son. Granted it's just a TV show, but I'd always rather watch PS than a rerun of Touched by an Angel.
Yep, I did enjoy this episode.
bullerspoke @ 6:22 am
The help aspect on both PS and GH is something that I found often to be troublesome and something to be scrutinized. Granted, each to his own and I'm not going to dismiss those who feel they were helped by empowerment, blessings, exorcism or whatnot. But I will raise the question of placebo which is a strong, and scientifically proven, force when it comes to remedies. It surely does not cure cancer, but rather remarkable effects have been shown, not least when it comes to dealing with pains and psychiatric disorders.
One point that should be taken into consideration regarding any help or remedy that PS or GH provide is the effect it has on individuals to receive attention and be listened to and furthermore taken seriously. It's affirmation and especially with individuals who feel alienated due to their experiences or have social problems it can prove a strong remedy in itself. Just the opportunity to talk about it, might be enough to raise someone's situation. And that is good, no matter paranormal phenomena or not. The problem however is that it also feeds the beliefs and might escalate the said experiences. I refer to the case of the demonstriken trailer in the first season of PS where a "friend" to the family was feeding the womans fear and experiences blurring out their perception of what actually might have occcured. PS consequenty removed that friend out of the equation, which was a good call. I am not saying it wasn't a demon or that is was, that is beside the point really, because the interesting thing is the social dynamic and psychological effects. With the friend out of the picture they lowered the suspension and the activity did subside if memory serves me right. Until Lorraine Warren came in to the picture though… demons galore again.
Antoher point to be noted is that the clients gets a tangible alternative to combat in contrast to complex social problems or psychological states, Or natural phenomena of which they do not know or can't interpret. They get a demon or a spirit and an array of tools to deal with it. Granted that they believe that is. For a non-believer or a skeptic the tools seem nothing but placebo, and in some cases laughable. It is interesting that to combat the paranormal you must believe in it, of course if you don't believe there is nothing to combat. A catch 22 indeed, which can prove troublesome for the skeptic client. But that's fine, it differs little from folkloristic practices of superstitution that gives people comfort. Even if they are shots into nothingness, the feeling of being able to act against a perceived threat, false or not, is comforting and might help people move on and feel better. Placebo or not.
Because, while the important thing is of course to help, the question needs to be asked, is it really helping? Yes, the get attentiion, they get listened to, someone makes an effort for them and perhaps even gives them tools to combat that which troubles them. All good and empowering in itself. If it wasn't for the slight problem that it most probably are placebo, delivered with a lot of drama and often contradictory and cut'n'paste from various occult sources and in some cases misinterpreted canonic texts, fiction, folklore and urban legends. Few efforts are made to scrutinize the sources and components of the remedies. And that each "helped" individual is taken as proof or evidence or corroboration of a weak, haphazard theory, namely the existence and behaviour of ghosts,
The problem is not that so called paranormal phenomena might catalyst a healing process within a family or make someone deal with bad experinces earlier in life, which might lead to resolution and truly help. The problem is that we really can question the helpers competence and ability to handle what they stir up or claim it that as their work. Especielly since it can worsen things and push people over the edge. And when also claiming that things like turning away from God, or lead a "sinful" way of life, or having a dysfunctional family is the cause of being striken with a demon it really is game of blames that i strongly and vividly reject. Something that GH stays clear of, thankfully, and which I respect them for.
So I'm really rather skeptical to the "help" given på PS or GH, at best it gives someone comfort and the means to move on, even if it is placebo or not, but at worst it feeds fears and a distorted view of reality and may worsen the psychological state of the individual or spin the psycho-social enviroment into chaos, in worst case leading to violence or psyhcological trauma as possible effects.
It is a responsibility I tell you. And to be fair, the competence of GH or PS and their subsidies must be called into question and scrutinized. If nothing else so for the field to advance it and put it beyond the mannerism and scare tactics of the Warrens and their alikes. This would be a good task for psychological researchers to scrutinize. If nothing else to avoid honest and well-meaning people like Jason and Grant not causing any avoidable harm. And to weed out the rotten eggs in the field. Because ghosts aside, in the end it's the human that are the clients, the humans who need help and it is their well-being that should be first priority.
bullerspoke @ 9:20 am
For clarity, when refering to GH and PS, I am of course refering to TAPS and PRS not the tv-shows.
And a little addendum: In my opinion, the best, if not only, help TAPS has to offer is quality debunking and disproving of paranormal phenomena, namely hauntings. Firstly it has some basis in science (wood expands, pipes bangs), and they have some competence in such matter (how much could of course be debated). Secondly, it exercises theirs and the clients' mind and puts into question claims of haunting where no effort has been made to rationally investigate it, debunking that is. It also raises the question of suggestion and interpretation of "strange" occurences, everything that glimmers is not gold… Debunking nurtures the skeptic within us all.
Thirdly, it hopefully gives the client some peace of mind. Believers will of course not be swayed, but the rest of us most probably will. And we will fix that unshielded circuitry, loose floorboard or grow fond of the bumps and hisses of the plumbing. As for ghosts, we still get to see and hear them… On the wide screen or in the novels we read.