Ghost hunting tv shows

Paranormal television is a genre of reality television that purports to document factual investigations of the paranormal rather than fictional representations seen in traditional narrative films and TV. Over the years, the genre has grown to be a staple of television and even changed the programming focus of networks like the History Channel and the Travel Channel.

By highlighting beliefs in topics ranging from Bigfoot to aliens , paranormal television continues to elevate popular interest in the paranormal. Accounts of supernatural occurrences have always been common in the print media. Paranormal television proper can trace its genesis to local TV news programs in the UK and US, which have featured ghost stories since the s.

It was followed 15 years later by In Search of In Search of Though the subject matter gradually lost popularity, the show gave way to future TV series following the same genre. Unsolved Mysteries , which began airing in and ended in , would feature paranormal cases from time to time, and further popularised the documentary aspect of paranormal television.

In , MTV's Fear premiered, merging nascent reality television with the storytelling of traditional horror films. The innovative show established the visual look, music and editing style of the paranormal reality television genre; most iconically, the format of investigators filming themselves with portable cameras as they become frightened exploring dark, unnerving environments.

To-date, the genre has grown into a staple of television.

Paranormal reality tv shows

Ghost Adventures , another ghost-hunting program, which premiered on the Discovery Networks -owned Travel Channel in , was the successor to a documentary film of the same name that aired on Sci Fi in Syfy abandoned their focus on paranormal programming by , and Ghost Hunters itself left the network in after 11 seasons. Around that time, Travel Channel moved completely into airing exclusively paranormal television series the network initially centering programming around Ghost Adventures frequently featuring ghost hunting, including series related to Ghost Adventures , as well as later productions featuring former Ghost Hunters members such as Kindred Spirits —present and Ghost Nation —present.

Noting the recent trend in reality shows that take the paranormal at face value, The New York Times Culture editor Mike Hale [ 6 ] characterized ghost hunting shows as "pure theater" and compared the genre to professional wrestling or soft core pornography for its formulaic, teasing approach.