Tomorrow being Halloween and all, I thought it might be an opportunity to spotlight one bit of holiday-relevant television. More likely than not, you are already familiar with SyFy's longtime "ghost-chasing" show franchise, Ghost Hunters. (Which was recently lampooned on South Park.) However, most of you may not be familiar with the Travel Channel's equivalent show, Ghost Adventures. While at first glace, it seems like just another johnny-come-lately ripoff amid other genre copies like Discovery's Ghost Lab and SyFy's "monster-chasers," Destination Truth. However, don't let the genre similarities fool you, this show is comedy gold. (And in a good way -- well, I guess that depends on how you see things.)

Tonight, the Ghost Adventures crew, consisting of Zak Bagans, Nick Groff, and Aaron Goodwin will take yet another page from the Ghost Hunters playbook with a live Halloween eve broadcast. Tonight, they will do one of their "lock-downs" from the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in West Virginia, one of many abandoned homes/facilities/landmarks in which they have set up camp, looking for haunting spirits. The show will be broadcast live on the Travel Channel, starting at 8 PM EST/PST.

What, then, is so special about this seemingly generic ghost-chasing show?  They use essentially the same tactics in exploring their locations with night vision cameras, static cameras set in locations, and recording EVP's (Electronic Voice Phenomena.) Like any of these shows, they analyze their findings, often taking footage of specks of dust to be "floating orbs of light" and explainable shadows to be "shadow apparitions." Every now and then, they do take some evidence that is difficult to explain. Regardless, it is their antics during the investigations that become the crux of the show itself.

Simply put, these guys bring the drama to an entirely new level. They are SO over-the-top, that it crosses past the boundaries of bad taste into a new realm where you seemingly get the sense that, while they may genuinely be looking for paranormal activity, that even they are "in on the joke." Wherever your beliefs lie on the metaphysical subject of life after death, or your level of enthusiasm (or lack thereof) for ghost-chashing shows, this show is pure, unadulterated fun. They mock the ghosts! They call them p***ies, cursing and screaming at the top of their lungs to get a rise out of the potential spirits. They stand at the edge of staircases and dare the ghosts to push them down or to scratch them in the face. When a slight bump or what could be perceived as a ghost voice is heard in the night, the crew jump up, running around like headless chickens, screaming incoherently, often drowning out anything they may have actually heard. And you know what? It is absolutely hysterical to watch. 

There are also moments like the episode in which they are locked-in at Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine, FL, where the crew walk around with an audio device connected to a database of words, which is designed to interpret the "talking" of ghosts, based on the noises it senses. Every few seconds, this "ghost translator" is going off in a creepy text-to-speech voice, saying cryptic words that freak out the crew. It's absolutely priceless.

Some hardcore fans of the genre (and I don't quite consider myself one) will probably poo-poo these guys as frauds who make a mockery out of things. I won't comment on the subject of its authenticity, because obviously all of these show are just teeming with opportunities to call that aspect into question. However, I think such a criticism misses the point entirely. Whether they're locking themselves in the drawers of a spooky morgue, strapping themselves into an electric chair at a "haunted" prison, or participating in pagan rituals at a site where ancient human sacrifices took place, you know that these guys are showmen to the end. It is the spectacle of the investigation, rather than the investigation itself, that makes the show.

Do yourself a favor and check out the live broadcast tonight.

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