Thank yous to Old_Geezer and Mosaic for setting out the chronology. That was genuine curiosity, on my part, not a knowing effort to show up MH as a 'derivative work' but the similarity was uncanny.
No harm done, in entertaining people, of course and the disclaimer, in that vein, is clear for all to see, so we cannot label them as frauds (except in a tongue-in-cheek manner). They clearly have a real hoot making these shows and it shows through in their drive and enthusiasm for the subject. I wouldn't begrudge them that.
I only which they took a more scientific approach, looking into the reasons why buildings make noises (for example) when noone is there; all the things which need to be eliminated in order to prove a ghost is properly inexplicable.
The episode where a barn owl hissed at them was a case in point.