Ghostwalk Guide faces Sack - for scepticism

[cj.23]

Hi chaps,

This is a very very odd one. While I'm an Anglican Christian, I hang around on another forum, a well known atheist community. I have some good friends there, and was a little disturbed by something that is happening to one of them. He is a ghost guide in New Orleans, and has successfully done the ghost tour for many years - but with a difference. The chap is a total sceptic of the paranormal (unlike me), and the entertainment on his spooky tour includes a solid debunking and education in scepticism. Still it must have been good, because there were no complaints, till this year.

The inevitable has happened, and he has been told by his boss to drop the scepticism. he refused and got a warning, but then did comply. He has a wife and family to support, and figured so long as people were entertained. Tonight he has had another warning, and has been suspended.

The fellow has worked on a lot of paranormal TV, has excellent sceptical credentials, but is 35 and has been working for the ghost tour for many years. He is really down about his situation, and his boss is sympathetic, but points out virulent scepticism is not what people want, and he has little choice but to "let him go".

I asked him to come here, but I know you all a little, so I decided to post on his behalf (with his permission). I have never met this chap in real life, and he has very strong atheist/sceptic/anti-paranormalist beliefs - we are complete opposites, but he strikes me as a good bloke deserving of help. Almost everyone who runs ghost tours ends up facing his dilemma - you just get cynical, and its hard to explain away the things the punters want. I respect his integrity and really want to help him, especially as his personal circumstances are less than ideal.

If anyone has any ideas - his dyslexia makes writing books harder, but he does have a great knowledge of history and the ghost-lore of New Orleans, and sceptical ghost hunting. So if anyone at all can help in anyway, please suggest it or pm me to be put in touch! I have asked his permission to post on his behalf, and he has granted it.

Oh and mods, I was not sure if this was a community issue, or a GS&tP. If I have posted in the wrong place do tell me. The chap is named Randy, and I will direct him to the thread if anyone can offer any useful advice. Having some knowledge of his situation I would say this was an urgent good cause.
So any advice or assistance?

cheers
cj x

[CLD]

Put an ad in Craigslist asking for a video crew to shoot a speculative video, offering no pay, but a share in any profits. Get the crew to shoot and edit a video of your friend conducting his "tour" for the camera. Title it something like New Orleans: Spooked or Spurious?". Shop the resulting edited piece around to local PBS TV affiliates and video distributors.

http://neworleans.craigslist.org/tfr/
http://www.videouniversity.com/distribs.htm

[grayman]

He could always dictate a book if he finds someone willing to do the typing. Sounds like it be a good read. Especially if some photos were included.

[Slimething]

If he is as good as you say, he can become the competition. No law against putting your own ad in the yellow pages and tourist rags.

Best of luck, Randy!

[Hokulele]

He could always dictate a book if he finds someone willing to do the typing. Sounds like it be a good read. Especially if some photos were included.


I'd say that grayman's idea is excellent. Randy could always hire, err, um, well, a ghost-writer.

[Quinn]

Hey CJ, got a link to the thread on the other forum? I live in New Orleans, and most days it feels like I'm the only skeptic in town. I doubt I could do much to actually help the guy out, but if nothing else I'd like to buy him a beer.

[cj.23]

Hey CJ, got a link to the thread on the other forum? I live in New Orleans, and most days it feels like I'm the only skeptic in town. I doubt I could do much to actually help the guy out, but if nothing else I'd like to buy him a beer.


Thanks Quinn. The link is at http://richarddawkins.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=14312
and I'm sure he'd like the company!

Thanks CLD - that's exactly the kind of advice we were looking for. I've never met the chap but he seems sound and I have been in a not dissimilar situation, sacked for not "playing the game" and going along with obvious woo. It stinks.

And thanks to everyone for your advice. if Randy does write a book, I'll let you know. I have suggested to him approaching local media students to make a DVD, but CLD's idea sounds like a better version of that.

I'm sure he will appreciate your support!
all the best
cj x

[Tricky]

As much as I sympathize with Randy, the simple fact is that the company hires him to do a job, which may involve some acting. He is supposed to be scary to the customers, not to comfort them with reality. While some (like me) would appreciate a skeptical tour of Haunted New Orleans, my experience says that such a tour is not what most of the customers are looking for. My wife, in fact, would be furious if it were given such a treatment.

