Yesterday, I wrote a post about celebrities disclosing the belief that their homes are haunted to the media. Several celebrities over the last couple of years have made that assertion, with full quotes shared in the media, leaving no doubt about their statements. I posted a quote made by David Boreanaz, after tracking back to the original print source.  The story originated on 9/9.

Not long after I made my post, a commenter named “Lora” pointed out that the quote was not a full quote. Instead, it was only a “selected quote” from an interview with “Regis and Kelly”. After watching the entire segment on YouTube that Lora shared, it became very clear that the quote was conveniently clipped to create a paranormal-related buzz.

Boreanaz shared this story, but it had a very important (omitted) punchline. As it turned out, Boreanaz investigated, by looking under the bed. He realized that the cause for his bed moving in the middle of the night was not paranormal based. It was simply a problem related to the base of his bed.  The bed supports were faulty. There was no haunting, merely a funny story for the benefit of fans, with a non-paranormal punchline.

I did not take the post down, since Lora’s comment on the page was clearly visible not long after I posted the story. It is also an “old story” in the news life cycle. It did still serve as a good example for my post, which is about celebrities talking about their homes being haunted (whether jokingly or not) and the possible consequences.

It also is a good example of the media emphasizing the paranormal in order to get page views. After all, Boreanaz DID make that statement, it was “just” missing the punchline.  The media doesn’t get in trouble for clipping quotes, only for misquoting.

However, Boreanaz, in this selected quote, believes that his home is haunted. Depending on how far and wide this story circulates, it could rear its ugly head again if he tries to sell the home. This could potentially interfere with his personal life, which is unacceptable to me. It is an easily solvable dilemma in this case, with the evidence of the original talk show interview to back him up. Celebrities who find themselves taken out of context don’t always have that proof to back up what they originally said.

Like the guy or not, it’s just not right.

I rarely write about celebrities or television since it is my belief that Hollywood largely exploits the paranormal. Boreanaz appealed to his fans with this story based on a popular topic, which isn’t a crime. He simply left himself open to the media, who were able to clip his story to appeal to a wider audience of those interested in this popular topic. Unfortunately, this isn’t a crime either, it just threatens the credibility of the news outlet.

The reason I write about the paranormal is due to my desire, as well as my readers’ desire, to search for the truth behind paranormal phenomena. The truth in this case, is that Boreanaz was exploited by the media with a partial quote on a popular topic. A credible news outlet will present the full story.

Some may argue that what some celebrity said isn’t important enough to spend an entire post to point out what was really said. I, however, believe that it is very important to share the full context. To get to the truth of the matter. In this case, I am presenting the truth of the matter.

Here is the full context of the story that Boreanaz shared with Regis and Kelly last week:

This entry was posted on Monday, September 13th, 2010 at 9:39 am and is filed under Ghosts and Hauntings. Tags for this post: ghost, haunted, Paranormal News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.