Does anyone still watch ghost hunting shows?

People must still watch these shows otherwise they wouldn't be on the air, right?  There are at least half-a-dozen ghost hunting shows on various networks and I can't stand to watch any of them anymore.  I try.  I really do.  I just can't seem to find them interesting enough to bother with anymore.

Back when Ghost Hunters was a new thing I found it interesting and entertaining.  They were all about finding the answers to peoples' problems; even if those problems were just their pipes banging around.  When they actually found something strange it was even better and in those days that didn't happen that often.  My impression is that over time they started to cater more and more to the people watching the show and writing the checks rather than seeking any kind of answers.  I don't watch Ghost Hunters anymore because I find it boring.  There have also been allegations of fraud by their own members .

I thought Paranormal State was a cool show for a while.  Then I realized that ninety percent of the time it turned out to be a demon and they needed to do a full-on exorcism of the property and/or person.  This is exciting the first couple of times it happens but after a while it comes off as contrived and it looks like a desperate grab for ratings.  Do I believe that there are really this many people afflicted with demonic hauntings and possessions?  No, I don't.  That's what makes the entire show absurd to me.  Throw in a vampire, a medium, and an "occult specialist" and you've got a regular circus here.  Never mind that all of these things ostensibly contradict the Catholicism they employ to banish these nasty spirits.  I can't stand to watch this show anymore except to make fun of it.

And then there's Ghost Adventures.  The EXTREME answer to all the other shows.  Three guys lock themselves in haunted locations with camera gear and proceed to stumble around in the dark injuring themselves and freaking out like high school girls with a Ouija board.  They also look like they'd be more at home poolside in Las Vegas.  This really has nothing to do with the authenticity of their ghost hunting but it's silly to me to get gelled up and put your Affliction shirt on to run around in the dark.  I have to give these guys some credit though; they seem to do everything in their power to piss off the ghosts enough to do something.  Is this frat boy posturing?  Probably.  At least it's funny when they freak out because something actually happened when they challenged the spirits.  I've tried watching this show lately but after a while it just gets boring.

The one thing that all of these shows have in common (and there are many more than these three) is that they don't really give any answers.  There's no real innovation aside from a new ghost-finding gadget (which has its operational theory based in speculation usually).  I don't really see what these people have contributed to the field; they haven't come up with very many real answers.  It's just the same reiteration of speculation and superstition that we've heard for years.

If you're someone that is entertained by these shows then that's fine.  They ultimately are meant for entertainment.  I just wanted to get this off of my chest about the ghost hunting fad on television and I hope that I'm not the only person that has noticed these things.