We’ve all seen her, we’ve all loved her, and we’ve all missed her on the Ghost Hunters. Now Donna Lacroix, the original case manager from Ghost Hunters and investigator with Ghost Hunters International, is back and it’s not good.

Making a call-in appearance on the radio show “Ghost Divas,” Donna Lacroix let it all fly with one of the most difficult to listen to diatribes that I’ve ever had the displeasure of sitting through. Within a span of 30 minutes, Donna pulled out all the stops and in between ridiculous rants from the Ghost Divas she served up the following tidbits:

- Calling it ‘shenanigans’ and ‘sh*tty ethics’ she commented on the various shows where it was claimed that the GH team was investigating a place for the first time, when in fact it had been investigated numerous times by other paranormal teams.

- Her contract with GHI, as well as Brian’s and Andy’s which were the same as hers, were so bad that the three of them ‘almost went bankrupt’ and that is why they all left GHI one-by-one, but that she believe Jason and Grant are set for life due to their producer’s rights and portion of the merchandising. She went a step further to say that she isn’t sure if Jason and Grant knew or not, but then added that they didn’t give a sh*t. She added that she, Brian and Andy all had the same entertainment lawyer that was supposed to be good, but apparently wasn’t.

- Ghost Hunters is a completely entertainment show.

- Jason and Grant are ‘the kings’ and they had their whipping-boy in Brian and that she feels that Brian was exploited to the point of mental abuse.

- Everyone is out to stab you in the back.

- Rumor has it that there is a staging crew.

- When asked if she noticed anything being ‘faked’ she replied that she hadn’t but that the team knew how she would react to something like that so they must have hidden that stuff from her. She then states that there was an instance (she refused to name the show) when she was a victim of ‘editing’ and that she cried for 4 days over it and she was lied to and told to ‘keep your mouth shut.’

- She repeatedly called the TAPS phenomena a ‘cult mentality,’ that not everything you see is real, people need to start thinking for themselves, and that she was expressing anger toward the GH production company when she was photographed at a paranormal lecture in her GHI hoodie and flipping the bird. Going a step further she mentioned repeatedly that she was threatened and that ‘they have their minions.’

- She admitted that she ‘is bitter.’ That she has to work all the time because the show put her in such a financial hole. That she is living with her parents due to the same financial issues.

- She repeatedly stated that she is not afraid and that she doesn’t care what people think of her.

- Switching gears she stated that her experience with the shows was not all bad. That she made some great connections, met some really nice people and was glad that Ghost Hunters had brought the paranormal discussion into so many living rooms.

You can listen to the entire radio show over here. Just be forewarned, it’s really long and the Ghost Divas are so full of themselves that at times they barely let Donna speak, instead, they go off on some weird rant about getting their boobs done when they turn 40.

Jason Hawes had this to say in rebuttal on the website scifake.com:

- Peoples (sic) views on things are their views, People can say whatever they want. That is what makes the country great.

- I was asked not to respond about it directly from Syfy and Pilgrim, They want to write something up and release it. We have nothing to hide so I am comfortable with that.

- I do ask that the fans of GH to not attack her in anyway, and please do not say negative things about her.

For a few minutes this was on Jason’s Twitter feed but then it was removed:

- As for those asking if I heard radio thing. A bit. Not concerned at all. TAPS has never done anything wrong. People can say what they want

Do I agree with all of their conclusions when it comes to some evidence? No.
And it is precisely the, what I could with what I know, that has appeal. It’s not a boring, look at all our computers, scientific documentary. It’s homespun.

For example, I firmly believe that some of the stuff they’ve encountered or heard have been homeless people or squatters, good at hiding. In another instance, something they hear is most definitely a cat. I’ve heard cats make that sound. And the cat on the thermal camera earlier just reinforces my feeling on this.

One must remember that they did this stuff, before there was a show. That they are the producers, etc. isn’t surprising. If someone wanted to make a show about what I did I would want and expect some such control.

Have they themselves been scammed at times? I’m sure of it. Has a member of the group played tricks on the others? I’m sure of it. It happens in real life, why shouldn’t it happen here? I’m willing to bet some of that has been caught on camera. Does it negate them or their show? No.

The question is not - could this have been faked? Because the answer is a resounding yes. Could the moon landing have been faked? Could Obama’s election have been faked? One of the issues with real life is that yeah just about anything can be faked. But just because something could be faked, or could be done another way, doesn’t mean that it was.

The fact that they’ve made bank with their hobby is great. And I think that all of those crying that they’re liars and fakers are either just jealous, or they’re the kind of people who just have to dump on others…just because.

My opinion is, way to go Grant and Jason, keep entertaining us, follow your dream. I hope you’re not just hollywood types, you don’t seem to be.

Where is the science ? What do they do with the evidence ? Just file it away ? Do any of them really know what an EMF meater is telling them, or why ? Do they even understand any of the research in physics regarding EVP ?

Anybody can go ghosthunting and collect evidence, but to understand paranormal activity you have to do the science.

I got to admit that I like Jason and Grant, their nice guys. Very wealthy nice guys, who arn’t about to give up their new found fame and wealth for paranormal research.

I personally feel that The Atlantic Paranormal Society has been able to elevate paranormal investigating to the level of a pop culture phenomena with the help of the television show they are involved with–Ghost Hunters. Never before has ghosts and other paranormal phenomena been so popular with so many people, unless you consider the advent of spiritualism that occurred hundreds of years ago. So, in my estimation, they do deserve some credit.

