Here in the United States, The Travel Channel runs a program called Most Haunted, or something to that effect. It's a series that follows the adventures of several sober-appearing, telegenic presenters and investigators who subject themselves to a night or two of pure terror inside Britain's "most haunted" locations.

The program, apparently a British production, consists largely of cinema verite' techniques, utilizing low-light cameras manned by a very small crew -- or sometimes, by the investigators themselves. There is a large amount of sensationalization entailed in each episode, in my view, but the program takes itself utterly seriously and operates on the premise that the events depicted are real manifestations of the paranormal.

For purposes of illustration, I will re-create, from memory, a couple of typical scenes in abbreviated form:

FIRST SCENE

Announcer: The team pays a visit to [name of haunted location].
Host 1 (middle-aged woman): Tell us what is happening here, [name of psychic].
Psychic: I sense that there is a spirit there in that corner.
Host 1: Really?
Psychic: Yes. His name is Charles. Charles the First. And there is a little boy, running from two -- not evil exactly, but not positive -- spirits.
Host 1: [Insert something basically credulous.]

NEXT SCENE -- night, pitch black.

Announcer: The team spends the night in [name of haunted location].
Host 1, holding low-light camera: Are you there [name of Host 2]?
Host 2, doing same: Yes, I'm right here.
Host 1: Don't leave me! I'm serious. I don't want to go into that room over there if you're not here.
Host 2: I will be here.
Host 1: Should I call the spirit? Do you think it would be a good idea?

MINUTES LATER

Host 1, speaking into the blackness: Are you there, spirit? If you are there, would you please tap on the window?
[Loud noise!]

Whereupon, both Hosts run away quickly.

Etc., etc.

[Please note: There are several scenes in every episode, sometimes depicting separate visits to one or more allegedly haunted locations. The hosts do not run away in the typical episode, but do exhibit signs of great apprehension and are often startled or amazed at what they perceive.]

The above re-creation from memory is probably inaccurate in its details, but it gives an indication of the flavor of this program. Further, the manifestations claimed to be that of ghosts are sometimes seen as floating globes of some kind, and are often less dramatic

Has anyone else seen this program? Does anyone have a comment on the Art Bell-like credulity with which it is presented? Does science have an explanation for the events depicted?

Ive seen it before. A friend was in the audience once. All we got to see was the back of his head in a crowd sadly.

Its nonsence really. IIRC theres quite a few pages debunking many of the claims made. Most of the visuals are down to bad lighting conditions and the like. The noises im not sure about but the show is more about entertainment than anything else.

In addition the psychic is pretty phoney (arent they all?) as well. The show has claimed he has no knowledge of the area hes investigating. However hes been spotted more than a few times on trains to the site filmed with a laptop reading rather a lot of background history of the areas in question.

I went to see it live myself. Absolutely hilarious! I'll post a full report when I get a bit more time. It really is so bad its actually good!

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Shirley Ghostman's High Spirits has to be the best psychic show on British tv.

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The people in the show look really stupid running around acting as if they are really frightened. Pleeaase! It's pretty boring after about the first 5 minutes of the first one you watch.

But how on Earth do they do this with an audience?

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Just further shameless pandering to the paranormal.

Mystical nonsense ---> ratings.
Skeptical analysis & prosaic explanations ---> dead air.

Sad commentary on the state of our culture.

Whoa! This is her statement today:Let's see this person prove leaving one's body by reading a hidden message one can only see if floating above the room. And make sure the people controlling the message are not connected to the show.

But of course her reasoning is stupid. When your heart stops you don't cross over anywhere. You just pass out. It's happened to millions of people I'm sure and they certainly don't all wake up with stories of the tunnel light.

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Yawn, real ghosts are much chillier

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Beskepitcal, Shirley Ghostman is a joke. I think the BBC were criticised for not doing enough popular telly because BBC3 have aired a few completely spoof programs that could be mistaken for the genuine dumbed down programs on other channels that they parody.

The funny thing about High Spirits was that the live audience didn't know it was a joke at first. You can see the looks of incredularity grow as she attempts to cold read an audience member while talking to her spirit guide dog Sheeba - "I feel your shame, I feel your pain, but you are not to blame. You deserved that holiday. How were you supposed to know that dogs couldn’t feed themselves?”

I don't think most of the auditionees for the spirit academy realized it was a wind up either, no matter how ridiculous the things he got them to do.

I think the last show ended with her having her heart stop as she said. But she never came back, hence the current weekly message "We regret that due to unforeseen circumstances arising from the final show, Shirley is currently unable to bring you his weekly message.".

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There are 10 types of people in the world. Those who understand ternary, those who don't, and those waiting for a bus.
If logic doesn't work, then surely it does.

Most Haunted is supposed to be real? I just assumed that it was a rather well done attempt at "Blair Witch Project - The TV Series", only without Derek Acorah dying at the end of each week.

I vaguely remember a show on MTV called 'Fear', which i never actually watched, but it had the same basic premise, except i believe it had a gameshow sort of thing going. Like they'd leave a group of people in a 'haunted' cave and they'd have to complete certain objectives without getting so 'scared' that they couldn't do it. Regardless, the show you're describing sounds similiar, and 'Fear' was so dumb that I never made it through a few minutes of the show (apparently no one else did either, cause it didn't last that long).

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It's starting to sound better and better. I wished it aired here.

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It was stupid too. They went out of their way to get people who screamed at the drop of a hat. They also played with the lights and a few other things, letting the audience in on it but not the subjects.

It was like kids by a campfire telling scary stories. You can get worked up into a state under those circumstances.

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I went to a location in Somerset UK which was a big old manor house. It was in the middle of nowhere. I remember it being a beautiful clear night and we went to the filming of 'Most Haunted live'.

It was the biggest pile of poppycock I ever experienced. We sat in the audience and watched a live feed from around the house. There was quite a big crowd. At one point the presenters entered a room where someone allegedly hanged themselves centuries earlier. As they did, the hot studio lighting came on us as the crowd segment was coming straight after the presenters had finished in the aforementioned room.

As they came back to the crowd, they interviewed a woman next to me. She stated (honestly) that 'when you went in the room where that man hung himself I got really hot and my throat went dry!' The medium explained that this was the reaction he'd expect from her considering the man had hung himself and was a perfect example of the paranormal activity present.

Off camera when I politely asked her if she thought it was down to the very hot studio lights being switched on at the same time as them entering the room, people around me (witches, mediums, you know the type- I think they were drug takers, but that would be an insult to drug takers!) instantly got really annoyed and I had to leave the audience to some aggresive booing!!

I remember for a haunted mansion, I felt very comfortable and in view of the clear skies would have stayed there all night on my own if I had the chance!

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Of all the things I've ever lost, I miss my mind the most!