The Critical Myth Paranormal Blog

Well, here we are: the end of an era for “Ghost Hunters”. Grant Wilson bids farewell to the show as the abbreviated eighth season draws to a close. Whatever one’s opinions might be about the show or Grant, it must be acknowledged that his presence, and his chemistry with Jason, was a big part of the success and rise of the franchise. It’s going to be interesting to see how things change, both logistically and psychologically within the team dynamic.

This isn’t quite like the typical episode of “Ghost Hunters”. I’m thankful that the producers avoided what I dreaded most, a maudlin clip show resembling a wake for the living, but for all intent purposes, this was less a serious investigation and more of a victory lap. All the reasons why they had to have GHI conduct a serious investigation of Spalding Inn still apply; there’s an inherent conflict of interest in having a team investigate a site they own and advertise as being haunted. No one would expect a very critical review of the findings.

Which is why this is just about the only circumstance in which it would make sense for them to tackle the Spalding themselves. It’s home turf. There’s no client to satisfy, no concern over how the results might need to be spun, no pressure. The conclusion has already been made. It’s about having one last go-round with a departing friend, and the rest doesn’t really matter.

At first, I expected Grant to take this opportunity to spend time with each of the other team members again, much as he did on the previous investigation. But then I recalled just how awkward those scenes were in the previous episode, and it occurred to me that they were probably forced on the team for the purposes of the show. Even if that wasn’t the case, and it was just the awkwardness of having those moments with the demands of television production on top of it all (with requests to repeat conversations to get them on film being routine), I imagine that Jason and Grant would have wanted to have one last investigation as partners.

It had to be a delicate balancing act; how much do they put into the final cut? The team members were visibly emotional at various points in the episode, not the least Jason and Grant. I got the feeling that the production company showed an uncharacteristic level of decency by leaving some of the tearful moments out. The message still got across, the audience had their moment of closure with Grant’s departure, and the rest is really for the team to handle on their own terms. (And it has to be remembered that this is all in the past for them; Grant was already done filming by the time the announcement was made, if his comments are any indication.)

I have to wonder how much of the reported activity at the Inn is due to the fact that a sizeable percentage of the visitors are probably fans of the show, know that it’s supposed to be “haunted”, and therefore interpret things to fit expectation. Or, for that matter, simply blow everyday things out of proportion. After all, some of the “amazing” EVPs in this episode were borderline at best.

While I applaud the use of multiple pieces of equipment, I still have to wonder if the alarm settings on some of the equipment are reasonable. For example, they were using temperature alarms to indicate temperature changes, but it’s fairly obvious that the heat wasn’t on, and it was winter. The temperature is going to drop steadily over the course of the night. What was the threshold for the alarm? If it’s just a degree or two, it’s far too tight a limit.

A few people also pointed out that while the “shadow detector” is an interesting idea in principle, there are questions about how it works. How wide is the beam that must be “broken” for the detector to alarm? What kind of change in luminosity is required for the alarm to trigger? What if the light from nearby sources, outside of the beam’s path, is affected by the presence of investigators; would that change in ambient light trigger the alarm? While the alarm seemed to trigger when the team saw something happening, it’s not clear what that mean on a technical basis.

Much of the rest is hard to discuss out of context. Doors were moving, footsteps and banging were heard, but it’s an old Inn in winter, and the heat was turned off. Wood contracts in the cold. That might account for some of it. It’s nothing conclusive, but it does raise one possible alternative. Without the full picture, we can’t say it wasn’t explored or considered. (One note: a common comment about the Inn is that the walls are very thin and noise travels very easily.)

Still, as I said earlier, it seems like this investigation was more about having fun together and enjoying a last hurrah with Grant than really getting to the heart of things. And in this sort of situation, I would probably want the same thing. If this is how Grant wanted to end his near-decade on television, then all the power to him. I personally wish him well in all his future endeavors.

With this being Grant’s penultimate episode, it makes sense that things would really start to focus on his impending departure. All things being equal, it also makes sense for them to return to a location that they felt gave some of their best evidence.

TAPS featured the Mt. Washington Hotel back in the fourth season. At the time, they were still producing their Beyond Reality radio show, and they emphasized how great the EVPs from this location were (much as they do through social media now, when they promote a given episode). I also remember that this was one of the locations that, soon after the filming, began promoting itself as a site for expensive “paranormal retreats”. It’s a more commonplace criticism now, in terms of sites using the show as a PR tool, but back then, it was more noteworthy.

