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Ghost Adventures – Goldfield Hotel – S04E16

The team makes another return visit to the Goldfield Hotel where they did their first investigation and claimed bricks and boards were thrown at them. This is also where they met the Constantinos who followed up Zak’s investigation with their own and caught EVPs and experienced things being thrown as well. However, the original intent of the investigation was to check out the Nixon Building and the Santa Fe Saloon since Red has locked down the hotel and doesn’t let people investigate there anymore. But in one of those ironic twists of fate that can only happen on television Red is around while they’re filming and he gives them permission to investigate there one more time. Oh the mystical power of television!

Activity around the Goldfield mainly stems from George Wingfield who was a greedy and rather ruthless mine owner. There are claims that he was rather cruel to the women he associated with. One claim is that he got a prostitute named Elisabeth pregnant and then chained her up in until she gave birth. At that point he ended up getting rid of her and the child. Zak claims in his previous investigations that he talked with or at least felt the presence of Elisabeth and he’s hoping to talk to her again.

As things get started (with the Constantinos in tow) they feel stones are already being thrown at them. The feel they debunk it as not being debris or things falling from the ceiling. Around this time they hear footsteps wandering through the halls. They also claim to get an EVP of "they’re here, what do you want". An interesting start, but it’s certainly not an evening full of brick throwing.

They move on and Zak believes he’s hearing Elisabeth crying and there is growling and snarling. While this is going on they all regroup to see how things are going. I find it amusing that they all admit they’re getting caught up in the moment and because of that the spirits are feeding off their energy. Seems more like they are working themselves into a frenzy and anything that happens will be considered paranormal. This is why I have such a hard time believing the evidence they come up. They hear what they want to hear and since they’re basically on edge anything that happens is proof of what they’re searching for. This is when they get the EVP that a spirit wants to talk to Zak.

But as they investigate further they bring out the PX device. I dislike this device and discount everything it records. For example, they claim to hear the word "kill" coming from it when it sounds more like "zero" to me. I guess zero doesn’t play as well on TV and put them in as much danger as the word "kill". They feel the box is letting them talk to Elisabeth, but I don’t think they get anything usable out of this. Of course it goes berserk and just starts making all sorts of wild noises and spits out static. Clearly this is not the work of a defective device but a device reacting to too much energy…

When all is said and done they get some static, get themselves all excited and feel once again they’ve communicated with the sprits they first ran into six years ago. They can certainly think that but I didn’t see any boards flying or bricks coming at them. I don’t really think they walked away with anything all that interesting.

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Ghost Adventures – Pico House Hotel – S04E15

The Ghost Adventures team takes a different tack and teams up with the Hollywood Ghost Hunters to investigate the Pico House Hotel, a site of civil unrest which turned into a riot and ultimately led to the death of several people. Tensions between the local residents and the Chinese were strained when a shooting occurred which resulted in the death of a police officer. People took to the streets to dish out their own brand of justice and things got completely out of control. Men were hung, shot, beaten and left to die in the streets.

Strangely, this is really the only incident of violence. Admittedly it was quite bad but doesn’t really seem to be on the same scale as many of the other places they’ve investigated. And to be quite honest the claims of the paranormal come across as pretty weak to me. A security guard claims he saw a toolbox moving around and got kicked. Another security guard claims he saw an apparition on the roof. I don’t really see these events as worthy of calling out a group of paranormal investigators.

But Ghost Adventures hooks up with Hollywood Ghost Hunters as they head off into the night to see what they come across. I have to say the Hollywood Ghost Hunters guys are great and seem very compassionate and caring guys. Their rough exteriors are for the movies but when investigating they really want to know about the people who might be there. I wouldn’t mind seeing these guys show up again.

As they make their way around the site they hear some noises and some footsteps. There is even talk of seeing a shadow moving around and some cold spots. But the main evidence they came away with are the EVPs. They claim to get multiple phrases which sound like someone trying to defend themselves about knowing information. Some of it seems plausible but I’m not jumping up and down over it. And that is basically the only evidence they found. There really wasn’t anything tangible. Again, nothing that compares to the claims like being kicked or objects moving.

The two groups split for the night and Zak does a final run through of the building with his IR camera snapping pictures. At the very end he claims to get a series of photos of a black mass in front of the window. It appears in one photo, moves in the next and then is gone for the third. Interesting, but how do we know it’s not a bird or some other animal? A pigeon comes flying out at them just moments earlier. Clearly animals live there and the place has been abandoned. It might be something of value, but then again it was at the other end of the room, we have no sense of perspective.

I have to say as far as locations go this one was sort of a dud. There is no doubt the events are traumatic but they don’t have that sustained history that other places like asylums and the prisons have. And I really don’t see that enough people had experiences to warrant someone going out there. Zak may feel this place is haunted but I thought it was pretty lacking.

As a side note I really wish they would tone down the theatrics and special effects during the background commentary. That is really starting to go over the top and is getting annoying.

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Ghost Adventures – Kell’s Irish Pub – S04E14

It’s been some time since I’ve been able to get back to watching and working with shows like Ghost Adventures. The holiday season was really busy and I had a lot of things occupying my time; all good things though. But I’ve managed to find some time to watch this episode and write down some of my thoughts like I normally do.

