【Stocking Girl’s Wet Pink Petals】

Several handheld night vision cameras are Stocking Girl’s Wet Pink Petalson. The only sounds you hear are hushed whispers among the crew members.

And then, a thud.

Immediately, a blur of activities follows: a startled, “Holy s**t! On the right! Go, go, go!” and shaky camera work, ragged breaths, and even more bleeped out exclamations.

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The one thing that wasn’t caught on film? A ghost.

It’s reality television, after all. Take away the drama and intrigue, and show ratings may well plummet into the dark depths of hell.

But a couple of indignant voices in the industry say there's more out there than meets the eye. Phng Li Kim, who presents documentary-style paranormal reality series The Paranormal Zone, says she keeps clear of sensationalism on her show.

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“There is a critical balance between presenting the facts and providing the necessary entertainment,” she told Mashable. "When you over-sensationalize, you misinform."

Phng's show, now in its fourth season, is a staple on the Syfy channel on Asian cable networks. The Malaysian host says she's a Buddhist, and credits many of her beliefs to her spiritual teacher, Tsem Rinpoche, the founder of the Kechara House Buddhist Association in Malaysia.

Phng claims she carried "negative energy" back from a trip to Bangkok when she was 17, and afterward started believing in the paranormal. “My spiritual teacher made me realize the whole perception of fearing the paranormal, because it is unseen and needed to be addressed.

"I wanted to reduce fear through knowledge of the unknown.”

In the pilot episode, Phng and her team visit a medium who claims to be able to reach infant souls by building an altar with the remains of a dead fetus.

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Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

After placing two grains of rice on the fetus' mouth, she says she felt "movement" that she initially chalked up to the wind, but later was convinced it was "the dead fetus nibbling on my finger."

"Reality" TV

Some of the tales on TV sound convincing, but a real life ghostbuster wants them to stop doing one thing: Using those flashing meters you see on TV and the movies all the time.

Arwin John, founder of Ipoh, the Perak-based "ghost research" organization Malaysian Paranormal Research (MPR), says those flashing electromagnetic field (EMF) readers are just gimmicks for TV ratings.

“EMF meters are fancy and they light up! This adds suspense to the show and keeps the viewers tuned in. Otherwise ratings would drop,” he says.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable "Most of the time, nothing happens."

The real world of ghost hunting, however, is far less exciting, John insists. "We spend countless hours, days, and even months to capture data and analyze it.

“It’s a long, boring process that requires a wealth of patience because, most of the time, nothing happens.”

And apparently, encounters with the paranormal are also not often threatening or dangerous, he says. “In my 10 years of investigating the paranormal, I have yet to encounter a 'demon'. What many (reality) shows describe as demons are nothing more than spirits with attitude problems."

Can we prove anything scientifically?

Over in Singapore, "paranormalist" and behavioral scientist, Dr Yasser Mattar, is also deeply involved in researching the paranormal.

Mattar spends a lot of time with local ghost hunting group, the Singapore Paranormal Investigators (SPI), where he's in charge of giving public talks and leading tours on spooky walks.

Via Giphy

(An EMF meter used by the SPI team on one of their walks.)

He says his research into different segments of society revealed that "there are many things that cannot be explained by behavioral science."

To lend some legitimacy to his claims, he says he employs a methodology of applying logic, research and reasoning to study paranormal phenomena.

He acknowledges that some of the theories used are not recognized by mainstream science, but are "nonetheless valid in traditional cultures."

In other words, you can't prove it exists, but you can't prove it doesn't, either.