Infamous Places

Ghost Adventures – Astoria Underground – S16E10

ga-astoria-undergroundI’m a little behind on the uptake, but Zak and team are back with investigations along the Graveyard of the Pacific. This will include several locations along the Columbia River in Oregon. The first stop is the Astoria Underground, which is a series of maze-like tunnels that were build to replace the wooden stilt-like structures that kept the town above the rising water levels. In 1922, the town caught fire causing massive damage because of the wood supports. Now the tunnels are a dumping ground for debris and detritus.

Right from the start, Zak refers to the tunnels as, “That’s where the secrets are kept,” and “Dark and oppressive forces that linger in the underground.” To prove his point, he speaks with Ross, an investigator who claims he captured something on camera. He chased a dark mass into the underground and his proof of it’s presence is the sound of knocking.

Zak then relates the story of Bunko Kelly, a man who kidnapped people and sold them into slavery, also known as the act of “Shanghaiing.” This fuels the dark energy of the past.

To get a glimpse of that dark energy, they meet with Diana, who shows them into the tunnels from an access point in her shop. She is quick to say, “I know someone died here. It’s what I feel.” While some would have a few choice words for her zoned out behavior, Zak says the tunnels are affecting her.

We then have a series of bizarre and rather nonsensical connections between Astoria, HP Lovecraft and Diabolus Rex of the Church of Satan.

Zak tries to contact Grant Cogswell, who filmed “Cthulhu” in the area a decade earlier. When the connection won’t establish itself, Zak chalks it up to a paranormal influence. The story is a little hard to follow as Grant claims there was a curse over making the film which ultimately bankrupted him, ruined his career and forced him to live in Mexico for a decade. The subpar rating had nothing to do with the situation.

It also put him in contact with Diablous Rex, who liked the idea of the story and Lovecraft and wanted to invest in the film. These connections feed the dark energy. If that sort of random connection were valid, wherever Stephen King sits, is the most haunted place in the universe. It’s hard to understand what point Zak was making here.

Zak then claims he and his crew are working under a similar curse when Dakota and Bacon get stuck in an elevator at the hotel.

With all that behind them, it’s time to start the investigation from two points. Zak and Jay enter the tunnels from the Liberty Theater, where Ross claims he saw a dark figure. Aaron and Billy enter from the butcher shop where zoned out Diana claims murders took place because she can feel it.

At the beginning, Zak hears bangs and says something rushed at him. Luckily there are two dust particles to support his claim.

In a long, echoing chamber, Aaron and Billy hear talking. As Aaron is on edge, a bug zips passed his head and he nearly soils his pants. This is followed by a bang. A bang in a corridor filled with crap of every description. Even Billy thinks it’s a piece of wood that fell over.

As Zak explores further, he finds a set of stairs. Like in so many other episodes, he becomes confused and disoriented, saying there is a force surrounding him. He grabs the Ovilus device and gets the words, “Mad, Ashes, Up” which refers to the fire and the city burning to ashes up above them.

On the other size, Aaron again feels something against him, which he thinks is a rat. Once more, they are thrilled to find dust particles circling about to coincide with the event. Ironically, Jay and Aaron admit, “It’s not that there’s something paranormal, it’s the feeling you get from being there.”

Zak brings out his digital recorder and somehow hears the words, “fight me” as a response. He then claims to capture a bloodcurdling scream, which sounds so very much like a crow. When asks, “What did that scream mean?” He gets a response of “Release, Known, Empath.”  Since Zak now claims he’s an empath, the spirit is looking to him for release. Or it was a crow.

In adding yet another half-baked experiment to their bag of tricks, Billy pulls out his phone and Bluetooth speaker. He’s going to use Aaron’s phone to call his phone and play it over the speaker. With all this exciting wireless and EMF activity, it’s a conduit for spirit energy and they can contact the spirit world.

It clearly works as they pick up what they claim is a girl’s voice and someone saying, “We can talk back.”

Because of this staggering evidence and the fact Jay fell in a hole while wandering around in the dark, Zak is convinced they have documented enough evidence to validate the dark shadow figure.

Other Articles of Interest:

Ghost Adventures – Kays Hollow – S16E09

ga-kays-hollowFor their next paranormal excursion, Zak and team head to Kaysville, Utah to visit Kay’s Hollow, where cult leader Krishna Venta set up shop in 1951. But his zealot ways didn’t last long as he was murdered by members of his congregation. Many years later, most likely a random act of destruction, the stone cross erected to him in the woods was blasted apart and is now a ruin. However, Zak claims the cross has ultimate negative power because there have been two deaths on the property and since graffiti of pentagrams have been painted, it’s now a place for suicides and Satanic rituals. In fact, it’s a “central hub of evil.”

