Paranormal

Ghost Adventures – Zalud House – S13E11

image We’re off to Porterville, California to visit the Zalud House Museum which houses a haunted chair. It is said that William Brooks was shot and killed by Julia Howe. The chair was not originally in the home, but has since been brought there. Heather Huerta, the curator of the museum, believes there is a negative and dark energy associated with the chair and that the museum is haunted. It’s not just Heather who feels negative energy from the chair, her husband Benny says he’s channeling the negative energy.

While looking over the house before the investigation, Zak sits in the famed chair and feels pains in his chest and back. Benny says the spirits talk to him when he touches the chair. However, Jeff Edwards, who is the actual owner of the chair, doesn’t believe the chair is of any danger and if the museum doesn’t want it, he’ll take it back.

As Zak and Jay look up old records, they come across a newspaper article where Julia says a subconscious mind was at work and guided her hand. Zak feels the chair is dangerous and has the intent to cause harm. He also believes that Benny is on the verge of being oppressed by dueling negative forces.

For the investigation we waste a heck of a lot of time with Zak ordering Aaron to sit in the chair and Aaron saying he won’t. This is utterly juvenile because Aaron does sit in the stupid chair. And guess what? He doesn’t feel a thing. Nothing happens. However, the Ovilus spits out the words, Trap and Female.

Zak brings out the SLS and gets a figure on the screen. He sits in the chair again and says he has quick chest pains. He gets worked up and declares he’s going to take the chair outside. He asks for a sign from the Zalud family so he can remove the chair. In response, he hears a female voice.

But, now it’s time to turn the table. Instead of focusing on the negative energy, he wants to focus on the family. He and Billy bring out he Paranormal Puck and get sidetracked by what they call negative responses. For example, when asked, "what will you do if we remove the chair?" Zak gets "table" and "homicide."

Then it’s time for Billy to sit in the chair. It should come as no surprise that he feels sick and dizzy, the same symptoms he’s had for the last dozen episodes. During this time, Zak takes full spectrum photos and gets a blur over Billy. Upon seeing this, Billy loses his mind and runs to another room. When they find him, Billy says something is wrong and he’s going to black out. As you would expect, Zak sees an orb move around and enter Billy, who is now having a panic attack.

Instead of Zak or anyone else removing the chair, Zak does a cleansing ritual to try and restore balance in the house.

As you watch this episode, listen to a few key phrases from Zak. He talks about the darkness that’s infested this house. He says the chair contains the violence of the murder. That Benny is oppressed by dueling forces. That Benny enables and channels the negative energy. He repeatedly suggest the idea of violence and darkness and thus the museum is a haven for evil.

Zak has adopted the mentality of a zealot from the 1700s. The demonic hides behind every corner. Places and objects are "infested" with evil and he’s the only one that can save these people. He now sees light orbs everywhere. When you repeatedly try to convince people something is demonic, when you emphatically embrace something as dark-even before you step foot inside, that’s exactly what you’re going to find even when it’s not there.

Zak has basically become a hypochondriac of the paranormal. He doesn’t look at anything objectively or with a questioning mind. The places he visits are "infested" with dark energy. Notice how many times he’s used "infested" and "oppressed" in the last few seasons.

That aside, what evidence do we have? Nothing more than feelings from Zak, who always feels the demonic and Billy and Aaron who seem to get sick in just about every episode these days.

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Ghost Adventures – Dumas Brothel – S13E10

image Zak and team are in Montana to visit the Dumas Brothel, a location with a sinister presence. It’s claimed that evil resides in the basement and is responsible for pushing people, poking them and flat out knocking them to the floor, if the owner is to be believed. There are even reports of men being touched in the privates.

The owner, Michael, who looks to be either over or under medicated, has a whole slew of stories to tell about the place, that is, when you can get him to stand still long enough. He claims to have seen a hostile older man in the basement. No explanation for why he’s hostile or why he doesn’t like Michael, he just doesn’t. Michael also claims several men have run screaming from the building only to throw up in the street. We also have the classic story of the prostitute in love, her lover who dies in a mining accident and never comes back for, so she kills herself. I’m pretty sure every Western town they’ve visited has this same story. It’s either that, or the woman in white.

What is the cause of all this unrest? No one knows for sure, but according to Ginnie, Michael’s friend, it’s because of someone called "The Judge" and he doesn’t like anyone. Mind you, this isn’t based on any evidence or records, it’s what Ginnie believes. She claims to see and feel the judge all the time. And she’s just as jittery and confused as Michael. But Zak says this is due to possession and an attempt by the spirits to control their consciousness.

As they tour the brothel and discuss the presence of a woman Michael felt at the top of the stairs, Zak gets a red mark on his neck. Turns out this has nothing to do with a woman and is in fact the judge, again according to Ginnie. When asked why the judge doesn’t like him, they get an EVP of "I just don’t." This has to be the work of the paranormal, because it’s impossible to make your own neck red.