(Oddly enough, despite all of the heavy promotion at the time, the original Mt. Washington investigation was only covered in half an episode. I still don’t know why they thought that was a good idea.)

Obviously, the big evidence was the lengthy EVPs, supposedly of the “princess” herself. At the time, there was a lot of speculation as to what it might have been. Some agreed with TAPS and the theory that the princess is an intelligent spirit haunting the hotel. Others offered a “time slip” concept, where some kind of “overlap” between two time periods was taking place. Skeptics pointed to everything from cell phone transmission interception to capturing audio from a nearby TV to out-and-out fraud. Whatever it might have been, it adds up to the same conclusion: there’s sufficient reason to revisit the Mt. Washington Hotel.

One would think that’s an obvious conclusion, given those “retreats” and TAPS’ presence at them, so I was a bit mystified by Grant’s comment at the end of the episode. He states that there’s always a danger to going back to a site you’ve already investigated. I struggle to understand what he means. At worst, an attempt to verify or replicate findings, or investigate them more thoroughly, will yield nothing new. Or previous findings will be explained as normal. If one is seeking the truth, how is there a “danger” in that? I just don’t see the downside. Maybe the editors cropped that out of a longer conversation that would have placed the comments in context.

With the end coming, Grant switches things up and works with some of the other team members during the investigation. It’s too bad that it took something like this for them to break up the formula, because this is the sort of thing that should have been happening all along, to avoid that formulaic feeling. I still think they’re playing up this notion of Steve still learning things from Grant after all these years, since the bit with the flag wasn’t something an investigator of 15+ years should need to be told to consider, but I expect stuff like this for the audience’s sake.

But I did find Grant’s glowing praise of Amy a bit ridiculous, especially the part about her constant strive to innovate. What exactly does she do that could be considered innovative? The flashlight test, which she’s been doing for years now, and is highly questionable? (And something Jason introduced, for that matter!) I like Amy in terms of personality within the team, but she’s proud of her lack of technical knowledge (odd for a “scientific” investigative team), and there’s nothing innovative about being a “ghost therapist”. Are the editors are leaving a lot on the cutting room floor?

I’m also tired of the Amy/Adam pair. Amy and Kris made a much more balanced duo; putting both of the less scientific investigators together was a bad idea. Adam, sadly, is rapidly becoming the weak link of the show. I never thought much of him from “Ghost Hunters Academy”, and matters haven’t improved. He overreacts to everything, and always seems to leap to the paranormal conclusion. At least Amy makes some effort to debunk; it’s almost like Adam has to be convinced that debunking is even necessary. If this is more of the editing problem rearing its ugly head, then I feel bad for Adam, because they are painting him in a terribly negative light.

Grant and Dave’s excursion brought me back to those second season days, when Dave was just some kid from New Jersey, following in his father’s footsteps as an investigator. It’s too bad that the producers pushed so hard for him to be paired with Steve as the “double act” of the show. That said, I’m not sure about the knocking and the “scream”. In particular, the scream made me think of a screech owl on the roof or something similar.

This is another investigation in which Britt brings along a lot of technology and does what they should be doing a lot more often: covering an area with reported activity with instruments that cover several different variables. It’s the sort of thing Barry used to do when he was tech manager for GHI, when that team was at its best. I’d rather he focused on using more useful instruments instead of some of these gimmicky devices, but progress is progress.

The reason I bring it up is the ongoing speculation over the changes to come to the team, with Grant on the way out. Could Steve be moving up to partner with Jason, with Britt taking over as the technical manager? It might not be a bad idea, since Steve has shown a lot of technical ignorance in recent episodes, right down to the basic equipment they’ve been using for years. I have no idea if Britt would be better, but a change-up might not be a bad idea, since the team dynamic is going to change anyway.

So, time to turn to the big moments of the investigation. I have a feeling both are going to get a lot of scrutiny. The door was a bit unexpected. I’m not going to dismiss it; I’ve been present when doors have moved and hit fellow investigators right in front of me. And the motion was captured on video, so that helps. I imagine a lot of the analysis will center on the dark spot that one can see as the door is closing, level with the doorknob. But it’s worth noting that when they are coming in and out of the door after the fact, the same thing happens. I don’t think it’s someone on the other side of the door, pulling it closed, because it’s so consistent. It’s something that would justify a closer look.

The big moment, however, is what happens in the princess’ room. I think we have too little information to draw any conclusions from the “figure”; it would be good to know the temperature difference, for example, and I think the shape is more suggestive of human form than anything definitive.

