Is Ghost Hunting becoming kid's play?

DANNY22XX

i came across this ,,whats your thoughts
Do you think its wise for kids to take up investigations

Would you allow your child to go ghost hunting at an early age?
We see it more and more every day, young kids are jumping into the paranormal fever that has grabbed a large percentage of the world in the last 5 or so years.

Parents do not seem to be at all concerned with their kids going “ghost hunting”. Why not?
Could it be the lack of knowledge on the subject of the paranormal? or could it be that they just consider it harmless fun, since the majority of adults do not believe in ghosts?

There was a story last week from the Prattville Progess, an Alabama news site, about a mother that had granted her daughter’s birthday wish of going “ghost hunting” for her birthday. The 11 year old is apparently swept up in the “ghost hunting craze” and wanted to do some EVP work like the members of TAPS, from her favorite show, Sci-fi’s Ghost Hunters.
“I wanted to go ghost hunting for my birthday,” said Barber, who enjoys watching the televi*sion show “Ghost Hunters” on the Sci-Fi channel.

Quick knew her young daughter had a fascination with the paranormal.

“(Emily) has been interested in ghost hunting,” Quick said. “There are some ghost shows we let her watch, but we don’t let her watch them all. She just had a real interest in ghost hunt*ing.”

Her mother, Renee Quick was not a believer in ghosts. That is, until her daughter Emily manage to capture some EVP recordings. The story from the Prattsville website is alarming in many ways. I understand that there are parents out there that are not at all concerned in what their children occupy their time with, but dabbling in the paranormal is something not to be taken lightly.

I’ve been reading and research the paranormal for more than 20 years. It’s not that long of a time frame since I just turned 30. At 10 years of age, I only read the stories and collected them. Not fictional ghost stories, but real documented paranormal cases. The difference is that I was aware of the dangers that came with the territory. No, I never had anything happen to me. Maybe because I was too careful (chicken) to actually investigate claims. Or maybe it’s because at an early age I read about cases of poltergeist hauntings that involved human contact, or cases of spirits following people home.

Relaxing on the master bed where ‘Mr. Davis’ used to sleep, Emily Barber and Shelby Cox demonstrate how they recorded the ghostly voice when they spent the night of Mily’s birthday in hopes of receiving a visit from beyond source: Prattville Progess
Why have we gone from treating the paranormal as a taboo subject, to a comfortable subject at a dinner table? When did this change happen?

Renee quick cannot be called a bad parent for letting her child dabble in the paranormal, but can we say that she does not have her child’s best interest if Renee herself does not believe in the paranormal?
I would have to answer with a “Yes”. I don’t believe in demonic possession, but does that mean that I disregard any claims and/or warnings? No. Just because I don’t believe it does not mean it does not exist. I’m careful regardless. Just in case!

So now we see a new generation of children taking up ghost hunting as a thing to do for fun. Their parents know that ghosts don’t exist, so they are not worried and chalk it off as harmless kid fun.
Is it really harmless? Cases like “The Entity” remind us of the dangers of the paranormal. Poltergeist and apparitions have been know to mentally scar individuals. Can you say that you are prepared to deal with a haunting or spirit if it followed your child home? or worse, attacked your child?

I know that not all parents think that way, but there are some that disregard the paranormal. What are we to expect in the near future when more and more young kids break into abandoned homes and try to conjure up the dead? More hauntings? more poltergeist activities reported? or more physical confrontations between the living and the dead?

6th

I'd have no problem being involved in an event for 15/16 year olds but an 11 year old is just nuts.

That said kids have been messing with Ouija Boards etc since long before "ghost hunting" became popular.

iamhunted

i would say why not? whats the harm? Personally I dont go for the whole 'the paranormal is dangerous oh look theres a demon' thing and considering theres not much danger to it - outside of being out too late at night and tripping up in the dark - then whats the problem?

6th

Things dont need to be real to be dangerous (I'm not saying ghosts arent real btw). I've seen the psychological affects it can have on people. If they experience anything that they can convince themselves in paranormal then their imaginations will go wild. It can affect their sleep, the eating habits, they can get paranoid ..... I really dont think I need to explain to the growups of this forum where it can lead.

At least in a controled enviroment you can sit a 16 year old down and explain things. They will listen (in general). At the end of the day it probably is best to leave it to adults because they are responsible for themselves.

6th

Great topic btw Danny.

DANNY22XX

i think the psychological affects has a lot to do with it ,,even at 16 i would be very sceptical of letting them do an investigation ,,i have friends that use kids for reveiwing footage ,witch is ok but even at that if they were not there how could they deem what is paranormal and what is not,,

iamhunted

my god boys, thats real nanny nation there now. My two kids are 15 and 16 and they'd freak less quicker than many people older than them.

So the argument here is that at say, 12 or 13 kids arent ready to investigate? Just how many times have you been at an investigation where you experienced psychological effects? Me personally, never. Plus, how people react is more to do with their psychological makeup than their age.

I think ye's are being too nannyish about the whole thing.