To start off the investigation, Zak brings in actresses to play the role of prostitutes in the brothel. He sends them to different rooms and tells the spirits they can do whatever they want. A few minutes later, McKinley, who’s in the basement hears footsteps. This is followed by the sound of a little girl and the words, "I found ya" and "I’m Otto."

In one of the upper rooms, Kaitlin is zoning out and they see yet another light anomaly. Zak rushes to her aid and brings the hacked up Kinect motion sensor also known as the SLS camera. He captures a stick figure touching Kaitlin who says she is extremely cold. When then get a temperature reading of 62 in that area, up from the still cold temperature of 67.

After the ladies leave the house, Zak says two more light anomalies go shooting into him. Billy keeps claiming he’s losing time and ends up in places with no idea how he got there. They repeatedly say they have cold energy and a static feeling all over their bodies. The Rem Pods they previously set out start going off at random.

Next, they bring out the paranormal puck and get the following:

Who is up here – Debbie
What do you miss – paper, value
How did you die – found

Billy claims this is the prostitute that killed herself. That’s pretty incorrect as the plaque in the room says the woman who killed herself was Eleanor. Billy is trying to make wild connections and is clearly missing the mark.

Billy also claims there is an ice cold wall of energy, too bad he forgot to actually take the temperature. Maybe this is another ice cold temperature change of 5 degrees.

Meanwhile, we have another example of Zak going into a stupor then claiming he has no idea what happened. He claims to be in a spiritual fog and he wandered off from Billy and Aaron for reasons he can’t explain. They find him slumped in a chair with claims of missing time. With this happening, the Rem Pods upstairs are going off, including one above the room Zak is tripping balls in. This proves an entity is at work.

For the finale, we have a loud bang that can be heard throughout the brothel.

Zak is quite convinced the spirits of the brothel are channeling through Ginnie and Michael and they’re being controlled. I’m going to have to disagree with that assessment. I think Michael and Ginnie have a few issues to sort out. And let’s not forget, Michael is in financial distress over the building, so nothing like a good old fashioned haunting to scare up some business.

Additionally, if you pay attention to some of the footage, parts of that building are a wreck. And based on the age, who knows what chemicals and other materials are in there. Check the environment to see what contaminants are floating around before you go and blame everything on the paranormal.

Butte men buy historic Dumas Brothel

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Ghost Adventures – Twin Bridges Orphanage – S13E09

image The next Ghost Adventures episode takes us to Montana and the Twin Bridges Orphanage. Things immediately start off with Zak asking people if they’re afraid of the darker side of hauntings. Before we even step foot inside, Zak is laying the foundation for a demonic encounter. The idea of an orphanage never paints the picture of a contented child or happy memories, but Zak is wildly jumping the gun.

Twin Bridges was opened in 1894 and boarded around 5000 children until it was closed in 1975. Most of us would associate an orphanage with cruelty and poor living conditions, and regrettably, this place lives up to that image in every respect.

We hear stories about children getting whipped for wetting the bed. Children were dropped off at the door by parents who couldn’t take care of them. They were forced to do labor the adults should have handled. And this is confirmed by Janie Wasman, a wretch of a human being, who gleefully acknowledges she stuck a boy’s head in the toilet because he kept sighing at her. She has no qualms admitting that story and even laughs at a few others she holds back. It’s pretty clear she took pleasure in emotional and physical abuse. And she wasn’t the only one. There is a journal entry by a boy who was whipped on a daily basis and the matron set herself a goal to make a strong willed boy cry. When she broke him, she smiled at her achievement.

Besides the abuse, there were the usual cases of disease that took the lives of the children. On multiple occasions, the facility would be quarantined. Several children were buried on the property, but their headstones have since been lost. There is however a small plaque in the local cemetery listing their names. Small conciliation.

There is no doubt the matrons of the orphanage were the worst kind of people, but does that make this place haunted? And what evidence do they have? There are claims of children singing and Kurtis says he saw phantom children playing basketball. That’s all they have, but it hasn’t stopped Zak from saying there is dark energy lurking.

For the investigation, they split up into two groups, with Billy and Jay going to the gymnasium, while Zak and Aaron go to the largest building called The Castle.

Within the castle, Zak hears footsteps, and sees the footprints of a child. However, when a pigeon flies out and makes Zak soil himself, he has to admit the demonic energy they’ve been experiencing is just an animal. And much to his chagrin, the footprints turn out to be those of a raccoon. This also confirms that so many of the other cases where Zak hears footsteps and scratching can easily be attributed to animals living in abandoned buildings.