But the movement of the sheets was a bit more interesting. It’s very hard to see enough detail in the thermal footage, other than to get a good idea of how much they actually move. The DVR footage does capture it as well, though, even if it’s farther away than one would hope. From what I saw, I don’t see any telltale signs of manipulation of the footage, or even of the sheets themselves. For example, I don’t see an obvious single point where the sheets are pulled up onto the bed. I know that won’t satisfy the naysayers, but it does make it more intriguing.

Taking both investigations into account, there definitely seems to be something going on in that one room, if not the hotel as a whole. It’s worth some significant follow-up, with some different equipment and approaches to see if more information can be discovered. They’ve found plenty of effects; time to find the causes! Which only underscores why I found Grant’s parting comments so hard to swallow.

With Grant’s time on the show winding down, there seems to be this sense that events are building to something really big. This leaves me a bit concerned. Paranormal activity is tenuous and infrequent enough that we’re already skeptical of teams that find gobs of “evidence” each and every time they go to a site. Pilgrim Films and Syfy already feel the need to hype situations to suggest more is happening than the circumstances provide; the promos are legendary at this point. For anything momentous to happen right at the end of Grant’s tenure would, at the very least, raise a few eyebrows.

So when everything about this episode suggested that there was going to be a lot of substantial “evidence”, I was already on guard. After all, this is a naval vessel; the environmental sounds are highly unusual, there are plenty of bizarre shadows and reflections, and it’s all too easy to mistake things as anomalous without first-hand experience of everyday context. Even if the team corrects an initial misinterpretation, it’s all too easy for editors to take that and blow things out of proportion.

I’ve had the personal benefit of investigating a naval vessel with a small, select group of trusted individuals. Access was kept to the team and ship personnel, but similar to this situation, the ship was in dock and surrounded by the usual activities of a harbor. Sound over water, and in the water, is very deceptive. In fact, it seems like every investigation like this garners a ton of comments from experienced service personnel who quickly point this out.

I thought the episode got off to a terrible start. When it comes to setting off red flags, making an arbitrary adjustment to the FLIR camera output ranks up there. Jason casually tosses out a comment about how they need to switch to black-and-white, but no explanation is given for why this would be necessary. Perhaps they believe there is, but as has been demonstrated time and again, they really don’t understand the equipment very well, regardless of how long they’ve used it.

What’s unfortunate is that this choice immediately weakens the “evidence” they soon collect. Switching to black-and-white makes it much, much harder for the audience (and even those operating the equipment) to interpret the information the image is providing. The relatively simple interpretation facilitated by the “color coding” of typical FLIR footage is no longer possible. Worse, whether via edit or by design, the FLIR footage is incomplete, with the temperature range indicator out of frame. It renders the footage useless for anyone to interpret for themselves.

Other important contextual information is missing. I couldn’t get a good sense of the geometry of the room, to see if it might have been a reflection; how do we know it’s not one of the production crew, leaning on a wall behind them? Thermal reflections are not as easy to replicate as one would think. Also, the dimensions of the objects in the footage seem to indicate that the “figure” is out of proportion. So what we can see doesn’t necessarily add up; we need more information.

Considering that this could easily be labeled one of their most significant “hits”, even taking into account eight seasons worth of cases, it’s going to get a great deal of scrutiny. A lot of the discussion, I think, is going to come back to the decision to switch to black-and-white, since there’s really no basis for it. They almost never operate the equipment in that mode, which will lead some to suspect that they did so intentionally. I’m not saying that myself, but I do think that there is reason to question the interpretation as a result of that choice.

Speaking of thermal footage, the handprint on Grant’s chest is tenuous at best. For one thing, the position of the hand looks nearly identical to what would happen if he placed his right hand over his left chest; in fact, right after it was captured, he demonstrates just how similar it is while describing the footage! Thermal imprints can last a long time, and it’s impossible to say that he wasn’t subconsciously holding his hand there at some point earlier. There’s nothing to suggest it was paranormal in nature.

The other big piece of visual “evidence” was the “figure” that Adam and Amy supposedly caught. I’ll be honest; I must have rewatched that footage a dozen times on my HD screen, and I couldn’t figure out what they thought they were seeing. Something does appear to block the lights in the distance behind the fence, but the camera is also moving (as were Adam and Amy), and it easily could have been a trick of the eye caused by the chain-link fence itself. On the other hand, they wouldn’t have run into the resolution problems that the camera has at such a distance, so it’s hard to say what was going on there. Unfortunately, as Adam and Amy both have a history of falling quickly under the spell of confirmation bias, I’m not sure how much I trust their description. It’s too bad the camera footage wasn’t more conclusive.

