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"The team was trying to figure out what a particular smell was coming from and Mike say's it's coming from the baby's room diaper pail. Jay then say's "OH", but before he say's it, another voice says it first."
It is assumed that because a "voice" exclaimed the same thing as Jay at the same time that there is a ghost. The conclusion is made very quickly, relying on the similar responses and time frame while not considering other possibilities.
2. Anecdotal Fallacy- A hasty generalization that relies on the availability heruistic
"A team member is sitting on the stairs trying to get the spirits to move on. The resident's don't want them there, so an attempt was made to ask them to cross over. We caught the voice of what appears to be an older Hispanic woman who say's "What are you doing?" This won't be the last time we hear from her."
By using very specific language regarding the voice of the "ghost," the story is made more believable. This combined with the backstory and precise details, we are more ready to accept this as proper evidence, despite the fact that there's no further investigation to the voice.
3. Accent- The way a word is emphasized makes the conclusion seem more real
"I definitely believe that there is something out there. I would love to just be able to be a part of helping to solve causes and reasons WHY disturbances occur. I love the X-Files saying "The Truth is Out There". Before the truth, you need proof and rational conclusions."
Emphasizing the word "why" makes the existence of disturbances seem much more plausible. It makes is more ready to accept that disturbances are in fact real, despite no evidence being provided. It makes the disturbances seem more real by emphasizing that they do, "in fact", occur. Otherwise there'd be no reason to investigate the reasons why.
3. Slippery Slope- A causes Z
"... the piano that was completely covered with the key cover closed played a single note. One minute later it played the same note again. When the manager was done speaking, we took the cover off the piano and verified the cover over the keys was down. We opened the top of the piano and found nothing unusual. Had this been a rodent or another creature, it would not have been able to only sound one note. Apparently this was not an unusual occurrence"
The evidence here implies that the piano played the same key twice. This leads into the "fact" that an animal wouldn't be able to play the same key twice., thus omitting a possibility. Because the key is also played often, this seems to omit the chance that this is only a one-time occurrence. Finally, because it's a regular occurrence and it can't be replicated by an animal, it must be a ghost.
4. Begging the Question- A circular argument; conclusion part of premise
"...It was believed that our experiment was a failure as the pen never fell, however upon investigative review, we noticed the pen rocking on the glass (watch the clip of the pen, the light reflection on it makes it easy to see when it moves.) No one was touching the table and there wasn't any other outside influence that would cause this. We returned to this location twice since then, each time recreating the experiment exactly as before. Each time we caught nothing. No EVP's, no K-2 spikes, no temperature fluctuation, not a single movement of the pen, nothing. Any one of these events by itself may not indicate much, however when you combine them all together, it's hard to dismiss this as anything other than paranormal activity."
The fact that this is presented as evidence for ghosts existing allows it to be viewed as "begging the question." The initial implication of what this encounter means and the fact they reference it as "hard to dismiss as anything other than paranormal activity" makes it circular.
5. Hasty Generalization- A conclusion is drawn from too small a sample of evidence
"We are sitting in the living room with the client and she indicates that she feels very cold. One of our investigators notices the cold spot also. While the client is mentioning how cold she's feeling we caught this voice say "It's me". Evidence that the temperature can be manipulated by a spirit."
The people involved in the investigation take this single instance as definitive proof that spirits not only exist, but can manipulate temperature. It does not reference other instances proving/disproving this, relying on our trust in this single instance to be wholly reliable and a fact regarding the subject.
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