Saturday, May 16, 2015

Steve Huff "Doing what people want", but at what price?

The paranormal community has it's fair share of controversial characters, no doubt that Steve Huff is one of those. When it comes to pleasing the masses, no doubt he's a paranormal enthusiast favorite. Steve's a smooth, fast talker who can pretty much sell anything he's putting out there. This includes trying to convince people that he's contacting the dead practically before the coroner has arrived. To him this is probably is alright, as many clamber to his page to get a listen to what people believe are their favorite stars speaking out about their journey to the other side.

Before getting into why this irritates me so, let me start by setting up what's transpired over the last several hours.

His most recent video is what he claims to be spirit interaction concerning the recently deceased B.B. King.King died May 14, 2015 in Las Vegas Nevada. Upon hearing about his death, a buzz across Facebook started already predicting that Huff would be talking to B.B within the next 24 hrs. People were right. May 15th Huff posted a video claiming to have received over 50 requests to hear from King. He did so using his Andre's box and SCD-1. He starts with his Andre's Box. In usual fashion, garbled sounds come through the box. As noises start to form, Steve puts up text across the screen suggesting what's being said. For one, this is misleading and influencing those listening to it. Instead of  allowing the audience to listen and make these determinations for themselves, Steve puts what he wants the audience to believe to supports his claim. He claims matter-of-factly, that this validates the Andre's box. I cannot personally hear what he is claiming to hear and from the reactions many, others cannot either.

Many took to the comments section to express their distaste for Huff's antics. Huff mostly reacted by swiftly removing any rebuttal. Those that he did take the time to reply to, like mine, he claimed he was doing "what I do" and doing "what people want to see".

There's no doubt he's right about that. His counters rose to 10,680 views within the first 17 hrs posted. My thoughts are that people don't care about the reality of the situation. They want the ghost story. Most aren't even really thinking about the stories unfolding in the privacy of these people's homes, as they grieve for their loss. Most people see celebrities as a commodity, not as human beings. There's an air of entitlement that these celebs owe it to everyone to be a public story no matter what.

Even in death they owe it to us to perform? What about their families? Do they sign on for this?

What happened to advocating for the dead? Steve said he feels it would be wrong to not pass on the information. Information, that he tries to convince others, are messages from beyond the grave. Let's face it - he really doesn't know. Nobody does.

Why stir up emotional turmoil over speculation?

My View

I'm not gonna sugar coat here, and I assure you this is not going to be the cliff notes version of how I feel. This is going to be long. This is going to be as direct as possible, as to have no misunderstanding of how I, and many others feel.

There's a lot of issues going on in the paranormal community that I see people addressing daily. Bad moral practices by paranormal teams. Bad business practices by event promoters. False credentials being presented to boost resumes. Bad evidence. Bad people with criminal records -up to child molestation- doing residential investigations. The list goes on and on and on.

What about material being presented publicly, that may cause emotional damage to grieving families?

It's my observation anytime anyone addresses issues like this it's instantly labeled as "para-drama". This has become a safe word for those facing opposition in the community for what many see as unfavorable practices - even if the accused is clearly in the wrong. Label it "para-drama" and it seems instantly those contesting are the ones at fault.

It isn't drama if the situation is potentially harmful, and an adversary is attempting to bring public awareness to immoral practices. Stop abusing the term "drama", and stop displacing accountability in the name of being accepted by these people. If people cared half as much about morality as they do popularity, we may actually begin to evolve and move forward in this "community" without the DRAMA.

So now with that put out there, getting onto with my issue with Steve Huff. Last thing I wanna do is fluff his ego by pointing out that the guy is popular, but its a fact that he is. I don't deny that. I can appreciate another's hard work or rise to success, when done with good intent. He's obviously got the ability and/or talent to tell people what they want to hear, and show them what they want to see. He openly admits, this is what he does. I respect that he's straight forward about that, but where do we draw the line? What price do we pay to "give people what they want"?

I know his followers are going to come over here, read this and say nasty shit about me and I'm cool with that. For the record I'm not a 'hater", or jealous. I'm someone who sincerely sees moral fault with what others see as entertainment or God-forbid "research" (used loosely in this case). I rather pursue what I do with my integrity intact. I don't, in fact, give people what they want. I tell people what they don't want to hear, and what they need to hear.