A number of the sounds encountered by the team can be attributed to the unusual conditions or sound traveling over the water. I realize that the clients didn’t necessarily recognize that fact, but it’s not hard to imagine that they have learned to tune out an awful lot of the background noise in the area, and it would sound bizarre isolated in this context. A couple of them, like the audio captured with Britt and KJ on the bridge, sounded like birds or other ambient environmental sounds.

But there’s a reason I mentioned that I’ve investigated locations like this myself, and that the team is aware of the pitfalls. I remember Amy mentioning it at one point herself, as she tied to rationalize some of what they were hearing. Even taking all of that into account, I can’t dismiss some of what they captured. Footsteps in the distance are one thing; the clear sound of someone banging around on open gratings a few feet over their head is quite another.

I’m not saying that it was definite proof of anything. Too many of the sounds were off-camera, and I maintain that past transgressions put the production personnel in doubt in such circumstances. It would be all too easy for someone to stay out of sight, given the byzantine layout of most naval vessels.

(By the way, I find it hilariously ironic that Steve is unhappy with people bringing new technology onto investigations without telling him. Maybe it’s because he has shown a complete lack of understanding of the equipment he’s in charge of maintaining? The “shadow detector” is more useful as indicator than minute fluctuations on a cheap EMF meter. It may just be the editors playing up a minor point about inventory control, but it still got on my nerves.)

But ultimately, none of that explains the instances where there is literally nowhere for someone to hide, yet the sounds are about as clear and contextual as one could ever hope. I found some of that footage to be far more compelling than the video footage, precisely because there’s so little interpretation needed, and equipment factors don’t really come into play. It’s the sort of “evidence” that demands a more detailed follow-up, if only to see if there is, in fact, some unseen environmental factor at work that might explain what was happening.

What impressed me was the irony of what I took away from the episode. The “evidence” that the team found most convincing of the “haunted” argument, I found problematic. The “evidence” that was somewhat downplayed, at least in the reveal, was what actually sold me on the possibility that something is actually happening. Funny how that works sometimes!

Case #1: Bube’s Brewery
Case #2: Boston House, MD

I hate it when I get bad information. As a homeowner, I don’t like it when I can tell that a contractor or vendor is talking about something they don’t really know, or glossing over details. It always makes me wonder what I don’t recognize as being incorrect. Anyone dealing with potential health issues also knows that fear. We expect our doctors and medical experts to know what they are talking about, and it’s unnerving when they are apparently grasping at straws. But the worst is knowing that someone is speaking with authority, and simply doesn’t have it right. Finding out later can be catastrophic, if only psychologically. We feel fooled and lied to, even if it was a sincere mistake.

When paranormal investigators speak with authority, they have a moral obligation to do their homework on technical and scientific principles they relate to their clients. A lot of them don’t, or simply accept what they have been told by others who speak with authority within the community. Unfortunately, as we all know, not all of those voices of authority are operating with good intent, since they are more interested in selling DVDs, books, and gadgets (or record deals). But the majority aren’t that mercenary; they’re simply not experts on those subjects.

I realize it’s hardly a new refrain; this has been at the center of my criticisms of most, if not all, televised paranormal investigative groups. It came to mind again with this episode, mostly during the second case. Part of the problem, I think, is that the paranormal community is almost conditioned to distrust or dismiss science, even as they attempt to invoke it to justify their paranormal conclusions. I’ve had several experiences of late where I’ve seen scientific terms and concepts used incorrectly or selectively to bolster a paranormal claim, and in most of the cases, the one making the claim didn’t want to hear that they were wrong.

I just wonder how the clients feel if or when they discover that they received bad information. Or would they refuse to acknowledge it as such, because someone with apparent authority on the subject told them it was so? So many high-profile investigators emphasize that there are no experts on paranormal subjects, but that’s not how the vast majority of clients see it. And we know that. It’s why we get angry when we hear that some hobbyist group is going around telling everyone that they have demons in their house, or discover that some frauds are selling over-the-phone house cleansings.

And because I hate getting bad information, I really don’t like giving bad information. I feel responsible for that information being wrong, even when it’s an honest mistake. I don’t like presenting evidence if I haven’t done the due diligence to explain why I believe it to be valid. If I explain a technical or scientific concept to someone, I want to make sure it’s correct. The last thing I want is a client to go on the internet to get more information, and within five minutes, find a site from a true expert on the subject that contradicts everything I’ve said!

