According to verywellmind.com, “Cultural appropriation refers to the use of objects or elements of a non-dominant culture in a way that doesn’t respect their original meaning, give credit to their source, or reinforces stereotypes or contributes to oppression.”

The conversation about cultural appropriation may be uncomfortable for many, but it’s important. It’s an important conversation to not only have in the witch, occult, and pagan communities, but also the paranormal community. It’s fascinating that current paranormal television shows are still getting away with appropriating. Especially in the age of “woke” culture, which includes a plethora of other things like cancel culture, consequence culture, etc.. If you point out when and where these television shows are appropriating, you’ll get swarms of fans coming after you. All for the sake of defending their favorite paranormal television star.

Sadly, it seems that this wave shows no sign of stopping. This is because the television networks, producers, stars, and fans will not listen to the people whose culture it actually comes from.

The Dybbuk Box

The standout appropriating strike lies with the use of the Dybbuk box in the media. For years, the Dybbuk box has been a source of frightening entertainment on television. It even inspired the 2012 movie, The Possession. After it was acquired by Ghost Adventures star, Zak Bagans, who took it and ran. Bagans has used the box for live investigations. He has fueled quite a problematic narrative for the Dybbuk box and Jewish culture. 

This has also inspired countless others to acquire (or even make) their own Dybbuk boxes. Thus, it continues the false and problematic narrative that’s hurting Jewish culture. Why has this narrative continued to exist? According to Zo of jewitches, it’s because, “People wouldn’t listen to Jews […] And if you had just listened to Jews for the past 20 years, you wouldn’t have been scammed for so long.”

In 2021, Kevin Mannis, the original owner of the box, came clean and said that he made the story up. And yet, people believe that the Dybbuk box is real. They continue to ignore people of Jewish descent when they tell them that it’s wrong. 

What’s even worse is that speaking out against the Dybbuk box has sparked a wave of anti-Semitic hate from the paranormal community to Jewish people. Zo has spoken out about how the show has twisted Jewish folklore. She is tirelessly trying to get more information out there. In return, she was sent anti-Semitic harassment.

Ancient Indian Burial Ground

The “Ancient Indian Burial Ground” trope has been prevalent in paranormal television for decades. While many assume it rose to prominence thanks to the Amityville Horror story, it actually goes back to post-Revolutionary times. This is all thanks to poet Philip Morin Freneau. I learned this as I was listening to The Q Files’ podcast episode, “Ancient Indian Burial Grounds – Oh My!” In 1787, he published a poem called, The Indian Burying Ground. This is a trope that has been used time and time again in horror movies. So is it really that surprising that it made its way into paranormal reality television? By categorizing sacred Native American traditions as nothing more than magical people prone to conjuring bad luck and evil hauntings, we grossly misunderstand the culture. Not to mention, stealing something from another culture and twisting it into something that better fits mainstream narratives.

There’s so many more issues that warrant their own article, like the use of skinwalkers and the wendigo. 

Smudging

Somehow, I’ve managed to tick off thousands of people when I publicly said that smudging is a closed practice. Then, I started asking naysayers exactly what they were doing in their smudging ritual. Turns out, they weren’t actually smudging. They were performing a smoke cleansing. It would be like me going out and taking a walk and calling it “going for a run”. The practice of smudging and the plants that are used are considered sacred to Native American/Indigenous Nations. Another issue that is especially troubling is when people feel entitled to use practices from other cultures. They completely distort them from their original intention, and then dig their heels into ownership of the practice. It deviates and steals the spotlight from the marginalized

Sigils & Symbols

Whenever I hear about a group of paranormal investigators seeing sigils and symbols either at a location or on a person, I brace for impact. Anything that “isn’t of Christ” often gets immediately labeled as demonic or evil. Just look at how occult practices are discussed on paranormal television and movies (looking at you Conjuring universe). The occult is often victimized by the perspective of “the other” that has the conventional popular shaking in their boots.

Instead of looking at these sigils and symbols and trying to make sense of them, they’re labeled as evil or demonic. This is offensive for people because those who created these symbols use them for positive reasons. What’s even worse is that there are haunted locations that will look up symbols randomly on the internet. Then, they’ll paint them on their floors and walls in order to look more “spooky”. It would be like getting a tattoo of a random Chinese character and not realizing it means, “toilet”.

Erasure

My friend Ron at White Rose Witching made an important note that pointing out cultural appropriation isn’t enough. We also have a duty to point out erasure that’s happening in the community. Instead of acknowledging a culture’s history and nuance when it comes to certain topics, it’s completely erased for the sake of calling it a demon. Furthermore, it transforms the others in marginalized groups into monsters, ghosts, creatures, basically removing their humanity. The other being erased by mainstream culture causes them to become caricatures of their own existence…and a poorly drawn one at that. 

Will it Ever Stop?

All of the elements I pointed out here can make very good TV. To the ignorant person, these elements are spooky. This proves the argument that we fear what we don’t understand, and paranormal reality TV capitalizes on this. But, it’s harmful to marginalized and underrepresented groups. In the era of “cancel culture”, why these shows continue to get away with this absolutely blows my mind.

Sources

Sharma, K.N. “The Indian Burying Ground: Philip Morin Freneau – Summary and Critical Analysis.” BachelorandMaster, 16 Nov. 2013, bachelorandmaster.com/britishandamericanpoetry/the-indian-burying-ground.html

McClelland, Shane. Gum, Lori. “The Q Files.” Ancient Indian Burial Grounds – Oh My! November 2020. https://www.facebook.com/TheQFilesPodcast/