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Our latest posts New England Legends Podcast 345 – The Cobbler’s Ghost Has No ShoesIn Episode 345 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger visit the Newtown...New England Legends Podcast 344 – Carl Rettich’s Deadly Footwear and Murder MansionIn Episode 344 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger explore Warwick Neck,...New England Legends Podcast 343 – The Birth of the Legendary DonutIn Episode 343 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger sail the harbor of Rockport, Maine, to...New England Legends Podcast 342 – The Lizzie Bourne TragedyIn Episode 342 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger hike New England’s...New England Legends Podcast 341 – The Captain’s WellIn Episode 341 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger grab a drink...New England Legends Podcast 340 – The Dream Pond MurdersIn Episode 340 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger explore the shores... |
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May 6, 2013 Why Ghost Hunters are Culturally CoolBy Deonna Kelli SayedI'm a writer who became one, in part, because of a ghost hunting avocation. This hobby landed me a first book deal, some public speaking gigs, introduction to people on TV, and awesome friends. Plus, I'm no longer scared of life, in general. These are no small developments. There is charm in hanging out at spooky places in the middle of the night experiencing wild and crazy things. Sometimes, we help homeowners feel better about their world. Of course, it makes us feel important to be part of the larger cultural pulse of something on TV. Ghost hunting is a cool thing to do, and maybe for reasons you haven't considered. There is cultural importance of this ghost stuff regardless if you believe spirits actually exist. History and StorytellingGhost hunters are historical preservationist and archivists. How so? We storytellers, and the stories we preserve through paranormal investigation are from our local and regional communities. There are few hobbies that so intimately engage local history and take time to document how the living interacts with these stories. We help keep microhistory (the untold stories) alive. Additionally, we reinterpret these tales to better understand who we are today. Paranormal interest has renewed the spirit of living history. Many historic sites bank on being haunted. This isn't a bad thing. Having a ghost has helped many not-for-profit historic locations earn supplemental income as State, local, and grant funding dried up due to the economy. (Most historic locations don't operate on entrance fees alone.) Tourist traffic from paranormal interest allows some sites keep their existing funding. The coolest aspect is that visitors get a dose of local history, even if a haunted version, that they may have otherwise bypassed. This idea is catching on. Shreveport, Louisiana is one of the first cities to put funding and sponsorship behind a downtown paranormal festival as a way to boost business and local history awareness, thus engaging paranormal tourism at a previously unprecedented level. This moves ghost hunting's cultural relevancy out of the paranormal community and into the larger society, and that is awesome. Ghost Hunters are Multimedia ArtistsDigital audio, camcorders, and cameras provide an interesting example regarding handheld technology's role in storytelling. Ghost hunters are some of the most proficient in this art form. We have hours of video and audio of our experiences, client interviews, and awesome footage of historical significant locations. The average person probably doesn't own this type of equipment despite its accessibility. If someone happens to have a camcorder, they aren't using it like we are: as documentarians. Online clips of investigations, including satirical spoofs, have become a YouTube genre. This is a neat development because a segment of the arts community is really interested in multimedia aspects of community-based story telling. In some ways, our "client reveals" -- with the history, investigator personal experiences, and digital and audio evidence - is a form of media art. We are multimedia storytellers. Think about it - most people know nothing about audio or video editing. Many of us have a basic understanding of these things, and some of us develop transferable skills that steer us in unexpected directions. AdventureMyths started as paranormal investigators who created well-researched documentaries to hand back to the historic sites they investigated. Now, they are morphing into actual filmmakers. I'm currently using my semi-professional digital audio devices (and my software editing skills) to produce a podcast series for a blog that has nothing to do with the paranormal. I developed a marketable skill set because of paranormal investigation. Ghost Hunters Provide Spiritual Solace |