The “hauntings as news” trope has gotten old and tired, yet journalists continue to pound out “haunting” stories — even though hauntings are not news. But this latest example is a twist on that trend. A nearby paper, the Torrington Register-Citizen, reports on the cessation of a haunting rather than one that’s ongoing (WebCite cached article):
The horses do not mysteriously switch stalls at the Santos farm anymore.
Nor does the cat’s bowl move from one step to another step to another.
Donna Santos believed spirits were at work inside her house and inside her barn on West Hill Road.
Ms Santos credits some help she received, for getting rid of her “ghosts”:
Eventually, she heard about a group called the Northwest Connecticut Paranormal Society. Comprised of people who believe they have experienced a paranormal activity, the society scrutinizes instances in which people report suspected supernatural activities. …
John Zontok, the founder of this paranormal society, describes himself as a skeptic and a critical thinker. With its goal being to educate people, the society includes a college professor, a professional photographer, a paralegal, a business executive, a Marine, a Reiki master, college students and a dog, according to the organization. …
“Our main goal is to find something to show that paranormal activity exists,” Zontok said. “I am a sceptic regarding the paranormal.”
Let me clear something up right now: No genuine “skeptic” is going to run a “paranormal society” that finds ghosts. It doesn’t happen. What Zontok is doing, is to claim to be a “skeptic” so that he can appear to disarm other, genuine skeptics. To paraphrase, “I’m a skeptic, and I believe in this stuff. If you’re a skeptic, you should too … and if you don’t, then you’re not a ‘real’ skeptic and are just being unreasonable.”
Sorry Mr Zontok, it doesn’t work. You don’t get to call yourself a “skeptic” but then run around acting like a hypercredulous nut chasing every ghost you hear about. I’m not stupid enough to fall for that maneuver. As for how a dog can be an expert on the paranormal … well … that hardly merits comment.
At any rate, as the Register-Citizen goes on to explain, after this society’s “investigation,” the Santos’s problems have ended:
Ever since the paranormal society people investigated, the unexplained phenomenon have stopped, according to Donna Santos.
Ms Santos, have you considered that these “unexplained phenomena” have ended — because there never were any ghosts in the first place? Perhaps whoever had been pulling tricks on you, decided to stop, after you reeled in the Northwest Connecticut Paranormal Society to check things over?