Greetings,

My wife was chortling when she pointed the following out to me, well aware I was going to go ballistic.

Below is the syllabus/description for a class at Chemeketa Community College (that’s here, in Salem, OR).

Personal Enrichment
New! Ghost Hunting an Introduction to Paranormal Investigation

Experience paranormal investigation first-hand, and use the latest equipment and techniques for investigating the paranormal. You’ll learn about proper techniques [!!!!!] and procedures for conducting paranormal investigations, understand different types of haunting, and practice with equipment used to conduct investigations. You’ll also get some tips on obtaining permission [!!???!!], and find out about potential dangers associated with paranormal investigations.

[like getting shot or locked up for trespass]
[emphasis added]

Bernard Powell, Instructor, 6-8 pm, Mondays, June 20 - July 25, Chemeketa Salem Campus, Bldg. 3, Rm. 105

(CRN 17597) $99 Register by June 15 or gegister online and save $10

Okay, my question. What’s my best course to sink this class. I need practical advise on how to get through to the community college that is bogus bs and as such, has NO place in any college receiving ANY funding from the public.

Thanks, people.

I’d only take it if it was taught by Egon Spengler.

My dream approach to such a situation:

Have a magician-skeptic who specializes in recreating seances and haunted-type magic rig up a local house to the hilt.  Put the word out about the house being haunted.  A YouTube video of stuff going on at the house to help convince the instructor to lead a field trip to the house.  Once there he and his students will see things they can’t explain.  They will also swear their fancy high-tech gear (of which they don’t truly understand) is showing them readings.  On the second field trip to the “haunted” house, have a local TV news crew on hand to tape the instructor and students talking about how it would be impossible to fake what they saw.  Then spring the truth on them, that they were taken in by tricks. 

The only possible down side is that the news crew might not like that angle of the story, and instead focus just on the fluff piece of the ghost hunting class.  But if you found the right reporter who has pro-science and pro-skeptic leanings, it could work.  I’m thinking of a John Stossel type.  But such reporters who care about the truth over a good story or going with what is popular are rare.     

It would take some time and just a bit of money.  But something similar has been done before:  Project Alpha.

ShadowSot - 15 May 2011 02:49 PM

I’d only take it if it was taught by Egon Spengler.

Well, I might too. I’d certainly take it if Veckman were teaching it.

I kind of hold Edmund Scientific responsible for some of this. Their catalog has gone so far downhill I can’t even see it for the mist….

Joe Nickell has an article in the latest Skeptical Inquirer about how the otherwise respectable and “scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth,” the University Press of Kentucky went the Woo Woo route with one of their books and his dealings with it.  He also talks about it a little in this episode of the Monster Talk Podcast.  Perhaps contacting him could help you figure out what a good first step would be.

You may also check to identify both the least “spiritually aware” and the most anti-money-for-education members of your Origon legislature and write them letters complaining about this. Have your friends do the same, and try to find a secular group to write also.  They’ll quickly get on the back of the college administation.  And college administrators are notoriously without backbone when it comes to legislators threatening their budgets.  I’m sure it wouldn’t take much for that class to be cancelled.

Occam

It is awful that they would use precious resources to offer such a useless class. Complain, complain, complain!!

Well, I can think of a lot of things what would upset me more. But I really do have a problem with the funding. Chemeketa has a very shaky funding history on a number of things and with the economy the way it is, there are a lot of classes that could be offered that would really help some people. I can’t see anything productive coming out of this.

People can believe in ghosts if they want. Most of the time it’s totally harmless.  But the damn shows on the SyFy channel really promote a horribly naive mindset that can really cause problems.

TG Browning>>>

I made the suggestion of contacting The New England Skeptical Society, the great folks who give us the Skeptics Guide to the Universe podcast, since it appears to be in their neck of the woods where “ghosts” are the Woo De jour in that part of the country.  Perhaps if they get the word out on their podcast, their huge number of listeners could contact the college and make their concerns known.

Rocinante - 16 May 2011 10:48 AM

I made the suggestion of contacting The New England Skeptical Society, the great folks who give us the Skeptics Guide to the Universe podcast, since it appears to be in their neck of the woods where “ghosts” are the Woo De jour in that part of the country.  Perhaps if they get the word out on their podcast, their huge number of listeners could contact the college and make their concerns known.

Will check it out.  Right now, am planning on talking to a guy at the local (Statesman Journal, Salem, OR) paper about this. Got a couple of ideas…

And thanks.  This is all much appreciated.

TG Browning>>>

I know a ghost hunter.  So far as I know, she’s never taken a college course in it.  All she had to do was smoke tons of pot, drink gallons of Mt Dew, and get really into Neo-Paganism.  Oh the arguments we’ve had.

I know a ghost hunter.  So far as I know, she’s never taken a college course in it.  All she had to do was smoke tons of pot, drink gallons of Mt Dew, and get really into Neo-Paganism.

Did she remember to hire an agent to pitch the book deal and the latest series to air on the SciFi Channel?

If she didn’t, she’s doing it wrong.

Nah.  She’s never looked into a book deal as far as I know.  She’s not a very good ghost hunter.