DANNY22XX

iamhunted wrote: »

my god boys, thats real nanny nation there now. My two kids are 15 and 16 and they'd freak less quicker than many people older than them.

So the argument here is that at say, 12 or 13 kids arent ready to investigate? Just how many times have you been at an investigation where you experienced psychological effects? Me personally, never. Plus, how people react is more to do with their psychological makeup than their age.

I think ye's are being too nannyish about the whole thing.

ohhhh stop it or youll go to your room:D:D:D

if you look back at your own experiance that you have spoke about openly on many occations ,,,you were freaked then ,how old were ya,,,lol,,what effect did that have on
you :rolleyes::eek::eek::eek:

iamhunted

danny - that was a poltergiest. I lived in a house with a poltergiest ... that would freak anyone. Plus , its never happened since so its obviously a pretty rare thing to happen to anyone.

Its effect is that it made me even more interested in the paranormal. It didnt turn me into some sort of mad person that posts on boards in response to threads about kids investigating :eek: or did it?? :P

DANNY22XX

iamhunted wrote: »

danny - that was a poltergiest. I lived in a house with a poltergiest ... that would freak anyone. Plus , its never happened since so its obviously a pretty rare thing to happen to anyone.

Its effect is that it made me even more interested in the paranormal. It didnt turn me into some sort of mad person that posts on boards in response to threads about kids investigating :eek: or did it?? :P

hahahahahahahah,,,now go to your room:P

iamhunted

i can understand why a dub would like to dominate a tyrone man, but yer bullying aint working danny.

kshiel

A 12 or 13 year old doing paranormal investigations, NO NO. their hormones are wild enough and imo are not mentally mature enough to really make sense of things in a logical sense (thats not to say that speaks for them all)

A 15 or 16 year old group, dont think really old enough either but I would feel that would have more to do with not been classified as an adult yet and not be more or less responable for themself (in other words wouldn't want the ma or da banging the door down wanting your blood for scaring their son/daughter.

18 I feel would be the youngest, just in the sense they are classed as adult and responsible for themsleves.

I think a lot of this is more to do with the law and ages more than the mental attutide with the exception of 14 and under.

In saying that the paranormal is reaching or more attainable to every age now and I would love to see a few more shows explaining the various aspects and science behind it all in stead of just the exciting and thrill side (big dark scary place, no lights, screams, people running etc etc) they are more or less attuning themselves too.

There ye go guys a show to set up. Paranormal education for the young of today. and for us adults Paranormal for dummies.... lol.

iamhunted

personally i dont think age = maturity. theres enough 13 year olds around that have heads screwed on much tighter than many 20 year olds.

Age isnt the issue as far as paranormal research goes - the issue is common sense and the ability to think logically.

kshiel

iamhunted wrote: »

personally i dont think age = maturity. theres enough 13 year olds around that have heads screwed on much tighter than many 20 year olds.

Age isnt the issue as far as paranormal research goes - the issue is common sense and the ability to think logically.

Yes but how many 13 year olds would you be willing to bring on one of your investigaitons with you. How much paper work for the parents would you intail, would insurance be nesscary, how many parents would be willing to sign a document stating their child is entering a potential danger to their mental or psychial health or if you die on this investigaiton due to your own fault or something that is classed as paranomral (as in running and falling down stairs and breaking neck or he/she thought a spirit was chasing them and had a heart attack) Seriously when you would get down to the nitty gritty how many would you bring along.

How much responability would you have to take on on their behalf....

iamhunted

ah kimmy, but i miss the debates ...

Im not looking at this in a practical, legal sense .. I mlooking at this as in would i be prepared to bring one of my young teenage sons on an investigation with me and the answer would be yes, if they wanted. That wouldnt be part of Leinster Paranormal, but an investigation I might theoretically do on my own.

Would a 13-14 year old be up to the task? Yes, indeed they would. Would they be serious minded about it? Again, i believe they would (as long as they had the interest). Can a kid be a logical, methodical thinker? Again, I say yes - in fact they'd probably out-think many adults.

So what way are we discussing this - are we talking of the legal aspects of having a 14 years old in a research group our are we talking about the idealogical aspect of a young teenager investigating? Those are two completely seperate issues.

DANNY22XX

but thats your kids what about somone elses,,,Jaysus i could barely handle my own never mind anyone elses,,
altought we all know how great our own kids are ,,,lol

iamhunted

you've moved the goalposts - the article doesn't mention anything about the legal/technical aspect. If you're concentrating on that then you'd be wiser to say its less hassle to not bring teenagers rather than it being wrong morally.

stormkeeper

Sabotage wrote: »

I'd have no problem being involved in an event for 15/16 year olds but an 11 year old is just nuts.

I agree, and not only that... any locations that are investigated usually have some safety issues, ie, fumbling about in the dark. This is not helped by the fact that some haunted locations are usually ruins, so you could easily break something. When I get a proper group up and running, I imagine that the minimum age will be 15 or 16, for safety concerns.

That said kids have been messing with Ouija Boards etc since long before "ghost hunting" became popular.

Yeah, that's true... my mum did it as well.