• Quick note - the problem with Youtube videos not embedding on the forum appears to have been fixed, thanks to ZiprHead. If you do still see problems let me know.

Haunted house in Conyers Georgia

Maybe I missed something, what exactly is the issue people seem to have with the Dailymail?

For people who take issue with their reporting of Latoya Ammons and her family's reported claims of demonic possession, there were a number of organizations which reported on this. Why lash out and attack the DailyMail, which portion of their reporting on this seems to have been fabricated or misleading?

How other outlets handled 'The exorcisms of Latoya Ammons'
http://www.indystar.com/story/news/...on-to-the-exorcisms-of-latoya-ammons/4960351/
 
mikeb768 said:
In the case of Latoya Ammons and her family, police officers from the Gary Police Department in Indian claim to have photographed strange "figures and faces" using just an iPhone:

"That officer also took photos of the house. In one photo of the basement stairs, there was a cloudy white image in the upper right-hand corner. When an officer enlarged the photo, that cloud appeared to resemble a face, Lake County police records state. The enlargement also revealed a second, green image that police say looked like a female."

"Austin said photos he snapped with his iPhone also seemed to have strange silhouettes in them."

Source: http://www.indystar.com/story/news/2014/01/25/the-disposession-of-latoya-ammons/4892553/
Click to expand...

From the link:

[DCS family case manager Samantha Ilic] said she had a string of medical problems after visiting the home. A week after she visited the house for the last time, Ilic said she got third-degree burns from a motorcycle. Within 30 days, she also broke three ribs Jet Skiing, broke a hand when she hit a table, then broke an ankle running in flip-flops.
Click to expand...

Oh noes, evil flip-flops! :yikes: She might benefit from a trip to the doctor to check for inner ear problems....

This “haunting” was discussed here:

http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=272825

The Victorian house I referenced in the thread was a B & B when we bought it. The owner had started a rumor that the house was a bordello at some point in the past. This was a ludicrous assertion intended to drum up business. Not only did the owner admit to it, the house's history is well-documented in the local Historical Society files.

On one historical homes tour a former guest revealed to us that while staying in the house she saw a ghostly apparition of a young woman (aka prostitute) standing at the top of the stairs. She described the woman's dress pretty much like one of Miss Kitty's saloon gals in Gunsmoke.

Problem is, the house was never a bordello – not only do I have the historical files I also have a clipping of a heated letter to the local newspaper from the original owners' great-granddaughter putting the rumor to rest, along with a similar one to the B & B.. Yet, the former guest persisted.

I admitted that someone indeed had died in the house – the (original) owners' 5 year old son. I even showed her the copy of the ca. 1890 obituary, along with various old clippings from the local newspaper's “society” section describing the lovely tea parties given by the lady of the house.

I presented all my available evidence to her and short of slapping her upside the head and shouting “Just stop it!” there wasn't anything else I could do to convince her that she saw exactly what she wanted to see that night. I got the feeling that she'll continue to tell her “ghost story” to friends. :eek:
 
Last edited:
Cainkane1 said:
No ones going to make any money off of the spooks in this house but that will not stop people frim believing in them and someone else will claim they saw one.
Click to expand...

Yes, but the only reason nobody's going to make any money is because the ghosts don't exist. Otherwise, they'd definitely qualify for the million dollar prize.

mikeb768 said:
Maybe I missed something, what exactly is the issue people seem to have with the Dailymail?
Click to expand...

Wow, honestly? Even if you don't mind the out-and-out crazy, ultra-right bias and the routine racism and xenophobia, there's the fact that they regularly make stories up out of whole-cloth, or plagiarize other sites without attribution. They're like a cross between Fox News and the Weekly World news, with the added benefit of the plagiarism, which those others won't even stoop to.

They do publish real news often enough to look like they're actually a real news organization, but the fact that they employ more writers of pure fiction than fact checkers suggests a quite different story.

How Using Facebook Can Increase Your Risk of Cancer
Can Dogs Give You Breast Cancer?
Princess Diana was killed because she was planning to expose the land-mine trade
Semen helps women fight depression

(Ok, that last one may have something to it, but probably not the way they meant.) :D

The worst part is that they maintain just enough credibility that their utter fabrications are occasionally picked up by other sources. And when they're called on it, they just shrug, and say, "we have no idea how that could have happened." It happened because you have no journalistic standards. Period. Idiots! :rolleyes:

(If you read only one link in this post, make it that last one. It's a doozy!)
 
xtifr said:
Yes, but the only reason nobody's going to make any money is because the ghosts don't exist. Otherwise, they'd definitely qualify for the million dollar prize.



Wow, honestly? Even if you don't mind the out-and-out crazy, ultra-right bias and the routine racism and xenophobia, there's the fact that they regularly make stories up out of whole-cloth, or plagiarize other sites without attribution. They're like a cross between Fox News and the Weekly World news, with the added benefit of the plagiarism, which those others won't even stoop to.

They do publish real news often enough to look like they're actually a real news organization, but the fact that they employ more writers of pure fiction than fact checkers suggests a quite different story.

How Using Facebook Can Increase Your Risk of Cancer
Can Dogs Give You Breast Cancer?
Princess Diana was killed because she was planning to expose the land-mine trade
Semen helps women fight depression

(Ok, that last one may have something to it, but probably not the way they meant.) :D

The worst part is that they maintain just enough credibility that their utter fabrications are occasionally picked up by other sources. And when they're called on it, they just shrug, and say, "we have no idea how that could have happened." It happened because you have no journalistic standards. Period. Idiots! :rolleyes:

(If you read only one link in this post, make it that last one. It's a doozy!)
Click to expand...

OK, but you have not managed to provide even a single criticism regarding the earlier linked article. Inside the 'portal to hell - DailyMail

Also, are you taking issue with the piece written by Laura Collins of the DailyMail, but have no gripes with the originally published story by Marisa Kwiatkowski of the IndyStar.com? The exorcisms of Latoya Ammons
 
mikeb768 said:
OK, but you have not managed to provide even a single criticism regarding the earlier linked article. Inside the 'portal to hell - DailyMail
Click to expand...

I don't need to. I've shown that the Mail has no credibility. "The Mail sez" is not going to earn anyone that Million Dollar Challenge money. (And if there were anything to the story, the Mail would be applying for that money, not just because it's a million dollars, but because the publicity would probably double their readership!)

Also, are you taking issue with the piece written by Laura Collins of the DailyMail, but have no gripes with the originally published story by Marisa Kwiatkowski of the IndyStar.com? The exorcisms of Latoya Ammons
Click to expand...

I only skimmed it, but that one, unlike the Mail story, just seems to be reporting what people have claimed. Which is factual enough—I'm perfectly willing to believe that people have claimed all sorts of nonsense. That doesn't make the nonsense correct.

The style of the piece is a bit credulous, and the reporter does seem to be taking it all a bit more seriously than it deserves. But it's totally the sort of thing you can see on a slow news day from almost any news organization. Real reporters and professional editors will try to stop short of an outright lie, but they're definitely not above some basic spin, especially if it attracts readers.

So, no, I'm not seeing anything in either of these that makes me either think life after death is suddenly more plausible or that hell exists or (natural corollary to either of the previous) that anyone is in line to claim the million dollars. I'm pretty sure Randi's money is just as safe as it ever was.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom