Heather Kurtz of Olathe, Kan., has been a fan for nearly two decades. The 54-year-old mother of two and insurance company employee started watching for shows such as “Mysteries at the Museum” and “Expedition Unknown.” As more paranormal content joined the lineup, her interest grew. Current favorites include “Ghost Hunters,” “Ghost Nation,” “Ghost Adventures,” “Ghost Brothers” and “Destination Fear.
Kurtz also has a personal interest in the shows: It made her feel as if her deceased loved ones were still looking out for her, and as if she could do the same for her family. She was devastated after receiving a breast cancer diagnosis almost eight years ago, when her sons were 9 and 4. “I was determined to fight for my life to be there for my young sons,” she said in the email. “But watching the paranormal shows made me realize that I could still watch over my boys if I lost my fight.”— Paul
Ghostly content can provide that sort of comfort, said Thompson, who is also founding director of Syracuse University’s Center for Television and Popular Culture.“For all this scariness, there’s a sense of extreme optimism,” he said. “The idea of a ghost has in its foundation that we don’t disappear when we die, we don’t go off into nothingness.”
Popular interest in the paranormal is long-standing in the United States, dating back to the rise of spiritualism in the mid-1800s, said Darryl Caterine, a professor of religious studies at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, N.Y., and author of “He said the subject gained more traction in popular culture in the 1970s. As confidence in organized religion“There’s great uncertainty in terms of what is real and what is not real right now,” he said.
Tlc is total garbage. Remember when those channels had nature stuff and surgeries? Loved those shows.
It’s people….
Every channel has become this. TV executives are so obsessed with 'targeting middle America' that every network shows more or less the same thing. And they wonder why cable keeps losing subscribers...
Next: how the History Channel became the Nazi zombie Nostradamus aliens channel.
I blame this for so many people falling prey to QAnon.