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Destination Truth – Vietnam’s Bigfoot – S05E01

So here we are with a brand new season of Destination Truth and I’ve been anxiously waiting to see what kind of adventures and chaos, Josh has in store. Right off the bat we notice the team has been shuffled around and it’s a crew of new faces. Except for Ryder of course, who’s come back for more. (As a side note, did anyone else notice Erin Ryder is listed as Co-Executive Producer?)

But anyway, on with the show. Josh and the new team head over to Vietnam to investigate sightings of a creature similar to Bigfoot. As expected, we find the team in the market sampling the wares. This happens to include escargot, which doesn’t look appetizing at all, and shots of snake bile and snake blood. I don’t see how they do it. I really don’t.

Moving away from the market, we do learn it’s very likely that an unknown animal can live in the jungle. It’s reported that more than a dozen new species of animal are discovered in the jungle each year. In fact, the world’s largest cave was just discovered. Considering the satellite imagery and photos of just about everything under the sun (Area 51 not included), it’s amazing to think that the world’s largest cave just popped up.

The team heads deep into the jungle of Kai Bang. And getting there is quite an adventure of it’s own. Using motorcycles they forge rivers, catch a couple of boats and then Josh gets the wild idea that he’s The Fonz and tries to jump his motorcycle across the river. It doesn’t end well. It’s hilarious mind you, with Josh going over the handlebars and sinking, but the motorcycle doesn’t fair to well.

But that isn’t the end of just getting there. There’s plenty of cliffs to descend, water buffalos to use as transportation and inflatable canoes. Where the devil do they get this stuff?

It all seems to be worth it as they come across some massive footprints in a cave. They are massive caves where you could turned around and never find your way out again. Just ask Richie, he almost become the red-shirted ensign of Destination Truth.

Josh and the team make a casting of the footprint, make very wide sweep of the area, but don’t get sight of the creature itself. I didn’t hear them mention any bones or animal "scat" in their findings so who knows if there was a food source to be had.

We do get to see that there’s plenty of undiscovered country out there and you could pass right by Bigfoot and not even know it. Is there some ape-like creature still living out there that’s very adept at staying out of the path of humans? With that massive cave system is it able to eat and dwell without being disturbed?

Well, something made those tracks and based on the terrain, they don’t seem to be a man-made hoax.

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Ghost Adventures – The Riviera – S06E07

For this episode, the guys are in their own back yard, hanging out at the Riviera Hotel to investigate none other than Frank Sinatra. They head up to his Penthouse apartment with Vince Neil, poker champion Jamie Gold, and Bruce Westcott, Frank Sinatra’s personal pianist. An interesting rag tag band don’t you think?

There is little doubt that in it’s initial days, Vegas was mob run and there are a lot of skeletons buried out there. Literally. It seems like they’re trying to link some mob activity with their current investigation. I have no doubt that some gamblers were taught a lesson when they tried to cheat the house or couldn’t pay a debt, but those stories don’t seem to have much relevance to the investigation at hand. Their focus is Frank and his penthouse. I sometimes wonder where they’re going with these side stories.

But anyway, the goal is to have a bit of a party in the penthouse (why else would Vince bring those "ladies") and see if Frank’s energy is still around. What do you think, was Frank having a drink and enjoying the music?

To be honest, this episode was a little off to me. I know they wanted Vince and his "ladies" in there for the party atmosphere, but the whole thing seemed a little brain dead to me. Why are they trying to connect with Frank Sinatra specifically? Was there some event or sighting that got them on this track? With all the mob related events, there would be plenty to investigate and look into. I kind of felt like this was all about pulling in celebrities and showing off who Zak knows in the entertainment world. I didn’t feel like they had a direction with this one. It was an interesting idea, but I think they could have done better.

Anyway, what do have for this episode? Really the only thing that seemed to happen was the REM pod going off. There were some "scratches" on the back of one of the girls, but when you’re wandering around in the dark anything can happen. She could have bumped into something for all we know. Considering how scared they were making themselves, she could have caused that through nervous tension.

Vince’s emotional reaction, as though having a heart attack (trying to make a tie in to the vague information they got from Coroner), seemed to be more alcohol related than anything else. It sounded like he was slurring his words when talking about the room number. Hard to say if he was having a reacting to something in the room or something related to his drink. There were so many outside factors at play, it’s hard to say what was going on.

Overall, this episode was a let down. It came across as a glamour episode. It was a bit too Hollywood and nonsensical for me. I’m sure there were better stories they could have followed up on.

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Ghost Adventures – Return to Linda Vista Hospital – S06E05

For this adventure, we head back to the Linda Vista Hospital, which they visited back in 2009. As Zak reminds us, this is the location where Nick saw a full bodied apparition which startled him quite badly, sending him reeling out of the room. That was a scary bit of business.

But they aren’t going back for the heck of it, Zak has a wild new piece of machinery he wants to try out. This is some sort of weird "ghost pod" which is supposed to help generate enough energy for the spirit to manifest itself. It sort of seems like that wild box we saw in the Halloween episode a few years back. That seemed like an electrified box of death and this doesn’t look all that much safer.

Another odd part of this investigation is the fact that the hospital is going to be torn down to make room for apartments. That sounds like a hell of a place to live doesn’t it? I’m not one to immediately believe everything I see or read about, but there are some things better left alone. I can’t say I’d want to live in an apartment complex build on the remains of hospital with this kind of history. It’s like you’re asking for trouble. Did we learn nothing from Poltergeist?

