"Ghost Frogs" - A Stolen and Bastardized Article... Apologies to Karl Pflock as re-written by Matthew Didier
The following article (and yes, I did get permission to re-use it,) is from the noted UFOlogist, Karl Pflock... except... Karl's version was about UFOlogists.
I read the article and realised it's potential as well for us ghost researchers... myself included so, with a bit of re-editing and a little bit of shining up, here is my version of Karl Pflock's article (original linked here) "HEY, UFROGS! LIGHTEN UP" except my version is called...
HEY, GHOST FROGS! LIGHTEN UP!
by Matthew James Didier with SINCERE apologies to Karl Pflock
Ghost researchers and investigators are always complaining that they "don't get no respect". They whine that the field which they say means so much to them is not taken seriously. Seems to me one of the top reasons for this is that some ghostie folk take themselves too damn seriously!Zealotry, taking questions always on an emotional level and self-importance plague The Field. This leading ghost 'expert' and that leading hauntings 'expert' is so sure his/her's is a Historic Mission, so certain she/he has The Answer to the Mystery of the Ages that he/she becomes the subject matter - "Ghosts" - personified and is unable or, more appropriately, unwilling to even take a question without assuming it's an attack of some sort. In many ways, more closed minded then the "sceptdebunkers" we're all supposed to have issues with!
Of course, every one of these Big Frogs has appropriated their own small - no, tiny - pond with a well-centered lily pad throne on which to squat. Each plops on their own royal seat, loudly and oh-so-seriously croaking and fending off any other frogs who presume to suggest they might know something about the depth of the big frog's mud puddle. Psychic puddle. Photography puddle. Scientific data puddle. Folklore and history puddle. EVP puddle. Ghost sceptic puddle. Touchy-feely/Warm-Fuzzy social and political correctness puddle. Croak! Croak! Croak!
Have you ever seen a frog that wasn't absolutely certain of their own centrality in the universe? Ever seen a frog that wasn't funny, very funny indeed, because of their own self-importance, utterly unaware of how silly they looks sprawling on and quite a bit off a semi-submerged leaf in a fetid pool with a gaggle of burbling tadpoles wiggling around them?
Look around you. Do you see all the self-important ghost frogs? Listen. Do you hear all their I-am-the-greatest croaking? Their My-methods-are the best croaking? Their My-concept-of-the-phenomena-is-correct croaking? The cacophony is enough to make you - and Real Science, the mainstream and people interested in the subject - deaf, isn't it? Listen again. Do you hear any of them laughing at themselves? This time, it's the silence that's almost deafening!
I've got a theory, well, a notion: If ghostly studies never rise above the status of a tabloid semi-proto-science or folkloric entertainment, one not unimportant reason will be because its practitioners - I know this is stretching the use of a perfectly good word to the breaking point - um, leading lights don't - can't - laugh at themselves.
Hey, you dim-bulbs: Lighten up. Look in the mirror. See yourselves as you really are. Scary, huh? Yeah, but funny, very funny. Have a good laugh. Knock yourselves out!
There is no better antidote for what ails ghost groups emotional instability and inability to be able to "take what's dished out" today, both as to its internal difficulties and where it stands with the outside "straight" world than a good belly laugh at itself. Hey you self-important ghost dudes and dudettes! Take the work seriously and do your best but LIGHTEN UP!
Additional Thing: For more slams at Paranormal Researchers in general, please read Sue Darroch's article on the types of researchers out there Fame Vs Success
If you read it, I'm sure you'll recognize some of the characters she's mentioned!