I grew up watching cheesy ghost hunting shows like Paranormal State, Ghost Hunters, and Ghost Hunters International. I won’t lie, I’ve had some pretty weird encounters that I still can’t explain to this day and I thought it was AWESOME that groups of people were actually INVESTIGATING haunted places.

I loved Paranormal State at the time because they were around my age and I could relate to them at the time.

Now that I’m an adult and I know more about how reality television shows work, I view the shows differently. They’re more for entertainment and looking back, some of what they claimed to be supernatural could be debunked. They were reality television shows first and foremost; I wouldn’t be shocked if it ever came out that there was exaggerated or outright faked stuff on shows like Paranormal State.

For all of my fellow fans who love ghost hunting television shows and enjoy watching it for the hilarious entertainment, the following list of 15 times Paranormal State’s claims were absolutely cringeworthy.

15 Using Lorraine Warren As A Medium

I always rolled my eyes whenever Lorraine Warren made a guest appearance on Paranormal State and started blabbering about demons. From everything I’ve read about her, she’s a total fraud and she ruined what little credibility that show had.

Ed and Lorraine participated in an investigation a few months after the Lutz family left their supposedly haunted home and claimed that the place was infested with demons. Yea, okay. It was eventually revealed that the Lutz family had made the entire thing up. The Warrens also claimed that Bathsheba Sherman (AKA the ghostly villain from The Conjuring) was a witch, but there’s no proof of that in the historical record AT ALL. Heck, the current owner of the house where the Perrons lived even claimed that she researched the history of the place and debunked many of the Warrens’ tall tales.

14 Claiming A Dead Dog Is Evidence Of Satanism

I remember thinking to myself “What on Earth is this nonsense?” when I watched the episode "Pet Cemetery" from the first season of Paranormal State. A woman who lived in Maine believed that an evil spirit was responsible for the unusual deaths of animals on her property and was worried about her dog. I don’t know why she didn’t just grab some salt, sage, or Holy Water and cleanse that joint herself, but whatever.

During the course of the investigation, the team was digging around in the backyard and found a fresh corpse of a dog. The head was supposedly missing and caused Lorraine Warren to be like “OMG IT’S THE DEVIL WORSHIPPERS!” Or it could’ve been that a car hit a stray dog or even someone’s pet sometime in the past few years and it was buried there. I have a few friends who work in rescue and I’ve heard some stories on how bad it can be for animals to be hit by a car.

13 Not Being Able To Say 'The Demon's Name'

It was pretty ironic that in the first season of Paranormal State, Ryan Buell told his team (and some of the clients) to never say the name of a certain demon. Okay fine. It doesn’t make sense to do so, especially if the person a) doesn’t believe in demons in the first place, and b) isn’t a strict Catholic; but there’s nothing wrong with respecting another person’s faith. Even if it’s a bit too much like how everyone in the Harry Potter universe was afraid to say “Lord Voldemort” and called him “You-Know-Who” instead. But then why allow the show to scramble the letters of said aforementioned demon when it was REALLY easy for the audience to figure out? How the heck does that work?!

12 It Was Pretty Damn Obvious The Show Wasn't Filmed In The Middle Of The Night

One thing I’ve noticed about many of these ghost hunting shows is that they ALWAYS try to pretend that they’re investigating in the middle of the night. However, it is PAINFULLY obvious (especially if you have a significant other or friends who work as video editors or are in the film industry) that it’s actually a bit earlier than that.

Paranormal State was no exception to that rule, either. They’d always talk about “Dead Time” and looking for ghosts at 3 a.m. but there were a few hints in some of the episodes that it was earlier; sometimes the audience could see the night sky from behind the curtains and it wasn’t pitch black. I’ve gotten up in the middle of the night to take my dogs out if they have an upset stomach and it’s easy to tell when it’s 11 p.m. versus 3 a.m.

