Finding Sanity in Paranormal Research

part five of “Reality Meets the Surreal: The Paranormal on TV”
Reality TV shows about the paranormal abound. Each promises “startling new evidence” or “scientific analysis for the first time” or some other inane promise. Each and every reality show offers 90% fluff, little evidence at all, and definitely nothing startling—unless you consider adults crouching in [...]

Misleading the Public, Mocking the Paranormal

part four of “Reality Meets the Surreal: The Paranormal on TV”
Why should anyone care if paranormal-themed reality shows mislead the public? Most viewers will never know what goes on after the show ends. The one tantalizing piece of evidence dangled before viewers during the show invariably requires further testing. The testing later reveals nothing much [...]

Reality TV Makes the Paranormal Boring

Part three of “Reality Meets the Surreal: The Paranormal on TV”
Whether Bigfoot or ghosty, the phenomena we know as paranormal have proven decidedly stubborn when it comes to granting us proof—and in this context I use “proof” to mean evidence which will convince the mainstream scientific community of a phenomenon’s reality.
Most of the paranormal reality [...]

The Trouble with Documenting the Paranormal

part two of “Reality Meets the Surreal: The Paranormal on TV”
Several years ago, the History Channel trotted out a new series called “Digging for the Truth.” In that series, a cute non-archaeologist globe-trotted in search of adventure. The show contained information fit for consumption by ten-year-olds who know nothing about history. The rest of us, [...]

Reality Meets the Surreal: The Paranormal on TV

The number of television shows devoted to paranormal topics has skyrocketed lately. From “Monsterquest” to “UFO Hunters” to all those ghost shows, the paranormal has taken over our TV screens. The phenomenon of paranormal-themed series proves that interest in such topics has not waned, in spite of no big developments happening in any paranormal field. [...]