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sega
Skeptic Friend
USA
73 Posts |
 Posted - 04/28/2001 : 16:16:16
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I was just wondering if anyone has looked into the Show on cable that is hosted by Linda Blair. What a piece of crap. The premise is this:
English guy dares a family to spend a night in a "Haunted place"
He tells them creepy stories, and has them perform some ludicrous druid or voodo chant, whatever the theme of the place is.
The family is given cameras which supply blair witch-esque video.
Screaming and histeria follow.
Iy is all obviously manufactured mass social hysteria focused on the family going in. I was wondering if anyone has any info on the english dude, apparently he is some kind of Author, but He has the ring of PT Barnum to him. Another thought is , how would a family of true skeptics handle the experience? Would the setup work on them and cause fear, even though there is never any evidence of ghosts recorded? Just a thought.
Sega
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Lisa
SFN Regular
USA
1223 Posts |
Posted - 04/29/2001 : 20:02:23 [Permalink]
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Did you see the "cast" on Larry King? It was the one that featured James Randi tap dancing all over Sylvia Browne.
Anyway, they all claimed to have been skeptics until they did the "Scariest Whatever" show. Now, ooohhh, they all believe in ghosts. Since I'm basically a nice person, my first thought was not "media whores". Really. My Dad, of course, blurted it right out, since he's a bit more unrestrained, and besides, his wife wasn't in the room.
Actually what would we expect them to say? "Cool castle, let's do it again and bring our dice" isn't going to get ratings.
What would a bunch of skeptics do? We'd probably have a blast. I'll spring for the beer if someone will cover the cold cuts and chips.
Lisa
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Tokyodreamer
SFN Regular
USA
1447 Posts |
Posted - 04/29/2001 : 23:05:00 [Permalink]
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Hee hee! An MTV show called "Fear" sounds very similar. It's great fun! They get a few gullible teens to early 20's to spend a couple of nights in 'haunted' places like old prisons and insane asylums. They have to complete 'dares' by going in with cameras (ala Blair Witch) all alone while the team supports them via radio. They interspurse this with clips of 'psychics' telling us how 'evil' the feelings of the places are. I almost feel sorry for them sometimes, when they are so scared they are almost in tears from their own imaginations, and the nonsense that the producers feed them...
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Marc_a_b
Skeptic Friend
USA
142 Posts |
Posted - 05/16/2001 : 11:05:29 [Permalink]
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Hi, new here but a long time resident of the FACTS message board. Over there and even older resident Bernie told us his nephew was one of the people on Fear. His nephew came on and told us about it. The tapes were edited to make the people look a lot more hysterical than they were.
He was also smart enough to ask a few good questions. They get fed some ghost story about how an inmate at the prison died, suicide I think. He then askes someone else with the show the prisoner 'tripped and fell to his death', and got an answer. One of several lies he managed to catch them in.
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Trish
SFN Addict
USA
2102 Posts |
Posted - 05/17/2001 : 12:50:09 [Permalink]
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Shows like this and movies so on, all rely on the concept of Suspension of Disbelief. If they can circumvent our critical thinking and reasoning they have suceeded in drawing us into their fantasy world. One of the reasons movies are almost entirely escapist in nature.
Trish |
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Slater
SFN Regular
USA
1668 Posts |
Posted - 05/17/2001 : 19:08:39 [Permalink]
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Don't be so quick to discount the existence of ghosts. I've seen them myself.
It was back in the early 80's on the Big Island of Hawaii.
I'm very interested in comparative mythology and had written a paper comparing the "convergent evolution" of myths of island cultures that are widely separated geographically.
There is an Irish myth of the Wild Hunt, which is sometimes told as The Devils Carriage. In it this ghostly hunt will come charging down on you at midnight and carry you off to hell. To save yourself you had to lie on the ground with your eyes shut tight and grab on to something that was attached to the ground. A single blade of grass will do.
In Hawaii there are the Night Marchers. Same scenario only you had to take off all of your clothes. It's warmer in Hilo than in County Cork.
Hawaiian friends assured me that this was not a myth but quite real. They promised to take me camping in the deep forest that the Night Marchers frequented. After a few Jamesons around the campfire and numerous multi-cultural ghost stories the Night Marchers actually did show up.
My Hawaiian friends said that they could hear them moaning and saw them as ancient warriors with feathered caps and helmets. A parade of them marching in single file. My friends did lie down but they kept their draws on.
I, on the other hand, went for a closer look.