Case #1: Bube’s Brewery

First and foremost, I found this part of the episode hilarious. Nothing regresses men back to a bunch of 9-year-olds quite like this sort of thing, does it? I feel bad for Amy, because even Adam couldn’t seem to help himself. I was just waiting for them to say, in the opening car scene, “So, Amy…tell us about Bube’s!” (Seriously, the editors probably had to work overtime on this case!)

I’m not too impressed by the lantern going out; there are plenty of reasons why that might have happened, and this feels like one of those moments where the team also knew that to be true, but the editors cut it to play things up a bit more. I’m also not impressed by the knocking; it’s too easy to interpret any noise as a directed response. This was even more apparent with the E-Pod. Adam and Britt asked for three distinct bursts of sound, and it definitely seemed like it was purely incidental that the one really long burst happened to hiccup a bit at the end. Yet it was interpreted as an intelligent response. Confirmation bias doesn’t get more obvious than that.

All of the EVPs were buried in the background noise, and therefore impossible to dismiss as potential auditory pareidolia. Even the German sounded like it wasn’t definitive in any meaningful way. The clear sound similar to glass breaking, however, was very distinct, and that would seem to be the most promising item to explore in more detail.

Case #2: Boston House, MD

I really had a hard time with this one. I didn’t find any of the “evidence” at all convincing, and there were some things that were said that I knew didn’t sound right. There were some odd lapses in the depicted methodology as well, that I hope were just an artifact of editing.

First, the HEPA filters. I have terrible seasonal allergies. As in, if it’s a season of the year, I’ve got an allergy to match it. I know all about those units. I’ve tested my instruments on such units. While they do give off a solid EM field, it is not substantially different from most household appliances. Portable heaters and window air conditioners are often worse. Most electronics far exceed that. Even so, the levels are higher than background, but not remotely close to “dangerous”, and the strength of the field decreases quickly with distance from the unit. So that was a specious claim, at best.

But the notion that an increase in negative ions can cause negative physical effects is just plain wrong. While it’s not commonly recognized in American culture, it’s been long established that higher negative ion counts are associated with better overall mood and even promotion of health. It’s considered matter of fact in many parts of the world, and studies have been done to demonstrate it. Similarly, higher positive ion counts have been associated with negative physical effects and depressed mood.

Second, a lot was made of the vibrations on the banister and the sound of something falling or walking down the stairs. They spent plenty of time confirming to each other that they could feel the vibration. If only they had equipment that could definitively tell them if such vibrations were present and when footsteps were taking place! For instance, perhaps a geophone or other seismic sensor. Like the ones we’ve seen them use dozens of times before. (Again, was this the editors playing games, or did they never think to use something that could give a definitive answer?)

Third, there’s the ongoing use of the “flashlight” test. If the negative/positive ion effects aren’t compelling enough from a scientific point of view, there are sound scientific explanations for why the flashlights used in these “tests” behave as they do, with the rest being a heaping portion of confirmation bias. Rather than repeat what I’ve already said on the subject, I’m going to link to a You Tube video that goes into detail on a scientific explanation, complete with experimental data that demonstrates its validity: http://entil2001.com/blog2/?p=722. (Note that this ignores the arcing phenomenon that applies to other types/brands of flashlights.)

The main point is what I’ve been trying to drive home on the subject all along. While it’s impossible to prove the negative and say it can’t possibly be paranormal, the onus is on anyone claiming that it is paranormal to show that the scientific explanation is incorrect in their specific situation. That’s going to take an experimental design at least as thorough as seen in the video. I realize Amy didn’t lend much weight to what happened in this case, but there comes a point when a certain method is just not viable on a fundamental level.

Finally, the EVPs were even less distinct than those of the previous case, buried well within the background noise. In the end, there just isn’t much at all to base any kind of claim of paranormal activity at that location. But we can say that the client was given bad information, and I find that unnecessary and unfortunate.

Case #1: Fraternity House, RI
Case #2: USCGC Taney

And so the drawn-out process of giving Grant Wilson an on-air farewell begins. I think it’s safe to say that they are positioning Grant’s very last appearance as a sweeps event; it will be interesting to see how much pomp and circumstance they attach to his final episode. I can’t imagine that they would allow it to be covered in some short tag scene at the end of the episode.