But anyway, back to the hospital itself. To get a sense of what happened there, Zak and crew head to the morgue to talk to the coroner about his experiences in working with the hospital. It’s no surprise to learn of the stabbings, overdoses, beatings and gunshots. The surprising part is the morgue area where all three of the guys wander around with the Jane and John Does. I have to say, that was pretty damn creepy. It kind of looked like a warehouse.

After all that strangeness, they work to get started on the investigation and we get a glimpse of this new machine of theirs. It looks like a big bird cage with lots of voltage coursing through it. Why does it make me think everyone is getting electrocuted? But we also have a guest for this episode. Chad Lindberg has shown up to checkout the proceedings. Hey, he’s played dead a few times, this should be easy, right? Actually he seems pretty cool and level headed.

But before we start the investigation there is movement on the thermal imager. Billy sees something moving back and forth across the monitor. It doesn’t have a heat signature and doesn’t really seem to be going anywhere. To prove it’s not an animal, Zak brings in a dog to show the yellow heat signature. So what do we have? There does seem to be something moving on that screen.

Another guest they bring down is Kimber who’s been a nurse at the hospital. She gets the voice of someone saying, "can you help, anybody?" They also seem to get a voice saying, "help yourself?" The comment for "help yourself" doesn’t really seem to fit with anything. Help yourself to what, some organs?

A part where I think they strayed is Chad asking, "What happens after we die?" which is of course one question no one seems to ask. Do we agree with the answer of "Linda Vista"? I think Aaron is a bit off the mark there. But who knows, maybe winding up in a hospital is part of the answer.

Two other EVPs worth noting are when Zak asks which one of them they don’t like "why are you talking". Personally I think that’s a goofy question. Why does Zak and others naturally assume the spirits don’t like them and want to cause harm? Way to project there guys.

The other is "Do you remember Nick?" with a response of "I do." Is the spirit really answering Nick? Is she trying to make an appearance again?

For the finale, Zak has pictures of the pod with some sort of mist or haze surrounding it. He believes he’s captured body features in the photo. Because of the size, are they from the little girl? Is that the girl who was hit by the car or was it the woman Nick saw? Are they one in the same? I kind of wish they would have spent more time on that pod thing. Seems there was tons of build up to it, but we don’t get too much insight into it. I guess it will make an appearance in another episode?

So what you do think, did they capture something in the pod?

For the most part, I think this episode was a little light on evidence too. They get a couple of muted noises, creaks and bangs, and all the usual things you would expect from an abandoned building that’s coming apart while at the same time is home to who knows what kind of animal.

Did Nick reach his spirit and help her to get free of the building or will it turn into an apartment complex around her and the new residence will have an expected guest from time to time?

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Ghost Adventures – The National Hotel – S06E04

Zak, Nick and Aaron head out to Nevada City, California and another gold rush town with a checkered past. As with any mining towns there are stories of murder, prostitution, greed and envy, just like the last episode we watched. It has all the makings of some interesting experiences.

So what are the claims of this city?

There are reports of a girl seeing an apparition while lying in her bed. That woman was supposedly floating above the floor. There are also reports of a little girl that rides her tricycle around the hotel.

There are mining tunnels under the city that collapsed and killed Chinese miners. Is this a real story or is it just another story that’s been handed down? There is speculation as to whether or not those are real mining tunnels. To find out more they head over to The Old Brewery/Stonehouse to ask about the history. They’re lead to a tunnel opening and promptly head down. The owners have converted some of the caves into storage. It’s certainly odd and by all means creepy. Where does it all lead to? That part seems to be worth investigating.

Unfortunately, they really don’t confirm or dispute the mining accidents. It looks like a mining tunnel with some makeshift support beams. However, considering the less than spectacular working conditions of the time, a cave-in would be pretty much guaranteed.So I have no doubt miners of some sort lost their lives in that mess.

Finally, there is the confirmed story of a local drug dealer (Kevin McClure) who shot and killed himself rather than surrender to the police. He shot himself in the head and died in the bathroom of the hotel room.

The investigation starts with Aaron and Billy doing an EVP session at the entrance of the tunnel opening in The Old Brewery. They spend quite a bit of time talking and listening, but walk away without gathering any evidence.

Zak and Nick head over to where Kevin shot and killed himself, but after multiple tries they don’t get any responses.

As they move locations they try to make contact with the little girl that supposedly rides a tricycle around the place. They set up an EMF teddy bear which starts to light up as though something is trying to play with it.That’s some pretty interesting stuff right there. It doesn’t appear anything is around the bear, but it lights up. As Zak says, there was no voice captured to go along with the incident. Does this mean the bear is having a short or was there a little girl trying to play with it?

As the investigation comes to an end Aaron heads upstairs and gets all turned around when it comes to a set of doors between two rooms. Aaron claims that the doors are locked, but when he walks around the corner and checks the doors again, it’s unlocked. Is the lock faulty? Is someone really opening it? Is Aaron just confused?

Mining towns are always pretty damn cool and this place sounds like it has just as dubious a history as other gold rush towns. But is this one haunted? Did Zak and the gang capture enough evidence to support the claims? I think they came up a little empty handed on this one, but at least they didn’t claim everything was absolutely proof of the paranormal. I do like that Zak has been refuting a lot of the stories people have been telling him.

It will be interesting if they feel compelled to go back into those tunnels.

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