Zak, Nick and Aaron head out to Seattle to investigate Kell’s Irish Pub which used to be a funeral home owned by ER Butterworth. Mr. Butterworth was the first established funeral director in the area and was on site as the growing mining accidents and disease of the area brought him plenty of work. So much work in fact that he really didn’t pay attention to where the bodies came from. The death toll was rising so Butterworth simply prepared the bodies for incineration and accepted his disposal fee. But his less than honorable dealings led him to hook up with Linda Hazzard who was a doctor who felt the best way to cure a disease was to starve the patient. She and Butterworth were brought up on charges when a family sued because Butterworth incinerated the body but displayed a different corpse at a funeral. It’s hard to say if Butterworth was dealing in or profiting off murder but a lot of signs point that way. It certainly sounds like the scandal that would make for a lot of unrest.

But does Kell’s Irish Pub have all the makings of a haunted location? Zak certainly thinks so and declares the place to be haunted even before the investigation has begun. He is firmly convinced there is a lot of energy there and that the spirits will speak to him. Way to stay objective guys.

Kell’s claims to have glasses that fall, a mirror that broke itself, a photograph of a face caught in the window, people see hands clawing at the window and that a little girls wanders around the bar. They really don’t speak about her or why she might be there though.

As the investigation begins the team heads out with a new toy called the Digital Field Processor which is supposed to visually represent voices on an EQ as they’re captured. It sounds like an interesting idea, but just to say it that device looks like it could easily be manipulated.

But on with the investigation. Zak claims to hear many voices and captures a picture what he feels is a child sitting on the stairs. I think that’s a bit of a stretch. I think you might be going out on a limb to say that blob is a child. I don’t think it’s very well defined at all and could just as easily be your brain trying to make out a pattern. Interesting, but a bit of a reach for me. And the follow up EVP of "Looking for my child" is a bit of a reach too. As they even admit, they hear what they think is "child" and fill in the blanks. That seems a bit dodgy.

Then they bring in the owner Karen for help during an EVP session. What I find funny is that just like the Vallisca House when there is an outsider listening in nothing seems to happen. The activity comes to an end and the EVP they get is really weak. This is starting to seem a little strange to me.

As they continue they move to the Bar Area and Aaron heads to the 3rd and 4th floors by himself. I have to say very little happens for this part. And as a matter of fact there doesn’t seem to be any real activity during this investigation at all. There were certainly no figures at the window, no glass hitting the floor, no smashing mirrors or any of the multiple claims that seem to go on. They hear some footsteps but let’s be honest this is a public building on a main street hearing footsteps wouldn’t be out of the ordinary at all. I can’t really say that anything they captured would really be considered paranormal. The voices make no sense, they’re filling in the blanks for what they hear and none of the claims by the owners come to pass.

This is one of the creepy stories full of legend and mystery. Who knows what really happened. Did the wrong bodies get buried? Were people murdered for the cash? The legend is by all means fascinating but the evidence is less than compelling…

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Paranormal State – Bedroom Eyes – S05E13

Ryan and the team head to Pennsylvania to investigate a farm where the couple sees figures wandering around their home. They also have claims of being touched and they notice the dog seems to bark at things that aren’t there. All the activity seemed to start when Mike asked Kelly if they could visit his mother’s grave so he could get permission for them being together. They both have the impression that the events are being caused by Mike’s mother.

As they research the investigation, they come to find out that Mike’s mother may have been murdered. A relative feels that she was killed in her trailer and then the trailer was blown up with natural gas. The story is a little light on the who and the why, but there is a claim of murder. Oddly, Mike doesn’t mention any of that.

With that, we head back to the house for Dead Time. During the night the lamp cover partially falls, but when Ryan pulls on it, he can’t make it budge. He also hears scraping, like metal on metal. There isn’t much to go on, but Ryan feels there is a lot more to these dust covers moving.

In a bizarre twist, Ryan brings in a hypnotherapist to talk to Kelly. This interview seems really short and really doesn’t yield too much. But for the next Dead Time, Ryan wants Mike and Kelly to attend so they can talk to his mother. It’s funny how they have no evidence to support any spirit being in the house let alone his mother, yet they completely support the client’s claims. Way to stay objective guys!

At Dead Time, Mike talks to his mom and says he knows she’s there and that she would want him to be happy. If there is a message she wants to deliver he is more than ready to listen. Around this time there is a lot of jumping around as Mike and Kelly claim to get touched. Nothing really tangible happens, just the claims of being touched.

For the final analysis, Ryan comes out of the blue and says he feels Kelly has psychic abilities. Oddly, she doesn’t bat an eye or question it at all. It’s like he said the sky was blue. She just accepts it and moves on. I found that whole interaction to be pretty weird.

And then the team packs up and heads home. I really can’t say that they uncovered anything on this one. Some falling lamp covers does not a paranormal investigation make. It was all pretty lame. As with so many of these that Ryan looks into, it seems like the clients are having issues with a death. As we see, Mike’s mom died decades ago but yet he still heads to her grave to ask for permission about his lady friend? And from the way I listened to things, their relationship was pretty sketchy at best. I can’t say that any of this struck me as paranormal. Considering the lack of evidence, Ryan was once again playing the role of counselor.

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