Grant’s announcement results in a distinct shift in the tone and focus for this episode, as everything is framed in the context of his status as a short-timer. It’s already getting to the point of excess for me, perhaps due to the relative lack of attention that they’ve paid to the investigators and their lives in recent seasons. I’ll be sorry to see him go, but how much more meaningful might it have been, had the show retained the approach from the first two seasons?

One side effect is that the producers/editors are pushing hard with the idea that Grant has only so much time to impart his knowledge to the rest of the team. Setting aside the odd question of why Grant wouldn’t have been sharing this wisdom with everyone else over the past several years worth of cases, numbering in the hundreds of investigations, there’s also the not-so-minor matter of whether or not it’s actual wisdom. Which leads me to the first case…

Case #1: Fraternity House, RI

A lot of the client’s reports and descriptions threw up red flags in my head, and for the most part, the team picked up on just about all of the questionable claims. While I felt like the client was sincere, that also made me wonder if his fraternity brothers know all about his paranormal interests and take the opportunity to mess with him.

Early into the investigation, though, I was irritated by a comment that Grant (and Jason, for that matter) repeated over and over. While using the Mel Meter (a device that is only calibrated upon specific request and with additional post-purchase cost, according to the vendor’s website), Grant indicated that the audible alarms would tell them if the device was being manipulated.

That is, quite simply, wrong. The alarms can (and do) only indicate that the measured variable (temperature, magnetic field strength, etc.) has passed above or below the alarm setpoints. That is all that can be claimed definitively. It gives no indication of the cause of the change in the measured variable. Depending on the setpoints, the alarms could trigger based on very small changes in temperature or EMF, especially since the Mel Meter will react to RF interference and plenty of other false positives.

It’s one thing when it’s just an offhand comment from one of the investigators. But Grant says it several times, and they mention it again in the reveal. So it’s not the editors making something out of nothing; they truly believe that the detection of a potentially anomalous response automatically means paranormal manipulation. Which, frankly, doesn’t make sense. The nature of the cause of a change in environmental parameters should be the result of analysis, not an automatic assumption.

I also question what those setpoints on EMF might have been, because they perpetuate the incorrect notion that 8 mG is an intense magnetic field. Under some conditions, with personal sensitivity, perhaps it could, after a long period of exposure. But lots of people, passing by a very specific spot in the stairwell, all being affected by a relatively weak 8mG field? Not a chance. That whole part of the house would have to be awash in a much stronger field to explain what was reported. So that being said, on those Mel Meters, what are they using for the alarm setpoints? 1 mG, which Steve and Tango have claimed to be significant in the past? Just waving around the meter would set off the alarms, in that case! (And as always, I must repeat, without knowing the frequency of the measured field, one absolutely cannot exclude man-made sources!)

Considering the relative lack of “evidence” for this case, it felt like they were grasping at straws to find something to point to as significant. I have a feeling this is going to be the case throughout the run of Grant’s final episodes.

Case #2: USCGC Taney

This one was more interesting due to the history, and unusual locations are always a plus. It was good to see Steve and Tango work with the rest of the gang to recognize that the weird clicking was from the heating system, which only goes to highlight my usual point about how unfamiliar locations can produce audio and video anomalies that might be misinterpreted as paranormal. So kudos to them, though his invocation of “if in doubt, throw it out” was a bit ironic.

The strange laughter that was recorded definitely sounded like it was some kind of outside contamination. I know that they dismissed that as a possibility (due to investigators being available on deck to confirm as much, even if the footage at the time didn’t show that), but having investigated naval vessels before, sound travels on water in really strange ways. I don’t think outside contamination can be discounted, especially when the sound itself has the quality of something in the distance!

The PA system EVP was a bit more interesting. I’m hardly an expert on PA systems, so I have no idea if there’s some way that the existing equipment, even if it’s not powered, could produce sound from an outside signal. But that doesn’t explain why it wouldn’t have been heard by everyone, does it? This is something I would want to revisit in a lot more detail!

Case #1: Fort Garry, Canada
Case #2: Hell’s Gate Airtram, Canada

And so a relatively short season of “Ghost Hunters International” comes to an end, with the future of the series more uncertain than ever. As a team, GHI is still dealing with a bit of internal disagreement, and based on some recent casting calls for the franchise, if the show does survive, it looks like Pilgrim Films and Syfy will be taking an even tighter stranglehold over matters.