I'm not claiming to be perfect. I have made mistakes in the past that make me cringe today, but I learned from them. I have endless faults, but I can say in good conscious I try my best to be honorable in my actions. I feel I do my best to advocate for the living and the deceased. I would never pervert or exploit the tragedy of another for my popularity nor my pocket book. Seeing this type of non-sense makes me want to be a part of this "community", less and less.

Why does this situation get under my skin? Why do I care what Steve Huff does? I'll let my message to Steve himself explain. Excuse the language, I was angry at the moment after reading his response. (sorry that the screen shot bounces around a bit)



I took a few minutes to reflect on the fact that maybe my anger was overriding what I really wanted to do, which was to express why I felt it was wrong. I'm human. I realized through my reaction, I was probably going to receive a "shut down" response because of my name calling. I decided to go ahead and really express why his practices upset me personally. I have no clue if he'll respond or not, probably not because my best guess is that he really doesn't give a shit. If you're not with him, your opinion is worthless.

 
**I just want to add as a side note that Robin William's daughter Zelda left social media after her fathers death because of the 3 ring circus the internet became with people harrassing her and cashing in on her father's death. Why in the fuck would anyone want to contribute to that?

I'm not going to sit here and try to bash Steve as a person. I don't personally know the man. All I know him for is what he puts out there for the public, and for that I am entitled to an opinion. I am openly going to say that I absolutely disagree with his practices.

I pose the question to you all.

At what price are we willing to sacrifice another's emotional welfare; for ratings, for crowd pleasing, for spectatorship, or for monetary gain? 

Steve Huff isn't the only one guilty of this. I see it all the time. But like any one in the public eye, as he is, I feel that comes with some responsibility to be a good role mode and to set the standard for others out there.

Sometimes the RIGHT thing, isn't the popular thing.

33 comments:

  1. I was a fan of the man and know those who have had interaction with the man, he was kind and giving ALWAYS to his fans in his time and with autographs and he remembered people he met. BB, did not deserve someone like this character vlogging some results that were at best inconclusive and actually more laughable as evidence. He should be ashamed of himself for the celebrities as well as those he's done this to DURING a funeral. Popularity doesn't give you the right to make those decisions just to bolster your ego or your ratings. Thanks for your article.

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    1. You're welcome and thank you.

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    2. Steve is at least not honest with people. Lookup the technology behind his "ghost boxes" it's all suggestive! I mean the guy used to be a phone psychic! *INSERT RED FLAG HERE!*

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  2. This was a great article. I only wish that Huff's audience would read this. Are they really that deluded as to believe this guy has some para-powers previously unknown to us? And his upcoming "Impossible Box"! He should be jailed for fraud. I'd love to watch him willingly undergo a lie-detector test.

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    1. Thank you for your feedback. I tried to explain this on his page and let's say the feedback from his following has been less than polite

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    2. Anna my post was from "unknown Google" sorry! My name is Guion Lawes-Johannsen if you would like to send me FR on Facebook please do and thank you for this article, I enjoyed reading it

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    3. I can smell a con when I see one. This guy and his accomplishes should be investigated by the authorities!

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  3. This was a wonderful article and I applaude you for your courage to openly address this with Mr.Huff. No one should try to cash in on anothers grief. I do believe in the after life but there is a period of adjustment leave the dead be. Leave their families alone.Thank you so much

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    1. We have to all start speaking up against this type of thing if we want change. Thank you for reading

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  4. great article. I love your stuff, its always well thought out and written. I agree with you on this one, I dont follow the guys work so I cant really have much of an opinion. My assumption was that he was out for himself

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    1. Thanks Clint. I always appreciate your feedback

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  5. His attitude is what completely put me off a year or so ago. He'd make status posts about "haters" and talk about how "their lives must suck". It always seemed it was the ones who questioned or were skeptical of his devices, etc, that these things were said about. You are so right in that, "If you're not with him, your opinion is worthless." which doesn't bode well for me in the arena of paranormal investigation where I feel things are still questionable and things need to be looked at from multiple angles, "what if's" before arrogantly deciding what something is. He completely put me off and the fact that his fans are so diehard too, as to believe everything he says and does, is disturbing in itself. I had no clue about what he did in regards to BB King because I had stopped following him. I was looking into a piece of equipment though just now (which I saw on Ghost Adventures, that Steve Huff often talks negatively of which I find odd considering what we know of Steve Huff) and I saw a link of his where the blurb Google shows from the site contains the phrase, "their lives must suck" and I figured he must be discussing the "haters". I then was reminded of all his posts on haters, calling people that in comments or talking negative about other people... very unnecessarily IMO

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  6. VERY well said. I Love it! More people need to stand up like this. Many share your opinion. Keep fighting for whats right Anna. There are many of us out here, that got your back!!

