MovieChat Forums > A Haunting in Connecticut (2002) Discussion > Debunked in 1992

Debunked in 1992

posted 16 years ago by skankskater182
45 replies | jump to latest

I don't get it, how ten years later after this was debunked (do a google search for "a haunting in Connecticut skeptical" and you will find an article by the gentleman who debunked it) it's back. From my readings this family was taken on the sally jesse raphael show (with faces visible) with the warrens, the debunker and neighbors and everything was brought to light. The house is now an apartment that people live in unaffected... yet 20 years after the actual events, 10 years after the debunking it's getting more coverage? What? "Paul" was on drugs, he was diagnosed schizophrenic. The warren's should send up a flag, they believed amityville which was admited as a hoax. every haunting going back to the fox sisters has been a hoax. Come on even the ghosthunters (believers that take a skeptic stance to use a somewhat sort of scientific process to "prove" the existence of paranormal) never find anything. This needs to be put to bed to be quite honest.

[–] AndSheWasNot 16 years ago

Link please.

[–] skankskater182 16 years ago

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2843/is_5_30/ai_n16714526/pg_2

Sorry, there's the article. The stuff about this particular haunting is on the second page. It's kind of odd because, like amityville, they use assumed names at one point, but then stopped, but it's the same case study.

[–] neon_genesis51-1 16 years ago

Oh my god, thanks for the link. Well I do believe in the paranormal, but I seriously don't believe in demons, I believe that negative energy and people cause "demonic" things.

"Pop off! Pop off! Pop off!" Tanisha - Bad Girls Club Season 2

[–] LadyVirgoxoxo 16 years ago

so you mean none of this is true??!!! what?? no way!!! what about the ghost hunter seeing the demon turn into a ball of fire and go straight at him??!! i don't believe it

Good Burger:
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[–] onepotato2 15 years ago

OMG. The link is gone. The ghosts are on the internet now.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH...

[–] trashface 16 years ago

The Ghosthunters have had investigations where they have caught evidence and said they believed the individual places haunted. You saying they never find anything makes you look kinda uncredible.

[–] matsiescruff 16 years ago

I think what the OP means is that Ghost Hunters has never found any credible evidence. None of the evidence that they have found on the show would hold up to any analysis. Unless you already believe a place is haunted, the evidence they provide would not sway you.

Ah, the cleverness of me! - Peter Pan

[–] bucklerchad 15 years ago

The Ghost Hunters HAVE found evidence that was credible. I don't know which episode, but I've watched just about all of them and there are at least three episodes where they were actually scared of the house. The main guy, the bald guy, was pulled to the floor in the episode last night.

[–] erika2610 15 years ago

I live literally right around the corner from this house, and have lived in this town all my life. If there was really something going on in that house, somebody else surely would have come forward to say they had experienced creepy things too. And if you look around, you'll find that the son was actually on drugs, and it was found that he was the one groping the girls. And Carmen was a nut.

[–] trashface 16 years ago

That link leads to a site called "the skeptical inquirer". I don't trust them to be unbiased. Spirits/ demons are very real.

[–] astrid2x 16 years ago

Well, the OP *did* say in the first post that it was an article by skeptics. Of course, it is up to believers to show extraordinary evidence of the existence of spirits or demons. Unfortunately, most believers in the paranormal confuse scientific scrutiny or skepticism as bias. I'm not personally biased against the idea of spirits existing--I'm just waiting for someone to show me they're any more real than the Easter bunny.

[–] Polonius85 16 years ago

Can this really be debunked beyond a shadow of a doubt? It's always good to be rational, but it can be taken too far. Some things cannot be explained by physical evidence. We, as a culture, have a tendency to be so skeptical of everything it becomes irrational.

Now, this is not to say that every unexplained glare in a photograph is actually a ghost, or that a person who is babbling nonsense and saying that Satan told him to kill his family is truly possessed. But, not everything can be explained as such and, in fact, many of the so-called rational proofs used to debunk unexplained mysteries have also been hoaxes or simply hypotheses that are claimed to be facts due to refusal by skeptics to accept what they don't want to be true (i.e. supernatural visions by groups of people being declared "mass hallucination", which is an impossible thing). Also, even with paranormal things that CAN be explained away, does that necessarily PROVE that it WASN'T a paranormal occurrence?

There are many things I believe with all my heart because I have proof of them; there are many things I believe with all my heart even though only have evidence. I'm never one to say that I won't believe anything that I don't know for sure.

Leave the gun...take the canolis

[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] emidge-1 15 years ago

The mother that this happened to came to my college and spoke about these events. After hearing her speak its hard to believe that this is a hoax. The reason that ghost hunters never found any ghosts were because there was only one human spirit ( it was a demonic haunting) and she was released in a successful exorcism which is why people can live there now unaffected.