I’ll admit that my enthusiasm has waned. I don’t like this team as much as the second season status quo, even if I like and have a good relationship with a couple members of the team. Every team has a level of chemistry, and as sports fans can attest, even the best of the best won’t always gel into an efficient unit on the field. I’m not going to claim that GHI is so solid as all that, but it’s clear that the chemistry isn’t as strong as, say, the chemistry for TAPS or GAC. (I consider Zak and his pals a joke in terms of investigating, but I can’t deny they have a great team chemistry.)

“Ghost Hunters International” has always suffered due to this revolving door, and anyone familiar with my commentary for the spinoff’s tumultuous first season will remember how much I harped on the “chemistry” factor. When your team is not on the same page, it’s going to show. Consider this: even with the heavy amount of editing involved, it was still clear to many viewers that there were unresolved tensions within the team. And of course, with social media being ubiquitous now, we have more insight into the differences of opinion.

As I said previously, it will be unfortunate if this is how the show, and the team, ends. Up to this point, there has been no word on the future of the series, either officially from the network or from the team members themselves. The only source of hope, such as it is, would be the open casting call for the franchise, though that might simply be a way to fill the void if/when someone steps up to fill Grant’s shoes on “Ghost Hunters”.

Case #1: Fort Garry, Canada

Most of the reports from this location seem to focus on apparitions, all of which started abruptly in the recent past. The client wants to bring GHI in to find the reason why, which just goes to show (once again) how a lot of clients have unrealistic expectations of what a properly conducted paranormal investigation can determine.

A lot of the more critical fans of the show have remarked that these most recent episodes have been straying towards an odd “Ghost Adventures Meets Destination Truth”. That came to mind when they began to recreate the blacksmithing during this case. I don’t necessarily have a problem with that, but I can see why some would feel like the producers are grasping at straws.

All the various sounds strike me as things they would have been fairly natural, at least as presented, and it’s more a case of lack of familiarity with the location. That said, I found the notion that the doll’s hair moved from its original position. Could that have been staged by someone on the production side? Sure, but if nothing else, it would be worth a follow-up with the room locked down completely.

Case #2: Hell’s Gate Airtram, Canada

There was a lot of the same kind of “evidence” that never quite gets captured, with a couple other little twists to bring the season to a close. One experience was apparently the scent of a cigar, but as anyone with a relative who smokes cigars can attest, the smell seams into everything and seems to linger forever. So that might be easy enough to explain.

The rolling cigarette is a bit more complicated. I can’t quite tell what is going on with that incident, which is caught on tape. My first instinct is that someone opened a door, and there’s a difference in room pressure. That could initially cause the cigarette to move in one direction, and then quickly reverse direction. It’s just a thought, and one probably dismissed easily enough, but regardless, it would be worth some repeat experiments. Of course, part of the problem is that they used an object that is relatively light and able to roll easily, as opposed to something that would require definitive force to make it move.

Case #1: Fortress of Antwerps, Belgium
Case #2: Villa de Corliano, Italy

For better or worse, each new installment of “Ghost Hunters International” just feels like marking time, now. The cast has admitted that there has been no word of future filming or season extension, the season is coming up to 13 episodes with the impending finale, and there seems to be a general recognition that the implosion following the bloodletting incident is a sign that changes, at the very least, are on the horizon. Even fans of the spinoff are saying that the retooling of the show has led to negative changes, and that the experiment of recasting to increase ratings has failed.

One of the more disturbing tendencies has been the dramatic increase of personal attacks against the cast members. I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t have a favorable opinion of some, and consider myself friendly with others, but some fans (or, more often, detractors) have written entire epic poems on the negative aspects of certain cast members that make my commentaries seem miniscule in comparison.

It may have been too much to ask for “Ghost Hunters International” to go out on a high note; there was too much network and production company interference over the past year or so for that to be the case. But it feels like this series is coming to its probable conclusion riddled with self-inflicted wounds, crawling across the finish line while the crowd throws stones from the safety of the arena bleachers.

There’s still the advertised finale to go, so it’s possible that they’ve saved the best for last, but something tells me that a lot of people will just be looking at it as “that thing they’re airing the week before Grant’s final investigations”. As much as I would hate to see these investigators out of a job, the realist in me feels the end is near.

Case #1: Fortress of Antwerps, Belgium

It’s never a good sign when a client wants you to tell them if a dead relative is at peace. Any investigator worth their salt knows that it’s a no-win situation. And when it’s a location with the kind of history this site has, it’s going to be emotionally charged from the start. I know people don’t like to hear that they can be overwhelmed by a location or the emotions that history can bring to the fore, but Joe’s reaction felt like the accumulated weight of a lot of distressing thoughts. And that always makes me wonder how much that factors into personal experiences.