When you take a job, you may be asked to do some things that you as an individual would never do. If you cannot do these things, then that job is really not right for you. Perhaps he could start his own company, advertising "The Real Truth About Haunted New Orleans". I'd pay for that.

[brodski]

If he is as good as you say, he can become the competition. No law against putting your own ad in the yellow pages and tourist rags.

Best of luck, Randy!

There may be no law against it, but it is quiet likely that he has singed a contract which prohibits him doing so for a fixed period of time.

[cj.23]

Hi Tricky. Yes I agree - I used to do ghost events,and I'd try and scare people - but always tell the truth. Carefully voiced scepticism is fine, and you can still get a helluva atmosphere going. :) Imagine however the psychic claimants one gets, who "see" things at ever street corner. I am afraid that it does wear one down...

Still yep Brodski, no problem there as far as i know, but a tour guide apparently needs some hideously expensive permit plus insurance, and if my experience is anything to go by most venues have agreements with established operators. The ghost business is not big business, but it can be profitable, though in the UK the bottom has fallen out of that market I think.

If anyone is interested in my reflections on "Ghost Tourism" I'll happily tell the truth as i see it. :)

cj x

[supercorgi]

Could he maybe do his tours and instead of debunking or affirming that ghosts are real, instead focus on the history? I once had an excellent Halloween tour of Salem Mass. where the tour guide focused on the history of the town and the dynamics between the towns people that had led to the witch hysteria. His thesis, for which he presented strong evidence, was that the witch accusations were motivated by the relationships of the different Salem families and the efforts of some families to seize the property of the accused families. It was fascinating and very colorful.

[cj.23]

I think that's an excellent idea; the problem is that no matter how historically focussed, or entertaining you are, when someone starts to talk to a ghost, claims a ghost is trying to feel them up, or gets 'possessed' - and yes I've seen all three, the first two many many times, the latter infrequently - it's hard not to get involved and express opinions.

Still just doing straight history tours seems the way to go?
cj x

[Locknar]

That is too bad; I've done the "Ghost Walk" in Williamsburg VA and it was fun. Our guide told the various ghost stories as each of stops, but always had a hint of skepticism in her delivery...which I thought made the whole thing much more entertaining.

[CLD]

when someone...claims a ghost is trying to feel them up

Hmm. Now I can see why the ghost tours are so popular with teens. :p


I have suggested to him approaching local media students to make a DVD, but CLD's idea sounds like a better version of that.


Yeah, if the guy has some real personality and is entertaining, a video would be ideal.

[tkingdoll]

I think the history tours idea is a good one.

Anyone going anywhere near a tour with any sort of reference to ghosts or hauntings in the title or blurb is likely to be looking for a scare thrill or even confirmation that such things are real. Skeptics are a tiny niche market, sadly.

I'd say leave the ghost debunkings out of the tours, and if someone asks a question, be vague enough to satisfy both them and your personal ethics. There is always a compromise.

But if he's good on his feet, would he be interested in retraining as a lecturer, maybe, or even corporate trainer? Anyone who can present well and is entertaining and engaging will do well in that field, it's just a matter of learning the subject matter.

[Dunstan]

While some (like me) would appreciate a skeptical tour of Haunted New Orleans, my experience says that such a tour is not what most of the customers are looking for.

For what it's worth, my sole data point on this is to the contrary. At the start of the one ghost walk I went on, the guide did a quick survey of the customers (none of whom I knew). Nobody claimed to actually believe in ghosts, about 50% were "maybe/not sure," and the remaining 50% or so did not believe.

Edited to add: in any event, it's up to the company to decide what kind of approach it wants. A natural history museum would be perfectly entitled, in my view, to fire a guide who kept injecting creationism into the tours, and a ghost walk company is certainly entitled to fire a guide who isn't giving the customers what (the company thinks) they want.

[Slimething]

There may be no law against it, but it is quiet likely that he has singed a contract which prohibits him doing so for a fixed period of time.

A tour company with exclusion clauses? Not likely. However, even if he did sign something like that, those clauses are unenforceable. Judges throw them out due to the fact that they directly deprive the unwitting signer from making a living.

[arthwollipot]

I once did a ghost tour of Canberra (which I always thought was too young to have any real ghosts - by which I mean real ghost stories), and the tour operator focused on telling the stories that had spawned the ghost myths. That was fascinating, if a little morbid.

I'm of the opinion that the operator doesn't have to actually do or say anything in order to scare some people. They will scare themselves.