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  7. Well said. Good for you for standing up for whats right Anna. There are many in the field that agree and share your feelings on this matter. We got your back!

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  8. I followed this guy for a year. In that year what I have seen evolve is very disturbing. I gave him the benefit of the doubt, until he gave me reason not to. I mentioned someone that kept "coming up " in his videos, and asked him if he could ask a certain question regarding this "spirit" that always seemed to come through in his videos ( yes I am talking about Billy , spirit ) . He seemed to post a lot of what was true with the passing of my beloved Billy. So I asked him , next time you hear "Billy" come up in your session, please ask him what year he passed, just to put my mind at ease. Huff's reply was... "I only hear it on playback so to ask during the session is impossible since I do not hear it in real time, only on playback." OK .. but wait a min. here!! I hear him in many of the video's saying.... " I just hear the name Billy"... ok then if you hear it clearly when you are doing the session, as you state in the session,,not on playback.. then why has he never asked what year he died??? He clearly states that he hears the name as you can see him say it in the video.. so like a total idiot.. i ask him again.. please I beg you to ask what year he died when you hear his name in real time.... I was met with a reply.. that he only hears it on playback. Now for backgroud, I had private messaged Huff, told him I believe that this is my deceased husband who was tragically taken from me , his name is Billy. I told Huff that i had been following him for about a month when this Billy started coming through in his sessions, and that I believe he was trying to get a message to me with information regarding his murder. I told him that my life has been hell since his passing and that I am having a hard time with how he died, no one has been charged and the case has gone cold. I was hoping for help, thought that Huff was it. Huff continued to post Billy in his videos even when clearly i could not hear his name, huff stated it was said..right there in the video.. not on playback..i felt played and toyed with by Huff.. after many private messages to him begging him to just ask the date he died when he heard the name, I was deleted off his page. I believe he seen my wall, as he was on my friends list, and I post alot of memory stuff of my Billy on there, I think he used that against me.. and as soon as I started questioning him on that , he deleted me.. a lot of the time he mentions that Billy has been with him for over a year now, everytime i posted on that comment that I know because he started appearing in your sessions just after i joined, i feel that just boosted his popularity... i feel used in his game.. i feel he used the heartache of my loss , in his game to prove he has spirits following him daily.. i feel sick to think i had a hand in him bolstering his ego and lies... thank you Huff for rubbing salt time and time again in my heartache that has never healed. I sure hope something is done to put this guy off the internet!!

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  9. I was, a fan of Steve and loved his "messages from beyond". Until i noticed gradually over time, he was changing. His earlier videos never spoke of evil, demons, etc., he seemed honest and vulnerable and i enjoyed watching/listening to him and the messages. As he became more popular, i noticed his videos seemed a bit more dramatic. Finally, i stopped following him on you tube a little less than a year ago after not only was he speaking about " demons" and other 'evil type' spirits (being very dramatic about it) but he was also more egotistical and kind of snobbish. You can see the change from his first to his latest videos. It just seems hes been bit by the "sell out for popularity" bug.
    Its sad. He seemed very sincere at one time but now he's just.....different.

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    1. Does he really speak of evil and demons? I stopped following him so long ago. Though I find this comment odd since I seriously notice a lot of TV ghost shows all of a sudden everything is demons now. So, he's following the trend I've noticed on TV and yep, falling into the "selling out for popularity" thing. He always used to put down Ghost Adventures but I seriously think he'd love it if someone gave him his own TV show. I wonder how he'd justify that...

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  10. Nice job there Anna

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  11. Huff purposely exploited this Billy name because hes desperate to compete with my favorite spirit box guy called Mortis the wizard who has his regular spirit called Ian, i think he calls it his familiar spirit or something. Have you heard of him Anna? Notice how Huff now contacts demons, the devil and hell? Just like Mortis was doing and getting fascinating evidence to match. Many of us are talking about this in my private paranormal circle now that its obvious to us, its getting quite weird.

