Sheesh, maybe they should do some reading instead: UPI.com:
Officers said they caught the four teenagers, ranging from 13 to 15 years old, crawling out of a Stripling Middle School window with backpacks, pillows and blankets about 1 a.m. Sunday, The Dallas Morning News reported Monday.
The teenagers, who were taken to a juvenile detention center on criminal trespass charges, told investigators they were trying to authenticate legends of ghosts haunting the school’s third floor, police said.
Apparently nothing was taken from the school, they must have just been hanging around. I don’t know if they had done any prior research or checked out if a teacher or a member of the school would allow them to be on grounds after-hours – or even if it’d be allowed. There’s the question as to whether it would just create hysteria about ghosts on campus, something that was suggested as a big issue with one school I knew of, who didn’t like tales of ghosts being bantered around the boarding house.
Did they have equipment beyond torches? Heh, should we now go around banning ‘Ghost Whisperer’ and psychic / ghost investigation shows for prompting teenagers to get criminal charges of trespassing? 
Or would it be better to actually sort out what scientific basis you should have before you consider ‘authenticating ghost stories’?
The ‘how far do you go’ question was raised another time in relation to skeptical investigations when I talked to Robert Lancaster about whether he would ever suggest someone sneaking into a Sylvia Browne show. He said that he wouldn’t recommend it – indeed, he ended up having someone kindly pay for his ticket so he could attend a show this year in Vegas. I guess I should ask some current skeptical investigators as to what they think kids could do – so they don’t end up in a juvenile detention center!
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Can you imagine how cool the teacher would be who stayed with the kids overnight in a school-sponsored ghost hunt? A real science teacher could teach MOUNDS of critical thinking skills in one night.
I’ve volunteered time with camps, et al…. probably the biggest project I’ve done, however, was this:
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/scienceshow/stories/2006/1801778.htm
There’s no longer an mp3 about what I did for two years, but there’s a transcript.
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