Sure, they have experienced some phenomenal success and have obviously capitalized on it. And, the good comes with the bad. I’m certain that they have made some pretty obvious mistakes when it comes to capturing ‘evidence.’ People continue to bring up Eastern State ‘apparition’ and the ‘collar tug’ which are either obvious hoaxes or powerful evidence depending on your opinion. I personally believe the ‘apparition’ of the Civil War solider captured on the surface of a locker in an early episode to be a clear mis-identification of Grant’s reflection while using a thermal imaging camera. That’s what I think.

I would be wholeheartedly disappointed to discover that Jason and Grant were nothing but outright hoaxers or that the production crew where able to fool them with manufactured evidence. Mistakes have been made, and certainly the show is spiced up for production values as it is a television show, and that means its entertainment. The majority of us realize that rarely do paranormal investigations occur as they do on television.

On an upcoming episode, Ghost Hunters will be investigating a location that I am intimately familiar with. I wrote an article about TAPS visit to this location in July that appears on this wonderful Web site. In my not so humble opinion, the purported ‘evidence’ from this location was highly exaggerated presumably in an attempt to get the television show’s attention. And it worked. They filmed an episode at the location which should air sometime in October 2009. I, for one, will be watching the episode in which the Amos J. Blake House Museum is featured very closely.

I do realize that Ghost Hunters is a television show– entertainment–but feel that the effect it has had on increasing the overall attention to paranormal phenomena to be positive.

However, I will be interested to see if Ghost Hunters evidence from the investigation coincides with what I know to be true about the location based on my personal experience, and is not as exaggerated as the tenuous reports that drew their attention to the location in the first place.

For example, T’marA seems to just be ANTI-TAPS, and not interested in hearing otherwise.

NYCParanormal, the one that was so quick to point out how wrong I am seems to be ready to fight for TAPS til the end, regardless of what facts are layed out before him/her.

What is being forgotten is that TAPS is a paranormal investigation team. Ghost Hunters is a television show.

This article is about the television show, and not a Ghost Hunting/Paranormal Investigation team. There’s a BIG difference. It’s possible to actually LIKE the show, and hate the team.

The show has done both good and bad things for the paranormal field. Some of the bad things include the fact that a lot of people watching the show tend to repeat what they see whether its good or bad, and blindly believe in unproven methodologies and try nothing new. That kind of thinking is helping to stunt progress in the field to a standstill. Lets not forget all of the thousands of uncommitted and unethical fly by night ghost hunter/investigation teams popping up all over the place because they saw it on TV. How bout all of the teams out there thinking that the field is about getting famous? Nobody can deny that there have been some really bad effects of programs like this on the field.

There are a lot of positive things too. The show’s added a hint of credibility to the field if you believe its even remotely real. Its’ made scientific methodology more known in the field. Most importantly IN MY OPINION, it’s provided a glimmer of hope that someday soon we MAY just be able to capture some piece of SOLID evidence that paranormal events DO in fact take place, or that there’s something on the other side of death.

I enjoyed it for the first couple of seasons.

Personally, at the beginning of season 3, I decided that I had had enough of the whole thing. Does this mean that I’m ANTI-TAPS? Acording to NYC Paranormal, it most certainly does. Apparently I’m jealous because they’re “more successful”.

It’s ok to be a fan of TAPS. I just think that a LOT.. a HELL of a lot of people allow the enjoyment for the television show, the people on the show, and what they see on the show cloud their judgement here in the REAL world, and progress in the field suffers from following the show so blindly.

I DO agree that they’re more successful… In the entertainment industry. As investigators, I submit that they’re no more or less successful than MANY other paranormal investigation teams. There are a LOT of smaller, and lesser known teams that have a lot for us to learn from, as well as wisdom that isn’t going to appear on the sci fi channel. Unfortunately, it’s just not dramatic enough.

Sorry Dave, I have to use you as an example… but don’t worry, I’m gonna to say nice things.

Dave Chellis, the author of this article is the founder, and lead investigator of Charleston Paranormal Society. I fully endorse his group, and that’s why I wanted him to write for our site here. I thought that the paranormal community had a lot to learn from his outlook on the field, his teams investigations, and exploits. I would have MUCH preferred to read about THEM instead.

The point I’m trying to make is, Theres a lot of hero worship in the field for a specific ghost hunting team based ONLY on a television show that NOBODY can seem to CONCLUSIVELY verify if it’s even real Or fake. TAPS MAY be legitimate and respectable investigators. Some of you believe so, and I’ll conced that ‘fact. I’ll take your word for it because I have NO CLUE beyond what I’ve seen on the TV show. Unfortunately the show makes me suspicious BECAUSE it’s a show.

Im sure on REAL inestigations when the sci-fi cameras aren’t running… TAPS are probably all bid-ness, and no show. I’m down with that if it’s true, but blindly believing in ANYTHING let alone what you see on a TV program might not be the wisest thing to do.

Bottom line, I think our lesser known teams deserve just as much respect even if they’re not famous… ESPECIALLY because they’re not famous. They’re doing it thanklessly without the fans, or fame, and without the huge network paycheck. There’s more out there to learn in the field than only one team on a questionable TV show can teach.

Holy crap, this comment is longer than the frickin’ article.

As for the follow up, TAPs definitely offers follow up. Because of the editing, it’s not always seen, but they do. In fact, should the need arise for a return investigation, they contact the local TAPs Family Team to perform this (as it would be an insane notion to expect the TAPs team to re-investigate every place experiencing recurring phenomena. Also, Grant has stated that the team receives over 1000 requests to investigate every month. Based on this, they developed the Family Team system to help those in need when the main team can’t get there. Honestly, I believe that’s extremely noble of them and really the best they can do.

All that being said, it IS still a reality show, and should be taken as such. I guess it’s just that in this day and age, it’s still the most genuinely cool thing on TV anymore. I feel like the team is trying to make a difference and get people thinking. That’s more than I can say for most shows.

Thanks for responding!

-D