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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ghost hunting | 7/7 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_hunting | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T09:20:17.382938+00:00 | kb-cron |
==== Poltergeist ====
Poltergeist is the original film in the Poltergeist trilogy, directed by Tobe Hooper, co-written by Steven Spielberg and released on 4 June 1982. The story focuses on the Freeling family, which consists of Steven (Craig T. Nelson), Diane (JoBeth Williams), Dana (Dominique Dunne), Robbie (Oliver Robins), and Carol Anne (Heather O'Rourke), who live in a California housing development called Cuesta Verde, which comes to be haunted by ghosts. The film depicts a group of paranormal investigators, parapsychologists, and a spiritual medium named Tangina Barrons (Zelda Rubinstein) in their efforts to assist the family. A reboot of the series, Poltergeist, was directed by Gil Kenan and released on 22 May 2015, that features the host of a paranormal-themed TV show who comes to the aid of the family.
==== Ghostbusters ====
Ghostbusters is a 1984 American fantasy comedy film produced and directed by Ivan Reitman and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. It stars Bill Murray, Aykroyd and Ramis as Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz and Egon Spengler, eccentric parapsychologists who start a ghost-catching business in New York City. Ghostbusters was released in the United States on 8 June 1984, and grossed US$242 million in the United States and more than 295 million USD worldwide, making it the highest-grossing comedy film of its time. It launched a media franchise, which includes three sequels (Ghostbusters II, Ghostbusters: Afterlife and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire), two animated television series (The Real Ghostbusters and Extreme Ghostbusters), video games, and a 2016 reboot. The Ghostbusters concept was inspired by Aykroyd's fascination with the paranormal.
==== The Conjuring ====
The Conjuring is a 2013 American supernatural horror film directed by James Wan and written by Chad Hayes and Carey W. Hayes. It is the inaugural film in The Conjuring Universe franchise, in which Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga star as paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren. Their purportedly real-life exploits inspired The Amityville Horror story and film franchise. In The Conjuring, the Warrens come to the assistance of the Perron family, who experience increasingly disturbing events in their farmhouse in Rhode Island in 1971. The Conjuring was released in the United States and Canada on 19 July 2013, and grossed over US$319 million worldwide. A sequel, The Conjuring 2, was released on 10 June 2016, and a prequel, Annabelle, directed by John R. Leonetti, written by Gary Dauberman and produced by Peter Safran and James Wan was released in 2014.
=== Video games ===
==== Dark Fall ====
A 2002 point and click mystery game set in the fictional town of Dowerton, England, where the abandoned Station Hotel has become the location of numerous disappearances, and is reported to be haunted. The players take the role of a man in the search for his lost brother, an architect who vanished while doing scouting and evaluation for a building company. A local team of ghost hunters disappeared there too, leaving all of their equipment and documentation behind. The game spawned a successful series of sequels, all dealing with the paranormal and mysterious ghost sightings.
==== Phasmophobia ====
Kinetic Games's indie survival horror game sees the player(s) take on the role of ghost hunters contracted to explore various premises for ghosts. The game received a large influx of popularity after its September 2020 release due to many well-known Twitch streamers and YouTubers playing it, mainly for the Halloween season.
=== Web series ===
==== Buzzfeed Unsolved ====
The American entertainment web series BuzzFeed Unsolved included BuzzFeed Unsolved Supernatural episodes where hosts Shane Madej and Ryan Bergara discussed alleged ghosts, hauntings and demons, often seeking evidence of their existence. In 2019, Bergara and Madej left Buzzfeed to host a web series similar to Buzzfeed Unsolved Supernatural called Ghost Files in 2022, documenting their attempts to find evidence of supernatural beings and occurrences.
== Tourism == Interest in ghost hunting has driven tourism to historical sites and locations claimed to be haunted. A study published in the Cornell Hospitality Quarterly in 2020 stated that "haunted tourism has allowed attractions like historic house museums as well as abandoned hospitals, schools and prisons 'to remain intact' or bring in the money needed to make necessary improvements". According to architectural historian Jen Levstik, revenues from haunted tourism can help fund historic preservation, "so long as the tours are also providing historically accurate information related to the property [and] the humanity of the people at those properties, and not just the salacious things that can't be backed up beyond hearsay or rumor."
== See also == Legend tripping List of ghost films List of topics characterized as pseudoscience Paranormal television Stone Tape theory
== References ==
== Further reading == Lea, Robert (31 October 2021). "Ghost Hunters Who Use Science Reveal What Other Paranormal Investigators Get Wrong". Newsweek. ASSAP. "Welcome to ASSAP - ASSAP." Assap.ac.uk, 2024, https://www.assap.ac.uk/
== External links ==
"Ghost Hunting in the 19th Century" (Audio with transcript). Science History Institute 'Distillations' Podcast Episode 277. 6 July 2021. Dunning, Brian (1 January 2008). "Skeptoid #81: Ghost Hunting Tools of the Trade". Skeptoid. "Ghost Hunting Science Vs Pseudoscience" by Steven Novella "Proton Packs and Teddy Bears: The Pseudoscientific History of Ghost Hunting Gadgets" by Popular Mechanics