The moaning was the night breeze blowing through the long soft needles of several iron wood trees. The "ghosts" were a series of small clouds of vapor. There was no smell so I assume it was probably water vapor or steam. Volcanic gases would have smelt of sulfur. They ranged between one and three meters high, each about half that in width. They did move in a line, one after another, with the breeze. But they gave the appearance of avoiding solid objects. They had a faint inconsistent glow, similar to, but much fainter than, the phosphorescence you see in tropical seawater. I attribute the glow and the "avoidance" of objects to an electrical charge. You must remember that the volcano was not only active it was erupting when this was going on. There were several very minor earthquakes a day. Why there was a line of Night Marchers, I'm not sure. If they were steam there could have been a spot in the ground that was going puff-puff-puff. Then again if it was fog it could have been a stream that had been sliced up by trees. Similar to one of the hard-boiled egg slicers.
Over the next few days there were numerous UFO's reported. Glowing balls in the sky over South Point. Much the same thing as the Night Marchers.
What I find particularly interesting is that my friends could even describe what these Night Marchers were wearing and their facial expressions.
Whatever these ghosts are they happen with enough frequency, and for hundreds of years, to become legend. You might actually be able to do a test on this kind of "ghost" so long as the volcano didn't become dormant.
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Tokyodreamer
SFN Regular
USA
1447 Posts |
Posted - 05/17/2001 : 22:03:45 [Permalink]
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quote:
Same scenario only you had to take off all of your clothes.
Sounds like a great place to take a date! 
I'm reminded of the story of the guy who saw a ghost, then figured out it was a very low frequency vibration in the ventilation of the building he was in that was somehow causing his brain to hallucinate. Anyone remember hearing about that?
[ah, here we are! http://193.61.107.61/cyberclass/vicweb/ghost1.htm ]
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Gambatte kudasai!
Edited by - tokyodreamer on 05/17/2001 22:06:03 |
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Trish
SFN Addict
USA
2102 Posts |
Posted - 05/17/2001 : 22:47:03 [Permalink]
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Um, I think I was talking about Suspension of Disbelief in regards to TV and the movies. Never implied there aren't ghosts, though I personally don't believe, then again, I've never seen one.
This is how, movie makers draw you into believing what is happening on the screen. Remember that, wow, feeling you got sitting in the theater when you first saw Star Wars. That's Suspension of Disbelief.
It's simply how Hollyweird makes money.
Trish |
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Lisa
SFN Regular
USA
1223 Posts |
Posted - 05/18/2001 : 00:27:16 [Permalink]
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Hey Slater,
Ever been "Snipe" hunting?
Lisa
Who do you serve? Who do you trust? |
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Trish
SFN Addict
USA
2102 Posts |
Posted - 05/18/2001 : 02:06:07 [Permalink]
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Lisa,
Ever catch a "Snipe"? Haven't been on one of those in years!
Spinnin' my wheels and gettin' no where - fast |
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Slater
SFN Regular
USA
1668 Posts |
Posted - 05/18/2001 : 10:33:31 [Permalink]
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quote:
Hey Slater,
Ever been "Snipe" hunting?
Thank you Ms Lisa, but I've been in the service too. When I found the snipe it was hiding next to the squeegee sharpener.
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Trish
SFN Addict
USA
2102 Posts |
Posted - 05/18/2001 : 12:48:44 [Permalink]
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quote:
I've been in the service too
Oh, another one! Ya ever find the ID10T forms?
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Lisa
SFN Regular
USA
1223 Posts |
Posted - 05/18/2001 : 12:59:51 [Permalink]
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No, but I had a kid waste almost a whole day looking for 2 yards of flight line and a gallon of prop wash. We needed them for the prototype plane, the B1RD.
Lisa
Who do you serve? Who do you trust? |
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Trish
SFN Addict
USA
2102 Posts |
Posted - 05/18/2001 : 13:06:02 [Permalink]
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I'd say something, but I can't quite laughing! A whole day! After a guy tore up a chunk of flightline and brought it inside the CO kinda stopped the flightline gag! The mentality of the marine mind!
Spinnin' my wheels and gettin' no where - fast |
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Lisa
SFN Regular
USA
1223 Posts |
Posted - 05/18/2001 : 13:12:37 [Permalink]
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It's pretty easy to do. First I send the kid to a shop where I know there's people who think like I do: "Steve, a live one is coming your way". So the kid gets to ATCALS, and Steve rips apart bench stock, forward supply, and work order residue, and says, "gosh, we must be out of flight line. Hey, try SATCOM!" Steve gets on the phone.
Not that this kid was a french fry short of a happy meal or anything, but the very next week I had him tearing the unit apart looking for a left-handed screwdriver.
And what do you mean, Start Wars wasn't real? Guess this blows it for Babylon 5 too. Dang.
Lisa
Who do you serve? Who do you trust?
Edited by - Lisa on 05/18/2001 13:14:34 |
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Trish
SFN Addict
USA
2102 Posts |
Posted - 05/18/2001 : 17:56:04 [Permalink]
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quote:
And what do you mean, Start Wars wasn't real? Guess this blows it for Babylon 5 too.
Doesn't mean you can't disbelieve!
Spinnin' my wheels and gettin' no where - fast |
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