[–] Belletrist0 15 years ago

There was a book written by Ray Garton called In a Dark Place about the Snedeker family and this haunting. Mr. Garton went onto Usenet a few years back and posted a message debunking the Warrens himself, which you can read here: http://groups.google.com/group/alt.folklore.ghost-stories/msg/4ce9a017 8e6c2330.

Recently, Mr. Garton posted again on this forum with the same story: http://ncane.com/m9y (scroll down until you see his name posted), and again here: http://www.beliefcorner.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=afcd7d03a767ab20b664d3 03f9f716d3&topic=859.msg20388#msg20388. He did an interview on the novel, which was posted on this site: http://www.amityvillemurders.com/interviews/rgarton.html.

A pair of siblings who lived in that house posted online a couple of years ago, and confirmed that when they lived there in the late '80s, they would hear loud conversations going on upstairs, and have the front door burst open, etc. You can read more here:
http://www.ghostvillage.com/ghostcommunity/index.php?showtopic=13216.

Overall, what we can conclude is that the house was (maybe still is?) haunted to a small extent, but by the typical stuff that could never really substantiated, except maybe via a tape recorder and camera. The other things were most likely exaggerated or blatantly made-up in order to produce a good story. Garton noted that the family was plagued by drug use, alcohol abuse, and domestic violence, although whether this was a result of the haunting, or produced the haunting itself is unknown. We know that the oldest son, Stephen Snedeker, was diagnosed as being schizophrenic and used drugs, and admitted that after being given medication, the bad things stopped happening. Furthermore, Carmen Snedeker (or Reed as she goes by now) was involved in some sort of lottery scam, which makes one wonder if perhaps she is a bit of con artist, exploiting a small situation into something huge?

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[–] selkn-asrai 15 years ago

Skeptical Inquirer has a blatant, "you're all wrong; I'm right and I'm gonna prove it" vendetta. If you go onto Wikipedia, articles about Champ the Lake Monster and the like are all manipulated by the main editor, Benjamin Radford. If Nessie tore his arm off, he'd still try to debunk it because "Gawd. None of this stupid stuff exists."

I don't take anything he says or propogates as credible because he is so far from neutral. He is just as biased as paranormal/cryptozoology fanatics.

Find better sources.

"Now, bring me that horizon."

[–] PittFilmStro 15 years ago

honestly...just call the ghostbusters, thats the easiest thing to do.

[–] myeck 15 years ago

Skeptical Inquirer and skeptics in general have that attitude because time and time again they've been proven right.

The entire area of paranormal "research" is one of the most pathetic chapters of human intellectual endeavor. No other field has had so much effort expended by so many intelligent people over so long a period with such a total, absolute failure to produce anything or make any progress.

All the skeptics say is: "You want me to believe you? Show me something that actually stands up to scientific scrutiny."

The ghost hunters have been at it for well over a century now, and they still have zilch.

[–] jluvdr 15 years ago

Zilch? You just lost any credibility. Their is plenty. Their are just people that like to live in denial, so they can sleep comfortably at night rather than worry about it happening to them. The same is true for people who want freedom, but are unwilling to put forth their effort to attain it.

Therapy is not for everyone, unless you talk to yourself. Oh and think you are a religious figure.

[–] L_Lawliett 15 years ago

I gotta say, I know what I know and belief does not come into it, I myself have seen, heard and experienced enough to know that there is something else out there that science can not really explain (basically scientists are people who think that just because you cant capture something in one way or another or put it under a microscope it does not exist, and the rather dumb skeptics are the same) I come from a family which is "gifted" (I hate to call it a gift because a gift is supposed to be pleasant but this "gift" is not pleasant, I mean you try seeing shadows and people nobody else sees and hearing voices or noises nobody else hears, it really aint nice) so I do believe in the supernatural (though it should really be called natural because thats what it is) but I, however, do not believe a word of this idiot family who claim to have "demons" chasing after them and all that bull crap! It is absolute rubbish! I mean you mean to say that if you had blood appearing on your floor your first thought would be "oh no I may be ruining the floor", like balls it would! I know my first thought would "what the *beep* hell!" and I would be taking pictures of it to prove I am not mad or just a full blown liar. This family have not got any solid evidence at all, and to make things worse for themselves they got the Warrens involved... some really stupid, idiotic, lieing d*ck heads who, to be honest, I do not think could tell a live person from a dead person. And may I also point out that their story is just way too similar to the Amityville fabrication (which was admitted to be mostly a hoax, the only thing the Lutz's actually experienced was whispering voices, odd smells and some objects being moved, which can actually happen due to left over energy from a tragic event but it does not mean it will stick around for ever). I have to say though, they have covered thereselves up well with the "exorcism", I mean now if anybody lives in the house and says nothings happens to them in there they can say "oh that is because we had the ghosts and demons exorcised..."
BULL!
You can not move an entity if it does not want to move itself. So if there was something there (which I think to be honest was no more than just a restless spirit creating small disturbances which typically go un-noticed in every day life) and it was as bad as they say, it really did NOT want to be moved and there for would not have been moved by an "exorcism".

