Debunking a Debunker: When Skeptics are No Longer Skeptical

By Ryan M. Huston

A friend recently sent me an article written by Alison Smith of "SAPS" fame. (http://www.skeptic.com/eskeptic/06-08-10.html) In both the article and subsequent ramblings in her website, Ms. Smith launches herself on a personal mission to rescue us all from our delusions, and restate her case that TAPS (Jason Hawes, in particular) is nothing short of the new incarnation of [insert something really, really evil here].

In researching her articles, I found Ms. Smith's manifestos featured quite often in the online skeptic movement. Her articles have been featured on numerous sites (eskeptic, skepticsociety.com, etc) and even touted by Michael Shermer himself. The skeptic movement, when judged by its worst examples, can often seem more cynical than skeptical. As we will soon see, however, they have their share of embarassments, as well.

Before slapping the "delusional rube" title on others, as some in the skeptic community are wont to do, it would have been good for some one to do a little fact-checking on Ms. Smith's pieces, which are just as easily debunked as any bad "orb" photo.

Ms. Smith starts by assailing TAPS on a variety of fronts, calling them everything from frauds to tax cheats, to implanters of "false memories". Sadly, she doesn't explain why, if this group is so evil and atrocious, she would start her own group with a similar name ("Skeptical Analysis of the Paranormal Society" or SAPS), complete with identical fonts and graphics. Emulation of something you find disgusting is certainly illogical. However, if one is trying to cash in, on the other hand...

For the "fraud" accusation, her proof lies mostly in her skewed interpretations of some no-longer-available video clips, which she claims "debunks" the entire "Ghost Hunters" series. Unfortunately, she only included clips of three episodes from a show which is well into it's 3rd season so her work is far from comprehensive. Let's take a look, shall we?

Smith claims:

"An example can be found in Episode 219: Haunted Lighthouse, where figures are seen on a DVR camera that was filming from the bottom of a spiral staircase looking up. In this footage, a figure can be seen some number of floors up, walking rapidly up the stairs. The TAPS crew perceives this as paranormal, despite their own timestamps, and the titles added during editing placing both Jason and Grant on the stairs at the time the footage was filmed. However, during the reveal at the end of the show, the timestamp is removed from the footage, and Jason and Grant tell the owners of the lighthouse that no one was on the stairs at that time."

No one could argue that this would be quite damaging. However, it is not accurate. This clip, showing the reveal in its entirety, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GF5aYG2UCdQ clearly shows Jason and Grant not only telling the client that they were on the stairs, but pointing out specifically what flight they were standing on. Interestingly enough, the evidence Smith cites (in link form) to make this accusation against TAPS is no longer available, but was purportedly on Geocities at one time. Could her clip have been altered to make it appear Jason and Grant lied to the client? We'll never know.

Later on, she mentioned the infamous "Eastern State Penn" incident. While I agree that the true nature of this event is highly debatable, Smith goes beyond that to accuse TAPS of faking it themselves:

"The footage is debated with such passion because, in attempting a re-creation, it was discovered that the effect that made it appear as though the cloaked figure materialized out of nowhere could only be created by altering the footage to 15 frames per second instead of the usual 30 frames per second TAPS records at. This would mean that the only people who had access to altering the footage were the TAPS crew themselves, as they are the ones who do the "reveal" at the end of each episode, where they share their findings with the owners of the location."

Again, damaging... but also untrue. In this episode, Grant Wilson draws the viewer's attention to a ladder, situated right by where the "figure" appears, and makes references to the figure backing into the camera's view. Directly suggesting that someone may have come up the ladder in an attempt to trick them. Additionally, He and Jason both suggested at seperate times in the episode they were disturbed by the fact this incident happened when the TAPS crew was on a dinner break. Not the same as TAPS saying "Ooh-ooh! Look at our ghost materializing!!!", is it?

Also, Smith's claim that TAPS altered the footage for the "reveal" is grossly untrue. She claims to own all the episodes on DVD, but here it becomes clear that she never watched them as TAPS did NOT do a reveal in the first Eastern State episode (Ep. 1x5). Again, Smith's only evidence to the contrary is a "reenactment" clip, performed by another group and linked in her article (which, incidentally, she does not credit). The fact she does not show this "reveal" with TAPS showing the client the footage in question, is highly suspect.

I, however, will give you some footage to look at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyy5PpBZh1M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJvVPYAzKik
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9rc8iiaCSA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sw1aJYD-5do
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWo397_Zr0Y

The entire one hour episode. If you see a reveal here, let me know.

Where things get interesting, however, is Smith's accusation that TAPS engages in brain-washing, in the form of "false-memory implantation". I could counter it, but do I really have to? Smith finally ends with the highly ironic "at Skeptical Analysis of the Paranormal Society, we hope to undo the damage of falsehoods presented as truths by groups like TAPS and educate the public on belief systems". Apparently, she feels this is best accomplished by presenting many "falsehoods presented as truths" of her own, adding the subtle chestnut about "educating" people on "belief systems". This type of statement can often be offensive, intentionally or no, to those of us who happen to believe in the paranormal. Personally, I don't feel I need to be "educated" on my belief systems, any more than I need to "educate" others about theirs.

I think people on both sides of the issue should always be cautious when claiming to have sole possession of "sanity" or "truth" in regards to the paranormal. Whether you agree with Jason and Grant, or with James Randi and Michael Shermer, the real truth is these matters is that the truth is evasive. Both sides are driven to understand complex and mysterious events, and it is often difficult and disappointing work for many of us of either stripe.

It just goes to show that you should never take anything at face value. Sadly, there are many frauds and liars on both sides. As we've just shown here, even those who claim to be objective, factual, and "sane" just be just as biased, dishonest, and "crazy" as those who say they see dead people. ;)

- Ryan M. Huston, 2007 (Revised, 2008)