Over in the gym, Billy claims to see a shadow figure and as we should expect by now, Zak points out light anomalies floating around. But as they head to the pool area, things get exciting. They hear the sound of children’s voices and a ball rolls out of the supply closet and falls in the water. Once there, it miraculously moves on command. To add to the excitement, the Ovilus says the name Carol, followed by the words, twist, laugh and cleansing. Zak takes this to mean his twisted  position on the pool ladder.

A ball moving in a water is not a paranormal event. Neither is that ball rolling out of supply closet.

It’s a pretty massive stretch to tie that all together, but Zak is a master of stretching his theory to fit his evidence. While there may have been sounds of laughter, which could have come from anywhere, despite Zak saying they’re in the middle of nowhere, there are no signs of the demonic that Zak tried to sell in the beginning.

The only evil in the orphanage were the mentally unbalanced and hateful employees who took pleasure in mental and physical abuse. But take comfort. By looking at Janie, cancer is eating away at her miserable life.

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Ghost Adventures – St Anne’s Retreat – S13E08

image Zak and team head to Logan Canyon, Utah to investigate St. Anne’s Retreat, where some strange events have taken place. However, before they can even get there, Zak believes the dark forces are working against him since he can’t find the place.

After heading back to town, he talks with locals to get directions and hear their tales. And tales they have. They all begin with, "legend says," "I’ve heard," and "supposedly". They hear the story of a pregnant nun, banished to the retreat and forced to give birth in solitude. She then drowned the baby and slit her own throat. I’m quite sure this is an urban legend.

About the only story they can confirm is that a group of teens were held hostage in one of the cabins by three gunmen. They went out on Halloween night, where a group of security guards found them, took a few shots, then tied them up. They were threatened repeatedly and held until morning.

The men were arrested and convicted. The victims claim the men looked evil with one saying he saw a Hell Hound with red eyes, and foretells bad tidings. With a bit of prompting from Zak, they agree the men were possessed by demonic forces.

Tito, says the lead gunman claimed to have killed multiple people and buried the bodies under the cabin. However, no bodies have been found on the property.

To further investigate the claims, Zak brings in psychic medium, Karen Baldwin, who immediately mentions the number 3. This of course refers to cabin number 3, the three men who held the teens hostage, and the three scratches one witness reported getting.

Karen follows this up with stories of Satanic worship and a male presence that likes to taunt and dominate people. She says something negative has played in the hills and she feels "damage." Karen then breaks down and talks about a "she," which Zak says is a reference to the nun.

Zak is firmly convinced the security guards were possessed by demonic forces and these dark forces were conjured into existence through the use of Satanic rituals they have no evidence of taking place.

As the investigation starts, they lock Jay into cabin three. And they really lock him in, screwing a board into place over the door.

Zak and the rest of the team head to the pool where the nun supposedly drowned her child. Zak begins to "summon" the forces and opens the portals. As proof of the demonic, the interior of the bathing shed is red on the thermal. Also, Billy takes issue with Zak’s "summoning."

Zak will open a portal, but he won’t investigate the shed. He leaves that to Billy while observes from a safe distance. Tripping from the use of the word, "summoning," Billy feels a dark energy wrap around him. They also hear noises which they say are Native American instruments.

Meanwhile, Jay comes unglued inside cabin 3. He’s locked inside, and has convinced himself he has no protection since his charms broke off earlier in the day. With fear and sensory deprivation setting in, he feels something is out to get him, so much so, he throws the Spirit Box at it. There are plenty of pops, creaks and footsteps in the cabin, which you normally hear as old wood settles at night. But these terrifying sounds without form bring Jay to tears.

In the main cabin, they look to see if they can find the dark energy hiding in corners. Since nothing is happening, this is proof the entity is a coward. Zak then sends Billy to the top floor, where he becomes aggressive and provoking. As we should expect, Zak sees a light orb and says this is responsible for Billy’s behavior.

While Zak is safely outside and away from danger, he takes full spectrum images and gets something interesting. There is a shadowy looking figure in the frame, which Zak feels is the aforementioned nun, who may or may not have existed.

When we take a step back and cast a critical eye, all the stories are "legends". The only real one involves the security guards, who most likely had severe mental and behavioral issues, not demonic possession. It’s not the 1700s any more.

But again, there is no evidence that shows death occurred at the property. The Satanic worship is rumor and is always told after a place has been abandoned. There is no proof of a nun. The medium does a fine job of adding to the hysteria. There is no proof for anything she said.

Further, what evidence did they capture? Jay wasn’t attacked, nothing came near him. He was left alone in the dark, and when his charm was taken away, it played so heavily on his mind, he figured everything was out to get him.

They heard noises in the woods, heard creaks, and the settling of buildings. No scratches, Zak wasn’t pushed off the railing like the investigator claimed happened to him and Aaron didn’t do his usual routine of becoming dizzy and sick.

As Zak said, it looks like the set of Friday the 13th. A group of mentally unbalanced guards took some kids hostage and legends have grown from there.

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