11 I Can't Believe One Dude Wanted To Cut A Deal With The Devil

One of my personal favorite episodes was the one from the fourth season called"Satan’s Soldier"because it was JUST SO RIDICULOUS. I vividly remember the male client used to be a “devil worshipper” that “cut a deal with the devil” and dabbled in the occult. I always thought that was hilarious since LaVey Satanists don’t believe in the devil and don’t worship him. I know that there’s Theistic Satanists, but I’m pretty sure that even THEY would’ve rolled their eyes at the guy in the episode.I was also side-eying the guy’s wife SO HARD when she claimed that an evil entity was lying down on top of her. Hello, has she never heard of sleep paralysis?That sh*t is GNARLY, but it’s a medical issue, not a spiritual one.

10 Someone Get This Man A Psychiatrist

In the fifth episode of Paranormal State season two, the team was called out to a case where one guy had been going through a bad series of events and his family felt like they were being tormented by a dark spirit. I actually felt sorry for the poor man because he had a prior history of drug addiction and actually had his arm severed while working with steel. That being said, I sighed SO DAMN HARD when Ryan sent him off to a psychiatrist to rule out mental illness and it was claimed that he was A-okay. Then, of course, they had to bust out a priest to do some kind of blessing after a “spirit communication device” claimed that there was a demon around.

During the priest's blessing, it was OBVIOUS the poor guy was suffering from some sort of panic attack and he needed to see a mental health professional, not a religious figure.

9 I Didn't Know Ghosts Could Text

One of the most ludicrous statements I’ve ever heard came from the "Haunted Piano" episode when the client was freaking out because they got a text message that said “666” from a supposedly disconnected cell phone. Since when do ghosts or any other kind of paranormal entity know how to text? If the ghost is of a person who supposedly died back before they even had cell phones, how the hell would they even know how to USE half of our modern inventions?

I just imagine ye olde ancient ghosties staring at our iPhones and looking at each other going “WTF is this sh*t? Is this some sort of witchcraft? How the heck can you talk to someone who isn’t there? What is that contraption?”

8 Paranormal Catfight, Round One

Former client, Kelli Ryan, from season one's episode "The Messenger" allegedly came out swinging against Paranormal State back in the day.

Kelli, who is a self-proclaimed medium, claimed that Bill was a friendly spirit and that there was a darker entity that harassed both the nice ghost and herself. She also claimed that the entire episode was staged and that the producers wanted her to scream or start weeping when she had a premonition. Kelli went on to add that the production SWORE the awful details of Bill’s death wouldn’t be shown and she was pretty mad when the gruesome details were later revealed in the episode. I don’t know how true any of what Kelli claimed went on behind-the-scenes was, but I wouldn’t be shocked if filming was a hot mess in general. It WAS essentially a reality show, and we all know about the wacky drama that often goes on when the cameras aren’t rolling.

7 Those Stupid Spirit Boxes

Even though I watch most ghost hunting television shows for a laugh nowadays (because I think it’s great entertainment), I do think that there’s a possibility that spirits could be real. I’m also skeptical of all the spirit boxes/communication devices that shows like Paranormal State use. It’s a cool idea in theory, but now that I’m older I’m pretty skeptical about them. How would a spirit or any other paranormal being even know how to use them? I can KIND of see some EVPs being legit, but I can’t really imagine a spirit screeching nearby a box just to communicate. It’s way more likely that the so-called “speech” that the paranormal investigators are hearing is audio pareidolia. It makes for great entertainment and I’d love to see Supernatural play around with the idea of it in an episode. But I don’t know if I really believe in the idea of ghosts chatting through a freakin’ box.

6 All Of The Drama With Shannon Sylvia In 2008

I fondly recall that there was a hubbub when Shannon Sylvia of Ghost Hunters International appeared on the episode School House Haunting. There were a few viewers who were confused as to why someone who ALREADY starred on a ghost hunting show would ask another team to investigate her home.

Supposedly, she appeared on Paranormal State before she joined the GHI team. But why not just investigate her home herself? There was clearly interest, so why not just grab some cheap equipment, round up a few friends, and see what happens? Then I could see maybe calling in a professional team if the results seem more supernatural than mundane, or just to have a second pair of eyes take a look at the evidence.

I don’t know, if it was me, I’d just start poking around myself and see what I’d find. But then again, I’ve always taken a more hands-on approach.