Most of the experiences weren’t that interesting, but I was intrigued by the lights that they captured. I’m going to assume that the double-case format of the episode led the editors to cut out any discussion about the surrounding geography and such, because that’s fairly relevant to the potential explanations. As always, the simple generation of balls of light is not in any way a definitive sign of paranormal activity.

I’m also going to assume that the team chose to tell the client that her relative was at rest, not because they actually came to that conclusion based on the lack of “evidence”, but because it was a realistic bit of client management.

Case #2: Villa de Corliano, Italy

This is another location where legend and folklore combine to produce a “story” that really has no basis in common sense. On the other hand, we should be glad it’s not “Ghost Adventures”, because they’d be saying that the first unusual sound they captured was proof that Frankenstein’s Monster was real and trying to kill Zak.

There are the usual personal experiences, but there’s just not much for the audience to work with, in terms of tangible “evidence”. I thought the spelunking added a bit of extra action to the case, but in the end, there just wasn’t much to present. I have no doubt, though, that GHI’s stories will be prominently added to the legends at Villa de Corliano.

The previous episode left me with a very bad impression of the future of the team and the franchise. When all is said and done, I sincerely doubt that bloodletting rituals would have been conducted while Robb Demarest was leading the team. It seems pretty clear that Pilgrim Films and Syfy are getting what they wanted with a more controversial and lively show (other than, perhaps, better ratings).

I’m just as disheartened by the relative lack of response from the paranormal investigative community. While there was a lot of reaction within 48 hours of first run, the vast majority of it was strong (often insulting) disagreement with Kris Williams and her open condemnation of the investigation and shaking of heads regarding the ritual itself. Several days later, it might as well have never happened. It says a great deal about how loose and self-validating the standards of the community have become.

As I said in my commentary for the previous episode, it was another “Manson Murders” moment: a turning point when a production studio and network interference began to become far more obvious and disruptive. In “Manson Murders”, it was the blatant post-production alteration of FLIR footage and the decision to bring Chris Fleming onto the show to advertise the K-II meter. In this case, it was the use of a ritual to sensationalize an investigation, despite internal team disagreement.

Whatever the case, the sour taste has yet to leave many mouths, mine included. And so I was hoping that this investigation, whether chronologically filmed before or after the Belize debacle, might show that the loosened standards were more of an aberration. While there were no bloodletting rituals to be seen, it wasn’t a return to form, either.

For one thing, the location was a complete mess. That’s not the fault of the investigators, obviously, but it meant that it was going to be nearly impossible to conduct a reasonable investigation. Worse, the reports of activity were so buried in local folklore, legend, and religious speculation that I was actually left wondering if anything actually happened at all. There was not one witness that had been at the school or had first-hand knowledge of what might have happened there. And yet, the claims of possession and spirit activity were taken seriously!

A great deal of the activity is easily explained by the local wildlife and conditions. While I’m sure the editors made much more out of it than the team, just the fact that they speculated enough on the behavior of crickets and rain in a South Pacific rain forest, as possible harbingers of paranormal activity, made me cringe. A lot of investigators will dismiss the notion that unfamiliarity with the flora, fauna, and climate of a location can lead to incorrect assumptions, but situations like this make it very clear why it’s a valid concern. (And, of course, nearly every episode of “Ghost Adventures” and “Destination Truth”!)

Unusual environmental conditions might also explain the odd behavior of the equipment (high humidity plays havoc with electronics) and even the lights that were recorded. Without knowing much about the geology of the area or the nature of the lights themselves (frequency, for example), there’s just nothing to say. The first one does look like it’s a drop falling just outside of the IR illumination, but the second one is a bit more puzzling. Even so, there are plenty of reasons for balls of light to appear that have nothing to do with the paranormal.

That really only leaves the EVP, and even that felt like a stretch. Whatever “voice” was captured was buried within the waveforms of the team member’s speech, and the more they isolated it, the less it sounded like a voice. The client’s interpretation definitely made more out of it than what was there, and he seemed to grasp onto that “evidence” as deeply meaningful.

I appreciated Kris’ summary of some of the natural reasons why someone might appear to have the reaction to the spirits that was reported, but I think they missed the larger point. In some ways, this investigation was very much like the previous episode, in that local belief and folklore influenced a lot of the interpretations. While I applaud the notion of exploring other ways of thinking about the paranormal, there is a point where logic and reason have to hold sway.