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  12. My mom passed recnetly and uncle tried sharing YouTube of this guy. I don't believe anyone can communicate with anyone who has passed unless you share a real genuine connection. The rest is just fraud. I think people that are so mad at you opinion are people who need to believe with concrete evidence that they exhaust beyond death. You calling him out as a fraud is shaking their only chance of believing there love one or their own pending mortality will go on after death. Glad you spoke up and are strong enough to take on the anger of the masses but know it is just pure fear.

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  13. My mom passed recnetly and uncle tried sharing YouTube of this guy. I don't believe anyone can communicate with anyone who has passed unless you share a real genuine connection. The rest is just fraud. I think people that are so mad at you opinion are people who need to believe with concrete evidence that they exhaust beyond death. You calling him out as a fraud is shaking their only chance of believing there love one or their own pending mortality will go on after death. Glad you spoke up and are strong enough to take on the anger of the masses but know it is just pure fear.

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  14. I completely agree with this article. My first thought when I watched his videos on YouTube was that it was too good to be true. It didn't take me long to Realize he's an egotistical snob who shuns anyone that doesn't agree with him.

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  15. You nailed it. Very well put. I am also a paranormal researcher out of the Pacific NW and Huff's antics upset me equally. His lack of respect is very distasteful and does this field of research a disservice as well as makes a mockery of what we really do.

    Ben Robison
    Autonomous Studies of the Enigmatic & Paranormal
    www.facebook.com/aseporg

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  16. Steve Huff. What can I say? His practices are very questionable at best. I do not believe that he holds any integrity within the paranormal field. Like you said, he doesn't even let us celebrities body make it to the corners office before he starts sending out these "messages" from beyond the grave. He is just looking for any way to capitalize on other peoples tragedies.

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  17. I agree i follow him on facebook and sometimes listen to what he has to say. But its becoming clear that this guy is a snake oil salesman. What power has this guy got to guide people to the light? Seriously? Listen Ghost whisperer was a fun show but...

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  18. I turned my "ghost box" on while driving to work Friday, and wouldn't you know it, I heard from David bowie, otis redding, bon scott, Phil lynott, and John lennon. Truly amazing. Steve huff is a fraud, anyone with common sense can see that. I dot believe talking to the dead is possible, but I'm not so naive to think it isnt possible. That being said, I'm not going to take the word of some guy who's using equipment he profits from. If I understand correctly he makes these boxes and apps. If I'm wrong about that please correct me. Never the less who knows what he has going on with these boxes. He could have programed responses, or have some kind of walkie talkie behind the speaker with someone in another room reading the answers he wants. Great article btw, I realize I am a little late to the party. All I can say is its amazing what you find when you're actively looking for it.

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  19. Could you tell me who or what Billy is regarding Steve Huff. He always mentions Billy. I'm new to his channel for only 3 months and I'm not up to speed with this Billy entity. However, last night watching You and Steve, on Huff's site. In the Video about frame 9:42 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQHxZ5haNjQ&t=842s :  it states "Billy"  then "Billy Fussell"   Billy Fussell was my brother-in-law.  He died about 10 years ago..  Billy never believed in God, and he killed himself with a gun. He's a very nice person at least while on Earth anyways... Bye the way, His name is pronounced as in "Russell" but "Fussell"  I really hope this gets to someone that can pass on to Steve Huff.  Here's a link to Billy Fussell http://www.womenofthephilippines.com/william-t-fussell/ If you can at least tell me what this Billy person is, I'd really like to know. It didn't sound like the Billy Fussell I knew, but maybe through the Spirit Box, it doesn't work that way, or maybe it's another Billy Fussell.... all the best?

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  20. This is an old thread now but I had to add my share of thought's on Huff. He is a nasty piece of work strongly driven by his ego and his illicit financial gains. He fakes pretty much all of his evidence while in the process plugging his ridiculous little ghost box's. In the past Huff has stolen other inventors ideas and took them for his own. Some years back he was quite handy at making porn movies being a cameraman on set. There is much more to this sick fraudster much more but I tell you one thing Huff is not the kind of person suitable for anyone wishing to enter the world of paranormal research. Once Huff has the easy lead he has them. Even well seasoned researchers fall for his faked garbage. My advice is keep well away from this individual and keep away from any paranormal groups that persistently allows him airtime to stroke his brow and feed his over inflated ego. Although my comment has come two years to late I just want it to said that there are still many good honest people out here in the paranormal research field that continue to spread the truth about Huff and they will continue until that little charlatan has gone for good. So Huff if by any chance you read this comment just do one thing "Go away and DONT come back"

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