Manifesting ghosts and mimicking ghost hunters

In the past 25 years, ghost hunting has become a popular leisure activity for people seeking engagement with the dead. Considered a dark event, ghost hunting invites individuals to visit reputedly haunted places and engage in a range of spiritual, pseudo-scientific and storytelling practices that facilitate ghostly experiences. In this chapter, we consider ghost hunting as a dark event and examine how paranormal media has influenced the structure, tools and interpretative practices of commercial ghost hunts. Drawing upon ethnographic fieldwork in two case study examples, one in the United Kingdom and one in the United States, and 22 interviews with paranormal investigators, this chapter illustrates the symbiotic relationship between paranormal media and the rise of the ghost hunting event. Through the lens of ghost hunting, this chapter aims to contribute towards an understanding of the definition of dark events and the role of popular culture in the shaping, production and delivery of ghost hunting event experiences.