The most direct inspiration for the Occam’s Razor Investigation Society was undoubtedly the A&E Network’s series Paranormal State. The speed with which the Paranormal Research Society jumps directly from mundane observations to supernatural explanations is breathtaking. Odd noises? Moving objects? A bit of a draft? There must be ghosts involved!
In one noteworthy episode, one of the team’s consultants was wandering around in a very old house. Maybe not 190 years old, but this house had been around for a while and did not seem to be the most stable of structures. The walls were askew and the floors seemed to creak and bow with ease.
Furthermore, this PRS consultant was a big guy. I don’t say that to put him down — I’m no lightweight myself. I’m just saying. This guy was heavy. There was a substantial amount of weight transferred from this man’s boots to the old wooden floor of the spooky house.
As he moved around the house small objects, doors, and their associated shadows shifted about. No surprise, right? Move a heavy weight around an old house and other things will move a bit. Simple physics.
Well that explanation may be OK for a Home and Garden house renovation show, but this was Paranormal State. So the only proper response was to panic and start hashing out just what kind of supernatural behavior was involved.
That’s the point at which I turned to my son and suggested a new organization that actually starts with the simplest and most likely answers to strange phenomena.
“Help! At night I hear strange sounds like there are animals in the walls!”
- “You live in an old house in the woods. There are probably animals in the walls.”
“Help! Glassware mysteriously falls off my kitchen counter!”
- “I just checked your countertop with a level — it slopes down to the left.”
It's not just a level - it's a SPIRIT level!
Yes. I know — boring television. But it would be a better service than encouraging people to believe in ghosts.