The power of the cross is confirmed when Goth Girl Bennet, who has visited the area nearly twenty times, describes her first experience where unseen voices guided her to a hidden path and had conversations with people that couldn’t be seen. Her body was taken over by a female spirit who was intent on “giving her over” to a male spirit. Even though it takes a toll on everybody, she keeps coming back for more.

This story is confirmed by vampire look-alike, Vincent, who says he saw the whole thing. He too has been to the Hollow multiple times and has many stories to convey. One “legend” states the area is overseen by “dog men.” Another legend states if you lie on the ruined cross while the moon is full your skin will burn.

He takes up the challenge, lays on the rock, then claims he got 3 burns in the shape of an upside cross. It’s a good thing he made sure he didn’t lay down on any stray branches or oddly contoured surfaces or someone might believe the legend was true.

On their way back to the car, they just happen to find a bag tucked away, in the scrub, out of sight, near the cross. When they open this chance finding, it has animal bones and berries inside, which Jay immediately says is an offering and has to bury again, complete with ritual.

They then talk to a resident who freely admits that her son saw glowing red eyes in the forest, that she has heard growling in the woods, that her daughter saw a figure poke itself out from behind a tree and that chickens were slaughtered and left in a circle. But have no fear, none of this has given her cause for concern and she still lives in the same place.

As the investigation starts, Zak hears a “crashing sound” in the woods using his parabolic microphone. Since animals don’t live in the woods, the source of this noise must be both paranormal and demonic. Zak follows this up with claims of an invisible entity pushing past them. Aaron then adds he saw red eyes. Billy jumps in saying he saw the shadow figure as well. Too bad not a single piece of it was captured even though they saw it, “with their own eyes.”

Making their way to the ruined cross, they get all sorts of unexplained heat signatures. They seem to have forgotten the idea that rocks hold heat and will have hot spots under a thermal imager.

When they get near the cross, it’s Billy’s turn to zone out and become disoriented. Zak immediately says they are next to the hanging tree, even though they can’t see anything. As an afterthought, Zak adds that he felt the energy surrounding Billy as he was coming up the path. Too bad he didn’t tell that to Billy beforehand.

Then, as though compelled, Zak jumps onto the cross, much to the shock of all concerned. As expected, he begins to zone out and claims to have visions. He’s now channeling Venta.

While on the rock, he gets a spirit voice with the word, “Remembering”. When he gets down, no more spirit voices. The fact there are no voices is more proof of a controlling entity.

Continuing to investigate the area, Billy goes into a trance and claims there is an invisible force that won’t let him pass. The entity tries to take him over, but a few stern words keeps it at bay and he’s able to continue.

Another sign of devil worship makes it’s appearance as a bone is tied up in a tree. At the same time they hear unexplained sounds, which sound exactly like a dog, coming from the woods. This coincides with the location of the iron gate that Bennet passed through when she was possessed. To add to the mystique, Billy claims the air is filled with the smell of rotting flesh.

Zak then unveils an extremely perplexing experiment. He’s going to call Billy’s phone, which is on the cross and connected to a BlueTooth speaker. This will create a conduit for entities to speak to him. And it works, he gets static. Phones never has static except when under the influence of something paranormal.

Then, as they are leaving, they get what they claim is an unexplained squealing sound. It’s a sound that comes across remarkably like ducks, but to Zak, this is some sort of demonic sacrifice.

Even with this lack of tangible evidence, Zak claims this is an insanely dangerous area. it’s amazing how easy it is to conjure the devil and open a portal to Hell. Apparently all you have to do is go out into the woods, lay down some poorly scrawled graffiti, then knock on the door and the devil will answer.

Other Articles of Interest:

Ghost Adventures – Lewis Flats School – S16E08

ga-lewis-flats-schoolAfter their dubious encounter and contact with Debbie Constantino at the Washoe Club, Zak and the GA team undertake an investigation at the Lewis Flats Elementary School, or rather, the Adobe Deli Steakhouse.

Because it sits in New Mexico, there is an immediate connection to the Native American culture. Further, because it has a lot of taxidermy, it must contain a lot of negative energy.

The signs of the paranormal consist of someone getting the chills and an employee waking up from a bad dream and feeling pressure on his chest. Another incident, one that took place 30 years ago, involves a man that burned to death when his overheated engine caught the dry grass on fire.

Zak focuses very heavily on the taxidermy Van bought at auction. It’s not the items themselves, but their guilt by association, as they came from the home of (or at least were owned by) a drug dealer who killed two people. Even though they are stuffed and have glass eyes, Zak feels the animals saw the murder and so contain dark energy.

There is even more dark energy and another connection to Native Americans in the form of bowls with a “kill hole” in the center. These bowls were used to allow the spirit to be released from the body. Zak makes them out to be quite dangerous and not something someone should own. He even declines holding the bowl.

That is until we later find out he buys one for his own collection and then has no problem being photographed while holding it.