And for you skeptics out there, let me just say one thing to you...
You refuse to belief in ghost etc because you have no "solid" proof of their existence... think about this... what solid proof do you have that there are nine other planets? Have you been to space and seem them yourself? No, but you believe that they are there. Have you ever actually seen the wind? No, but you know it is there. Have you ever actually had any evidence that any living thing has ever left this planet? No, but you still believe that they have. So before you go criticising things, have a think about the things you actually DO believe in and think, "wait... do I DEFINITELY have solid proof that it is true?" and THEN give your opinion.

[–] AmyJolamb 8 years ago

Anyone can get online and claim to be anyone. How do you know for sure it was the author?

I could claim right now I was someone who lived there like the cousin and how it really happened. I could claim I had photos to prove it and so on. But that does not make it so.

I'm not the cousin and not claiming to be.

My point is only the family in the home knows what happened.

[–] hpgirl98 15 years ago

ACTUALLY Amittyville IS true, I live not too far from there, some of my friends know people who live down there and the community is still feeling repercussions from what happened. People who live in the area still run when they go past the house.

As for the Connecticut haunting, I am a firm believer in the paranormal and this stuff DOES happen. Until I see firm evidence that it didn't, I'm going to keep believing the story.

[–] orcasman-1 15 years ago

You know there will always be people on both sides of the coin, those that try to debunk and say it crap IF THEY dont see or find anything and My side which is belief in those things that dont always have answers. To sit and say NO WAY its crap no matter what anyone says just shows that your opinion is to be trusted the least because you dont leave room for the unexplained and closed minded people always miss the "proof" for that exact reason! They cant see it because they are blind to it. A believer is always opened minded how else do you think we can see the "other side"? yes there are links to nay sayers, there are also links to yea sayers, why do you never mention those? If you want people to see your side then be honest and let them know there are 2 sides and info for both. Let them make an educated desision. I believe in hauntings but I am also willing to admit when its a hoax. I dont believe this was a hoax.

[–] mvd7773 15 years ago

Same here... its a lot easier to prove it does not exists than to prove it does

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] joseph-hagee 15 years ago

I watched this on Discovery ID this week end,and knowing that Paul was a diagnosed schizophrenic who abused drugs does put a different spin on things.I just enjoyed the show(documentary),it was genuinely scary.As to whether I believe,well the jury's still out.

[–] BIOSphereopts 14 years ago

I agree with Joseph. First let me say that it was a cool story. I realize it is portrayed as "real" but if it is not, thats ok too. I am going out on a limb here to say that the vast majority of horror flicks are fiction. Yeah, believe that? Like dude, I felt so betrayed when I found out "Night of the Living Dead" was not based on real events.

Ok, enough sarcasm. The show itself is fun. Its good, and for a docu-drama its good scary stuff to think about. I love it when my kids come over and want to watch it. I love it when my gfs get so freaked out with it. It sparks conversation, and a long night of...eh hem...cuddling. ;) Just like scary movies are suppose to do. Hoax or not, belief in supernatural or not, deist or atheist, your all going to have a good time with this one.

Oh, and BTW, do you think I would tell my kids or friends that is based on a hoax. Hell no. They already got crushed with that Santa Clause thing. I'm not going to ruin their (or my) fun again. :))

I may not have a big tricked out name tag, but I did stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night.

[–] rollstuhlwolf 15 years ago

When will people realize that "based on a true story" or "Based on actual events" means " We used real names and locations, but made up whatever moves the plot along and creates the most profitable screen images"

If you take this stuff as gospel, truth almighty, and actually believe in these things then you are as insane as the schizo responsible for the events. These people probably still think Santa brings them presents and that some Space Daddy named God is gonna rock out on on a cloud with them for all eternity when they die.

Entertainment is entertainment. But remember folks... you have to stop believing in fairy tales eventually. Its called logic. You're "supposed" to develop it as you get older to help you make more sensible decisions in life.

[–] neon_genesis51-1 15 years ago

Ray Garton's recent interview on the story, he's the author of the book:

http://metalcrypt.wordpress.com/2009/03/29/ray-garton-interview-haunti ng-in-connecticut/

Dean Winchester: "Sammy, I get all tingly when you take control like that." - Supernatural