When horror meets reality (TV): Ode to Most Haunted and ghosthunting shows

I’m getting started unleashing some horrors from the Big Bag of Ghouls with one of my most beloved guilty pleasures - Most Haunted and reality TV of the supernatural persuasion.

We’re born, we live, then we die. That’s it. Isn’t it? Throughout the ages, society has sought answers in novel ways to this most essential question. Séances. Victorian photography. Sixties occultism. And, of course, our modern day answer: Ghosthunting TV shows. 

Log on to any good streaming service and you’ll find a whole host of shows within this eclectic reality TV sub-genre - Most Haunted, Ghost Hunters, Celebrity Ghost Stories. Take your pick, they all have one thing in common - investigating the paranormal.

Seeing is believing, or so they say. The quest to capture ghosts on film is what makes this sub genre so captivating and ridiculous in equal measure. It’s the hope that this episode could be the one. It keeps you coming back for more even though you desperately hate that you’re so invested.

The funny thing about reality TV is that it’s so often an escape from the very thing it purports to be: reality. The exaggerated narratives presented, whether it’s in Love Island or Most Haunted, is a form of escapism that’s very hard to resist.

In Most Haunted, paranormal investigations translate to 30 minutes of grainy, night-cam footage, repeated questioning of “Did you hear that?” and of course, intermittent screaming. The odd orb or “light anomaly” would float across the TV screen with tantalising promise and sometimes we’d even get some EVP - electronic voice phenomena.

It was never the ghost-riddled adventure that the dramatic intro hyped it up to be. There was never anything irrefutably convincing caught on camera. And yet I was always left with the lingering what-ifs - what if that orb was, somehow, the ghost of a little girl from the 1700’s? WHAT IF?

To this day, reality TV paranormal shows are my guilty pleasure. Many an hour has been wasted away, slack jawed and completely enthralled by the promise of paranormal activity.  

Revisiting Most Haunted recently, it struck me that my love of the show wasn’t so much about ghost hunting or chasing proof of ghosts necessarily. Although, let's be honest, it was definitely part of it - I want to believe! 

When you strip away the Fox Mulder “The Truth is Out There” element decked out in EVPs and ouija boards, it really just boils down to the stories. Society’s enduring love of ghost stories helps us become more comfortable with that most essential, morbid question of what happens when we die, whether there is a spiritual realm beyond the veil. 

We’ll hear the creaking doors, the ghostly muffled voice of a supposed Victorian child and the glass moving wildly during the séance but that video footage of the gliding spirit remains frustratingly out of reach. When the credits roll we don’t walk away with the answers but at least we were entertained for a while.

Most Haunted Starter Pack, Lovingly Compiled by Big Bag of Ghouls

In the mood for some paranormal reality TV? Look no further than the Most Haunted Starter Pack coming ‘atcha weekly over the next month as I share my top 5 Most Haunted episodes.

I’ll be delving into each episode in great detail with musical accompaniments so keep your eyes peeled. Or why not let the ghouls haunt your inbox? Let them in through the button below - they’ll really appreciate it.