At this point, evidence of the paranormal and dark energy consists of someone feeling cold,  another waking from a dream, stuffed animals and pottery.

To start the investigation, we have Aaron trying to make contact in the dining area near the bar. When Aaron hears a noise, he stumbles over himself trying to make an escape. Right after that, the Ovilus gives the words, “Tease, Alter, Curse” which they quickly tie back to the bowl Zak bought. We’ll skip the part where “alter” is spelled incorrectly. That is if it was meant to refer to an “altar”.

This series of words is followed by “knife, wish, disease”. Before they can weave a story using these words, a shadow passing by the window makes them run outside where they discover broken animal bones. Zak then makes the conclusion they’re in Skinwalker country.

Then, to add to the mystery of the night, they see a glowing set of eyes in the field. These glowing eyes belong to a discarded aluminum can and proves how easily someone can be deceived.

Back in the bar, they find what caused Aaron to soil his pants. A knife fell to the floor. But since it was a knife and the Ovilus said knife, paranormal activity is afoot. And to further their belief, a sign reading, “It’s all about me” is found on the floor.

Because of the message and because its near a painting of Native Americans, they make the connection that restless spirits are at the heart of the activity. Additionally, Zak sees multiple light anomalies, including one that flies into Aaron. Zak believes this is what caused the cut on Aaron’s head, rather than it being something he got when jumping out of his skin and tripping on furniture. Though minor, it’s a sign of an attack.

Their evidence for the night includes old, discarded bones in the dirt, a fallen knife on the floor, a discarded can, some foreboding words on the Ovilus and the tiny cut on Aaron’s head.

These don’t exactly lend themselves to dark energy or sinister forces. Additionally, taxidermy, while creepy to some, isn’t considered a gateway to paranormal forces. Same for the bowls. While used in burial ceremonies, they alone are of no danger, to the point where Zak picks one up and takes it home.

Other Articles of Interest:

Ghost Adventures – Washoe Club – Final Chapter – S16E07

ga-washoeIt’s another visit Washoe Club, which Zak says it will be their last, since they won’t be coming back. Right from the start, Zak explains the spirits are powerful and dangerous, to the point where Zak has been receiving messages to come back. As such, they feel the need to keep their distance until the lockdown. Except that they don’t.

Even though they have investigated here before, Carl, the tour guide, says there are untold stories. In 1873 there was an explosion where 12 people were killed. Clearly a story that didn’t make it to the papers.

Carl has also been witness to 26 people getting scratched.

Another story that must have escaped the media is of a man named Scottie who supposedly committed suicide when his son died from falling into a mine.

To start things off, as they stand next to a flaking stone wall they are both shocked and stunned when bits of debris begin to fall down.

Out of nowhere, Aaron claims he feels the presence of Debbie Constantino. When there is a female voice on the recorder, there is no surprise they say it’s Debbie.

As the actual investigation gets underway, Zak immediately says something enters him. On the SLS camera, for an instant, they capture a stick figure. When Zak captures a male voice on the spirit box, it causes him to jump back and say again that something shot through him.

Using recorders from their previous visits, Billy is overcome as he remembers the Constantinos and sends himself into an emotional tailspin. But on the recorder, he gets, “Billy’s upset, okay?” Again, they feel this is Debbie.

As they group back at the command center, they hear footsteps upstairs. Aaron goes to investigate and gets the word, “Hi” and “Shoot” which they associate to the man who shot himself. This is the only divergence from the investigation centering on Debbie.

In the ballroom, as Billy is setting up, they have a flaky camera. When Zak goes to see the nature of the problem, they hear a coin drop, from somewhere off camera, in the darkness. It turns out to be a shiny quarter with a date of 2015 on it, the year Debbie died. Somehow, the spirit world is capable of materializing the proper year coinage from the ether. A coin falling out of someone’s pocket or being dropped when no one is looking is far less likely to be the cause.

This is followed by the words, “Communicate”. When Zak asks who the coin is for, they get “You”. When asked who it’s from, they get “Us”. It’s Debbie with a message from the great beyond because it’s so specific.

They don’t need any more convincing, but the final words of “Coins” and “Portal” seal the deal. Even though those tragic events took place elsewhere and despite the many claims of demonic and powerful forces, they are all convinced Debbie Constantino is making contact with them. Since they investigated there before, and because there is a lot of Ghost Adventures memorabilia it is their spirits that linger. The earlier foreboding tone of messages and visions, not to mention, “the spirits hate us”, are quite counter to what they claim to capture.

Without a doubt, the events surrounding the Constantinos were tragic, but Zak’s own claims explain away their presence here. Why would their spirits be lingering in this place rather than were the incident occurred?

Did they really capture evidence that points to the Constantinos? There is a lot of emotion and wishful thinking going on here. If the energy stays where the events occurred, as they claim, this isn’t where they need to be investigating.

Other Articles of Interest:

Recent Comments

Advertising