Boo!

Tonight is the season premiere of one of my favorite shows: Ghost Hunters. Airing on the Sci-Fi Channel, it's about to guys who are plumbers for Roto-Rooter by day and paranormal experts at all hours outside of that. Recycling an acronym from their failed "Trans-Atlantic Plumbing Society," they founded TAPS (the Trans-Atlantic Paranormal Society), which travels across the nation (and now internationally) investigating claims of headless apparitions, strange occurrences, and other mysterious, paranormal events.

Do YOU believe in ghosts? I certainly do. I also believe in aliens and Leprechauns, but that's a different blog. My credence in the supernatural has fed my imagination and interest. Needless to say, I love trying to scare myself, especially from the safety of my own how with a handgun nearby in case I need to "re-kill" and unfriendly apparition. Which is EXACTLY why I love the "Ghost Hunters:" they go on location for me and bring the evidence to my own television. There's no need for me to have to crawl underground in an cramp bunker in pitch blackness at 2 in the morning at some haunted prison where my only "gun" is a thermal camera--they do it for me, and I get to watch THEM shriek and squirm.

Over the last few seasons, they have caught some remarkable evidence including strange EVPs that have responded to the investigator's questions, thermal images of humanly shapes that only appeared after the fact, and video footage of chairs moving, doors opening and closing, vases breaking, wires being lifted and thrown, cameras jumping up and knocking cameramen out, and strange shadows in a lighthouse moving across the metal lattice stairs only to peer over the railing to look down (see the St. Augustine Lighthouse episode.) For believers, its fascinating entertainment. For non-believers, it can still be the same.

In fact, I've got my 4 year-old daughter and 7 year-old son hooked on the show. Their mother didn't think this was such a good idea, but I figured if they could confront their fears, even if they're fears that I implanted, with enough education and understanding of what ghosts really are (or might be), they'll be unafraid. So far, we haven't been able to get them to sleep anywhere but in our bed on "Ghost Hunters" night, but we'll keep trying to persuade them that the spirits upstairs in their rooms are only there to play with them.

On tonight's season premiere, the team travels to Philly to investigate one of the most purportedly haunted places yet: Fort Mifflin, (picture of team at top) a fort where many died during the Revolutionary and Civil War. From the commercials, it looks like it should be a good one. Perhaps they'll even catch a Leprechaun on camera! Who knows.?

Although I know it makes for better TV to explore these places at night, I wonder if the ghosts are out during the day as well, or if they ALL sign up for the graveyard shift? Are they like Gremlins, afraid of the light, or is it just that WE are afraid of the night?